The Knight in the Panther's Skin
ვეფხისტყაოსანი | |
---|---|
The Knight in the Panther's Skin | |
heroism, loyalty | |
Period covered | Reign of King Tamar of Georgia Georgian Golden Age |
Text | ვეფხისტყაოსანი at Wikisource |
The Knight in the Panther's Skin (
Although the poem takes place in the fictional settings of "India" and "Arabia", events in these distant lands are but a colorful allegory of the rule of Queen Tamar of Georgia, and the size and glory of the Kingdom of Georgia in its Golden Age.[5][6] It tells the friendship of two heroes, Avtandil and Tariel, and their quest to find the object of love, Nestan-Darejan, an allegorical embodiment of Queen Tamar. These idealized heroes and devoted friends are united by courtly love, generosity, sincerity, and dedication. The poem is regarded as the "coronation of thought, poetic and philosophical art of medieval Georgia",[7] a complex work with rich and transcending genres. It has been described as "epic", "chivalric romance", "epic romance" and "epic poem of lyric poetry."[8] Despite its formal complexity, it bears to this day "the Georgian vision of the world."[9]
History of the work
Context and time
The poem was written during
Against the backdrop of this "remarkable growth", Shota Rustaveli composed his poem.[10] Rustaveli, born in Rustavi, a Meskhetian village, was close to King Tamar and possibly served as her treasurer.[11] He likely participated in many military campaigns. The stories in his poem are set in faraway lands, but his allegorical representations of contemporaneous Georgia are recognizable. For instance, he refers to wine culture and a female king who became an heir of her father.[12]
In the prologue, Rustaveli says that he wrote this poem to praise the "King" Tamar.
თამარს ვაქებდეთ მეფესა სისხლისა ცრემლ-დათხეული, |
By shedding tears of blood we praise Queen T'hamara, |
—The Knight in the Panther's Skin: Stanza 4 | —Translated by Marjory Scott Wardrop: Stanza 4[13] |
And in the epilogue (given here with a formal paraphrase), he praises the queen's king consort David Soslan.
ქართველთა ღმრთისა დავითის, ვის მზე მსახურებს სარებლად, |
For the goddess whom David the sun serves in his course by all rights, |
—The Knight in the Panther's Skin: Stanza 1666 | —Translated by Lyn Coffin: Stanza 1658[14] |
Genre and style
Though written in Georgian at the height of the pan-Caucasian empire of the Georgian
Content and form
Title
Georgian title ვეფხისტყაოსანი (vepkhistqaosani) literally means "one with a skin of vepkhi". The identity of the animal that it refers to is not certain and it can be a tiger, panther or leopard. In modern Georgian, it refers to the tiger. However, according to more modern research it would rather mean a panther. Similarly, the qualification of "knight" is not derived from the original title and its alternative translations exist, such as the "valiant" or simply a "man."[18] The alternative English titles of the poem also are "Lord of the Panther Skin"[19] and "The Man in the Panther's Skin".[20]
Story
The story can be divided into two parts: the first part is Avtandil's quest for Tariel, the titular "knight in the panther's skin", and the second part is Avtandil's quest for Nestan-Darejan, Tariel's love.
Search for Tariel
The King of Arabia, Rostevan, has no sons and confers the kingship on his only daughter, the beautiful and wise Tinatin. She has a tender affection for Avtandil, the knight and commander-in-chief of Rostevan's armies. One day, Avtandil challenges King Rostevan to a hunting competition. After three days of shooting game, they encounter a knight crying by a river. He is dressed in a panther's skin, and kills the slaves sent by the king to contact him, then disappears. Rostevan sends parties across the world to search for the mysterious knight, but becomes disheartened when he fails.
Tinatin asks Avtandil to find the strange knight in three years, promising him her hand in marriage in return. After two years and nine months of searching, Avtandil finds the knight in the panther's skin hiding in a cave, with only a maiden for company. His name is Tariel, son of King Saridan, who has the seventh kingdom of India. He had served as heir to King Pharsadan, king of the other six kingdoms, for many years before falling in love with Pharsadan's daughter, Nestan-Darejan. Tariel wages war with the
Tariel could not bear the idea of her marriage, and at Nestan's request, he killed the suitor. The princess was placed on a boat and set adrift on the seas. Despite Tariel's lengthy search for his love, he could not find her. Later he met Nuradin-Phridon, ruler of Mulgazanzar, who told him that Nestan was alive but trapped on a distant boat. Tariel retired to a cave to live in the wilderness with Asmat, the former servant and messenger of Nestan. Moved by this story, Avtandil promises his friendship and brotherhood to Tariel, and agrees to help him find his love, Nestan-Darejan. Avtandil returns home to Arabia, and tells Tinatin the story of Tariel. Against King Rostevan's wishes, he returns to his new friend.[21]
Search for Nestan-Darejan
Avtandil then leaves Tariel to go to the kingdom of Phridon, where he does not hear anything new about Nestan. Continuing his quest, he arrives in the city of Gulansharo. He meets Patman, the wife of the chief Usen, who falls in love with him. Avtandil, sensing she knows the fate of Nestan, succumbs to Patman's seduction. She tells him she has been keeping Nestan at her place and, as Nestan was promised to the king's son, she helped her escape, but in her flight Nestan was abducted by Kaji the demon king. Avtandil then returns home to Phridon and to the cave of Tariel and later all three friends decide to go to the country of Kaji with an army of three hundred men to find and deliver Nestan. When she is released, all return to Arabia, where King Rostevan forgives Avtandil his flight and breaking the king's order. They all celebrate the marriage of the latter with the king's only daughter, Tinatin. They then leave for India where Tariel marries his love Nestan. Phridon also returns to his homeland and the three friends reign happily with prosperity and generosity in their own respective realms.[22]
Places and characters
Places
The poem is placed far away from Georgia in countries that the poet has certainly never visited:
Characters
- The brave and loyal knights — Avtandil and Tariel
These two characters represent the most devoted friends, and tender lovers; both heroes capable of
- The faithful and patient lovers — Tinatin and Nestan-Darejan
Although they take little action, the female characters, Tinatin and Nestan-Darejan are constantly present in thoughts of the knights and serve to give the narrative tension as a whole. Princesses, higher in social rank than their servant knights, are inspired by the Queen Tamar or reflect the fact that each of them is the sovereign in their own realm.[30] Tinatin chooses her own husband which references Queen Tamar (who also chose her second husband) as her role as the sovereign. and her father Rostevan, ceding his throne to his daughter references King George III of Georgia who was succeeded by her daughter in 1178, after his death.[31]
Tinatin is a static character who leaves no time to the court of her father in Arabia. Nestan, a prisoner in distant regions, is also passive. But their confidence, righteousness, shows these two women being faithful and respective lovers. As for Patman, she is an altered representation of their type but an adulteress during the absence of her husband.[32] Patman takes little account of family honor as she humiliates her husband on account of his bodily defects. Her character is true to life from the artistic point of view. Despite everything, she is capable of displaying both affection and sincere warmth peculiar to a woman. She spares no effort to save Nestan. It is very characteristic that when Patman learns of the purpose of Avtandil's journey, she makes no attempt to keep the man she loves at her side even for a short time.[33]
Human relationships
Rustaveli is a great humanist. The poet focuses his attention on a man as a complex of sincere feelings, emotions, passions and aspirations. To counterbalance the mentality of the Middle Ages and the ecclesiastic morality of asceticism, Rustaveli proclaims the freedom of man as a personality, free of thought and feeling.[34]
Love
In the prologue, Rustaveli describes three types of love: inaccessible, heavenly love; physical love; and finally, a higher earthly love, or passionate love.[35] Rustaveli thinks that pure and constant love does not expect love in return.[36] Such love can not be felt without a strong spirit; he suggests that the only possibility of enjoying love of this order is to have the natural qualities of a true human being. The valiant must win his beauty by impeccable behavior, including a constant devotion, the rejection of social duties, and selfless loyalty. And as the author says, "love is a severe trial for man as for woman".[37]
Nestan's loyalty is expressed in the dramatic tension well before the appearance of her character; She is a model of righteousness. When it was announced that Nestan would be married against her will, she protests with force, and supports the consequences by her heroic courage and stoicism. For the three heroes who go to her aid, fearless and selfless, their fight is intended as a quest for justice. Amorous conquest is noticeably absent from the poem. Both romantic relationships are paralleled and never mixed, as the true brotherhood between the two heroes prevent such incidents.[38] Love, like friendship, often gives rise to hyperbolic descriptions in the poem.[39]
Friendship
The friendship between the three heroes sworn, Avtandil, Tariel and Pridon, a clear narrative of the entire epic, binds them together and at the same time it binds their peoples. These three men belong to different nations, they find themselves with the same aspirations and the same goal and that is their union of forces that can and will destroy a tyranny and evil what is represented by the Kajs.[40] This friendship, full of honesty and courage, free of cowardice and sycophancy, must go to the death if necessary. Such friendship is also possible between persons of different sexes in this case of Tariel and Asmat who share the same cave in brotherhood. However, love and friendship are intertwined as love of a knight with his heroism is fully realized with the help of a disinterested friendship and absolute loyalty. Both feelings are also expressed in the terms when Avtandil even against the will and order of his king departs to help his friend in need. Moreover, the happiness of each is conditioned by the happiness of others. Tinatin allows Avtandil to leave for Tariel, because it is the duty of her suitor to rescue his friend to whom he has promised to help.[41]
Morals, religion and philosophy
Values
With the glorification of courtly love, Rustaveli leads to strongly condemn forced marriages. The poem also shows an admiration for the woman and demands for
Politically, the poem does not lack and is not without patriotism. The state must be led by a strong and autocratic central government, however, sovereigns must rule with justice and prudence.[45]
In general, the poem is a "manifest of living with joy". The success of the three heroes in the liberation of Nestan shows that justice can exist on earth, as with enough courage and perseverance, one can find the happiness here.[46]
Religious and philosophical views
The poem sometimes gives the impression of being a pagan work.
Nevertheless, the moral framework of the work is
There are philosophical references in the poem to the work of Pseudo-Dionysius (verse 1478) which may be attributed to the influence of the Georgian monk
Translations
Within Georgia, the poem has been translated into other Kartvelian languages like Laz, Svan and Mingrelian.
Outside of Georgia, interest in the poem first appeared in 1802, when
Today, unabridged editions are available in many languages: Abkhaz,[58] Armenian,[59] Azerbaijani,[60] Bashkir, Belarusian,[61] Bulgarian, Chechen,[62] Chinese,[63] Chuvash, Czech,[64] Esperanto,[65] Greek, Hebrew,[66] Hungarian,[67] Italian,[68] Japanese,[69] Kazakh,[70] Korean, Kurdish,[71] Kyrgyz,[72] Moldovan,[73] Mongolian,[74] Ossetian,[75] Persian, Romanian,[76] Serbian, Slovak,[77] Spanish,[78] Tatar, Turkmen,[79] Ukrainian,[80] Hindi, and Uzbek.[81]
Among the translations, the 1989 Esperanto version by Zurab Makaŝvili[82] and the 2015 English version by Lyn Coffin are notable not only for faithfully reproducing the content of the poem, but also for preserving the poetic structure of the epic in shairi (rhymed stanzas of four sixteen-syllable lines).
See also
References
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 17
- ^ Shengelia, p. 106
- ^ Shengelia, p. 105
- ^ Delshad, p. 18
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 19
- School of Oriental and African Studies, 1966, p. 20
- ^ Asatiani & Bendianashvili, p. 151
- ^ Malinka Velinova, "Interférence des genres dans les emplois du monologue médiéval", Institut Roustavéli, p. 160
- ^ Polet, p. 529
- ^ Polet, p. 500
- ^ Polet, p. 525
- ^ Kveselava, p. 13
- ^ Wardrop, p. 1. Wardrop's prose translation is here lineated as verse.
- ^ Rustaveli 2015, p. 345
- ^ Rapp 2017, p. 17.
- ^ a b Green 2019, p. 20.
- ^ Gould 2018, p. 801.
- ^ Orbeliani & Iordanishvili, 1949
- ^ Rustaveli, SUNY Press, 1977
- ^ Rustaveli, Netlancers Inc, 2014
- ^ The Knight in the Panther's Skin, III-XXX
- ^ The Knight in the Panther's Skin, XXX-XLV
- ^ Beynen, p. 221
- ^ Beynen, p. 219
- ^ Beynen, p. 222
- ^ Beynen, p. 228
- ^ Delshad, p. 50
- ^ Polet, p. 548
- ^ Mirianaschwili, Müller & Müller, «Schota Rustaveli, "Der Ritter im Tigerfell", 1999
- ^ Wardrop, p. 6
- ^ Beynen, p. 220
- ^ Wardrop, p. 7
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 25
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, pp. 25-26
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 21
- ^ Wardrop, p. 4
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, pp. 21-22
- ^ Beynen, p. 232
- ^ Wardrop, p. 7
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 23
- ^ Polet, p. 527
- ^ Shengelia, p. 107
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 22
- ^ Khakhanoff, p. 95
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 24
- ^ Baramidze & Gamezardashvili, p. 20
- ^ Rayfield, p. 77
- ^ Wardrop, p. 270
- ^ Rayfield, pp. 77-78
- ISBN 978-1-349-61941-2.
- ^ Bolkhovitinov, Историческое изображение Грузии в политическом, церковном и учебном ее состаянии, St. Petersburg, 1802
- ^ Brosset, pp. 277-294
- ^ Lapchinski & Eristavi, 1840
- ^ Der Mann in Tigerfelle, von Schota Rustaveli, Arthur Leist, 1889 online version
- ^ Asatur, Georg (1966). Շոթա Ռուսթավելի Ընձենավորը [Shota Rustaveli "The Knight in the Panther's Skin"] (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences Publishing. pp. _Shota_Rustaveli.djvu 253-256.
- ^ Bakhchinyan, Henrik (8 March 2018). "Չարենց և Ռուսթավելի [Charents and Rustaveli]". Azg (in Armenian).
- ^ Taktakishvili & Urushadze, pp. 142-148
- ^ Gulia, Sokhumi, 1941
- ^ Asatur, Yerevan, 1937
- ^ Vurghun, Rahim & Rustam, Baku, 1937
- ^ Zvonak & Khvedarovitch, Minsk, 1966
- ^ Mouzaev, Grozny, 1969
- ^ Li-tsi-e, Shanghai, 1943
- ^ Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury, hudby a umění, Praha, 1958
- ^ Baramidze, p. 344
- ^ Boris (Dov) Gaponov, 1969
- ^ Tsereteli, pp. 661-664
- ^ La pelle di Leopardo di Schotha Rusthaveli, Milan, 1945
- ^ Kotchlashvili & Fukuro, 1962
- ^ Almaty, 1938
- ^ Asad & Ankus, 2007
- ^ Frunse, 1956
- ^ Krecu, Chișinău, 1966
- ^ Gombojav, Ulan-Bator, 1965
- ^ Shavlokhovisa, Tskhinvali, 1943
- ^ Vera Roman, Bucarest, 1947
- ^ Tatran, Bratislava, 1980
- ^ Gustavo de la Tore Botaro, Santiago, 1964
- ^ Ashgabat, 1957
- ^ Mikola Bajan, Kiev, 1937
- ^ Shahzoda 1938 & Mirtemir 1959
- ^ Zurab Makaŝvili: Kavaliro en tigra felo, Tbiliso 1989
Sources
- Nodar Asatiani & Alexandre Bendianashvili, Histoire de la Géorgie, Paris, l'Harmattan, 1997
- A. G. Baramidze & D. M. Gamezardashvili, Georgian Literature, Honolulu, University Press of the Pacific, 2001 (1st ed. 1968)
- Gijs Koolemans Beynen, "Adultery and Death in Shota Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther Skin", Courtly Arts and the Arts of Courtliness, 2004
- ISBN 978-9004386600.
- ISBN 978-0520972100.
- Farshid Delshad, Studien zu den iranischen und semitischen Lehnwörtern im georgischen Nationalepos "Der Recke im Pantherfell", Iéna, 2002
- A. Khakhanoff, Abrégé de l'histoire et de la littérature géorgienne, dans Raphaël Isarloff, Histoire de Géorgie, Paris - Tbilissi, Charles Noblet - Librairie de la société géorgienne de lettres, 1900
- M. Kveselava, Anthology of Georgian Poetry, Honolulu, University Press of the Pacific, 2001 (1st ed. 1948)
- Jean-Claude Polet, Patrimoine littéraire européen, vol. 4a, Le Moyen Âge, de l'Oural à l'Atlantique. Littératures d'Europe orientale, De Boeck, 1993
- Donald Rayfield, The Literature of Georgia, Richmond, Curzon Press, 2000 (1st ed. 1994)
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2017). "Georgia before the Mongols". Georgia before the Mongols. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. ISBN 9780190277727.
- Shota Rustaveli The Knight in the Panther Skin, new translation by Lyn Coffin. Poezia Press, 2015 Tbilisi, Georgia
- Kakha Shengelia, History of Georgia, Tbilisi, Caucasus University Publishing House, 2001
- Marjory Scott Wardrop, The Man in the Panther's Skin: A Romantic Epic by Shota Rustaveli, Royal Asiatic Society, 1912 The full text of The Man in the Panther's Skin at Wikisource The Man in the Panther's Skin public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- Beynen, G. Koolemans. "Murder, Foul and Fair, in Shota Rustaveli's The Man in the Panther Skin", in Medieval and Early Modern Murder, Larissa Tracy, ed. (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2018), pp. 350-70.