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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: Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne’

07 Saturday Nov 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 4 Comments

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deyiş, Gölpınarlı, mahlas, Memet Fuat, Pertev Naili Boratav, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, Shah Ismail, Shah Tahmasp, Talat Halman

approaching KayseriThis deyiş appears in Ergun’s 1929 collection of Pir Sultan’s lyrics and again in Gölpınarlı and Boratav’s 1943 edition where the source is given as Ergun, although with a couple of slight changes. In the first line of the 4th verse Ergun has  Mağripte (Mağrib = Magreb, the West) while Gölpınarlı/Boratav give Meydana; and in the 3rd verse Ergun has küçük gazili while Gölpınarlı/Boratav have köçek gazili. The version used for my translation is from Memet Fuat (1999 reprint edition) who follows Ergun in regards to Mağripte (well almost, since he has the ablative Mağriğtan rather than the locative) and Gölpınarlı/Boratav in regards to köçek (both versions give the sense of a novice entering the tarikat). This deyiş is a good example of a theme found in the lyrics of Pir Sultan – the hope and expectation of the coming of the Shah, in this case the temporal ruler. It is for such allegiances that the kızılbaş were pursued by the Ottoman authorities. The word Urum refers to the land of ‘Rum’, Anatolia, the Ottoman lands.  Three generations of the Safavids are referred to in the lyric (as Fuat notes): Shah Tahmasp is the ‘beautiful leader’ who is expected; and he is the ‘Shah’s son’, that is the son of Shah Ismail, the first Safavid ruler, while ‘Old Haydar’ refers to Ismail’s father and Tahmasp’s grandfather. The mahlas verse reveals that this expectation may be but a wish of Pir Sultan’s.

Update:

An astute reader makes some good critical comments on this translation. Firstly in relation to my rendering, or non-rendering of the Persian izafet (nominal compound) construction Şah-ı cihan which is more correctly Shah of the World. I am inclined to agree with the reader that this would be a better translation to adopt. My original rendering and interpretation as “mortal Shah” was rather to emphasise the reference to the worldly rule of  Şeyh Haydar (Sheik Haydar) to who it refers. Nevertheless ‘Shah of the World’ conveys that meaning and does have are rather more poetic tone, perhaps, than a compromise rendering of ‘worldly Shah’ which I also considered. So I have changed this.

The reader suggests that perhaps imam should not be translated at all since the religious context is lost. This is perhaps true. In the construction of the On İki İmam in the final verse I do not translate imam because of its specific reference, whereas in the refrain line Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor I originally tranlated it as leader. This was deliberate in order to assert the temporal leadership that I think is certainly a strong aspect of the way these lyrics are looked upon today. I think the perspective of the age considering these lyrics is relevant for a work that emerges from folklore and certainly this is a consideration in my interest in these lyrics – the life and meaning they have now. However, I have decided to change this, for now, to ‘guide’ which perhaps retains a element of the religious or spiritual context. I am also inclined to persist with this line as a fully translated line – for the English reader for whom the translation is intended – since it is the refrain line.

The reader very reasonably questions the logic of rendering mağrib as West. Mağrib can mean Morocco or the Magreb, the place where the sun sets, that is the West. But this line did trouble me in my translation, for the geographic illogic. Still, these lyrics are of a nature that narrative logic is not always present, so I was prepared to render it as best I could and accept the meaning may remain obscure. However in looking at this again, I am coming to the view that the intended word here may not be mağrib but rather magib which means being absent or in concealment. It would be helpful to find variants of this lyric that pointed to such a reading, but I have not. Nevertheless I am prepared to go out on a limb and adopt this meaning, since the meaning of the ‘West’ may also incorporate a sense of  ‘absence’ or ‘concealment’. So I have changed the reading of this line to “Emerging from concealment he appears again” – which also obviously hints at the emergence of the twelfth imam.

The reader also suggest a reading of dolu with its meaning of ‘hail’ and in her view referring to the Shah’s martial spirit. I don’t concur with this reading. In Alevi and Turkish folk culture dolu specifically refers to a cup full of spirit or liquor. Özbek ( in Türkülerin Dili) gives the meaning as “içki, içkiyle dolu kadeh“; and Korkmaz (in Alevilik ve Bektaşilik Terimleri Sözlüğü) gives “içki doldurulmuş kadeh, içki“. In the Alevi cem ceremony the Saki scatters the holy liquor over the congregation. I have amended my translation to try this reading: “he dispersed the full cup of spirit at each step”. Not sure this is better, but these are works in progress.

In considering the readers comments I am reminded of Talat Halman’s – Halman is probably the best translator of this material – assertion that a single translator can hardly do a definitive version and that “a whole consort of virtuoso renditions … might be far more effective”.  As Halman further noted “many of the best poems were actually created as musical composition in their own right and require a miracle for successful transposition” (see Halman’s article Translating Turkish Literature and “Cultranslation” in Translation Review No. 68, 2004).

Pir Sultan Abdal: Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne

Translation: Paul Koerbin

He made a march on Anatolia

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

I came down and kissed his hand

The beautiful leader of Ali’s descent is coming

He dispersed the full cup of spirit at each step

Arab horses tied in his stable

If you ask of his origin he is the Shah’s son

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

His fields are marked out step by step

From the hand of his rival his heart grieves

Dressed in green the young novice warrior

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

Emerging from concealment he appears again

No-one knows the secret of the sainted one

Descendant of Old Haydar  Shah of the World

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

I am Pir Sultan Abdal if I see those things

If I pay humble respect entreating

From the first the prince of the twelve imams

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

————————————————————————————————————————–

Original text from Memet Fuat Pir Sultan Abdal (1999 ed.)

Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

İnip temennâ eyledim destine

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Doluları adım adım dağıdır

Tavlasında küheylânlar bağlıdır

Aslını sorarsan Şah’ın oğludur

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Tarlaları adım adım çizili

Rakîbin elinden ciğer sızılı

Al yeşil giyinmiş köçek gazili

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Meydana çıkar görünü görünü

Kimse bilmez Evliyanın sırrını

Koca Haydar Şah-ı cihan torunu

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Pir Sultan Abdal’ım görsem şunları

Yüzün sürsem boyun eğip yalvarı

Evvel baştan On İki İmam severi

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Ey benim dîvane gönlüm’

22 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

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Ali Haydar Avcı, deyiş, Erkan Oğur, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, Translation, İsmail H. Demircioğlu

dogubeyazit2The text given here and used for this translation is from Ergun’s 1929 publication and I have retained the original orthography which includes some flexibility in the choice of vowel, e.g. gice for gece, aktur for aktır, dir for der. This text is another that seems to have some age to it with strong sufi elements. Erkan Oğur and İsmail H. Demircioğlu recorded a languid, contemplative arrangement (tune written by Demircioğlu) on their 1998 Kalan recording Gülün Kokusu Vardı, which brings out this characteristic. Their recording includes some variations in the text, notably in the last couplet of first verse which they sing as Bu cefayı kendi özüm / Pek mail gördüm yalınız (the accompanying booklet prints cezayı for cefayı but they sing the latter). This verse equates to the text as presented by Ali Haydar Avcı in his work Osmanlı gızlı tarihinde Pir Sultan Abdal ve bütün deyişleri, Noktakitab, 2006 (p. 775).  He also provides another version of these lines: Yüce dağların başında / Kaynadım çoştum yalınız. Both these readings avoid the reference to the three day new moon period of the lunar month mihâk. The singers also discard the 4th verse. The other notable variations to be found refer to the final verse where “the forty” (kırklar) is added to “the three” and “the seven”, replacing Erenler; and Ergun also notes a variant in second line of the third verse, found in mecmua number 40 in the Selim Ağa Kütüphanesi in Üsküdar, which reads: Varsam hayır himmet alsam.

Pir Sultan Abdal: Ey benim dîvane gönlüm

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Hey my foolish heart

I fell upon the mountains alone

This is the reason for this sigh of mine

I saw a time of the new moon alone

There are mountains higher than mountains

Can the soul endure this force

Of my pain for three days and nights

If I speak ceaseless, alone

If I were to reach the foot of the Shah

If I were to take the blessed prayer

If I were to plunge into the Red River

If I were to purl and flow alone

My Shah’s river flows clear

It’s taste more sweet than sugar

There is nothing greater than Allah

God I said and stood alone

I am Pir Sultan those who see tell

Those giving salutation to the saints

The Enlightened by threes and sevens

I came for blessing alone

————————————————————————–

Original text from Sadettin Ergun, Pir Sultan Abdal, 1929

Ey benim dîvane gönlüm

Dağlara düştüm yalınız

Bu benim âhım yüzünden

Bir mihâk gördüm yalınız

Dağlara var dağlardan yüce

Can mı dayanır bu güce

Hâlimi üç gün üç gice

Söylesem bitmez yalınız

Şâh’ın ayağına varsam

Hayırlı gülangin alsam

Kızıl ırmaklarına dalsam

Çaglasam aksam yalınız

Şâh’ımın ırmağı aktur

Lezzeti şekerden çoktur

Bir Allah’tan büyük yoktur

Hak didim durdum yalınız

Pir Sultan’ım dir görenler

Pirlere niyaz idenler

Üçler yediler erenler

Mürvete geldim yalınız

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Gel benim sarı tanburam’

23 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 4 Comments

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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

Iconography of books about Pir Sultan Abdal #1: Ergun, 1929

05 Friday Jun 2009

Posted by koerbin in Book iconography

≈ 1 Comment

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Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun

Of some interest to me is the iconography of the books about Pir Sultan and indeed Alevilik more broadly. I have been collecting as many editions of Pir Sultan texts et al. for some time and have copies of most, if not all, the seminal texts. So from time to time I will post some scans of the covers as a record of the iconography of these books.

ergun_1929The earliest monograph on Pir Sultan Abdal was the book by Sadettin Nüzhet (Ergun). Ergun’s adopted surname (soyadı) does not appear on the original 1929 edition of the book. It is titled in full: XVIIinci asır Sazşairlerinden Pir Sultan Abdal (Pir Sultan Abdal of the 17th century era minstrels (literally saz poets)) and is published by the Istanbul Evkaf Matbaası in soft brown cardboard covers. It is the 3rd volume in a series edited by Mehmet Köprülü (Köprülüzade Mehmet Fuat) titled Türk Sazşairleri âit metinler ve tetkikler (texts and researches regarding the Turkish saz poets), the first two volumes being devoted to the poets Gevheri and Erzurumlu Emrah. The book is 77 pages and includes the texts of 105 poems along with 6 notated melodies. The introductory matter by Ergun constitutes only about 15 pages, albeit of considerable value. Original price was 60 kuruş.

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