The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument

Introduction. Insha Allah Khan Insha was a key author of Urdu literature at the turn of the nineteenth centuries. His works were multilingual, and the languages he used comprised a local version of literary Turki. Nowadays there is only one surviving manuscript of the poet’s largest Turkic-language...

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Main Author: Iskander R.Saitbattalov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр 2024-09-01
Series:Oriental Studies
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Online Access:https://kigiran.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/5168
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author Iskander R.Saitbattalov
author_facet Iskander R.Saitbattalov
author_sort Iskander R.Saitbattalov
collection DOAJ
description Introduction. Insha Allah Khan Insha was a key author of Urdu literature at the turn of the nineteenth centuries. His works were multilingual, and the languages he used comprised a local version of literary Turki. Nowadays there is only one surviving manuscript of the poet’s largest Turkic-language work ― The Turki-Language Diary ― housed at the Rampur Raza Library (Rampur, India) and never subjected to any special Turkological research. Goals. So, the paper attempts a comprehensive description of the narrative as a written and literary monument. Results. The article provides a detailed archaeographic description of the manuscript, clarifies somewhat exact dates of the mentioned events, determines a quantitative ratio of India’s languages in the text, and links fragments in different languages to certain thematic blocks. A variety of literary methods proves instrumental in identifying the structure of daily notes, their compositional features, and key content/thematic blocks. Although the manuscript primarily focuses on everyday life and describes conversations with various people, it does contain fragments of poems once heard by the author and those composed by him. The latter’s analysis makes it possible to delineate the reading range of individuals from Insha’s circle, and to clarify some textual aspects of his own works that would be included in his Complete Works (poems). Identifications of the individuals mentioned in the manuscript are as instrumental in determining the poet’s social circle, cast light on his relationship with the patron. The abundance of direct speech patterns helps reconstruct Insha’s perceptions of his contemporaries and close ones, and, to a certain extent, styles of their everyday communication and ranges of their constant interests. The manuscript ― its content and form ― significantly expands our understanding of both Insha Allah Khan Insha proper, and of Turkic-language practices in India throughout the last decades of the Mughal Empire.
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spelling doaj-art-98ff9f73e0b34ee09ffe4bcbb40e8b4c2025-02-11T13:07:26ZengРоссийской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центрOriental Studies2619-09902619-10082024-09-0117233534310.22162/2619-0990-2024-72-2-335-343The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary MonumentIskander R.Saitbattalov0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5948-4666Ufa University of Science and TechnologyIntroduction. Insha Allah Khan Insha was a key author of Urdu literature at the turn of the nineteenth centuries. His works were multilingual, and the languages he used comprised a local version of literary Turki. Nowadays there is only one surviving manuscript of the poet’s largest Turkic-language work ― The Turki-Language Diary ― housed at the Rampur Raza Library (Rampur, India) and never subjected to any special Turkological research. Goals. So, the paper attempts a comprehensive description of the narrative as a written and literary monument. Results. The article provides a detailed archaeographic description of the manuscript, clarifies somewhat exact dates of the mentioned events, determines a quantitative ratio of India’s languages in the text, and links fragments in different languages to certain thematic blocks. A variety of literary methods proves instrumental in identifying the structure of daily notes, their compositional features, and key content/thematic blocks. Although the manuscript primarily focuses on everyday life and describes conversations with various people, it does contain fragments of poems once heard by the author and those composed by him. The latter’s analysis makes it possible to delineate the reading range of individuals from Insha’s circle, and to clarify some textual aspects of his own works that would be included in his Complete Works (poems). Identifications of the individuals mentioned in the manuscript are as instrumental in determining the poet’s social circle, cast light on his relationship with the patron. The abundance of direct speech patterns helps reconstruct Insha’s perceptions of his contemporaries and close ones, and, to a certain extent, styles of their everyday communication and ranges of their constant interests. The manuscript ― its content and form ― significantly expands our understanding of both Insha Allah Khan Insha proper, and of Turkic-language practices in India throughout the last decades of the Mughal Empire. https://kigiran.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/5168archaeography of indiainsha allah khan inshaliterature of the mughal empireliterary diarycross-literary connectionsturki in indiachagatai turkicego-documents
spellingShingle Iskander R.Saitbattalov
The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
Oriental Studies
archaeography of india
insha allah khan insha
literature of the mughal empire
literary diary
cross-literary connections
turki in india
chagatai turkic
ego-documents
title The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
title_full The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
title_fullStr The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
title_full_unstemmed The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
title_short The Turki-Language Diary of Insha Allah Khan Insha as a Literary Monument
title_sort turki language diary of insha allah khan insha as a literary monument
topic archaeography of india
insha allah khan insha
literature of the mughal empire
literary diary
cross-literary connections
turki in india
chagatai turkic
ego-documents
url https://kigiran.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/5168
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