Lessons 11 · 1 lessons · B. To‘xliyev, B. Karimov, K. Usmonova. Literature: textbook-collection for Grade 10 of secondary schools and for students of secondary specialised and vocational institutions, Parts 1–2. 1st edition. “O‘zbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi” State Scientific Publishing House, Tashkent, 2017
11
Alisher Navoiy: life and work
Textbook: Part 1, pp. 72–81
GoalKnow Alisher Navoiy’s age, the main directions of his work and his works.
New words
bilingual (writing in two languages) · zullisonayncollection of a poet’s lyric poems · devonbiographical anthology of poets · tazkiraa set of five dastans (khamsa) · Xamsa
Explanation
Alisher Navoiy (1441–1501) lived in the second half of the 15th century under the Timurids: in Samarkand Ulug‘bek’s observatory had studied the positions of 1018 stars, and Herat flourished under Husayn Boyqaro. Navoiy was a bilingual (zullisonayn) poet writing in Turkic and Persian; his pen name is Navoiy in Turkic poetry and Foniy in Persian. Bobur noted that he had six masnavi books (five in answer to the “Khamsa” plus “Lison ut-tayr”) and four ghazal divans – “G‘aroyib us-sig‘ar”, “Navodir ush-shabob”, “Badoyi ul-vasat”, “Favoyid ul-kibar”; together the four divans are called “Xazoyin ul-ma’oniy”. “Majolis un-nafois” gives information on 459 creators and consists of eight majlises. “Mezon ul-avzon” is about aruz, and “Muhokamat ul-lug‘atayn” (1498) is a scholarly work on the rich possibilities of the Turkic language. He also wrote “Tarixi anbiyo va hukamo”, “Tarixi muluki ajam”, “Nasoyim ul-muhabbat”, “Nazm ul-javohir”, “Munshaot” (1499) and others.
Worked examples
Example: comparing Turkic and Persian, Navoiy shows that for a hundred Turkic verbs Persian has no equivalent word – this is his method of proof in “Muhokamat ul-lug‘atayn”.
Example: the seventh majlis of “Majolis un-nafois” is devoted to Temur and the Timurids and the eighth to Husayn Boyqaro – the book’s structure follows chronological and geographic principles.
Class activity
Place Navoiy’s works in a table by group (lyrics, dastans, scholarly, historical, religious-ethical); write at least 2 works in each column.
Practice
1
In which years did Navoiy live? In which two languages did he write?