Methods, Principles and Practical Problems in the Study of “Hamsa”

Texts by Alisher Navoi

Manzar Abdulkhayrov, Azizullah Aral and Sobir Mansurov

Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature named after Alisher Navoi, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Method, Principle, Text, Textual Criticism, Work, Interpolation, Analysis, Glosses, Conjunctions, Literature,

Words, Dictionary.

Abstract: This article analyses the methods and principles involved in studying the texts of "Khamsa" by Alisher Navoi,

highlighting practical problems and addressing modern methods of textual criticism. It explores the use of

contextual studies in accurately interpreting Navoi's literary texts and enhancing understanding of his

worldview. Key areas of focus include innovative text-studying techniques, the importance of textual studies

in preventing Navoi's textual problems, and the role of challenging words and expressions in comprehensive

text study. The research also explores the ambiguity in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Language of the

Works of Alisher Navoi" (EDLWAN), the disregard for the text's evolutionary nature, and the spelling

differences between classical and modern writing.

1 INTRODUCTION

An in-depth exploration of the concealed works of

prominent authors of spiritual values fosters a robust

foundation for the perpetuation of our national

traditions. At present, studying this heritage in

alignment with the demands of modernity is

increasingly essential. "...Firstly, we must

meticulously examine the unique heritage of our

creative genius populace, explore a comprehensive

understanding of the life and scientific activities of

distinguished scientists and thinkers, and cultivate the

younger generation in the spirit of humanistic ideas,

national pride and dignity" (Mirziyoev Sh. M.

(2017)). Consequently, investigating the content of

Alisher Navoi's primary works, their novel directions

and methods, presents a timely scientific task.

The publication of the 20-volume "Complete

Collection of Works" by Alisher Navoi

unquestionably represents a singular achievement of

Navoi specialists. Nevertheless, further research

revealed that this publication did not evade some

textual shortcomings. If we accept the impossibility

of building a well-rounded research study based on a

flawed text, the scientific necessity of research in this

direction, founded on new criteria, directions, and

methodology, becomes apparent. This, in turn,

establishes the relevance of this study's subject

matter.

A. Navoi's abundant literary and scientific

heritage has frequently been the subject of scientific

research in the past, with numerous studies still being

conducted in this field. Notably, in earlier times,

dozens of manuscript dictionaries dedicated to the

poet's works were created (Nisobi Navoi). This

endeavour persisted into the twentieth century

(Shamsiev P., Ibrohimov S. (1953), 784). Among

these works, the most comprehensive is the four-

volume "Explanatory Lexical Dictionary of Works by

Alisher Navoi", published in 1983-1985 (.: Science,

1983 - 1985., 656). This dictionary exhibited two

shortcomings. Firstly, the dictionary was published

during the era of authoritative Soviet ideology,

leading to many terms and expressions in Navoi's

works not being correctly interpreted. Secondly, the

publication of an explanatory dictionary of the poet's

works was based on a 15-volume collection. Its

enrichment based on the 20-volume "Complete

Collection of Works" is of special interest for

studying the content of the poet's works. The task of

addressing this scientific and practical issue directed

the relevance and scope of this dissertation's topic.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

As Navoi's works are composed both poetically and

prosaically, text study necessitates a comprehensive

Abdulkhayrov, M., Aral, A. and Mansurov, S.

Methods, Principles and Practical Problems in the Study of “Hamsa” Texts by Alisher Navoi.

DOI: 10.5220/0012489800003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 423-427

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

423

examination adhering to the criteria for studying both

poetic and prose works. The application of this

principle is well-suited for all artistic, scientific, and

historical texts of the great poet's works, helping to

identify the unique trajectory of Navoi's work

development.

Until now, various textual research methods have

been employed in studying Navoi's works,

particularly artistic and hermeneutic methods for text

interpretation. However, the prosaic exposition of the

poetic text holds particular significance. The

outcomes of this research serve in two ways for the

evolutionary development of textology: a)

implementing scientific and popular scientific

publications of the poet, supplemented with

comprehensive commentary based on creating

scientific and critical texts of Navoi's works; b)

fulfilling the task of the primary factor for theoretical

scientific research conducted to study the text of the

poet's works.

During the former union era, significant literary

renewal occurred in the emerging field of literary

studies - the examination of Navoi's heritage.

Regrettably, at that time, the religious features of the

poet's works were not fully investigated. The textual

representation of each nation's religious values and its

international prestige is determined by the people's

adherence to religious tradition principles and the

development of religious symbols rooted in long-

standing religious traditions. A poet's artistic style

evolves from employing religious poetic images and

symbols grounded in religious and traditional values.

Tradition, based on religious perspectives, is a

spiritual and religious phenomenon essential to

identifying new features, ensuring successful

continuation, and future evolutionary development of

a specific new industry. In the course of work,

religious layers of the text and textual religious

implications in the poet's works are annotated. These

implications are commented upon based on several

principles, including textual meaning, comparison of

the manuscript, edition, and BSC, justification and

comparison with the Holy Quran's original, reliance

on "tafsirs", justification and mixing with hadith, and

more. Words with religious connotations can carry

both historical and lexical meaning, serving as a

significant source not only for textology or lexicology

history but also for classical literature history.

Therefore, such characteristic words provide

substantial information for fields like linguistics,

literary criticism, textology, source study,

ethnography, archaeology, geography, logic,

psychology, philosophy, and Sufism. Furthermore,

the analysis of the verses of the Holy Quran, hadith

and quotations, can significantly contribute to

fundamental research conducted on religion history.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The research results can serve as a vital resource in

publishing textual and literary source studies, Navoi

studies, classical works and manuals on Uzbek

language history, and addressing challenges in

scientific spheres such as palaeography, historical

lexicology, word science, bibliology, and literary

criticism. The results offer researchers, textologists,

literary critics, orientalists, linguists, and historians

the accurate interpretation of hitherto unknown,

difficult words with abstract meanings, aiding them

in studying Alisher Navoi's work comprehensively

and conducting new research.

Since past centuries, Uzbek classical literature

has made its mark, as reflected by the extensive

research material accumulated in global literary

criticism and textual criticism. The figure of Alisher

Navoi, who left his descendants a significant literary

and scientific legacy, stands out.

In Alisher Navoi's literary wealth, the "Khamsa"

("Five") holds a leading position in terms of volume

and importance. In his "Muҳokamat ul-luғatayn"

("Litigation of Two Languages"), he writes, "I put

five fingers on the five of 'Hamsa'. At first, my talent's

flowers were revealed in the garden of 'Hayrat ul-

abrar' ('Amazement of the Righteous'). Sheikh

Nizami's spirit poured pearls on my head from his

'Mahzan ul-asrar' ('Treasury of Secrets'). When my

thought was attracted to the allure of darkness in

'Farhad and Shirin', I lit my lamp from the flame of

'Shirin and Khosrov', from Mir Khosrov's breath.

When I turned the feet of love to the valley of 'Layli

and Majnun', I found precious stones that Khoja

Himmati had wasted in 'Gavhar-name'. When my

heart's gaze turned to 'Sabai Sayyar' ('Seven Planets'),

seven beauties from Ashraf's 'Khaft Paykar' ('Seven

Beauties') appeared before me. When my soul's

architect laid the foundation for 'Saddi Iskander'

('Wall of Iskander'), the drum of support and aid

resounded from Hazrati Mahdum (Jami)'s high

degree 'Hiradname' ('Book of Wisdom')".

Prominent orientalists such as E.E. Bertels, A.N.

Kononov, A.A. Semyonov, S.L. Volin, M. Salye,

Gafur Gulyam, S. Ainiy, S.M. Mutallibov, G.K.

Karimov, and H. Sulaymonov have extensively

studied this work.

However, a detailed study of A. Navoi's original

poems and scientific treatises suggests that there are

still numerous "blank spots," unexplored,

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incomprehensible, and untranslated words, phrases,

and expressions, warranting further interpretation.

This work demands the utmost accuracy from the

researcher, hence modern methods of conjecture,

glosses, and interpolation seem the most fitting and

appropriate for the subject of the study.

"Conjectures are significant in two respects: for

the publication of the text (we will consider this issue

later) and for the restoration of the text's history. The

degree of confidence in conjecture varies widely.

Nevertheless, for the text's history, even those

conjectures with very little proof can be important. P.

Maas, author of a renowned work on textual criticism,

advocates for leaving all possible conjectures in the

text's discrepancies, believing that they may

eventually be confirmed with the discovery of new

listings."

D.S. Likhachev states: "... The researcher must

continually bear in mind that even the most

compelling conjectural corrections of seemingly

'obvious' errors can sometimes prove incorrect. For

instance, the publishers of the third volume of the

'Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles' (St.

Petersburg, 1841) corrected in the Novgorod First

Chronicle under 1194, the word 'tirovati' to 'fat' (Blass

Fr. (1891), 71–183).

However, besides knowledge, and primarily

language knowledge, conjectural corrections require

wit and resourcefulness. Regarding this, the

renowned scientist V.V. Vinogradov writes: "The

writer's work can be precisely established and

correctly read only by those who know well or have

deeply studied the writer's language."

At present, conjectures are mainly made after the

text's publication. Textologists identify errors and

shortcomings in a published work based on the text's

meaning. This indicates that the duties of conjecture

include correcting errors in various types of sources

after fully understanding and presenting the original's

lexical and semantic features.

A gloss is a clarification of a difficult or obsolete

word, a defect in the text, or obscure reasoning. D.S.

Likhachev writes about the restoration and

interpretation of the gloss: "The terms 'glosses' and

'interpolations' are often used interchangeably.

However, they should be distinguished as follows. A

gloss is a note in the margins or within the text of a

given manuscript that does not graphically merge

with the main text. An interpolation, on the other

hand, is an insertion into the text of a work that

graphically and essentially fuses with this text,

though often awkwardly. The scribe can make an

interpolation in the text directly during the process of

transcription, but more often the interpolation is a

gloss rewritten by the scribe."

We find exhaustive information from the Uzbek

lexicography of the 15th century in Alisher Navoi's

poem. The explanation of a gloss - an

incomprehensible word, the root morpheme of their

analysis, as well as the scientific attributes of the

homonyms in "Muhokamat ul-lughatain" ("Litigation

of two languages") can be determined by comparing

them with the text of the poem.

Regarding the dictionaries of famous works

created for Navoi's consideration, the Turkologist A.

K. Borovkov wrote: "The languages of Eastern

Turkestan and the Chagatai dictionary language are

very rich and interesting as a resource, as a source of

historical and cultural significance. In particular,

Navoi's high artistic skill made a great contribution to

the study of these dictionaries; it facilitated the

compilation of dictionaries, dictionaries of these

poems in Western Europe."

Dictionaries are compiled in a specific way for

each of Navoi's poems, according to the language of

the works. The dictionaries "Hamsa bahalli lugat",

"Glossary of Atrakiya", "Glossary of Chagatai and

Türko-Usmani" consist of eight thousand words or

more. The dictionaries differ in the nature of word

description, order and arrangement according to the

alphabet, as they are composed of Arabic, Persian and

Turkish lexical units. Such a mechanism – using

dictionaries of the poem's language – aids in

understanding the text of works more quickly.

A slightly different principle of using dictionaries

is employed for understanding "Saddi Iskander"

("Iskander's Wall"), "Leyli and Majnun", and "Sabai

Sayyor" ("Seven Planets"). The "Glossary of

Atrakiya", containing over eight thousand words in

Persian, and the two-volume "Glossary of Chagatai

and Türko-Usmani", also with a dictionary of eight

thousand words, have A. Navoi using only 350 words

in his explanations and comments.

Undoubtedly, Navoi's dictionaries will contribute

to a deeper study of the text of works, and the

category is an important factor in identifying errors

and shortcomings.

Alisher Navoi's role in shaping the language of

literature and science and in expanding and enriching

the lexicon is invaluable. There is a long-standing

tradition in Uzbek Navoi studies of creating

dictionaries for Alisher Navoi's works. These

dictionaries facilitate the work of translators of the

great poet's works. The most renowned among these

dictionaries are: "Badai-al-lukat" ("Rarities of

words") by Tali Imani Herat (15th Century),

"Abushka" ("Old man"), "Sanglakh" ("Rocky place")

Methods, Principles and Practical Problems in the Study of “Hamsa” Texts by Alisher Navoi

425

by Mirza Mahdihan (13th Century), and the "Concise

Dictionary of the Works of Uzbek Classical

Literature" (1953) and the "Explanatory Dictionary to

the Works of Alisher Navoi" (1972) created by Porso

Shamsiev and Sobirzhon Ibragimov. Batyrbek

Khasanov compiled "A Concise Dictionary to the

Works of Alisher Navoi" (1993). These dictionaries

provide interpretations of numerous Turkic, Arabic

and Persian words found in the poet's works.

Presently, the aforementioned "Explanatory

Dictionary of the Language of the Works of Alisher

Navoi" (1983-1985) is considered the most

comprehensive. We compared words and expressions

from the twenty-volume collection of Alisher Navoi's

"Khamsa" with the vocabulary of the "Explanatory

Dictionary of the Language of Alisher Navoi's

Works", thereby identifying 1136 words and

expressions (1262 with repetitions) not included in

the explanatory dictionaries. These words were given

a gloss interpretation.

These dictionaries provide interpretations of

thousands of Turkic, Persian, and Arabic words and

expressions used in Alisher Navoi's works. Thus far,

the most complete is the four-volume "Explanatory

Dictionary of the Language of Alisher Navoi's

Works". Despite the existence of numerous

dictionaries on the language of Navoi's works, they

do not fully reflect the lexical richness of the poet.

Therefore, this article compares the new words and

expressions we have identified from the twenty-

volume "Complete Works" of the "Khamsa" (PSS) of

the poet with the four-volume "Explanatory

Dictionary of the Language of the Works of Alisher

Navoi" (EDWАN) and conducts a textological study.

In this study, words and expressions not included in

EDWАN were selected based on seven principles:

1. In the textual study of words and expressions

not included in the dictionary, the author relied on the

"Explanatory Dictionary of the Language of the

Works of Alisher Navoi", recognised as the most

complete and perfect to date.

2. In collecting newly revealed words and

expressions, we relied on the twenty-volume

Collected Works of "Khamsa" by Alisher Navoi.

3. Words and phrases were collected from each

volume by reading the text and comparing them with

the manuscript.

4. The recipient and the statistics of words and

expressions are clearly indicated.

5. Spelling errors in the multivolume edition and

the dictionary are corrected based on manuscripts.

6. This study also notes the available individual

phonetic variants of the words in EDWАN.

7. The work occasionally presents the lexical or

textual meanings of characteristic words not given in

EDWАN.

4 CONCLUSION

In studying the texts of Alisher Navoi's "Khamsa" and

the contemporary methods of textual criticism that

align with the subject of study, conjunctions, glosses,

and interpolations are crucial factors in providing

comprehensive and precise interpretations. This,

undoubtedly, could represent a significant

contribution to the foundational research of the poem.

Everything mentioned above reaffirms that further

research in this direction is certain to lead to new

discoveries and results. Moreover, the investigations

we conducted on the interpretation of newly revealed,

challenging-to-understand words and expressions

from the texts of Navoi's works demonstrate that the

words of the "Khamsa" text are commented on for the

first time using various methods.

REFERENCES

Mirziyoev Sh.M. (2017) The development of literature, art,

culture is a solid foundation for the spiritual

advancement of our people. Address by President Sh.

Mirziyoev at the meeting with representatives of

creative intelligentsia of Uzbekistan / Public speech. -

Tashkent, August 4,.

In the manuscript treasury of the Institute of Oriental

Studies named after No. 7863, 9954, 6803, 3324, 5197,

inventory numbers are kept: "Abushkha", "Sanglokh",

"Nisobi Navoi" are among them.

Shamsiev P., Ibrohimov S. (1953) A short dictionary for

works of Uzbek classical literature. – T: Publishing

House of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, –

B.452; Dictionary of Navoi's works. - T.: Literature and

Art, 1972. -B.784 et al.

Explanatory dictionary of the language of Alisher Navoi's

works. Four volumes. - T.: Science, 1983 - 1985.

Volume I. - B.656., II vol. -B. 642., III j. - B.624., IV

vol. - B.634.

Blass Fr. (1891) Hermeneutics and criticism. – Odessa:

University. – P.71–183.

Abdulkhayrov M. (2009). Words and phrases in Navoi's

works/Monography. - T.: Tafakkur bostoni, - B.240.

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