Tashkent Copy of Alisher Navoi's "Badae’-ul-Bidaya" Divan as an Exemplary Example of Book Art

Abstract

All the works of Alisher Navoi (1441-1501) reflected the majestic appearance of the Timurid era. In the cultural aura of the XV century, the Timurid princes, who were the rulers of that time, occupied a place in a number of historical and literary sources of both literary figures and literary personalities. At the same time, the Timurids paid special attention to the Turkic language and literature, and they themselves wrote works in the old Uzbek (Chagatai) language. These facts are given in the works of Alisher Navoi “Madzhalis-un-Nafais” and other sources. In particular, all the verses of Alisher Navoi were included in the compilation “Hazayin-ul-Maani”. However, even before the creation of this cullet Navoi made sofa called "Bedayiü’l-Bidaye". Later, the "Navadir-un-nihaya" sofa also reappeared.

And the divan “Bedayiü’l-Bidaye” is very important in the study of the poetic world of Navoi. This divan is known to have had six copies in the world's manuscript treasures and collections. These copies are kept in prestigious book collections such as Paris, Tehran, London, Baku, Istanbul and Tashkent. The copies of “Bedayiü’l-Bidaye” in question were copied between 1481 and 1486. Despite the fact that each handwritten copy has its own characteristics, in 1486 the last – sixth complete copy was prepared in the city of Herat, ordered directly under the supervision of Alisher Navoi. Currently, this copy is located in Tashkent.

In this article, special attention is paid to the copy of the sofa “Bedayiü’l-Bidaye” stored in the Fund Of the Alisher Navoi state Museum of literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan as a book art. It is emphasized that this manuscript is a kind of a rare example of calligraphy and artistic design of a Timurid book. The textual composition of the verses of this copy are commented on.