BAYATI (A KIND OF QUATRAIN) AS A SYMBOL OF KARABAGH CULTURAL IDENTITY

Abstract

It is clear from the research that the symbol of Karabakh cultural identity and ethno-cultural essence in the artistic and aesthetic thought of Azerbaijan is “bayati” (a kind of quatrain). This symbolic name was given to it by the great Azerbaijani poet of the 18th century Molla Veli Vidadi: “Külli Qarabağın abi-həyatı // Nərmü nazik bayatıdır, bayatı” (The water of vitality of the whole Karabakh // It is a gentle quatrain). There are three main elements (units of meaning) in these verses: 1. The word combination “Kulli Karabakh” is a complex sign that contains all the levels of meaning of the cultural phenomenon called Karabakh. When the poet Vidadi tells “Kulli Karabakh” he does not mean Karabakh only as a space, it also includes the whole structure of the Karabakh cultural chronotope – space-time. 2. In the image of “narmu nazik bayati” (the gentle quatrain) the poet Molla Veli Vidadi created a completely new analogy for Azerbaijani poetic thought. For the first time in the history of Azerbaijani national metaphorical thought, the poet metaphorized the beauty of “bayati” with female beauty and presented “bayati” in the image of “narmu nazik bayati” precisely in the image of a “gentle, graceful woman”. Vidadi mentioned that the genre bayati is “gentle, graceful” and imagined it as a poetic image in the image of a woman and he immortalized it by metaphorizing the beauty of Karabakh with the “female” beauty of bayati. Thus, in the history of thought to which Vidadi belongs, the beauty of a woman is considered the manifestation of the beauty of Allah. 3. “Abi-heyat” (the water of vitality) - as an image tells us the water of vitality, known to us more from fairy tales, epics and legends. Vidadi mentioned the literary life of the region under the name “abi-heyat” of Karabakh. He justified his love for bayati by the fact that this genre is generally a symbol of the literary life and taste of the whole of Karabakh.