DĀʿĪ, MĪRZĀ ŠAMS-AL-DĪN BOḴĀRĪ (d. 1303/ 1885), poet from Bukhara, probably born during the reign of Amir Naṣr-Allāh (1242-77/1827-60). He was appointed secretary by Nūr-al-Dīn, the Manghit governor of Čārjūy. His career illustrates the life of a provincial court poet in the Bukharan emirate and the continuation of the tradition of poet-secretaries at the end of the 19th century. Dāʿī lived through the period of transition in Bukhara from independent emirate to protectorate of the Russian empire, in 1290/1873. He was one of the last poets patronized by the Manghits. Like most poets of this period (Rypka, Iran. Lit., p. 525), Dāʿī left no dīvān. His poetry must be collected from his own notes (bayoz/bayāż), as well as from three contemporary taḏkeras, of which manuscripts are kept in the library of the Akademiya Nauk of Uzbekistan, Tashkent: Taḏkerat al-šoʿarāʾ by Ḥašmat (mss. nos. 61, 2728), Taḏkerat al-šoʿarāʾ by ʿAbdī (ms. no. 64), and Taḏkor al-ašʿār by Sadri Zie (Ṣadr-e Żīāʾ; ms. no. 1304). It is not clear that these poems represent his total output.
Ṣadr-al-Dīn ʿAynī published (pp. 285-87) three of Dāʿī’s poems that had been cited by Sadri Zie. Dāʿī appears to have been attracted by both lyrical themes, under the influence of Bīdel, and the simplified style promoted by Aḥmad Doniš (Dāneš; 1242-1314/1827-97) and his disciples Asīrī, ʿAynī, Ḥayrat, Możṭareb, Savdo (Sawdā), Šohin (Šāhīn), Somi (Sāmī), and Vozeh (Wāżeḥ), all poets of the pre-Jadīd (the “new Turkish” movement founded in Bukhara after the Russian Revolution of 1917) period. Dāʿī also dealt with social problems that later became more common themes in the literature of this area.
Bibliography:
Ṣ. ʿAynī, Namunai adabīyoti tojik (Namūna-ye adabīyāt-e tājīk), Samarkand, 1925.
R. Hodizade, Istochniki k izucheniyu tadzhikskoĭ literatury vtoroĭ poloviny XIX v. (Sources for the study of Tajik literature of the second half of the 19th century), Stalinabad (Dushanbe), 1956.
Idem, Adabiyati tojik dar nimai duvvumi asri XIX (Adabīyāt-e tājīk dar nīma-ye dovvom-e ʿaṣr-e 19), Dushanbe, 1968.
Idem, Istoriya tadzhikskogo naroda (History of the Tajik people) II, Dushanbe, 1964.
Uzbek Sovet Ensiklopediyasi IV, Tashkent, 1973, p. 85.
(Cathérine Poujol)
Originally Published: December 15, 1993
Last Updated: November 11, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VI, Fasc. 6, p. 594
