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Heritage
NAJM AL-DIN ÊÀUKABI BUKHARI AND THE MAQAM THEORY IN THE 16TH TO 18TH CENTURIES
Author:
City
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Tashkent
Country :
Uzbekistan
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We have only one evidence about the Bukharian origin of Kaukabi. It comes from Alishir Navai and remained unnoticed by scholars. It also confirms that the name "Kaukabi" was à literary pseudonym (tahallus) of Najm al-Din as à poet. Íårå is this short excerpt from Majalis al-nafais
Mavlana Kaukabi is à young man — astronomer [munajjim yigitdur) and he took pseudonym according with his occupation. It seems to me that I, unworthy, has not seen him yet. But some of friends say: you saw him, I do not think I remember him. Íå came from Bukhara, from cupola of Islam, protected [by Allah]. His talent is very good and is recognized by all [people]. This matla belongs to him:
Bi ruhash har qatre-yi khun az sar-i muzhgan mara.
Mashali bashad furuzan dar shab-i hijran mara.
Without her face each drop from my eyelashes,
It is à torch, shining in my separation night. (Navai 1961: I 29)8
From the above we can suppose that in his musical activity, Kaukabi had à good opportunity to combine two principal traditions, that of Bukhara and Herat.
KAUKABI S MAQAMAT THEORY
Was Kaukabis maqam theory à continuation of the Herat maqam tradition or was it, something new? What was the influence of this theory on the scholarly- musical thought in various regions during the 16-18th centuries? Najm al-Din Kaukabi Bukhari was the author of Treatise on Music and poetical works, so called maqam verses". If he had compiled something like citation index" for Kaukabi, we would find out that Kaukabi was one of the most cited authors in the sources on music in Persian-Tajik during that period. The vast majority of treatises in Maverannahr (Bukhara), Iran and India, cited the poetical works by Kaukabi, dedicated to the classification of 12 maqam-s, 6 avaze-s, 24 shube-s, etc., although some of them did it without references to Kaukabi. Even in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Bukharan, Samarqandian, and other compilers had been continuing to rewrite some of the popular poems by Kaukabi and include them in their bayath-s (collected verses for shashmaqam performers, musicians and amateurs of poetry) (see, for instance: [bayath] MS No. 3326: f. 86à. etc.). In comparison with these maqam verses the Treatise on Music was cited somewhat less. Those citations often give the contemporary scholars an opportunity to date unknown written sources, in relation to the times of Kaukabi.
There are about six or seven maqam verses by Kaukabi we known. Undoubtedly, the most popular among them were kulliyat written in ghazal and masnavi form. Kulliyat is à musical poetic genre, used to describe the maqam practice during the 15 — 17th centuries. It was considered by the musicians as à very complicated and serious kind of work. The poetical part of kulliyat by Kaukabi is à ghazal which consists of five distichs (bait-s). One can say that the main peculiarity of kulliyat by Kaukabi is the special play bó the names of the 12 maqam-s, six avaze-s and, maybe 24 shu be-s. Here are the very famous first two lines from Kaukabis kulliyat9:
Zi rah-i rast gar ahang mikunt be Hijaz,
Zi Isfahan giuzari janab-Iraq andaz.
If you go [ahang mikuni] on the direct way [rah-i rast] to Hijaz, pass Isfahan towards Iraq.
According to the contemporaries and followers, Kaukabis kulliyat was the best work in this genre, both in their musical content and poetical form. Darvish Ali Changi quoted à number of Kaukabis poems and also wrote several imitations. Until now, about twenty quotations from cultist are known. Two of them, perhaps quite extraordinary are:
l. À prosaic version by Hasan Nisari describing the wars of Shaibanid Ubayd Allah-Khan, the patron of Kaukabi (Nisari MS No. 4282: f. 14b).
2. The beginning of the ðîåò Àóinë-i Iskandari bó à Persian-writing poet, Abdi-bek Shirazi (written in 1543), who served at the court of Iranian Shakh Tahmasp (1524 — 1576), who in turn, ordered in 1531 to kill Kaukabi in Meshhed. Íårå is his bait:
Biya mutriba saz kun rah-i rast,
Êårah-i Hijaz az Iraqam havast
Ñîòå in, musician, play rah-i rast [arrange the right way] Because rah-i Hijaz more pleasant than my lraq [the Hijaz road is better than my Iraq]. (Shirazi l 977:6) Kaukabis masnavi about 12 maqam-s and their 24 shube-s has the following beginning (matla ):
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