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PİR SULTAN ABDAL and me

~ A personal reflection on the great Alevi poet's lyric works and influence – mostly through translation

PİR SULTAN ABDAL and me

Tag Archives: Besim Atalay

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Ben dervişim diye göğsün açarsın’

26 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Besim Atalay, Dervish, Gölpınarlı, Memet Fuat, Translation

The earliest appearance of this deyiş in print is in Bektaşilik ve edebiyatı by Besim Atalay (1882-1965) published in 1924. Gölpınarlı and Boratav (1943) also include the text indicating the sources as Atalay and cönk in the possession of Gölpınarlı. One of the dilemmas for this translation is whether or not to translate the terms mürşid and rehber. While these terms have quite specific connotation in Alevi ritual culture they are to some sufficient degree translatable. I have have therefore translated them, capitalising the terms ‘Teacher’ – not a fully adequate term; perhaps ‘Master’ may be better? – and ‘Guide’ to indicate that the terms have specific rather generic meaning. As Mehmet Fuat (Pir Sultan Abdal, 1999 ed.)  notes in respect to the third line of the second verse – which is somewhat awkward to translate – the reference is to smoking out bees from the hive in order to secure the honey. Fuat also gives guidance in respect to the last line of the lyric which refers to the practice of the novice dervish being brought before the Mürşid during the confirmation ceremony to enter the tarikat and the Mürşid takes the dervish’s right hand in his right hand while the dervish holds the skirt (etek) of the Mürşid with his left hand.

This deyiş has obvious connections to one of the oldest attributable lyrics to the person of Pir Sultan Serseri girme meydana in its theme and imagery.

The curious photograph of the ‘dervish’ is from Alma Wittlin’s book Abdul Hamid: the shadow of God (English translation published by John Lane in 1940).

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Ben dervişim diye göğsün açarsın’

Translation: Paul Koerbin

You stick out your chest saying ‘I am a dervish’

Do you have the tongue to invoke God?

Look to yourself, what do you want from strangers?

Do you have the strength to reach the state of ecstasy?

Like a fish one day they will ensnare you in a net

They will question you about your Teacher and Guide

Lighting incense, sending you scattering, they will seek

‘I am a bee’ you say – do you have honey?

Do those without affliction complain?

Does a shrewd dervish turn from his vow?

Do all creatures of the air light on a rose branch?

‘I am a nightingale’ you say – do you have a rose?

I am Pir Sultan, your affliction is not laid bare

Those without affliction don’t confront suffering

The ways are not passed over without the Teacher and Guide

Do you have your hand on the Teacher’s cloak?

———————————————————————————————–

Original text from Gölpınarlı and Boratav (1943)

Ben dervişim diye göğsün açarsın

Hakkı zikretmeğe dilin var mıdır

Sen kendi görsene ilde n’ararsın

Hâli hâl etmeğe hâlin var mıdır

Bir gün balık gibi ağa sararlar

Mürşidinden rehberinden sorarlar

Tütsü yakıp köşe köşe ararlar

Ben arıyım dersin balın var mıdır

Dertli olmıyanlar derde yanar mı

Tahkik derviş ikrarından döner mi

Her bir uçan gül dalına konar mı

Ben bülbülüm dersin gülün var mıdır

Pir Sultan’ım senin derdin deşilmez

Derdi olmıyanlar derde duş olmaz

Mürşitsiz rehbersiz yollar açılmaz

Mürşit eteğinde elin var mıdır

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Gel benim sarı tanburam’

23 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Besim Atalay, deyiş, Gölpınarlı, Pertev Naili Boratav, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, tanbura, Translation, Yunus Emre

tanburaThis deyiş appears in the all of the earliest collections of Pir Sultan Abdal lyrics, including Besim Atalay’s 1924 publication Bektaşilik ve Edebiyatı (originally in Ottoman Turkish but translated into modern Turkish by Vedat Atila and published by Ant Yayınları in Istanbul in 1991). It also appears in Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun’s 1929 work on Pir Sultan Abdal and in the 1943 publication by Gölpınarlı and Boratav. Comparing these editions is interesting since there are minor variants in the texts – the minor nature of the variants is of itself interesting and perhaps gives a glimpse of how a traditional lyric may be adopted into the Pir Sultan canon. The lyric is not overtly on the central themes associated with Pir Sultan such as the kızılbaş devotion to the Imam Ali (but see below) or subjects associated with his life story; rather it seems closer to Sufi themes and the lyrics of Yunus Emre. The text I have translated is based on that presented in Gölpınarlı and Boratav’s 1943 edition. This seems to be something of composite text, though Gölpınarlı’s method of presenting the texts, while stating sources does not make clear how variants are used. The authors cite the sources as Atalay, Ergun and an undefined number of cönk and mecmua in Gölpınarlı’s possession. The most interesting of the minor variations of text is found in the version presented by Atalay who gives the last line of each stanza as ‘Ali deyu inilerim’ (‘I moan crying Ali’) thus revealing somewhat more overtly the Alevi theme in the lyric. The one line that is different in the three versions cited is the third line of the second stanza which in Gölpınarlı reads ‘Oldum ayn-i cem bülbülü’, in Ergun reads ‘Olmuşam Şah’ın bülbülü’ and in Atalay reads ‘Oldum muhabbet bülbülü’. While the signficance of the line is hardly altered, the approaches ranging from the specific mention of the ritual ceremony (ayn-i cem), to the hoped for Shah and to the general idea of love and unity (muhabbet) is instructive.

The tanbura mentioned is one of the names for the long necked lute played by the aşık-s. Other names commonly encountered in the Alevi deyiş are saz, kopuz and bağlama. Interestingly, in the version of this lyric published by Ergun the word tanbura is used except in the last stanza where it states ‘Bağlamadır benim adım’ (‘My name it is bağlama‘). In organological terms the tanbura (or tambura) is a larger member of the bağlama family with a narrow-ish body tapering into the long neck – a rather beautiful form. The reference to the yellow (sarı) lute may suggest the pale spruce soundboard or the belly, often made of chestnut (kestane) which is of a pale yellow hue.

Pir Sultan Abdal: Gel benim sarı tanburam

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Come my yellow lute

Why do you moan?

I am hollow within, my grief is great

This is the reason I moan

They attached string to my arm

They made me speak countless languages

I was the nightingale in the ceremony

This is the reason I moan

They attached fretting to my arm

They had me meet with countless sorrows

Who settles here and who departs

This is the reason I moan

They lay my chest upon the seat

They stroked me without stop

They opened up my breast as they struck

This is the reason I moan

Come my yellow lute

I shall lay you upon my knee

Again my heart is broken

This is the reason I moan

Yellow lute is my name

My cry rises to the heavens

I am Pir Sultan my master

This is the reason I moan

—————————————————————————————————————

Original text from Gölpınarlı and Boratav Pir Sultan Abdal (1943)

Gel benim sarı tanburam

Sen ne için inilersin

İçim oyuk derdim büyük

Ben anınçin inilerim

Koluma taktılar teli

Söyletirler bin bir dili

Oldum ayn-i cem bülbülü

Ben anınçin inilerim

Koluma taktılar perde

Uğrattılar bin bir derde

Kim konar kin göçer burda

Ben anınçin inilerim

Goğsüme tahta döşerler

Durmayıp beni okşarlar

Vurdukça bağrım deşerler

Ben anınçin inilerim

Gel benim sarı tanburam

Dizler üsünde yatıram

Yine kırıldı hâtıram

Ben anınçin inilerim

Sarı tanburadır adım

Göklere ağar feryadım

Pir Sultan’ımdır üstadım

Ben anınçin inilerim

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