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Country

Turkey

City

Istanbul

Institution

Arkeoloji Müzesi

Shelfmark

236

Contents

Manṭıku’ṭ-ṭayr (Gülşehrı̂ active 13th century-14th century)

Author

Gülşehrı̂ active 13th century-14th century

كلشهري

Show other names

Gülşehrī (fl. 1301-1317)

الكلشهرى

Gülşehrı̂, active 13th century-14th century (authorised)

Gülschehrī, active 13th century-14th century (variant)

Gülşehrı̂, 13th/14th cent (variant)

Gülšehrī, Šeyḫ Aḥmed, active 13th century-14th century (variant)

Güls̲h̲ehrī, active 13th century-14th century (variant)

Šeyḫ Aḥmed Gülšehrī, active 13th century-14th century (variant)

Biographical notes

Gülşehrī's identity has been much disputed. The pen name Gülşehrī indicates that he was a poet from the northwestern Cappadocian town of Gülşehir (Zoropassos, Arapsun), which lay in the Selçuk province of Kırşehir in between the towns of Hacıbektaş to the north and Nevşehir to the south. According to Köprülü, based on İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzesi, no. 1360, he was named eş-Şeyḫ Aḥmed el-Gülşehrī(الشيخ احمد الكلشهري). Some Turkish scholars speculate that he was sent to the region of Kırşehir at the end of the thirteenth century [1200-1299 CE] as a disciple of Sulṭān Walad (سلطان ولد), although there is no firm evidence to support this supposition. There have also been attempts to connect him to the Mawlawī shaykh by the name of Süleyman. Internal evidence from his work indicates that he was Sufi shaykh and zāwiya leader from with strong akhī ties.

Title

Manṭıku’ṭ-ṭayr

منطق الطير

Notes

The Manṭıku’ṭ-ṭayr is a very loose adaptation of Farīd al-Dīn Muḥammad al-ʿAṭṭār (فريد الدين محمد العطار)’s Persian mystical mathnawī, Manṭiq al-Ṭayr (منطق الطير) (“Speech of the Birds” or “Conference of the Birds”) with much original material. As with ʿAṭṭār’s original work, Gülşehrī’s Turkish adaptation tells the story of the soul’s journey to its origins in an effort to unite with its Creator, with the soul represented by birds of various species, and the Creator by the mythical bird, Sīmurgh. Framed around an allegorical tale of the quest of the mythical Sīmurgh (phoenix), the work consists mainly of didactic anecdotes and stories, as well as discussions in a question-and-answer format on Sufism, futūwwa, and miscellaneous religious and ethical topics. Composed in 717 AH [1317 CE] (dated by a chronogram), there are six known manuscripts of this work. Depending on the manuscript, the number of couplets in the work range from 4931 to 5029. The work place of composition is Gülşehir town in north-western Cappadocia.

Incomplete ms.

Main language of text

Turkish

Bibliography

Editions

Levend, Agāh Sırrı, ed. Gülşehrī. Manṭiku’ṭ-ṭayr. Tıpkıbasım (). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1957.

Merhan, Aziz, ed. Die ‘Vogelgespräche’ Gülşehris und die Anfänge der türkischen Literatur. Göttingen: Pontus-Verlag, 2003.

Yavuz, Kemal. Gülşehri’nin Mantıku’t-tayr’ı (Gülşen-nāme). Metin ve Günümüz Türkçesine Aktarma. Ankara: Kırşehir Valiliği Yayınları, 2007.

Studies

Shackle, Christopher. "Representations of ʿAṭṭār in the West and in the East: Translations of the Manṭiq al-ṭayr and the Tale of Shaykh Ṣanʿān." In Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition: The Art of Spiritual Flight. Lewisohn, Leonard and Christopher Shackle, ed. New York and London: I.B. Tauris & Co, in association with The Institute of Ismail Studies, 2006, 165-195.

Taeschner, Franz. "Gülshehrī." EI. 2 1965: 1138-1139.

Taeschner, Franz. Gülscherîs Mesnevi auf Achi Evran, den Heiligen von Kırschehir und Patron der türkische Zünfte. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1955.

Yavuz, Kemal. "Çeşitli Yönleri İle Mantıku’t-tayr ve Garib-nâme Mesnevileri." Türk Dili ve Edebiyat Dergisi. 31 2004: 345-356.

Show filiations

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 2557

Türk Dil Kurumu Kütüphanesi Türkçe Yazmaları 120

Türk Dil Kurumu Kütüphanesi Türkçe Yazmaları 6

Arkeoloji Müzesi 1360

Physical Description

Number of folios

xx ff.

History

Date of copy

20th. century