Behiştî of Vize and The Shahrangiz of Bursa
Fatih TığlıBehiştî of Vize was a sixteenth-century poet who wrote in the shahrangiz genre, which featured well-known, prominent, or famous people and beauties in the context of a particular city in classical Turkish literature. The shahrangiz of Behiştî, known by the pseudonyms Vizeli, Vaiz, and Sânî, to avoid confusion with other poets bearing the same pseudonym, intertwines with the shahrangiz of the Mesîhî and the Kerîmî. It is part of a poem collection manuscript with scattered pages, registered as Mil Yz A 827 in Ankara National Library catalog. According to historical records, Behiştî was born in Vize, studied in Istanbul, was assigned to Çorlu, and later went to Bursa, as perceived by the statements in his shahrangiz. Shahrangiz, believed to be missing a section at the beginning, consists of a total of 113 couplets, including a 108-couplet mathnawi and a 5-couplet ghazal at the end. This text is written with an aruz meter generally preferred for the shahrangiz, the hezec: mefâîlün/mefâîlün/feûlün.
Vizeli Behiştî ve Bursa Şehrengizi
Fatih TığlıKlasik Türk edebiyatında belirli bir şehir bağlamında olmak üzere şehrin tanınmış, ileri gelen veya meşhur kişilerini, güzellerini, ele alan şehrengiz türünde eser veren şairlerden biri de XVI. yüzyıl şairlerinden Vizeli Behiştî’dir. Aynı mahlaslı diğer şairlerden ayrılması için Vizeli, Vaiz, Sânî lakapları ile anılan Behiştî’nin bu eseri, Ankara Millî Kütüphane’de Mil Yz A 827 numarada kayıtlı varakları dağınık bir mecmuada Mesihî’nin ve Kerimî’nin şehrengizleri ile karışmış bir vaziyette yer almaktadır. Metne karışan Mesihî’nin ve Kerimî’nin Edirne şehrengizlerinde yer alan isimlerin çıkarılmasıyla geri kalan beyitler, Bursa Şehrengizi olarak değerlendirilmiş, Latin harflerine aktarılmış ve incelenmiştir. Kaynaklarda hayatının doğduğu Vize, eğitimini tamamladığı İstanbul ve vazifede bulunduğu Çorlu olmak üzere üç değişik yerde geçtiği belirtilen Behiştî, muhtemelen hayatının bir döneminde de Bursa’ya gitmiştir. Şehrengizde yer alan ibarelerden bir müddet Bursa’da gurbet hayatı yaşadığı anlaşılmaktadır. Baş tarafında az da olsa bir eksiklik olduğunu düşündüğümüz şehrengiz, 108 beyitlik mesnevi ve sonda yer alan 5 beyitlik bir gazel olmak üzere toplam 113 beyitten oluşmaktadır. 21 güzel üçer beyit ile zikredilmiştir. Şehrengizlerde genellikle tercih edilen aruzun hezec bahrinin mefâîlün/ mefâîlün/ feûlün kalıbıyla yazılmıştır. Eser, Kanunî Sultan Süleyman’ın ismi açıkça belirtilmeyen sadrazamlarından birine sunulmak üzere kaleme alınmıştır.
Behiştî, a sixteenth-century poet, wrote in the Turkish classical literary genre of shahrangiz, for the city of Bursa. His real name was Ramadan, though he was known by the pseudonyms Vizeli, Vaiz, and Sânî, to avoid confusion with other poets bearing the same pseudonym. Behiştî was born in Vize on an undetermined date, completed his madrasa education in Istanbul, and received caliphate from Halvetî-Sunbülî sheikh Merkez Efendi, a famous scholar of the period. He later settled in Çorlu and engaged in Sufistic duty in the lodge he established until his death (979 AH / 1571-72 AC).
According to biographical studies, Behiştî wrote twelve literary and scientific works in different volumes. The shahrangiz, written for the city of Bursa, is the subject of our article. Sources on his life make no mention of Behiştî's relationship with Bursa. From the couplets in his shahrangiz, one assumes he was abroad in Bursa for an unknown reason during his youth. His shahrangiz for Bursa is intertwined with the shahrangiz of the Mesîhî and the Kerîmî and is part of a poem collection manuscript with scattered pages, registered as Mil Yz A 827 in the Ankara National Library. The work is first mentioned in Yaşar Aydemir's doctoral dissertation about Behiştî and his divan. Aydemir was unable to specify whether this shahrangiz was written for Bursa or Vize due to the lack of information on the poet’s connection to Bursa and this poetry collection. Despite this uncertainty, the text was probably written for Bursa, based on some couplets in the shahrangiz. These include a statement that one of the people in Şehrengiz lives in Yıldırım (Yıldırım, mentioned in the poem, is likely a Bursa settlement) and another reference that he is abroad and not surprised that Vize is not a place in demand because of its distance from Bursa.
The only identified copy of shahrangiz is found in a disorganized and incomplete poem collection manuscript registered under the number Mil Yz A 827 in the National Library of Ankara. Foil numbers further complicate the collection due to multiple numbers. However, Behiştî’s work is intertwined with the shahrangizes for Edirne by Mesîhî and Kerîmî. Based on the poet’s clear statement that each person is mentioned in three couplets, the text, consisting of 113 couplets, was reorganized by excluding the couplets belonging to the Mesîhî and Kerîmî, and the remaining three couplets were assumed to belong to Behiştî. After a 24-couplet invocation section, which appears to be missing its beginning, there is an unfinished reason for the writing section that includes 4 couplets. We then come across a description of 21 beautiful citizens of Bursa: İbrâhîm, Memî, Hâfız, Âl-i Muhammed Hâşîm, Şeyh-zâde, âteş-ruh bir güzel, Gazzâzlarda Mustafâ, Yağmurcaoğlu, Nakîboğlı, Muhzıroğlı, Sultân Mahmûd, Mîve-fürûşoğlu Mehemmed, Başmakçılarda Mahmûd, Kirdeci, Biryâncıoğlı Mehemmed, Lütfî, Çeşmecioğlu ʿAlî, Frenkoğlı, Yehûdîlerde bir sanem, Hâce kulu Mahmûd, Âl-i Mustafâ Ahmed. After the 4 couplets and the last name is mentioned, there are ending and prayer sections. Along with the missing beginning, there is another part missing at the end of the text. The penultimate folio comes after the last couplet and indicates the first word of the next folio, reddâde, müş‘ir/ müş‘ire, ayak, etc. The expression in terms (İlâhî) does not appear in other folios. At the end of the shahrangiz, there is a ghazal of five couplets, different from the main text, written as fâilâtün/ fâilâtün/fâilâtün/fâilün meter. Mesîhî, who wrote the first example of the shahrangiz genre in Turkish literature, included two ghazals at the end of his shahrangiz. Since this example, it was traditional to end the shahrangiz with a ghazal, although it is not always followed. Behiştî also followed this tradition and ended his work with a ghazal.
Our study, briefly mentioning the life and works of Behiştî, will focused on the shahrangiz, written for the city of Bursa. The work will be examined in terms of form and content, and the original text will be given a facsimile. We hope a complete copy of the work will be found so that missing parts are found and speculation resolves on the shahrangiz written for Bursa.
