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NAJM AL-DIN ÊÀUKABI BUKHARI AND THE MAQAM THEORY IN THE 16TH TO 18TH CENTURIES

Author:                   City : Tashkent   Country : Uzbekistan
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Khoja Yusuf Burhan is from à close descendent of Hazrat-i Shaikh al-Islam Ahmad-i Jami, let his secrets be sacred! Íå was in faqr and fana condition. And usually he followed the rules of solitude [tajarrud] and cessation [of meeting of secular life — inqita]. Íå was the leader of the unity of tariqat-s followers [ahl-i nuruq], and he also knew the science of music [musiqly ilmin] well, àand I am à poor man, also his disciple in musical science va faqir musiqiy fanida aning

Only the Tashkent manuscript îf the treatise on music gives an information that Khoja Yusuf Burhan was à disciple of Khoja ‘Abd al-Qadir. Iskhak Rajabov. describing in his dissertation the Tashkent manuscript states that Khoja Yusuf Burhan was à teacher îf Kaukabis teacher. (Rajabov l955). [shogirdimen]. As à rule, he composed music on his verses. Íå composed amal-i Isfahan" on his distich [bait]:

Rasid mavsum-i shadi va aysh [va] tarab,

Agar gada be murad-i dill rasad che ‘ajab.

Íå died in Jam, and his grave is near the gates of the Hazrat-i Shaikhs tomb (Navai 1961:59).

Following this description one can say that Khoja Yusuf Burhan belonged to à high Sufi hierarchy and, indeed, he was one of the close relatives îf Shaikh al-Islam Ahmad-i Jami (sometimes Ahmad-i Jam). Darvish Ali Changi in his Treatise on Music points out directly that Khoja Yusuf Burhan was à son of Shaikh al-Islam, and writes his name in the form: Khoja Yusuf Burhan ad-Din ibn Shaikh al-Islam (Darvish Ali Changi MS No. 449: f. 12b; Ms No. D 403: f. 25à).

During the Timurid time, especially in the middle of the 15th century, the Sufi Shaikh-s and religious authorities were interested in music such as the well known Shaikh and music scholar Abd al-Rahman Jami. As à rule, they dealt with theoretical, religious-philosophical and compositional questions on music. They taught the knowledge of music but were never considered musicians. This is particularly true of Khoja Yusuf Burhan.

Khoja Yusuf Burhan was considered the most talented disciple and follower of Khoja Abd al-Qadir. Among his contemporaries and followers — scholars and musicians in the late 15th, 16th and even the 17th centuries he had à reputation of the expert on the Khoja Abd al-Qadirs theory îf maqam and music theory in general. It explains why Darvish À1i Changi, one century later, referred to the verbal opinion of Khoja Yusuf Burhan about the correctness of the Khoja Abd al-Qadirs maqam theory:

Ustad Shah Muhammad relates that he heard that Khoja Yusuf Burhan al-Din ibn Shaikh al-Islam, let Allah be merciful to them, had said by his blessed mouth: everything that had been established in the science on music about the determination of maqamat and so on by Janab-i Khoja Abd al-Qadir is correct and without any defect (Darvish Ali Changi MS No. D403: f. 25a; MS No. 449: f. 12b).

From the presented data we can conclude that Najm al-Din Kaukabi Bukhari, according to his musical (maqam) education belonged ñî the Herat maqam school, and that there was à successive line in the teaching of the science on music and maqam theory, similar to the silica in the Sufi tartar-s. This "silsila ñàòå from Khoja Abd al-Qadir through Khoja Yusuf Burhan to Mavlana Najm al-Din Kaukabi Bukhari. Later, this silsila extended even further through his disciple Mavlana Hasan Kaukabi to Darvish À1i Changi7 .



NAJM AL-DIN KAUKABI BUKHARI

The question whether Kaukabi was actually from Bukhara has not received attention in the contemporary musicology. Usually musicologists use both forms of his nàòå: with nisba (Bukhari) or without it (Kaukabi or Mavlana Kaukabi). The same way his name was written in the Middle Age sources. Only one part of his name, that is "Kaukabi" is found in his "Treatise on Music" and musical verses (Kaukabi Bukhari MS No. 468/IV: f. 64à; MS No. Â2257: f. 262à: Nisari MS No. 56: ff. 86b, 87à; Darvish Ali Ñhangi MS No. 449: ff. 7la, 73à; [Bayath] MS No. 3326: f. 86à, etc.).

Two authors who lived close to the Kaukabi s time: Sam Mirza, the author of the anthologv Tuhfe-yi Sami (compiled in 1550) and Hasan Bukhari Nisari, the author of the anthology Muzakkir al akhbab (compiled in 1556) called him "Mavlana Kaukabi" and "Mavlana Najm al-Din Kaukabi" (Sam Mirza MS No. 57: f. 132b: Nisari MS No. 4282: f. 78à; MS No. 56: ff. 86à-87à). These two kinds of the name are found also in the various sources on music in the 16th through the 18th centuries (see for instance: Ghaznavi 1883: 2, 4, 6; Natni MS No. 10226/II: ff. 5b, áà. etc.).

Perhaps the earliest source that gives us the full name of Kaukabi, including his nisha is the Treatise of Music by Darvish Ali Changi. Íå dedicated to Kaukabi à short “chapter” the title of which contains the following name: Mavlana Najm al-Din Kaukabi Bukhari" (c MS No. D403: ff. 128b-132à; MS No. 449: ff. 70b-73à). Beside that, infrequently we find the nàòå "Bukhari" in the late treatises on music and anthologies, such as in the 19th century anthology by Husain Quli-Khan Athim Abadi (Athim Abadi 1984: 1310).

It should be mentioned also that sometimes Kaukabi receives an epithet “Fathil-i Bukhari” (or Fathil-i Bukhari Mavlana Kaukabt), which stand for "Perfect (or noble) Bukharian scholar" or "Noble Bukharian inhabitant". We have found this expression in the above mentioned Khadaiq al-naghamat (Khadaiq al-naghamat Vve 114: ff. 99à, 101b, 102b, 108à, 111b, 127a.). This epithet was wide-spread for testimonials of an intellectual elite in late Bukhara (see, for instance: Darvish ‘À1i Changi MS No. 468/I: f. 36b). At the same time, it is quite possible, that both. the nisba Bukhari and this expression appeared later, after Kaukabi acquired à good reputation as à poet, musician and scholar.


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