Volume 04 Issue 09-2024
130
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
(ISSN
–
2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
09
P
AGES
:
130-134
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
ABSTRACT
This article is devoted to the analysis of Mehinbanu and Shirin in the epic "Farhad and Shirin" by Alisher Navoi. The
article talks about the historical roots of the characters of Mehinbanu and Shirin, the processes of their transfer from
folk art to written literature, and artistic tasks in revealing the epic's poetic content.
KEYWORDS
Epic, written literature, psychological conflict, task, image.
INTRODUCTION
In the works of Alisher Navoi, a genius word artist, the
image of women is interpreted with high pathos,
passionate emotion and special love. In particular,
almost all of the female characters in the great
"Khamsa" (except for the cunning Zoli in "Farhad and
Shirin") are ideal positive characters. The great poet,
first of all, describes their appearance and flawless
beauty. Navoi describes beauty as the main factor that
determines and confirms the dignity of women, and
honors love as a desire for man, freedom, and
goodness. [1.51]. We will analyze our opinion on the
example of Mehinbonu and Shirin.
Although Mehinbanu is not interpreted as the main
character in the work, he is a symbol of the most active,
brave, kind, patriotic and just ruler in the epic. The
word "Mehinbanu" means "great wife", "great
mistress", and her real name is Shomira (Semiramida)
[2.502]. He is contrasted with the tyrannical king
Khusrau with his intelligence, entrepreneurship and
concern for the people. It can be said that the image of
Research Article
WOMEN WITH INNER AND OUTER BEAUTY
Submission Date:
Sep 20, 2024,
Accepted Date:
Sep 25, 2024,
Published Date:
Sep 30, 2024
Crossref doi
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajps/Volume04Issue09-21
Mavlonova Mohigul Uralovna
Independent researcher, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajps
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
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American Journal Of Philological Sciences
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2771-2273)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
09
P
AGES
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130-134
OCLC
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1121105677
Publisher:
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Servi
Navoi Mehinbanu was created creatively from the
myths and legends of the Caucasian and Syrian-Median
peoples. Because Semiramis is a legendary hero, she
was originally the queen of the Syrian state. According
to historical sources, in the work of the Greek writer
Ctesius "History of Iran" (end of the 5th - beginning of
the 4th century BC), Semiramis was the daughter of
the goddess Astarte. His youth was spent in poverty
and hardship. During the Assyrian king Nin's military
campaign to Bactria, with his clever trick and practical
advice, he cleaned up the king who was in a difficult
situation and made a great contribution to his victory.
With her beauty and intelligence, she catches the
attention of the king of Syria, and king Nin marries her.
After the death of Nin, he sat on the throne of Syria.
Knowledgable Virtuous Sulaiman Semiramida, the
queen of the ancient massagets Tomaris, the queen of
the Caucasian Amazons (warrior women) Tomiranda,
the warrior women queen of the Karkalpak people
Tomir (lived in the city of Samiram), a character in
Greek mythology Tamiris, the queen of the Amazons in
Asia Minor Mirina, the queen of Assiriram (the queen
of S Shahramm ) wrote that there is harmony with their
names. [3.73-74] The roots of Mehinbanu's image are
also known as Shamiram in modern Armenian legends.
According to legends, he also founded the city of
Shamiraken near Lake Van in Armenia. Semiram is also
known by the names of Shommuramid, Shomira, and
Ashmiram and Mehinbanu in Central Asian literature
[4.108]. Under the name of Shamiram, he moved from
folklore to written literature. He became one of the
traditional images of Khamshalik through the epic
"Khusrav and Shirin" by the Azerbaijani poet Nizami
Ganjavi. [5.168]
Artistic images serve as a key to understanding the
essence of any artistic work. Because the work of art
speaks in the language of images. It should be noted
that when creating an image, the literature of each
period, moreover, each creator has a different
approach, can assign a new meaning to a certain image
or symbol, and raise its development to a new level. In
"Farhod and Shirin", one of the symbols that can
illuminate the poetic content of the work and at the
same time show the skill of the poet as a creator is
Mehinbanu. Unlike his predecessors, Mehinbanu was
assigned new tasks. In Nizami's saga, Mehinbanu's
activities are covered only through his relations with
Shirin and Khusrav, he does not know anything about
Farhad and does not even meet him. Navoi, in his epic,
tries to reflect the relationship between Farhad and
Mehinbanu broadly and vividly according to his
ideological intentions. Mehinbanu, created by the
great thinker poet, is a perfect and mature character.
She is able to solve important and difficult tasks in state
administration to the extent that she is not inferior to
male rulers, but on the contrary, she is an example.
Mehinbanu is a woman who thinks far ahead and
approaches every issue calmly and intelligently.
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According to literary critic S. Erkinov, Mehinbonu was
also a clever, wise and powerful diplomat. When he
learns the purpose of the ambassadors sent by
Khusrau several times, he finds himself in a difficult
situation. He thinks about Shirin, who is in love with
Farhad, and Farhad, who loves Shirin more than his life,
and his people, who will suffer as a result if he rejects
Khusrav. But without getting confused, in order not to
spoil relations, he welcomes Khusrav's proposal, but
he explains his excuse with the event and postpones
Khusrav's invasion of the Armenian land for some time.
Mehinbanu is a brave, intelligent and brave ruler.
Khusrav, who came with an army many times bigger
than
himself,
fearlessly
opposes
Farhad's
inappropriate taunts and insults, and boldly defends
Farhad by emphasizing his wisdom and superiority
even over Khusrav.
Another unique and instructive aspect of him is that he
values and patronizes people of knowledge, craft and
art [1.55]. He pays special attention to the
development of the country in all aspects, making its
people educated and cultured. In the saga, ten girls of
high virtue and well-educated in Mehinbanu's palace
are skillfully depicted.
It is a natural phenomenon to have such an
atmosphere and a circle around Mehinbanu and Shirin.
Because, Mehinbanu according to Navoi's definition
was a scholar as well as caring and kind to all people of
knowledge. Mehinbanu was Shirin's closest caregiver,
her shield protecting her everywhere and her aunt who
loved her more than her life. They are not shown
separately in any events related to Shirin in the epic.
The image of Shirin is the most beautiful, purest and
ideal image of a perfect woman in Navoi's imagination.
It is known that in the literature of the peoples of the
East, Shirin is a bright symbol of loyalty and
faithfulness. The image of Shirin appears in written
literature for the first time in Firdavsi's "Shahnoma". In
historical sources, it is written that she was the beloved
wife of Khusrav Parvez, who lived at the end of the 6th
century and the beginning of the 7th century.
However, the information about Shirin's birthplace is
different. In the book "History" by the Byzantine
historian Theophylact Simocatta, it is said that Shirin
(Sira) was born into a simple family of Romanian
Christians. Because of this, Khusrav's marriage to her
initially caused discontent among the court nobles.
[7.134.] There is information in Syrian sources that Sira
(Shirin) is from Iranians. [8.155] According to G.
Begdeli, Nizami embodied Shirin as a Turkish beauty.
[9.133.] Professor N. Mallaev's opinion on this matter is
different: It is useless to try to restore the "history" of
Shirin. Because Shirin had already crossed the border,
turning from a single personality into an image, a
symbol
of
beauty,
loyalty,
intelligence,
the
embodiment of the people's idea and dream about
water. [10.37.] Azerbaijani scientist G. Aliev writes that
Shirin means "taste" (sweet), and in some books it is
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VOLUME
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AGES
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OCLC
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said that the word Shirin means shir - "milk" in Persian.
It is worth noting that events such as Shirin's love of
milk and digging a milk ditch in the works reinforce
these views. After Nizami Ganjavi's epic "Khusrav and
Shirin", the character of Shirin became more popular.
In Nizami's saga, it is said that through the character of
Shirin, he revived the character of his short-lived,
beloved wife, Afaq. In the epic, the image of Farhad
was used as a tool to show Shirin's great love for
Khusrav. Shirin tries to educate Khusrav's character
flaws with his wit and intelligence. Khusrav cooperates
with Shirin in public administration affairs. In the epic,
Khusrav needed a strong and bright personality like
Shirin. For this reason, Shirin is more active in Nizami
compared to the works of other followers.
Shirin in Khusrav Dehlavi's epic is also chaste, polite
and imaginative, her inner world is pure and clean, but
she is a somewhat inactive character compared to
Khusrav. Navoi, like Farhad, does not follow in the
footsteps of his predecessors in creating the image of
Shirin. Shirin portrayed by Navoi is a character who has
reached a completely new level, she is not
"abandoned" like other Shirins or forced by her lover
who is on the path of betrayal. Shirin has a side like
Farhad, who can even give up his life, and whose love
has been found through hard trials. She is extremely
beautiful, morally perfect and appears as a true hero of
human love. Shirin is not only unique in beauty, but also
a princess with original spiritual qualities. Ye.E. Bertels'
approach is different from others: Navoi's Shirin has
only legendary beauty. He lacks Nizami's unique
intelligence, delicacy, and individuality. The scientist
comes to the conclusion that if Navoi placed these
characteristics in Shirin, he would have weakened the
character of Farhad. That is why the image of Shirin in
Navoi is weakened to the extent that it does not
negatively affect the plot of the work. Wealth and
career are not important for Shirin. Sweet, a
personification of noble moral qualities and perfection,
is Farhad's devil. When Nizami's Shirin lost Khusrau's
kingdom and came to him, he sent her away saying,
"You will come back when you sit on the throne." By
this, he shows that he is not indifferent to Khusrav's
throne. Shirin, portrayed by Navoi, loves and respects
Farhad for his humanity, hard work, loyalty and loyalty
as a simple stonecutter, not knowing that he is a
prince.
Ye.E. Bertels writes about this: "There was no need for
Shirin to re-educate Farhad. His (Farhad's) love forms
the essence of his entire work, in which a high degree
of imagination appears. There is no need to treat
Farhad with admonition, rebuke, or even harsh
treatment, as was the case with Khusrav in Nizami's
work. Shirin excites Farhad with her grace, brilliant
mind, and boundless loyalty. She is an ideal image, an
image that has the femininity and grace characteristic
of women until the end." [13.27.] Her letters are the
images that allow us to fully imagine the image of
Volume 04 Issue 09-2024
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VOLUME
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AGES
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OCLC
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Publisher:
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Shirin, who has a high spirituality. Navoi says Shirin's
letter to Farhad is painful. Shirin's spiritual world is fully
revealed in these correspondences. His dignity,
manners, chastity and the beauty of his whole inner
world are visible. Usually, there are not enough
descriptions to describe the psyche and existence of
women. That is why Navoi writes letters to Farhad and
Shirin in their own language in order to shed light on
their inner feelings, emotional experiences and soul.
CONCLUSION
In short, the images of Mehinbanu and Shirin were
refined and gradually improved as they passed from
century to century, from one nation to another
nation's literature. Navoi brought his Shirin to the level
of "divine love" from the symbol of pure and pure love,
which is not found in the works of his predecessors.
Mehinbanu's image is praised as a patron of goodness,
a talented person who paved the way for peace and
justice in the country, a virtuous and intelligent person.
A detailed study of the genesis of Mehinbanu and
Shirin characters, their place in the epic, and their
artistic qualities will allow us to find a broad way to
Navoi's worldview and to deeply study the unique
traditions of Eastern literature.
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