Abdurrahman Ağa Dilbazoğlu and His Poems on the Occupation of Ganja Khanate

Abstract

Many literary works about the beginning of the 19th century were written about Ganja Khanate and Javad Khan. In this respect, the poems of Abdurrahman Ağa Dilbazoğlu about Ganja Khanate draw particular attention. Abdurrahman Ağa Dilbazoğlu is the poet of the 18th-19th century. He and his literary works have not been studies until now neither in Azerbaijan nor in Turkey. The Georgian Tsar proclaimed him a traitor and ordered his eyes to be abacinated. Only four of his poems have survived to the present day. In our study that consists of three chapters, the occupation of Ganja Khanate, the poems of the 19th century written in this regard, Abdurrahman Ağa Dilbazoğlu's life and the poem called "Kör Şair" [=Blind Poet] depicting the character of Dilbazoğlu are discussed. The poem "Bir rivayet söyle, ey dil, çark-ı kecreftarden" consisting of thirty-nine pentastiches describes the resistance of Ganja Khanate. As it contains many details of this war, the poem is comprehensively studied in comparison with related historical events. The Russian archival documents of the 19th century have mostly been used as historical sources. The aim of the study is to draw attention to the issue of independence in the Azerbaijani literature of the 19th century; to provide information about Abdurrahman Ağa Dilbazoğlu, who deserves to be known both for his personality and his literary works; to analyse the poet's works about the resistance of Ganja Khanate and Javad Khan, and to make them part of the history of literature.