İran ve Anadolu Sahasında Erselannâmeler
İran ve Anadolu sahası ortak kültürel mirası ürünlerinden olan Erselannâmeler, el yazma ve taş basımı nüshalarının yanı sıra günümüz İran Türklerinin sözlü geleneğinde yaşamaktadır. Danişmendnâme, Battalnâme ve Şikâri Destanı ile konu ve motif benzerliğiyle öne çıkan Erselannâme aynı geleneğin devamı niteliğinde sayılabilir. İran sahasında birkaç el yazma ve taş basım nüshası bulunan destanın Anadolu sahasında günümüze dek bilinen tek nüshası İstanbul Atatürk Kitaplığında bulunmaktadır. 407 sayfadan oluşan hacimli taş basım eser musavver olup 27 resim içermektedir. Manzum ve mensur iç içe yazılan eserde Farsça ve Türkçe aruz vezninde şiirlerin yanı sıra Farsça Arapça mulamma şiir örneği de bulunmaktadır. Destanda Türkçe ve Farsça toplam 132 beyit şiir bulunmaktadır. Bu sayıdan 67 beyit Farsça ve 65 beyit şiir Türkçedir. Farsça şiirler aruz vezninde yazılırken Türkçe şiirler aruz ve hece ölçüsünde yazılmıştır. Edebȋ sanatların kullanıldığı süslü nesir örneklerinden olan Erselannâme’nin İstanbul nüshası, Arap alfabesiyle Azerbaycan Türkçesinde yazılsa da Farsça ve Arapça terkiplerin kullanıldığı eser akıcı ve sürükleyici bir üsluba mâliktir. Farsça yazılan Erselannâmelerin İran kütüphanelerinde el yazma ve taş basım nüshaları Kum ve Tahran kütüphanelerinde tespit edilmiştir. Kaçar döneminde Nakib-ül’ Memalik tarafından yazılan Erselannâmeler İstanbul ve Tebriz’de bulunan Türkçe versiyonlarının yanı sıra Kum ve Tahran kütüphanelerinde taşbasım nüshalara sahiptir. Günümüz İran Türkleri sözlü geleneğinde bulunan “Emir Erselan-ı Rûmi Dastanı” bu destanın âşık anlatımı versiyonudur. İran’da destancı âşıkların repertuvarında bulunan Erselannâme’nin en kapsamlı varyantı 1978-1979 yılları arasında Tebriz-Karadağ âşık muhitinden olan Ȃşık Abdülali Nûrȋ tarafından kasetler üzerine kayda alınmıştır. Sözlü Erselannâme yazılı versiyonundan daha kapsamlı olup 400 dörtlük hece vezninde şiir içermektedir. Çalışmamızda İran ve Anadolu sahasında yazılı ve sözlü Erselannâmeleri tanıttıktan sonra bu eserin Farsça ve Türkçe yazılı nüshaları konusunda bilgi vereceğiz.
Saints and Sufis of the First Period in Divan Poetry
As a literary work, Erselannames is a common cultural heritage of Iran and Anatolia found in both manuscripts and stone printed copies. Today, versions of it also seen in the oral traditions of the Iranian Turks. The epic shares similar themes and subjects with Danishmendnâme, Battalnâme and Şikâri Epic. Indeed, it can be considered a continuation of the same tradition in terms of motifs. There are manuscripts and lithographs of Erselannames in Iran. The only known copy in the Anatolian area to date is in the Istanbul Atatürk Library.The volume of work consisting of a stone edition contains 407 pages and 27 illustrations. The poems of Erselannames, which are written in verse and prose, are in Persian and Turkish. Erselannames also contains an example of Persian Arabic mulamma couplet poetry (E.İ. 380/7-8). Poems predominate in the epic’s emotional telling; in total, the work has more than 132 poem forms in Turkish and Persian. While the Persian poems are written in prosody meter, the Turkish poems are based on numbers of prosodic units and syllables. The Istanbul copy of Erselannames was written in Azerbaijani Turkish with the Arabic alphabet. As an example of decorated prose in the literary arts, the work contains both Persian and Arabic compositions. Although the language is heavy, its style is fluent. Libraries in Iran have manuscripts of Erselannames written in Persian as well as stone printed copies. For instance, copies have been identified in the libraries of Kum and Tehran. The Persian version of Erselannames, during the period of the Qajars, differs from the Turkish version. Today, the most comprehensive variant of the Erselannames is a verbal form of the epic called “Emir Erselan-ı Rûmi Dastan,” found in the Iranian Turks’ minstrel tradition. It was tape recorded by Ashik Abdulali Nuri, who was from Tabriz-Karadag, in 1978 and 1979. It is more comprehensive than the written version and contains more than 400 quatrains and syllable poems. This study first describes the written and oral versions of Erselannames found in Iran and Anatolia, then compares the written versions in Persian and Turkish.
Erselannames, an epic found in written and oral sources in Iran and Anatolia, tells stories about spreading Islam and fighting infidels. It is found in Persian and Turkish written sources as well as the oral tradition of Iranian Turks. The only written copy in the Anatolian area is in Istanbul. It is an illustrated copy that consists of 407 pages, including 27 pictures. The Istanbul copy differs from others in that it lists titles at the top of each page. In total, there are 372 Persian titles in the work. Unfortunately, the first two pages of this voluminous copy are missing. The written versions of Erselannames found in Iran are in Persian and Turkish. In the Iranian Turk oral tradition, Erselannames is known as “Emir Erselan-ı Rûmi Dastan” among the epics narrated by the ashiq. The most comprehensive variant of Erselannames found in oral sources was recorded under the name “Emir Erselan-ı Rûm Epic” in 1978–1979 by Asiq Abdulali Nûrȋ in Tabriz-Karadag. The tapes consist of 20 hours of recording. In this study, the researchers transcribed the epic as narrated on the tapes.
As of today, four copies of Erselannames have been found. Persian and Turkish manuscripts and printed copies are located in Turkey and Iran’s stone library. Also, The Istanbul Atatürk Library has a printing of the stone found in Turkey (K.03555 number). Iranian copies of Erselannames are available in libraries in Tehran and Kum. There are four copies of the Persian Erselannames in the National Library of Iran in Tehran:
• First copy at the National Library of Iran (number 21177)
• Second copy at the National Library of Iran (number 258939)
• Third copy at the National Library of Iran (number 2937)
• Manuscript at Kum Melik Library (1393/04/06421/005)
Erselannames, which uses verse and prose to convey emotional tales, contains poems in Persian and Turkish prosody as well as couplet poems in Persian Arabic (E.İ. 380/7-8). In total, the work has more than 132 verse forms in Turkish and Persian. While the Persian poems are written in prosody meter, the Turkish poems are based on numbers of prosodic units and syllables. The Istanbul copy of Erselannames contains 27 illustrations of scenes in the epic. Different from the other copies of the Istanbul edition, this copy has each page written in a frame. At the beginning of each frame is a short Persian title about the page content. There are 372 short Persian titles in the Istanbul copy. They begin with the title dȋdǝn-i ḫˇace Numân zen-e Melikşâh râ der cezȋre given on the fourth page (E.İ. 406/b) and end with the title daḫil şoden-e Emir Erselan be-şahr-e Rûm. Another feature of the Istanbul copy of Erselannames is its patterns of Azerbaijani Turkish oral literature. That is, certain verbal expressions from the Azerbaijani oral tradition can be found in the written literature. Examples of these patterns are given below: (E.İ. 39/19) el-kesse; (E.İ. 162/13) bu ehvâlât burda kalsun ‘arz edǝyüm Mǝlik Erselan’dan; (E.İ. (E.İ. 150/13) amma neçǝ kǝlmǝ ‘arz edǝyim Emȋr Hûşǝng’dǝn. Erselannames has left important traces in Iranian culture as one of the epics Azerbaijani oral tradition. For instance, it has been featured in Iranian theater and cinema, including two films shot in 1933 and 1955, respectively. Erselannames was also found in the oral tradition until the last 20–30 years, namely, in the narratives of minstrels. However, it is no longer seen. The most comprehensive variant of the epic was recorded on cassettes in 1978–1979, narrated by Ashik Abdulali Nuri (1939–2003). In Iranian Turk narratives, Erselannames holds an important place, much like Shikari. Shikari and The Epic of Emir Erselan are rich epics that contains main motifs from Azerbaijani Turkish culture. As a significant work of oral and written culture, Erselannames should be researchered further.
