Having seen Hindîzâde Abdülmecîd Zühdî Efendi's "fairly large divan" in his son's hands, Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar writes that he read it from beginning to end and could not find a single couplet worth taking into Amasya Tarihi. A notable of the Küpceğiz quarter, Zühdî had become a member of the city's court of justice (adliye mahkemesi) when it was being set up and, having no need to worry about a living, gave himself to poetry. The only couplet in the entry is not his either, but that of another poet mocking him. His year of death is given in two places in the book as 1308 and 1314. The original wording of the record has also been reproduced on the page Abdülmecîd Zühdî Efendi-Hindîzâde.

Hüsameddin's Record

In this record from the twelfth volume, in the section on the people of Amasya of the late period, Hüsameddin's distance from the poet can be felt from the first sentences:

Abdülmecîd Zühdî Efendi-Hindîzâde Kübceğiz Mahallesi halkından ve eski sipâhîlerden Mehmed Ağa bin İsmâîl Ağa'nın oğludur. Biraz ilm ü ma'rifet edinip edebiyâta heves etdi. Adliye mahkemesinin teşkîlinde a'zâ mülâzımı ve ba'dehû mahkeme a'zâsı oldu. Kendisini müreffeh yaşatacak servete mâlik olduğundan tanzîm-i eş'âra koyuldu. 1314'de vefât etdi. Merhûm udebâ ve şu'arâdan geçinir, letâ'ife mâ'il, kendisini medh ü senâ edenlere pek mültefit, kerem-kâr, hoş-sohbet, hisse-mend-i ma'ârif bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Mehmed Şükrü Efendi hafîfü'ş-şu'ûr oldu. Bunun oğlu etıbbâdan Mecîd Şükrü Bey'dir. Merhûm bir gün Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii avlusundaki muvakkıthâne önünde otururken yanındakilere ilm ü fazlını beyân ederek övünür. Bu esnâda meşâhîr-i fuzalâ ü şu'arâdan Mecdîzâde Hâfız Kâmil Efendi gelip yanında oturdukda susar. Hazret şu beyti irticâlen söyler:
Bugün da'va-yı fazl eyler iken bir zâde-i hindî
Görünce kâmili erneb gibi bir kûşeye sindi
Merhûmun büyükçe bir dîvân-ı eş'ârını pek çok ricâdan sonra mahdûmunun elinde gördüm. İstişhâd için dîvânı baştan sonuna kadar süzdüm. Ma'âlesef ahz ü derce lâyık bir beyte tesâdüf edemedim.

In English: His father was Mehmed Ağa bin İsmâil Ağa, of the people of the Küpceğiz quarter and one of the old sipahis (cavalrymen). He acquired a little learning and developed a taste for literature. When the court of justice was set up he became an assistant member (mülâzım), then a member of the court. As he owned wealth enough to let him live in comfort, he set himself to composing verse. He died in 1314 (1896-97). The late man counted himself among the men of letters and poets; he was fond of witticisms, very gracious to those who praised and lauded him, generous, pleasant in conversation and not without a share of learning. His son Mehmed Şükrü Efendi turned out to be feeble-minded; that son's son is Mecîd Şükrü Bey, one of the physicians. One day, while sitting in front of the timekeeper's house (muvakkithane) in the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, the late man was boasting to those around him of his learning and merit. Just then Mecdîzâde Hâfız Kâmil Efendi, one of the famous scholars and poets, came and sat beside him, and he fell silent. Kâmil Efendi spoke this couplet on the spot: "Today a Hindîzâde was laying claim to merit; on seeing the accomplished one (kâmil) he cowered in a corner like a hare." After many requests I saw the late man's fairly large divan in the hands of his son. I combed through the divan from beginning to end in search of examples; unfortunately I could not come upon a single couplet worthy of being taken and recorded.

Life

Zühdî's family belonged to the old sipahi households of the Küpceğiz quarter; the year of his own birth is unknown. About his youth and education Hüsameddin is content to say that "he acquired a little learning"; he does not say with whom he studied. The only known official side of his life is the post that began with the setting up of the new court of justice in Amasya: first assistant member, then member. Hüsameddin's remark that "he owned wealth enough to let him live in comfort" shows that he saw Zühdî's turn to poetry as a pastime afforded by leisure, free of any concern for a living.

The anecdote in the entry is the piece that best conveys how Hüsameddin remembered him. The scene is the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, in front of the muvakkithane where the times of prayer were calculated. As Zühdî brags about his learning, Mecdîzâde Hâfız Kâmil Efendi comes and sits down, and Zühdî falls silent. The couplet Kâmil Efendi speaks on the spot rests on two plays on words: "zâde-i hindî" points to Zühdî's family name Hindîzâde, and "kâmil" means both a mature, learned man and Kâmil Efendi's own name. Erneb means hare; the man showing off his learning shrinks into his corner like a hare on seeing a true scholar. The speaker of this couplet, Mecdîzâde Hâfız Kâmil Efendi, is very probably Mecdîzâde Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi, mufti of Amasya, who completed his memorisation of the Quran at primary school and used the pen name Kâmil in his poems; since Hüsameddin does not give his first name in the entry, this identification is not certain.

State of the Sources

Amasya Tarihi mentions Zühdî in two places, and the two records do not agree. In his own entry in the twelfth volume his father is "Mehmed Ağa bin İsmâil Ağa, of the old sipahis", and the year of death is 1314. In the sixth volume, however, in the entry on es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa of the Hindîzâde family, a notable of Küpceğiz who took part in war in 1248 (1832-33) as a cavalry captain and died in 1269 (1852-53), "Abdülmecîd Zühdî Efendi, one of the members of the court and one of the poets" is listed among the sons of this Ahmed Ağa, and his death is given as 1308 (1890-91); Ahmed Ağa's father is also called Mehmed Ağa. That the two entries describe the same person is clear: in both the quarter is Küpceğiz and the post is membership of the court, the son is named Mehmed Şükrü and the grandson is the physician Mecîd Şükrü Bey. Which record is right about his father's name and his year of death, however, the book itself does not settle. The record in the sixth volume ties Zühdî to a line of descent reaching back to Hindî Ahmed Paşa; the record in the twelfth volume does not mention this connection of the family.

His Poetry

Zühdî left a divan; Hüsameddin calls it "fairly large" and says he saw it in his son's hands. Where the divan is today is unknown. Hüsameddin's failure to find "a couplet worthy of being taken" after reading it from beginning to end explains why he gives no example in his book. That remark is a value judgement and tells us nothing about the later fate of the divan. That the name "Zühdî" was his pen name (mahlas) is very likely, but the entry does not say so explicitly. Not a single couplet by Zühdî can be read today. The couplet "Bugün da'va-yı fazl eyler iken bir zâde-i hindî" quoted in the entry is not Zühdî's but Mecdîzâde Hâfız Kâmil Efendi's.

The "Zühdî" whom Hüsameddin names among the poets of the pen, together with Kelâmî, Türâbî and Abdî, in describing the "third period" covering the years 1017-1099 (1608-1688), is a different person; that list belongs to the seventeenth century and has nothing to do with the Hindîzâde who died at the end of the nineteenth.

Family

His son was Mehmed Şükrü Efendi; Hüsameddin calls him "hafîfü'ş-şu'ûr", that is, weak of mind. When Hüsameddin saw his father's divan, it was in his hands. His grandson Mecîd Şükrü Bey was a physician; the sixth volume names him as a dentist. According to the sixth volume, Zühdî's brother Sipahi el-Hâc İsmâil Ağa died in 1312 (1894-95).

Chronology

1308 (1890-91): He dies, according to the sixth volume.

1314 (1896-97): He dies, according to the twelfth volume.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources