Yusuf Khass Hajib and “Qutadg‘u bilig”

Yusuf Khass Hajib was a poet of the 11th century who wrote in the Turkic language. Yusuf is his given name, while “khass hajib” (head of the door) was an official post granted for his dastan, which he took as his pen name; he is called Balasaguni because he was born in Balasagun. He finished “Qutadg‘u bilig” in Kashgar in AH 462 (AD 1069–1070) and offered it to the ruler Tavghachkhan Ulugh Bughra Qarakhan; the work has 6409 couplets and was written at about fifty years of age. It is a masnavi in the aruz meter mutaqorib. Three manuscripts survive: Vienna (copied in Herat in 1439), Cairo (found in 1896) and Namangan, which Abdurauf Fitrat obtained in 1924. The four heroes are symbols: the ruler Kuntug‘di – justice, the vizier Oyto‘ldi – fortune, the vizier’s son O‘gdulmish – intellect, the vizier’s relative O‘zg‘urmish – contentment and health.