Alisher Navoiy: life and legacy

Alisher Navoiy was born on 9 February 1441 in Herat and died in 1501. His birthday, 9 February, is celebrated in Uzbekistan as a day of literature and culture. Navoiy was a poet, thinker and statesman. In a period when Persian-Tajik literature dominated, he created highly artistic works in the Turkic language and proved the rich possibilities of this language. His largest work is the “Xamsa” (five dostons). Among Turkic poets only Navoiy brought writing a khamsa to completion. He also has collected works in twenty volumes. Navoiy created ghazals, quatrains, qit’as and prose works; “Mahbub ul-qulub” (1500) is his last major prose work. He patronised science, art and architecture and did much for the people’s welfare.