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About the chiston
Textbook: p. 229
GoalKnow the features and kinds of the chiston genre.
New words
riddle · topishmoqlughz, riddle in Persian poetry · lug‘zfigurative chiston · majoziy chistonsimple chiston · oddiy chiston
Explanation
A chiston is a poetic riddle in classical literature. The word is made of the Persian “chist” (what) and “on” (that), meaning “what is that?”. Its length is not fixed, but it is often one or two couplets. In Turkic literature the first chistons were created by Alisher Navoiy; in Persian-Tajik literature they existed several centuries earlier and were called lughz. Chistons are of two kinds: figurative (“Anor”) and simple (“Yong‘oq”, “Kun va tun”); the first may also allude to social life.
Worked examples
Example: a riddle starting “no door, yet full inside” – you find the answer through the signs: that is the chiston game.
Example: “Anor” is figurative because behind the images of the dome and the girls another meaning may stand.
Class activity
Compare a folk riddle with a chiston: give two similarities and one difference.
Practice
1
What does the word “chiston” mean?
“What is that?” – from Persian “chist” and “on”.
2
Who created the first chistons in the Turkic language?
Alisher Navoiy.
3
What was the chiston called in Persian-Tajik literature?
Lughz.
4
How does a figurative chiston differ from a simple one?
In a figurative chiston a social or other meaning may be hidden behind the image.