IDEAL AND REAL SPACES OF OTTOMAN IMAGINATION: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN OTTOMAN RITUALS OF POETRY (ISTANBUL, 1453-1730)

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

BAHAR DENZ ALI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ARCHITECTURE

SEPTEMBER 2004

Approval of Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences.

______________________ Prof. Dr. Canan zgen Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selahattin nr Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

______________________ Dr. Michel Conan Co-Supervisor

______________________ Prof. Dr. Jale Erzen Supervisor

Examining Committee Members

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emel Akzer Prof. Dr. Jale Erzen Dr. Michel Conan Prof. Dr. Nurhan Atasoy Asst. Prof. Dr. Zuhal Ulusoy

(METU, ARCH) (METU, ARCH) (DOaks, GLS) (DOaks, GLS) (Bilkent U., LAUD)

______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________

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I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Bahar Deniz al

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ABSTRACT

IDEAL AND REAL SPACES OF OTTOMAN IMAGINATION: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN OTTOMAN RITUALS OF POETRY (ISTANBUL, 1453-1730)

al, B. Deniz Ph.D., Department of Architecture Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Jale Erzen Co-Supervisor: Dr. Michel Conan

September 2004, 501 pages

Ottoman poetry comprised different genres, each reflecting an attitude towards Ottoman social order, gave rise to ritualized practices. Gazel poetry, performed in gardens, was an expression of the Orthodox Ottoman society. ehrengiz, performed in city spaces, was an expression of heterodox groups following after the 13th c. philosopher Ibn al-Arab who proposed a theory of creative imagination and a three tiered definition of space: the ideal, the real and the intermediary. In gazel rituals, Ottoman Orthodox society reasserted the primacy of the group over the individual, in ideal and real garden spaces. In ehrengiz rituals, on the contrary, marginal groups from the early 16th c. to the early 18th c., emphasized the autonomy of individual self and aimed at reconciling orthodox and heterodox worlds, and thus their spaces and inhabitants in ideal spaces of Sufi imagination and real spaces of the city. In the early 18th c. liminal expressions of these marginal groups gave rise to new urban rituals adopted by the Ottoman court society and by affluent city dwellers and expressed in the poetry of Nedm. However, this cultural revolution of the Ottoman court came to an end with the events of 1730, marking a turning point in the modernization of Ottoman culture

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that had its roots in the early 16th c. as a marginal protest movement and pursued itself afterwards until the early 18th c. as a movement of urban space reform.

Keywords: Ottoman space culture, Ottoman poetry, imagination, rituals.

OSMANLI HAYALGCN DEAL VE GEREK MEKANLARI: OSMANLI R MECLSLERNDE SREKLLK VE DEM (ISTANBUL, 1453-1730)

al, B. Deniz Ph.D., Mimarlk Fakltesi Danman Yardmc Danman : Prof. Dr. Jale Erzen : Dr. Michel Conan

Eyll 2004, 501 sayfa

Farkl trlerde gelien Osmanl iiri, Osmal sosyal dzenini farkl ekillerde irdeleyen tutumlar sergilemi ve farkl iir meclislerinin geliimini etkilemitir. Gazel iirinin okunduu meclisler bahelerde dzenlenmi ve toplumun bireyden stnln vurgulayan Osmanl ortodox dnyasnn bir ifadesi olmutur. ehrengiz iirlerinin okunduu meclisler ise ehirlerde gerekletirilmi, ve, 13. yy slam filozofu Ibn al-Arab nin ge takipileri olan ve bireyin nemini vurgulayan marjinal Sufi gruplarnn bir ifade biimi olarak gelimi, ve, Ibn al-Arab nin yaratc hayalgc kavram ile kavramn ideal mekan, gerek mekan ve ara mekandan oluan l mekan anlayn irdelemitir. Gazel meclislerinde bahe mekan ideal bir mekan olarak sunulmu, buna kart olarak, 16.-18.yzyllar arasnda gelien ehrengiz meclislerinde, ehir mekannn bir ara mekan olarak toplumun farkl eilimlerini bar iinde barndran bir mekan olmas gerektiine dikkat ekilmitir. 18. yzyl banda, bu marjinal Sufi gruplarnn Osmanl sarayna kadar ykselen etkileri erevesinde, ehrengiz meclislerinde idealize edilen ehir kavram ve benzer meclisler, Osmanl saray erkan ile saray evresinde olumakta olan yeni yksek zmre tarafndan benimsenmi ve bu yeni gelimekte olan ehir

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kltr de Nedmin iirlerinde hayat bulmutur. Ancak, bu yeni ehir kltrnn geliimi 1730 Patrona Halil syan ile son bulmutur. Bu alma, 18. yzylda balayan Osmanl modernlemesinin kkeninin 16. yzyla dayandn, marjinal Sufi gruplarnn iir meclislerinde ifade bulan ve bireyselliin nemini vurgulayan bir mekan kltrnn, 18. yzyln ilk yarsnda, Lale Devrinde geliip deierek toplumun daha geni kesimleri tarafndan benimsenen bir ehir kltrne nasl dntn sorgulamaktadr.

Anahtar kelimeler: Osmanl mekan kltr, Osmanl iiri, hayalgc, iir meclisi.

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To the memory of Hatice Kbra Ulubay (1911 2001)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would first like to thank my advisor Prof. Jale N. Erzen. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, her inspiring personality and varied works motivated not only my own work, but many others in environmental studies and as well in the studies of Ottoman art and architecture. She introduced us to other worlds and to other people, provided means to broaden our horizon. Apart from her invaluable criticism and support regarding this particular work, I would also like to thank for her anticipation in making us free individuals encouraging in our far away travels. I am thankful to my co-advisor Dr. Michel Conan for his support, criticism, and advice in establishing the framework and the methodology of this research. Since the first time I have been introduced to Dr. Conan in 2001, it has been a pleasure to work with him. I believe that the questions Dr. Conan posed during our long discussions will also guide my future research in Ottoman space culture. I would like to thank all the members of the thesis committee who contributed to the development of this research throughout the course of this study and who participated in the process; Assoc. Prof. Emel Akzer, Prof. Nurhan Atasoy, Prof. mr Bakrer, Dr. Michel Conan, Assoc. Prof. Gven Sargn, Prof. Talat Halman and Asst. Prof. Zuhal Ulusoy. I am grateful to Prof. Haluk Pamir, Assoc. Prof. Selahattin nr, Prof. Vacit mamolu, Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Mennan, Prof. Belgin Turan and Dr. Namk Erkal for their academic support. I would especially like to thank Prof. Nurhan Atasoy for her interest, support and generosity in providing and sharing all kinds of resources and material, apart from sharing her cheerfulness and her family with me. I would like to thank the participants of the Middle Eastern Garden Studies, Dede Ruggles, Mahvash Alemi, Abdul Rehman and Muhammed El-Faiz, whom I met quite late during the course of this study, but whose interest encouraged the final

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development of this work. I would also like to thank Dr. Michel Conan and Prof. Nurhan Atasoy for allowing my participation in this study group. I would like to express my gratitude to all the staff of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and all the librarians, Linda Lott, Bridget Gazzo, Deb Brown, Ludmila Gordon, Regina Koehler and photographer Joe Mills. I would like to express my gratitude to all the senior fellows of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, especially Prof. Erik de Jong who provided visual material used in this study. I would like to thank my fellow friends at Dumbarton Oaks; Elizabeth Lebas, Christine Miller, Katleen Christian Wren and Ralph Behrwald who read and commented on parts of this study, and former fellows Hui Wu, Ayshe Malek and Philip K. Hu for their invaluable questions. I am especially grateful to the Assistant Curator of the Contemporary Landscape Collection Xin Wu for her critical perspective and her company. I would like to express my gratitude to Havva Ko from the Library of the Museum of Archeology, Zeynep elik from Topkap Museum Library and Andreas Riedlemayer from Harvard Fine Arts Library in providing material and sources. I would like to thank Prof. Gl repolu from Istanbul University and Prof. lgi Yce Akun from Mimar Sinan University, for their sincere interest. I would like to thank Prof. Mine Kadirolu, Sheila Gagen and especially Dr. Michel Conan who edited parts of this study and provided supervision in writing. I would also like to thank Muteber Erdal and Pakize H. for their assistance in bureaucratic correspondences and their patience in assisting. I would also like to express my indebtness to my former principals Mustafa Trkmen and Ali Ltfi ncel for supporting the development of this study throughout my occupation at Enternasyonal Tourism Investment Company, and, my friend Glcan Grel who always took good care of me. Finally I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends. I would like to thank my friends Namk Erkal, Ebru zdemir and Defne lgray who participated

in this long process with me. There are no words to express their support. I would like to convey my appreciation to my friends Burcu and Mehmet Ktkolu who provided different resources for my academic vocation. I would like to thank Maria Evangelatou for her friendship, generosity and especially her company in the final year of my study. All the members of my big family Aye, Ihsan, Can, Nee, Alev, and others from al, Ulubay, Akbaba, Mutlugil, Kural, Orbey, Ergun and Arkolu families, especially my grandmothers and my grandfather; my former roommates Nee Ulubay and Azade Arslaner; my guarantors Prof. Rmeysa Demirdamar and Prof. Sevim Dalkara; I owe them my peace of mind and endurance, that was essential in this long journey. Finally, I would like to thank my husband Ali Kural who has generously devoted his years in supporting this research and providing me the most pleasant work environment.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGRIASM ..........................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iv Z............................................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ xv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................xxiv CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................1 1.1 1.2 Presenting the Problem: Holy Paradise! Is it under or above the city of Istanbul? ...................2 Methodology and Sources .................................................................23

2. PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: MAPPING THE IMPACT OF SUFI EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION OF OTTOMAN IMAGINATION AND IDEOLOGY.............................................58 2.1 2.2 Philosophical Background: Ideal and Real Spaces of Imagination ....62 Historical Background: Geographies of Ottoman Ideology and Its Spaces of Imagination........................................................................82 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.3 Multiple Centers of Anatolia and Thrace Before 1453............85 Istanbul After the Conquest (1453-1730) ...............................98

Conclusion .......................................................................................109

3. SPACES OF GARDEN RITUALS (1453 - 1730) ......................................112 3.1 3.2 Garden Rituals .................................................................................113 Analysis of Garden Rituals 3.2.1 Constrained Order of Garden Rituals...................................120

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3.2.2 3.3 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.4

Text of Garden Rituals: The Gazel Genre............................122 Participants of Garden Rituals..............................................126 Role Playing in Garden Rituals: Sufi and Rind.....................127 Ideal Spaces.........................................................................136 Real Spaces .........................................................................150

Society and Garden Rituals .............................................................124

Spaces of Garden Rituals ................................................................132

Conclusion .......................................................................................166

4. SPACES OF CITY RITUALS (1512-1732).208 4.1 City Rituals.209 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.1.4 4.1.5 4.1.6 4.1.7 4.1.8 4.1.9 ehrengiz of Edirne by Mesh (1512) ... 210 ehrengiz of Istanbul, Vize and orlu by Katib (1513) ... 220 ehrengiz of Edirne by Talcal Yahya (1520s)227 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Talcal Yahya (1520s) ... 237 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Fakiri (1534) ... 246 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Talcal Yahya (1540s) ... 252 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Tab Ismail (before 1562) ... 254 ehrengiz of Istanbul, Anonymous (before 1566) .254 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Cemali (1564) .... 256

4.1.10 ehrengiz of Istanbul by Azizi (before 1585)..260 4.1.11 ehrengiz of Edirne by Neati Ahmed Dede (before 1674).262 4.2 Analysis of City Rituals.....................................................................263 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.3 4.4 Liberated Order of City Rituals .............................................263 Text of City Rituals: The ehrengiz Genre...........................274

Participants of City Rituals: Marginal Poets and Guild Boys............286 Spaces of City Rituals ......................................................................291 3.3.1 3.3.1 Ideal Spaces.........................................................................295 Real Spaces .........................................................................310

4.5

Conclusion .......................................................................................322

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5. GARDENS AND CITY SPACES IN THE NEW RITUALS OF THE TULIP PERIOD (1718-1730).. 375 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Emergence of New Rituals and Nedms Poetry.... 383 Participants of the New Rituals: Confrontation of the Court and the Public... 397 Construction of an Ideal Space: Sad-bd Palace at Kathane Commons..................................... 402 Conclusion 421

6. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................446

REFERENCES .....................................................................................................454 APPENDICES.......................................................................................................491

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figures

1.

View of Istanbul from the Dutch Embassy by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist An Audience in Istanbul (Amsterdam: Rijswijk, ICN Collection, 2003), 4338 Patrona Halil by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist, 13...39 Ahmed IIIs reception room in the Palace, reproduced from Nurhan Atasoy, Hasbahe (Istanbul: Ko Yaynlar, 2002), 121.............................................40 A page from one of the French books found in Topkap Palace Archive, TSM H2587............................................................................................................41 Page from Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebis Ambassadorial Chronicle, (1721), reproduced from Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, ed. and transc. by evket Rado (Istanbul: Hayat Tarih Mecmuas Yaynlar, Doan Karde Yaynlar, 1970)......................................................................42 Imperial binis along Bosphorus, from DOhsson, Tableau general de lempire Ottoman (1787), reproduced from Maurice Cerasi Town and Architecture in the 18th Century in Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium Rassegna 72 (1997), 47................................................................................43 Turkish Courtiers feasting by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 41....................................................44 A Turkish Wedding by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced in The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 39....................................................45 Sugar gardens produced for the 1720 circumcision festival, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, folio 7a; reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname........................................................................................................46 Sugar gardens produced for the 1720 circumcision festival, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, folios 161a, 161b, 162 a, 162b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname....47 Sugar gardens, from Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, detail from folio 161b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.....................................48

2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

7. 8. 9.

10.

11.

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12. 13.

Sugar gardens, from Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A3593, detail from folio 162b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.....................................49 Eldems study of garden models from Vehbis 18th c. miniatures, reproduced from Sedad Hakk Eldem, Trk Baheleri (Istanbul: Kltr Bakanl Yaynlar, 1978), 211- 215.............................................................................50 Whirling Dervishes in the Mevlevi tekke, by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 38.................51 Melami tombstones B ser p (without head and legs), reproduced from Dnden Bugne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi vol. 5 (1994), 385............................52 Map of Istanbul, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964, folios 8b and 9a................................................................53 Landscapes from different destinations (manzar from various menzil) in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964......54 Depiction of different cities in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964................................................................................55 Depiction of the city and countryside of Istanbul in Krkeme Waterways Map by Nakka Osman (1579-1580), Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, MS. 413, reproduced from Kazm een, Istanbulun Osmanl Dnemi Suyollar, ed. by Celal Kolay (Istanbul: Oma Ofset A.., 2000)...................................56 Beylik Suyolu (1582), TSM E12431, reproduced from een, Istanbulun Osmanl Dnemi Suyollar............................................................................ 57 Khidr and Ilyas at the Fountain of Life Giving Water, reproduced from Mehdi Khansari, M. Reza Moghtader and M. Yavari, The Persian Garden Echoes of Paradise (Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 1998), 72............................111 Sultans garden party, in Klliyt- Ktib (1444-1481), TSM R. 989, folio 93a, reproduced from Tannd, Trk Minyatr Sanat, 9. ............................172 Garden party at the Edirne Palace, in Hamse-I Hsrev Dehlev I (1498), TSM H799, folio 186b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 232.............................................................................................................. 173 Paper Cut Garden (detail), in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 73................................174 Sultan Sleyman and his son enjoying a garden party, in Sleymanname (1520-1566), TSM H1517, folio 477b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 156.............................................................................................175

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

20. 21.

22. 23.

24. 25.

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26.

The Amir Osman with his court, from Private Collection of Hans P. Kraus (Istanbul, c. 1550), folio 56b, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 224...............................................................................................................176 Garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 16a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 50................................177 Harem enjoying a garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 14a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 158....178 Garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 19a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 157..............................179 Poetry reading at a meadow, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 28a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 159..............180 Sultan Murad IV hosts a garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM H21488, folio 11b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 71.................................................................................................................181 Garden party hosting Christian nobles, in Hamse-i Atayi (1721), Baltimore Walters Art Museum W666, folio 138a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 53........................................................................................182 A father advises his son about love, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 52a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 26..............................................................................................183 A father advises his son about love : The Poet (detail), in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 52a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 26............................................................ 184 The gnostic has a vision of Angels carrying trays of light to the poet Sad, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 147a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 44................................185 Pages from Muhibb Divan, K T5467, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 137........................................................................................186 Thoughtful Man; An Intellectual at a Garden, Mughal painting of 1610 in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reproduced from Desai, Life at Court, 23....187 Arts of Tashbih (Comparison by Similarities): Angels and mystics enjoying in the garden. Allegory of Drunkenness, in Divan of Hafiz (16th c.), Private collection, TL 17443-5, reproduced from Angelis and Lentz, Architecture in Islamic Painting, 21......................................................................................188

27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36. 37. 38.

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39.

Arts of Tanzih (Comparison by Negation): Destruction of the Garden, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 179a, reproduced From Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 53...............................189 Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 73...............................190. Complication of Vision. Analysis of Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426.....................................................................191-193 Celestial Map in Lokmans Zbdett - Tevrh (1583), TSM H1321.........194 Adam and Eve in Lokmans Zbdett - Tevrh (1583), TSM H1321.......194 Joseph and Jacob in Lokmans Zbdett -Tevrh (1583), TSM H1321. .....................................................................................................................194 Noahs Ark in Lokmans Zbdett - Tevrh (1583), TSM H1321..............194 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Hdr and Hz. lyas, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.....................................195 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Idris reading who invented writing and reading, Hz. Cemid holding a wine cup who invented wine, and Hz. Nuh, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.............196 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Yusuf of Egypt, Hz. Eyyub, Hz. Yusuf, Rstem Zal, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett - Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library..........................................................................................................197 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Prophets, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library........................................................198 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Mohammed and his caliphs, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett - Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.............199 Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Ottoman Sultans; Orhan Gazi, Murat I, Beyazd I, Mehmed I, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library...............................................................................................200 Body as Garden. Sultan Selim II, arching, wearing a floral kaftan, TSM H2134, folio 3a reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 88........201 Palace as garden. Topkap Palace Second Court in Hnername (c. 1584), TSM H1524, folio 237b, in Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 247................202 City as garden. Istanbul, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964, folios 8b and 9a...................................................203

40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47.

48.

49. 50. 51.

52. 53. 54.

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55.

Plan of the Topkap Palace. Hypothetical Reconstruction of the palace grounds in the nineteenth century. Drawing from Eldem and Akozan, Topkap, reproduced from Glru Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power The Topkap Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991), 270. ...................................................204 Key of to the plan of the the Topkap Palace, reproduced from Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power, 271. ................................................205 Topkap Palace in Hnername I ( c. 1584), TSM H1523, folios 18b-19a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 246. ............................206 Topkap Palace in Hnername I (c. 1584), TSM H1523, folios 231b-232a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 251. ..207 Circle, Time and Geometry. 60 equal intervals standing for the 60-year cycle, 60 minutes, 60 seconds: Nodal points on the circle regulating geometric patterns of the square, equilateral triangle, pentagon and the hexagon. Reproduced from Critchlow, Islamic Patterns, 157. ..323 Circles: Orbital movement of the planets. Reproduced from Critchlow, Islamic Patterns, 153.324 Diretl vcd (Circle of Being) from a late Melm treatise. Concentric circles houses different storehouses in the different levels of the cosmology. Within the inmost central circle, the invisible realm of divine being (yellow) and the visible realm things reside together. Reproduced from Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 270325 The circle according to Ibn alArabi:Divine and cosmic relations within the body of the circle. Reproduced from Chittick, Self Disclosure, 229..326 The circle according to Ibn alArabi: Variety of circles housing variety of storehouses. Reproduced from Chittick, Self Disclosure, 230...327 Map of the Timurid world from a scientific manuscript executed for Iskandar Sultan ibn Umar-Shaykh, Isfahan (c. 1413), TSM B411, 141b-142a. Reproduced from Lentz, Princely Vision, 150...328 Fixed Stars as a Sufi: The Dancer (Heracles) in Kitb Suwar al-Kawkib ath-Thbita (1224), Vatican Bib. Apostolica, 19b, reproduced from Richard Ettinghausen, Treasures of Asia Arab Painting (Washington, DC: Skira), 130...329 Sufi dance. The historian Mustafa Ali presenting his work to Mustafa Pasha while whirling dervishes performing their ritual dance, TSM H1365, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 11..330

56. 57. 58. 59.

60. 61.

62. 63. 64.

65.

66.

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67.

Sufi dance. After reciting from the Koran and Mevlanas Mesnevi, the dervishes whirl to musical appointment in Sawaqib al-Manaqib, New York, Morgan Library, No. 466, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 110...331 Sufi dance. Mevlana dancing at his convent in Sawaqib al-Manaqib, New York, Morgan Library, No. 466, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 109...332 Spaces of Sufi dance rituals. Dancing Sufis and a Bathhouse Scene, Private Collection of H.P. Kraus, 1b-2a, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 165.333 Sufis by a Mountain Spring in a treatise on Sufi poetry (1610-1630), reproduced from Eric Schroeder, Persian Miniatures in the Fogg Museum of Art (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1942), 141. .334 Watching the swimming beauties: Iskandar and the Sirens in Khamsa of Nizami (1431), Cat No. 38, 484a, reproduced from Lentz, Princely Vision, 170. .335 Watching the swimming beauties: Iskandar Spying Upon the Sirens, Private Collection of H.P. Kraus, 315b, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 101. .336 Hayreti (d. 1535), Poet of ehrengiz-i Belgrad, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 192... 337 Usuli (d. 1538), Poet of ehrengiz-i Yenice, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 223338 Talcal Yahya (d. 1582), Poet of ehrengiz-i Edirne, Istanbul and ah u Ged, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 390...................................................................................339 Lamii elebi (1472-1532), Poet of ehrengiz-i Bursa, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 186...............................................................................................................340 shak elebi (d. 1538), Poet of ehrengiz-i Bursa, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 230...... 341 Procession of Guilds: Sufis of Eyyub-i Ensari, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 53a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 57342 Procession of Guilds: Gardeners, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 196a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 60. ..343

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

73. 74. 75.

76.

77. 78.

79.

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80. 81. 82. 83.

Procession of Guilds: Gardeners, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 349a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 59.344 Procession of Guilds: Kebab Cooks, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 343a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 44...345 Procession of Guilds: Seamen, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 137a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 45.346 Procession of Guilds: Sufis of Eyyub-i Ensari, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 204a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 77. ...347 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. Galata e al-Qustantiniyya (after 1453), Paris Biblioteque Nationale, N.A. lat. 2383a. The map also shows Kathane Suyu, and Ali Bey Suyu with other monuments and neighborhoods of the Ottoman period, all inscribed in Ottoman. The original version of the map was printed in Liber Insularum Archipelagi, by Cristoforo Buendelmonti, dated 1420...348 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Cahit Kayra, Istanbul Mekanlar ve Zamanlar (Istanbul: Ak Yayinlari, 1990), 21349 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. In Liber insularum Archipelagi of Buendelmonte (1420), Biblioteca Nazionale, Paris. Cod. Lat. 4825, fol 37. reproduced from Philip Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred City (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 19...350 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, in Biblioteca Classence, Ravenna, cod. no. 308, reproduced in Vespignani, G. Il Circo Di Constantinopoli Nuova Roma (Spoleto: Centro Italiano Di Studi Sullalto Medioevo, 2001).............351 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced in Myth to Modernity Istanbul Selected Themes, edited by Nezih Basgelen and Brian Johnson (Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayinlari, 1997), front page...352 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, in Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, reproduced from Rassegna 72 (1997), front page.353 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Istanbul (Istanbul: Istanbul Ticaret Odasi, 2003, c.1997), 17..354 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Istanbul Everyman Guides, 234355 Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. Constantinople (1422) reproduced from Kuban, Istanbul, 175356

84.

85. 86.

87.

88.

89. 90. 91. 92.

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93.

Istanbul: Version of Schedel Map (Original dated 1493, Bildlexicon 31), reproduced from Istanbul (Istanbul: Istanbul Ticaret Odas, 2003, c. 1997), 14.357 Map of Istanbul from the 15th century reproduced from Kayra, Istanbul, 22.358 Plan of Constantinople by Giovanni A. Vavassore (Venice, ca. 1520-1540), reproduced from Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred, 13...359 Vedute (panorama) of Constantinople by Anselme Bandurri in Imperium Orientale (Paris:1711), reproduced in Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred City, 70-71.360 Map of Istanbul by Nash s-Silah el-Matrk, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn (1537-38), T5964, folios 31b-32a361 Analysis of 1537 Map of Istanbul. Diagram showing the compaction of the wall area in the map of Istanbul in Mecmu Menazil, reproduced from Iffet Orbay, Istanbul viewed: the representation of the city in Ottoman maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Unpublished Ph.D. diss. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2001), 428..362 Analysis of 1537 Map of Istanbul. Diagram Showing the symmetrical arrangements in the map of Istanbul in Mecmu Menazil, reproduced from Orbay, Istanbul viewed, 429..363

94. 95. 96.

97. 98.

99.

100. Krkeme Waterways Map, in Tarih-i Sultn Suleymn Hn (1579-80), BL MS 413, folios 22b-23a, reproduced from een, Taksim ve Hamidiye Sular, 28-29364 101. Map of Istanbul in Kitb- Bahriye (ca. 1670-1720), NKC MS 718, folios 3b4a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 274..365 102. Image showing the imperial barge of Murad III sailing at Boshorus and the possible station points of his travel. Bosphorus, (1588), Bodleian Library, Oxford Ms. Or. 430, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 28.366 103. Diagram showing shore palaces, neighborhoods and gardens at Bosphorus as depicted in the Bodleian album, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 29.367 104. Craft in the Sea of Marmara: Galleon (above left), a pereme ferry and a sail boat (above right) and Sultans barge (below), in Lamberts Wyts, Iter factum e Belgico-Gallice Voyages de Lambert Wyts en Turquie, Vienna, sterreicheische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 3325, folio 221, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 141..368

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105. Istanbul (ca. 1590) in sterreichische Nationalbibliotek Codex X Vindobonensis 8626, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 2225.369 106. Galata (ca. 1590) in sterreichische Nationalbibliotek Codex X Vindobonensis 8626, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 6869.370 107. City dwellers enjoying at a hillside on the European side, overlooking Boshorus and the Topkap Palace. Reproduced from George Sandys (15781644), Sandys Travels, containing an history of the original and present state of the Turkish empire ... The Mahometan religion and ceremonies: a description of Constantinople ... also, of Greece ... Of Aegypt ... A voyage on the river Nylvs ... A description of the Holy-land; of the Jews ... and what else either of antiquity, or worth observation. 7th Edition (London, Printed for J. Williams junior, 1673), 24. ...371 108. Detail from figure 107.. 372 109. City dwellers outside the city walls, reproduced from The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: 1873)373 110. The Sultan Traveling in the City, reproduced from The Turks in MDXXXIII, , A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: 1873)374 111. Persian Dancing Woman by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 69. ...425 112. A Rowdy by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 67. .. 426 113. Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 64. ..427 114. Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 65. ..428 115. Palace maiden by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 62. ...429 116. Persian Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 68. 430 117. A Drunk by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 70. . .431

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118. The site plan of the Palace and Gardens of Fontainebleau, reproduced from TSM H2605. ..432 119. The site plan for the Palace and Gardens of Chantilly, reproduced from TSM H2605. 433 120. The site plan for the Palace and Gardens of Meudon, reproduced from TSM H2605. 434 121. Pages from Neue Gartenlust oder Vlliges Ornament, reproduced from TSM 2986. ...435 122. Page, reproduced from Utilissimo Trattato dell Aque Correnti (1696), TSM H2988. 436 123. Images depicting life in French gardens from books which Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi brought back from France. .437 124. Fireworks at the Versailles in Festes de Versailles (1675-1678), reproduced from TSM H2587..........................................................................................438 125. A page from Plans Veves et Ornaments de Versailles (1673-1682), reproduced from TSM 2598.439 126. Kathane Mesiresi in the second half of the 18th c: Public grounds in the foreground together with the imperial gardens at the background. Etching by dOhsson, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 280...440 127. A Night Scene from 1720 Festival at Ok Meydan in Surname-i Vehbi (172728), folios 51b-52a, reproduced from Atl, Levni, 200201...441 128. Site Plan of Kathane Mesiresi by Sedad Hakk Eldem, reproduced from Eldem, Sadabad, 8-9442 129. Plan of Sad-abad Palace at Kathane Mesiresi by Sedad Hakk Eldem, reproduced from Elden, Sadabad, 280..443 130. Proposed location for Ba- Irem: Garden of Paradise on Earth Underneath Which Rivers Flow. Base map used from Eldem, Sadabad, 134.444 131. Bridge and pavilions in front of the Pool of Silver Ruler in the imperial gardens of Sadabad, reproduced from Eldem, Sadabad, 44-45...445

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LIST OF TABLES

Tables

1. Hierarchy in Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry..168 2. Ideal Spaces of Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry..169 3. Real Spaces of Classical Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry.170 4. An Example Illustrating the Arts of Gazel in Zatis Verses According to Walter Andrews Analysis.171 5. List of ehrengiz Poems Analyzed....209 6. Inventory of real places and events in Nedms kasdes, chronograms, and mesnevis387

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Islamic garden is considered to be the representation of the paradise garden promised in Koran and further elaborated in religious texts. According to the Islamic tradition, paradise garden is the highest level of cosmography bestowed to the human kind in the afterlife. It is the beginning and end of all creation, the abode of the divine being and thus the source of all divine knowledge. In Orthodox Ottoman tradition, both real and imaginary gardens were representations of the paradise garden promised. Gardens which were manifestations and display of the supreme divine presence were also the setting where the Ottoman court asserted itself; since the two were integrated in the authority of the Ottoman Sultan, as the leader of the Orthodox Muslim community since the early 16th c. Thus gardens were reminiscent of religious order and monarchy at the same time. Furthermore, rituals performed at the gardens were tools to control and sustain social order under the rule of the religion and the imperial authority. Contrary to the Orthodox tradition where the gardens and garden rituals were display of divine presence and courtly authority, some marginal groups in the Sufi tradition asserted the importance of gardens as a source of inquiry for divine knowledge. Instead of using gardens as a symbol of the religion or the monarchy, they challenged the use of gardens. Contrary to the imperial use of gardens as a tool of social control, these marginal Sufi groups practiced the use of gardens a tool of individual enlightenment. While the court imposed social control over its subjects by means of gardens and garden rituals, these marginal Sufis practiced the use of gardens and other kinds of open spaces for the liberation of individuals.

Spaces developed, built, planted, used, employed by the court represented paradise gardens on earth as the manifestation and display of imperial power. Imperial gardens, gardens of the elite, and all kinds of garden representations in Ottoman court art became displays of imperial authority. However, spaces of the city beyond courtly gardens and their representations became alternative spaces proposing an adventurous journey for the individuals to search and to experience new horizons. These spaces of the city were not concrete spaces built or defined under one roof, or they were not walled gardens. But they were parts of city spaces brought together in the minds and rituals of marginal Sufis groups. These spaces can be defined as individual landscapes mapped, shared and experienced by marginal Sufi groups. These experiences in the city space ended suggesting modernization of the society by emphasizing the individual experience in the perception and construction of space. Thus, while rituals in the gardens supported the solidity of the social order, rituals of marginal Sufi groups in the city challenged the social order and initiated the modernization of the society. This study aims to map the changing rituals in gardens and city spaces of Istanbul from the 16th c. to the early 18th c. with respect to the ideals of a marginal Sufi group, whose development and continued existence corresponds to the same period of this two hundred years, proposing to understand the changing symbolism of space and spatial practices with respect to the conflicting ideologies of the Orthodox Ottoman court and marginal groups in the heterodox Sufi society.

PRESENTING THE PROBLEM: HOLY PARADISE! IS IT UNDER OR ABOVE THE CITY OF ISTANBUL?

1730 marks the end of a very significant period in Ottoman history. On early October in 1730, a few days after the execution of the Grand Vizier, a poet died falling from the roof of his house in Beikta, Istanbul. He was horrified, and fearful of getting killed. He was running away from the rebels who had slaughtered almost
2

all of his beloved friends, including the Grand Vizier, and who, during this 50 days rebellion, demolished all the gardens where the poet and his beloved friends used to meet. The poets name was Nedm. The rebellion that led to his death is known as the Patrona Halil Revolt terminated the twelve years of service of the Grand Vizier. Later in the next century, these twelve years came to be called the Tulip Period after the epochs passion for flowers and gardens. During this period the craze for flowers and gardens reached such an extent, that Nedm depicted the city as a garden similar to paradise:1 Holy Paradise! Is it under or above the city of Istanbul? My Lord, how nice its atmosphere, its water and weather! Each of its gardens is a pleasing meadow, Each corner is fertile, a blossoming assembly of joy. It is not proper to exchange this city for the whole world . Or to compare its rose gardens to Paradise! Quality of these novel festivities Only a book will be able to tell about! Nedms portrayal of the period as a book of novel festivities in a paradise-like city enjoyed in the gardens and meadows was due to the Grand Viziers reformative projects that instigated launching new urban pleasures by taking initiatives in restoring the various spaces of the city and the countryside. His reformative initiatives were not only effective in the domains of culture, but also in imperial self representation, and international diplomacy. During the Tulip Period, the Grand Vizier Nevehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha aimed at establishing a new imperial rule based on peace. Classical Ottoman rule had

Translated from Nedm in Ahmet Atilla entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi. (stanbul: Yap

Kredi Yaynlar, 1999), 599-580.

been geared towards warfare.2 Ibrahim Pasha considered the situation, and employed it as a means to ensure peace and stability. Under his supervision, the imperial policy favored the pursuits of a settled life in peace and prosperity. As the frontier culture was replaced with a new culture of immobility, the capital city regained its importance as a space for engaging in cultural and intellectual life. The city was refurbished; its monuments restored, public waterways recovered and improved. The first fire department was initiated. Public use of urban space was emphasized with extensive building of over 200 fountains, each becoming a gathering spot. In this period, the first press, printing in Ottoman Turkish was established; the first two public libraries founded; historical anthologies and philosophical works, originally in Arabic, Persian, and Greek, translated into Ottoman Turkish; special discussion groups of scholars, intellectuals and poets were organized for exchanging ideas in the arts, philosophy, politics, and public problems.

Since 1683 the army was not as victorious as before. Signing the 1699 Karlofa Treaty, Ottoman Empire lost

after four unsuccessful attempts to capture Vienna (1683-1699),

significant amount of land to the Austrian, Russians and Venetians. Following the defeat at the Austrian border, with the 1718 Pasarofa Treaty, they also lost Eflak, Bogdan, Belgrad, and north Serbia (1715-1718) at the western frontier. On the contrary, the Ottoman Empire was in a superior state at the northern and the eastern frontiers. Russians neighboring the empire at the north and the Safavids at the east were in vulnerable conditions. Russians were fighting with the Swedish. Safavid Dynasty was surviving hardly for the last years of its power. However the Ottoman regime preferred not to try taking advantage of circumstances; or simply was not able to so. Since the Ottoman sultans were not able to sustain the imperial agenda by extending their power over new territories, by the end of the 17th c. they had also abandoned the city of Istanbul which was the symbol of imperial tradition. The court preferred to stay out of sight and they retreated back to the Edirne Palace; smail Hakk Uzunarl, Osmanl Tarihi I-IV (Ankara: Trk Tarih Kurumu, 1956); Halil nalck, Osmanl mparatorluu Klasik a 1300-1600. 1973, translated by Ruen Sezer ( Istanbul: YKY, 2003); Donald Quartet, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000).

While restoring Istanbul, as the center of the empire, diplomacy was given more importance than before with the purpose of confirming peace at the periphery. Diplomats were sent to Austria, France and Iran. In 1719, Ibrahim Pasha was sent to Wien, in 1719; in 1720, Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi was sent to France, and in 1721, Ahmed Drri Efendi was sent to Iran. These diplomats documented their journeys in chronicles, comparing the visited countries to the Ottoman land. The Austrian countryside was depicted as neat and very well kept, with all its villages enjoying in prosperity. The French palaces and gardens were described as the paradise of infidels allowing men and women to enjoy an extraordinary festive life. However the Persian country was presented as poor and deprived. 3 It was evident that, then, the Ottoman observers found western superior to eastern civilizations. As a consequence of these travels, the imperial library was provided with books illustrating the European gardens and palaces.4 Shortly after the Ottoman envoys return from France, a new imperial palace was built in Kathane, accompanied by forty neighboring mansions of the Ottoman elite, each with splendid gardens. Kathane and its gardens became symbols of the period. Sultan and his court traveled from one garden to another, from the gardens of Kathane, to palaces on Golden Horn and Bosphorus, enjoying themselves in the serene atmosphere of each garden, celebrating marriages, circumcisions, entertaining diplomatic envoys, intellectual assemblies, commemorating religious holy days, organizing feasts and parties during the daytime and at night. Some of
3

For the Ottoman diplomacy during the early 18 c. see, Baki Asltrk, Osmanl

th

Seyyahlarnn Gzyle Avrupa (Istanbul: Kakns Yaynlar, 2000); Hadiye and Hner Tuncer, Osmanl Diplomasisi ve Sefaretnameler (Ankara: mit Yaynclk, 1997); Abdullah Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi (Istanbul: Garanti Matbaaclk ve Neriyat , 1975); Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, ed. and transc. by evket Rado (Istanbul: Hayat Tarih Mecmuas Yaynlar, Doan Karde Yaynlar, 1970).
4

I am thankful to Prof. Gl repolu who referred to European printed books in the Topkap

Palace Archives.

these gardens were, the Garden of the Vizier and the Promenade of Good Spirits within the city; the House of Eternal Happiness and the House of Eternal Beauty at Kathane; imperials gardens of Tersane along the Golden Horn; on the banks of Bosphorus at the European side, the House of Eternal Security at Fndkl, the Palace of Light and the gardens of the Viziers Palace at Beikta, the House of Eternal Gaiety at Defterdar Burnu, the Pavilion of Stars at Kurueme, the House of Eternal Rule at Bebek; and on the Anatolian side, the House of Eternal Honor at skdar, the Garden of Pleasure at Beylerbeyi.5 A new elite class emerged engaging in garden activities similar to those of the Imperial court. They employed construction of gardens and numerous public works and became the new patrons of urban space.6 And for the general public, gardens and promenades became more favorable than before. Nedms poems illustrated this festive life of the Tulip Period. However different in architectural form, gardens of Istanbul became used in a way that obviously resembled the festive life as observed in French gardens.7 As well,
5

For the development of the festive life along Bosphorus and the detailed study of the

shore palaces over the course of the 18th c., see Tulay Artan, Architecture As a Theatre of Life: Profile of the Eighteenth Century Bosphorus. Ph.D. diss (MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1989).
6

For the study on the transformation of urban space and urban practices in the city of

Istanbul during the entire 18th c. in relation to the emergence of a new elite class who became new patrons of art and architecture, see Shirine Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures: Architectural Sensibility in 18 Century Istanbul. Ph.D. diss. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999).
7 th

Istanbul was always planted with numerous gardens, in which, not only aristocracy, but all

ranks of Ottoman society used to enjoy. The gardens were always an important part of the Ottoman culture. For the city of Istanbul, the 17th century traveler Evliya elebi mentions forty imperial gardens, and numerous gardens and open spaces favored among the public, which are even larger in number than the imperial gardens. See Mehmed Zllolu Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi , trans. by Zuhuri Danman (Istanbul: etin Basmevi, 1971).

representations of European gardens in books might have had an important effect in stimulating the circulation of garden models during this period. Thus, the Tulip Period initiated two major changes in the Ottoman garden tradition. First, private gardens, open to public view, gave way to conspicuous consumption, pomp and festivity in public spaces. Apart from the expenditures for hosting garden parties, consumption of common commodities had reached such an extent that purchase of luxury materials, like silk were forbidden to some of the social groups. As well, tulip bulbs were sold for a fortune. Second, it gave rise to a display of gardens, and encouraged the dissemination of garden models, similar to the circulation of books printed. For the celebration of the 1720 circumcision festival, four sugar gardens were constructed. The miniatures in Levnis Surnme depict these four different gardens.8 These sugar gardens may have served as garden models displayed, either of existing gardens, or of types suggested to be built. Though, it is evident that they also displayed the scope of Ottoman imagination flourishing in gardens. Within a couple of years after the display of sugar gardens, the former meadows of the Kathane developed into a festive site favored by all groups of the society, by the building activity of numerous private gardens that was surrounded by a public promenade. An imperial palace was built surrounded by imperial gardens. Over forty private gardens were planted. These private gardens belonged to members of the elite class. Both the imperial and the private gardens were surrounded by a promenade open to all citizens of the city. Thus, along with these private gardens, the festive life in the private gardens was also displayed to the eyes of the public.

Esin Atl, Surname-i Vehbi: An Eighteenth Century Ottoman Book of Festivals. Ph.D.

diss. (University of Michigan, Michigan, 1969) and Levni ve Surname Bir Osmanl enliinin yks (Istanbul: APA Tasarm Yaynclk ve Bask, 1999); Nurhan Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan Gardens and Flowers in the Ottoman Culture (Istanbul: Mas Matbaaclk, 2002).

An Orthodox group of conformists was deeply disturbed by the display of an emerging elite class enjoying a festive garden life, under the gaze of the larger Muslim community. In 1730, this Orthodox group engaged in a successful revolution. They demolished most of the gardens and promenades which were the symbols of the epoch; terminated the Tulip Period and destroyed the lives of the prominent figures of its cultural renewal most of them killed, or sent to exile; including Nedm, the poet; and Nevehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha, the Grand Vizier. Most scholars would date the efforts at modernizing Ottoman culture to the Tulip Period, and describe reforms of the military, educational and administrative spheres, as attempts at westernization. However, these attempts are known to have failed, resulting in the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This perspective sees the Ottoman culture as unchanging, incapable of any transformation, innovation or internal dynamics. Of course there are exceptions, but any innovation in the arts or sciences is generally evaluated as an instance of individual talent, devoid of any cultural source. It attributes changes prior to the Tulip Period, to the imitation of the Persian-Islamic traditions, and after them, the western civilizations. The following quotation from a literary critic provides a typical example: 9 In all literary matters the Ottoman Turks have shown themselves as singularly uninventive people, the two great schools, the old and the new, into which we may divide their literature, being closely modeled, the one after the classics of Persia, the other after those of modern Europe, and more especially of France. This view has been challenged during the last fifteen years. A few studies that aim to explore the internal dynamics of cultural transformations focus on urban practices of the Ottoman elite culture. These studies are mainly unpublished doctoral dissertations conducted at Harvard University, or MIT. Tlay Artan and Shirine Hamadeh focused on public arts and architecture of the 18th century
9

Gibb quoted by Victoria Holbrook, The Unredeable shores of Love Turkish Modernity and

Mystic Romance (Austin: Texas University Press, 1994), 18.

Istanbul.10 They have considered the entire 18th century, as a uniform period of innovation in order to stress internal dynamics of the Ottoman culture and a certain continuity. They have demonstrated the establishment of new social, cultural and spatial models in the 18th century, by studying Ottoman archival documents. Their methods stress the importance of studying the Ottoman society from an internal point of view. However, they have ignored the significance of the Tulip Period that they took as a starting point. On the contrary, this research aims to show how the Tulip Period was the climax of more than two centuries of different changes; arguing that modernization as observed in some urban practices, the development of self consciousness and individuality can be traced back as early as to the early 16thth c. To make clear the cultural changes that the gardens of the Tulip Period revealed to the eyes of orthodox Muslim people, it is necessary to reassess the period by returning back to Nedms poem. Nedm depicted the city as a garden similar to Paradise: Holy Paradise! Is it under or above the city of Istanbul? Comparing the city to Paradise may sound a very bland and conventional comparison. However, the paradisiacal qualities attributed to the city, and the

10

Tlay Artans and Shirine Hamadehs unpublished thesis studies examine the internal

dynamics of the Ottoman culture in different periods. However, these works treat independently the arts, architecture, literature, religious or political history, and do not show how culture develops through the interaction between different spheres; Tlay Artan, Artan, Tulay. Architecture As a Theatre of Life: Profile of the Eighteenth Century Bosphorus, Ph.D. diss. (MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1989); Shirine Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures: Architectural Sensibility in 18 Century Istanbul, Ph.D. diss. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999).
th

delight individuals took in the constant and vivid appraisal of its numerous gardens and promenades, were actually intolerable from an Orthodox point of view. Allusions to paradise in Ottoman classical culture denote a confined space symbolizing the cosmological hierarchy. This cosmological hierarchy was extremely important since it located all aspects of society within a religious ordering, covering the domains of spiritual, ideological, social, cultural, and individual worlds. When in 1517 and onwards, the Ottoman Sultans became the religious leaders of the Orthodox Muslim community, the empire was reorganized as a centralized authority, as the center of the Orthodox Islamic world. The Ottoman cosmology was mainly based on the Orthodox Islamic Law - the Islamic texts, but it also borrowed from the imperial mythologies of the Near and Middle Eastern cultures. Thus Ottoman cosmology was constructed in order to relate individual existence to the Universal World - that was acknowledged as the world of God - and further, to the imperial authority. The cosmology was basically composed of different world levels. Each level comprised an interior and an exterior. The interior was always invisible and superior to the visible exterior. (Tables 1, 2 and 3.) The interior of the Universal World embodied the True Reality whose knowledge was invisible and inaccessible to human being. The exterior of the True Reality was the World, where the visible human world was located. The World also had an interior and an exterior. The Typal World was its interior, and, the Phenomenal World, its exterior. Typal World housed images originated in the Universal World, as images of the True Reality. However, these images were not directly borrowed from the Higher Realm; they were mere reflections of it. These reflections were distorted fractional images of the actual truth. This realm was constructed upon the Islamic texts and upon the imagery of the paradise garden. It also accommodated imperial mythologies borrowed from the Persian, Mogul, and Indian cultures, and accommodated the legendary Garden of Iram.

10

The Phenomenal World, exterior to the Typal World was also divided into an interior, and an exterior. Within the interior of the Phenomenal World, there was the House of Islam, and to its exterior there was the House of War. Thus geographically, Muslim states were conceived as within the House of Islam. The House of Islam, as an interior embodied a center, The Ottoman state, and more precisely, the city of Istanbul, as the Ottoman capital. Thus it empowered all the surrounding land within the rule of Islamic Law. Other cities and peripheral provinces were exterior to this center. The city of Istanbul had the imperial palace as its interior, and rest of the city as its exterior. The participants of each realm were also precisely defined. In the interior, there were the residents of the palace, the Sultan, his court, and his army. They were the rulers, called asker. Exterior to the palace, there was rest of the public, called rey. The public were subjects of the ruling class. The main body of the public was made out of guilds. Each guild was delineated with different trades, crafts or arts. The number of the guilds was fixed; their location within the city was static. They had their own cosmological hierarchy; each modeled after the principal Ottoman cosmology. These cosmologies also had Typal worlds, housing religious-mythical figures as masters of each guild. The palace of the Sultan also had an interior and an exterior. The interior embodied the private garden, and the exterior, the semi-public administrative spaces. The garden of the Sultan was invisible to the eyes of the public, and it housed the private life of the court. Thus gardens in Ottoman cosmology were always private interior spaces, well protected from the exterior world. Each of the levels of the cosmology was acknowledged as a space, as the world, the house, the city, the palace, and the garden. All interior spaces were symbolically considered as a garden. Whatever the level of the cosmology they evoke, interior spaces could be compared to the Typal World, thus to the Paradise garden, or to any of the private gardens. Gardens as private interiors embodied all the blissful qualities. However, exterior spaces were not to be compared to gardens without compromising the duality of interior and exterior
11

worlds. Public spaces were not to be compared to any of the gardens that made up the interior of the Ottoman cosmology. The city of Istanbul as the center of the House of Islam was an interior space as opposed to other cities. However, if it was compared to a garden, then those characteristics of the city which particularly displayed imperial or religious authority was to be emphasized. Thus, either the mosques as places of religious practice, or the palaces of the Sultan, would be the only appropriate spaces to be compared to the gardens of Paradise. And thus, public city walks, meadows, promenades, bazaars and market places, even of Istanbul could not be compared to paradise, and urban life could not be compared to life in paradise, or in a garden. Comparing the whole city to a paradise garden, as Nedm did, constituted a violation of this classical cosmology. This was a serious offense that could not be imagined by an Orthodox mind. The fact, that in the Tulip Period the whole city was publicly compared to a garden, implies a large cultural change had taken place. It is likely that the news coming from France and Austria allowed a hidden current of cultural change to break into the open. But this cultural change had little to do with western practices, and with western forces of urban or garden space. This development threatened Orthodox Muslim culture by calling into question fundamental aspects of its cosmology. How did this happen? Was this open development a momentary reform in urban life taking place only in elite culture? Or, was it a change more deeply embedded in the practices of different groups of society, other than the elite? Returning to Nedms poem: Quality of these novel festivities Only a book will be able to tell about!

12

Nedm portrays of the festive life enjoyed in gardens by all ranks of the society as a novelty.11 Novelty was a quality attributed to all practices developed outside the domain of orthodox traditions. It was a term not only used in the domains of arts and architecture, but also in the domain of spiritual practices, implying Sufi practices. Since the 16th c., all the Sufi practices were regarded as novel, as Sufism developed outside the mainstream conventions of orthodox faith and practices. It carried practices of faith outside the holy book Koran. Sufism developed upon interpretations of Islam, Christianity, neo-Platonism, Buddhism, Shamanism, and other esoteric traditions of Near and Middle Eastern cultures. Apart from the orthodox Islamic traditions, Ottoman culture was also under the influence of heterodox beliefs. Where the Orthodox Islamic Law recognized human beings as subjects of God, the heterodox orders perceived human beings as friends of God. There were many Sufi orders established in the Ottoman Empire. Sufism developed under the control of imperial authority within the designated institutions called tekke. These institutions, being private spaces, could well be compared symbolically with other private spaces, with other interior realms of the cosmology, such as the private gardens of the Ottoman cosmology. Among different schools of Sufism, Ottoman culture was more prone to philosophies with an emphasis on mystic love. Ottoman Sufism on mystic love was deeply influenced by the ideas of the 13th c. Sufi master Ibn al-Arab. 12
11

Hamadeh argues that novelty means originality in terms of form and type. She portrays

the Tulip Period as an era of inventions and novel forms; Shirine Hamadeh, Ottoman Expressions of Early Modernity and the Inevitable Question of Westernization in JSAH 63:1 (2004), 32-51.
12

In 1517, when the Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered the city of Damascus, he

immediately ordered the construction of a mausoleum for a 13th c. philosopher, called Ibn al-Arab (1165-1240). Ibn al-Arab was born in Andalusia, traveled in North Africa, Anatolia, and died in Damascus. Also called eyh Ekber Muhyiddin-i Arab in Turkish, which the latter Ekberiyye tariqat was founded referring to his name. Arab was invited to the Seljuk court and he lived in Malatya and Konya for a short while. Though later

13

Orthodox cosmology ordered all spaces hierarchically, either pertaining to the qualities of the interior or the exterior. However Ibn al-Arabs philosophy gave emphasis to a third kind of space which took form between the interior and the exterior spaces. This intermediary space brought together the exterior and the interior realms, enabled to question their existence in relation to one another and enabled to question all the qualities that they designate in response to one another. In this intermediary space, all the superior and divine qualities of interior spaces would be questioned in relation to all the worldly qualities of the exterior spaces. Ibn al-Arabs neo-Platonist philosophy named this intermediary space as the space of creative imagination and defined spaces of creative imagination in different levels of the cosmology. His philosophy, largely disseminated in the Ottoman world, proposed a three-tiered definition of space: the ideal space, the real space, and the space of the human body. All these spaces housed the meeting of divine essence with the worldly form, either in terms of separating the divine element from a worldly element; or in terms of unifying fractions of divine essence to worldly forms. Thus, this intermediary space enabled both deconstruction and construction of all things in the universe; both the analysis of existing things and the synthesis of novel ones. This intermediary space was also acknowledged as the space where the act of mystic love would take place. Ibn Arab s followers in the Seljuk and Ottoman courts introduced a well structured philosophy on mystic love, upon the conviction that a sparkle of God is present in all things created; allowing a commonality and a base of communication for each human being, enabling their affection and
considered as an infidel by some Sunni scholars, he was much respected by many Seljukid and Ottoman intellectuals. Arab is the author of over 400 works. Two of his major works are Futuhat and Fusus al-Hikam. Many Seljukid scholars and the Ottomans have composed commentaries about Arab s works through the 13th c. to the 20th c. For further information on the life of Ibn al-Arab, see Appendix 1, for his philosophy see Chapter II.

14

attraction to one another, to the whole universe, and to God. This philosophy was named Wahdat al-Wujud (The Unity of Being). Since God was beyond grasp of mans understanding, Ibn al-Arab proposed that in order to address God, it was necessary to address Gods sparkle in ones individual self, or in every other men. Then Arab reached this paradoxical conclusion of discovering Actual Truth in human self: 13 I am the one I love And the one I love is I. In order to address this common phenomenon it was necessary to be able to communicate the divinity that resided in each human being. Thus it was necessary to be able to separate the divine essence from the worldly form. Arab proposed that the process of the separation of divine from worldly took place in the intermediary spaces of imagination. Equating the affection and love for human beings to the love for God was very paradoxical since Islam was predicated upon Gods demand that he be the only object of believers love. Arabs emphasis on individuality was a threat to the Ottoman cosmology. Ottoman cosmology denied individuality in favor of community, locating community within the general structure of cosmology, as an exterior space of supremacy. Moreover, suggesting the superiority of an intermediary space was a threat to the ordered structure of the Ottoman cosmology and social order which assured the supremacy of the interior spaces over the exterior. In the Ottoman world, two different tendencies developed in the interpretation and practice of Ibn al-Arabs doctrines, varying radically from one another. First, the

13

See William Chittick, The Self Disclosure of God Principles of Ibn al-Arab s Cosmology

(NY, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998), 80.

15

Ottoman rule assimilated Arab's doctrines on mystic love and the concept of intermediary space by disseminating them in garden rituals which were practiced by the whole society within the limits of Islamic Law and within the controlled spaces of the Ottoman cosmology. However some marginal Sufi groups practiced mystic love in city spaces outside the gardens, proposing these spaces to be spaces of creative imagination. Sufi traditions were also practiced and assimilated by the Ottoman court and society by rituals in private garden parties. Walter Andrews, an Ottomanist from the University of Washington, who has studied the dissemination of Sufi practices in private gardens, showed that besides many other uses, private gardens were also sites for private parties, enjoyed by a selected group of people who were the members of specific social groups; either members of the court, of one of the guilds, of an elite group, or of scholars. Garden parties were usually arranged after sunset under moonlight, and lit with candles and lanterns. The host, usually the owner of the garden, invited several guests and poets. The host also provided musicians, wine servers and dancers. Food, fruits and wine were the main servings, and perfumes were used to enrich the atmosphere; with music and dancers in the background. In these private parties, Orthodox members of the community practiced, or pretended to practice mystic love, indulging in a special genre of poetry called gazel, originally a Persian genre. The general theme of the gazel poetry was the desire of a lover for the Beloved. Gazel, addressed to a beloved, chosen among the participants of the garden party, who metaphorically represented God. Beginning with the wish for the union with the beloved, gazels always ended as the lover is separated from the Beloved, recalling the Orthodox state of mind, where the lover and the Beloved are located in different spheres of the cosmology, which were not supposed to unite. The garden party was a display of the cosmological hierarchy. The music played in the party was defined within the cosmological hierarchy having twelve modes
16

similar to the twelve constellations of the zodiac; four tones compared to the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth; seven derivative modes akin to the seven planets, and twenty-four kinds of compositions as in twenty-hour hours of the day.14 They evoked sophisticated metaphors about the gardens of the cosmological hierarchy. In gazel, all the interior gardens of the cosmology collapsed onto the space of the private garden party, allowing comparisons of all these gardens to one another. Gazel called upon a masterly use of clichs in an artful language, borrowing from Persian and Arabic poetry and languages. Turkish, considered as vernacular, was inappropriate to use. Each realm of the cosmology was described according to an art of clichs. Even the beauty of the beloved was illustrated in a single unchanging description. The poet was expected to use clichs; he was not permitted to question them, or the levels of cosmological order which they evoked. He was not allowed to introduce any novelty into any of the gardens inhabited or cited, since any novelty had to proceed from God. Thus garden parties were not conducive to cultural innovation. Different groups of the Ottoman society were engaging in private parties restricted to the members of their own communities. The Sultan had his own parties, dervishes, poets, guilds; military corps had their own private parties within gardens, or within other spaces classified as gardens. These people followed the Orthodox ritual practices in everyday life. During the garden party, however, they broke momentarily away from ascetic principles, and engaged in sensual pursuits and drinking. This was part of a kind of ritual of inversion, in which they pretended to be mystics engaged in the quest for God. Thus they adopted attitudes that were frowned upon in public life, engaging in ritualized deviant behavior as a group. These behaviors allowed each group to experience moments of anti-structure (to borrow a phrase by Victor Turner) as a shared secret that reinforced group
14

Howard Crane, Risale-i Mimariye An Early Seventeenth Century Ottoman Treatise on

Architecture (Leiden; NY: E.J. Brill, 1987), 26-27.

17

members mutual bonds. Besides, by the recurring clichs of the gazel, the group identity was further linked to the Ottoman cosmology. So, the garden party reinforced the internal cohesion of each group and linked its existence to Ottoman official doctrine without disturbing any daily public practices of Islam. Thus, the classical garden party contributed to the homeostatic reproduction of the Ottoman state hierarchy, and, anchored the self-representation of its participants in their own community as members of the cosmological hierarchy hinged to the Ottoman rule. These activities made any cultural changes apparently unthinkable since they reproduced the political, religious and social orders of Ottoman society. In these respects, Nedms poetry was surely inventive. By describing real places, recalling the public gardens and promenades as paradise, he challenged the gazel tradition. He introduced his real friends as new beloved ones living in the city. He carried the theme of mystic love from private gardens into public city-spaces. However, long before Nedm, back in the early 16th c., there had emerged a truly Ottoman genre of poetry, as reformist and challenging as Nedms. This genre is called ehrengiz. ehrengiz treated the city as Paradise; exactly as gazel would treat the gardens. ehrengiz, however, is a neglected genre in Ottoman studies. It is classified as non-metaphysical poetry, artless in form, and morally corrupt in context. It simply accounted for the journey of the poet in the city. The city unfolds in a realistic manner, as the poet wanders along the different neighborhoods; watches around; utters affection for beautiful young men of the guilds; and broods over urban culture, daily life, architecture, gardens and nature. Traveling, exploration, visuality were major themes, and the city was a source for joy, pleasure, and wonder.

18

These poems depicted not only Istanbul, but also thirteen other provincial cities15 outside Istanbul as paradises. The first ehrengiz is about the city of Edirne, composed by the poet Mesh. The poem compares the city of Edirne to paradise and describes several realistic scenes from the city. The genre developed until early 18th c. with poems mapping the poets experiences in the city of Istanbul, going back and forth to other provinces, especially to Edirne. The genre that originated by narrating rituals of marginal Sufi groups in real spaces of different cities and ideal spaces of the Sufi imagination and was established using Sufi symbolism in the experience and depiction of spaces, further developed narrating rituals practiced in real spaces of the city of Istanbul. The sources of realism in the ehrengiz genre are diverse. Traveling, documenting, and, mapping contributed to the development of realism. Instead of the clichs of cosmographical hierarchy, realistic accounts of ehrengiz called to mind the sense of place as displayed in the arts of painting, valued natural and man-made elements, and represented the cities and landscapes in detail. The consciousness and realism of depicting actual places are major characteristics of other discourses developed during the 16th c. to the late 17th c. such as in the arts of painting, geography, and engineering. The 1537 maps of the Iraq military excursion by Matrak Nasuh; 1579-80 Krkeme Waterway Maps, and the 1582 Beylik Waterway Maps are examples of growing realism in Ottoman arts.16 Another

15

There are ehrengiz poems dedicated to cities; Istanbul, Edirne, Vize, Bursa, Belgrad,

Yenice, Rize, Gelibolu, Amid, Siroz, Manisa, Sinop, Antakya, and Kashan; Agah Srr Levend, Trk edebiyatnda ehr-engizler ve ehr-engizlerde Istanbul (Istanbul: Baha Matbaas, 1958).
16

See Nurhan Atasoy, Trk Minyatrnde Tarihi Gerekilik, in Sanat Tarihi Yll I

(1965); 1582 Surname-i Hmayun An Imperial Celebration (Istanbul: Kobank Publications, 1997); and Ahmet Karamustafa, Military, Administrative, and Scholary Maps and Plans, and J. M. Rogers, Itineraries and Town Views in Ottoman Histories, in The History of Cartography vol 2 Book 1 Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies,

19

group of paintings from the 16th c. illustrate guilds displaying their crafts in a festival. This set of paintings depicts an urban festival, in which the procession of guilds lasted for 21 days. In the first ehrengiz, the poet addresses to God and apologizes for his addiction to love; he describes parts of Edirne, and continues citing the names of over forty guildsmen. He presents each one of them as a Beloved, describes their beauty, each one different from the others. He also specifies their trades. The guilds were the largest body of urban subjects of the ruler, maintaining the sustainability of central authority, both practically, and metaphorically. The Ottoman regime considered them as one of the major pre-requisites in establishing the urban order.17 At the same time as the ehrengiz genre was emerging, a secret society was developing among the guilds of Istanbul. This secret society was not an institution. It did not have a specific school, dress code, or any established practices to the difference of Sufi orders that had become institutionalized. The participants of this secret society were called Bayrami-Melms.18 Bayrami-Melms adopted a protest
ed. by J.B. Harley and D. Woodward, (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992).
17

The body of guilds was the main body of subjects to the imperial authority. They also

enabled its economic sustainability. The Ottomans used to transfer guilds in the newly conquered cities and provinces in order to repopulate the land by subjects of the Ottoman order; Halil Inalck, Osmanl mparatorluu Klasik a 1300-1600. 1973, trans. by Ruen Sezer (Istanbul: YKY, 2003).
18

Other than being the subjects of any ruler, the Melm philosophy suggested each

individual as the ruler of his own life by stressing religious and economic freedom; Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler (Istanbul: Gri Yaynlar, 1992, c. 1931); Ahmet Yaar Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler 15.-17. Yzyllar (Istanbul: Tarih Vakf, 1998) and Cavit Sunar, Melmlik ve Bektailik (Ankara: A lahiyat Fakltesi, 1975).

20

philosophy established among the guilds of Anatolia since the 14th c., following Ibn al-Arabs doctrines of love and of the Unity of Being. Melms advocated Islamic individualism and claimed that individuality embodied true reality. The following verses from the 14th c. Melm-Bayrami poem illustrate the importance given to individuality in relation:19 He found the enlightened in himself He found himself Melms were considered infidels for giving such importance to the individual self that it came to be treated as equal to God. Throughout the 16th and 17th c., some prominent Melm figures were executed, for threatening the cosmological hierarchy as they offered its total destruction, by pointing the human being as the ultimate Beloved. As members of a secret society, Melms however identified themselves by the shape of their tombstones. Thus we can learn from looking at their tombstones that Nedm, and his close friend, the Grand Vizier of the Tulip Period, as well as most of the ehrengiz poets were Melms. Melms valued each human being as a beloved reflection of God. They regarded every single citizen as deserving objects of mystic love. As the early 16th c. Melm poet said: 20 Lovers desireful to watch the beloved Watch carefully every human being you see Mesihi and other ehrengiz poets emphasized human love as a means to enlightenment, to unify them with God. ehrengiz poets allowed all members of the guilds, thus the inhabitants of the city to be seen as the Beloved. However, the beloved never was a single individual, but rather several ones representing the
19

Hac Bayram Veli translated from Turkish in Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 36-37. Ahmet Sarban, translated from Turkish in Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler , 59.

20

21

variety of participants of the market place. The poet himself engaged in a personal relationship with these diverse members of the urban community. In their poetry, Melm poets, ehrengiz poets, and Nedm, all used simple Turkish, understandable to all ranks of the urban community. In ehrengiz poetry, the city was treated as an interior, a garden; and no longer a space exterior to the House of Islam. Thus the city became the stage for new poetical attitudes towards life, paralleling and displacing the relationship between the garden party, the gazel, and the Ottoman order of city life. ehrengiz poems, if not read in the private garden parties, were cited in public gardens, and promenades, at the market place, in coffeehouses, wine-houses, or taverns. Thus, urban spaces instead of private gardens were enjoyed by the public engaged in the discovery of this ultimate value of individuals. The privacy of mystic love had been transformed into a public event where pleasure could be pursued and experienced publicly. There were some other poems written in the late 18th c. which were also classified in the genre of ehrengiz. It is worth noting that these poems depicted the lives of social groups different from the guilds and they depicted cities outside the Ottoman dominion. These poems narrated the life ordinary women and dancers living in the city of Istanbul and in other cities from India to America. This research proposes that a mystical innovation of the 13th c. set into motion religious changes that were successfully marginalized for a long time. Two developments seemed to have played a major role. First, the creation of a secret society that covertly practiced individualism and self-determination, and second the invention of realism that broke away from the conventions of Persian art, and language. As a consequence, a new kind of realistic poetry developed which treated the city as a place of pleasure, and its inhabitants as a community of individuals. Expressed in simple Turkish, understandable to all city-dwellers, this covert culture shed new perspectives on urban life. It did not gain official acceptance, however until the early 18th c, when the Sultan shifted the aim of the Ottoman rule from military development through warfare, to social development in
22

a peaceful empire, and decided to emulate the leisurely garden life of Paris, in the city of Istanbul, while reinventing both its content and its urban settings. This was the spread of a kind of individualism, a form of self-cultivation totally foreign to European endeavor, but deeply rooted in the Turkish subversion of Ottoman culture. Thus, modernization of the society, during the Tulip Period followed from an open development of the cultural attitudes illustrated by the ehrengiz poets, since the early 16th c. And finally, since then, Ottoman poetry have created an image of the city as paradise.

METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES

This study uses Ottoman poetry as source material. It uses different genres of Ottoman poetry; gazel as an expression of Ottoman court culture; ehrengiz as an expression of a marginal Sufi group; song, kasides, and chronograms by Nedm as an expression of both public and court in the early 18th c. Tulip Period. Though the gazel genre and Nedms poetry have been examined by many scholars, the ehrengiz genre has never been studied extensively. This study aims to introduce the ehrengiz genre as an important agent in the mutual development of Ottoman modernization and urban culture. It aims to show that their performative representation of landscapes - including, cities, gardens, countryside meadows, open and closed spaces - informs about poets experience, construction, and transformation of Ottoman culture. The ehrengiz genre has been recognized as non-metaphysical narrations about the beauty of guild boys in the background of the city, its language simple and artless. Agah Srr Levends 1958 dated anthology titled Trk Edebiyatnda

23

ehrengizler ve ehrengizlerde Istanbul is the only work conducted on the genre.21 It is a list of poems, with short entries informing about dates and poets, with archival references. The book also contains transcription of parts of the poems, particularly the ones about the city of Istanbul. Apart from Levends work, there are few entries of the genre in encyclopedias, and anthologies of Ottoman poetry, which will all be examined in the related chapter. In the studies of Ottoman art and architectural history Tannd, Terziolu, Kafadar and Hamadeh, roughly refer to the urban content of the genre. (See Appendix 1 List of ehrengiz Poems) This study aims to focus on the performative qualities of the ehrengiz genre, aiming to examine the pragmatics of the poems. Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics. It studies performative qualities of texts. The tradition of pragmatics can be traced back to the ancient Greek rhetorics, and to the arts of ekphrasis. Ekphrasis is generally described as an extensive textual description of an image. Most of the contemporary studies on the tradition of ekphrasis focus on the contrast between image and text emphasizing that visual imagery is superior to textual narrative. However, the tradition of ekphrasis neither favors text nor image. It aims to create a lively scene where the writer aims to trigger the imagination of the audience/reader to a point that he would be able to experience the text more vividly than its actuality. This performative quality of ekphrasis is explained by energeia. The arts of ekphrasis involve pragmatics, imagination. It requires the involvement of an audience. The famous rhetorician Quintilian of 1st c. discusses the importance of imagination in the arts of ekphrasis by explaining the term energeia which is produced when the orator uses his own power of imagination to conjure up a scene in his mind.22
21

Agah Srr Levend, Trk edebiyatnda ehr-engizler ve ehr-engizlerde Istanbul (Istanbul:

Baha Matbaas, 1958).

Ruth Webb, Ekphrasis ancient and modern: The Invention of a genre Word and Image

15 no. 1 (1999): 7-18. For further studies on ekphrasis see Andrew S. Becker, The shield of Achilles and the poetics of ekphrasis (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1995); David Carrier Ekphrasis and Interpretation: Two Modes of Art History Writing British Journal of Aesthetics 27 no. 1 (1987): 20-31; Christopher Caudwell, Illusion and

24

The study aims to shed light on Ottoman experience of space as depicted in different genres of Ottoman poetry. The study might even inspire literary discourses to reconsider the syntax and semantics of ehrengiz poems, which have long been considered artless in form, and perverted in content.

In order to understand the experience, perception and representation of spaces in ehrengiz poems, and in other genres of the Ottoman poetry, this study will make use of the theories of experience developed by Victor Turner within the discourse of post-structural anthropology. Turner defined experience by asserting its performative qualities, as something lived through. Experience is more than an abstract concept. It involves both body and soul, apart from thought. Turner argues that, for a simple experience to be note-worthy and significant, such experience has to be communicated and shared. Thus, such urge to display an experience necessitates representation and restructuring of the past experience. This process of communicating the past experience in a performative way which has a certain structure, resembles that of a ritual to be lived through.23 Thus such restructuring
Reality (NY: International Publishers, 1955); James A. Heffernan, Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993); John Hollander, The Poetics of Ekphrasis Word and Image 4 no. 1 (1988): 209219; Icons, texts, iconotexts : essays on ekphrasis and intermediality, edited by Peter Wagner (Berlin; New York: W. de Gruyter, 1996); Murray Krieger, Ekphrasis: The Illusion of Natural Sign (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1992); George Kurman, Ekphrasis in Epic Poetry Comparative Literature 26 (1974): 1-14; Pictures into words: theoretical and descriptive approaches to ekphrasis, edited by Valerie Robillard and Els Jongeneel (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1998); Visuality before and beyond the Renaissance : seeing as others saw, edited by Robert S. Nelson. (Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2000);
23

Victor W. Turner, Dewey, Dilthey, and Drama: an Essay in the Anthropology of

Experience in The Anthropology of Experience, edited by Victor W. Turner and Edward M. Bruner (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 34-37. Also see Alexander Thomas M., John Deweys Theory of Art, Experience and Nature The Horizons of Feeling (Albany, NY: The State Universityof NY Press, 1987).

25

and communication of any experience lived through results in the re-experience of the past experience. The performative quality of the re-structured and communicated experience then becomes a script to be played and lived through by those who communicate, and those who are communicated to. Thus, reality as perceived by a subject has three phases, where reality is captured in an experience, represented into an expression, and, finally developed into a performed text. According to Turner, these texts are used as scripts to perform rituals. Representations, performances, objectifications, poetry theaters, narratives, hunting stories, curing rites, murals, parades, and carnivals are rituals which are shared through re-experience, or performance, of past accounts in present time. Turner claims that texts performed into rituals have the power to sustain and transform culture. However, in order to understand the importance of rituals, it is necessary to examine the whole ritual process. Rituals are used as tools to communicate ideas and ideals between different groups of the social world. Turner examines the social world as a product of culture in constant flux, movement, change, and dynamism. Turner explains the concept of social world in various ways. He makes use of Kurt Lewins field theory where the social field involves the key concepts of field, vectors, phase-space, tension, force, boundary, fluidity. He also makes use of I.A. Richards interaction view which shows the importance of communication process. 24 In the experience of rituals, Turner restructures the concept of sociability into two opposing modalities: society, and communitas. In rituals, society and communitas stand for different ways in which people relate to one another. According to Turner, the endurance of a culture is sustained by the dynamic interface relating hierarchical structured relationships in society and unstructured, or rudimentarily

24

Victor Turner, Dramas, fields, and metaphors : symbolic action in human society (Ithaca,

N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974), 27; 29; 36-37.

26

structured communitas, both of which contribute to a complex order which is called the social order. 25 The social order of any culture is sustained by the co-existence of structure and anti-structure. Turner, who studied the interface between structure and antistructure, explains the cyclical dynamic of the two opposing modes of sociability in terms of rituals. Cultures sustain their social order by allowing their members to experience both states of structure and anti-structure. The structure sustained by any society imposes a prevailing order and a dominant culture upon its members. Rebellions and cultural changes can be understood as a result of new ideals developed in communitas that deconstruct the structure imposed by society. Diffusion of ideals through different modes of communication such as poetry, mystical circles, fraternities, may take face within limit posed by the social structure, thus slowing down or preventing culture change. However rebellions might bring public recognition to the ideals of communitas. However, the same ideals might also become assimilated, interiorized and adapted within the existing social structure, for instance in the form of rituals of inversion, allowing the experience of communitas to be repeated and re-experienced on a derisive mode under the control of the dominant culture. In his study of rituals, Victor Turner, studies different kinds of rituals, from tribal ceremonies to social drama, theater, and pilgrimage. Turner describes rituals as experienced in three stages, pre-liminal, liminal and post-liminal.26 He stresses the analysis of the liminal phase, which is a state of separation and re-aggregation into society of people who undergo a specific experience of communitas outside
25

Turner, Victor Witter. The ritual process structure and anti-structure (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell

University Press, 1977), 96; 140. Turner classifies communitas in three different kinds existential spontenous communitas happening; normative, and utopian models ideological communitas.
26

Turner borrows the term liminal from Arnold van Gennep; Turner, The ritual process,

94-95; 166-67.

27

the control of the larger society. Turner asserts that the liminal experience is observed in different cultures, from primitive tribal societies to industrialized postmodern civilizations: 27 Liminality, marginality, and structural inferiority are conditions in which are frequently generated by myths, symbols, rituals, philosophical systems, and works of art. These cultural forms provide men with a set of templates or models which are, at one level, periodical reclassifications of reality, and mans relationship to society, nature, and culture. But they are more than classifications, since they incite men to action as well as to thought. Each of these productions has a multivocal character, having many meanings, and each is capable of moving people at many psychological levels simultaneously. 28 In rituals, the psychological states indicated by the society and the communitas represent different modes and different ideals carried by different groups of the social order. Communitas represent the ideals of a group of people marginal to the centralized order represented by the society. Bergson calls such groups open which have an open morality. These groups act as agents to introduce different motivations and ideals beyond the limits of the structured closed society. They constitute the evolutionary life-force of cultures.
29

Communitas have communal

ideals and motivations to attain a common good. Communitas stand for lower classes of the society who in the rituals would act with the fantasy of structural superiority.30 Rituals communicate ideals in which social status of higher and lower ranks are altered. Turner explains this switching over of positions as elevation and reversal of status. Turner describes the liminal experience as transgendered and chaotic which involves the experience of existence and
27

Turner, The ritual process, 113. Ibid., 128-29. Ibid., 110-11; 128; 132. Ibid., 168.

28

29

30

28

ecstasy. 31 Rituals employ common themes like universal love and unity of universe in the expression of communal ideas. Turner uses the below poem as a clear example of universal unity as expressed in Hindu rituals: 32 Hindu, Muslim- there is no difference, Nor are there differences in caste. Kabir the bakhta (devotee) was by caste a Jol, But drunk with prima-bhakti (true love) He seized the Black Jewels feet (i.e. Krishnas feet). One moon is lantern to this world, And from one seed the whole creation sprung. Apart from the rituals, Turner acknowledges some other forms of human activities as liminal experiences. According to Turner, social drama is also a liminal experience.
33

Turner introduces the term social drama as an aharmonic phase

experienced by conflicting situations in temporal structures. Social drama portrayed as a liminal stage is a means to experience creative imagination.34 Turner compares and contrasts the states of harmonic and aharmonic experiences. Harmonic experience is acknowledged and experienced, built through reason, cohesion, harmony, atemporality, and central authority. However,
31

Ibid., 188. Ibid., 154-165; 138. Turner explains the experience of the social drama in four consequent stages; breach,

32

33

crisis, redressive action, and consummation. Social world sustains its survival by the aesthetics and social dramas, which made up the cosmos; Victor Witter Turner Are there universals of performance in myth, ritual, and drama? in By Means of Performance Intercultural studies of theatre and ritual, ed. by Richard Schehner and Willa Appel (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 8-18.
34

Victor Witter Turner, Dramas, fields, and metaphors: symbolic action in human society

(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974), 51-52.

29

aharmonic experience, which is a liminal stage, in case of the social drama, is associated with intuition, conflict, discord, temporality, and marginality.35 Pilgrimage is another liminal experience, an expression of the communitas. Pilgrimage involves movement through several routes, mapping several sacred nodes, consecutively defining them as cultural symbols. It embodies varying temporal experiences. It embodies and generates legends, mythology, and folklore. Turner defines pilgrimage as an anarchical activity. It can be expressed as a desire to break free from the central static structure of the society into an individual journey which transgresses space and time. Pilgrimage concerns communally shared ideals that are represented by the unity of faith. However the spiritual development articulated by communally shared ideals pertains to individual achievement.36 Thus pilgrimage encourages individuality as superior to the orthodoxy of society. The pilgrim displays a different social modality than regular conformist participants of the society: release from mundane structure; homogenization of status; simplicity of dress and behavior; communitas; ordeal; reflection on the meaning of basic religious and cultural values; ritualized enactment of correspondences between religious paradigms and shared human experiences; emergence of the integral person from multiple personae; movement from a mundane center to a sacred periphery which suddenly, transiently, becomes central for the individual, an axis mundi of his faith, movement itself, a symbol of communitas, which changes with time, as against statis, which represents structure, individuality posed against the institutionalized milieu. 37 This study will try to examine rituals as narrated in different genres of Ottoman poetry in terms of their experience, construction, and transformation of the culture in terms of rituals.
35

Turner, Dramas, fields, and metaphors, 32-37; 46-47. Image and pilgrimage in Christian culture: anthropological perspectives, edited by Victor

36

Turner and Edith Turner. (NY, NY: Columbia University Press, 1978), 32.
37

Ibid., 34.

30

The Ottoman social order is studied in three different approaches. First perspective emphasizes the centralized imperial power of the Ottoman Empire, and studies it as a static social and cultural construct. In this prospect Ottoman social order is defined in two opposing static realms; asker as the domain of rulers, and rey, domain of subjects. The rulers constituted of members of the palace, military offices, corps of gardeners who served for the maintenance and protection of all land which belonged to the Sultan, thus all palaces and public places in cities; governmental and administrative offices like grand viziers, viziers, participants of the Imperial Council and The Imperial Treasury, supreme court of Shariah (Sheikhul-islam), clerics (muftis), court officials (kadis), etc. Most of the scholars of Shariah (ulem) were employed by the palace, and they were categorized in the ruling class. Outstanding members of the society who served the Sultan in a significant way were called notables and they were also exempt from tax-paying. The rey constituted all the population who were not rulers. It included guilds, merchants, farmers and herdsmen. Evliya elebi draws an outline of the Ottoman social and cultural world in his 17th century chronicle. He informs about the existence of 1100 different types of guilds in 57 categories. In elebis account, the guild of poets are listed along with the guilds of painters, manuscript illuminators, cartographers, carpenters, bread-makers, street cleaners, gardeners, postmen, doctors, dentists, students, fortunetellers, pimps, homeless people, immoral young men, Sufis, and masters of Sufi orders. Social mobility between the two social classes was possible. An ulem would be considered as rey if he was employed by any participants of the rey, likewise a poet would be exempt from tax-paying if anyone from the ruling class be his patron. 38

38

See Evliya elebi, Evliya elebi, Mehmed Zllolu. Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi. Trans.

by Zuhuri Danman (Istanbul: etin Basmevi, 1971), vol 2, 23; 169-287; Stanford Shaw; History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 112-168.

31

Stanford Shaw bases this two-poled structure on economic and military maintenance of the imperial family, and the imperial order they have imposed. Halil Inalck discusses the construction of Ottoman social order with respect to cultural and religious concerns apart from the economic and military motivations. Inalck explains the Ottoman social order with reference to ancient Near Eastern and Islamic traditions, where the leader of the community was required to sustain justice and ethics by governing their subjects. Franz Babinger asserts the submissive quality of the rey, as opposed to the dominance of the asker. Rey is depicted as a passive group of people who did not have any individuality, or any creative power. Ismail Hakk Uzunarl examines the social circles of the asker in detail, however refers to rey roughly presenting it as a working group of subjects under the control of the monarch.39 This classical approach also defines the Ottoman arts in two separate and disconnected categories; first as higher elite arts of the court; and second as the lower arts of the folk culture. The second perspective carries a nationalistic approach emphasizing a central Turkish-Muslim background, regardless of diverse social and cultural affiliations and motivations that were carried out by numerous groups which were embodied in the Ottoman society. Studies which can be classified in this category study the construction of Ottoman identity under the influence of three main traditions; nomadic and Islamic-Persian for the formation and classical periods of 13th c. - 17th c.; and European, for the latter periods of 18th c. - 20th c. Such nationalistic and modernist approaches to the history, evaluates the arts of the Ottoman empire formally with respect to the restricted and generic categories of arts of the Central Asian nomadic civilizations, Persian, Islamic, or French.

39

Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire, 112-168; Inalck, Halil. The Ottoman Empire The

Classical Age 1300-1600 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973), 65-103 ; Franz Babinger, Mehmed the conquerer and His Time (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978, c. 1953); 432-461; Ismail H. Uzunarl, Osmanl Tarihi (Ankara: Trk Tarih Kurumu Basmevi, 1961), vol 1, 501-518.

32

The third perspective aims to examine the complexity of the Ottoman social and cultural worlds with respect to different ideological and political motivations of different groups, tribes, ethnicities, associations. This postmodern approach does not necessitate grounding itself to any meta-narrative. It portrays a dynamic representation of the Ottoman social and cultural worlds. The works of Cemal Kafadar, Stephanos Yerasimos and Derin Terziolu are important in this respect. Kafadar studies the construction of Ottoman state identity in the early 14th c. by intertextual reading of oral folk literature, epic stories and hagiography with diverse religious and ethnic references to different heterodox orders like Babas, Shii Bektas, Mevlevs, Hamzavs, and Melams. Yerasimos focuses on the construction of Ottoman imperial identity after the conquest of Istanbul in early historical chronicles written by individuals who represent the ideals of imperial or anti-imperial circles with contrasting political ideals. Terziolu analyzes the changing dynamics, confrontations and conflicts between the agents of centralized state power associated with Islamic law, and the heretic tendencies of a 17th c. Halveti-Melm poet and scholar in the 1999 doctoral thesis titled Sufi and dissident in the Ottoman Empire: Niyazi-i Misri (1618-94). These studies examine the dynamics of heterodox orders, and their interface with the orthodox law in specific case studies. One of the best examples analyzing Ottoman society through literary sources is Kafadars study of a 17th c. diary Sohbetname, written by Seyyid Hasan. Covering a short period of four years, between 1661-1665, the diary acknowledges the social life of the writer, informing about the social circle of a Sufi dervish in Ottoman Istanbul. Seyyid Hasan narrates his daily life, making a list of different groups he takes part in, with different participants pursuing various activities. In this way, as each one of the mentioned groups perform a different ritual within a different setting, the diary maps urban places of encounter within the city, such as the neighborhood, barbershop, public bath, seashore, graveyard, bazaar, or dervish convent40:
40

Sohbetname is studied in Cemal Kafadar, Self and others: the diary of a dervish in the

seventeenth century Istanbul and first person narratives in Ottoman literature in Studia

33

From Sohbetname, we learn of the intricate web of relationships established, on the basis of family ties as well as order affiliation and mahalle solidarity, between that social world and other sectors of Ottoman society: most notably, the esnaf (shop owner artisans) and mid-level members of the askeri (military administrative) class. Numerous tradesmen (spice sellers, grocers, bakers, book binders, quilt-makers, and other) are recounted at various social gatherings in Seyyid Hasans diary. We also read of kethdas, avues, or bees (titles for various positions in the military administrative class) on those gatheringsOccasions that bring these people together are not limited to dinner parties; our diarist also records post-dinner get-togerthers; festivities like weddings and circumcision ceremonies; or sad ones like funerals inevitably followed by the helva-eating and prayer ceremonies; joint visits to graveyards; friendly walks; coffee parties; social calls to other Sufi orders; visits to shops for errands or socializing; and certainly zikr sessions. Kafadar argues that Sohbetname, as a first person narrative, is different from the western examples in terms of lacking the subjects viewpoint. Studied in relation to the historical background of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th c, Kafadar argues that the writer who was a Sufi dervish at the same time was not able to acknowledge his position explicitly due to the growing opposition towards the Sufi orders. Instead he accounted for the events, social groups, places he had attended. The narrative should be considered as a map of the world of a dervish in the 17th century Istanbul. It constructs the self as an element of the community, not as an individual detached from the community. Self is constructed as its presence is mapped among different social groups.

Islamica 69 (1989), 121-150. Among other first person narratives, Kafadar lists 17 century traveler Evliya elebis Seyahatname, Vakiat by eyh Mahmud Hdai (in Arabic, 16th-17th c.), Sunullah Gaybis Sohbetname containing his conversations with the Melm eyh brahim Efendi ( 17 c.) , Melm eyh and poet Niyazi Msris diary Sohbetname (17 c.), Telhisi Mustafa Efendis diary (1711-1735), mderris Sdk Mustafas diary (1749-1756), Asiye Hatuns autobiographical dream diary ( 18 c.), and Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebis ambassadorial chronicle (1720-21).
th th th

th

34

In his study of the ecology of gazel genre in Ottoman literature, Walter Andrews also asserts the importance of literature in the understanding of the Ottoman society and culture.
41

He argues that the relationship between the text of the

gazel and its context requires an intertextual reading of the society and its culture, whose poetic tradition was based on different layers of meaning:42 Poetry is an area of communication which these many voices are free to sing and be heard in all their complexity. They are the products of uniquely talented individuals embedded in a vastly complex socio-cultural context, reflecting numerous and often conflicting motivations and needs. Andrews claims that Ottoman poetry and Ottoman society mutually constructed one another. Andrews asserts that one might replace the word poet with the term Ottoman subject and poetry with Ottoman life (or, more particularly Ottoman urban life) and still have a meaningful and accurate statement. 43 Both Andrewss and Kafadars arguments displays the association between literary practices and dynamics of the society, as expressions of conflicting realms of orthodox or Sufi circles. However neither of them examines the real spaces of this cultural dynamism. Following Walter Andrews line of argument, Shirine Hamadeh makes use of literary sources in the study of space. She mainly uses kasides and chronograms in order to examine the transformation of the city space and urban rituals. She argues that poetry was used as an expression of urban space and its experience. She studies the evolution of a new social class as the patrons of new urban inventions, yet she disregards the conflicting spheres of the society. Her thesis

41

Walter Andrews Poetry's voice, society's song, ottoman lyric poetry. (Seattle and London:

University of Washington Press, 1985), 143-174.

Ibid., 11. Ibid., 65.

43

35

presents urban space as shaped by privileged classes, as an expression of their growing power and patronage. However this study will use different genres of poetry as artifacts of a social order which was in constant transformation. The poets themselves will be studied as models of individuals who represent participant of different groups that made up the society. The thesis aims to understand the dynamics of the Ottoman social order and its spaces with respect to transformations in the performative arts of poetry. This thesis aims to examine Ottoman social world as a dynamic field of interaction in which different groups conflict and clash with one another to communicate their own values and used poetry as a tool of communication. Thus these poems indicate different uses of different spaces conveying diverse ideals. As Bruner argues there are no silent texts and it is the aim of this study to examine different genres of poetry as performed text: 44 It is in the performance of an expression that we re-experience, re-live, recreate, re-tell, re-construct, and re-fashion our culture. The performance does not release a pre-existing meaning that lies dormant in the textRather the performance itself is constitutive. Meaning is always in the present, in the here -and - now, not in such past manifestations as historical origins or the authors intentions. Nor are there silent texts, because once we attend to the text, giving voice or expression to it, it becomes a performed text, active and alive. In order to understand the conflicting forces within Ottoman society, and their spatial expressions, the second chapter will begin by examining Sufi philosophies that assert a different understanding of space than that of the orthodox traditions. In this respect, heterodox tradition will be traced back to the 13th c. Sufi philosopher

44

Edward M. Bruner, Experience and Its Expressions in The Anthropology of Experience,

ed. by Victor W. Turner and Edward M. Bruner (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 6-7; 11-12.

36

Ibn alArab (d. 1230). The impact of Arabs doctrines in the Ottoman world will be examined from the 13th c. to the end of the Tulip Period by the early 18th c. The third chapter will study rituals performed in private gardens as expressions of the Ottoman orthodox society and culture. This chapter will use gazel genre and try to understand its performative qualities and discuss how garden rituals were used to interiorize heterodox philosophies within an orthodox structure. This chapter will mainly make use of Walter Andrews study on the gazel genre which has examined one hundred and sixty gazels, composed from 1453 until 1730. Andrews studied gazels from the anthologies of four court poets, the last being Nedm (d. 1730). The fourth chapter will examine ehrengiz genre as an expression of marginal Sufi groups and will try to understand the concept of space and its transformation as depicted in ehrengiz rituals from 1512 to 1674. In this chapter, eleven ehrengiz poems will be examined, translated into English and analyzed from Agah Srr Levends transcriptions in his anthology of ehrengiz poems. In this chapter, all the translations of the ehrengiz poems are done by the author. 45 Finally, the fifth chapter will discuss the conditions under which ehrengiz rituals of marginal Sufi groups were transformed into new urban rituals practiced both by the Ottoman court and elite along with the public during the Tulip Period from 1718 to 1730. This final chapter will analyze Nedms poetry as an expression of the epochs urban rituals, covering three hundred poems from his anthology.

45

About the multivocal quality of Ottoman poetry and the nature of translations, see Walter

Andrews, Ottoman Lyrics: Introductory Essay, Intersections in Turkish Literature Essays in Honor of James Stewart Robinson, ed. By Walter Andrews (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1997), 3-25.

37

Figure 1. View of Istanbul from the Dutch Embassy by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist An Audience in Istanbul (Amsterdam: Rijswijk, ICN Collection, 2003), 43.

38

Figure 2. Patrona Halil by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist, 13.

39

Figure 3. Ahmed IIIs reception room in the Palace, reproduced from Nurhan Atasoy, Hasbahe (Istanbul: Ko Yaynlar, 2002),121.
40

Figure 4. A page from one of the French books found in Topkap Palace Archive, TSM H2587.

41

Figure 5. Page from Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebis Ambassadorial Chronicle, (1721), reproduced from Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, ed. and transc. by evket Rado (Istanbul: Hayat Tarih Mecmuas Yaynlar, Doan Karde Yaynlar, 1970).

42

Figure 6. Imperial binis along Bosphorus, from DOhsson, Tableau general de lempire Ottoman (1787), reproduced from Maurice Cerasi Town and Architecture in the 18th Century in Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium Rassegna 72 (1997), 47.

43

Figure 7. Turkish Courtiers feasting by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 41.

44

Figure 8. A Turkish Wedding by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced in The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 39.

45

Figure 9. Sugar gardens produced for the 1720 circumcision festival, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, folio 7a; reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.

46

Figure 10. Sugar gardens produced for the 1720 circumcision festival, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, folios 161a, 161b, 162 a, 162b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.

47

Figure 11. Sugar gardens, from Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A.3593, detail from folio 161b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.

48

Figure 12. Sugar gardens, from Surname-i Vehbi (1727-33), TSM A3593, detail from folio 162b, reproduced from Atl, Vehbi ve Surname.

49

Figure 13. Eldems study of garden models from Vehbis 18th c. miniatures, reproduced from Sedad Hakk Eldem, Trk Baheleri (Istanbul: Kltr Bakanl Yaynlar, 1978), 211- 215.

50

Figure 14. Whirling Dervishes in the Mevlevi tekke, by Vanmour (ca. 1730), reproduced from The Ambassador, the Sultan and the artist , 38.

51

Figure 15. Melami tombstones B ser p (without head and legs), reproduced from Dnden Bugne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi vol. 5 (1994), 385. Pictures, top/middle: Tombstone of Poet Nedim (d. 1730), Karacaahmet Cemetery; top/left: Tombstone of Grand Vezier Nevehirli Damad brahim Paa (d. 1730), Nevehirli brahim Paa Complex.

52

Figure 16. Map of Istanbul, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964, folios 8b and 9a.

53

Kssahan Bridge, detail from Folio 10a.

Karye-i Agi around Erci, detail from Folio 25b.

Berriye-i Kufe, detail from Folio 66a.

A destination after Kerkk, detail from Folio 75a.

Figure 17. Landscapes from different destinations (manzar from various menzil) in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964.

54

Sultaniye, detail from Folio 10a.

Tebriz, detail from Folio 25b.

Mahruse-i Hille after Kufe, detail from Folio 66a.

Tetimme-i Dergezin: Bae ez Dergezin, detail from Folio 90a. Figure 18. Depiction of different cities in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964.

55

Figure 19. Depiction of the city and countryside of Istanbul in Krkeme Waterways Map by Nakka Osman (1579-1580), Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, MS. 413, reproduced from Kazm een, Istanbulun Osmanl Dnemi Suyollar, ed. by Celal Kolay (Istanbul: Oma Ofset A.., 2000).

56

Figure 20. Beylik Suyolu (1582), TSM E12431, reproduced from een, Istanbulun Osmanl Dnemi Suyollar.

57

CHAPTER II

PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: MAPPING THE IMPACT OF SUFI EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION OF OTTOMAN IMAGINATION AND IDEOLOGY

By the end of the 12th c. the meeting of Abu Walid Ibn Rushd (Averroes) with Ibn Arab was a brief encounter of two contrasting realms of philosophy, the western Latin school, and the Islamic. Ibn Rushd1 (1126 - 1198), known as the Commentator of Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), requested to meet young Ibn Arab2 (1165 Murcia -1240 Damascus), who later came to be called as the son of Plato (429 BC - 347 BC).3 This meeting that took place in Cordova demonstrates Ibn Arabs neo-platonic influence in the Islamic world, and his position within world philosophy.4 Ibn Rushd, the commentator and translator of Aristotles works, had
1

For an introduction to Ibn Rushd, see, Kemal Salim, The philosophical poetics of Alfarabi,

Avicenna and Averroes: the Aristotelian reception (London; New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003), and Oliver Leaman, Averroes and his philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York : Oxford University Press, 1988). For the contradictory position of Ibn Rushd among Islamic scholars, see Bello, I. A. Ijma' and Ta'wil in the conflict between alGhazali and Ibn Rushd. Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis (Canada: University of Toronto, 1985). For Ibn Rushds influence to the western philosophy, see Therese-Anne Druart, Averroes: the commentator and the commentators in Aristotle in late antiquity, ed. by Lawrence P. Schrenk (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, c. 1994).
2

See Appendix 3 for a brief summary of Ibn Arabs life and bibliography on Arab. Steffen Stelzer, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arab, and the Matter of Knowledge, Alif 16 (1996), 19-

55.
4

The following remark by Nasr explains the importance of these two scholars and their

influence on the latter Christian and Islamic societies explicitly: In an encounter which is

58

composed numerous books on science, medicine, law, philosophy, and religion. He claimed that philosophy and religion belong to different domains of study. He acknowledged knowledge as the study of visible objects in nature. However he was challenged by Ibn Arabis confidence in the reception of both physical and metaphysical worlds as sources of knowledge. Arab argued that vision was a means to acquire knowledge. Ibn Rushd argued that reason was the only means to acquire knowledge. Ibn Rushd discussed about the concept of the creative intellect. Arab introduced the concept of creative imagination. Ibn Arab is the first Sufi philosopher who had established a well-structured cosmology involving both physical and metaphysical worlds. It connected the phenomenal and the universal worlds. It related the individuality of the subject to the universality of the cosmology. Ibn Rushd introduced Aristotle to the Latin world of Western Europe. He is accounted as one of the most important figures whose work had accumulated Aristotelianism, the development of natural sciences, and, thus the birth of Renaissance in Europe. Philosophers of antiquity had been reintroduced to the Western world by the Byzantine scholars, who had migrated to Italy throughout the 15th century. One of these scholars was George Gemistos (d. 1452). Gemistos named himself Plethon after Plato. Gemistos had given lectures in Florence about the differences between the philosophies of Aristotle and Plato, and argued the superiority of Plato over Aristotle. However, Gemistos observed that the western world was interested in the studies of Plato only in the domain of arts. He wanted to establish neo-platonism in the domains of philosophy and sciences. Gemistos explained his neo-platonic arguments in relation to Islamic and other ancient near eastern philosophies. He claimed that in the future the world would be dominated
full of significance, for in it two personalities meet who symbolize the paths to be followed in the future by the Christian and the Islamic worlds; Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Three Muslim sages: Avicenna, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi. (Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1964c, 1969), 93.

59

by a single religion. Scholaris, who was appointed as the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church by Mehmed II after the conquest of Istanbul, accused Gemistos for associating Platonism with paganism. Scholaris claimed that Gemistos association of Platonism with paganism was a result of his education from a scholar, who was a subject of the Ottoman rule. In the major research conducted on the life and philosophy of Gemistos, Woodhouse argues that Gemistos did not have any knowledge of Arabic or Persian. He adopted the ideas of his teacher directly. Gemistos even became a disciple of this Ottoman subject. Though the identity of this Ottoman scholar still has not been truly identified,5 Gemistos himself stands as one of the major indications that by the 15th century, neo-platonism was adopted and practiced in the intellectual circles of the Ottoman rule in Asia Minor. In this respect, it is noteworthy to briefly summarize the history of Asia Minor through the 13th c. to the 15th c., between Arabs visit to Konya and the conquest of Istanbul in 1453. Asia Minor was a land of invasions in the 13th century. In the northwest, the Byzantine capital was been invaded and destroyed by the Latins (1204-1261). The central and eastern peninsula was under the rule of the Seljuk Empire. The Seljuk culture was flourishing when the Mongols defeated them at Kseda in 1243. After this date Asia Minor was not only invaded by Moguls, but also by thousands of migrants who were running away from the impelling force of Moguls. These flow of refugees included Trkmen tribes, and as well many individual immigrants including prominent Sufi scholars. Due to the intellectual flow, Kalenderi (following Melams of Horasan), Vefai, Haydari, Yesevi, Kbrevi, Shreverdi, Rifai, Kadiri orders established themselves in Asia Minor early in the 13th century. Parallel to the establishment of different Sufi orders, Trkmen tribes had begun to establish themselves in small principalities by the end of the 13th century. Trkmen dervishes became spiritual masters of their communities each

C. M. Woodhouse, George Gemistos Plethon The Last of the Hellenes (Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1986). I am thankful to Prof. John Monfasani, Director of the Renaissance Society of America, for his reference to Gemistos Plethon.

60

possessing political power.6 Thus, in the 13th century, west and central Anatolia had experienced the cultural and political appropriation of Anatolia, by Sufis, and Trkmen tribes; whereas, in the northwest Anatolia the Byzantine Empire was fighting against the Latins. Trkmens rebelled against the Seljuk power, and encountered against one another; Seljuk princes disputed amongst themselves and with the Mongol appointees; Byzantines struggled against the Latin invaders. Meanwhile, some of the Byzantine principalities were separated from the empire. Ibn al-Arab entered this scene in the early 13th century while he was traveling from Andalusia to different cultural centers and pilgrimage sites of the Middle East. Upon Keyhusrev Is invitation to the Seljuk court, he had visited Konya, Malatya, and Diyarbakr in 1210. He lived in Konya for a brief period, and then he continued his travels; finally settled and died in Damascus in 1240. Despite the fact that his stay in Anatolia was quite short, his influence in the latter Ottoman philosophy and culture had been significant. Though Arabs reputation and his ideas were already recognized in Andalusia even when he was a teenager, his works were incomprehensible to many. They had a complex structure with diverse references, and multivalent arguments. His step-son Sadreddin Konevi whom Arab had adopted while he was living in Konya, had re-structured his philosophy by following an analytical and comprehensible order. Following Konevi, Arab was reintroduced to the Islamic philosophy through the works of other Ottoman scholars. Thus the
6

Ibrahim Kafesolu, Seluklu Tarihi (Istanbul: MEB, 1972), 151-186; Cemal Kafadar,.

Between Two Worlds The Construction of the Ottoman State (Berkeley: University of California State), 60-151; Stanford Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (Cambridge; London: Cambridge university Press, 1976), 1-11; M. F. Kprl, Islam in Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion, trans. by Gary Lesier (Salt Lake: University of Utah Press, 1993), 3-31; Speros Vryonis Jr., Nomadization and Islamization in Asia Minor, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1975), 41-71; Mikail Bayram, Ahi Evren ve Ahi Tekilatnn Kuruluu (Konya: Damla Matbaaclk, 1991), pp. 11-31, 129-160; Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Islam ve Trk llerinde Ftvvet Tekilat ve Kaynaklar, ktisat Fakltesi Mecmuas X (1949-50), 6-354; Cemal Anadol, Trk-Islam medeniyetinde Ahilik Kltr ve Ftvvetnameler (Ankara: T.C. Kltr Bakanl, 2000).

61

Seljuk-Ottoman scholarship re-structured Arabs philosophy into a school of thought recognized as the Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud). Arabs philosophy has always been a subject of dispute. His doctrines have been recognized in two extreme fashions both by his followers, and his commentators throughout history. Due to his diverse references from conflicting domains of various religions - from Orthodox Islamic tradition, various heterodox orders of Sufism, and other world religions outside the realm of Islam, his work has been associated with either the highest level of religion, or pantheism.

PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND: IDEAL AND REAL SPACES OF IMAGINATION

The philosophy of Abu Bakr Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arab is important for the studies of architecture, because it does not only underline some of the most crucial points regarding the cultural and social values of Ottoman society for a deeper consideration of the history of Ottoman architecture and landscape cultures; but because it also proposes a significant understanding of space. Arab structured a complete theory on the concept of intermediary space. This intermediary space was called barzakh. He discussed this concept in relation to the domains of ontology, epistemology, and hermeneutics; and his commentaries examined it accordingly. Ibn Arabs philosophy develops at an intermediary domain as well. Epistemology encounters ontology at this intermediary domain. Their encounter is experienced and interpreted in terms of hermeneutics. The concept of barzakh as an intermediary space reconciles ontology and epistemology in Islamic philosophy. Among many other Islamic scholars who had dwelled on the problem of explaining the concept of knowledge as of this world, and/or as of God, there had been different perspectives developed, which favored ontology or epistemology to one another. Scholars were not able to propose a consistent philosophy of Islamic thought, combining all domains of knowledge. Ibn

62

Rushd argued for studying the two domains disconnected from one another, and his work had been interpreted to separate ontology and positive sciences. Ghazali was interpreted to propose the superiority of ontology to positive sciences. The lack of any proper explanation, or understanding of ontology and epistemology, with respect to one another, in terms of Islamic philosophy led the Islamic world into confusion. As Henry Corbin also acknowledges, this confusion, guided most of the intellectual contemplation to an either/or state, which resulted in favoring one, or the other. Thus, when Arab discussed the existence of both of domains as equivalent, it provided an insightful explanation for most of the scholars: 7 The magnitude of the loss becomes apparent when we consider that this intermediate world is the realm where the conflict between theology and philosophy, between faith and knowledge, between symbol and history, is resolved. Ontology covers the study of religious cosmology. Islamic cosmology is born out of one single entity that is God. The domain of God is acknowledged as the realm of existence which houses absolute reality. The realm of existence manifested the creation of all things. This second domain is the realm of non-existence which designates everything that is not God. Neither existence, nor non-existence can be observed. They are invisible (batni). Thus a third realm is manifested as the realm of relative existence. It is the realm of possible things, which is visible (zahri).8 The realm of existence contains true knowledge. The essence of true knowledge is acknowledged as a body (wujd) since it is recognized that only God exist and there is no reality outside his existence. Outside the realm of existence there are all things. All things also have bodies. However bodies of things are acknowledged as spaces in which the body of god manifests itself. Thus, bodies of things are
7

Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi (Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 1969), 13.

William Chittick, The self-disclosure of God: principles of Ibn al-Arabis cosmology

(Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998), 79.

63

spaces, where the body of god is represented. The body as depicted in realm of existence has no form. It is pure essence. Bodies in the realm of non-existence are epiphanic forms. Bodies in the realm of relative existence are corporeal bodies. All things in the realms of non-existence and relative existence are bodies portrayed as spaces where the body of god is manifested. These things or bodies are called existent (mawjd). All things, or all bodies manifested are acknowledged as signs that embody knowledge of the body of god. All things, or all bodies manifested are spaces which are denoted as locus of manifestation. 9 Bodies are manifestations (Zahri) of the hidden essence (Batni): To see God in his SelfDisclosure is to see a perpetual and never repeated display of novel forms.10 All corporeal and epiphanic forms are signs, and all signs embody the knowledge of God. All signs are acknowledged as marks of God. Knowledge is attained by unfolding signs. Accordingly, Chittick explains Arabs cosmology as a science of signs, an account and a narration of the significance of marks. 11 Arab explains epistemology as the knowledge of God.12 However, associating human attainment of knowledge to the invisible realm of existence contradicts Orthodox Islam. Orthodox Islam acknowledges that the knowledge of the realm of existence, thus the knowledge of God is only accessible to God himself. Orthodox belief asserts that the only knowledge available to the human is attained by learning religious texts (Koran and Hadith) and by repetition of traditional practices (Sunna). However, Sufi mysticism argues that the knowledge of God is accessible

Ibid., 89. Ibid., 57-60. Ibid., 3; 8; 23. Ibid., 91.

10

11

12

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to the friends of God.13 Thus, the friends of God, who are the mystics, acquire knowledge by special training. The mystic believes that the knowledge of God is not limited to the religious texts or orthodox practices. It is inherited by every other human being. However its recognition is disclosed by special training. This training is acknowledged as the path of Sufism. Acquiring knowledge is regarded as recognition and recollection of the already inherited knowledge of God. Thus, it is considered as divine vision or theophanic inspiration. Arab puts emphasis on the importance of individual self who receives theophanic inspiration. Arab argues that all human beings are entitled to attain true knowledge. However the attainment of knowledge from one self to another would differ dramatically with regards to the capacities of each individual. The capacity of individual enlightenment is explained in terms of hermeneutics. Though content and quality of knowledge would change from one individual to another, the essence of the knowledge would not change. In a physical metaphor, it can be explained that even if the shadows of each object differs from one another with regards to their different positions, or their mass; the quality of the light source would not change. Arab also argues that all existence is in constant renewal of itself. Universe is considered to be in constant movement. Movement is one of the qualities of creation. It is not things themselves that create movement. Things enter, or in other terms experience different states of movement: 14 Know that there is no stillness whatsoever in the cosmos. It fluctuates endlessly and perpetually from state to
13

For a contradictory discussion about Sufi episteme, see, Syed Jamaluddin,

Epistemology in the Sufi Discourse, Islam and the Modern Age vol. 26 issue 2/3 (1995), 137-148.
14

Movement can observed through traces which will be left on things; Chittick, The Self-

Disclosure of God, 59.

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state. Since all existence, as the source of knowledge, constantly renews itself, the whole creation and its knowledge are also in constant transmutation and renewal. Hermeneutics, then, can be explained as a compilation of momentarily intersections of the two realms- ontology, and epistemology, which are simultaneously in constant transmutation. It becomes the experience of an encounter between meaning and form in simultaneous transmutation. Ibn Arab, explains each meeting of the manifest and the non-manifest as a representational encounter which takes place in different levels of the cosmology, regardless of the hierarchy of the cosmology. Since everything is in constant transmutation, then the attainment of knowledge is actually the collection of instants by the individual self. It is the unfolding of the signs by the individual self. It is a constant interpretation, construction, and deconstruction of signs by the individual self. Thus, Ibn Arabs philosophy explains the encounter between the God and the individual self. However, since God cannot be encountered directly, everything else becomes proof of his existence, including the individual human self itself. Ibn Arab is the principal Islamic philosopher who emphasized the individual self with such assertion, and related the attainment of knowledge to the individual. It is noteworthy to emphasize that Arab considered his own individuality as an important derivative of his philosophy. Among many other Sufi masters with whom Arab has associated himself, there is one legendary figure whose authenticity explains Arabs assertive discussions underlining the concept of the self. It is the legendary figure Khidr (See Figure 21), whose link to Arab gives insight about Arabs aims to achieve individual enlightenment: 15 Khidr is the master of all those who are masterless, because he shows all those whose master he is how to be what he himself is he who has attained
15

Henry Corbin, Creative imagination in the Sufism of Ibn El-Arabi, trans. by Ralph

Manheim (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), 60- 61.

66

the Spring of life, the eternal Youth he who has attained haqiqa, the mystic esoteric truth which dominates the Law and frees from the literal religion. He leads each disciple to his own theophany, the theophany of which he personally is the witness, because that theophany corresponds to his inner heaven to the form of his own being, to his eternal individuality Ibn Arab discusses three types of cognition for the attainment of knowledge. Responding to these three domains, there are three different types of cognitive faculties. These are the sensual, intellectual, and imaginative faculties. The organs of sensual cognition are the five senses of the body. Sensual cognition is empowered by the five senses of the human body, and activated by the soul. The organ of intellectual cognition is the mind. Spiritual cognition is empowered by the spirit, and related to the rational thinking. Imaginative faculty is empowered by the organ heart. Heart is furnished with intellectual and spiritual abilities. However the faculties of heart should not be understood as emotional. The faculties of heart enable the individual to communicate beyond the apparent body. 16 its nature is rather intellectual than emotional, but whereas the intellect cannot gain real knowledge of God, the heart is capable of knowing the essence of all things, and when illuminated by faith and knowledge reflects the whole content of the divine mind. Imagination is considered superior to rational thinking. The rationality is only able to discriminate a static Truth learned from written reports, and fixed by the traditions of Sunna. However, imagination allows an ever-shifting correspondence between form and meaning, allows dynamism, motion, and transmutation. Imagination also surpasses sensual cognition, because it communicates beyond the mere apparent from. Arab considered the imaginative faculty superior to the other two faculties, because it embodies both of them. It is a divine state of inspiration towards the understanding and realization of true knowledge. It is a creative process which enables the interaction of two different worlds. Faculties of imagination enable the
16

Reynold A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (Beirut: Khayats, 1966), 68.

67

human being to unfold signs, and to attain knowledge. Corbin describes the faculty of imagination as the heart. Heart is able to communicate the relationship between the signified and the signifier, questions the relation between essence and form. Corbin explains the creative powers of heart that is called himma17: himma is an extremely complicated notion which cannot perhaps be translated by any one word. Many equivalents have been suggested: mediation, project, intention, desire, force of will; here we shall concentrate on the aspect that encompasses all the others, the creative power of the art.The active Imagination serves the himma which, by its concentration, is capable of creating objects, of producing changes in the outside world.If the heart is the mirror in which the Divine Being manifests his form according to the capacity of this heart, the Image which the heart projects is in turn the outward form, the objectivization of this image. Imaginative faculty explores the relationship between form and meaning. The attainment of knowledge is the construction and deconstruction of signs made out of a signifier and a signified. Construction of signs is the meeting of essence with form. Deconstruction, however, is the deciphering of the signs. Imaginative faculty enables to perceive beyond the apparent body of a sign.18 Corbin calls the hidden structure of signs as idea-images: 19 Between the universe that can be apprehended by pure intellectual perception, and the universe perceptible to the senses, there is an intermediate world, the world of idea-images, of archetypal figures, of substile substances, of immaterial matter. This world is as real and objective, as consistent and subsistent as the intelligible and sensible worlds; it is an intermediate universe where the spiritual takes body and the body becomes spiritual, a world consisting of real matter and real extension, though by comparison to sensible, corruptible matter these are substile and immaterial. The organ of this universe is active Imagination; it is the place of theophanic visions, the scene on which visionary events and symbolic histories appear in their true reality.
17

Corbin, Creative imagination, 220-224. Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 346-49. Corbin, Creative Imagination, 3-4.

18

19

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The unfolding and folding; deconstruction and construction of idea-images reveal true knowledge. This process is the attainment of knowledge. Corbin also discusses the contemporary relevance of the study of imagination as a way to attain knowledge: Today with the help of phenomenology, we are able to examine the way in which man experiences his relationships to the world without reducing the objective data of this experience to data of sense perception or limiting the field of true and meaningful knowledge to the mere operations of the rational understanding. Freed from an old impasse, we have learned to register and to make use of the intentions implicit in all the acts of consciousness or transconsciousness. To say that the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an object which is proper to it, no longer smacks of paradox. 20 Arab also emphasizes importance of the locus of this unfolding of signs, and names this space as the realm of imagination. The realm of imagination exists at three different scales. First it exists between the invisible domains of non-manifest things (realms of existence and non-existence) and the visible domain of manifested things (realm of relative existence). Second, it exists between the realm of existence and non-existence as the realm of relative existence. Third it exists between body and spirit. First is the realm of idea-images. Second is the realm of the phenomenal world. Third is the human self. In the realm of imagination, a part of the divine knowledge descends where it meets with the ascending form which has lost its density. The realm of imagination is a place of encounter: The imagination is the scene of the encounter whereby the supersensory divine and the sensible descend at one and the same abode.
21

The realm of imagination is acknowledged as an ever changing domain, where the same form (since the form does also change by passing time from one state into another) will not be able to meet the same meaning again. This dynamic relation

20

Ibid., 3-4. Ibid., 156.

21

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between form and meaning22 that is staged within a space which has no density is actually a space of representation, the domain of true knowledge. 23 Arab portrays signs to be read and deciphered like letters. The below poem describes the attainment of knowledge as a process, as an act of questioning, as an act of communication between essence and form by deconstructing the apparent meaning and body of the letter. Thus the act of deconstruction is the unfolding of true knowledge, the knowledge of God:24 He is a letter you are the essence of it I have no intentions other than Him Letter is an essence, its meaning attached to it The eye does not see anything else than this meaning The heart will come and go due to its nature Once to its body, once to its meaning God is magnificent no body can contain him Though we can embrace him in our hearts Corbin argues that in Arabs perspective, unfolding of knowledge, or in other words, theophanic vision is activated and communicated by metaphors: 25
22

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 260-61. Ibid., 259-262. Ibn Arabi, lahi Ak, trans. by Mahmut Kank (Istanbul: Insan Yaynlar, 2002), 21;

23

24

translated from: Varlk bir harftir sen onun anlamsn /Hayatta bir emelim yok ondan baka/ Harf bir anlamdr, anlam kendindedir/ Gz grmez o anlamdan baka hibir ey/ Kalb gider gelir ftratnn bir gerei/ Kah ekline o harfin kah anlamna/ Tanr ycedir, Hi kimse onu ieremez/ Ama biz Onu kalbimize sdrrz
25

Corbin, Creative imagination, 14.

70

Allegory is a rational operation, implying no transition either to a new plane of being, or to a new depth of consciousness; it is a figuration, at an identical level of consciousness, of what might very well be known in a different way. The symbol announces a plane of consciousness distinct from that of rational evidence; it is the cipher of a mystery, the only means of saying something that cannot be apprehended in any other way; a symbol is never explained once and for all, but must be deciphered once and for all, but calls for ever new execution. This communication is possible because beyond the multiplicity of the apparent world, the whole universe is sustained in unity which speaks a common language. That reality is the knowledge of the true reality bestowed to all the participants of the universe. This common reality enables sympathy and attraction between things, enables their communication and interaction. All the elements of the universe are attracted to one another because they are carrying the same essential life substance. Arab names this attraction as love. In Arabs philosophy, all the creation was enabled by love. Love is dynamic and enables the sustainability of life: If there were no love, the world would be frozen.
26

Love enables communication beyond the sensible and

intelligible worlds. Arab defines love as a-priori, and permanent (madum). The imaginative faculty is activated by the act of love. Since the domain of imagination was considered as a space, this space was constructed metaphorically as a domain of exchange and communication, between the God, and the human being. Ibn Arab illustrates this communication as a ritual of love. Arab also defines love in three kinds. First is the divine love. It is the love between God and human beings. The second is spiritual love, between the lover and the beloved, where the lover is in full pursue of the action of loving. The third one is natural love between the lover and the beloved, where the lover is aiming to

26

Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: The Univeristy of North

Carolina Press, 1975), 293.

71

fulfill his sensual desires.27 In all levels of the cosmology, human beings carry the act of love with respect to their capacities. Schmimmel describes visuality as an agency of love, looking becomes, then, one of the central topics of mystical love experience. love.29 Using the metaphor of love, Arab defines the whole cosmology in terms of a lover and a beloved. The beloved symbolizes the essence, and the true knowledge. The lover symbolizes the whole universe desperate to unite with this essence, longing to acquire divine knowledge. Form is defined as an instant image in the mind of the lover. It is the image of the beloved. It is an image of the loved one in the lovers imagination. Forms are dynamic, because they would never stay in a single state, but transform from one state into another. For example the human body will grow old by the passing time. As well, the body will be experiencing one state after another, either posed still, in a state of immobility, or moving, in a state of motion. The changing states will leave a trace on the body, and eventually the form will change by the passing time. There will not be a static definition and depiction of any form as a single image. The state of love also encourages the formlessness and transformation of body from one state to another. For the true lover, the image of the beloved will also change, as the form of the beloved will always be transmuted. The attainment of knowledge takes place in an intermediary domain called barzakh. Ibn Arab reintroduced the concepts of barzakh as imagination; which he borrowed from Sufi terminology, and totally restructured into a new philosophy.
27

28

Divine love arouses through natural-bodily love: Conjunction of

spiritual love and the natural love it transmutes is the very definition of mystic

Ibn-i Arabi, lahi Ak, 64. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 290. Corbin, Creative imagination, 151.

28

29

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The concept of barzakh embodies an understanding of both/and instead of either/or. The presence of a barzakh enables the co-existence of ontology and epistemology; so far it enabled metaphysical and physical worlds as equally important; and, discussed the significance of the individual self, as equal to God. Thus, in each case, barzakh is portrayed as a space of encounter, as a third space which the other two different domains meet. In this respect the act of imagination also takes place at barzakh. It is called as the realm of imagination. Barzakh or the realm of imagination is portrayed in the form of an ideal or real space. This space is depicted to be the only place to attain true knowledge. It exists in all levels and at all scales of the cosmology. It places the individual human self at the center of understanding the whole creation. It is a space created by the act of communication, act of imagination. Thus it is a space created by the attainment of knowledge. Arab explains the concept of barzakh and imagination as such: 30 A barzakh is something that separates (fsl) two other things while never going to one side (mutatarrif), as, for example, the line that separates shadow from sunlight. God says, He let forth the two seas that meet together, between them a barzakh they do not overpass (Koran 55:19); in other words, the one sea does not mix with the other. Though sense perception might be incapable of separating the two things, rational faculty judges that there is a barrier (hjiz) between them which separates them. The intelligible barrier is the barzakh. If it is perceived by the senses, it is one of the two things, not the barzakh. Any of two adjacent things are in need of a barzakh which is neither one, nor the other but which possesses the power (quwwa) of both. The barzakh is something that separates a known from an unknown, an existent from a non-existent, a negated from an affirmed, an intelligible from an unintelligible. It is called barzakh as a technical term, and in itself intelligible, but it is only imagination.Imagination is neither existent nor non-existent, neither known, nor unknown, neither negated, nor affirmed.

30

William Chittick, The Sufi path of knowledge: Ibn al-Arabi's metaphysics of imagination

(Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989), 117-118.

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Arab basically proposed the application and experience of this understanding of barzakh in three different scales; in macrocosmic, cosmic, and microcosmic levels. In microcosmic scale, which is the scale of the individual human being, barzakh corresponds to the soul, which operates between body and spirit. In macrocosmic scale, barzakh had been discussed as an intermediate world between the existence, and non-existence. It is a space between God, and everything that is not God. Existence contains the essence of the True knowledge, Non-existence embodies the epiphanic forms. Between them lies cosmos as the barzakh. In the cosmic scale, barzakh is the equivalent of the realm of imagination. Arabs cosmology valued the realm of imagination above all other levels of the hierarchy. However the Orthodox cosmology had a different structure. It was made up of three main realms where each is structured into different levels. First and lowest realm of Orthodox cosmology was the phenomenal world of human beings. Second was the domain of planets as observed in the skies. Third was the divine world. Following after the domain of the phenomenal world, first seven stages in the domain of planets were represented by seven planets - Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and finally the sphere of fixed stars - each level acknowledged as a celestial heaven. Each of these levels were believed to embrace one of the holy characters as mentioned in Koran; Adam, Abraham, Khidr, and else. The celestial heavens were followed by the domain of divine world made out of three theological heavens which were acknowledged as the Paradise Garden. First of the last heavens had a lotus tree, second had the temple of Jerusalem, and third the throne of God.31 Each level of the Orthodox cosmology was associated with a different kind of cognitive faculty.32 Intellect was associated
31

Edith Jachimowicz, Islamic Cosmology, Ancient Cosmologies, ed. by Blacker and

Loewe (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1975), 143-155.

Divine essence (hadrat al-dht/ hht- stage of selfhood, or the world of Absolute

Mystery), Presence of Divinity (hadrat al-ulhiyya/ lht- Divine names), this second stage is also associated with the Universal Intellect /al-akl al-kully) Third stage is called as Presence of Masterhood (hadrat al-rubbiyya/ djabart) followed by the fourth stage of

74

with the highest level of the cosmology, the divine world.

Imagination was

associated to the second level; and human perception to the lowest level.33 However, different than the Orthodox cosmology, Arabs cosmology altered the order of cognitive hierarchy of the Orthodox tradition and emphasized the superiority of the realm of imagination to the other two. Meanwhile, Arabs cosmology valued each domain in the hierarchical order of the cosmology as a realm of imagination with varying capacities. Arab discussed these different realms of imagination in all the domains of cosmology with regards to the concept of barzakh having spatial qualities; as a garden, pool, meeting place, abode.34 Barzakh is illustrated as an ideal space in the macrocosmic level; and real in the cosmic. The ideal gardens are the representations of heavenly Paradise garden. The real gardens include all the cosmos, natural and man made environments. Both real and ideal gardens are having the same qualities as that of existence. There is nothing static about paradise,35 and nature is renewed constantly. In
world of imagination (barzakh), and finally by the plane of sensible experience (mushdada); Jachimowicz, Islamic Cosmology, 156-171.
33

All Sufi cosmologies differed from one another. As an example to a Sufi cosmology,

Ardalan and Bakhtiar gives the following cosmological order. However it had not been informed the source of this hierarchy. The seven stages of being first the Divine Essence (lam-i-hht/ latfah haqqa, the sphere of Thruth), second Divine Nature (lam-i-lht/ latfah khafiya, inspiration), third (lam-i-jabart/ latfah rhiyya, spirit), fourth the world of imagination (lam-i-malakt/ latfah sirriya, superconciousness), fifth the world of spiritual perception, (lam-i-man/ latfah qalbiyya, the hearth), sixth the world of forms (lam-israt/ latfah nafsiyya, vital senses), and finally the lowest and the seventh as the world of nature (lam-i-tabat/ latfah qlibiyya, body); Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar, The Sense of Unity The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1973), 3-10.
34

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 116-117. Chittick, The Sufi path of knowledge, 151-156.

35

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substantial parts of his argument, Arab portrays these differentiated ideal and real spaces as parts of a harmonious unity: The cosmos, all of it, is a heaven and an earth. 36 Garden is portrayed as a place to see the truth. The Paradise garden is the last abode before total illumination. The Koran also cites the Paradise Garden as a screen between the Divine and the human sight. It is this screen that differentiates between the divine and the human existence. It is depicted as the only place where the vision of God himself is available.37 Arabi also compares the cosmos to an image on the screen; which stands between the God, as the creator, and subject as the viewer. This representation is similar to the depiction of the Garden as a veil between the Real and the subject. At this point, the faculty of imagination becomes a virtual space, a virtual garden, an imaginary screen, where the subject as the viewer tries to identify the forms on the screen, or in the garden with respect to his selective will, with regards to his appetite, which will be discussed in the following pages:38 The garden is named Garden because it is a curtain and a veil between you and the Real for it is the locus of the appetites of the souls.39 Arab illustrates the location of the ideal garden in two different ways. In the first one, the ideal garden occupies a section in the realm of the barzakh. So the barzakh is not only merely composed of a garden, but the garden is only one part
36

Arabi quoted in Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 255. Ibid., 393 n. 16. Ibid., 344. Contrary to Arabis positive evaluation of the Soul, as an agency that can be

37

38

used to acquire knowledge, the generic Sufi belief is towards accepting the Soul as an organ embodying evil for its inhibition by worldly forms and desire; R. W. J. Austin, Sufis of Andalucia (London: Ruskin House, 1971), 53.
39

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 395 n.18.

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of it. In the second argument, the human world is surrounded by a garden, which can only be perceived during the act of imagination. The garden becomes apparent when the act of imagination is performed. Form meets essence in a garden. The essence that is going to join the form for a single moment during the act of imagination descends the heavens in the form of light. So this illumination made possible by traveling light illuminates a garden, which had already been surrounding the world. This ever present garden is perceived only by those who are able to imagine, and thus who are able to see by their hearts. 40 Arab discusses the concept of garden as such: 41 Know my brother-may God take charge of you with his mercy- that the Garden that is reached in the last world by those who are its folk is witnessed by you today in respect of its form. Within it you undergo fluctuations in your states, but you do not know that you are within it, because the form within which it discloses itself to you veils you. The folk of unveiling, who perceive that from which the people are absent, see that locus, if it is a Garden, as a green garden plot. If it is a Gehanna, they see it in keeping with the descriptions that are within it- its bitter cold and its burning heat- and what God has prepared within it. Most of the folk unveiling see this at the beginning of the path. The Shariah has called attention to this with the Prophets words, Between my grave and my pulpit is one of the gardenplots of the Garden (paradise garden). The folk of unveiling see it as a garden plot as he said. They see the Nile, the Euphrates, the Sarus, and the Pyramus as rivers of honey, water, wine and milk, as they are in the Garden. After all, the Prophet reported that these rivers belong to the Garden. When God has not unveiled someones eyesight and he remains in the blindness of his veil, he does not perceive this and is like a blind man in a rose garden. He is not absent from it in his essence, but he does not see it. The fact that he does not see it does not necessitate that he is not within it. No, he is within it. The vision of God does not take place through seeking and is not reached through recompense, in contrast to the blessings in the Garden.

40

Ibid., 362. Ibid., 57.

41

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In another argument Arab explains real garden(s), originally part(s) of the heavenly Paradise Garden as bestowed gift(s) to the human world. Then the garden originally a divine creation is given as an ornament to decorate the mundane world42. In this argument, Arab stresses the symbolic value of the real garden as a reflection of the Heavenly Paradise. The multiplicity of different kinds of gardens on earth, all refer to the Original Paradise Garden: 43 Hence from the heaven, becomes manifest the earths ornament. Thus the heaven draped the earth with its reckoning, and the heaven stripped its ornament from it through its reckoning. From the earths ornament, its names became many, because of the various classes of fruits, trees, and flowers within it. But from its becoming stripped and cleared, its name was made one. Its names disappeared within the disappearance of its ornament. Surely we have appointed whatever is on earth as an ornament for it. In the metaphorical interpretation, the earth is nothing but what is called creation and its ornament is what is named Real. Hence through the Real it is ornamented, and through the Real it is cleared and stripped of the garments of number and it becomes manifest in the attribute of the One. Thus, contemplation of gardens would reveal knowledge about the Paradise garden. Ideal gardens are ideal places where essence meets epiphanic forms. They enable construction of knowledge in idea-images. Real gardens are repository of signs, which enables deconstruction of idea-images as embodied beyond the apparent visualization of the sign. Forms are either manifested in dreams, or by imagination. They reside in the pool of imagination or at the Market of the Garden. Arab refers to spaces occupied
42

Chittick interprets Arabis interpretation on the creation of the earth (the witnessed world/

the mundane world of the human beings) both as corruption (arada in Arabic means a woodworm damaging the pages of a book), and as an ornament (ss); Chittick, The selfdisclosure of God, 254-255.
43

Ibid., 255.

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with bodies, or signs are called as the Market of the Garden.44 The world of imagination, barzakh, is imagined to embody part of the Garden known as the Market45. This Market is portrayed as a pool as well. It is a pool, storage of signs waiting to be unfolded: 46 This then is the turbidity that joins with knowledge. When this becomes manifest for people, they need a divine faculty that will take them from this form to the meaning that has become manifest in this form and has troubled them. The occasion of this is the Presence of imagination and imaginalization and the reflective faculty. Its root is this natural body, which in this way station, is called the pool. The depth of the pool is everything that imagination and imaginalization remove from its own form. The faculty of imagination is able to depict the novelty of forms ever changing. These forms are either bodies or places. Arab illustrates the multiplicity of forms and different places as things to be contemplated. He uses the metaphor of traveling between the multiplicity of these ever changing novel forms; bodies and places: The names are diverse because of the diversity of the loci and the forms.47 Similarly, Arab explains traveling from one garden to another as a quest for the attainment of knowledge: 48 Heavens wisdom in the earth is its traveling to bring together thereby all its scattered things For God built it for us and designated through the traveling its moments
44

Ibid., 357. Ibid., 358 Ibid., 348. Ibid., 60. Ibid., 256.

45

46

47

48

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This travel is a kind of pilgrimage which is the journey of both the heart and the body.49 Soul is also an intermediary space between the form of the body, and the intellect of the spirit. Soul is between spirit and body. Body has sensory organs which perceive all natural phenomena. All things perceived fall onto the space of the soul. Spirit is the intellectual power which is supposed to assess this collection gathered by the body. Spirit is associated with reason, and it is an agency to differentiate between good and bad, between light, and darkness, between bliss, and sin. Spirit is the guide of the soul. The soul (nefs) is like a vessel where the light of the spirit and the darkness of the body encounters. All the impressions from the outside world are stored within the soul, as undifferentiated. It is like an unclassified library, which accumulates information perceived from the outside world, similar to the domain of imagination portrayed as the market of the garden, or a pool:50 "Soul is that dimension of man and other animals which stands between the disengaged spirit and the corporeal body; it is the domain of imagination, which is neither the pure light of spirit nor the darkness known as clay. 51 The soul is divided into three in itself, as, the vegetal (controls nourishing and digestive needs and activities of the body), the animal (performs the wrathful inheritance like displaying vulgar, anger, rage, slaughter), and the appetitive soul (faculties aimed at pleasure by the senses of taste and desire).52 Soul is generative of human desires which are called appetite. Appetite is different than divine desire. It is the aspiration for things phenomenal. It is the desire for food, sexual
49

Reynold A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam. (Beirut: Khayats, 1966), 90-91. Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 339. Ibid., 162. Ibid., 393-95.

50

51

52

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gratification, and all forms of pleasure.

53

Human soul has a constructive ability as

far as the self is able to perform activities as desired by the soul. This skill of creativity is similar to the creativity of the imagination performed by the heart. Soul is a place where appetite will meet with the possibility54 its actualization. Since appetite is attached to the natural forms in the natural world of the human being, soul becomes a domain of imagination where natural forms become signs. Thus in this level of imagination, the beauty of the natural forms communicates with the self.55 With the metaphor of love, the desire to unite with the beautiful, representing the divine love motivates the soul as in the realm of imagination. For the soul, its space of operation is the human self and the natural world. It interacts with natural world forms. Arab discusses that appetite is basically the desire for beautiful things, which are representations of the beloved: As for the appetitive soul its ruling authority in this frame is seeking what is beautiful in its view.56 Divine beings dont have appetite.57 They dont possess things. They dont have an interest in forms. However, that does not mean that appetite is a worthless and shameful kind of desire. According to Arabi appetite is a positive faculty that gives strength to the human being.
58

Appetite is a means to practice a certain

intensity of the faculty of imagination in the phenomenal world. The appetitive soul would crave to have pleasure in anything which he would appreciate as beautiful

53

Ibid., 339. Ibid., 345. Ibid., 346. Ibid., 340-43. Ibid., 339. Ibid., 341-42.

54

55

56

57

58

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with respect to its form, its image.59 Chittick explains the virtue of the appetite, as such: The fact that appetite becomes attached to things in the natural world does not detract from its inherent eminence and worth-if it did, there would be no appetite in paradise. Ibn al-Arabi repeatedly cites the Koranic verses telling us that the felicitous will be given everything for which they have appetite. After all, appetite is the souls desire to take pleasure, and pleasure is found on the natural, bodily level.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: GEOGRAPHIES OF OTTOMAN IDEOLOGY AND ITS SPACES OF IMAGINATION

Arabs philosophy had deeply influenced both the development of Ottoman Orthodox cosmology, and as well, a number of general trends in Ottoman mystical thought.60 With respect to the context of this study, Ibn Arabis influence on Ottoman cultural and intellectual world can be summarized in two major periods.

59

Ibid., 344. For basic reading on the followers of Arab in Anatolia see the following works; William

60

C. Chittick, The Five Divine Presences: From al-Qunawi to al-Qaysari, The Muslim World 78 (1998), 51-82 and Ahmet Yaar Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler 15.17. Yzyllar (Istanbul: Tarih Vakf, 1998); and the unpublished Ph.D. thesis by Derin Terziolu; Mehmet Bayraktar, Kayserili Davud (Ankara: Kltr ve Turizm Bakanl, 1998); Mustafa Akar Molla Fenari ve Vahdet-i Vcud Anlay (Ankara: Muradiye Kltr Vakf Yaynlar, 1993); Michel Balivet, eyh Bedreddin: Tasavvuf ve isyan (Islam mystique et rvolution arme dans les Balkans ottomans : vie du Cheikh Bedreddn le "Hallj des Turcs" 1358/59-1416), trans. by Turkish Ela Gntekin (Istanbul: Tarih Vakf Yurt Yaynlar, 2000); and Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Simavna Kadsolu eyh Bedreddin (Istanbul: Eti Yaynevi, 1966).

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First period is 13th c. - 15th c., which coincides with the rise of the Ottoman state into the establishment and development of an empire. Second period is 16th c. 18th c., which coincides with the centralization of the Ottoman Empire. According to changing phases of development of the Ottoman culture from a peripheral state into a centralized power, the location of the discussion concerning the influence of Ibn Arab also changes. In the first phase, the argument considers Ibn Arabs influence and interpretations that had taken place in multi-central cultural centers of Anatolia, like the cities of Konya, znik, Bursa, Ankara, or Edirne. In the second phase, the argument focuses on the city of Istanbul. First period spans 13th c. - 15th c., covering the interpretation and analytical analysis of Arabs work by the Seljuk and Ottoman scholars. This period can simply be called as the initial period of the development of first major commentaries on Ibn Arab. Ibn Arabs short visit to Anatolia, in the cities of Malatya, Konya, and Diyarbakr, in c. 1210 had left behind major advocates, who later interpreted Arabs work and established his fame not only among the mystics of Anatolia, but as well in Iran, and other Islamic societies. The second period spans 16th c. - 18th c., covering the practice and conception of Ibn Arabs interpretations by the agents of power in the city of Istanbul. These agents of power include the centralized authorities of the Ottoman Empire, thus the political social groups and scholars of religion. The first phase of the discussion covers the interpretation of Ibn Arabs thoughts by individual scholars, and mystics; who had both popular and elite recognition. Some of these individuals include Ibn Arabs step-son Sadreddin Konevi (12101274) of Konya, who was the founder of the Ekberriye order; the first Ottoman scholar commissioned by the Ottoman authority, Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi elKayseri (d.1350) of Iznik Medresesi; the first Ottoman eyhlislam Molla Hamza Fenari (1350 -1431); the famous Ottoman scholar eyh Bedreddin (1358-1420), who was also known as a heretic; and the popular mystic Hac Bayram Veli (13521429) of Ankara, who was the founder of the Bayrami order, latter followed by Bayrami-Melms. These individuals were important characters who constructed the objectives of the Ottoman mystic culture. The second phase of the discussion covers mainly the contrasting perspectives of Arabs influence in the city of Istanbul. In this second phase Arabs influence is traced mainly by means of

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studying the development of the Melm- Bayramiyye order in Istanbul, and its criticism by the agencies of power. Interpretations of Arabs work and his doctrines on love gave rise to two distinctly different practices in Ottoman culture. The first one was called as the Unity of Being (Wahdat-i Vcud), and the second as the Unity of Presence (Wahdat-i Mevcud). The philosophy of the Unity of Being considered the phenomenal world and all the phenomenal existence as an allegorical and distorted image of the Universal Truth. It argued that contemplation of the phenomenal world would unfold knowledge of the Universal Truth. However, the Unity of Presence considered the phenomenal world as confined within itself without any further reference to any Universal Truth. Thus, this second perspective insisted on the contemplation of the phenomenal existence as the only Truth itself. These two contrasting perspectives portray the range of Arabs interpretation in Ottoman land. The Unity of Being was considered as the highest level of mystic contemplation regarding all existence as an evidence of Gods existence beyond the phenomenal world. However, the Unity of Presence was considered as a dissident faith neglecting the existence of God beyond this world. By the late 13th c., the interpretations of the Unity of Being, was widely accepted both in the popular public sphere and in the intellectual spheres of Sufism. In the popular sphere, folk literature conveyed the ideals of the philosophy. In the scholarly tradition, two contradicting perspectives developed. First one practiced the doctrines of love within the limits of Shariah. They were obedient to a central authority. The second perspective interpreted doctrines of love to the extent of the Unity of Presence that they had become known as dissidents. This second group consisted of mainly some of the fractions, or individuals from Melams, Hamzavis, and Glenis. The Ottoman rulers were always alert of their activities, and often inspected them. This two-phased mapping of Ibn Arabs influence in Ottoman land, in particular; also explains, the construction, composition and the operation of the Ottoman culture and society from the 13th c. to the 18th c. In the first phase of the argument which concentrates on multi cultural centers of Anatolia, this study describes the complex structure of the peripheral folk culture. The second phase that considers the developments in Istanbul, displays both the changing

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perspectives of the Ottoman central authorities of power and the conflicting intellectual debates among the scholars of religion; for and against the teachings of Arab, and the practices of his advocates, who were considered either as true believers, or as dissidents. This study argues that, neither in the first phase, nor in the second phase there isnt a single explanation, or a single perspective of any specific authority that explains the dynamics of the culture. The Ottoman social order which seems to be simple at first sight, is actually rather complex when its terms of operation is considered. It is necessary to map the complex dynamics of the Ottoman social order in order to map the development of Ottoman culture and its understanding and use of ideal and real spaces.

MULTIPLE CENTERS OF ANATOLIA AND TRACIA BEFORE 1453

Seljuks were Sunnites. Mongols admired Sunni thought, but later adopted Shiah. Both Seljuk and Mongol courts protected and admired the development of mystic thought. Trkmen tribes interacting with such different gnostic philosophies also gave birth to different mystic orders. Trkmen dervishes were called bbs, abdals, or masters of Khurasan (Horasan erenleri). Baba order was founded by Trkmen mystics, which later developed into the Bektashi order. At the 13th century, when the Ottoman principality became a growing power, they employed the Trkmen groups on the frontier of their expansion. Throughout the 14th century, and first half of the 15th century, the Ottoman power possessed to rule two major regions. One was the Balkans and the Thrace. Other was Anatolia. The dynamics of military and political campaigns in these regions mutually influenced the social and cultural developments. At all times of political or military unrest, major cultural centers of these centers gave birth to new forms of cultural and social expressions, either in form of rivalries, or establishment of new mystic orders. Beginning with the first conquest of Gallipoli in 1354, Ottomans gained significant power in the Balkans and Anatolia, from Danube to Euphrates by the end of the 14th century. They conquered Edirne in 1361, and turned the city into the capital of military

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campaigns to the west. On the other side of the framework, Timur defeated Ottoman forces in Ankara in 1402. This resulted in a period of unrest between 1402 -1413. The Ottoman princes agreed to become vassals of Timur governing different territories. Upon Timur's death, Ottoman princes began to conflict one another. elebi Musa based at Bursa and Amasya sought after moving towards Edirne. elebi Sleyman based at Edirne sought after moving towards Anatolia. Mehmed I came into rule and united both territories under his control. Second period of unrest was at 1416, Mehmed Is uncle Mustafa rivaled in Thrace supported by the Byzantine princes. The third period of unrest was between 1421 1424 after the death of Mehmed I. The power was divided between Mustafa Mehmed Is uncle, and Murad II. Mustafa was based in Edirne. He was again supported by the Byzantine principalities. Murad II was based in Bursa, and was supported by the ulem. Murad II defeated Mustafa in 1422 and gained the control of Thrace region. However, at the same time the principalities in Anatolia rivaled and began to take back the control of their former states. Murad II reestablished his power in Anatolia, Balkans and the Thrace for the rest of his reign. He left a wealthy powerful state to his son Mehmed II in 1444. Trkmen groups led by gaz lords were the major force in conquest of new territories. By the conquests, Turkmen tribes also begin to inhabit the Balkans, either settling in existing villages, or establishing new ones. However, Ottomans began to structure a new army by the end of the 14th c. The establishment of the Ottoman army pushed the gazis to the background in the political and military domination of the growing Ottoman state. Thus, frontier culture of Trkmen tribes and dervishes, and mystic communities related to the gaz culture gained unfavorable status in favor of urban developments. However, Arabs philosophy found adherents in both of these conflicting political domains; both among the Trkmen gazis and their communities, and among the scholars of the rising Ottoman regime. The Trkmen tribes and the surrounding communities ruled under the Trkmen rule had a multicultural mosaic. These communities were composed of Trkmens, Moguls, Greeks, and Armenians. They represent the varied mosaic of the local population that had been diversified by migration and flees throughout centuries. The Trkmen culture is described best in Trkmen literature developed in both oral

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and written literature from 13th c. to 15th c. These stories were both warrior epics and hagiographies at the same time. They document the Trkmen striving for political power and a harmonious life in a multicultural society. Cemal Kafadar, in his study of the construction of the Ottoman state emphasized the importance of these epic stories in understanding the dynamics of the Ottoman culture, and society. These epics are numerous. Dnimendnme was compiled under the patronship of Seljuk court, but it was about the legendary stories of Danimends who belonged to a frontier culture, and were the rivalries of the Seljuks. Dnimendnme was about the encounter and conflict of the local population composed of Christian communities, Turkmen tribes, and infidel Mongols with authorities who hold extreme orthodoxy of Islamic religion. According to Cemal Kafadar, the narrative suggested crossing religious, ethnic, and gender boundaries. Hamzanme was about the same holy horse belonging, first to Muhammeds uncle, then to legendary gazs Seyyid Battal and Sar Saltuk. Dsturnme was compiled in 1465. Battalnme was about the life of Seyyid Battal, an Arab warrior who was a friend of the Greeks. The Story of Dede Korkut embraced the themes of war and love at the same time. The desire for power accompanied with the desire for a beloved was one of the major themes of gaz literature. Menakbl-Kudsiye was composed by Elvn elebi - the grandson of Baba Ilyas in 1358-59. The story suggested that, both Baba Ilyas, who was the founder of Babai order in the early 13th c. and his followers, were able to unite all communities with different religious backgrounds. Saltuknme depicted the life of the 13th century legendary gaz Sar Saltuk. It was compiled under the patronship of Sultan Cem in 1473-1480.61 The story of Sar Saltuk which was the most popular gaz epic story, suggested the city of Edirne as the capital of gazs. Followers of Arab in Anatolia were numerous. Sadreddin Konevi (1210-1274) of Konya was the step son of Arabi. He was a respected scholar lived during the sultanate of Aleaddin Keykbad. He founded the Ekberriye tariqat, after the teachings of Arab. The commentaries by Konevi and el-Kayseri are more explicit
61

Kafadar, Between Two Worlds, 60- 151.

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and analytical works than the original texts of Arabs.62 Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi el-Kayseri (d.1350) was the first scholar and president (mderris-i am) of the first Ottoman educational institution, znik Medresesi founded by Orhan Gazi in 1336. He is the author of the Mukaddimat - an analytical explanation of Ibn-i Arabis Fususul-hikem in 12 chapters. Persian commentaries on Fusus refer to Davud elKayseris work. Molla Hamza Fenari (1350 - 1431) was the first eyhlislam appointed to the Ottoman court in 1424, during the reign of Sultan Murad II (14211444). He established the structure of the Ottoman academy of intellectual studies (medrese).63 eyh Bedreddin (1358-1420) was a scientist, saint, and scholar, whose work was the influence after the eyh Bedreddin Revolt. Hzr Bey elebi (d. 1459) was a student of Molla Fenari; he had been the kad to Istanbul after the conquest. He was known to be the mentor of Hayali and Tacizade who were ehrengiz poets. Ibrahim Gleni was the founder of the Gleni tariqat; Hac Bayram Veli (1352-1429), the founder of Bayrami tariqat; Cami (d. 1492) the famous Persian poet of Tabriz, who was Invited several times to the Ottoman court by Fatih Sultan Mehmed. emseddin A. Ibn Kemal Paazade (1468-1534) who lived in Edirne and Tokat, was a scholar, kad, and a eyhlislam. He was the author of many religious works. smail Hakk Bursevi (1653 -1726) who lived in Istanbul, Bursa, and Aydos, were also a well-known author of over hundred works on Sufism. He was also the founder of the Celvettiye tariqat.

62

He was a friend of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi. He later became the student of

Evhadddin-i Kirmani (d.1238), who was a close friend of Arabi. The famous Sufi mystic Abdlrezzak Kaani (d.1329) was a disciple of Konevi. Among his many works, he was the author of Nss, Hukk, Mefth-l-Gayb, Ftiha Tefsri, erh-i Ehds-i Erban; William C. Chittick, The Five Divine Presences: From al-Qunawi to al-Qaysari, The Muslim World 78 (1998), 51-82.
63

Author of Misbahul-uns, Aynl Ayan,Talikat ala TefsirilKeaf, Haiyet Hrzil- Emani

fil-Kraats-Seb, Tefsiri Sureteyil Kadrvel Feth, Enmzecl ulum; Mustafa Akar Molla Fenari.

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This study will focus on four individuals, who were all well recognized and respected Ottoman scholars of Orthodox Law, and sciences. The influence of these four prominent figures among different populaces of the Ottoman state in terms of territory and population represent the composite composition of the Ottoman society and culture. The first two scholars, Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi elKayseri (d.1350) the first appointed Ottoman scholar, and Molla Hamza Fenari (1350 - 1431), the first Ottoman eyhlislam constructed Ibn al-Arabs teachings into an analytical scheme recognized as the Unity of Being. These two scholars represent Arabs interpretation and recognition by the central agencies of Ottoman state, authority, and institutions. The second couple of scholars, eyh Bedreddin (1358-1420) and Hac Bayram Veli (1352-1429/30) represent Arabs interpretation and recognition by the population outside the central Ottoman authority, namely in the provincial settlements of west Anatolia, northwest regions of Thracia, and in central Anatolia. Both Bedreddin and Hac Bayram Veli were well known scholars of Orthodox Islam in the former years of their lives. They had later become Sufi mystics, and both become eminent characters in the history of heterodox tradition. eyh Bedreddin, coming from a wealthy family, who had served in Seljuk and Ottoman courts, and who had been the leaders of a Trkmen tribe, represents the diverse composition of the provincial population made up of former landowners, mystic dervishes, and common public of mainly Christian, and Islamic origins. Hac Bayram Veli, as a public celebrity, a Sufi mystic, and as a farmer, represents the values and common interests of the common provincial working public, through the doctrines of the Melm-Bayrami order which he had founded. The works of these four individuals also acknowledge different mediums of representations that were used to convey ideas. Each social group within the Ottoman society became aware of the interpretations of Arab through different channels of knowledge, varying from scholarly treatises to conversations, and folk poetry. Both Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi el-Kayseri and Molla Hamza Fenari had composed scholarly treatises on the Unity of Being and commentaries on Arabs works that were among the curriculum of the Ottoman institutions. Their works

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were well known and widely read among the Ottoman scholars. eyh Bedreddins most recognized ideas on the Unity of Being was a compilation of his conversations. Hac Bayram Velis communicated his ideas to the public by his poems which were akin to folk literature. All the four individuals made use of different discourses using different terminology and techniques for explaining their ideas. In his treatises, Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi el-Kayseri made use of positive sciences, especially physics in explaining the Unity of Being. Molla Hamza Fenari used allegorical metaphors discussing the related concepts. In his conversations, eyh Bedreddin gave de-mystifying explanations for the conventional metaphors which had been used for spiritual concepts. Davud b. Mahmud el-Rumi el-Kayseri constructed the philosophy of the Unity of Being by giving explicit and analytical explanations. He discussed the concept of unity in terms of energy of atomic particles common to all things. He introduced the concept of thing referring to all creation, covering everything whether considered as living and non-living. Molla Hamza Fenari deconstructed the concept of thing as made up of two different components; body and essence. He discussed the relationship between the body and essence as means of gaining knowledge. Following el-Kayseris discussion of unity with respect to energy common to all things, Fenari introduced the concept of multiplicity. He discussed multiplicity of things with reference to the multiplicity of bodies; contrary to the unity of essence in all things. eyh Bedreddin introduced the concept of public in the discussion about multiplicity of things. He highlighted the presence of the public as one of the things to contemplate, thus to love. Hac Bayram Veli presented the concept of individual as another thing to contemplate to gain True Knowledge. Different than the anonymous body of public, Hac Bayram Velis presentation of the individual stressed the identity and consciousness of the individual Self. As a brief summary, these four scholar introduced the following keywords in the study and interpretation of concept of Unity of Being, which will be discussed in detail in the following pages: Journey, text, garden, paradise garden, energy, thing, thingness, experience, encounter of things, body and essence, love as contemplation, unity, multiplicity, city, public, and individual.

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Davudul-Kayseri structured a cosmology upon the doctrines introduced by the Unity of Being. 64 He explained harmony and oneness of all the creation in terms of energy. He was not only interested in metaphysical world, but also studied the physical world introducing a convincing doctrine about the Unity of Being, covering both the divine and phenomenal worlds. According to him, all nature was pure energy. He considered all living and non-living things made out of atomic particles carrying energy. These particles were organized in different numbers and in a different order in every other thing. Thus this variety of atomic order created the multiplicity of things. Energy was common to all divine and phenomenal existence. Time was an empirical experience exchanged between things. Davudul-Kayseri argued all things to be alive, however explained that human intellect considered things whose life was not understandable to him as non-living. Thus according to el-Kayseri, these things considered to be non-living were in fact living things. Things were existent in either spiritual or physical worlds. Things in spiritual world contained the knowledge of thingness. However things in the
64

Davudul-Kayseri (d. 1350) was one of the first scholars who explained the philosophy of

the Unity of Being explicitly. His analytical studies and commentaries made the doctrines of Ibn Arab understandable to a larger audience. Later in Ottoman, Persian, Indian and Arab worlds, scholars learned the philosophy of Ibn Arabi mainly by referring to DavudulKayseris commentaries on his work. Davudul-Kayseri was the first Ottoman scholar commissioned by Orhan Gazi; as the first scholar (mderris) to the Iznik Medresesi. Davudul-Kayseri influenced the construction of the Ottoman scholarly tradition which followed from his ideals. He is considered as a direct disciple of Ibn Arab; the third caliph of the Ekberriye tariqat, following Arab and Sadreddin Konevi. Davudul-Kayseris most important works were his commentary on Arabis Fusus, titled Matlau Hususil-Kelim fi Maani Fususil-Hikem; and a treatise on the concept of unity in multiplicity as explained by the philosophy of the Unity of Being. Among many other works, he also had a treatise on time, a treatise on the prophet-hood of Khidr. See, Henry Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth From Mazdean Iran to Shite Iran, trans. by N. Pearson (London: Taurus Publishers, 1990), 144-148.

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physical world had a reflection of distorted knowledge of their thingness. Thus, in the physical world, between the thing and its true being- its knowledge which acknowledges its thingness, there was a gap. The things of the physical world did not portray a true vision of what they refer to in the spiritual realm. This gap between the thing and its true essence was considered as a space of contemplation. This space was aimed to be mapped in order to match the things to their true knowledge. This practice was a spiritual journey for the quest of true knowledge. Mapping the space between a thing seen and its true knowledge was considered as a spiritual journey from the physical to the spiritual world. It was a quest to find the true meaning of things. This spiritual journey was described in stages of spiritual evolution. True knowledge required by the spiritual journey from the physical to the metaphysical world was considered as a quest for Universal Truth. Universal Truth was common to all the creations of God. It was the basic knowledge that underlined the whole being. This basic and universal knowledge was metaphorically explained as The Water of Life. Drinking from the Water of Life was meant to be illuminated by the ultimate knowledge of creation, thus the knowledge of God. However, different from the readings of Ibn al-Arab, regarding this spiritual journey, Davudul-Kayseri considered human soul as desiring. It was an obstacle; which was to be trained, and eliminated. Molla Fenari explained the world as a book made out of divine letters.65 Divine letters carry the essential truth and knowledge of God. These letters combine to make words, sentences, phrases, and texts, all of which are divine. The human being called insan- kamil is the most perfect creation of this book.
65

Molla Fenari was the kad of Bursa (k. 1393, 1415), and the first Ottoman eyhlislam

(1424). Among his more than hundred works, Molla Fenari had written a commentary titled Misbahul-ns Beynel-Makl vel-Mehd f erh-i Mifthl-Gayb el-cem vel-Vcd on Sadreddin Konevis Mifthl-Gayb. He included both Konevis work and his commentary within the curriculum. He also had a treatise on the Unity of Being called Risle fi Beyn- Vahdetil-Vcd; Akar, Molla Fenari.

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Fenari explained being as composed of a physical visible body, and metaphysical invisible essence. He described body as a form (wujd), and essence (zt) as the fundamental nature, the hidden truth within this body. All essence was one and unified, and referred to the oneness of unity (el-Ehadiyye). However bodies manifested were illusions and they referred to the multiplicity of unity (elVhidiyye). Fenari declared that God was the only thing whose essence and body were equal to one another. There was no representational space between Gods essence and his body that would allow for any illusion, or interpretation. Fenari acknowledged that the essence of God was different than the essence of all other things. However his body participated in the manifestation of other bodies, the body of things. According to Fenari, body was not a real quality attributed to the essence. It was a metaphorical quality attributed to the essence. Thus if body was considered as a quality of the essence, it would mean that essence would always require the presence of a body. The essence of God was described according to its qualities (sfat). These qualities were listed as Life, Science, Will, Power, Audition, Sight, Speech and Creation (Hayat, lim, rde, Kudret, Semi, Basar, Kelm, Tekvin). They were neither static descriptions of the essence of God, nor images reflecting it. Fenari explained these qualities as relative natures with respect to the essence of God. These qualities were then manifested in names of God. Finally, the names of God were manifested in things. This representation taking place in three stages, evolving from the True Being and finally completing in things, in the sequence of essence-quality-namething, could not be traced back to the essence of God. Thus the thing would never be considered as equal to the name, the quality, or to the essence of God itself. According to Fenari, qualities were not directly illustrated in names, or they were not equal to them. As well, the names once manifested in the presence of things, became hidden, and invisible to the eyes of the human being. Though those people who trained themselves, who were illuminated were able to see the presence of the name of God, and his qualities in things created.

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Apart from his scholarly significance, eyh Bedreddin was also a political and military figure. He was a kazasker to elebi Musa in 1405-1412 during the interregnum after the Battle of Ankara in 1402.66 However when elebi Musa was defeated by Mehmed I in 1413, he and his powers were perceived as rival forces in opposition to the Ottoman power. In 1416, eyh Bedreddin was accused of manipulating the public towards disorder and heresy. Especially his followers dissident agenda abandoned the traditional Muslim practices, and foreseen the unity of religions, and thus, the union of the members of all religions, and sharing property on communal basis. He was charged for being a heretic; acting against Orthodox Law by announcing his prophecy. A group of Bedreddins disciples rebelled against the central authority in various regions of Anatolia. When Bedreddin was in Edirne, Brklce Mustafa in Karaburun, zmir (1415), Torlak
66

eyh Bedreddin was a famous scholar of Islamic Orthodox law, and Islamic mysticism.

He had composed about 30 books on the interpretations of Shariah, Arabic language, and mysticism, with a commentary on Arabi. However, he is most well known through the collection of his conversations compiled in Varidat. He came from a family who had political military and intellectual significance. His grandfather was a high ranking Seljuk officer. His father was an Ottoman gaz and religious officer. His mother was the daughter of a Byzantine commander. Bedreddins wife and daughter-in law were also Christian. Sadreddin traveled to Konya, Cairo, Mecca, and Tabriz he became a distinguished scholar of sciences of astronomy, chemistry, and philosophy. He was a distinguished scholar of Islamic Law, and as well as mysticism; including Hurufi philosophy. Bedreddin considered himself as a follower of Ab Madyan- Marb who was also the master of Ibn Arab. He was educated within the circle of intellectuals who considered themselves as disciples of Ibn Arab (1240), and Hac Bayram Veli (d. 1429/30). Influenced from Molla Fenari (d. 1430/31), and especially from Fenaris student Abdurrahman ibn Ali ibn Ahmad il-Bstm, Bedreddin in the latter centuries were cited and studied along with Ottoman scholars like Melm-Bayrami Atayi (d. 1634), poet Nect (d. 1508), Katip elebi, and Niyazi-i Msr (d. 1694). The father of eyhlislam Ebusuud, Muhyiddin Muhammed (d. 1516), and late Melm-Nriyye Sheikh Muhammed Nr l-Arabi (d. 1888), Seyyid Kemleddin (d. 1882) had composed commentaries on Bedreddins Varidat. There had also been a number of translations of the Varidat into Turkish, from 19th c. to mid 20th c.; Glpnarl, Simavna Kadsolu eyh Bedreddin.

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Kemal in Aydn and Ayglolu Kazova gathered local population to rebel against the Ottoman authorities. At the same time as his dissidents rebelled, Bedreddin fled to Dobruca and announced his prophecy. He rebelled in Dobruca, not only with the support of provincial villagers- as it was the case in first Trkmen revolts in Anatolia, but with the additional provision of land owners, prior Christian feudal landlords and Sufi dervishes; who were all in pursue of regaining their status.
67

These rebellions for creating anarchy were called as one of the Kzlba rebellions. Bedreddin was executed in 1416. During his trial before his execution, he was acknowledged as one of the most prominent intellectuals of his time, though he had to be executed for acting against the Ottoman authority.68 Vridt is a collection of Bedreddins Sufi conversations compiled in 1407, mainly about the Unity of Being. He tried to explain the creation in a logical method. Bedreddin acknowledged invisible creatures like angels and devils to be things imagined by human intellect. Thus angels metaphorically represented good wills, and power; while devil represented evil desires. Similarly paradise and hell were described to have symbolic existence. The trees, rivers, fruits and houris promised in the present garden were explained to be mere metaphors, similar to the symbolic fire of hell. In Varidat, he made five different interpretations of the paradise, from the most literal explanation to the least. The most literal was his portrayal of the paradise as the garden promised in afterlife. However, the least literal explanation presented the perspective of a mystic and a heretic at the same time. Bedreddin argued that paradise was meant to be a spiritual station either in the hereafter, or in the phenomenal world. The human being would arrive at these spiritual stations whenever he would lose himself within the unity of being. Bedreddins agenda strongly emphasized the importance of the phenomenal world. He stressed the human being as the caliph of God, as an evidence of Gods presence in the phenomenal world. The public also had an important place in his agenda. He acknowledged public as the multiplicity of human beings, who the real
67

Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler, 174-180. Ibid., 201-202.

68

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Sufis should take pleasure in as they do in the unity of God. Public was also a part of the being. Thus, Bedreddin argued that there was no contradiction in enjoying the unity of God or the multiplicity of public. He described a true Sufi, as the son of time, who would not worry for his past, or for his future, but glorify the present time by enjoying the unity of Being, in God, or in public.69 There is a famous commentary composed by Nreddin-zde (d. 1573) disapproving the content of Varidat. The below quotation is from Nreddin-zde criticizing Bedreddin as a dissident:70 Part of the public was become perverted, and influenced some others who had faith in them; part of the public stayed mute due to their lack of knowledge on the basic principles of Islam; moreover these people even considered an eminent man like eyh-i Ekber (Ibn Arab) as carrying the same faith as him (Bedreddin). God forbid!... Sufis should clearly know the truth and the issues of dispute; in this treatise I would like explain the true knowledge of the Holy Book and the Orthodox practices as recognized by the scholars of tradition, therefore those who are reasonable and desiring for truth should not be able to display any power to pervert or slip. An anonymous reader called Can wrote a long commentary on the margins of the page criticizing Nreddin-zde. This reader acknowledges that Nreddin-zde was himself an admirer of Ibn Arab that he used to instruct his students about the works of Arab and especially requested the study of Fusus al-Hikem. This anonymous reader can argue that, such a person who understood Arab should have also understood and respected other scholars like Bedreddin. Therefore, according to Can, the commentary of Nreddin-zde on Bedreddin was not fair, thus it was probably written for the sake of gaining publicity of the conformist population.71

69

Glpnarl, Abdlbaki. Simavna Kadsolu eyh Bedreddin, 51-88 Ibid., 46. Ibid., 48.

70

71

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Hac Bayram Veli (1352- 1429/30) was also a poet apart from being a Sufi dervish.72 Following him, Melm-Hamzavi line of thought developed in the poems of Yunus Emre (1250-1320), Dukaginzade Ahmed (d. 1557), Srbn Ahmed (d. 1545), Kaygusuz Vizeli Aleddin (d. 1563), Bosnal Abdullah (d. 1645), Olanlar Dergah eyhi Ibrahim Efendi (d. 1655), and Sar Abdullah (1584-1660), Erefolu (1353-1469), Seyyid Sayfullah (d.1601), Msr-i Niyaz (1618-1694).73 The following poem by Hac Bayram Veli acknowledges his perspective on the composition of the Ottoman faith as diverse within two worlds, the Orthodox and the heterodox traditions:74 My Lord has created a city In between two worlds. One sees the beloved if one looks At the edge of that city
72

He was a scholar of Kara Medrese in Ankara. However, he left his position as a scholar

to become a mystic, and he had traveled to Mecca, and Damascus, and later returned back to Ankara. He had then founded the Bayrami order. His fame for being a former scholar, and his mystic ideology reflecting the latter ideals of the Melm order had brought into being a lot of adherents from the public. In order to understand his growing recognition among public, Murad II (1421-1444) wanted to learn more about him, and invited him to Edirne. The Sultan was overwhelmed by Hac Bayram Velis wisdom, and his teachings. The Sultan insisted him to stay in Edirne, but he returned back to his home town Ankara, after a short stay in the city of Edirne. Hac Bayram Veli was a a former scholar, a farmer,a poet and a Sufi master His ideology united arts and crafts. He advised working and having pleasure out of work. He encouraged singing songs while working; Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 33-39.
73

Frances Trix, Oral Muslim Saint Tales of Rumeli: A socio-Structural Analysis of

Narrative, In Sleyman the Second and His Time, ed. by Halil nalck and Cemal Kafadar (Istanbul: Isis), 27- 47.
74

Kafadar, Between Two Worlds, vii.

97

I came upon that city And saw it being built I too was built with it Amidst stone and earth The city metaphor also stood for the esoteric sciences:75 I am the city of science, Ali is its door. The city metaphor was also used extensively in mystic folk poetry of Yunus Emre and other poets. Metaphor of pilgrimage was also a common one accompanied the metaphor of the city. Thus, pilgrimage in the city stood for a spiritual development through esoteric sciences.76

ISTANBUL AFTER THE CONQUEST (1453-1730)

By the early 16th c., when the Ottoman Empire had established its authority as a centralized Sunni order, all traditions outside Islamic orthodoxy were considered as threats to the Ottoman ideology. Among with other Sufi orders, the philosophies of Ismaili Gnostics and Shiah made their way into Asia Minor. While most of the Sufi orders of Asia Minor were pursuing mystic practices under the dominant Sunni law; Ismaili and Shiah influence accelerated the growth of mystic orders under the
75

Ben ilim ehriyim, Ali kapsdr (Hadis el-Acln, 2000:I, 235 no:618); Mehmet Ylmaz,

Edebiyatmzda slm Kaynakl Szler (Istanbul: Enderun Yaynlar, 1992), 40.

Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Alevi Bektai Edebiyat, in Tekke Siiri : Dini ve tasavvufi siirler

antolojisi, ed. Ahmet Necdet (Istanbul: Inklap Kitabevi, 1997), 28-36; Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Yunus Emre ve Tasavvuf (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 1961); Abdullah Uman, Tekke iirinin Geliimi, in Tekke Siiri , 37-47.

98

Shiah principles. Thus, Later Ottomans named the adherents of Sufi orders under Shiah influence Kzlba with respect to their red outfits. Kzlba groups became a revolting population. Thus when the Ottomans adopted Sunni Law as an imperial conviction, they became extremely conscious about the activities of mystic orders, observing and controlling their development, and condemning their associations with any other theological philosophy outside the domain of Sunni Law, especially with Shiah beliefs. Fatihs period (1444-1481) overtaken with conquests was a tiring period for the army, and, as well exhausted all the public, especially the rural population in terms of taxes getting higher to support the military campaigns in the East and the West. After Fatih, during his son Beyazds sultanate (1481-1512), despite Beyazds peaceful attitude compared to his father, the Trkmen tribes residing off center in the rural areas were in demand of sustaining their survival and economic sustainability regardless of a higher authority asserted by the centralized power of the Sultan. These Trkmens protested the taxing system and the authority by dressing in red outfits, and they were called after the color red, as Kzlba" (Redheads). These tribes supported by Shah Ismail of the Safavids, revolted in East Anatolia under the leadership of the rebellion ahkulu. After Selim (15121520) had ascended to the throne, his army had won the aldran Victory against Shah Ismail in 1514, and after then he was able to sustain order in East Anatolia for a while. The conflict and confrontation as defined between the drive and wish for a governing centralized Islamic law, and the heterodox traditions inherited, had always been brought up as a problematic during times of unstable political and economic periods of the Empire.77 These circumstances forced the development of mystic movements in urban centers under the control and inspection of the central Shariah Law. So, the following pages that aim to study the influence of Arabs philosophy throughout 16th to 18th centuries, will map Arabs followers in urban
77

nalck, Osmanl mparatorluu Klasik a, 40.

99

centers. This study will also include the development of Melm philosophy in Istanbul following after Bayrami order founded by Hac Bayram Veli in Ankara. Islam constituted two different worlds. Orthodox Islamic tradition (Shariah) formed the exoteric teachings of the religion; Islamic mysticism (Tariqat) formed the esoteric teachings. Shariah was the teachings of the religious text, tariqat was the teachings of the Gnostic enlightenment. Shariah had been studied in schools of Law (madrasa). Tariqat developed by various means; among mystic brotherhoods, practiced in Sufi lodges (tekkes, and
78

zawiyas)

by

individual

mystics,

institutionalized orders, or secret societies.

The unconventional Sufi practices

had usually been targets of disapproval, criticism and attack. There were three main Sufi practices practiced communally; dancing (devr); singing (sema), and remembrance (zikr). At many instances of the Ottoman history, various Orthodox scholars of Shariah condemned different Sufi practices, arguing that they were not known at the time of the Prophet. Thus, they were invented by the Sufis themselves, and they were not acceptable practices in a Muslim community. Sufi practices of listening to music, singing and chanting are called sema. Sufi dance is called devr. Devr stands for rotation and dancing in a circle. In Kadiri, Rufai, Halvati, Gleni, Uaki orders dancing was as part of the mystic practices. Every Sufi order practiced dancing in a different way. Dancing was a means to stir up the emotional and bodily involvement. It was the movement of both the body and the soul.
79

Though most of the Sufi dance rituals took place in Sufi lodges, some were

recorded to be performed in open air. For example, a European traveler to

After institutionalized in the 11 c., Sufi schools (zaviyes, tekkes) had taught esoteric

th

(batni) knowledge, parallel to the egsoteric (zahiri) practices taught in schools of Shariah (medrese).Following the establishment of the first Ottoman medrese, there had been established a tekke besides it; Glpnarl, Melmler, 169.
79

Metin And, A Pictorial History of Turkish Dancing from Folk Dancing to Whirling

Dervishes, Belly Dancing to Ballet (Ankara: Dost Yaynlar, 1976), 32-36; Macdonald, B. Duncan. Emotional religion in Islam affected by Music and Singing, Journal of the Royal Society (1901); 195-252; 705-748.

100

Samarkand documented Sufis practicing dance at the meadows. At the beginning of the ritual, Sufis were seated around their master. By the end of ritual, they were dancing freely all around the meadow. Though most of the Sufi rituals were open to communal display; the Mevlevi dance was the most popular. In the 1582 festival, dancing Mevlevi dervishes participated in the parade of the guilds.80 Another controversial Sufi practice zikr was the remembrance of God by repeating his names. Zikr combined language, bodily movement and breathing into a rhythmic practice. Glpnarl argues that many Sufi orders were influenced by Batni (Btnyya) concepts, and thus they were associated with Shii doctrines,81 and influenced from Indian-Persian religions and Greek philosophy. Like Sufi orders, Btn orders were multiple and they differed from one another. However, there were two common principles Btns carried out. First, they accepted a human being as a messiah as equal to God. This messiah could be either the prophet himself, or another religious personality of significance. Thus Btns were known to acknowledge the leaders of each different order as prophets themselves. Second, they practiced intentional misinterpretation (tawil) of the religious text Koran. They have argued that the laws of Shariah would not be relevant for those who were able to decipher the true meaning, the essence of Law. During 9th c. with respect to anarchist practices of members of the Bba- order that had a red flag and were in red attire, Btns were came to be called Red-Heads (Kzlba). Among the Sufis, Alevi and
80

And who has studied the Sufi practices in terms of their performative quality, explains the

multivocal quality of dancing in circles with respect to various influences, and diverse symbolism. He argues that the Sufi dance resembled the movement of the planetary system. The rotation represented seasons of the year. The circle also symbolized the perfection and harmony of the Gods creation; And, A Pictorial History of Turkish Dancing, 37.
81

On discussions about Btn practices, see Glpnarl, eyh Bedreddin,12-29; M. Fuat

Kprl, Islam in Anatolia after the Turkish Invasion (Prolegomena), trans. by Gary Lesier (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993).

101

Bektashi orders, Melms, Nusayrs, Babas, Kalenders, Haydaris, Cellis were also strongly influenced by Btn concepts. Thus, in history members of these orders were also called as Red-Heads from time to time. As acknowledged by Yaar Ocak, there are two main groups in Heterodox Islam, who had practiced the doctrines of wahdat al-wujud; Gleni order and Melm philosophy. From 16th c onwards, there was an increasing interest in the works of Ibn alArab reaching a climax during the mid seventeenth century: extreme interpretations, or misinterpretations, of the teachings of wahdat al-wujud, attributed among others to some Melm sheikhs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.82 From the 15th c. to the 18th c., the relationship between the ruling class, elite ulama, and the Sufis illustrate three different periods; appreciation and protection of Sufism, a balance, and finally prohibition. By the first quarter of the 16th century, the Ottoman elite culture was beginning to get separated between two opposing tendencies, one following a desire to establish an Orthodox Muslim community associated with the salafi movement, other dwelling a growing interest in Islamic mysticism. By the early 16th c. higher ranking scholars like Sar Krz (d. 1521-23) kad of Istanbul, and Grz Seydi, a mderris, were the first scholars who opposed to the Sufi practices, as noted in the research of historian Derin Terziolu83. The chief muftis of early 16th c. had conflicting attitudes towards Sufis and Sufi practices. Zenbilli Ali Cemali (d. 1525), the chief mufti, a Halveti Sufi himself, was defending Sufi practices, while his descendant Kemalpaazade (d. 1537), had forbidden Sufi dance, and especially attacked Melm practices in particular. However Kemalpaazade was a protector of Sufis and a devotee of Ibn Arab. He advised building of a mosque complex honoring Ibn Arab when Selim I had conquered Damascus.84 Another chief mufti ivizade Mehmed (d. 1547) was
82

Derin Terziolu, Sufi and dissent in the Ottoman Empire: Niyazi-i Misri (1618-1694)

Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1999), 242 -3.
83

Ibid., 139-166. Ibid., 223.

84

102

against both the Sufi practices, and teachings of Ibn Arab, and even Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi. The latter chief muftis of the late 16th and early 17th c., Ebussud Efendi (1545-1573), Sunullah Efendi (hold the office several times between 15991606/8) Esad Efendi (hold the office several times between 1615-1625) and Zekeriyazade Yahya (hold the office several times between 1622-1644), generally tried to establish a harmony between mystic practices and Orthodox laws. Thus they were praised as the unifier of the seas of the sharia and the sufi path (mecmal-bahreyn-i eriat tarikat). 85 By the end of the 16th century, the hostility between the Sufis and Sunnis was growing. A group of scholars aimed to imitate the life of Mohammed and thus practice Orthodoxy in its most original state, conflicted with all Muslim traditions which they argued that were not initiated at Muhammeds era. They called Sufi practices novel inventions contradicting with the fundamental traditions of the religion. They claimed that Sufi practices were not performed by Mohammed, and argued for their abandonment. This extremist movement was called the Salafi movement. It was instigated by Kadzade Mehmet Efendi (d. 1635) who was a preacher and Birgivi Mehmed Efendi (d. 1573) who was a scholar. The advocates of the Salafi movement were called Kadizadelis, and they were numerous amongst the preachers, public lecturers, provincial scholars, and the guilds. Thus the chief muftis of the late 17th c. under the influence and compelling force of the salafis were severe with Sufis and Sufi practices compared to their predecessors of the earlier periods. Kadzadelis of the mid 17th c. and Minkarizade, the chief mufti of the late 17th c. were aggressive towards Ibn al-Arabs doctrines whose popularity was expanding in the ulema and elite circles during the 17th c. The following quotation from Terziolu explains the efforts of the Sufi circles following the doctrines of Arab in their struggle to reconcile Sufism with Shariah. The metaphor of reconciling the two seas was a common metaphor both in
85

Ibid., 229.

103

Arabs work and his followers, such as Niyazi-i Msr (1618-1694) Ottoman Sufi writer and poet, who explains the metaphor as below: 86 In his explication of the Quranic verse He has set two seas in motion that flow side by side together/with an interstice (barzakh) between them which they cannot cross. (Rahman, 19-20), Msr explained that the relationship between the two seas was analogous to the relationship between sharia (the religious law, the object of the study of the ulama al-zahir) and hakika (divine reality, the object of the quest of the ulama al-batin). Just as the two seas were prevented from mixing by the barrier between them, these two groups were prevented by a similar barrier from realizing that they were in fact searching after the same truth, and remained at odds. Only a minority of people from both sides who managed to climb to the top of that barrier could see and verify that exoteric and esoteric knowledge are in fact one, and these were the people to whom Msr referred as the people of the Araf and as the meeting-place of the two seas (majma al-bahrayn). Ibn al-Arabs teachings were also quite influential in the Melm society. Sar Abdullah (d. 1644-45) had written a commentary on the Fusus-al-Hikam of Ibn Arab. Despite the growing antagonism towards Melms, their philosophy found more adherents among the intellectual groups of the elite due to their secret activities. By the beginning of the 17th century, there were Melms among high ranking officials, including the posts of chief mufti and grand vizierate. Among these officials were chief muftis Ebulmeyamin Mustafa Efendi (m. 1603/4-1606) and Pamakzade Seyyid Ali Efendi (who hold the service several times in 17041712); grand vizier Halil Pasha (1617-19 and 1626-28). By the early 18th c. ehid Ali Pasha (1713-1716) who was the grand vizier, was also the leader of Melm society (Melm kutb). In the early 18th c., grand vizier Damad Ibrahim Paa, court poet Nedim, Habeizade Mevlevi Abdrrahim Efendi known as poet Rahimi, Lalizade Abdlbaki, Reislkttab Mustafa Efendi, Ahmed Arifi Paa, Defterdar Sar Mehmed Paa, historian Mehmed Raid, Mustafa Sami, Osmanzade Taib were all Melms.87

86

Ibid., 270. Melamlik, in Dnden Bugne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi vol. 5, 380-386.

87

104

The first phase of Melm values had been initiated and developed among the guilds and tradesmen in the cities of Horasan, Merv and Belh in the 9th c. By the 14th c. as a result of the interaction with Hurufis, the philosophy had adopted the tradition of wahdat al-wujud, and entered a second phase called Melm-Bayrami philosophy. Ocak defines Melms as a semi-political mystic philosophy.88 In Anatolia, Melms developed as a separate fraction derived from the Bayrami order which was founded by Hac Bayram Veli. (See the related appendixes showing the development of Bayrami order and Melm philosophy). Ottoman Melms, also acknowledged as Bayrami-Melms formed a secret society89. Though they stressed that they were not an institutional society and they abandoned all kinds of institutional affiliations, dresscode, or ritualized ceremonials like other Sufi orders, yet they were organized around a central figure called pole (kutb) who had assistants called guides (rehber), and, ones who look after the heart (kalbe bakclar). Melms rejected Sufi practices, especially zikr which was the remembrance of God by continually reiterating names of God. Despite, they favored conversing as the principal Melm practice. The most important Melm practice was to clean ones heart from pride, desire and lust, in order to let it get filled with the love of God. This activity was called the Cleaning of the Heart. The way to clean ones heart was enabled by conversing about Truth. Melms were required to be honest and to live on blessed earning.90 Following Hac Bayram, Melms also stressed the presence of God in human being, and thus the importance of self and self-

88

Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler, 252. See Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler and Glpnarl, Melmlik ve

89

Melmler.
90

Cavit Sunar, Melmlik ve Bektailik (Ankara: A lahiyat Fakltesi, 1975), 18-19.

105

knowledge. The following poem by Hac Bayram Veli acknowledges his philosophy on the importance given to self:91 He whoever knows about his own desires He knows about his own qualities. He recognized himself in His image. You should know yourself, you, yourself! Bayram learned about his essence He found the enlightened in himself, He found himself. You should know yourself, you, yourself! Melms earned their own life, had their own business. Some of the prominent Melm figures like Yakub-i Helvai (from the guild of desert makers), or Melm poles Ahmed-i Srban (from the guild of camel traders) and Hasan- Kabdz (from the guild of tailors) were from the guilds. In order to hide their association with the Melms, they became members of other Sufi orders. They made use of the institutionalized Sufi orders and the established organizations of the guilds both to conceal and to expand Melm philosophy. It was common tendency of the heterodox groups to hide their development within the organization of guilds: Sufis who adopted guild terms for their meetings, to account for the collection together in any one place of a number of people who did not want to appear to be a subversive group.92

91

Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 37; translated from: Kim bildi eflini/ Ol bildi sftn/ Anda grd ztn/ Sen seni bil sen seni! and in the following verses Bayram zn bildi/ Bileni anda buldu/ Bulan ol kendi oldu/ sen seni bil sen seni

92

Idries Shah, The Sufis (NY, NY: Anchor Books, 1990, c. 1964), 158.

106

Founded in central Asia Minor, Melm thought openly entered the city of Istanbul when the Sultan invited the pole smail Mauki (d. 1539) to the city. Mauki influenced the expansion of the Melm philosophy in Istanbul among the guilds and the army (Sipahiler Oca). However, he was accused of acting and behaving against the Islamic Law and executed with several of his disciples in 1539 after a court held against him in 1538-39.93 Mauki guided his disciples to be their own masters, not subjects of another master.94 At the same time when Mauki was preaching in Istanbul, another prominent Melm figure Ahmed Edirnevi (d. 1591) was engaged in Melm practices in the city of Edirne. After Maukis execution, the Melm order shifted its center out of the city of Istanbul to the provinces. They continued developing and expanding in concealment. They established themselves in Edirne and its environs, and further expanded towards the Balkans to Bosna. By the third quarter of the 16th c., Melms had a significant number of advocates in Thrace and the Balkans. Already by the early 15th c., Hac Bayram Velis visit to Edirne had been shaped following the Bayrami order. And at the same period,
93

He was accused for his accounts: The human being is eternal. There is no sin on this

world for the human being after he was born as a human. Everything signified as bad and sinful (haram) by the Islamic Law is good and is a blessing. (helal). Wine is a joy of lovers and it is not a sin but a blessing (helal). Eating, drinking, sleeping, resting are all regarded as religious practices. Feasting, pilgrimage to Mekke, sharing of the income with the poor has no meaning. A true believer only practice namaz twice a year. Intercourse is not a sinit is an act of love. Every men is God himself. Soul travels from one body to another. There is no questioning after death. Daughters and sons are created by human beings. Children are creations of human beings, not of God. Those practice for the sake of a Heaven, which we would not even leave our donkey at; Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler 219; 286-87.
94

Ocak and Glpnarl argues that smail Mauki directed his disciples to repeat Allahm

Allahm (I am God, I am God) as opposed the traditional Sufi practices of remembrance by repeating the name of God as Allah Allah (God, God). Ocak, Osmanl Toplumunda Zndklar ve Mlhidler, 288; Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 49.

107

Edirne and Dobruca regions and their vicinity had housed the advocates of eyh Bedreddin. As well, since the late 13th century, Balkan states were also the house of Trkmen tribes. In their development in Thrace and the Balkans, Melms encountered these local communities and mutually inspired one another. By the early 17th c. Melm-Bayrami poles returned back to Istanbul, and the development of the community continued until the first half of the 18th c. After the end of the Tulip Period, until the second half of the 19th century, there is a gap in the documentation and history of the community. Thus, when the Melm thought was revised in the 19th c. it was established as an institutionalized Sufi order under a different name, which will not be studied in this thesis. Though the Melm poles were positioned out of the city of Istanbul, the philosophy continued developing in the city of Istanbul, attracting more adherents. The first known Melm logde was founded in 1548-1555 in the countryside of Istanbul, within the vicinity of Bozdoan Aqueducts. It was called the Helvai Lodge. By the end of the 16th c. and early 17th c. Sal Emir Lodge in Kasmpaa, and ah Sultan Mosque in Davutpaa had become gathering places of the Melms. However at the same time, during late 16th century, Melms were also in favor of meeting at places outside the lodges, or places with religious affiliation. At the time, houses, and bazaars and shops at Kapaliar, Beyazt, Unkapan, and Eminn became their meeting places.95

95

Melamlik, in Dnden Bugne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi vol. 5, 380-386.

108

CONCLUSION

Ibn al-Arab argued that the attainment of knowledge was possible by contemplation. Contemplation implied understanding the order of the cosmos and by doing so participating in this order. It involved all things existent in physical and metaphysical reality. Arab explained all things as signs made of two parts; an invisible essence and a visible form. Contemplation aimed at understanding the relationship between the parts of a sign. Contemplation, thus the attainment of knowledge was enabled by the faculty of imagination. Arab also asserted the importance of the space in which the attainment of knowledge takes place. He defined such spaces as gardens. The garden became an ideal representation of the realm of imagination. Arab also defined real spaces as realms of imagination. He defined a three-tiered definition of the realm of imagination; the human self, the phenomenal world and the world of idea-images. Each one of the ideal and the real spaces, be it a garden, the human self, the city, or the world of idea-images, each space was defined as a realm of imagination where the attainment of knowledge took place. Furthermore, Arab defined each one of these spaces as a storehouse of signs. Arab also asserted the importance of individual involvement in the attainment of knowledge. Since, each individual was able to contemplate according to his individual capacities. Arab argued that all the things in the cosmos were attracted to one another. Thus, he defined the philosophy of the Unity of Being, where each thing and each individual was contemplated as a participant of the cosmic order. He explained the cosmic order as all things attracted to one another and he defined participating in the cosmic order as an act of love. The doctrines of Arab were extremely influential for the development of Ottoman Sufism. However, Sufi orders which asserted individualism were considered as heretics. Such orders developed as marginal philosophies. One of these Sufi orders was the Melmis.

109

Melmis believed in the importance of individuality and the human self in the attainment of knowledge. Melm philosophy developed as a protest culture that was expressed thru a new way of life. Melmi society became a marginal group developed in seclusion in spaces peripheral to central authority. However, by the late 17th c., it was carried to the center - though in covert practices, when some high ranking officials in the Ottoman court came to practice the Melmi philosophy.

110

Figure 21. Khidr and Ilyas at the Fountain of Life Giving Water, reproduced from Mehdi Khansari, M. Reza Moghtader and M. Yavari, The Persian Garden Echoes of Paradise (Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 1998), 72.

111

CHAPTER III

SPACES OF GARDEN RITUALS (1453-1730)

Gardens and garden parties constituted an important part of the Ottoman arts and culture. Garden parties displayed vivid images of the Ottoman cultural life. They were represented in the arts of miniature painting and depicted in poetry. Garden parties anchored Ottoman social order. They asserted divine and imperial cosmography by means of rituals. Garden parties acknowledge how gardens became expressions of divine and imperial orders according to the Shariah Law. Thus, gardens and their representations became expressions of imperial ideology and places of its practice. In his extensive study of the poetic genre of gazel,1 Walter Andrews presented private garden parties as the ecology of the genre. This chapter will first reconsider Walter Andrews study of private garden parties in the light of Victor Turners definition of rituals, identifying the temporal structure of these rituals and their participants. Second, it will analyze the ideal and real spaces of the city of Istanbul as suggested by these garden rituals.

For, the associations between Ottoman gardens, garden parties and Ottoman poetry, see;

Walter Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, ottoman lyric poetry (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1985), and Harun Tolasa, Sehi, Latifi, Ak elebi tezkirelerine gre 16. y.y.'da edebiyat aratrmalar (Izmir: Ege niversitesi Matbaas, 1983); Halil nalck, air ve Patron Patrimonyal Devlet ve Sanat zerine Sosyolojik Bir nceleme (Ankara: Dou Bat Yaynlar, 2003), 23-35, 43-44; Nurhan Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan: Gardens and flowers in the Ottoman Culture (Istanbul: Mas Matbaaclk A.., 2002), 50-53, 70-73, 146-147, 154-160, 126-127, 170, 231-232.

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GARDEN RITUALS

Through the15th to the late 18th c. private garden parties were represented extensively in Ottoman miniature art. Most of these parties take place in gardens. However, during winter times private parties took place in garden kiosks decorated like gardens themselves. The participants of the party are usually seated in a circle, surrounding offerings. The host of the party has the most privileged position. Sometimes he is seated in a small kiosk, or in an elevated pavilion. In the Sultans parties, there are examples depicting him on his throne. If the party takes place in a countryside garden, the site of the party is usually marked by two cypress trees. The party usually takes place by the riverside, or around an ornamental fountain. In the late 15th c. album Klliyt- Ktib (TSM R. 989, folio 93a) prepared at the court of Mehmed II, one of the scenes depicts a garden party hosted by the Sultan (Figure 22).2 The Sultan is seated at a slightly elevated pavilion listening to a group of musicians playing various instruments. In front of him there are some containers of wine or other drinks, and a goblet. One of his pages is offering him a cup of dish. There are other wine containers placed among the musicians. The Sultans party takes place in a garden, but the activity is bounded by a low partition which seems to be made of a stretched fabric. Beyond the fabric partition, other people watch the garden party under trees in blossom. The Iskandarmme of Ahmad (I T6044) was also dated to the late 15th c. The front page of the album depicts a private party scene that takes place in a garden kiosk. The garden kiosk is a domed iwan attached to a two storey structure the iwan has a central window opening onto a garden in the background. 3
2

Zeren Tannd, Trk Minyatr Sanat (Istanbul: Trkiye Bankas Kltr Yaynlar, 1996),

9-10; Ernst Grube, Studies in Islamic Painting (London: The Pindar Press, 1995), 446.
3

Esin Atl, Mamluk Painting in the Late Fifteenth Century, Muqarnas 2 (1984), 159-171,

161.

113

In his 16th c. literary chronicle, Ak elebi depicts the garden of Sirkeci Bah as a remote place celebrated for private garden parties:4 On holidays it was a seat of friendly gatherings for the learned and at other times, a place for carousing for the elegant folk, wise ascetics and learned poets. Like the evil eye troublemakers, kept their distance from the gardens outskirts, and the common folk and the illiterateaway from the garden gathering. Ak elebi describes another garden named the Garden of the Paper Cutter (Efanc Bahesi). It was a private garden renowned for reading poetry during garden parties that was frequently visited by the elite, including Sultan Sleyman I and his Vizier brahim Pasha.5 In the 16th c. Album of The Paper Cutter Mehmed (Efanc Mehmed Albm, F1426, folio 47a), a little garden is represented in a 180 cm. square (Figure 24). It is a garden made out of cut papers of various colors.6 Verses adorning the spring surround the gilded borders of the rectangular garden. This garden representation, that appears disorganized and wild at first sight, is planted with cypresses and blooming fruits trees. Various flowers in different colors cover the lawn. Rose bushes, with flowers of varying colors in bloom, climb upwards and encircle trees. Among many other uses of gardens, Nurhan Atasoy also portrays garden parties as illustrated in Ottoman arts. Atasoy argues that the paper cut representation of the garden might represent the real garden of the Paper Cutter Mehmed. In an early 16th c. album Gharib al-Sighar, a young prince is entertained in a garden party. The party takes place at a hillside. The whole party is organized into a circle around the young prince. The pages are serving drinks and food. All the
4

Hamadeh, Architectural Sensibility, 187; from Ak elebi, Meair uara, 294a. Ibid., 187; from Ak elebi, Meair uara, 160b-161a. Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 73-89.

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participants are depicted listening to two persons engaged in a conversation. There are other people beyond the party scene who are peeping at the party.7 In the Sleymanname (TSM H1517, folio 477v), Sleyman I and his son Mustafa are depicted in a party (Figure 25). They are seated at an elevated pavilion looking below at a fountain. There lies a green meadow and hills, planted with trees and flowers. They are listening to two musicians sited beside the fountain.8 This party most probably takes place during a hunting campaign of Sleyman since he is holding bows and arrows. The location of the fountain and the musicians is noteworthy in this picture since they are located at the same level below the audience. The sound of music, the sound of water and the sound of nature must be expected to blend into one another to be appreciated by the audience. Divn of Baki from the 16th c. depicts a garden party scene (Or. 7084, folio 1a). The painting depicts the court poet Baki among other poets in a garden kiosk. Eight poets are grouped around a circle. Some poets are holding books. They either read poems from these books to one another, or, by themselves. Two of the participants are conversing and two others are writing, probably composing poems.9 There are many other miniature paintings from different periods that depict poets in the gardens where they either contemplate, converse with a companion, read or compose. Divn of Hafiz is another 16th c. album that depicts several garden party scenes (TSM H986, folios 11b, 156a and 170b). One miniature illustrates a poetry gathering in a garden. (TSM H986, folio 11b). A young man is seated in a garden pavilion. The young man who is the host of the party is surrounded by other
7

Norah Titley, Persian Miniature Painting and Its Influence on the Art of Turkey and India

The British Library Collections (London: The British Library, 1983), 143.
8

Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 156. Titley, Persian Miniature Painting, 139.

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companions, playing music, conversing or reading poetry. The poet who is reading poems from a book is located between the musicians. The garden is green with flowers and trees. The site is marked by two cypresses that are painted in the background.10 In the early 17th c. album of Ahmed I, there are several miniatures depicting garden parties. One of them (Figure 27), which Atasoy portrays as a drinking party scene depicts a party on a green lawn planted with colorful flowers (TSM B408, folio 16a). The site is identified by three trees by a riverside, where a blooming tree stands in between two cypresses. The party is enjoyed by three figures. A young man is seated on a carpet, and two other figures are sited around a table which is set with various dishes including chicken, fruits, and wine. There are two servants serving the table and two others waiting behind.11 The second miniature (Figure 28) from the Album of Ahmed I depicts a harem enjoying a garden party, drinking wine and reading poetry (TSM B408, folio 14a).12 The party is set by the riverside on carpets and cushions. At the background there are a couple of cypresses with a blossoming tree in between. Another miniature (Figure 29) depicts a couple listening to a group of musicians and drinking wine (TSM B408, folio 19r).13 Similar to the spatial arrangement of the garden party at Sleymanname, there is a fountain between the musicians and the listeners. As well, at the background there are birds singing. The setting is enclosed with cypress tress planted in couples with flowering trees between each couple. During the sultanate of Ahmed I, a certain treatise informs about group gatherings discussing flowers. These gatherings

10

Filiz aman and Zeren Tannd, Remarks on Some Manuscripts from the Topkap

Palace Treasury in the Context of Ottoman-Safavid Relations, in Muqarnas 13 (1996), 132-148.

Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 50-51. Ibid., 157-158. Ibid., 157.

12

13

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included Llezar eyh Mehmed, the chief gardener, Solakzade elebi, the first secretary and poet Rdi Efendi, among other members of the elites.14 In another 17th c. miniature (Figure 31), Sultan Murad IV hosts a garden party (TSM H21488, folio 11v). The party takes place on a carpet, laid on a green lawn planted with red tulips and roses. The Sultan is seated and drinking wine. On the table placed in front of him, there are fruits, cut flowers arranged in vases, and wine goblets. There are also two candles lit on the table. Apart from the pages serving or waiting to serve, there is a musician playing a long flute.15 In the early 18th c. album of Hamse-i Atayi (Figure 32), Atasoy describes a party in a walled garden (Baltimore Walters Art Museum W666, folio 138a). The participants of the party are seated under a semi-open wooden structure that is located beside a fountain with several sprouts. The base of the structure resembles a real flower bed. It is ornamented with floral motifs and enclosed by a very low red fence. In this party, participants include Christian nobles. They are eating from individual plates and drinking wine.16 The table is decorated with cut red flowers, individually spread on the white table cloth. Private garden parties were called bezm (party), ay, sohbet (conversing), meclis (gathering), or devr (passing cup). These assemblies usually took place at nights lit by the moonlight, em (candle) or era (lanterns). The parties continued until sunrise. Musicians played music and singed songs. The musical instruments played were the eng (harp), ney (reed-flute), tabl (drum) and saz (long flute).17

14

Ibid., 146-147. Ibid., 70-73. Ibid., 50-53. Andrews, Poetry's voice, 48.

15

16

17

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Perfumes were used to enrich the atmosphere. These intimate parties were enjoyed by close friends.18 Fruit and dishes were served with various drinks. A court poet lists various kinds of foods served at these parties, such as; chestnut, walnut, almond, pistachio, hazelnut, cherry, plum, fig, strawberry, melon, water melon, apple, peach, caviar, fish eggs, fish-pickles, pastrami, lobster, mussels, sardine, cheese and kebab varieties.19 Wine was one of the major servings at private parties. It comprised different kinds of wine with a variety of names: b- engr (grape juice), arak (rak), bikr (wine), bde (wine), mey (wine), ml (wine), rah (wine), bde-i glgn (red wine), te-i seyyale (red wine), dide-i horos (red wine), hun-i ketuber (red wine), sahb (red wine), bde-i sadsle (aged wine), glarak (rose wine), erab- cl (rose wine), kmeyt (dark red wine), etc.20 The wine cup was also called with different names such as aya, cm, cm- billr, cm- cem, cm- lebriz, cm- mey, cm- musaff, anak, desti, fincan, gze, mina, kadeh, kap, kse, peymne, piyle, rtl, sgar, etc. Wine containers were called srahi, abgne, bat, sebu, etc.21 Among all the servers, the person who was serving the wine had utmost importance. Wine server was called sk. Sks were one of the central characters of the garden parties because they were the ones who intoxicated the guests by serving wine.22
18

Ibid., 143-174. Agah S. Levend, Divan edebiyati : kelimeler ve remizler, mazmunlar ve mefhumlar

19

(Istanbul: Inkilap Kitapevi,1943), 319-320.

Ibid., 323-335. Ibid., 336-342. Ibid., 320-21.

21

22

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Private parties took place in gardens called glen or glistan (rosegarden), ba or ravza (garden), glzar (rose plot), emen (lawn), cennet (paradise), sahn (yard).23 Reading poetry was an important part of these parties. Walter Andrews argues that in these private parties a specific genre of poetry was read or cited. This genre is called gazel. Gazel poetry both described the garden party and was used as a tool to order its arrangement. To illustrate a vivid image of the party scene, Andrews translates lyric quatrains from Hayreti (d.1535) that describe the site of the garden as similar to the paradise garden, and compares it to the legendary garden of Iram whose beauty exceeds the former. He illustrates the participants of the gathering. He stresses the wine served during the party. He also describes the musicians and their instruments: 24 It is a chat with rudy wine or highest garden of skies? Perhaps the garden of Iram or rosy mead of Paradise? Or gathering of fairy fair, of heavens maids with coal black eyes? Hurrah! And praise a thousand times this party that revivifies? Some party-goers like Hsrev, some of them Ferhats forlorn, Some lovers true and others still beloved of the Houris born, The blue stell cup passed round therein is from the domes of heaven torn. Hurrah! And praise a thousand times this party that revivifies? From transitory earth they take their vintage pleasures constantly; To one another full they raise their cups of healing chemistry,

23

Andrews, Poetry's voice, 46. Walter G. Andrews, Literary Art of the Golden Age: The Age of Sleyman, in Sleyman

24

the Second and His Time, ed. by Halil nalck and Cemal Kafadar (Istanbul: The Iss Press, 1993), 353-368.

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Yet not a word thats said therein offends against propriety. Hurrah! And praise a thousand times this party that revivifies? Musicians catch the fevered mood where ever their tuneful anthems start; Each like a nightingale to each in unison performs his part The long necked lutes play endlessly and sing the language of the heart. Hurrah! And praise a thousand times this party that revivifies? Who once observes this revelry is freed from taint of grief and woes, His soul released, though sad of eye, his heart a joyful fullness knows, And from the ruins of his breast, a stately, spacious mansion grows. Hurrah! And praise a thousand times this party that revivifies?

ANALYSIS OF GARDEN RITUALS

CONSTRAINED ORDER OF GARDEN RITUALS

Garden parties were rituals in the sense Victor Turner proposes. According to Turners definition, rituals always follow pre-liminal, liminal and post-liminal phases. Garden parties similarly took place in three tiers. Entering into the secluded space of the private garden corresponds to the pre-liminal phase. The party members experience of exchanging with other participants, enjoying the offerings of the party, their intoxication and citing poetry constitutes the liminal phase. Leaving the garden space, and returning back to the daily life that took place outside the garden space concludes the rituals post-liminal phase. The poet Ayn describes the order of a private party. He acknowledges that parties took place in every season. With changing seasons and climatic conditions, the location of the parties would change from open spaces to indoors. He states that

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first the drinking cups would be arranged, and then the participants would arrive. The party would continue with servings of fruit and wine, while at the same time musicians were playing music and singing songs. The participants would converse and cite poems while listening to the music and enjoying the servings. The party would last until sun shine. Ayn mentions that all the participants were expected to know how to behave in a party. There were certain manners to be followed. The guests would kneel down sitting on their heels. They were expected to sit straight. They were not allowed to support their bodies, bend or rest. They were not allowed to bend their heads downwards, cough, sneeze, yawn, or stretch. The guests were not supposed to hold wine cups for a long time. discontent.26 In order to participate in the party, individuals were required to relinquish their daily routines. Daily life was organized and controlled by the laws of Shariah. The party space was completely disconnected from the spaces of daily life. The party took place either in a garden, a meadow, or a garden pavilion, which was the representation of an ideal garden. Garden parties lasted until sunrise. Leaving the garden space constituted the final stage of the garden party ritual. As the participants left the garden space, they returned back to their daily routine. The liminal phase of the ritual will be discussed in the following pages, as well as the reasons why the experience of the garden party rituals differed from that of the daily routine. Garden parties stimulated all the cognitive faculties of its participants; the body, the intellect and the imagination. In the garden parties, the body was sited among a group of close friends in a tranquil environment, in a garden, or in a garden kiosk. It
25

25

It was not tolerable to display

emotional states in the extreme. It was not tolerable to cry, to display anger, or

Levend, Divan edebiyati, 309-310. Ibid., 311.

26

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was spoilt with endless offerings appealing to all the senses. It was filled with pleasure. The desiring soul was satisfied with delicious foods and fruits; stirred with pleasant perfumes, and intoxicated with wine full of flavor. It was carried away with music and songs. The sound of music blended with the sound of running water, singing birds and voices of conversing friends. The vision was challenged with handsome young men serving wine and food, dancers moving in harmony, and, with the beauty of nature, flowers, trees and animals, and, with the beauty of architectural edifices, garden pavilions, kiosks, fountains, flower vases, carpets, wine cups and even costumes. The cognitive faculties of the spirit were challenged by participating into this event according to the pre-established rules of conduct. Each one of the ceremonial practices of the ritual contributed building up of a memory shared by all its participants. Finally, engaged in poetry, the heart, the most superlative faculty of cognition, surpassed all the other faculties and guided the experience of the ritual into a make-believe travel into the realm of imagination. The heart experienced a kind of pilgrimage from one station point of the imagination to another. This pilgrimage was enabled with words uttered and images dreamed. It was guided by the recitation of poetry that was the most elevated experience of the gathering.

TEXT OF GARDEN RITUALS: THE GAZEL GENRE

The special genre of poetry read or cited at the garden parties was called gazel. It is important to give a brief description of the genre of gazel that formed the central focus of the garden parties as the text which describes and orders the ritual at the same time. Gazel was a short poem, whose theme was love, beauty and wine; and whose most important characteristic was its artful form and language. It was

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originally a Persian genre. Encyclopedia of Islam gives information on the preIslamic origin of the genre that developed both in Arabic and Persian languages:27 A short poem of more than four but less than fifteen lines. The first two have the same rhyme, which is repeated at the end of the fourth, sixth, etc. lines. The poet usually mentions his own name in the last line....The form should be the most perfect possible, especially from the point of view of language; vulgar and cacophonous words are to be most rigidly avoided. Originally introduced to Anatolia in Persian, Andrews argues that the genre was adapted to the Ottoman culture through the 15th c. to the 19th c. becoming an essential part of the Ottoman poetry, society and culture: 28 During the more than four hundred years (1453-1860 C.E.), which span the mature life of the Ottoman Turkish classical tradition, virtually every poet of note-and countless poets of lesser acclaim- wrote gazels. It can be said with much conviction that the gazel was the heart and soul of classical Ottoman literature, a central focus for a centuries-long expenditure of labor and talent, and a major voice in the song of Turkish culture. The theme of gazel poems was love. Each poem would tell about love experienced in an ideal garden. They narrated the experience of love between a lover and a beloved. The narration of love also gave emphasis to the beauty of the beloved. Gazel poetry rested upon a set of conventions. Its themes of love; cast of characters that took part in short anecdotes of love; its use of language and vocabulary; its depiction and illustration of spaces; its construction, its structures

27

Anrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, 3-18; Encylopedia of Islam vol. II (1927), 146;

Islam Ansiklopedisi vol. 4 (1945), 730-32; E.J. Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi (Istanbul: Akcag), vol I , 1-70.
28

Though it had been recognized as a form of high-art practiced by the elite circles due to

its artful language which comprised a high percentage of foreign words, it was also adapted to the understanding and enjoyment of the Turkish speaking common public by the efforts of Turkish speaking dervishes; Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, 4-5.

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were all established according to rules set by the tradition. Even the depiction of beauty was established by set cannons: 29 The beloved has a slender belly, with black hair like the fate of love and the night of sorrow; like the worry of reunion with the beloved, his/her hair is intricate and twisted into curls; neck white and transparent like the balm acquired from the cheery laurel of the far East; with black eyes; has an Indian-style mole on his/her cheek, and a dimple like a dagger, with a well on his/her chin; has a posture like a cypress tree. The art of the gazel demanded the mastery in using these signs in order to compose a poem, harmonious in essence, musical in hymn, and aesthetic in vision. The artist was not permitted to create anything different than the predetermined clichs. The poet was not permitted to question the cosmological order. He was not able introduce any novelty into any of the gardens. Novelty was a deed of God, so that individuals were not supposed to create, but to imitate and to appreciate the creation. Apart from listening the meaning of the verses, and the harmonic musical tone achieved by the use of rhyme, poetry almost became an art for watching. It became a theatre of images. The language of gazel was made up of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic words, which used Arabic phrases, with Turkish syntax, making Persian compounds. Gazels were composed for and understood by cultivated, learned, and literate circles, like the people of the court, the elite, simply the asker.

SOCIETY AND GARDEN RITUALS

According to the Islamic mythology, the first group assembly was hosted by God after the creation of the human being. According to the mythology, God invited all
29

Translated from Glpnarl, Nedim Divan, p. XVIII.

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his angels to this assembly and asked them to consent that he would be the creator. Upon their approval, God created the universe and the world. This archetypal gathering was called bezm-i ezel (party of the infinity).30 Following the pattern of this archetypal model of bezm-i ezel, private parties became gatherings that located the power of its host within the cosmological hierarchy. Different groups within the Ottoman society hosted parties and invited guests and poets to their parties. The sultan hosted his own private parties inviting the prominent members of his court and court poets. Sultans parties used to take place in imperial gardens. Members of the elite used to become patrons of poets, and they hosted their own circle of friends. The elite parties were hosted in private gardens. Members of the guilds each had their own private parties. Each sub-group of the guilds had a principal, who would also master their gatherings. These principals represented the legendary characters who were acknowledged as creators of each profession and they were acknowledged as disciples of Islamic figures who performed their trade for the first time, in the age of the prophet Mohammed. For example, Adam was acknowledged as the master of bread makers. Amir bin Imran from Medina, who was a baker at the time of the prophet, was acknowledged as the Islamic master of bread bakers.31 Thus the cosmology of all guilds followed after both the Near Eastern mythology and the collective memory of the Islamic tradition. The guild gatherings took place in meadows. Guilds would gather in a meadow either once a year or once every 10-20 years. The guild gatherings would last for two to ten days. During these gatherings the guilds would enjoy themselves in the meadow playing games, enjoying food and drinks. They would also converse and
30

emsettin Kutlu, Divan Edebiyat Antolojisi (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 1983), 501. Read Ekrem Kou, Tarihte Istanbul Esnaf ( Istanbul: Doan Yaynlar, 2002, c. 1970),

31

11-14.

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read poetry.32 At the military gatherings, the Bektashi dervishes supervised the assembly. In tariqat congregations, the leader of the group or the order (eyh, baba, or kutub, etc.) directed the meeting. 33

PARTICIPANTS OF GARDEN RITUALS

Participants of the private garden party were called dostan (beloved friend), yaran (friends), ehl-i dil (master of the tongue), eshab-i dil (owner of the language), ehl-i batn (master of mystery), eshab- kemal (master of perfection). The participants simply constituted a host and his guests, including one or several poets. Sometimes poets were invited to compete with one another. Apart from the guests there were the servers. Among them, the most important was the sk who used to serve wine. Garden parties also included musicians, singers and dancers. The guests of the private garden parties knew the rules of conduct. It was important that they would be able to pursue the ritual of the garden party by conversing, attending to discussions and citing poetry. Neither too serious, boring or gloomy, nor carefree or bad-mannered people were invited to private parties of the elite. The guests were well educated. They were the masters of language since gazel poetry cited in these garden parties called upon a difficult language and was exceptionally artful. Since gazel poetry included Persian and Arabic words, its language was not understandable to the common public who used vernacular Turkish.

32

Esnaf Gelenekleri in Dnden Bugne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, 218. nalck, Osmanl mparatorluu Klasik a.

33

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In conclusion, it would be necessary to recognize that private garden parties and gazel genre were enjoyed by the court and the elite groups. However, gatherings of other social groups like the guilds or the mystic orders resembled garden parties in terms of arrangement and purpose of the ritual.

ROLE PLAYING IN GARDEN RITUALS: SUFI AND RIND

The theme of the gazel poetry was love. Each participant of the party reciting gazels would become a lover. He would recite gazels addressing the Beloved. When reciting gazels, the poet would become a lover. The beloved could be God, the Sultan, the host of the gathering, or the sk, the wine server who was present in the garden party and, who was responsible for the intoxication of the poet with beauty. Each time the participants of the party cited verses from a poem, they would also become lovers like the poet himself. Playing the part of the lover by citing poetry is the most important part of the garden parties. Andrews calls this role playing a game. Role playing gives the flexibility of engaging in an imaginary persona for the predetermined period of the play. In Victor Turners terms, it can be identified as the reversal of social status and constitutes the climax of the liminal phase. Playing the role of lover, a participant of the party also played the role of mystic. In the garden party, he would play as if he were a mystic even if he was a severe ascetic in the real world. Thus, the gazel poetry would lead the participants of the party to behave as mystic lovers. They acted as if they were friends of God. An ascetic would practice his faith according to the rules of Shariah as codified by religious texts and conventional practices. This implies a deep departure from the rules of everyday life for an orthodox believer or for an ascetic. An ascetic would value the intellectual faculties of recognition above all the others and would turn

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away from any novel form of practice that were outside the conventions of the orthodox faith. On the contrary, a mystic would practice his faith by means of his imaginative faculties. Intoxication stimulated the mystic in his quest for the divine. However intoxication was severely prohibited for an ascetic. So, by a reversal of status, the participants of the garden party enjoyed being mystic lovers even if they were severe ascetics in their daily life. In the Ottoman poetic tradition, the mystic lover was signified by the character rind, and the ascetic by the zahid or sufi. The rind was a protest character, a dissident. Zahid or sufi was an ascetic. The rind considered himself as a friend of God, as opposed to the zahid, who considered himself as a slave of God.34 By playing the role of rind, one engaged in protest attitudes towards the institutionalized worship and public display of faith in order to get admired and recognized. Rind was a character criticizing and opposing the sufi/zahid35. Rind refused to adapt the public forms of Heterodox Islamic faith. He disapproved both the distinguishing apparel of the sufi/zahid and the institutionalized ceremonials of worship and their hierarchy. Opposite to sufi/zahid wisdom and reasoning, rind contemplated love and acknowledged love as a practice of loyalty. In contrast to the sufi/zahids appreciation and expectation of the Heavenly Paradise, the rind admired worldly beauty, and craved for worldly pleasures. Intoxicated, disapproved, and displeased with himself, the rind always criticized himself at the opposite of the sufi/zahids display of wisdom and anticipation of public approval.

34

Metin And, A History of Theather and Popular Entertainment in Turkey (Ankara: Forum

Yaynlar, 1963).
35

For detailed information on the opposition between the rind and the sufi, see Ahmet A.

entrk, Klasik Osmanl Edebiyat Tiplerinden Sufi yahut Zahit Hakknda (Istanbul: Enderun Kitabevi, 1996), and Mine Mengi, Divan iirinde Rindlik (Ankara: Bizim Bro Basmevi, 1985); Harun Tolasa, Sehi, Latifi, Ak elebi tezkirelerine gre 16. y.y.'da edebiyat aratrmalar (Izmir: Ege niversitesi Matbaas, 1983).

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Corruption in Sufi society was a common concern in all Muslim societies. Schmimmel argues that poets had a critical idea of the Sufis as early as the eleventh century, and that poets differentiated between corrupted and true Sufis. The true Sufi was defined as a true lover. Sufis themselves recognized that the sincerity of the ascetic tradition was threatened by those heedless savants, hypocritical Koran-readers, and ignorant pretenders to Sufism. Some Sufis preferred not to be called Sufis, in order not to be associated with the degeneration of the Sufi society. Schimmel cites the below verses by a sixteenth century Sufi poet:36 The Sufi is busy with deceiving men and women, The ignorant one is busy with building up his own body, The wise man is busy with coquetry of words, The lover is busy with annihilating himself. However the experience of love expressed by Sufi poems never ended in union with the beloved. The union with the beloved was not possible. Since the beloved represented the God and union was God was not possible. Thus all poems ended with grief and sorrow. Garden party, poetry and mystic love are also common themes is Persian culture. In a 16th c. Persian miniature from Sultan Ibrahim Mizras Haft Awrang, there are several illustrations of mystic love and its expressions by poets. First one (Figure 33) depicts a garden party (folio 52a). A prince converses with his father about the essence of love. In the background, a poet is painted on the walls of the garden pavilion (Figure 34). The verses that accompany the figure of the poet explain the pain of love since union with the beloved is not possible:37
36

Scmimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 20-21. Mariana Shreve Simpson. Persian poetry, Painting and Patronage Illustrations in a

37

Sixteenth Century Masterpiece (Washington, DC; New Haven Freer Gallery of Art, Yale University Press, 1998), 26-27.

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I have written on the door and wall of every house about the grief of my love for you. That perhaps you might pass one day and read the explanation of my condition. In another folio from the same album (Figure 35), poetry is described as a medium to attain divine knowledge (folio 147a). The poet attains divine knowledge by revelation, through angelic illumination. The painting conveys the idea that poets have the capacity to create works of great spirituality and assuage the doubts of those seeking enlightenment.38 The painting depicts the poet as a mystic lover, and his abode as the garden of paradise. On the door of the garden pavilion in which the poet Sadi is composing a new poem, the below verse from Koran (Koran 38:50) is written: 39 Gardens of Eden, whereof the gates are opened for them Sultan Sleyman Is anthology of his own poems signed by his pen name Muhibb is also a good example to illustrate the close connection between poetry, mystic love and gardens (Figure 36). The below verses from Muhibb Divan (K T5476) is an expression of the Sultans mystic love and quest:40 I am the Sultan of Love, a glass of wine will do for a crown on my head, And the brigade of my sighs might well serve as the dragons fire-breathing troops. The bed room thats best for you, my love, is a bed of roses, For me, a bed and a pillow carved out of rock will do. My love, take a golden cup in your hand and drink wine in the rose garden;

38

Ibid., 44-45. Ibid., 45. Talat Halman, Sleyman, 32-33.

39

40

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As for me, to sip blood from my heart, it is enough to have the goblets of your eyes. . The heart can no longer reach the district where you live but it yearns for reunion with you, Dont think Paradise and its rivers can satisfy the lover of the adorable fan. Muhibb Divan as a book combines poetry and gardens (Figure 36). The poems are on pages which represent gardens planted with tulips, violets, poppies, iris, roses, peonies, hyacinths, calendula, and cypress trees.41 The below verses from the 19th c. poet eyh Galips Beauty and Love, is another example, illustrating the close connection between garden spaces and poetry. The below verses portray one of the main characters of Galips story. The character is Poetry. He resides in a garden. This garden is called the Garden of Meaning. In this illustration of Poetry is personified as a gracious person. Poetry embodies all the dual qualities, both the good and bad states that are all fashioned by Creation. He becomes lover and Beloved at the same time; plays both of the roles of the Sultan and the subject; and as narrated in the poem once he becomes the sprite, or the devil: That gaily blooming garden was, in short Alike to the talent of a pure poet A sage young at heart and sprightly of limb Welcomed the guests to that pleasure place in Poetry by name, gracious his person His life preceded heavens creation
41

Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 134; 140-142;135-139; Yldz Demiriz, Osmanl Kitap

Sanatnda Natralist slupta iekler (Istanbul: Acar Matbaaclk Tesisleri, 1986), 278280; 281- 303.

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He was both the question and the answer Prophecys miracle and messenger . He could be a sprite, he could be a devil Now aquatic, and then terrestrial .... He could be a poet, or a scholar Now an ascetic, or now sorcerer is with him, 42

SPACES OF GARDEN RITUALS

There was a close association between arts of poetry, garden space and order of the garden ritual. They carried two contrasting intentions. First they stimulated imaginative faculties. Second they anchored the participants of the garden party in society. Thus, while imaginative faculties supported the development of individuality, the organization of the garden rituals suppressed it. The organization of the garden, the order of the ritual and the content of gazel poetry stimulated the imaginative faculty of individual participants. Gardens in which garden parties took place were designed in such a way that they triggered imagination. They had a complex organization which did not reveal its order at first sight. Poetry cited in gardens also called for a complex order that involved the whole Ottoman cosmology. Garden rituals stimulated the imaginative faculties by intoxication and poetry after arousing all senses by perfumes, delicious food and fruits, music and dancers. Simply organized around a circle, participants either surrounded a fountain, or they sat on a river bank. Circle represented the ideal

42

Victoria Holbrook, The Unredeable shores of Love Turkish Modernity and Mystic

Romance (Austin: Texas University Press, 1994), 83-84.

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form and resembled the cosmological order. The water element stood for the fountain of life, the symbol of the source of divine knowledge and the origin of all creation. The 16th c. Garden of the Paper Cutter (Efanc Bahesi) illustrates the close association of poetry, gardens and garden rituals. 16th c. literary critic Ak elebi describes a certain garden called Garden of the Paper Cutter. It was a private garden renown for garden parties for reading poetry which was frequently visited by the elite, including Sultan Sleyman I and his Vezier brahim Pasha.43 As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, in the 16th c. Album of The Paper Cutter Mehmed might represent the real garden of the Paper Cutter Mehmed (Figures 4041). 44 Despite the fact that the representation of the garden seems to follow no order at first sight, it encloses a very complex arrangement of trees. The order is maintained by the type, size, color and location of the trees and flowers. The geometry of the garden is suggested the decorations on the margins creating a symmetry axis. The center is regulated by a small cypress tree. Two of the cypress trees which seem to govern the composition at first sight are symmetric with respect to an unseen axis, but this axis is shifted from the axis of the page that is governed by the small cypress tree. The whole composition is a complex organization of games of symmetry and asymmetry. Trees in bloom, rose bushes, flowers further complicate the simple vertical appearance of the cypress trees. At first sight, they complicate the vision, but their locations are also definite. Blooming trees are planted inbetween couples of cypresses. Different types of flowers are arranged according to a hidden order, and their location is identified with respect to the position of various kinds of trees.
43

Hamadeh, Architectural Sensibility, 187; from Ak elebi, Meair uara, 160b-

161a.
44

Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 73-89.

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The vision achieves complexity on purpose. In Ottoman optical treatises, the perception of objects is portrayed in three different levels. For example, in the sixteenth century optic treatise revised from Ibn al-Haythams Kitb al-manzir, perception is ordered according to the three levels of pure sensation, glancing perception and contemplative perception. 45 Pure sensation is described as the sensual cognition of light and color. It involves sensual faculties. Glancing perception is cognition by remembrance. It involves the mind, and the memory. Contemplative perception involves imaginative faculties that enable seeing beyond the apparent form of the object, and contemplating to its novel qualities which the mind or the memory cannot recognize and the eye cannot distinguish. Necipolu argues that Islamic decorative arts made use of such optic doctrines and created complicated patterns that required contemplation of the individual and triggered imaginative faculties. Contemplative perception required the subjects individual involvement in the process of perception, contemplation and cognition. It valued the individual taste of the individual and defined beauty of the object contemplated as subjective and contextual. Complication of vision in Islamic arts was an affirmative quality accomplished on purpose. complication of vision was a willful effort of the artist:46 In the below paragraph, Necipolu, who examined abstract patterns in Islamic art, claims that such

Another implication of Ibn al-Haythams psychological theory of optics is that the willful complication of vision by intricately decorated surfaces was a calculated way of inducing contemplative vision, a way of seeing which often is referred to as the scrutinizing gaze (imn-i nazar) in Ottoman texts. Elaborately patterned surfaces, covered by multilayered geometric designs interlaced with geometrized vegetal, calligraphic, and occasionally figural motifs, constituted magnetic fields to attract the gaze with their bewildering vertiginous effects. Their infinitely extendable, nondirectional patterns of line and color, with no single focal point or hierarchical progression toward a decorative climax, required the insertion of subjectivity into the optical field; they presupposed a private way of looking.
45

Necipolu, The Topkap Scroll, 197 - 216. Ibid., 203.

46

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Such surfaces seduced the eye to alight on harmoniously combined colors and abstract patterns that could stir up the imagination, arouse the emotions and create moods. Similar to the arts and crafts, Islamic tradition also considered poetry as a medium to trigger the imagination. In various treatises, the arts of poetry is exemplified with metaphors from arts, crafts, and architecture; such as patterned brocade, rhytmic arabesque, necklace, wall paintings, tile work (kkr), and pomp (alayi) of a house, referring to the art of homophony as tar ( lit. tarsia, or to inlay with pearls and precious stones).47 Al-Gahazali compared the creative powers of a poet to that of God:48 Just as the greatness of a poet, writer or artist becomes all the more notable the more you know of the wonderful works of poetry, writing and art; in the same way miracles of the creation of God are a key knowledge of the Greatness of the Creator. Likewise, the arts of gazel poetry suggested that the poetic medium also constituted a visual space. This visual space enabled contemplation, and further triggered imagination. The below verses of the 16th c. poet Zati quoted by Andrews illustrates that the choice of vocabulary and choice of letters, or words had a very important part in the arts of gazel poetry. Andrews argues that Zatis verses are the perfect example showing how the poet mastered the tools of his art:49 Ka med kaddi elif yru inde Zt Dmanu kmetini dl idben ad itdm translated as

47

Ibid., 185; from 13th c. Shams-i Qays and 16th c. Muslih al-Din Mustafa Sururi. Ibid., 185. Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, 173.

48

49

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Before the beloved, with her eyebrow like a med and body like an elif By bending the enemys body like a dal, I made a name for myself In Zatis two lines, Thus by using the visual image of the Arabic letters of med, elif, dal, the poet suggested the poem as a visual field to meditate. He described how he handled these images, by bending, twisting, changing their shape, almost like giving form to a sculptural object, he created a name (ad) for his fame. Thus, the word name (ad) when written in Arabic alphabet, is made out of the letters med, elif, and dal. Zatis poem invites its reader to imagine every one of the letters and words as images. Thus, the images and meanings suggested by a letter, or a word suggests individuals communication with the poem itself. This relationship gives life to the poem, and the poem begins to be built in a space where imagination begins to travel (Table 4).

IDEAL SPACES

In order to understand gazel poems, it is important to understand the structure of the world within which gazel poetry was composed. The world was strictly organized into a hierarchical cosmology that ordered every single thing, metaphysical and physical that is considered to have real or imaginary, real or ideal, this-worldly or after-worldly existence, as a thing, a concept, an idea, a form, or meaning. Everything had a place in the cosmological hierarchy.50 The earth and
50

On Islamic cosmography see, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic

Cosmological Doctrines (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964); Islamic Ecology, ed. by R.C. Foltz, F. M. Denny, and A. Baharuddin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003); Angelis, M.A. and Lentz, T.W. Architecture in Islamic Painting Permanent and Impermanent Worlds (Cambridge, MA: Acme Printing, Fogg Art Museum, The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1982); Ardalan and Bakhtiar, The Sense of Unity. Even the music played followed conventions similar to the layering of cosmology. In music, there were twelve modes (makam): Rast, Irak, Isfahan, Zirefkend, Bzrg,

136

the heavens were constructed according to seven levels. There were seven levels under the ground. The levels of the earth above ground level were called Demga, Hulde, Arfe, Cerba, Melsa, Siccin, and Acba Acba. The seven layers above the earth were each symbolized by a different color and planet:51 The first being the sphere of the moon which is the beryl-green lower heaven called Berka, the second being the ruby-yellow sphere of Mercury called Kaydum, the third being the ruby-red Mun which is the sphere of the Sun called Erkalut, the fifth being the red-gold sphere of Mars called Retka, the sixth being the pearl-white sphere of Jupiter called Rakia, and the seventh being the sphere of Saturn called Gariba of pure light. Following these layers of the seven of the planets were the eight heavens, also ranked along a hierarchical order; Darlcelal as a white pearl, Darsselam as red ruby, Cennet-l Mevahir of green crystal, Huld of yellow coral, Naim of white silver, Firdevs of red gold, Karar of musk; and above all there was the highest of all the heavens, which was considered to neighbor all the others -with a huge castle surrounded by walls - the Cennet-l Adn of white sweating pearl. The roots of the Tuba Tree were in the Cennet-l Adn, and its branches ascended through all the other seven heavens. All these heavens were depicted as paradise gardens one after the other. Beyond the highest garden of paradise And, the domain of Krsi, made out of pure light, was located. Above it there was Ar, the throne of God, as the origin and
ernegule, Revahi, Hseyni, Hicaz, Buselik, Neva, and Uak, similar to the twelve constellations of the zodiac of the eight heavens; Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. And the four tones of music Yegah, Dgah, Sergah, and argah were compared to the four elements of creation which were known to be fire, air, water, and earth. There were seven derivative modes akin to the seven planets, and twenty-four kinds of compositions as there are twenty-hour hours of the day; Howard Crane, Risale-i Mimariye An Early Seventeenth Century Ottoman Treatise on Architecture (Leiden; NY: E.J. Brill, 1987), 26-27.
51

Crane, Risale-i Mimariye, 19.

137

beginning of everything.52 In order to reach a better comprehension of the cosmology, it would be necessary to construct each one of these terms into a structure. As already discussed in the chapter concerning the theories of Ibn Arabi, Ottoman cosmology considered the origin and beginning, and the Absolute Reality of the God as incomprehensible to the human beings. Thus, Ar, the throne of God, was beyond human cognition, and it constituted the True Reality. Krsi, however, embodied everything created, thus the whole world. Krsi, in the dictionary meant a table, or a folded space in which the created world was contained within. Thus the folded space of Krsi contained all the explanations of the creation of the world, all the layers of cosmology, fixed stars, seven planets, seven layers above and below the earth, and human beings, all civilizations, all religions, myths and legends, lives of the prophets, all of history - past, the phenomenal world as present, and future. Ottoman cosmology was based on Islamic cosmology which was constructed in order to relate the individual existence to the Universal World, which was acknowledged as the World of the God. However it should also be noted that Ottoman cosmology also had to relate the Sultan to his subjects. Thus, it not only expounded Islamic imperatives; but also included imperial accounts for other civilizations; lives of rulers and warriors of Mogul, Persian, Mani, or Indian origin; stories of legendary kings; characters from the Old and the New Testaments. The late sixteenth century manuscripts of Zbdett-Tevarih produced under Ottoman rule narrating the Ottoman cosmology clearly illustrates this (Figures 42-45; 46-51). As seen in the different pages of the two different copies of 1583 and 1598, the Ottoman rulers not only linked their kinship to Islam, but also to pre-Islamic and non-Islamic traditions.

52

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol 1, 44-47; E. J. W. Gibb, Osmanl iiri tarihine giri (Istanbul:

Kksal, 1999), 41-79.

138

In his deconstructive analysis of the genre of Ottoman gazel, Walter Andrews restructures the Ottoman cosmology. By replacing all these free flowing terminology into an explicit structure. Andrews also suggests that Ottoman cosmology was based upon a two-poled structure, which consisted of interior and exterior spaces. Each level of the cosmology was formed of interior and exterior spaces. Basically, this cosmology had an interior and an exterior; in which the interior realm was always superior to the exterior. (Tables 1-3) The interior of the Universal World embodied the True Reality whose knowledge was inaccessible to the human Being. Exterior to it, there existed the World within which all creation was located. The World embodied the Typal world within its interior realm, and the Phenomenal world to its exterior. Typal world housed images that originated in the Universal World. However, these images were not direct depictions of the True reality, but they were distorted reflections of it. So, the accounts of the paradises, layers of above or below the earth, life of the prophets, legendary characters and ancient rulers resided in this Typal world. The Typal world housed the main characters of Persian tradition, Greek legends, in the pursuit of Ptolemy (Batlamyus), or individuals of the jewish mythology like Dr, Ferdun, Nrevn, skender, Rstem, Efrsyb, Shrb, Siyv, Keykubd, Behrm, Kahrman- Kaatil, Sleyman, saf, Hrnrresd, Fazl, Htem.53 These legendary characters were Faridun and Jamshid, kings of Iran; Khusraw and Bahram (Gur), rulers of the Sassanian dynasty; Bahman, known as Artaxerxes Longomanus; Dara, as Darius, the Achaemenid king; Rustam, son of Zal; Yusuf, son of Yakub; Kaykhusraw, the ruler of the Kayanids; Faruk, the Caliph Omer; Karrar, and Haydar, as Ali; Mani, the 3rd c. prophet of the Mani religion; Bihzad, the 15th c. Persian painter; Solomon, the legendary king. The Phenomenal world was exterior to the Typal world, and it also had an exterior and an interior. Within the interior of the Phenomenal world, there was the House
53

Glpnarl, Nedim Divan, XXIII.

139

of Islam, and outside of it was the House of War. The House of Islam, had the Ottoman Empire central to it. Peripheral to this center was the other Islamic states. Within the House of Islam, the capital city of the Ottoman Empire was the centre, and other provinces were peripheral. So, there was one ruling center, the capital city, which empowered all the land, within the rule of the Islamic Law. Even the capital city had an exterior and an interior. The palace was the interior, and the rest of the city as the exterior world. The residents of the palace, the ruling elite, Sultan and his court was within the interior domain of the palace, were classified as asker. They were spatially differentiated from the public who was exterior to the palace, and classified as reaya. The palace, the space of the Sultan also had an interior and an exterior. The interior embodied the private life, and the exterior embodied the public life. The private life was practiced in the gardens, and it displayed the emotional side of individual world. The exterior domain of the space of the Palace was associated with the public service activities of the ruling court which housed the public ceremonies and assemblies. The garden of the Sultan also had an interior and an exterior. The interior was the individual Self, and the exterior was the garden itself. And the human breast which housed the human heart was the interior realm of the Self, and the whole human Body with the exception of heart was the exterior. Thus this cosmology placed society within a religious, imperial, and social ordering, where the hierarchy was precisely defined covering all the domains of spiritual, ideological, social, cultural, and individual worlds. Each world was interiorized by another expanding domain superior to the former one. Consecutively, each world unfolded into another domain. From the individual heart to God, each and every thing belonging to different levels of Creation was defined. However unified this construction seems to be, with all its elements ordered in an unchanged strict hierarchy, it embodied diverse worlds. Walter Andrews, reading the genre of Ottoman gazel poetry, deconstructs this seemingly unified structure mainly into three different worlds. This deconstructive attitude enables the reading of each different world in reference to different sources that made up the Ottoman society and culture, and at times which could lead to contradictory results.

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These three worlds, as Andrews suggests, expressed the mystical-religious voice, voice of power and authority and voice of emotion that matched to the three domains of existence; the universal, the earthly and the personal.54 The relationship between these three domains suggests an intertextual study of Ottoman culture and society. In this way gazel poetry anchors the individual existence of the single person to the earthly authority, and then to the universal order, thus to religion. The intertextual experience as a journey between the different realms begins in the heart of the individual. In the following example, the 16th c. poet Yahya expresses his individual experience and his emotions. He expresses his pain for the ultimate separation from the beloved. He intoxicates himself with wine. The poet uses the garden space and the garden ritual as a means to express his personal emotions:55 Oh Saki, give me wine for the days of spring are soon gone out of hand The time of the seal of the cup of pleasant tasting wine will soon be gone out of hand . Oh Yahya, union with the Beloved is the motive of separation Do not be heedless, for the skirt of union with the beloved goes from hand The private garden is located within the dominion of the ruling authority. The poet as an individual and the garden he uses as medium are anchored to the power of the Sultan within the cosmological hierarchy. Repeatedly, in many gazels, the eminence of the monarch is asserted: 56
54

Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, 62-142; 152. Ibid., 123. Ibid., 102.

55

56

141

I am the monarch of love, the smoke and sparks of sighs Have become a gold parasol over me in the wilderness of grief . Since I came to realize the amazement of the secret of loving you, oh Monarch! The wind of annihilation has turned the structure of my body to dust The garden of the monarch was imagined in the center of the garden of Islam, in which the beloved addressed would be the God in his unparalleled, unimaginable, and inconceivable being, greatness and beauty: 57 The people of the world are on one side, this impassioned one on another I will not give up being near to you for all the world If you say never let anything harm perfect beauty Oh, ruler of the world, do not withdraw alone by yourself, like the sunset Though they looked they did not find anything matching your graceful way of walking The tree of Paradise went one way, the heart captivating cypress went another

Each one of these levels of Ottoman cosmography was acknowledged as a space, as the world, the house, the city, the palace, and the garden. And each one of the interiorized spaces could be illustrated with gardens as metaphors and explicit examples of the respective category. The security and ideal of the garden analogy was practiced in all levels of hierarchy. The interior of the garden embodied all blissful qualities. The world of the garden was considered as a perfect mimesis of

57

Ibid., 75.

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the divine order, and of the Ottoman court, who considered itself as the representative of the Divine order on this world. The Ottoman gazels each constructed a garden in poetry in accordance to Arabis discussions about the realm of imagination as a garden. These gardens representing ideal gardens of the cosmology, or the real gardens of the city, became spaces where imagination, the highest of all the cognitive faculties, was practiced. Thus every reference to another different garden, in a single gazel poem carried the poet, or his listeners to another level of the cosmic hierarchy. In these gardens made out of the words of the gazel, the individual Self had to put into practice the his cognitive powers of his imagination. Each garden in the cosmic hierarchy was made out of signs: gardens of eight paradises, the myths of the House of Islam, Sultans of the Palace, friends, music, dance, intoxification, wine-server, and natural elements of the private garden. Each was a sign used together with others in constructing the poetry of the private garden party. A hero from a love story was a sign just like a single Arabic letter. The stature of the beloved could for instance be portrayed by depicting the body as the letter elif in the Arabic alphabet; or as the tuba tree of the Paradise Garden. Since, the imagery of the gazel poetry was an established set of conventions, the poet used elements whose symbolism was fixed by the literary tradition. These sets of fixed images became sets of signs. By the development of the genre of gazel in Ottoman poetry, each sign engaged in a static relationship between the signifier, the word and the signified, as its meaning. Thus, by the establishment of tradition, signs, chosen from the pre-determined set were comprehensible to all those who cited enjoyed or gazel poems. The use of signs in such an illustrative manner, which did not allow any representation, prohibited the artist to claim an interest in the production of knowledge. Each sign was chosen from the interiorized worlds, the gardens of each cosmic level.

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Each garden became a representation of the promised paradise garden. Sandys, who traveled to the Ottoman Empire and to Istanbul in the early 17th c., illustrated the concept of the Islamic paradise garden:58 It is to be more than conjectured; that Mahomet grounded his devised Paradise, upon the Poets invention of Elisium. For thus Tibullus describeth the one: For that my heart to love still easily yields, Love shall conduct me to the Elisian fields. There songs and dances revel: choice birds flie From tree to tree, warbling sweet melody. The wild shrubs bring forth Cassia: every where The bountcous soil doth fragrant Roses bear. Youths intermixt with Maids disport at ease, Incountering still in loves sweet skirmishes. And Mahomet promiseth to the possessors of the other, magnificient Palaces spread all over with Silk Carpets, flowry Fields, and crystalline Rivers; Trees of Gold still flourishing, pleasing the eye with other goodly forms, and the taste with their fruits; Which being pluckt, to others place resign And still the rich twigs with metal shine. Under whole fragrant shades thay shall spend the course of their happy time with amourous virgins, who shall alone regard their particular Lovers: not such as have lived in this world; but created of purpose; with great black eyes, and beautiful as the Hyacinth. They daily shall have their lost Virginities restored; ever young, (continuing there, as here at fifteen, and the man as at thirty) and ever free from natural pollutions. Boys of divine shall minister unto them, and let before them all variety of delicate Viands.

58

Sandys, George (1578 1644) Sandys travels, containing an history of the original and
th

present state of the Turkish EmpireA Relation of a Journey begun An Dom: 1610 Fovre Books the sixt edition London: Printed for Philip Chetwin, 1610, 7 ed (London: Printed for J. Williams Junior, 1673), 46.

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There were two different features that enabled the intertextuality of the gazel genre. First one, as discussed above, is the presence of the seemingly unified fusion of the three realms of the religious, political, and the personal worlds. This view suggests an interiorized reference system that made use of interior spaces of Ottoman cosmology, thus the gardens of all levels. Gazel poems enabled to compare and associate all the interior spaces, especially the gardens of the cosmological hierarchy to one another. These gardens include the gardens of paradise, gardens of Islam, gardens of the worldly authority, private gardens, and even the breast of the human being in which the heart resides as if in a garden. The private garden became a space where the friends of the assembly meet and enjoy themselves, converse, recite poetry, in the background with the Tuba Tree, the Kevser river of the Paradise And, and the legendary characters of Iskender, Yusuf, Leyla or Noah. Poetry enabled the juxtaposition of the different layers of the cosmic order. The private garden unfolded into the other gardens, enabled a journey within all the interiorized spaces of the cosmology. The best example to illustrate the association of the different orders of the cosmological order is a Persian miniature painting from the 16th c. Divan of Hafiz (Figure 38). The painting titled The Allegory of Drunkenness (Private collection, TL 17443-5) illustrates a ceremonial ritual of the mystics in a garden.59 While the intoxicated mystics are dancing, playing music and conversing in the garden below, the angels are enjoying themselves and getting intoxicated at the roof terrace above the garden. Both the mystics and the angels quest for the divine knowledge, and both of the spaces that they reside, the garden and the skies can be compared to one another.

59

Angelis, and Lentz, Architecture in Islamic Painting, 20-21; Images of Paradise in Islamic

Art, ed. by Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (New Haven: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1991).

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This intertextual association and comparison of different interior spaces of different hierarchical levels done by calling attention to similarities is called tashbh. In mysticism, it stands for the act of attaining divine knowledge through studying the similarities of all the creation. Ibn Arabi explains tashbh as a means to draw similarities between the unity of True Knowledge, and its reflections in the multiplicity of things created.60 The second method used is the opposite of the arts of tashbh. It is the exercise of trying to identify the beloved by pointing out the qualities that he does not embody. It is called tanzh. Where tashbh is comparison with respect to similarities, tanzh is comparison with respect to differences .Tanzh is also a common term used in mystic philosophy. Tashbh admits that all things are reflections of the divine being, and thus their qualities can be compared. However, the arts of tanzh practice the differences between things created and the divine being asserting their dissimilarity and incomparability. Arabi explains tanzh as a means to attain knowledge by studying its opposites.61 Thus divine knowledge can be attained both by means of tashbh and tanzh. Arabi identifies the intermediary realm of the garden as a curtain that veils divine knowledge. Thus contemplating the images on this veil to understand what it veils is called tashbh. However the images reflected on this metaphorical curtain does not actually stand for what is behind it. This consciousness is called tanzh: 62 His words are correct that there is what no eye has seen in the Garden, that is, in the curtain on the basis of the metaphorical interpretation, not exegesis. Were an eye to see it, it would not be curtained. Were someone to see it, he would speak about it and it would be heard. Were it heard, it would be limited. Were it limited, it would pass into his heart and be known.

60

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 12; 16; 91; 149; 169; The Sufi Path, 68-76. Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 8;13; 53; 106-107; The Sufi Path, 68-76. Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 106-107.

61

62

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This is an affair that veils us from Him through a veil that is not known, for He is in the curtain called the Garden. Since his Entity is identical with the curtain, nothing veils us save the fact that we see a curtain, so our aspiration attaches itself to what is behind the curtain, that is, the curtained. This comes to us from us, and nothing makes us do it save tanzh. Hence along with tanzh the prophets brought the attributes of tashbh, so that these might make the affair nearer to the people and call the attention of those who are nearest to God- those who are in nearness itself along with the veil of the actual situation. Thus, in calling attention through tashbh is lifting of the coverings from the eyesight, and the eyesight comes to be qualified as piercing, just as does the eyesight of the person near death. God says, We have unveiled from you your covering, so your eyesight today is piercing (50:22). The person near death sees what those who sit with him do not. He reports to his sitting companions what he sees and perceives and he reports truthfully, but those present see nothing, just as they do not see the angels and spirituals who are with them in the same session. The arts of tanzh in poetry suggested the definition of the garden space and all the qualities it stands for by means of its opposites. The below verses from the 16th c. poet Zatis gazel are a good example to explain the arts of tanzh:63 Ka med kaddi elif yru inde Zt Dmanu kmetini dl idben ad itdm is translated as; Before the beloved, with her eyebrow like a med and body like an elif By bending the enemys body like a dal, I made a name for myself These verses suggest that the poet tries to identify the garden space and everything it houses by things that are actually exterior to the garden space. In this particular example, the poet makes use of the body of the enemy from outside the

63

Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, 173.

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garden. Zati uses the form of the enemys body and molds it into a new form that stands for his own name. Andrews suggests that the poets use of an element outside the protected world of the private garden was a very common tradition. Thus, gazel poems, depicting the protected ideal worlds of the Ottoman cosmology, the interior spaces of the ideal gardens; also suggested the presence of other spaces exterior to them. According to Andrews, this way of giving exterior reference to an interior realm, had become one of the most important motives of Ottoman poetic tradition. It also suggested the existence of opposing worlds, the interior and the exterior, to acknowledge and to explain one another. Returning back to Yahyas gazel already quoted, by illustrating the wine serving Saki, pleasant tasting wine served, wine cup and days of spring, the poem portrays the blessed qualities of the interior space, the garden, and as well the private garden party. However, the poet also reminds their temporality, suggesting their absence in the exterior world. In the next two verses, Yahya uses the word of the Beloved and the union with the terms of separation and going from hand. Here he again suggests the ideal concept of the union with the Beloved within the garden as opposed to the absence of this union in the exterior realm:64 Oh Saki, give me wine for the days of spring are soon gone out of hand The time of the seal of the cup of pleasant tasting wine will soon be gone out of hand . Oh Yahya, union with the Beloved is the motive of separation Do not be heedless, for the skirt of union with the beloved goes from hand This action of referring the interior and exterior realms is even more obvious in Necatis gazel with mystic and religious connotations. Here, in order to express his
64

Ibid., 123.

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love for the Beloved, Necati compares Him, the impassioned one to the people of the world. He uses the opposing terms of harm of the exterior realm together with the beauty of the interior. He compares the imaginary posture of God, the beloved and his graceful way of walking to the humble postures of the tree of Paradise and the heart captivating cypress. Necati simply illustrates the perfect realm of God as an interior domain, to the imperfect realm of the world, which is the exterior domain:65 The people of the world are on one side, this impassioned one on another I will not give up being near to you for all the world If you say never let anything harm perfect beauty Oh, ruler of the world, do not withdraw alone by yourself, like the sunset Though they looked they did not find anything matching your graceful way of walking The tree of Paradise went one way, the heart captivating cypress went another The best example to illustrate the association of the opposing domains of the cosmological hierarchy is a painting from the 16th c. Persian miniatures from Sultan Ibrahim Mizras Haft Awrang (folio 179b).66 This painting portrays the interiorexterior duality explicitly (Figure 39). The painting shows a garden enclosed by high brick walls. Inside the walls there is a blissful garden planted with cypresses, fruit trees and all kinds of flowers. Exterior, the painting depicts a beggar who represents the misery of the outside world. The owner of the garden invites a city-dweller to his garden to attend a garden party. In the background, beautiful young boys enjoy a garden party. The city-dweller who is surprised by the beauty of the garden gets jealous. Instead of
65

Ibid., 75. Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 52-53.

66

149

attending the garden party, he damages the garden. He tries to tear down the trees and breaks their branches. The city-dweller is dressed as a vulgar person, while the owner of the garden is well-dressed and elegant. This painting clearly portrays the two opposite domains of the cosmological hierarchy, the interior and the exterior. The interior realm is symbolized by a paradise like garden and it houses all the blissful and superior qualities. The interior world is prosperous. The ones inside the garden are well-mannered and beautiful. The exterior realm is symbolized by the deprived city and it houses all the deprived and inferior qualities. The ones in the exterior realm are badmannered and hideous.

REAL SPACES

The Sultans palace was a well protected garden symbolizing his authority. It displayed imperial power in its gardens. All the elements within the imperial garden add up to the representation of the paradise garden on earth, ruled by the Ottoman Sultan. Other places, other imperial gardens and imperial mosques also displayed the power of the Ottoman rule by using garden metaphors. Thus, each one of the spaces commissioned by the Ottoman court became expressions of the imperial power and the Ottoman cosmology that anchored earthly order to the celestial order; subjects of the Sultan to his rule. Evliya elebi narrates that there were forty imperial gardens, but he only lists about twenty of them as the foremost known gardens: Sarayburnu has bahe with eighty thousand gardeners, Fitneky Garden built during the Beyazd II (14811512); gardens of Siyavu Paa, Davud Paa, Silivri, Harami River, skender elebi, and Halkal Garden built by Architect Sinan on the European side during the sultanate of Sleyman I (1520-1566); Tokat, Sultaniye, ubuklu, Kandilli, Haydarpaa gardens on the Asian side; Istavroz, skdar, Fener gardens built by

150

architect Sinan; Mir-gne Garden in Kathane built by Murad IV (1623-1640); Tersane Garden, Karaaa Gaden, Dolmabahe, Bykdere, and amlca gardens. The imperial Tersane Garden was located in Hasky, and was a favorable site since the Byzantine period. Evliya elebi describes the garden with many pavilions, pools, fountains, rooms, and records that twelve thousand cypress trees were planted on this imperial garden in grid pattern. Fatih Sultan Mehmed had planted seven cypresses himself. Tokat and Sultaniye gardens of the Sultan were located at Beykoz. Fatih Sultan Mehmed, who heard the news about the capture of Tokat while he was hunting in Beykoz, ordered the building of a garden similar to the Garden of Iram to be named as the Garden of Tokat. Evliya elebi records that a low pavilion, pool and an ornamental fountain was built at the site which was surrounded by fenestration similar to the city walls of Tokat. Evliya gives us evidence that the garden was probably located on a hillside that was approached by a road in the valley, with trees planted on both sides. Further down in the valley, there were other promenades; Akbaba Sultan, l-i Bahdr, Alemda, Koyun Korusu, Y nebi. The sultaniye Garden, described as a rosegarden similar to the paradise by Evliya elebi, was built by Beyazd II (1481-1512) on the shoreline of Bosphorus. During the sultanate of Murad III (1574-1595), a pavilion was constructed with the building materials of a former pavilion that was located in one of the Turcoman provinces close to Tabriz. A commanders of Murad III had had carried all these materials from the east and presented the dome, windows, window frames and shutters of the Turcoman pavilion to the Sultan. The new pavilion, which had illustrative paintings of animals, and other artful decorations inside was overlooking the sea, and was surrounded by a garden67. Ogier de Busbecq, who had been to Istanbul several times during the period of 1554-1562 records his excursions in Istanbul and its environs. In 1555, he

67

Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, vol 1.

151

accounts for lavender fields at skdar68 and describes imperial country-houses and parks:69 I had a delightful excursion, and was allowed to enter several of the Sultans country-houses, places of pleasure and delight. On the folding doors of one of them I saw a vivid representation of the famous battle of Selim against Ismael, King of Persia. I also saw numerous parks belonging to the Sultan situated in charming valleys. What homes for the Nymphs! What abodes of the Muses! What places for studious retirement! Salomon Schweigger, who traveled to Istanbul in the late 16th c. also recorded the numerous imperial gardens of Istanbul, and the Sultans travels to these gardens by the imperial boat.
70

Lubenau who traveled to Istanbul at the end of the 16th c.

also accounts for numerous gardens along the Bosphorus:71 On my tour I saw on both shores of Bosphorus many exquisite and beautiful gardens built in the Turkish manner with palaces (palatio) and pleasure houses (lustheuser), which were planted with exteremly beautiful tulips (tulipanis) in a medley of colors and an abundance of Turkish flowers. These gardens and palaces, which lie beneath beautiful mountains and hills, belong to the pashas and grandees From a 16th c. anonymous European album (a watercolor (1588) from Oxford University, Bodleian Library, ms. Bod. Or. 430, fol. 2r.) Necipolu identifies seven gardens along the Bosphorus, both on the European and the Asian sides; the Topkap Palace gardens planted with cypresses, skdar Garden surrounding the
68

The Turkish Letters of Ogier de Busbecq Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople 1554-

1562, tran. From the Latin Elzevier Edition of 1633 by E. S. Forster (Oxford, UK: The Clarendon Press, 1968, c. 1927), 43.
69

Ibid., 39-40. Glru Necipolu, "The Suburban Landscape of Sixteenth Century Istanbul as a Mirror of

70

Classical Ottoman Garden Culture," in Gardens in the Time of Great Muslim Empires, ed. by Attilio Petruccioli (Leiden, New York; Koln: Brill, 1997), 32-33.
71

Ibid., 33.

152

Kavak Palace built in 1550's out of independent kiosks and pavilions, Tower Garden at engelky, Kandilli Garden, Karabali Garden at Kabata built during the reign of Sultan Selim (1566-74), gardens of the Palace of the Grand Admiral Hasan Pasha at Beikta, and royal gardens at Rumelihisar. The Tower Garden (Kule Bahesi) and the Sultaniye Kiosk were both dated to the time of Sleyman I. The Tower Garden which was used as a hunting garden mainly, was deconstructed in 1722 and stones from its walls were reused in the construction of the Sadabad Palace at Kathane. Antoine Galland who traveled to Istanbul in 1672-73, was impressed by the splendor and original plan of the Sultaniye kiosk and described it as "This pavillion has no equal in the world, it owes its beauty to its position at the edge of the sea." 72 The Topkap Palace is an example for the garden of worldly authority. From the most private to the most public, the palace is made out of three enclosed courtyards. At the end of the third courtyard, there are two passages to a cascaded garden. The top part of the cascaded garden is a continuation of the Sultans Private lodge, his living quarter, known as the Privy Chamber (Figures 55-58). A larger garden surrounds the whole palace complex, including the cascaded private garden of the Sultan, stretching from the central palace complex to the outer periphery defined by the fortified walls of the palace, Sur-i Sultani of 1400 meters, which forms the boundary between the city (both the built fabric, and the sea, Golden Horn and the Marmara) and the central palace complex. The gardens, like the palace are refurbished with all kinds of macrocosmic references, in an attempt to embody all the gardens of the macrocosmic hierarchy, from the Universal world, to the individual world. Just like the walls surrounding the whole complex had twenty-eight towers resembling the twenty-eight days of the moon calendar, the fourth court, as the most private garden of the Sultan, attached to his bedroom complex, the Privy Chamber was once surrounded by a perforated
72

Ibid., 37.

153

wall which had seven belvedere towers, again associating the space with astrological connotations. The private garden of the Sultan embellished with pavilions and belvedere towers, located on the top of a cascaded garden, refers both to the story of the Persian legend Bahram Gurs love stories in seven pavilions within an imperial garden as depicted in the Haft Paykar73, and to the hanging gardens of Babylon. The resemblance of the palace garden to the Paradise Garden, or to the King Solomons Garden of Iram was repeated many times by the Ottoman historians, and poets.74 The 15th c. historian Idris Bidlisi illustrates the Sultan and his pages, and his harem, enjoying the terraced gardens ornamented with all kinds of fountains, vineyards, and pavilions, that the gardens resemble the heavenly Paradise Garden adorned with all kinds of wonders, in which the houris and ghilman enjoy themselves. Evliya elebi cites this garden as the Garden of Iram, built and organized surrounding the whole palace complex, in which twenty thousand cypress, plane, juniper, and pine trees, box plants had been planted together with hundreds of fruit trees.75 Other historians, Tursun Bey, Kemalpaazade, poets Cafer elebi, and Hamidi compares the gardens of the
73

In the legendary story of Haft Paykar, which main character, the emperor Bahram Gur

travels in his imperial gardens, visiting his seven lovers, each day of the week, who are living in seven different pavilions of seven different colors of black, yellow, silvery green, red, turquoise blue, sandal-wood colored, white pavilions. The weekly journey of Bahram Gur symbolizes the Sufi idea regarding the progress of soul through seven stages. So each pavilion visited one after another on consequent days of the week addresses to the seven planets (Saturn, sun, moon, mars, mercury, Jupiter, venus) establishing a macrocosmic order within which the soul progresses from darkness to purification. Grace Guest, Shiraz Painting in the Sixteenth Century (Washington, DC: The Lord Baltimore Press), 43-44
74

Glru Necipolu Architecture, Ceremonial and Power The Topkap Palace in the

Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991), 201.
75

Evliya elebi, Evliya elebi Seyahatnamesi, vol. 1, 113-114.

154

palace to the Paradise garden, referring to the different elements that made up the garden. The well watered garden with its decorated fountains, marble pools; with a variety of flowers, roses, cultivated and wild tulips, hyacinth, jasmine, fragrant herbs, and fruit tress, cypresses, and pines occupying the same garden with floral ornamentations of the lavishly decorated pavilions located freely in the garden resemble the Paradise Garden.76 The palace garden was also the garden of Islam itself. The garden was used for the expression of the imperial power, embracing elements of all the different worlds, as a collection of all the natural and cultural realms, which the Ottoman rule covers. This garden called Paradise Garden by many historian and poets, had different artifacts symbolizing the lands captured. It was recorded that Mehmed II had built three pavilions on the west side of the garden, overlooking the city and the Golden Horn, around a courtyard called Kumlu Meydan. These three pavilions were believed to symbolize the three kingdoms, which the Ottoman embodies, and named after the three kingdoms of the Greek, the Turkish, and the Persian. Similarly Revan Kk was completed in 1636, after the capture of Erivan, captured in 1653. Bagdat Kk was built after the second capture of Bagdad in 1638. Similarly, when the Ottoman culture was under the influence of European cultures, Mecidiye Kk was designed in European style, built by Abdlmecid, in the late 19th century. 77 The garden also accommodated Byzantine heritage with a display of several artifacts and architecture like, monastery of St. Demetrius, a Byzantine chapel probably the Church of St. John, the column of Goth and various sarcophagi. The natural world ruled under the Ottoman rule was also displayed in the gardens. The three worlds of the natural realm, the minerals, animals, and plants were also a part of the garden. There were a variety of animals, wild or tamed, that were kept
76

Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial and Power, 201. Ibid, 201.

77

155

in different parts of the bigger garden surrounding the palace complex in three dimensions. Domesticated birds, fowls, deer, does, roe deer, foxes, hares, sheep, goats, Indian cows were among the kind of animals to be found in the palace gardens. In a special marshy pond, there were ducks and geese. The horses were kept in the stables. 78 There were many kinds of plants, including fruit trees and vegetables. Just like the flowers were sold together with baskets of fruits in the market, outside the palace, fruit trees were occupying the same garden with the various kinds of tulips, roses, hyacinth, and carnations. Various types of these flowers are known that had been imported from other provinces outside Istanbul, by order of the Sultan.79 Flowers were mainly grown in beds surrounded by red wooden fences. Different flowers of different colors were cultivated within the same bed. The flowers were also a part of the imperial collection, the treasury. Orange trees and grape vines were among the most preferred fruits. Travelers accounted for different types of grapes grown in the palace garden that it was possible to taste from the variety of grapes every season. The palace garden had its own ecology. The interior of it was considered as a depository of all the territory in terms of nature and culture, under the OttomanIslamic rule. Second it was a stage for the display of the new character of the Ottoman authority, compiled from the Persian, Greek, and Turkish cultures. Third,
78

Ibid., 201. Ahmet Refik cites two imperial orders in the late 17th century requesting for the import of

79

50,000 white, and 50,000 sky colored hycanith (gk snbl soan) bulbs from the planes and mountains of Mara, 400 kantar red rose (krmz gl) and 300 kantar white rose (sakz gl) to the gardens of the Palace; Ahmet Refik, Hicri Onbirinci Asrda Istanbul Hayat (1000-1100) (Istanbul: Devlet Matbass, 1931), 3, 9. Earlier accounts from the era of Sleyman I accounts for the orders to bring in tulip bulbs from Caffa (1527-28); pomegrenate trees from from Aleppo and Diyarbakr. Another financial record of 1579 cites importing hyacinth bulbs from Uzeyr; Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial and Power, 202.

156

it accommodated garden spaces, where the Sultan would host parties overlooking the rest of the city, from the belvederes, or pavilions built in the new Ottoman heritage. Fourth, it included the Sultans most private garden, entered from his bedroom, the Privy Chamber, where he enjoyed himself with his household. The Sultan would expel gardeners from gardens, when he wanted to enjoy privacy with his concubines. The interior of the garden space was a dynamic world in harmony. This harmony was maintained partially by the service of the gardeners of about 200 young men in total. These gardeners were grouped into nine corps, each one identified with a different colored belt. The dormitory located within the walls surrounding the palace.80 The best example to illustrate Zatis poetic artistry is the building of a pavilion in the gardens of the palace, whose style is composed as an eclectic composition out of the styles of the imperial friends and enemies of the Ottoman. It is still debatable whether the kiosk resembling a paradise in the garden refers to this or that culture. The Persian pavilion named the Tiled Pavilion (inili Kk, Sra Saray) completed in 1472, was built in the style of the Timurid palaces with a cruciform plan, inscribed in Persian, and ornamented with the cut-tiles probably by Khurasani tilecutters, or the masters of Tabriz who were brought from Tabriz. It was a large pavilion and some historians refer to it as a palace. The Tiled Pavilion resembles the Timurid Hast Bihest (Eight Paradises) in Tabriz, built in the honor of ruler Uzun Hasan of the Akkoyunlu Dynasty. As according to the accounts of travelers, it had narrative murals painted on its walls depicting reception ceremonies, hunting scenes, military campaigns.81 It was used for the Sultans parties.

80

Each corp had a separate kitchen and a bath; Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial and

Power, 207.
81

Ibid., 217.

157

The below poem by Ahmed Pasha claims the Tiled Pavilion to be superior to the paradise garden:82 O celestial pavilion! O exalted vault! In every respect, the paradisical sanctuary resembles its gate There is no roof in heaven as prosperous as yours There is no court in paradise as lofty as yours The noble rank of your threshold is the exalted seat, And your gate, the eternal destination, is the ultimate aim The seven skies are a footing to your palace of ascent The nine great (celestial) domes, a vault to your iwan The cypress on your wall that the artist painted Was likened to the Tuba Tree of Paradise Is this a pool, or the fountain of the sun which warms the world? Is this a court, or the polished glass which sees the world? The garden was separated from the city by the hierarchical use of space within the palace complex and by walls. The palace walls were the literal boundary between the interior and the exterior of the garden space. They were built for reasons of security, for seclusion and privacy. In Tezkiretl-Bnyan, Sinan acknowledges the role of architecture in the Muslim tradition. He asserts that like the Kaaba, architecture should guide the human being from the phenomenal world to the gardens of paradise. He stresses the architects duty to lead the society through his architecture like building a bridge between the two worlds, here and after as the bridge leading from this world to the
82

Hamadeh, Architectural Sensibility, 226-27; translated from Kaside beray- saray-

cedid, dated 1456 or 1465.

158

gardens of paradise.83 Architecture becomes like a poem where each architectural element, either columns, fountains, domes, vaults or other elements act similar to words in a poem. Each element in space incites imaginative faculties and encourages the individual to pursue his quest for divine knowledge, similar to words which each initiates a journey between meaning and form. The below verses express the writers concern about poetry in a book of building:84 Words are the fruits of the garden of meaning Words are a river of exuberance Words are meaningful and measured Enchant whoever might listen These are the words of generous men He who is perfect appreciates the worth of the perfect man Knowledge is a bottomless sea Its accompaniment a bright pearl Those who journey by ship find mother of pearl in the depths Others gather pots and jars at its edge If divers descend to the seabed If they fill bags with pearls Sometimes pearls of eternal beauty Sometimes the flotsam of the sea is revealed Likewise original poetry is the gift of God Can every drop of April rain be a pearl No poem is perfect and beyond reproach No rose without thorns blooms in the worlds garden

83

S Mustafa elebi, Book of Buildings Tezkiretl-Bnyan and Tezkiretl-Ebniye

Memoirs of Sinan the Architect, trans. by Hayati Develi (Istanbul: MAS Matbaaclk A.., 2002), 29.
84

Ibid., 33-34.

159

Necipolu, also presents architect Sinan with qualities of a poet in reference to the tectonics of his architecture. Though her argument develops with different paradigms and concerns than this study, where she studies the eclectic style of the architect with his references to historical works of architecture like Hagia Sophia, her claim to consider the architect as a poet who refers to other poems, questions the association of the arts of poetry and the arts of space:85 His imperial mosques can therefore be seen as architectural counterparts of emulative poems called nazres, which were composed on the model of admired exemplars in order to invite a competitive comparison. Built during the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire, they proclaim imperial achievement, the triumph of Islam, and the role of the architect in codifying the canons of a historically conscious architecture expressing a glorious epoch. ehzade Mosque Zeh l binay- Cennet-s completed in 1548, is compared to the paradise with its refreshing air and pure water.86 The mosque is described having colorful vaults, which the architect compares to the rainbow, and its serene interior is compared to the delightful space of mesire. The progress of the construction and the high-rising domes are described similar to the waves of the sea. 87 The columns represent cypresses in a garden: 88 Do not mistake the marble pillars erected in the garden They are cypresses of beloved countenance rising to watch

85

Glru Necipolu-Kafadar, The Emulation of Past in Sinans Imperial Mosques,

Uluslararas Mimar Sinan Sempozyumu Bildirileri Ankara Ekim 1988 (Ankara: TTK, 1996), 177-189.
86

Metin Szen and S. Saati, Mimar Sinan ve Tezkiret-l Bnyan (Istanbul: Emlak

Bankas, 1989), 63.

Snmez, Mimar Sinan, 40-41; 60-62. S Mustafa elebi, Book of Buildings, 43; Szen and Saati, Mimar Sinan, 62.

88

160

Sleymaniye mosque is compared to a book. When the mosque is completed, the architect presents it to the Sultan as a book to guide the ones who are in quest for the divine knowledge:89 Thank be my Sultan that God Made for you an illustrious mosque Take this, the key of the house of God It is the guide to enlightened travelers Each of its double doors is like a book Through which surely a door will open for you The building of the Sleymaniye mosque is again depicted with metaphors of paradise garden. The construction of the central space is compared to a cypress tree growing in the garden of Islam. The four columns supporting the main dome represent the four caliphs. The domes are described as similar to the waves decorating the sea, and its central dome similar to a painting drawn on the sky. Further the interior space of the mosque is illustrated as a beautiful garden of spring, where the colorful and ornamented glass of the windows similar to the rainbows as they glitter in different colors by the changing sunlight throughout the day.90 The mosque is described as a paradise garden that would host the meeting of the lovers, thus the mystics, the friends of the divine being:91 The mosque has become a place where lovers of pleasure meet A place like paradise that gladdens the spirit Similarly, Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is also compared to paradise garden: 92
89

S Mustafa elebi, Book of Buildings, p. 75. Snmez, Mimar Sinan , 50-51. S Mustafa elebi, Book of Buildings, 71. Ibid., 96.

90

91

92

161

Every corner is a (rose) garden of paradise, with spring adornments Its cursive inscriptions like the river of selsebil The praying time is also depicted with reference to a garden. The minarets are depicted as cypresses endowed with birds nests. The prayers call as if sung by the angels is heard from these nests, like a nightingales chanting in a rose garden: When the beautiful angels of resounding voice gather To nest like doves at the summit of the cypress trees From all four minarets melodies in the modes of neva and pengh Like nightingales invite the world to this rose garden The tomb of Sultan Sleyman in the garden of Sleymaniye is accounted for as a dome within the vineyards, fruit gardens, and rose plots, similar to the paradise garden93 Similarly, the inscription on the tomb of Murad III, which is located in the garden of Hagia Sophia, also identifies the space as a paradise garden.94 There are also allusions to the paradise garden in the 17th c. Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I. In Baharriye Kasidesi, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque is cherished for giving more pleasure than a rose garden, or a mesire.95 The below poem composes celebrates the entrance of the Sultan to the mosque, depicting the interior as a paradise garden: 96 How can I not call this place of worship the rose garden of paradise? When seeing its form, the forlorn heart blossomed open like a rose
93

Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, 43. Ibid., 46. Crane, Risale-i Mimariye, 73. Ibid., 74.

94

95

96

162

The mosque is depicted with allusions to a real garden planted with cypresses, plane and fir trees, fruit trees and palm trees, with colorful flowers of tulips and jasmine, where at one of its corners there is a rose garden : 97 It is like the garden of heaven to the community of worshipers Its every joy-filled corner gives pleasure to the heart The sacred excursion spot is a charming rose garden Oh God, the flowers in the marble are the image of the beloved Within are the flames of the lamps not tulips? Is not the lamp a bush of Iram, are not the lights the leaf of the jasmine? The spouted fountain is a caged nightingale For like the nightingale, it continually produces a pleasing sound Its columns in their stature are the cypress or the fir The throne of the high mahfil is the spreading branch of the plane tree Each of its columns is a tall palm trunk And the appereance of its clusters of lamps is like fruits In the Essasiye Kaside in Risalet-l Mimariye, the architectural features of the mosque are compared to the elements of the typal world; sun, rainbow, stars, Mount Sinai, nightingale, and the rose garden:98 Lightning struck the golden realm of the sun and the revolving sphere with gold And caused the vault of heaven again to manifest a halo of light The rainbow assumed the delightful form of the mihrab . You might suppose that Mount Sinai became an artfully fashioned minbar In which illumination from God was made manifest The lofty mountains became here and there rare mahfils The beautiful-voiced hafz is the nightingale of the rose garden
97

Ibid., 73-76. Ibid., 65.

98

163

The Sultans breast is depicted as a garden, and his heart as a rose. The individual breast, which symbolizes the most private sphere in the cosmological hierarchy of gardens, is mentioned as a locale in the structure of spheres, where the space of the mosque is also depicted within the Garden of Islam: 99 May his heart blossom like an open bud So long as the sun traverses the garden of this world The mosque, the abode of Islam as protected by the Sultan is presented in the center of the world of Islam100: The world became like a mosque with its star candles The sun and the moon are the two bright candles to the mosque of the world . The mosque of the ruler of the World made known his image The Shadow of the unique and eternal God, His Majesty Sultan Ahmed And as located in the city of Istanbul, which is considered as an interiorized space within the cosmological hierarchy:101 This abode became pleasant and airy like paradise From time to time the gentle morning breezes visit it Its qibla is the sea, it faces the Hippodrome In addition on every side is the prosperity of the city and the bazaar And beside the mosque there remain many more (fine) places (in the city) Where quarters like that might be built and great cities might be
99

Ibid., 76. Ibid., 65. Ibid., 66.

100

101

164

What is left outside the circle of the House of Islam, are the non-believers, the rebels, or the heretics of other Islamic orders:102 When, along with your majesty, they saw your success and faith and sword Bans, and kings and unbelievers prostrated themselves before you And if the heretic Shah accepts not the true religion If he asks not forgiveness for his crime and mutiny Our hope is that with the help of God severing his head With the blow of a sword, the commander causes him to prostrate himself in worship In Baharriye Kasidesi, the space of the Sultan Ahmet mosque, referring to its decorations, the choice and quality of building materials, its architectural elements, and the underlying geometry, is depicted as being a symbol for the garden of paradise:103 The entire artifice is naught but a symbol In it are many of these unique sorts of creations The interior space of the mosque with all its inscriptions is compared to a poem. The space, with the presence of the verse, is transformed into a paradise garden, similar to the perception of the other architectural features, which represent the natural elements of the Paradise. The author reminds the legendary poems that were written in gold, and hung from the door of Kaba, that were called the Suspended Odes. 104

102

Ibid., 67. Ibid., 74. Ibid., 75.

103

104

165

Now those who see this pure verse (the mosque) would think it to be a garden plot Purple violets became letters and the lily a scroll This is not a garden plot but the Suspended Seven Odes The verses inscribed within the dome within a circle represent the borders of the mosque and its perfected symbolism: 105 None (but the Aga) can give such splendor to the flowers of the rose garden He who seized the pen drew the border as though a compass were in hand Let none write a single letter in addition to this description Such rubbish would simply become a fetter to the rose garden

CONCLUSION

Private gardens and private garden parties anchored imperial authority and social hierarchy in order to sustain the social order. In this understanding, gardens were described as enclosed private spaces which stimulated imagination that would only serve to sustain a static cosmological order. Gardens and representations of gardens in different mediums, in the decoration of mosques, tombstones, and even clothing became symbols of imperial ideology, asserting imperial authority associated with divine power as asserted by the Shariah Law and practiced by the Ottoman monarchy. Istanbul as the capital of the Ottoman Empire, planted with numerous gardens and decorated with representations of gardens and floral ornamentation, turned into a space of this ideological manifestation. It suggested the imperial and religious
105

Ibid., 75.

166

spaces of the city as a paradise, as interior and blessed spaces of the cosmological hierarchy. Garden rituals enabled real gardens to accommodate ideal gardens. Gazel poems read in garden rituals depicted imaginary gardens of other Near Eastern imperial traditions, as depicted in story books, Ottoman genealogies, and in different kinds of art form and as well brought ideal gardens of the Paradise as narrated in religious texts. Garden parties constantly referred to the real world as an exterior space. They created a duality between interior spaces and exterior spaces. Though garden rituals were considered to be activities to practice the faculty of imagination, their static order hindered novelty and innovation, failed supporting the development of individuality.

167

Table 1: Hierarchy in Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry UNIIVERSAL WORLD UN VERSAL WORLD
interior TRUE REALITY interior TYPAL WORLD interior HOUSE OF ISLAM interior CENTER interior COURT ELITE interior PRIVATE LIFE

exterior
the world

exterior phenomenall worlld phenomena wor d exterior

exterior
provinces

exterior
public

exterior
public life

IINDIIVIIDUAL WORLD ND V DUAL WORLD

168

Table 2: Ideal Spaces of Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry UNIVERSAL WORLD
interior TRUE REALITY interior TYPAL WORLD interior HOUSE OF ISLAM interior CENTER interior COURT ELITE interior PRIVATE LIFE

exterior
the world

exterior phenomenall worlld phenomena wor d exterior

exterior
provinces

exterior
public

exterior
public life

INDIVIDUAL WORLD

169

Table 3: Real Spaces of Classical Ottoman Cosmology According to Walter Andrews Analysis of Ottoman Gazel Poetry UNIVERSAL WORLD
interior TRUE REALITY interior TYPAL WORLD interior HOUSE OF ISLAM interior CENTER interior COURT ELITE interior PRIVATE LIFE

exterior
the world

exterior phenomenal world exterior

exterior
provinces

exterior
public

exterior
public life

INDIVIDUAL WORLD

170

Table 4: An Example Illustrating the Arts of Gazel in Zatis Verses According to Walter Andrews Analysis

Ka med
Eyebrows like med

kaddi elif
body like elif

yru inde Zt
whom Zati stands in front of

Dmanu kmetini dl idben

ad itdm
name

like a dl

I did make a

for my fame

171

Figure 22. Sultans garden party, in Klliyt- Ktib (1444-1481), TSM R. 989, folio 93a, reproduced from Tannd, Trk Minyatr Sanat, 9.

172

Figure 23. Garden party at the Edirne Palace, in Hamse-I Hsrev Dehlev I (1498), TSM H799, folio 186b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 232.

173

Figure 24. Paper Cut Garden (detail), in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 73.

174

Figure 25. Sultan Sleyman and his son enjoying a garden party, in Sleymanname (15201566), TSM H1517, folio 477b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 156.

175

Figure 26. The Amir Osman with his court, from Private Collection of Hans P. Kraus (Istanbul, c. 1550), folio 56b, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 224.

176

Figure 27. Garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 16a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 50.

177

Figure 28. Harem enjoying a garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 14a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 158.

178

Figure 29. Garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 19a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 157.

179

Figure 30. Poetry reading at a meadow, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM B408, folio 28a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 159.

180

Figure 31. Sultan Murad IV hosts a garden party, in Album of Ahmed I (1603-1617), TSM H21488, folio 11b, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 71.

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Figure 32. Garden party hosting Christian nobles, in Hamse-i Atayi (1721), Baltimore Walters Art Museum W666, folio 138a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 53.

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Figure 33. A father advises his son about love, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 52a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 26.

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Figure 34. A father advises his son about love : The Poet (detail), in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 52a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 26.

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Figure 35. The gnostic has a vision of Angels carrying trays of light to the poet Sad, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 147a, reproduced from Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 44.

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Figures 36. Pages from Muhibb Divan, K T5467, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 137.

186

Figure 37. Thoughtful Man : An Intellectual at a Garden, Mughal painting of 1610 in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reproduced from Desai, Life at Court, 23.

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Figure 38. Arts of Tashbih (Comparison by Similarities): Angels and mystics enjoying in the garden. Allegory of Drunkenness, in Divan of Hafiz (16th c.), Private collection, TL 17443-5, reproduced from Angelis and Lentz, Architecture in Islamic Painting, 21.

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Figure 39. Arts of Tanzih (Comparison by Negation): Destruction of the Garden, in Sultan Ibrahim Mirzas Haft Awrang, folio 179a, reproduced From Shreve Simpson, Persian Poetry, Painting and Patronage, 53.

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Figure 40. Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 73.

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I. Intersecting axis of the page and the garden space.

II. Main axis and the cypress tree in the center.

III. Main symmetry axis and the cypress trees shifted from the axis.

Figure 41; I-III. Complication of Vision. Analysis of Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426.

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IV. Main symmetry axis and a first couple of cypress trees.

V. Main symmetry axis and a second couple of cypress trees.

VI. Main symmetry axis and a third couple of cypress trees.

Figure 41; IV-VI. Complication of Vision. Analysis of Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426.

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VII. Location of cypresses and other kinds of trees in relation to main axis.

Figure 41; VI. Complication of Vision. Analysis of Paper Cut Garden in Efanc Mehmed Album (1565), IK F1426.

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Figure 42. Celestial Map

Figure 43. Adam and Eve

Figure 44. Joseph and Jacob

Figure 45. Noahs Ark

in Lokmans Zbdett - Tevrh (1583), TSM H1321.

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Figure 46. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Hdr and Hz. lyas, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

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Figure 47. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Idris reading who invented writing and reading, Hz. Cemid holding a wine cup who invented wine, and Hz. Nuh, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

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Figure 48. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Yusuf of Egypt, Hz. Eyyub, Hz. Yusuf, Rstem Zal, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett - Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

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Figure 49. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Prophets, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett - Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

198

Figure 50. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Hz. Mohammed and his caliphs, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett - Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

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Figure 51. Section from Ottoman Genealogy. Ottoman Sultans; Orhan Gazi, Murat I, Beyazd I, Mehmed I, in Mustafa Sfis Zbdett Tevrh (1598), Chester Beatty Library.

200

Figure 52. Body as Garden. Sultan Selim II, arching, wearing a floral kaftan, TSM H2134, folio 3a reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 88.

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Figure 53. Palace as garden. Topkap Palace Second Court in Hnername (c. 1584), TSM H1524, folio 237b, in Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 247.

202

Figure 54. City as garden. Istanbul, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Martrak Nasuh (1537), T5964, folios 8b and 9a.

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Figure 55. Plan of the Topkap Palace. Hypothetical Reconstruction of the palace grounds in the nineteenth century. Drawing from Eldem and Akozan, Topkap, reproduced from Glru Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power The Topkap Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991), 270.

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Key to the plan of the Topkap Palace: Courts from the most public to the most private: A: First Court; B: Second Court; C: Third Court; D: The Terraced Hanging Garden 1: Imperial Gate; 2: Octagonal Tower; 3: Gate of the Stables; 4: Gate of the Cool Fountain; 5: Dodecagonal Tower; 6: Octagonal Tower of the Royal Band; 7: Iron Gate; 8: Dormitory of Novices; 9: Wood storehouse and workshop of mat makers 10: St. Irene; 11: Imperial Warehouse; 12: Gate; 13: Tower; 14: Gates of the Stables; 15: Site of the hospital for pages and the launderers; 16: Gate; 17: Royal Bakery; 18: Water Tower; 19: Waterworks and related workshops; 20: Gate connecting the first court to the kitchens; 21: Middle Gate; 22: Gate of Felicity; 23: Gate from the Sultans private garden to the lower terrace garden; 24: Gate connecting the hanging garden to the outer garden; 25: Gate to the outer garden; 26: Goths Column; 27: Site of a late summer palace and gardens; 28: Site of Ishak Pasha Pavillion; 29: Site of the Corps of the Windmill; bakery, hospital for gardeners, and the gardeners mosque; 30: gate of the Windmill; 31: Pearl Kiosk and the Holy Spring of Christos Sotiros; 32: Sports open area; 33: Glhane Kiosk; 34: Glhane Gate; 35: antique cistern used as an arsenal; 36: Menagerie; 37: Former Byzantine chapel converted into aviary; 38: Fishing Station; 39-40: Site of the recent Archeological museum; 41: Tiled Kiosk; 42: Harem gate opening to the Tiled Kiosk; 43: Hanging garden; 44: Shore Kiosk; 45: Basketmakers Kiosk; 46: Workshops; 47: Dormitory of gardeners and the Green Tiled Mosque; 48: Cannon Gate; 49: Marble Kiosk.

Figure 56. Key of to the plan of the the Topkap Palace, reproduced from Necipolu, Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power, 271.

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Figure 57. Topkap Palace, 2. Court in Hnername I ( c. 1584), TSM H1523, folios 18b-19a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 246.

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Figure 58. Topkap Palace, Harem, in Hnername I (c. 1584), TSM H1523, folios 231b232a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 251.

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CHAPTER IV

SPACES OF CITY RITUALS (1512-1732)

The ehrengiz genre offers poems depicting cities and their beautiful young guild boys. They are written in the mesnevi form. Agah Srr Levend lists forty-nine mesnevis classified as ehrengiz poems. The first mesnevi composed in 1493 and the last four mesnevis composed at the late 18th c. do not actually belong to the genre. They are only similar to ehrengiz poems. In this perspective, there are forty-four ehrengiz poems in total, narrating seventeen different cities and provinces. The first ehrengiz was composed in 1512 and the last one was composed around 1732. Out of forty-four poems, eleven poems depict the city of Istanbul. One of the eleven poems about Istanbul is in Persian, and two others are lost. Thirteen poems depict cities and provinces of Thracia and the Balkans, including Edirne, Siroz, Yeniehir, Yenice, Vize, orlu, Gelibolu and Belgrad. Fifteen poems depict cities and provinces of Anatolia and further east, including Bursa, Antakya, Manisa, Rize, Sinop, Beray- Takpr, Kashan and Diyarbakr. Five poems depict unidentified cities. The first and the last ehrengiz depict two cities to the west of Istanbul. The first one depicts the city of Edirne. The last one depicts the city of Yeniehir. In the last ehrengiz which was written before 1732, the poet Vahid Mahtumi Mehmed describes his discontent concerning the period and explains that he was forced to flee to Yeniehir. Though this study aims to focus on ehrengiz poems about the city of Istanbul, it will also investigate the reasons why the genre was established and finalized outside the city of Istanbul, in a specific geographical region of the Thracia and the Balkans.

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CITY RITUALS

Table 5: List of ehrengiz Poems Analyzed

Date 1512 1513 1520s 1520s 1534 1540s Before 1562 Before 1566 1564 Before 1585 Before 1674 Mesh Katib

Poet

Related City, or Cities Edirne Istanbul, Vize, orlu Edirne Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul Istanbul Edirne

Talcal Yahya Talcal Yahya Fakiri, Kalkandelenli Talcal Yahya Tab Ismail Anonymous Cemali Azizi Neati Ahmed Dede

Edirne was the major city among the provinces to the west of Istanbul and it was the city of the gazs. Throughout history, Edirne represented heterodox groups of the gaz tradition. It embodied anti-imperial tendencies and housed anti-imperial

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groups that were hostile towards the growing power of the city of Istanbul. Istanbul, which became the capital city after Edirne, constituted a central position in the Ottoman cosmology as the house of the Ottoman authority. It was an imperial city. It represented the orthodox community and Shariah. This chapter will analyze eleven poems written about the cities of Istanbul, Edirne and the provinces of Edirne in order to understand how the two cities in conflict shaped the experience and perception of the city of Istanbul from 1512 to 1732. (See Table 5).

EHRENGIZ OF EDIRNE BY MESH (1512)

Meshs ehrengiz is about the city of Edirne. The poem is composed in five main parts;1 prayer (mnacat), depictions of the day and night, depictions of young men, tetimme, and the final part as the ihtitam that is made up of two gazels.2 Most of the ehrengiz poems, follow the same order. They begin by a prayer, continue by recalling general themes of Islamic legendary, depict city space, make a long list of young men who were supposedly the beautiful members of the guilds and conclude by one or more gazels. Meshs ehrengiz begins with a prayer and ends with a gazel about Hac Bayram Veli. Acknowledging that he faces the mihrab wall in the beginning of the poem, and his reference to Hac Bayram Veli at the last part, it is propable that Mesh is telling this story at a Sufi lodge, among those people who are prone to Bayrami-Melm philosophy. The whole story is an account of Meshs former experience in the city

Meshs ehrengiz has three major parts, like most of the latter examples of this genre:

Introduction (Dibae); Names of the city boys - 46 different characters are presented in this part; and the third part as the Final (Mukaddime); Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, 451.
2

Levend, ehrengizler, 17-18.

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of Edirne, his travels in the city, at the bazaar, guild shops, at the gardens and meadows, by the riverside. In the first part of the poem, Mesh presents himself as an individual within the larger cosmology, portrays a poet confronting God. This first part is important since it paints the picture of an individual. It visualizes an individual alone by himself. Thus, it suggests the study of self according to the mystic tradition. It directs the reader to contemplate on the constituents of the self. It enables one to contemplate the material and spiritual constituents of self, his cognitive organs and faculties. The second part of the poem about night and day, each in ten verses, depicts the transformation of the skies from the sunset until the sunrise. This part symbolizes the invisible divine world at the night time and the visible human world of manifested bodies in day time. Though there is a third instant inbetween day and night, the transition from the day to the night; or from the night to the day. This transitory period corresponds to the concept of barzakh. It is an intermediary time period and it symbolizes the realm of imagination. The third part of the poem illustrates the city of Edirne and narrates the Tunca River passing through the city. The fourth part is the longest. The beautiful young men of the various guilds are evoked, appreciated and acknowledged with respect to their names and associations. The third and the fourth parts will be studied in order to understand the perception of the microcosm, the world of manifested bodies. These bodies comrise both the architectural edifice that makes up the space of the microcosm as it is perceived by humans, and the human inhabitants of this space who are considered as natural forms. The discussions concerning these parts refer to the attainment of knowledge as a means to comprehend and interpret the Universal Reality. In the final part, the poet once again presents himself as a viewer upon the scenery he has just narrated. In the first part, the poet concentrates on his body and his sensual desires. He presents his material body and desiring soul and apologizes for his addiction to love, beauty, and worldly pleasure. The poet converses about himself in this first

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part, as he does in the final gazels. As a poor worshipper, as a rind, he admits that he pursues his faith in mystical piety rather than following the orders of the orthodox law. As a sinful worshipper, he admits that he believes in Love. He is enchanted by the beauty of the beloved. He pleads himself sinful for his attraction to the beloved ones that is forbidding him from worshipping, as the image of the beloved ones would always bear in his imagination. His vision is distracted by pleasure and longing, his body is stirred with the passion to touch the beloved. He expresses that all his attempts to practice worshipping are transformed into cravings for love:3 If I ever intend to fast for a couple of days The image of the beloved will hinder my intend If I raise my hands to pray I believe, with my arms open, I will embrace the beloved If I turn to the direction of prayer in the holy shrine The mihrab wall will turn into an image of the beloved He describes moments of his sensual and sexual arousal out of pleasure, as he is charmed by the image of the beloved.4 Mesh uses the adjectives of mourning, weak, sinful, wrong, eager, mad, and wild when he mentions his soul.5 His
3

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 138: Be on gn eylesem ger savma niyyet/ Bozar ol niyyetim ger yd-i vuslat; Elm kaldursam illerle duya/ Sanuram el uzattum merhabya; mescd ire tutam kbleye yz/ Ceml-i yar olur mihrb dpdz

Ibid.,138: Ne katre kim akar bu em-i terden/ Meniydr kim gelr hazz-i nazardan

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manifestation as a craving subject with desires suggests a certain understanding of space, where this body interacts with the surrounding environment. Portrayed as a human being with a material body, a desiring soul, and a rational spirit, under the skies, Mesh in the second part of the poem narrates the arrival of the darkness of the mystic night that will be followed by the illuminating daylight of the morning. Day time is associated with the witnessed bodily world; and night time with the absent divine world. Night symbolizes the heterodox practices. Day symbolizes orthodox practices. Instants of transition from one to the other- from day to night, or from night to day, are considered to be the important instants which are associated with the barzakh, the higher world of imagination. In this second part of the poetry, Mesh elaborates moments of sunset and sunrise, each in ten verses. He narrates the stars and the planets as they change their locations one day after another. As Mercury can be observed either on Sunday night, or on Wednesday; the planets change their location day after day, the sky is not the same sky one day after another. As the evening falls, Mesh describes the sky by using layers of resemblances. The changing colors of the skies as the sun sets each tells a different story, each color, the gilded yellow, the red, the twilight shade with interfering dark lines, and the blackness of the dark night become metaphors referring to various allegories of the Islamic tradition. The changing sky announces the transition from day to night time. The exact timing of the instant of transformation from day to night, or from night to day were debated constantly both by the scholar of orthodox law, and the mystics of Sufism. The

In the first part of his ehrengiz, complaining about his soul (nefs), Mesh uses the

following expressions Giriftar- kemend-i nefs-i dnam, nefs-i err, nefs-i sh, seg-i nefsm, r-i erze. Similarly Arab refers to the soul, especially the appetitive soul which will never give comfort to the human; Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 344.

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following quotation from Arab also illustrates the significance of Meshs verses on the changing colors of the skies symbolizing the instant of transformation: 6

The ulem of the Shariah have disagreed on the moment of the night salat in two places concerning the first of its moment and the last of its moment. Some say the first of its moment is the absence of the red dusk. I agree with this view. Others say the first of its moment is the absence of the white that is after red. The exact timing of this natural transformation had a crucial importance since it dictated the timing of daily practices. The order of daily mundane life was organized after the visible and invisible orders of macrocosm. Orthodox practices follow the movement of the sun. Similarly, heterodox practices follow the order of creation. This harmony between the divine and the man enabled the unity of the whole creation. As the planet Mercury is observed in the daytime before the sunset, and the horizon appears to be gilded in yellow color, the sky is illustrated where Mercury becomes a pencil writing the beauty of the Beloved onto the skies, as if a pen is writing on a gilded page. As the sun sets and the color of the sky begins turning into red, the story of Yusuf is reminded. In Islamic mythology Yusuf symbolizes beauty. Yusuf symbolizes an enlightened person according to Arab. However, his imaginative faculties are limited to the capacity of an ordinary human being. He can never become a real mystic. The redness of the sky becomes a metaphor for the blood on Yusufs shirt. Yusufs sorrowful story engages the whole theme of the night time as the darkness surrounds the horizon. The glittering stars become tears shed as the skies weep for Yusufs unfortunate faith. And by these tears, the skies are transformed into dew falling upon the earth. The sound of the night occupied with the nature

For a further information on the discussions related to the day-night relation see; Chittick,

The self-disclosure of God, 262-265.

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screaming and howling becomes metaphors for the sorrow of Yusufs father who thinks his son is killed. However, according to the legendary story, Yusuf was not killed. He was only imprisoned in a well. Mesh refers to the misleading appearance of the sky with all the stars and the planets, standing as static picture. Thus he reminds the reader about the dynamism and change in time. As the sky is depicted in transforming colors; revolving as a wheel, each planet changing its location, air as transformed into dew changing its state of matter, the poet reminds of the dynamism of the cosmos and of the concept of transmutation. As the night passes, and when it is time for the sunrise, the poet again recalls the story of Yusuf. The brightness that will appear on the east of the sky just before the dawn is the herald of good news from Yusuf, as well as the messenger for the approaching morning. And when the sun rises above the ground, like a gilded pattern drawn on the sky, it appears as a golden coin, as if another day gifted to the human beings - as another portion of their stipend in this world. So, like the whole universe, the night transforms into the day, darkness into daylight, sorrow into good news as the golden color change into purple, to red and then to black. The air changes its state of gas into liquid. The whole world transmutes. Each moment of this transformation is presented as another page opened. The movement of the pages following one another also suggests the movement of the universe. Mesh portrays the universe made out of opposites that transform into one another in constant transmutation. This dynamic and circular transformation of the day into night, night into day, air into water, water into air, sorrow into happiness and happiness into sorrow is narrated by allegorical stories. The order of the cosmos, tradition and daily rituals are presented in harmony. Knowledge of the stars, story of Yusuf, order of religious practices unite in the harmony of the cosmos. Science, tradition and religion are contingent to one another.

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Out of this dynamic order of the universe, the city of Edirne unfolds. In the third part, Mesh illustrates the city of Edirne broadly. The most apparent theme in the narration is his constant comparison of the city to the paradise garden. He mentions gardens, mosques, the arts of ceramics, the Tunca River running through the city and its pleasant weather. The river, and the beautiful men swimming; the gardens relieving the hearth, a sight of minarets compared to the cypress trees, or the sights of the beloved with beautiful bodies going for a swim appear as detached fragmented scenes. The narrative jumps from one scene to another in the depiction of a city. However, each one of these scenes is animated lively. The poem illustrates gardens, rivers, clouds, minarets one after another. It is as if there were a screen in front of the poet and he would narrate changing images on this screen. It is important to remind here that the very first of these images was the mihrab wall which Mesh depicted in the first part of the poem. Thus after the image of the mihrab wall, this virtual screen reflects one picture after another. It is hard to attain a unified panoramic image of the city from such fragmented descriptions. However, these parts are all depicted as if they were located in front of a continuous background of the paradise garden:
7

Such a city that its gardens and meadows Gives the individual the serenity of Paradise Its waters handsome and flowing with charm Clouds flowing by are refreshing
7

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 138: Aceb ehr ol ki anu bg u rgu/Virr kiiye cennet ferg; inde sular mevzun u reftr/ Bulutlar ba ucunda hevdr; Tem eylese her bir minaret/ Dnpdr serv-kmet bir nigra; Soyunup Tuncaya girer gzeller/ Alur ak gsler ince beller; ........ Gren bu ehri bu resme kymet/ Sanur bunula tokuz old cennet; Zihi cennet ki girer her gneh-kr/ Grr si vu bid anda didr

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If you watch every one of these minarets Turn into a beloved with a posture like a cypress Beauties getting naked go into Tunca Unfolding their breasts, tiny bellies One seeing this city, with reference to this picture Would think that the number of paradises has become nine Such a celebrated joyful paradise where all the sinful ones would enter See the dissident with the conformist together represented in it Meshs depiction of the fragmented parts of the city on a screen, in the background of the paradise garden recalls Arabs description of the realm of imagination as a garden, as a veil, as a screen between the human being and divine knowledge: The garden is named Garden because it is a curtain and a veil between you and the Real for it is the locus of the appetites of the souls.8 In the fourth part of the poetry, Mesh tells about the beauty of forty-six young men each one with a name such as Mahmud, Halil, Haydar, Abdi, and or with a family name such as Ferraolu, Semerciolu, Tuzcuolu, and or with the name of the trade he is associated with as the tailor, fruit-seller, barber, moneylender, needle maker, sweeper, mercer, felt-seller, salt-seller, camel-rider, musician, silkembroiderer, cap-maker, cotton-fluffier, sherbet-maker, oil-seller, or saddler. These men listed have different names of Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, or Greek origin. They come from lower middle class guilds. The poem concludes by referring to a

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 395, n.18.

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specific beloved who is called Hac Bayram Veli. This acknowledges Meshs associations with the Melm-Bayramis.9 As if recalling Arabs reference to the heart as place of constant fluctuation,10 Mesh acknowledges his fluctuating heart. He describes his admiration for the multiplicity of beloved ones. Since he is never satisfied with a single beloved, he falls in love with one beloved after the other. However, he acknowledges that he still carries the desires to unite with the real beloved. Arab explains the multiplicity of beloved ones by the dynamism of love. Love is dynamic and it enables the sustainability of the macrocosmic life: If there were no love, the world would be frozen.11 The dynamism of love is sustained by the forces of attraction and separation. The force of attraction aims to unite the whole cosmos as one entity. Attraction is enforced by the will to attain divine knowledge. However, the attainment of divine knowledge also necessitates separability. During the attainment of divine knowledge, things from different realms would meet in a different medium of the imagination. Meaning, form, and the imagining subject are all separate things and belong to different realms. The imagining subject would compare, contrast and interpret the meeting of a meaning and a form. In this way, he will get closer to the divine knowledge. However, the subject would not attach himself to a single form or a specific meaning. Attachment would disable the
9

Riehle acknowledges Meshs tendency to Melametiye in his own verses; Klaus Riehle,

Leben und Literarische werke Meshs = Mesh'nin hayati ve edebi eserleri (Prizren: BALTAM, 2001), 128: Snsa Mesh cm- vakrun aceb mi kim/ Seng-i melmeti ana ol yr- cn atar
10

Chittick, The Sufi path of knowledge, 106. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 293.

11

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dynamism of this interactive process. The subject is expected to separate himself from that meaning and that form, and continue his search with others. Attachment to a particular meaning or form is called fantasy or illusion and it would result in an understanding of a static form-meaning unification. Thus only when the heart is not attached to a single beloved, but it flows from one beloved to another, the self would be able to continue to attain divine knowledge. The city will become a place of seeking for the divine love and truth, a place where imagination is nourished from, a pool of bodies which the appetite will desire one after the other, where the heart will look for the divine beauty in each thing, but never attached to a single one. And by stirring the city, the city will become a pool of bodies to be contemplated by imagination in the process of gaining divine knowledge. Then the heart would become a mirror reflecting divine knowledge. When the heart would reflect divine knowledge, it would become a space for the illustration of truth in the phenomenal world. Thus, the heart would reflect concepts and idea-images from the realm of imagination to the phenomenal world. This would suggest the creation of new ideas, new forms and new concepts. Corbin names this process of objectivization and explains it as the creative power of the heart or as the creative imagination (imaginatrix).12 Representation of the unity in multiplicity enables attainment of divine knowledge, but also enables the creation of novel forms and ideas. The city provides a storehouse for the faculty of imagination to contemplate. Thus, the city becomes an intermediary realm where the faculty of imagination is practiced. By studying the variety of loci, things, and beloved ones in the city, Mesh introduces novel concepts. Mesh describes the shop of a blacksmith compared to a mosque decorated with horse-shoes hanging all over its walls along with portraying the meadow of Edirne compared to the paradise garden. He acknowledges a tailor, a fruit-seller, a barber as beloved ones along with the legendary character Yusuf from the Islamic mythology and the Bayrami master Hac Bayram Veli. Going
12

Corbin, Creative imagination, 224.

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beyond the visual imagery of the classical Ottoman cosmology, Mesh introduces other spaces and unknown beloved ones for contemplation.

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL, VIZE AND ORLU BY KATB (1513)

Ktibs ehrengiz is a mystical love story. The main character of this story is the poet himself. The story begins with a gazel. The gazel indicates that the story is told in a garden, if not, in a private garden party, or a private party, where poetry is cited, and other stories are told. The significance of Ktibs gazel, is that, he uses the word rose to make the arts of pun in his gazel. Thus it becomes a rose gazel. The main story is introduced after the rose gazel. This rose gazel directs the reader, or the listener of the poem into imagining a rose garden. After constructing this symbolic rose garden, the poet introduces the main story and his aim for telling this story. The following verses clearly indicate that this mystical love story is to be imagined against the background of a symbolic rose garden: 13 I have used roses to compose a beautiful gazel To build up a text where God is the beloved of lover At the second part of the poem, the poet challenges the scene of the rose garden, with an image of the earth. The image of the earth, as the poet describes, is like a picture, adorned by many. In this picture the earth is painted as bejeweled. The poet refers to the beauty of this celebrated image of earth with enthusiasm. This joy enables him to celebrate life and all creation. In order to see and learn more

13

Levend, ehr-engizler, 20: Redif itdm gli didm gazel hb/ Gele inae Rahman yra mahbub

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about life, he decides to go on a journey, and sets himself on the road. His journey brings him to the city of Istanbul:14 Lord has bejeweled the earth as such One would assume the world has enlivened better as such Many desired to praise it Hence (the painter) Mani would die to depict it At once I set myself on the road I found myself in the city of Istanbul He begins to tell about his travels in the city of Istanbul. He acknowledges that the city had been conquered by Fatih Sultan Mehmed II. The poet is amazed that the city is populated by so many people.15 He observes the variety of people walking in the city. Then, very briefly he tells about certain monuments. First, he depicts his visit to Hagia Sophia. He describes the site as a picture. In this picture, the city becomes the background, and the mosque is located in front of this background. He compares this scene to the gardens of Paradise, and asserts several times that whoever would see this setting would think that this is the second paradise. He then walks around the monument, and tells about its courtyard and gardens. He describes the fountain in the courtyard compared to the rivers of paradise. The below verses describes his impression of the scene:16

14

Ibid., 20: Zemini eyle znet itdi Yezdan/ Sanasn yi ki can bulmd devran; Nice methidebile kii an/ Ki Mni can virp yazmaya an; Heman dem yollara girdm durdum/ Gelben ehr-i stanbula dd

15

Ibid., 94. Ibid., 94:

16

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There is nothing comparable to account for it There is nothing similar to it in this universe Fashioned this magnificent mosque in the city Mni wont be able to inscribe as such in the city Those who see it say this it is the second Paradise It smiles as if it is alive See the fountain of Paradise flowing in its courtyard Thus the rivers of Paradise are flowing together with this water All attributes are impotent to describe its qualities In reverence the paradise cannot utter a single word After informing the reader about the magnificence of Hagia Sophia, the poet travels to Fatih and Beyazd mosques. He talks about these mosques briefly, in reference to their patrons, Fatih Sultan Mehmed II (1444-1481) and Beyazd II (1481-1512). He mentions the recent Sultan, then, Yavuz Selim I (1512-1520). The poet then commemorates the memory of two celebrated religious figures, Ebu Eyyub-i Ensari and Sheikh Vefa (Sheikh Musliddin Mustafa Vefa). After, he travels to Galata and cites beautiful young men that he meets in the Galata region. The poet mentions a significant beloved. Since one part of the poem is missing, it is not possible to identify this significant beloved. When the poet meets this significant character, his travels turn into a journey chasing after the beloved. On
Anun misli beyan hergiz serpilmez/ Ana benzer dahi lemde olmaz; Bir ulu cmi itmi ehr iinde/ Ki Mni yazamaz hi ehr iinde;Grenler dir budur firdevs- sn/ Gler gldke vardur sanki can;Akar sahnnda grn havz- kevser/ Ki kevser birle ol sudur beraber;Bunun vasfnda ciz cmle vassaf/ Bunun katnda cennet uramaz lf

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the one hand, he describes the city with pleasure. Thus he has begun his journey joyfully to celebrate the beauty of the bejeweled earth. On the other hand, he falls in to a deep longing and sorrow after meeting this significant beloved. Thus, his travel becomes a desire to see the beloved again and again. He conducts a lonesome search walking in the streets of the city. Some time later he finds his beloved, as depicted in the following verses:17 With misery I recognized this charming beloved Again sighed in sorrow On the road that I had set myself, flowing like water Met this slender beloved walking The poet realizes that his beloved attends the prayer ceremony at the mosque of Yenicami, everyday, throughout the month of the Ramadan. Thus he would be able to see him for the whole month. However after Ramadan, he loses sight of the beloved. So, he continues traveling. From Istanbul, he goes to the provincial town of Vize. He is accompanied by a friend. In Vize, they stay at another friends house. The story tells about the province and the beautiful young men living in Vize. Hearing that his beloved has been seen in the town of orlu, the poet travels to orlu with the desire to see the beloved. However, upon his arrival to orlu, he realizes that his beloved had already returned to Istanbul. Chasing after him, the poet also gets back to the city. Finally the story is concluded as the poet meets his beloved in Istanbul. The poet illustrates spaces as pictures framed but shifts from one space to another. He uses the term picture whenever he refers to a different scene. He elaborates the definition of a picture as the depiction of a place adorned in front of
17

Ibid., 20: Gir ydeyledm ol nzenni/ Figan ile yine itdm enni; Bam alup yola oldum revne/ Yetidm geldm ol serv-i revna

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the eyes of the beholder. Picture is not static. It is depicted as having life. In the beginning of the poem, he constructs the image of a garden with roses. Referring to the rose garden, or making the word rose as a pun is one of the various conventional uses of natural elements in the arts of poetry. However, there are other possibilities of interpretation. There are three different ways of explaining why the poem starts with a rose gazel. First possibility is that the story was told in a rose garden. Second, the individual roses collected into a garden, was compared, to the structure of the whole story made up of words, thus the story is metaphorically associated to a rose-garden. Third, the rose garden is a symbolic garden. It is introduced with the purpose of setting up a background for the rest of the story, similar to the imaginational realm represented as a garden by Arab. Thus, illustrating a symbolic rose garden in the beginning of the narrative, leads the rest of the story to be imagined in a rose garden. However, after describing the rose garden, the story continues in various kinds of real places, and in symbolic gardens, such as the paradise garden. These shifts from one imaginary space to another, from imaginary spaces to real spaces, designate an experimental realm which was outside the circle of traditional arts of poetry. The traditional arts of poetry would depict gardens or imaginary ideal spaces of divine or historical significance. However, Ktib first illustrates an imaginary rose garden, then a generic image of earth as bejeweled, and then the provinces of Vize and orlu, along with the city of Istanbul and its various spaces. To put it in more simple words, the poet describes events, or objects as if on a stage. The background of this stage always changes, from gardens to city spaces, from symbolic gardens to real places; or the change occurs in the opposite direction from real to ideal gardens or to symbolic spaces. Ktibs ehrengiz maps a territory that includes several locations, within and outside the city of Istanbul. The poet travels in two different scales. One, he travels within the city of Istanbul. Second, he travels within a larger geographical area from one city to another. The first route in Istanbul depicts places of pilgrimage in the city. The second route connects the city of Istanbul to a larger web of routes, including Vize and orlu.

224

Vize and orlu were small provincial settlements in the Thrace region. This second route might be considered as a larger pilgrimage route, especially of Melms, who might possibly be visiting their masters in those provinces. These provinces accommodated considerable amount of Melm-Bayrami adherents in the 16th century. Melm pole and poet Srbn Ahmeds dervishes Aleddin Efendi and Gazanfer Efendi were living in Vize in the first quarter of the 16th century. Srbn Ahmed was living in another province called Hayrabolu close to Vize.18 As well, parts of Ktibs ehrengiz can be compared to other Melm poems written in the same century. Ktibs below verses: 19 Sultan Mohammed has conquered it Inside full with Ahmed (Human being/ light) of various kinds recalls Srbn Ahmeds verses where the multiplicity of human population is acknowledged as reflections of the beloved one: 20 Those lovers wishing to see the beloved
18

Melm dervishes felt safer not to go to the city of Istanbul after the execution of the

Melm master Olan eyh in Istanbul in the early 16th c.; Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 55-68.
19

Levend, ehr-engizler, 94: An fetheylemi Sultan Muhammed/ i topdoludur envr- Ahmed

20

Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 59: Ey talib olan k seyretmee cnn/ Dkkatla temaa kl her grdn insn!; yinei insan bil sureti Rahmandr,/ Bu yineye gel bak; gr anda o sultan!; Surette grnmez can ger derse mnafklar;/ Sen cana nazar klsun grmek dileyen an!/ Esrar szn Ahmet kefeyleme ndna

225

Watch carefully every human being you see Know that the body of the human being is a reflection of God Come look at this body; see the Beloved in it Your secret word Ahmed, dont expose it to the ignorant Ktibs ehrengiz that is probably told in private party that takes place in a rose garden narrates the travels of the poet in and out of the city of Istanbul. In Istanbul, the poet travels to those places which are acknowledged as the pilgrimage sites for the orthodox Muslim community. These sites are Hagia Sophia, imperial mosques of the sultans and the tombs of Eyyub-i Ensari and Seyh Vefa. Each one of these monuments had significant importance in the transformation of the Byzantine Constantinople into an Islamic city and the capital of the Ottoman Empire.21 Outside Istanbul, however, the poet travels to provinces which did not have any significance except being important places for the development and expansion of the Bayrami-Melm philosophy. These provinces housed heterodox communities who carried and anti-imperial agenda and who were under the threat of the orthodox authority. Ktibs journey between the imperially significant places of the orthodox capital and peripheral provinces which house anti-imperial heterodox communities is an attempt to reconcile these two opposed worlds and their adherents within the imaginary realm of his poetry.

21

idem Kafesciolu, The Ottoman capital in the making: The reconstruction of

Constantinople in the fifteenth century, Unpublished Ph. D. diss., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: 1996).

226

EHRENGIZ OF EDIRNE BY TALICALI YAHYA (1520s)

Yahyas ehrengiz of Edirne is a beautifully written story about the poets travel to the city of Edirne. It is one of the most explicit ehrengiz poems, which portrays the stand point of the poet in clarity. In the beginning of the story, Yahya explains his ideas about mystical love. Then he tells about his disappointment in a recent love experience. He describes how he suffers in pain, because his beloved would not respond and respect his love. Yahya, in a miserable condition, arrives to the city of Edirne. In Edirne, late at night, as he is walking in by himself with misery, he sees a total stranger coming out of a populated house. The stranger who has a bright and enlightened expression also catches the sight of Yahya. This stranger upon seeing the poet realizes that he suffers the pains of love. He approaches the poet and begins to talk to him. The stranger tries to comfort the poet by telling him stories. Yahya portrays this stranger as a story-teller. So, the story-teller recounts stories all night long and throughout the next day. The following verses depict the poets encounter with the stranger: As I was staying in the city of Edirne sad A sun-faced came out of a populated house Immediately, to this poor He said You, the wise traveler of world! 22 . How come this shameful beauty would appreciate you?
22

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by Mehmed avuolu ( Istanbul: IEF, 1977), 231;

translated from Talcal Yahyas ehrengiz of Edirne: Tururken Edirne ehrinde mahsn/ Gelp bir fitb- rub- meskn; Fakre kend lutfndan hemn-dem/ Didi ey z-fnn- devr-i lem

227

Thus he has never been able to appreciate himself? That day and night, engaged to me with concern He comforted me a great deal this way I told wisdom is your share, you, moon-faced, Dont stop or the city of flesh will go up in flames 23 The stories told by the story-teller constitute the main body of Yahyas narrative. Yahya conveys the following stories as if told by him. The story-tellers story begins as he acknowledges himself as a mystic lover like Yahya:24 Like myself, rivers run through this city All spirits glowing with the light of love walk their heads down He tells Yahya that there are many beloved ones in the city of Edirne and that he would inform him about all of them. He would convey the pleasant conversations which take place in the assemblies of these beautiful people in the city of Edirne. Edirne is portrayed as the house of gazs:25
23

Ibid., 231: Ne bilsn kadrni ol mh- garr/ Ki bilmez kendnn kadrini kat; O gn ol gice idp bana meyli/ Tesell itdi bu vech ile hayl; Didm hikmet Hakundur ey kamerve/ nende urma ten ehrine te

24

Ibid., 232: Benm gibi o ehr iinde enhr/ Yrr boynn burup k ile her br

25

Ibid., 232: Bize kl hblar vasfn takrr/ Marzl-kalb olanlara if vir; Cihnda var mdur ol denl mahbb/ Ola bir nktednun szleri hb;Gzeller sonbetinden vir haberler/ Ki zikrul-ay nsful-ay dirler; Zebn- kssa-perdaz- man/ Bu resme kld bu

228

Tell the news from the conversing of the beauties Thus they say recognition of life is actually the experience of it The storyteller of tales Told this delightful story with respect to this picture Hence, by no means, in this universe There is an identical to the city of Edirne Place for dervishes of the divine truth, terrain of lions The eternal city, house of gazs The story-teller first gives a physical description of the city. From his accounts, it is understood that the poet and himself must be at a neighborhood in the vicinity of the old castle. He accounts for the meadows of the city, in summer and winter. He, then, describes the practices of the common folk and how they spend their Fridays almost like a ritual activity. He tells in detail about these ritual activities which begin after the usual Friday prayer that takes place at noon time. Then, he gives a long list of the beautiful beloved ones of the city. Finally, when the stories are concluded, the poet acknowledges that listening to these stories made him imagine the beautiful people of the city. His imagination has been stirred up with respect to descriptions and events that are told throughout the strangers narrative. His heart has become a mirror reflecting many forms. Thus poetry becomes an imperative for imagination:26
rn beyn; Ki cmle kint iinde asl/ Bulnmaz Edrine ehrine hem-t; Erenler yiri arslanlar yatag/ Kadm ehr gziler oca
26

Ibid., 242: Snuk ynedr bu kalb-i meyyl/ Grndi anda nice drl ekl

229

This loving heart is like a mirror A variety of images is reflected on it In his story, after describing the city of Edirne and mentioning its old castle briefly, the story-teller depicts the meadow along the Tunca River. He playfully illustrates the meadow. Among various other flowers, he portrays daffodils and violets ornamenting the green lawn. Cypresses and juniper trees are planted along the riverside. There is one plane tree, and there are many roses in this lively scene. There are water lilies on the river and nightingales are singing. The story-teller portrays nature praying as it is challenged by the joy of life. This scene, as the story-teller asserts, can only be truly perceived by the eye of the heart:27 After illustrating a picture of the Tunca meadow, the story-teller illustrates a series of events. According to his story, a group of common folk used to go to a Sufi lodge after the usual Friday prayer: 28

27

Ibid., 233: Kaan kim irie fasl- bahr/ ieklerle tolar Tunca kenr; Ne vaz eyler emende blbl-i zr/ Tevzu birle dinler an ecr; bdet zredr cmle nebtt/ Zebn- hl ile eyler mnct; Kym ire olup her serv arar/ Benefe hlikna secde eyler; nr el kaldurup eyler niyz/ Nihl-i gl klur turmaz namz; Dkp zerrnkadehler jleden ya/ Tefekkr birle salar aaa ba; Sararup benzi Znnn gibi gy/ Slar su zre nlfer musalla; Yri var cn gzini eyle bdr/ Rk u secde durur her ne kim var

28

Ibid., 233-34: Klup Cuma namzn halk- lem/ Giderler seyr-i mevla-haneye hem; Okuyup mesnevsin mesnevi-hn/ Takar gna halkun drr-i meknn; Sipihre benzer ol tk-i mualla/ Sevabitdr ana ehl-i tem; inde syiri seyyrelerdr/ Hev-y k ile vrelerdr; Bunun nidgn bilp mretteb/ Dnerler gird-i bd- k ile hep; Felekdr halka-i sohbet hemn/ Meleklerdr dnen ashb- takv; Avmn-ns

230

All the public after the Friday prayer Go to the Sufi lodge to view The story-teller informs about going to the lodge, describes its architecture, its circular dome, illustrates the dance performance and portrays the audience. It is evident that the story-teller attends this performance as an audience along with many others who listen to the Mesnevi and watch the whirling dances of dervishes performed under a dome. The dancers would turn around along a circle, which represents the world (felek) as acknowledged by the story-teller. He comments further on this performance as actual worshipping, not a metaphorical dance as some others would consider it. So, as told in the story, after the dance ritual is concluded, the crowd continues enjoying the rest of the day together. If the weather is nice, everybody goes to the meadows along the Tunca River: 29 After viewing the ceremony at the Sufi lodge They would go the promenade of Tunca one by one

iinde hlardur/ badet bezmine rakklardur; Bilr mest-i Elest olan bu rz/ Bu cevlna dimez raks- mecz
29

Ibid., 234-35: mevl-hne seyri ola hir/ Giderler Tunca seyranna bir bir; Bu ehrin ii znetlerle tolm/ Meric u Tunca yzi suy olm; Suya girer nice mihr-i cihan-gr/ Grinr sanki mirt ire tasvr; Siyeh fteyle her mihr-i mnevver/ Hemn nsf tutlm aya benzer; Ne vuslatdur bu kim her zr u giryn/ de uryan iken cnn seyrn; Perler cft olup ider an zeyn/ Krn eyler sanursn gkde sadeyn; Tema eylesen her mh-peyker/ Suya konm gl-i ranya benzer/ Per-smalar b- dilgda/ Grinr sanki ylduzlar semda; Ol ortalkda nie k- zr/ Yrrler Tunca zre hr u has-vr; Yrr u zre uak- bel-ke/ Sanasn cem olur b ile te; Merice irp olm Tunca cr/ Olupdur an Alinn Zlfikr

231

This crowd accommodates poets and citizens of upper social status along with a lot of young intimates, most of them coming from poor families. These people would stroll down to the riverside. At the meadow, most commonly, they walk barefoot on water, swim naked in the river, and converse with one another. The association with the river, swimming naked and walking barefoot on water are represented as activities that relieve the sorrowful state of the lovers - the fire of their burning heart as described by the story-teller, who are in misery longing for the beloved. In the winter time, when the weather is cold, only the young people travel to the Tunca riverside after the Sufi performance. Most of the others go to a closed place, the story-teller calls as Sra Saray. The young ones who prefer to go to the riverside would have a lot of fun. They would skate on the frozen river. The storyteller acknowledges that it is quite delightful to watch these people playing on ice, gliding smoothly, or falling on one another. He describes this activity as a play. But the lovers would consider this as a metaphorical play which provides the opportunity to get closer with the beloved ones. This leisurely play of skating is considered as a washing out the sins of the lovers. These activities performed in the meadow along the Tunca riverside is considered to be purifying.30 In the story, the riverside is called gzergah, seygah, cennet andol yir.

30

Ibid., 235-36: Kaan kim erban irie ol dem/ Dner sra saraya cmle lem; Gzeller bu zamann ho grrler/ Derilp Tunca zre yz ururlar; Bu demde gsterp halka kermet/ Yrr su zre her ehl-i velyet; Buz zre her per-ruhsr dildr/ Uup uup gelr gkde melek-vr; Oyunda gh olurlar kim aarlar/ Biribirinn stine derler; Olurlar gl gibi handn u mesrr/ Grenler dir ana nrn ala-nr; Nie k olan rind-i cihna/ Ara yirde olur oyun bahne; Gzergha gelp b-kibr kne/ Olur dildr ile sine-be-sne; Kamu gamnkler ol yirde mesrr/ Kamu gsthlklar anda mazr; Grp cennet didm ol seygh/ Ki anda kimsenn olmaz gnh

232

The long story told by the story-teller is concluded with a narrative describing the beautiful young men of Edirne. The stranger cites thirteen men with their names and portrays their different natures. The story-teller himself is portrayed as a gardener. The city is compared to a rose garden and the flowers to the common folk:31 There is no end to the beauties of this city I have witnessed those who I have seen Watch, go find a gardener, Flowers worth a rose-garden The purpose of alluding to a number of young men is explained as way to understand the unity of being through meditating the multiplicity of its reflections. Those, who would be able to appreciate the multiplicity of creation on this world, would be able to get closer to comprehend the knowledge of the divine world:32 The beauties of this city are many There is no equal to it in terms of the beauty of public Listen to this conversation of love If you desire for the taste of the two worlds
31

Ibid., 242: Bu ehrn hbna yokdur nihyet/ Gzm grdgine itdm ehdet; Melekler vasfn itdm eyleyp cu/ Umarn cnib-i Hakka gelem ho; Tem eyle var bir bgbna/ iekler kim deger bir glistana; Saf ile bezensen gsen an/ Sevinp ad olur cisminde cn; Cihanda bir kii girmez gnha/ gerse kullarn pdiaha

32

Ibid., 236: Bu ehrn dilber-i rans okdur/ Gzellikde kamunun misli yokdur; Kulag ur dinle bu cn sohbetini/ Dilersen iki lem lezzetini

233

In the first part of his ehrengiz, Yahya gives an explicit account about his ideas on mystical love. He argues that metaphorical love is the preliminary stage for the mystical love. The whole creation, and especially the human beings, who reflect the essence and beauty of the universal truth, should be contemplated and loved in order to develop a better understanding of this truth. The following verses convey his ideals: 33 Watch the beloved with the eye of your heart Look at the reflection of beauty and observe Go, recognize the Sublime Thus the reflection of His beauty has developed into two worlds, here and hereafter The spirit of the beloved cheers this world This is why He displays Authority in creation What is the reason of Mecnuns (lover) heart burning? What is this expression on Leylas (beloved) face? Yahyas accounts are like a short summary of Arabs doctrines on mystical love. There are also many references to the Melm-Bayrami poetry. Yahya explains the principles of divine love as embodied in the human being. He illustrates the mutual relationship between the creation and the creator. He discusses how they need

33

Ibid., 227: Gnl gzyle ry- yr gzle/ Bakup yne-i ddr gzle; Yri zikr eyle nm- Zlcelli/ Ki kevneyn old mirt- cemli; Ruh- cnn virr dnyya behcet/ der bu yzden ol izhr- kudret; Nedendr kalb-i Mecnnda harret/ Nedendr ihre-i Leyde hlet

234

and necessitate one another.34 And, as if with reference, to Molla Fenaris explanation about poetry as the best medium for the expression of love, Yahya informs language as the best medium to express this ideal. The following verses portray this thesis explicitly:35 Thus when the one with black eye-brows is desired The reflection of language is filled with love If you burn a candle from the light of God Everywhere there will be a station of paradise for you The ones who acquired the True knowledge would stay away from this world Their body flashes light in a divine way like lightening This unknown mystery associated with God Is not known to anyone but to God In his poem, Yahya briefly illustrates the three different groups which represent different religious preferences within the Ottoman society. He mentions the esoteric teachings of the mysticism, the exoteric practices of the Orthodox Islam, and idolatry which stands outside the sphere of Islam:36
34

Ibid., 228: Kamunun hlk biz-zt sensin/ Kamuya kdyl-hct sensin

35

Ibid., 227: ebr-y siyaha old mail/ Tolar sevd ile yine-i dil; Yakarsan nr- Mevldan erg/ Olur her yer sana cennet turag;Yakn ehli taallukdan olur dr/ Vcd Kabesinden berk urur nr; Bu esrr- nihan m hvel-hak/ Huddan gayr bilmez kimse mutlak

36

Ibid., 229:

235

My heart would always prefer the esoteric Some hearts prefer idolatry to (orthodox) prayer Then, successfully he describes the co-existing practices of the mysticism and the Shariah. He compares the esoteric practice of mystic love with the exoteric worshipping of prayer. In this comparison, he uses the metaphors of the body, language, vision, meditation and space. According to Yahya, the body, vision, and real spaces are related to exoteric teachings. Language, poetry, contemplation and love are related to esoteric practices. Thus language is used to construct imaginary realms the heart would contemplate and travel into:37 My flesh is here, my tongue together with the beloved My eye at the mihrab, my mind is far-off During of the 16th c. and 17th c., most of the orthodox scholars and jurists viewed Melms outside the sphere of Islam due to their extensive assertion of individuality and their extreme interpretation of Ibn alArabs doctrines. Melm masters were considered heretics, and their adherents as dissidents. However, Melms struggled to portray themselves within the world of Islam and the world of the Ottoman authority. They presented their philosophy as a Sunni way of life. They asserted many times that they were not prone to idolatry; they did not have Shii or Ismaili inclinations.38
Bu gnlm her zamn btllg eyler/ Namza kalb olur chllg eyler
37

Ibid., 228: Tenm bunda dil-i vre cnda/ Gzm mihrbda aklum yabanda; Vcudum nefs-i dnumdan zebndur/ Bana tesbh zencr-i cnndur

38

Ismail E. Ersal, Abdurrahman el-Askeri's Mir'at'l-Isk: A New Source for the Melm

Movement in the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th Centuries," in Wiener Zeitschrift fr die Kunde des Morgenlandes 84. Band (Wien 1994), 95-115.

236

Even though, it is not certain whether Yahya was a Melm or not, he most probably had Melm inclinations, or participated in groups which had philosophies similar to that of the Melms; he participated in a community who practiced the doctrines of Ibn alArab. These associations were enough for orthodox jurists to accuse him for being a heretic. However, Yahya chose to present his art as a medium to reconcile orthodox and heterodox tendencies. He presented his account of the guild boys as an attempt to introduce them to the Sultan. Thus by his poetry he claims that he presented the house of gazs, the city of Edirne and the ordinary guild boys to the imperial court.

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL BY TALICALI YAHYA (1520s)

Following Yahyas ehrengiz of Edirne, his ehrengiz on Istanbul does not have an explicit story as the former. The activities suggested in the poem do not necessarily refer to specific ritual activities or specific places as in the previous ehrengiz. Though, again the first part of the poem is extremely clear in posing the poet as a mystic lover and portraying his aim to stir up the imagination of lovers by his poetry. Yahya uses the metaphor of two worlds several times.39 In this first part of his poem, he cites mystic practices and especially the remembrance of the name of God as a way to attain the knowledge of the universal truth:40
39

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by Mehmed avuolu, 244; 245; 250: Elifdr birligine rst hid/ Ki olur Pdiah- Ferd Vhid; Zih zt- ulvv- sn- azam/ Anun bir kuldr Fahr-i d-lem; ki alemde bir mabdsn sen/ Eger Ahmed disem Mahmdsn sen; Seh-katmerler ile zeyn olupdur/ Kenr mecmal bahreyn olupdur

40

Ibid., 244:

237

Those masters of mystic language who utter the name of God Would open a way to the science of mystery Who repeats this Glorious Name Would hear mysteries by revelation inspired by the Creation To a companion on the way to mysticism It is enough for the individual, single word of Allah Yahya describes the creation as it originated from the water. Then he compares the beauties of creation to the precious stone pearl. He acknowledges that beauty, originated from water and embodied in things, is only revealed by individual enlightenment and that individual enlightenment is made possible by the arts of poetry. Thus poetry triggers imagination and cognitive powers of the heart: 41 Out of a drop of water, the creates a beautiful form His cheeks shining like moon rose colored . By will, the individual becomes a bright pearl By pure understanding and by the power of poetry

Dern- dilden ol kim diye Allh/ Aar ilm-i beyn esrrna rh; Bu ism-i azam kim klsa tekrr/ Tuyar ilhm- Rabbnden esrr; Tarkat rhna olmaga hem-rh/ Yiter insane zikr-i lafzatullh
41

Ibid., 245: Yaradur katradan bir sret-i hb/ Kamer-fer rz gl-reng mahbb; Nigrun kklin dm- dil eyler/ Bel-y k gayet mkil eyler; Olur kadr ile merdm drr-i meknun/ Virr idrk- pk tab- mevzn

238

Poetry, which constantly plays with the multiplicity of forms and meanings, is a practice to comprehend and attain divine knowledge. Contemplating creation by means of poetry will reveal universal knowledge:42 Watch all creation, constantly The power of God will unfold like daylight He swears that his purpose for writing this poem is not to cite the names of the beloved, but to remember and understand the unknown knowledge of God himself, in the recognition of the oneness of God in the multiplicity of his subjects. He proposes that every other name of the beloved is the name of the God himself.43 Though, not only does he acknowledge the importance of contemplating the individual beloveds, but he also refers to the significance of other creations, other things such as nature, rivers, wells and cities that deserve to be appreciated and adorned, just like the prophets, or the ordinary people:44 All of Ahmed and Mahmd and dem (human being)
42

Ibid., 245: Nazar kl cmle mevcdta her gh/ Olur gn gibi zhir kudretullh; Zih Rezzk- mahlkat- lem/ Zih Tevvb- mayyat- dem

43

Ibid., 250: Inayet eyle afvni sened kl/ Gnl derdine lutfundan meded kl; srr- kudretndr dilde fikrm/ Gzeller ad olsa nola zikrm; ki alemde bir mabdsn sen/ Eger Ahmed disem Mahmdsn sen; Nola afvnle cnum gelse vecde/ Namz btl itmez sehv secde

44

Ibid., 250: Bi-hakk- Ahmed Mahmd u Adem/ Bi-hakk- Yerib Bath v Zemzem; Bihakk- rifat-i Idrs Is/ Bi-hakk- mcer-y Nh u Ms; Bi-hakk- rzu-y vuslat- yr/ Bi-hakk- itiyk- ruy- dildr

239

All Yerib (the city of Medine) and Bath (a river around Mekke between two mountains) and Zemzem (a well around Kabe) All the higher ranking Idris and Isa (Christ) All the adventures of Nuh (Noah) with Musa (David) All desire for the beauty of the beloved All are longing for the beloved After explaining that his purpose for writing this poem is to acknowledge mystic love, Yahya cites the prophet and his four caliphs -Ebu Bekir, mer, Osman, and Haydar, and then he honors Sultan Sleyman, and his Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, locating his poetry within the orthodox world of the Ottoman authority. If the ehrengiz of Istanbul is compared to the ehrengiz of Edirne, the part where Yahya meets the mystic story teller in the city of Edirne is replaced by the appraisal of the prominent figures of the orthodox tradition, and the Ottoman court. In the ehrengiz of Edirne, the story-teller refers to Edirne as the city of gazs. However, in ehrengiz of Istanbul, the poet replaces the memory of gazs with a tribute to the prominent figures of the Shariah. The poet again acknowledges his desire for love and the beloved. He prays for his metaphorical love to be developed into true love. Thus he prays for his poem to be enjoyed by all the lovers. He wishes that the multiplicity of the beloved ones depicted in this poem will eventually turn into the delight of comprehending the unity of the single beloved. Before beginning to tell the central story of the narrative, namely the part on the multiple beloveds, Yahya, describes a pleasant spring day where nightingales are singing and different kinds of flowers -daffodils, roses, and tulips in blossom, ornamenting the grass paving of a meadow. He acknowledges that he has decided to write a beautiful story upon seeing this beautiful sight and picturing this stimulating spring day.

240

So, the story begins with a depiction of the city of Istanbul. He describes the city as prosperous in every respect and superior to paradise. He illustrates it as populated with a lot of beautiful people. He depicts the city as a place where the two worlds meet, where the esoteric and the exoteric worlds, the Tariqat and the Shariah meet, similar to the meeting place of two seas. Like many other mystics, especially those who consider themselves as disciples of Khidr,45 Yahya uses the metaphor of the meeting of two seas when illustrating the city:46 Graceful and slender lovers like the young bodies of plants ornament the city Two seas merge into one another at its edge He compares the city with the paradise garden:47 Such a city that all its verses are prosperous The houris of the Heaven realized their shortcomings looking from the Heaven Yahya carries on using Sufi metaphors. As if to represent the Sufi lodge, and the Sufi dance performance, he represents the city in the form of different objects which are all circular. He illustrates the city as a silver anklet or as the ring of the king Solomon:48
45

Hugh Talat Halman, Where Two Seas Meet: The Quranic Story of Khidr and Moses in

Sufi Commentaries as a Model for Spiritual Guidance, Unpublished Ph. D. diss. (Duke Univeristy, 2000).
46

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by avuolu, 250: Seh-kametlerile zeyn olupdur/ Kenr mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur

47

Levend, ehrengizler, 95: Ne ehr ol kim anun her beyti mamur/ Kusurn bildi cennetden grp hr

48

Ibid., 95:

241

As a beautiful lover The waters has become an anklet around her ankle Her body as the ring (the stamp-ring of the Sultan) of Sleyman For her the sea has become a silver circle (ring) or, as a belt:49 The ones who are watching its elongated walls Said it resembles a lover with a silver belt Instead of particularly depicting a significant event where poetry is read, he mentions that the beautiful beloved ones of this city are acquainted with a lot of poems, and that they cite these poems in wine and music assemblies. Yahya illustrates these beautiful beloved ones swimming naked:50 Taking off their clothes get into the water naked Breasts like rose-buds, silver bodies unfold Upon seeing them naked in the water
Alm bahra anun nice bb/ Kanad am sanasn murg- b; Ne hsnile bir mahbb- zba/ Gm halhldur pyinde derya; Vcud htem-i mhr-i Sleyman/ Ana bir halka-i sm old umman
49

Ibid., 95: denler sr- memddn manzar/ Didi simin kemerlu hba benzer

50

Ibid., 96: Soyunup suya gireler sera-ser/ Alur gonca-lebler sim-tenler; Grrsn anlar suda soyunm; Sanasn taze gller suya konm

242

One may take them for fresh roses on water Though, again unlike his ehrengiz of Edirne, the narrative does not mention any particular river, riverside, or meadow. It does not indicate a specific location where the beloved ones might be swimming. Then, as conveyed by Yahya, these beloved ones would sail to Galata in small boats. In Galata, they would stroll and enjoy themselves. Then, he cites the names and occupations of fifty-eight young men. The young men are from all over the city, from the neighborhoods of Eyp, Yedikule, Galata, from the bazaars: Astarsuz Mehemmed Beg-ogl, Nakka Bl-ogl Rahmi, Yenieri Safer Bli, Bakzde, Lokmn, Hammmc-zde, Bostanc-zde, Katib Hamza Bali, the anonymous lad from one of the Sufi lodges, Tozkoparan-ogl, Helvcbaogl, Hasrcba, Attar, Hallac, a doctor, Janissary corps, a painter, "an officer, sherbet-maker, etc. Among these fifty-eight young men, three of the characters suggest further interpretation. These characters are, a janissary who was responsible for the public peace of the common parks and gardens, a musician, and a certain figure called Hamza Bali. The janissary corp (Bostanc) is the gardener and the guardian who is responsible for the maintenance and control of open spaces like gardens, vineyards, or meadows. Yahya portrays him as someone who would neither participate nor interfere with the party, but who would simply watch the assembly. informs a musician called Cafer. Cafer plays music in the assembly.
51

51

Yahya

52

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by avuolu, 261: Bostanc-zde didkleri serv-i bladur; Biri Bostanc-ogl serv-i dil-c/ Akar kaddine gnlm nitekim su; Eger 'klarn buldukca her gh/ Yalnuz seyr ider gn gibi ol mh; Bizmle birlige yitmez ne re/ Gerekdr ektilige de sitre

52

Ibid., 265:

243

The third character has the same name with a prominent Melm character Hamza Bali, the Melm master of the Balkan Peninsula, who was well known in the second half of the 16th century. This part of the poem, citing the name of the Melm pole Hamza Bali could even be an invocation in the honor of his name, or a reference of sympathy to the Bayrami-Melm order.53 Yahya refers his poem as a notebook of beloved ones, or as a rose garden.54 He explains that it has been composed to bring joy to all lovers.55 He conveys the wish that his poem would become famous and be cited in assemblies of lovers. He also wishes that it would also be recognized and appreciated by the mystics. Finally Yahya expresses his wish is that his words would come true and the mystics would approve his poem. Then the mystics allow his poem to be recognized in the city and Yahya to become famous because each of its verses that make up the story is
Bir gyende dilber-i garrdur; Biri Szende Cafer old nm/ Merref kld sz her makm; Kaan kim sza dem-sz ola b-bk/ Olur arh zre Zhre zehresi k; Makm- gamda old kmetm eng/ delden perde-i uka heng
53

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by avuolu, 265: Biri bir hb ktib Hamza Bl/ Ki olmaz hsn-i hattnun misli; Yazar k ehlinn hlini her br/ Kirmen ktibn olmdur ol yr; Nola alnnda olsa hl-i hind/ Yazlur evvel-i ser-nmede h

54

Ibid., 272; 272; 273; Kitab- r kold r gevher/ semdan nzil olmdur mukarrer ; Nitekim devr ide bu devr-i lem/ Bu defterden birisi olmasun kem ; Oknmaa alsa bu glistn/ Sab-ve dahl iderse ana ndn

55

Ibid., 250: Greler cn gibi her yirde makbl/ Ola klarun eglencesi ol; Okndukca bu nazm silk-i gevher/ Sadef gibi kulak tutsun gzeller

244

like a jewel to be appreciated. Upon hearing the decision of the scholars regarding the success of his poem, Yahya becomes quite excited and happy. First he mentions that upon accepting this approval, he goes to a holy lodge, to a Sufi lodge. Then, in the following verses, he rephrases that this holy lodge is actually the abode of the Sultan. And the story concludes, as the poet feels happy and cheerful for his accomplishment. In the ehrengiz of Istanbul, the story seems to take place on a more abstract level. To the difference of the ehrengiz of Edirne, composed by the same poet, there is no suggestion of performance or whirling. There is no explicit indication of a Sufi lodge that can be located within the city. There is no description of a specific riverside meadow, where the common folk would go and enjoy themselves, wash out their sins by bathing in the river, joyfully playing or mediating in the arts of poetry and conversing. There is no reference to a particular pavilion, kiosk, or any covered space that the participants of this group used to meet for poetry parties. However, the narrative clearly refers to each one of these activities without referring to their particular spaces. ehrengiz of Istanbul becomes a similar account of the Friday afternoons as told in the ehrengiz of Edirne, however devoid of any reference to particular spaces. It is most probable that by constantly repeating the circle metaphor, Yahya tries to evoke a Sufi gathering. His account of boys swimming gives the idea that he is by a riverside. It is most probable that Yahya alludes to a Sufi gathering at a meadow by the riverside. The poet and the guild boys gather in this open space. They dance, swim, listen to music and read poetry. The Bostanc who is responsible for taking care of this open space notices them, but he prefers not to interfere with the party. He only watches this gathering from a distance.

245

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL BY KALKANDELENLI FAKIRI (c. 1534)

Praying for his sins, Fakiri introduces himself as a lover. He praises the Sultan Sleyman and the prophet Mohammed. After portraying a spring scene, he begins to tell about the city of Istanbul. He mentions a single lover, again returns back to the depiction of the city, cites 43 beloved ones, and concludes his story. 56 In Fakiris ehrengiz, city is represented in circular shape: 57 Such a city with a beautiful view like a bride The throne of the Sultan of the seven worlds Its darkness (gardens, vineyards, meadows, fields) is a land to seek refuge Its brightness is where the two seas converge With a circular wall, the city of the Sultan Captured all the months within Regarding the invitations of the Heavens or the Angels Drawing a circle upon the ground
56

Levend, ehrengizler, 31-33; 97-101. Ibid., 97: Ne ehr ol bir ars- hb-manzar/ Serr-i padiah- heft-kiver; Sevd Melce-i kevneyn olupdur/ Beyaz mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur; Mdevver srile bu ehr-i h/ hata eyleypdr cmle mh; Felek yahut perler davetine/ ekpdr dyire levh-i zemine; Ya bir simin kemerl dil-rbadur/ Ki halk- lem ana mbteldur; Ya bir mahbbdur bu ehr-i zb/ Kayagna srer yzini derya; Ya sk- ara derya takd halhl/ Ya mrg-i devlete bir sm-gn bl; Yahud bir halkadur takd zamne/ Ars- gerden g-i cihana; Nazri yok gzellikde bu ehrn/ Giripdr gnline berrile baharun

57

246

Either this city is a lover with a silver belt That all its citizens are addicted to Or a lover this bejeweled city is That the sea rubs its face upon his feet Either the sea has put on an anklet on his slender wrist Or it is a silver colored bird from the kingdom of birds . There is no similar to it in terms of beauty Has won the love of the lands and the sea Istanbul is compared first to the paradise garden, second to a Sufi lodge, third to a Sufi dervish. The city is described to have a beauty above the Paradise garden. Surrounded by walls on one side and the sea on three sides, it is depicted in a circular form, as a Sufi lodge. Then, the whole city is depicted as the body of a dervish. The interior of the city is described as a paradise garden. Thus, entering the city from its doors, one feels that he is entering the paradise garden:58 If the Holy Spirit had seen the festivities of this city He would complain about the Holy Pavilion

58

Ibid., 97-98: Bu ehrn Ruh- kudsi gorse srn/ Bulurd Beyt-i mamrun kusurn; srn bu ehrn itd seyran/ Aup azn kaplar kald hayran; Zih dergeh ki derya shilidr/ Miyan-bendinde ket keklidr;Alup etrafn smn-bedenler / Bu ehre gice gndz hidmet eyler; Temaa eylesen her brc bru/ Aupdur cennetn kasrna kapu

247

Thus watching the festivities of this city Doors have opened with amazement A charming lodge, it is a coast to the sea Tied to its belt, its ships are the prayers bowl The radiant bodies encircle Worship this city night and day If you watch the city walls and fortifications Doors open to the palace of the paradise Throughout the poem, dwellers are depicted as happy and satisfied in a paradise like city compared to the legendary Garden of Iram: Like the Iram Garden, all its places are prosperous A tender breeze makes all its citizens happy and pleasant59 Every sinful getting into this prosperous state Watch and adore this paradise like place60 There is nothing similar to it, it is the one and only in this world
59

Ibid., 98: rem ba gibi her beyt-i mamur/ Nesim-i hulki eyler halk mesrur

60

Ibid., 98: Zihi devlet girp her bir gneh-kr/ Bu cennet ire eyler seyr-i didr

248

Such a gracious such a beautiful city61 Beloved ones are compared to beautiful trees and rose blossoms: 62 Whenever it is spring time, cypress and pine trees Graceful bodies like lovely blossoming roses They either scroll in the fields, or swim in the river: 63 They either scroll out in the fields bashfully Or, like a rose utter their desire for the sea Fakiri describes the recreational activities related to the sea at length. He describes people enjoying themselves in rowing boats. As they sail to the place of gathering, they watch their reflection in the water. Each one of them is like the sun in the darkness of the dark water, or the moonlight reflecting on the river. Those who sail watch their environment and the city in pleasure. They also swim in the sea. People watch and admire this joyful setting. The city forms the background of

61

Ibid.,. 98: Naziri yok cihanda bidedeldr/ ken nzk iken ehri gzeldr

62

Ibid., 99: Bahar oldka her serv sanavber/ Lebi gonce gl-i nazk-bedenler

63

Ibid., 99: kp Eyyubiler seyran iderler/ Varup klarn hayran iderler; Binince ketiye bir mh-peyker/ Kran eyler hille mihr-i enver; derler naz ile geh seyr-i sahra/ Klurlar gl gibi geh azm-i derya; Girrler gl gibi b- revna/ Olup can cna v gnlek yabna; Talup deryaya her yana yzerler; Deniz malikleri olm gzeller; Nazar klsan suda her mh-tba/ Gnedr gyya girmi sehba

249

the setting. In the foreground, the beloved ones sail and swim in the sea, resembling precious stones:64 The beautiful view of this city is the mother of pearl Beauties are pearls and jewels within Nevertheless the one who has the wisdom of the present-day lovers Has depicted some of them into a string of pearls Thus the mind falls short of comprehending The wise man has not seen anything comparable With meaning and pearls, this view Becomes almost like the essence lined on string of pearls Composing jewels into a text, the wise man of this world Has narrated one by one this city Fairy-faced angelic-scenes Beauties with elongated posture, tulip cheeks Thus every one of them is an amulet for the essence

64

Ibid., 100-101: Sadefdr ibu ehr-i hb-manzar/ Dr gevher iinde gzeller; Vel sarrf- uk- zamne/ Getrmi bir kan silk-i beyna; Ki tarfinde kasr akl- insan/ Nazrin grmemi sarrf- devran; Mani drlerile bu mazhir/ Olupdur gyya silk-i cevhir; Gherler nesr idp sarrf dehrn/ Getrm nazma bir bir ibu ehrn; Perpeyker melek-manzarlarnda/ Seh-kd lle-had dilberlerinde; Ki her birisi anun hrz- candor/ Dilmde rz u eb vird-i zebandu

250

Day and night has become a riddle on my tongue Fakiri illustrates the city by using Sufi metaphors. He recalls the dancing of dervishes along a circle, the circular layout of Sufi lodges, the prayer bowl of the Sufi dervishes and the dervish belt. He describes the city as an object, as a space, as a body by using Sufi metaphors. These descriptions suggest that the poet proposes an image of the city. This image is both an ideal representation and a real one. Ideally the city within the city walls is represented as a garden, either similar to the paradise garden, or similar to the legendary Garden of Iram whose magnificence preceded the beauty of the former. As well, the geographical location and the topography of the city are described. The city is presented as a real space. In Fakiris ehrengiz, there is a constant emphasis on visuality. Similar to the ideal and real images of the city, visuality also develops in ideal and real realms. The poem narrates the vision of the angels as they see the city from above. It also narrates the vision of ordinary people watching the city and its environs. The poem uses a variety of words to describe a setting, a scene, or a panorama (manzar, suret, hb-manzar, mazhir, melek-manzarlar) and the act of watching (itdi seyran, temaa eylesen, temaa eyleyen, seyran iderler, eyler seyr-i ddr). Throughout the narrative, there is a constant emphasis on watching the city, watching the city in the background, watching a view, an event, or people. It is most likely that the poet is seated on one of the hilltops overlooking the city. He could either be in the Galata region, Stlce, or above Eyp overlooking the Golden Horn. The city with the seven hills is in the background as the poet describes it. In the foreground there is the canal where beautiful young guild boys are sailing. Some are swimming and some are traveling to the meadows at the skirts of this hilltop.

251

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL IN AH U GED BY TALICALI YAHYA (1540s)

His famous collection of five stories includes the story called ah u Ged which is listed under the category of ehrengiz by Levend. ah u Ged is a love story that takes place in Istanbul. It narrates the platonic love of Ged (the beggar) for the ah (a boy who is actually called Ahmed and personified as an emperor). Yahyas story is about metaphorical love. It mentions that True Love can only be attained after experiencing metaphorical love.65 The poem illustrates the city of Istanbul where the story takes place, talks about a Friday afternoon when the congregation takes place at Hagia Sophia. It describes the building and its environs, displaying the dynamism of this city space vividly. After some spatial descriptions, it evokes four beloved ones. Later, in the poem begins the story of Ged and ah. The city of Istanbul is represented in Sufi metaphors similar to those in the previous poems. However, the city is also represented as the throne of the Ottoman Empire. The name for the city is given Konstantnyye. It is represented as a space where the two seas meet. The poem depicts the city as surrounded by walls; some of the city doors open to the sea. The beauty of the city precedes the beauty of paradise garden. It is populated with countless buildings. Domes resemble vessels in the sea. The poem narrates a Friday prayer at Hagia Sophia. On Fridays, people flow to this space like water. The space and the congregation also resemble the paradise garden. It illustrates the eight doors, the dome as seen from the interior and the exterior, arches, minarets, pillars, the minbar, and the Sultans prayer space. In a couple of verses, it also mentions various kinds of marble used in the building;
65

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol. 2, 92-102.

252

describes their color, value and properties. The narrative animates architectural features of the space with metaphors from nature. Marble columns resemble cypress trees, glowing oil lambs resemble yellow flowers, and the worshippers resemble roses in a garden:66 How extraordinary like the gardens of Paradise That place has eight doors As if it has become the rose garden of the Heavens Cypresses are the green columns there Oil lamps burn glowing Like yellow tulips and daffodils Worshippers wearing white caps Ornament this garden like white roses The poem also illustrates the Hippodrome, as it becomes a populated place on Fridays with people flowing there from all the surrounding streets. People who are going to Hagia Sophia gather at the Hippodrome. The poem compares the open space to a tent accommodating travelers as guest. He further describes the Hippodrome, the Serpentine Column, the column of Constantine and the Egyptian Obelisk; and refers to the view of the Marmara Sea as it can be seen from the end of the Hippodrome. The poem describes the Hippodrome and the city similar to the paradise garden:67
66

Levend, ehrengizler, 103: Ne acebdr ki b- cennet vr/ Ol makamun sekiz kapus var; Gl-en-i cennet old ol gy/ Servilerdr yeil direkler ana; Anda kndller yanar par par/ Sar laleyle nergise benzer; Mminn ba zre destr/ Ak glile bezer o gl-zr

67

Ibid., 105:

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The Hippodrome is very nice with the fountains Fountains has become similar to the rivers of the paradise garden . This city has almost become the garden of paradise Thousands of young men filled it at once

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL BY TAB lSMAIL (BEFORE 1562)

Tab Ismails ehrengiz calls the city Stanbol and depicts its four neighborhoods briefly. These four sites resemble four columns supporting the city. First one is Eyp, the second one is Kathane, the third, Yenikap, and the fourth one is Beikta. Kathane and Yenikap are acknowledged as meadows.68 The dating of the poem is not certain. Levend argues that it must be composed before 1562. However, it is also possible that the poem could have been composed before 1636, or 1653.

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL, ANONYMOUS (BEFORE 1566)

The story begins as the poet illustrates a rose garden. He narrates the roses talking to one another. The anonymous poet becomes so extremely excited about

Hbdur emelerle mabeyni/ emeler old kevsern ayn; Old bu ehr sank ba- cihan/ Vardrir anda nice bin glman
68

Ibid., 40-41.

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the garden scene he is illustrating that he begins to portray the city with pleasure. He compares the city to paradise. He states that this city could have been the paradise itself, since it is as beautiful and as pleasing as the paradise. Thus all of its places are populated with beloved ones and with God. He describes the whole city as a pearl in the vast universe. The poem calls the city ehr-i Stanbul (city of Istanbul). He compares the sight of the city with its numerous monuments to a scene depicted in a well known legendary anecdote which takes place before the flood. This legend narrates the pavilion of the seventh heaven Firdevs as located within the area around Kabe. According to the story, this pavilion was relocated on earth together with Adam, as he was descended from the Heavens. The poet reminds the reader about this story, and compares the buildings of the city of Istanbul to the heavenly pavilion, and Kaaba. He describes each one of the mosques in the city as divine as Kabe, and equates the Sultans palace to the heavenly pavilion of the tale. He further describes the fountains of the city. He personifies the numerous fountains with their gushing water evoking them as lovers who are burst into tears. Then he acknowledges that the city of Istanbul has become a site of pilgrimage. Thus it has become a true path for the friends of God. He briefly refers to the beloved ones walking in waters without illustrating any specific or location within the city. Then he discloses twenty-five beloved ones from the city and concludes his story. The below verses renders part of the poets depiction of the city of Istanbul:69 If Adam had ever seen that bejeweled location The heart would have forgotten the Paradise

69

Ibid., 105: Greydi dem ol zb makam/ Unudurd dil Darus-selm; Anun her cmii bir Kabe-i nur/ Saray- ah olupdur Beyt-i mamur; Olup fte her bir eme-sr/ Gzinden ya dker grdke yr; der halk- cihan dayim ziyaret/ Olupdur san bu eh-rah- velyet; Girer suya gzeller anda gh/ Der bahra sanasn aks- mh

255

Every one of its mosques is a divine reflection of Kabe Sultans palace is Beyt-i mamur Its numerous fountains are passionate Burst into tears upon seeing the beloved The people of the world at all times visit As if it turns into a spacious path for the friends of God The beloved ones walk into the waters You would take them for the reflection of fish on water

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL BY DEFTERDARZADE CEMLI AHMED (1564)

Cemlis story begins as he talks about his divine love for the Beloved. Cemli describes himself as a sinful person. He reveals that his desire and passion for the beloved ones disable him from performing daily prayers as requested by the religion. Like Mesh, he narrates day and night, and then begins to tell his story about sailing in the waters of Bosphorus. The main story begins as the poet recounts his arrival to the city. He acknowledges the geographical location of the city with respect to the two seas merging into one another, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean:70
70

Ibid., 106: O gn n gz aup dnyaya geldm/ Beni ben bir ulu ehr iinde buldum; degl ems kamerle merkez-i hk/ ki gzile bakd hake eflk; Acep ehr-I ltif nak znet/ O denlu halk cem olmak vilyet; imali mecmaul-bahreyn-i ran/ Yedi t- musavver hb u zb

256

That day my eyes wide open I have been born into this world I have found myself in a glorious city It is not the sun or the moon, but still the center of the world The skies have looked upon this world with two eyes How wonderful this nice city ornamented with jewels How populated it is as the assembly of friends To its north, seas converge delightfully Its seven hills are beautiful and handsome All belong to it, both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean The sea of trees and the sea of men As if the poet is sailing, he portrays the panorama of the city from the sea. He describes the city with numerous minarets extending beyond the skyline of seven hills. The poem describes activities that take place either on the Golden Horn or at Bosphorus. It acknowledges a festivity performed by rope-dancers and acrobats. A group of guild boys watch the performance and enjoy themselves. The poem also narrates people swimming. The poem describes the panorama of the numerous boats and ships, maritime vessels sailing. Then, it portrays the sultan and his court sailing. As well, it tells about common people who enjoy sailing. The poem states that with these activities the city becomes more festive than the paradise:71

71

Ibid., 107:
derse anda belikile lem/ Dahi umak hevsn itmez dem

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If ever participate in the festivities there One will not even desire to ascend to the heavens The poem talks of numerous boats sailing from one station to another, as lovers wandering after beloved ones. Boats carry beautiful young boys. Lovers are delighted to watch them. The poem refers to neighborhoods along the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, which are landing points for the ones sailing. It lists these in the following order; Kathane, Gksu, Anadolu Hisar, Anadolu Kava, Kadky, skdar, Tavan Island, Eyp, Stlce, Beikta, Galata, Yenibahe, Davudpaa. City dwellers bath and swim in the muddy waters of Kathane. The new castle and its environs are acknowledged as favorable sites to visit, surrounded by imperial gardens. Gksu, Kavak and Kadky are depicted as paradise like places. Eyp is recognized a site of pilgrimage. Greeks prefer traveling to the Tavan Island. Galata is represented as a foreign country. The city is described as a garden. The streets resemble flower beds and city dwellers resemble a grove: 72 Such a garden this bright city is Streets are beautiful flower beds The beauty of the city surpasses the beauty of all the other cities of Egypt, or the city of Damascus. It resembles the paradise garden with its beautiful coastline and its cypress groves: 73
72

Ibid., 109:
Heman bir bahedir ol ehr-i mahsun/ Sokaklar old anda tarh- mevzun; Leb-i derya v servistan- zib/ Budur firdevs ger varise hemt

73

Ibid., 109:
Leb-i derya v servistan- zib/ Budur firdevs ger varise hemt

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Its coastline and ornamented cypress groves This is the paradise garden if there is anything similar to it The narration of the city concludes as the poet acknowledges that by traveling to this city and contemplating its beauties, he thinks he has seen the whole world: 74 I have completed my voyage watching and journeying in the city Believed I have traveled the whole world at that moment Of all the numerous things that are beautiful and cherished I have contemplated and watched them carefully After the portrayal of the city he praises the beauty of the guild boys and concludes his poem by acknowledging his wish that his festive ehrengiz shall be cited in the assemblies of the wise, and thus it shall become famous within the city of Istanbul.75 The story must be told in a bath house, since throughout the story, the narrative is constantly interrupted by scenes from a bath house. The poem occasionally depicts scenes from a bath house. It describes hot and cold spaces of a hammam, its water system, architectural details, courtyard and people bathing.

74

Ibid., 112: Temamet eyledim bu ehri seyran/ Btn dnyay san getitdm ol an; Ne denl var ise makbul rana/ Varup karusna kldm temaa

75

Ibid., 43.

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Cemli, who composed the ehrengiz of Istanbul, also composed another poem for the province of Siroz. In the ehrengiz of Siroz the poet acknowledges that he was suffering in pain because of his beloved and he left Istanbul and traveled to Siroz. Cemli accounts for twenty-four beloved ones in his ehrengiz. At the end of the poem, he wishes that his accounts will be gathered as a book of divine love leading the ones to divine knowledge:76 Collect all my divine words into a book Open a door for me to the world of love Turn the sea of language into the sea of divine Turn the text of heart into the meadow of knowledge

EHRENGIZ OF ISTANBUL BY YEDIKULELI MUSTAFA AZIZI (BEFORE 1585)

Aizizs ehrengiz is different from all the others since it is the only ehrengiz poem that depicts women as the beloved ones. The poem narrates a private party gathered at the poets house. The poet Azizi hosts this party. He acknowledges that his friends have honored him visiting his house. They were joyful and they brought happiness to his sorrowful house. As each one of the guests took a seat and sat without any purpose, they have suggested that that they should make use of this meeting and organize a party. Thus, with this convincing proposal, they
76

Ibid., 44: lahi her kelmum bir kitab it/ Bana k aleminden feth-i bb it; dp dil nehreini dery-y umman/ Gnl yazusn it sahr-y rfan

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began to enjoy themselves drinking wine and conversing. They sing many songs and cite many poems. They either cite poems or ehrengiz poems. Upon citing a certain ehrengiz poem, one of the guests initiates a discussion. He suggests that there should also be one ehrengiz describing the beauty of different women. Different nature, characters, qualities and beauties of women should also be illustrated and learned. He wonders that if all things created reflect the beauty of the divine being, the beauty of women should not be ignored. It should also be contemplated. He asserts that if there were no women and no beloved ones, the world would have been devoid of any meaning. While discussing on the beauty of women, the guests insist that Azizi should compose a new ehrengiz on women. First the poet refuses to accomplish his guests wish. However, upon their assertion, he begins to compose a new ehrengiz. He tells about fifty women with different names, different character traits and different beauties. Some of these women are the daughters of the guilds. Some practice their own professions. Names of the women given appear to be symbolical, such as : Zaman (Time), Cennet (Paradise), Penbe (Cotton), Alem (World), Ak Alem (White World), Kk Kamer (Little Moon), Ak Gvercin (White Pigeon), Elence (Festivity). The beauty of the women is described with natural metaphors. A variety of character traits are displayed. The below verses are examples from the depiction of three different ladies. The names of these ladies as Meryem, Cennet, Fatimane can be transcribed as Iris, Paradise, and Shining: One is Iris, the most insane of all women I have become a lace to tie her mad hair77 One is known as Paradise, her lips like wine
77

Ibid., 125: Biri divane Meryemdr zennun/ Sa zencirine bendoldum anun

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Let me my Lord experience this moment with comfort78 One is Shining, the daughter of the candle-maker I have become dust burning with her light79

EHRENGIZ OF EDIRNE BY NEATI AHMED DEDE (1674)

Neati was a Mevlevi dervish from the Edirne lodge. He was also a Melm sheikh. In his poem, he states that he has written this poem to give please the world, to enjoy and to intoxicate the ones who are fond of conversing. His poem does not have any spatial references or depictions to any particular place. His language is rather difficult compared to other ehrengiz. He recalls fourteen beloved ones. The last beloved is called Bayram. The poem dwells longer upon Bayram than upon the other ones. 80 Neatis ehrengiz is important since it suggests that ehrengiz poems were acknowledged in Mevlevi assemblies or Melm circles. His reference to the joy of conversing is also important. Because conversing was one of the Melm practices which was acknowledged as leading the mystics on the path towards God. It should also not be unintentional that his ehrengiz concludes recalling a beloved named Bayram. Similar to Meshs ehrengiz which concludes by recalling Hac
78

Ibid.,126: Birinn nam Cennet lalii kevser/ Huda itsinan bana myesser

79

Ibid.,127: Birisi mumcu kz Fatimane/ Kl oldum k ile yana yana

80

Neati Divan, ed. by Mahmut Kaplan (Izmir: Akademi, 1996).

262

Bayram Veli, Neati might also be recalling the leading figure of the Melm tradition.

ANALYSIS OF CITY RITUALS

LIBERATED ORDER OF CITY RITUALS

We have learnt from a reading of these poems that ehrengiz rituals took place in the spaces of a sufi lodge (ehrengiz of Edirne by Mesh,1512); in a blossoming garden (ehrengiz of Istanbul by Talcal Yahya, c. 1540s); in a rose garden (ehrengiz of Istanbul, Vize and orlu by Katib,1513); in a populated house (ehrengiz of Edirne by Talcal Yahya, c. 1520s); at a meadow (ehrengiz of Istanbul by Talcal Yahya, c. 1520s; ehrengiz of Istanbul by Fakiri, 1534), at a private house (ehrengiz of Istanbul by Azizi, before 1585), or at a bath house (ehrengiz of Istanbul by Cemli, 1564). ehrengiz poems present two different aspects concerning rituals. There is a common theme and motive concerning all the poems, however events dont follow a specified order. The common theme in all ehrengiz poems is traveling and experience of city spaces. However, it is not possible to define a specific order of spaces or events experienced. Though some poems suggest similar patterns of discovery, there is no specific sequence of events that concerns all the poems. ehrengiz rituals include diverse experiences such as; praying at a mosque, praying at a Sufi lodge, dancing rituals at Sufi lodges, walking down the hills from a Sufi lodge to the meadow, traveling from one city to another, visiting different cities and provinces, staying at friends houses, walking in the streets, visiting guild shops at the bazaar, visiting imperial mosques, tombs, attending private parties at gardens, attending parties at meadows, going to bath houses, visiting populated

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houses, visiting private spaces for friendly gatherings and reading poetry, going to bath houses, storytelling, skating on a frozen river, walking by the river, walking in rivers, playing at meadows, swimming in rivers and canals, sailing, watching the city and its beauties, talking about the city and about the prominent figures of the city, acknowledging about the arts and crafts of different guilds, recounting the names and nature of guild boys. ehrengiz poems frequently illustrate that the citizens are in favor of journeying to and within the city. Like in Fakiris Istanbul, different types of movement in various city spaces are depicted, whether in the fields or at the sea:81 They either scroll out in the fields bashfully (seyr) Or like a rose utter their desire for the sea In Yahyas ehrengiz, the beautiful young men of the common public are depicted wandering in the city space and traveling to Galata:82 Getting on a ship many beloved ones Go to Galata for a visit (ayak seyran) Or, in Lamis Bursa, strolling and watching the beauties of the city is portayed as part of the imperial tradition: 83
81

Ibid., 99: derler naz ile geh seyr-i sahra/ Klurlar gl gibi geh azm-i derya

82

Ibid., 96: Binp ketiye dahi nice dilber/ Kalatada ayak seyrann eyler

83

Ibid., 26: Haber aldum ki ahenah-i devran/ Gelrmi Bursa ehrin ide seyran; Salup zll-i saadet-gsterini/ Temaa itmel in her yirini

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I have been informed that the Sultan Would come to visit and see the city of Bursa (seyran) Let his high spirited shadow that offers happiness To stroll and watch it all over (temaa) Experiences recollected in different examples of the ehrengiz genre changes from one poem to the other. Even though the poems more or less follow a specific structure, which will be studied in the following pages of this chapter, the events and spaces experienced dont follow a specific order. Ilahi, which is a genre in mystic literature initiated by Hac Bayram Veli and later flourished during the same period as the ehrengiz genre, also share this lack of a definite composition.84 The rituals of ehrengiz are accounts of individuals experience in the city. This experience is both a metaphysical and a physical journey that take place in the ideal and real spaces of the city. The rituals portray the city as a place of pilgrimage. Sufi literature accounts for metaphysical and physical journeys that take place mutually. In many examples, individual enlightenment aimed by way of spiritual journeying actually corresponds to a physical journey.85 Hagiographies also narrate physical and spiritual journeys. In the 16th c. there is an increase in the genre of dervish hagiographies (menkbnme). Among many, there is one Melm hagiography called Mirtl-Ik by Abdurrahman el-Askeri. It maps the development of the Melm society between Edirne, Istanbul and Aksaray, in the first half of the 16th c. Concerned with the growing hostility towards
84

Walter Feldman, Mysticism, Didacticism and Authority in the Liturgical Poetry of the

Halvet Dervishes of Istanbul," Edebiyt n.s. 4.2 (1993), 243-265.

Miriam Cooke, "Introduction: Journeys Real and Imaginary." Edebiyt n.s. 4.2 (1993):

151-154; Julie Scott Meisami, "The Theme of the Journey in Nizami's Haft Paykar" Edebiyt n.s. 4.2 (1993): 155-172.

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the Melm society, this hagiography aims at portraying Melm philosophy within the restrictions of the orthodox law. It defines Melm philosophy as an orthodox mystical system based on pantheism, while severelry criticizing those sheikhs and dervishes who have wandered too far from the path of the sharia.86 In Islamic tradition, traveling is associated with the attainment of knowledge. Whether in the form of "pilgrimage, trade, scholarship, adventure" as Gallens argues, the Islamic civiliZton is accumulated by a "constant movement":87 Travel in its myriad forms- pilgrimage, trade, scholarship, adventureexpanded the mental and physical limits of the Muslim world, and preserved and nourished the various contacts that Muslim perennially maintained with one another. "Abundant journeying" is one of the common Sufi doctrines. Journey is the path followed to unify the Self with God. Sufis were obliged to travel: For departing from their homes they were called "strangers"; for their many journeyings they were called "travellers"....88 Sufi literature narrates symbolic journeys from one garden to another. In the famous Persian epic tale Haft Paykar by Nizm, the hero Bahrm travels from one garden to another in the course of the story. Traveling from one garden to another symbolizes his inward journey. 89 Arab also defines traveling as an endless action which covers both the spiritual and the bodily

86

Ismail E. Ersal, Abdurrahman el-Askeri's Mir'at'l-Isk: A New Source for the Melm

Movement in the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th Centuries," Wiener Zeitschrift fr die Kunde des Morgenlandes 84 (Wien: 1994), 100.
87

Sam I. Gallens, "The Search for Knowledge in Medieval Muslim Societies: A

Comparative Approach," in Muslim Travellers, ed. by D.F. Eickelman, J. Piscatori (NY; London: Routledge, 1995, c. 1990), 51.
88

Ibid., 5. Meisami, "The Theme of the Journey in Nizami's Haft Paykar," 164.

89

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journeys. By the initiation of creation, since the first instant when things are manifested, the journey begins:90 You will never cease being a traveler as you are now. You will never reach a place of rest, just as you never ceased traveling from wujd to wujd in the stages of the cosmos as far as the presence of Am I not your Lord? (7:172) You never ceased undergoing transferal from waystation to waystation until you came to dwell in this alien, elemental body. You will travel through this body each day and night, crossing waystations of your lifespan until a waystation named death. Then you will not stop traveling. In the same way you will never stop traveling through your bodily deeds and through breaths, from deed to deed. The path followed in each ehrengiz is different from one another. However, it can be argued that there are grand journey and subordinate journeys. The grand journey takes place between cities and provinces: between Istanbul and Edirne, Siroz, Yeniehir, Yenice, Vize, orlu, Gelibolu, Belgrad, Bursa, Antakya, Manisa, Rize, Sinop, Beray- Takpr, Kashan, Diyarbakr. Subordinate routes take place within each city or province. The significance of the routes will be studied in the following pages of this chapter under real and ideal spaces. The order of events in the subordinate routes changes from one poem to another. Yahyas ehrengiz of Edirne has an explicit order. It narrates the order of events which takes place on a Friday afternoon. It depicts the experience of a group of people composed of dervishes, educated intellectuals and poor guild boys. The inventory of events consists in attending Friday prayer at a mosque and then, a Sufi dance ritual at a lodge; enjoying themselves freely by the riverside; and finally gathering at a private place to converse, read poetry and to enjoy being together. Yahyas ehrengiz suggests two kinds of movement within the city that most of the other poems follow. The first type of movement is circular. It explicitly concerns the Sufi lodge and the Sufi dance ritual. It narrates the architectural features of the
90

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 68.

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lodge and depicts it in circular forms. The dance is also depicted to follow in a circle. The symbolism of the circle is referred to in almost all the other poems. Second type of movement is free movement. The poem depicts free movement of individuals by the riverside. It depicts people running, walking on the river, by the riverside, skating on the frozen river, collapsing on one another, holding one another. The narration of these two types of movement also divides the narrative into two parts. The first part includes the prayer at the mosque and the dance ritual at the Sufi lodge. The second part includes play by the riverside and conversation at the private place. In the first part of the ritual, the orthodox and Sufi faiths are associated with one another since they both constrained the movement of the individuals by imperative patterns. The second part of the ritual is concerned with the free movement of the individual in space. The circle represents the unity of the cosmic rhytm (Figures 59-64).91 It represents the order of creation. It is acknowledged as the most perfect form. The center of the circle is acknowledged as the origin of all things, thus the divine being. The symbolism of the circle is used in most ehrengiz poems. For example the city is depicted with circular metaphors:
92

As a beautiful lover The waters has become an anklet around her ankle
91

Keith Critclow, Islamic Patterns An Analytical and Cosmological Approach (New York:

Schocken Books, 1976), 150-171; Ahmet Karamustafa, Cosmographical Diagrams, in The History of Cartography vol 2 Book 1 Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies, ed. by J.B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 71-89.
92

Levend, ehrengizler, 95: Alm bahra anun nice bb/ Kanad am sanasn murg- b; Ne hsnile bir mahbb- zba/ Gm halhldur pyinde derya; Vcud htem-i mhr-i Sleyman/ Ana bir halka-i sm old umman

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Her body as the ring (the stamp-ring of the Sultan) of Sleyman For her the sea has become a silver circle (ring) or, as a belt:93 The ones who are watching its elongated walls Said it resembles a lover with a silver belt or, the city is represented as a circle housing opposites within its body:94 Its darkness (gardens, vineyards, meadows, fields) is a land to seek refuge Its brightness is where the two seas meet With a circular wall, the city of the Sultan Captured all the months within Sufi dance (devr) is also composed of circlular movements dancing in a circle.95 Different Sufi orders had different rules concerning Sufi practices and the Sufi dance (Figures 66-69). Rufai, Kadiri, Halveti and Gleni orders practice dancing in circles while the participants of the dance hold hands with one another. Nakibendi members dont practice dancing, but they still seated in the form of a

93

Ibid., 95: denler sr- memddn manzar/ Didi simin kemerlu hba benzer

94

Ibid., 97: Sevd Melce-i kevneyn olupdur/ Beyaz mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur; Mdevver srile bu ehr-i h/ hata eyleypdr cmle mh

95

Metin And, A Pictorial History of Turkish Dancing from Folk Dancing to Whirling

Dervishes, Belly Dancing to Ballet (Ankara: Dost Yaynlar, 1976), 32-36.

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circle during their rituals.96 Early Sufi treatises portray Sufi dance as a free movement of the body expressing spiritual outbursts. However, all kind of movements in Sufi dances were determined by strict regulations by the 16th c. There were no place for free movements of the individuals anymore. In a late 13th c. treatise, Sufi dance is illustrated to allow for free movements of the body. Jumping, hoping, holding another person in ones arms, inviting public to the dance, tapping, hitting one another are portrayed as normal practices of the dance ritual. In the later centuries, such free body movements became unacceptable and the whole dance ritual was ordered into a strict conformity.97 In a 15th c. treatise on Sufi dance (Istanbul Fatih Library 5335), the spiritual birth of dance is dated to the creation of the world, together with music. This manual describes four kinds of dancing that illustrate four different kinds of movement patterns. arh (wheel) is whirling. Raks is (dance) dancing while the torso stays static. It is the moving of the arms, hands, legs, and the head. Muallak (hanging object) is moving vertically, leaping or jumping. Pertav (physical forward projection) is moving horizontally.98 The treatise explains the movement of the body in relation to the spiritual movement and the order of the universe. The whole dancing ceremony is full of symbolism. The dancing space symbolizes the year. The leader of the group symbolizes the sun while the dancers become stars and the planets turning around him. The four types of dancing symbolize the four seasons and the four substantial elements of all creation. The music played which has twelve tonalities stand for the twelve months of the year.99

96

Metin And, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, in Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi and the Whirling

Dervishes, ed. by Talat Halman and Metin And (Istanbul: Dost Publication, 1983), 49-50.
97

Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Mevlndan Sonra Mevlevlik, 2nd edition (Istanbul: Inklp ve Aka

Kitabevleri, 1983), 380-81.

And, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, 68. Ibid., 69-70.

99

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According to the Mevlevi tradition, the circle is also acknowledged as the course of divine movement. Mevlevis assume that the circle is divided into two equal parts. The right half of the circle embodies the realm of the manifest, the left half of the circle embodies the non-manifest. The circle joins the two realms within its circumference. Thus, metaphorically, the circle unites the invisible realm of God to the visible realm of human beings. The turning of the circle enables the two realms to unite. Within the circle, these two realms are divided by a line bisecting the center. Thus this line is the diameter of the circle. The point of the diameter that intersects the circumference at the top of the circle symbolizes the beginning of the creation. The bottom point symbolizes the end of creation. The top point is where the divine being is located, and the point at the bottom houses the human being.100 Mevlevi rituals follow the geometry of the circle. Mevlevi rituals are performed in circular spaces called semahane. Semahane is divided into two halves axially, similar to the metaphorical division of the circle. There is an invisible line that bisects the circular room into two. This line is called hatt- istiva (equator). The master of the ceremony is seated at the top point of this linear axis, the equator. The seat of the master symbolizes the divine nature. Correspondingly, the bottom point of the axis symbolizes the human nature. The equator line symbolizes the shortest distance between the human being and God. Thus, it is the shortest distance between the lover and the beloved. The dancers dont step on the equator line. The right half of the semahane symbolically houses the manifest world, the world of the human being. The left half of the semahane houses the nonmanifest world, the divine being.101 The circle is acknowledged to embody concentric circles. Each concentric circle represents different stages of the spiritual journey ascending from the circumference towards the center. Correspondingly, dance ceremony is also performed in successive stages in spaces of successive concentric circles. Arabs definition of the circle is rather complex (Figures 62-63). The circle represents the movement of all things manifested. Once a thing is manifested it
100

Glpnarl, Mevlndan Sonra Mevlevlik, 385. And, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, 70-71.

101

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moves away from its source of creation. However, the course of movement continues as the manifested thing returns back to its point of origination. Thus, all movement in the universe is circular and it represents the unity of the universe: 102 The affair occurs (with an inclination toward circularity) because things proceed from God and return to Him. From him it begins and to Him it goes back. In the world of shape the affair has no escape from taking the form of a circle, since it does not go back to God by the path on which it emerged from Him, but extend until it reaches its place of origin. Arab defines the center point of the circle as the locus of the nonmanifest. Thus, the center point is the beginning of all creation and it houses the divine being. All creation is manifested in concentric circles growing out from a single center. The circumference of the circle represents the realm of manifest. However, since all manifest things embody the knowledge of the nonmanifest, each point on the circumference of the circle also acts like a center. Thus, each of these centers also stands as a locus of the nonmanifest. All creation is represented as contained within the body of different circles moving away and towards the divine being. Arab portrays these circles as storehouses where all the species and genera are contained. These storehouses are numerous. They are like sets that embody nonmanifest essence in different degrees, as well as the manifested things in different realms as according to their properties. The below quotation from Arab explains the concept of storehouses:103 The storehouses are restricted according to the restriction of the species of known things. Although the storehouses are many, they all go back to twothe storehouse of knowledge of God, and the storehouse of knowledge of the cosmos. In each of these storehouses are many storehouses, such as the knowledge of God in respect of His Essence by rational perception and in respect of His Essence by traditional (sam) Shariite perception; knowledge of God in respect of his names; knowledge of Him in respect of His descriptions,.

102

Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 224. Ibid., 230-31.

103

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The other storehouse, which is the knowledge of the cosmos, also compromises many storehouses, and within each storehouse are found other storehouses. The storehouses are first, knowledge of the entities of the cosmos in respect of its possibility, in respect of its necessity, in respect of its essences that abide through themselves, in respect of its engendered qualities, in respect of its colors, in respect of its colors, in respect of its levels, and in respect of its place, time, relations, number, circumstance,. In another explanation of the cosmos as a circle, Arab illustrates concentric circles that encompass one another. Circles closers to the center house precedent attributes. Circles closer to the circumference house secondary and subsidiary attributes. Moving towards the center symbolizes enlightenment. Moving towards the periphery symbolizes moving backwards in the stages of creation. However, backward movement is also positive and creative. Since the light of the center displays itself by means of the peripheral circles.104 The cosmos, made out of a series of intersecting circles and semicircles, facilitates movement in two different direction; centripetal and centrifugal.105 In their study of symbolism in Sufi tradition, Ardalan and Bakhtiar give an explicit definition of this two-fold definition of movement in the symbolism of the circle. All human beings, constituting centers of their own existence, orient themselves towards the absolute truth by surpassing their limits. This creates a centrifugal force and enables an outward movement. However, the absolute truth, as the center of all creation, orients all creation towards itself and attracts all things towards the center. This creates a centripetal force and enables an inward movement.106 In the first, God as Manifest (Zhir) is the reality of universal externaliZton. From within the concentric circles of the macrocosm, there is an outward movement from the earth as corporeal manifestation through
104

Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 25. Chittick, The self-disclosure of God, 229. Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar, The Sense of Unity The Sufi Tradition in Persian

105

106

Architecture (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1973), 11.

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an all-pervading soul to the enveloping Heavens, viewed as the seat of Divine Spirit. In the second complementary view of God as Hidden (Btin), there is an inward movement within the macrocosm of man, beginning with his physical presence and moving towards his spiritual center, the Hidden Treasure. Arabs definition of the cosmic order, made out of various circles intersecting one another, illustrates a complex diagram. This diagram, proposes multiple centers for each one of the circles which represent different storehouses. Thus, according to this diagram, the movement of the universe does not follow a single path around a single center, but there are different paths of movement that governs different storehouses. Similar to Ibn alArabs explanation of a complex pattern of circular movements around multiple centers, ehrengiz poems also suggest different patterns of movement within the city space. Each ehrengiz, proposes a different path within the city space.

TEXT OF CITY RITUALS: THE EHRENGIZ GENRE

There are few studies on the genre of ehrengiz. The genre has generally been considered as artless and dull in form. It uses simple vernacular Turkish understandable to the common public. The most important study on the genre was conducted by Agah Srr Levend. Levend made a list of all ehrengiz poems and transcribed parts of the poems on the city of Istanbul.107 The genre has been discussed with respect to two different arguments. First, it is portrayed as a genre carrying pornographic contend because they depict beautiful young men of the guilds extensively. Second, it is acclaimed for its lively depictions of the city life. Within the line of the second argument, it has
107

Levend, Trk Edebiyatnda ehr-engizler ve ehr-engizlerde stanbul (stanbul: Baha

Matbaas, 1958).

274

also been classified as travelers chronicles.108 Emergence of the ehrengiz genre in the 16th c. has been discussed in relation to the emergence of a new genre in miniature painting. The emphasis on realism and on the extensive depiction of guild boys in ehrengiz poems is compared to the twenty one day procession of guilds in the Hippodrome during the imperial circumsicion festival and its depiction in the Book of Festivities (Figures 78-83; Surnme-i Hmayun, 1582, TSM H1344).109 The first ehrengiz poem was composed by Mesh in 1512.110 There are many discussions about the origin of the genre, whether it is an original Ottoman invention or a canon derived from Persian poetry. Mine Mengi cites Browne and Hammers suspicion that the ehrengiz genre was originated by Fakiri.111 She refers to two Persian poems; Vahidis poem about the city of Tebriz, and Harfis poem about Gilan, which carry similar characteristics to that of the ehrengiz genre.112 However Riehle acknowledges that most of Meshs contemporaries
108

skender Pala, ehrengiz, in Dnden Bugne stanbul Ansiklopedisi, vol. 7, 150-151;

skender Pala, Ansiklopedik Divan iiri Szl (Ankara: Kltr Bakanl Yaynlar, 1989); Baki Asltrk, Osmanl Seyyahlarnn Gzyle Avrupa (stanbul: Kakns Yaynlar, 2000).
109

Derin Terziolu, The Imperial Circumcision Festival of 1582: An Interpretation, in

Muqarnas 12 (1995), 84-100; Walter Andrews, Literary Art and the Golden Age: The Age of Sleyman, in Sleyman the Second and His Time, ed. by Halil nalck and Cemal Kafadar (Istanbul: Isis, 1993), 353-368.
110

Meshs ehrengiz is called ehrengiz Der Medh-i Cuvanan- Edirne written in 1512,

during the last year of Beyazd IIs (1481-1512) reign. According to Levend, Mesh had followed the Sultans campaign from Istanbul to Edirne for the sake of looking for a patronage to sustain his life after the loss of his former patron Hadm Ali Pasha; Levend, ehrengizler, 16-18.
111

Mine Mengi, Mesh Divan (Ankara: Atatrk Kltr Merkezi Yaynlar, 1995). Shahrangz, or Shahrshb The Encylopedia of Islam New Edition Volume 9 (Leiden:

112

E.J. Brill, 1995), 212 214; G Scarcia, Lo `Sehrengiz-i maglup` di Mirza Shafi', in Studia

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envied him for the originality of his poetry, and that even Persian poets had copied him.113 According to Gibb, the originality of Mesh114 came from his liberated standpoint differing from the conventional and traditional framework of Persian poetry: it deserves attention for being the result of mere personal observations of the objects and landscape. 115 Gibb classifies the genre as non-metaphysical poetry. Levend argues that ehrengiz poetry is not necessarily written for the purpose of depicting mystical love. However he also remarks that in some of the poems there are explicit references to metaphorical love as a guide to the true love:116 There is no doubt that the feeling of love the poet talks about is not related to the mystic love. The poet does not feel any obligation to hide this or, curtain his love by the veil of mysticism. However, from time to time he wishes from God that this metaphorical love would lead him to True love. Fashioned by Mesh in 1512, the literary critics of the 16th c. acknowledged the originality of the genre and the art of Mesh. Ottoman poets admired him as the master of the genre, and practiced ehrengiz poetry referring to Mesh, and his art. The literary critics of the period refer to the concept of love in Meshs poetry

Turcologica Memoriae Alexii Bombaci dicata, I. U. O., Seminario di Studi Asiatici: Series Minor, XIX, ed. by A. Gallotta and U. Marazzi (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1982), 481-485.
113

Klaus Riehle, Leben und Literarische werke Meshs = Mesh'nin hayati ve edebi

eserleri (Prizren: BAL-TAM, 2001), 268.

Levend acknowledges that Mesh, as a poet, had been depicted in more than fifteen

times in Ottoman literary anthologies and in historical chronicles by Sehi, Latifi, Ak elebi, Beyani, Niyazi, Katip elebi and others; Levend, ehrengizler, 18.
115

Gibb, Osmanl iiri Tarihi, vol. I, 448. Levend, ehrengizler, 13.

116

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as a measure of perfection. Admiring the work of Mesh, Gibb criticizes Meshs poetry for being formless, coarse and dull in form. The most peculiar characteristic of this poet as according to Gibb is its simplicity that can be understood even by the most humble members of the uneducated groups of the society, its use of daily Turkish language as opposed to using artful phrases made up of Persian and Arabc. Gibb questions whether ehrengiz poetry talks about the real characters of the city under the name of forty six young boys or if these characters are mere products of Meshs imagination. Gibb examines Meshs ehrengiz in three major parts, like most of the latter examples of this genre. The first one is the Introduction (Dibae); the second one is the part citing names of 46 city boys; and the third part is the Final (Mukaddime).117 Levend examines Meshs ehrengiz into five main parts; prayer (mnacat), depictions of the day and night, depictions of young men, tetimme, and the final part as the ihtitam that is made up of two gazels118. Most of the other ehrengiz poems follow the same order, they begin by praying, continue by recalling general themes of Islamic legendary, depict city space, make a long list of young men who were supposedly the beautiful members of the guilds and conclude by one or more gazels. Meshs poem was composed in the form of mesnevi. Other ehrengiz poems were also composed in mesnevi form. In order to get introduced to the context of ehrengiz poems, it is important to have general knowledge about the mesnevi form. Holbrook argues that different examples of the genre from the 13th c. to late 18th c. are intertextually related to one another.119 Accordingly, the study will try to locate the ehrengiz genre within the general historiography of the mesnevi form.
117

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol. I, 450-51. Levend, ehrengizler, 17-18. Victoria Rowe Holbrook, The Unreadable shores of love: Turkish modernity and mystic

118

119

romance (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994).

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It will mainly use the literary studies conducted by Holbrook, Levend and Glpnarl. The mesnevi form was used in the composition of long poems mainly written about mystical love stories. In this line of development from 13th to late 18th c., different examples of mesnevis cover three main domains; mystic love, metaphorical love, and health. Mesnevis of five different poets from 13th to late 18th c. stress these different topics: Mevlana Celaleddin Rumis Mesnevi; eyh Galips (1757-1779) Hsn- Ak; Tcizde Cfer elebis (1452-1515) Heves-nme; Fuzulis (14801556) Shhat Maraz (Hsn- Ak), and finally Fzl- Enderns (1756-1810) Defter-i Ak, Hbn-nme, Zenn-nme and Rakkas-nme (eng-nme). Mevlana Celaleddin Rumis Mesnevi and eyh Galips Hsn- Ak depict mystical love stories. Victoria Holbrook studies the two texts intertextually.120 Tcizde Cfer elebis Heves-nme and Fzl- Enderns works depict metaphorical or real love stories. Agah Srr Levend classifies works of the both poets carrying similar qualities to the genre of ehrengiz.121 Fuzulis Shhat Maraz (Hsn- Ak) depicts the importance of health and human body. It stresses the harmony of all cognitive faculties with respect to the experience of love.122 Rumi and eyh Galips mesnevi depict mystic love, but they have different viewpoints approaching the text of love. Rumi emphasizes the impossibility of the union with the beloved. Galip emphasizes the possibility of the union with the beloved. Both illustrate symbolic spaces. For example, Galips story takes place at symbolic spaces called the Garden of Meaning, Fortress of Form, School of Proper
120

Holbrook, The Unreadable shores of love. Levend, ehrengizler, 59-64. eyh Galip: Hsn Ak, ed. by Abdlbaki Glpnarl (Istanbul: Altn Kitaplar, 1968).

121

122

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Conduct, Castle of the Heart in Galips story. Cfer elebis mesnevi depicts metaphorical love. The poem narrates the lovers attraction to a beautiful young woman. The story illustrates real spaces of the city of Istanbul; Kathane meadows, Hagia Sophia, Topkap Palace, Hippodrome, Fatihs mosque complex. Endern depicts both the city of Istanbul and other countries from India to the American continent. Rumi narrates a series of stories in his mesnevi. One of them, which is about three brothers love for a Chinese Princess, is taken as a model by eyh Galip in the construction of his own mesnevi. In eyh Galips strory there are three main characters, a girl called Beauty, a boy called Love, and a friend called Poetry. The story begins as the girl falls in love with the boy who at first is indifferent to her love. Poetry introduces love in the heart of the once indiffirent beloved, where the characters of the lover and the beloved exchange positions. In an encounter in a garden, Poetry, acts as an interface between the Lover and the beloved. The former beloved, Love, becomes the lover of the Beauty. Throughout the story Love experiences several difficult tests on a journey. During his journey, Poetry guides Love away from misconception and attachment to false beloved ones. At the end of the adventurous journey, Poetry again guides Love to the Palace of Beauty, where he unites with his beloved within the premises of his life time. The main idea of the narrative is that true love is attained by improving cognition. Intellect and spirit would mislead the self by the premise of the apparent bodies, but heart will always be able to comprehend true love beyond apparent bodies.123 In Rumis Mesnevi, which had been a model of reference for Galips Mesnevi, the end of the story is left without a conclusion. The lover appears in the form of three characters. Each one symbolizes one of the intellectual faculties; intellect, spirit, and heart. And as well, this multiplicity can also symbolize the multiple lovers of a single beloved. Though in each case, none of the lovers unites with the beloved princess to the difference of the conclusion of Galips story. There are three lovers
123

Holbrook, The Unredeable shores of Love, 49

279

in Rumis story; two of the lovers are killed. The story reminds the reader that lovers would only be able to unite with the Beloved in the afterlife. The story concludes without an end about the fate of the third lover. As according to the critics of Mesnevi, the two lovers killed symbolize the Intellect, and the Spirit, and the third one, who was able to survive, symbolizes the Heart. In Galips story, there is one lover, who at the end of the story unites the beloved. Galips story is made out of abstract characters, places and events, similar to Mevlanas Mesnevi. Galip strongly criticizes the use of literal references in poetry. He argues that reference to real places precludes the imagination, thus the purpose of poetry.124 The story of Galip, narrated in the spatial world of a tribes daily life, illustrates two different garden spaces. The first one is a real garden occupied by worldly bodies of which the reality leads the self away from True love. The second one is an abstract garden in which the lover encounters the beloved with the help of poetry. Poetry becomes a perfect medium for exercising imagination. Schmimmel elucidates the agency of mysticism in Islamic poetry where the interaction between the profane and sacred orders are resolved into a unique image by the use of the arts, and cites the art of poetry as a medium relating religious narratives into a virtual imagination of aesthetic quality: 125 certain religious ideas that form the center of Islamic theology, certain images taken from the Koran and the prophetic tradition, or whole sentences from the Holy Writ or the hadith can turn into symbols of a purely aesthetic character. Thus poetry provides almost unlimited possibilities for creating new relations between worldly and otherworldly images, between religious and profane ideas. the tension between the worldly and the religious interpretation of life is resolved in a perfect harmony of the spiritual, psychic and sensual components.

124

Ibid., 40-44. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 288.

125

280

Cfer elebi's Heves-nme is an account of a real love affair with the wife of a man from the ulema. Cfer elebi who was devoted to beautiful women dedicated his mesnevi to all the pretty girls.126 entrk acknowledges Heves-nme as the origin of a new genre narrating adventures (Sergzet). The poem is is considered a contribution to the literary changes since its theme was different than those repeated love stories of the classical Persian tradition.127 It also informs about daily life in Istanbul. It presents the poets thoughts regarding women, literature and poetry. It illustrates monuments of Istanbul.128 The atmosphere of the city is depicted as relieving the heart, and its refreshing air as keeping away the spirit from all kinds of ennui and boredom with its rose smelling water, its soil fragrant with delightful musk and amber pampering the Spirit and caressing the Heart: 129 Its air refreshing the heart and nourishing the spirit Water like rosewater, soil smells musk and amber Beautiful places are lands charming the heart, with pleasing buildings Lands with ample gardens, meadows, and trees akin to the Paradise The Paradise garden surrenders its Preeminence Seven climates are housed in one of its corners

126

Ismail E. Ernsal, The Life and works of Taci-zade Cafer elebi with a critical edition of

his divan (Istanbul: Istanbul University, 1983), LVII.

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 121-122. Ernsal, The Life and works of Taci-zade Cafer elebi, XLVIII. Levend, ehrengizler, 68-71: Hevs dil-gu v ruh-perver/ Suy mverd hki misk anber; Gzel yerler dilra bukalardur/ Kamu cennet misli ravzalardur; der rchnn firdevs teslim/ Sar bir gesine yidi iklm; i kat kat binadur gonce asa/ Miyn- lle denlu yok teh c

128

129

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The pleasant ambience of the urban space is almost an illustration of the paradise depicted in Koran as the promise of the calm garden under the shading trees:130 There is no equal to her in the whole universe There has not been a similar city in the entire history Beautiful places are heart embracing spaces Paradise gardens like those favored of Heavens The superiority of the city is expressed by evoking its magnificent kiosks and palaces, its splendid festivities, and delightful atmosphere relaxing the Spirit, enjoying the Heart, and embracing the body with its delightful air, and enjoying the vision with its scenery. The below verses from Heves-nme compare the palace with the Paradise garden:131 To some its dome is the dome of the Heavens To some its field is the finest of the Paradise garden (6th garden of the Heavens) Its fountain and the central pool is similar to the Kevser All its doors are more blessed and fortunate than the eight gardens of the Paradise Heves-nme employs realism and symbolism at the same time in the depiction of the countryside meadows. The poem refers to real places Kathane and Gksu, but illustrates these real places in allegorical stories. 132
130

Ibid., 68-69. Ibid., 71-73: Kemne kubbesi arh- muall/ Kemine ravzas firdevs-i al ; Miyn- havz eme ayn- kevser/ Bihit-i hetden bir bb her der

131

132

Ibid., 92-94. Spacious terrain surrounded by mountains/ Trees and orchards and rose gardens; Trees offering shadow/ Their trunks hand in hand; Cypresses holding hands with box/ The wind blows over them watching; Festivals, performances and

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The 16th c. chroniclers Latifi, Ak elebi and Hasan elebi criticize Cfer elebi. Though the poet was known to be an intellectual and academic, he was accused for lacking sincerity and true love.
133

It is very interesting that Ak elebi

accuses Cfer elebis poetry for lacking in true love, because he expressed an interest for women. As quoted from Ernsal below, his contemporaries

entertainments/ Enjoy their whole life with pleasure; Day and night pleading to the Lord/ That nothing should damage this orchard; In the middle a river is running/ Its infinite perimeter furnished with grass; Meadows flourished with roses and tulips/ Roses are fireballs tulips sparkle; Blossoms laugh upon seeing/ The passion between the rose and the river; You are seen once in a year says the space/ Washes the roses feet with cool waters; Water and the willow makes life pleasing/ Sincerely devoted to the river with his soul; Whether strong or mild/ Yavuz would not like the wind blowing; Thats why even when there is a gentle breeze/ Willows tremble upon the river running; Birds waking up sing in harmony with the wind blowing/ All over their blood shed flowing; As our eyes have seen this location/ We have forgotten the Garden of Paradise; Presenting our gratitude to our Lord/ That he has carried us to another Spring. Geni sahras evre yan kuhsar/ Drahistan sebzistan glzar / Draht- syeperverler irimi/ Budaklar biribirini el verimi/ Dutarlar el ele servile imad/ Seyirdp kalkar stinden geer bd / dben dahi nice lub bz/ Srerler zevkile mr-i diraz/ Ki rz u eb niyaz idp laha/ Gezend irimeye bu sebze-gaha/ Aralk yerde bir rmak revne/ emenlerdr kenar- bgerane/ emen pr lle v gldr ser-ser/ Gl te-predr her lle ahker/ Gliir gonceler idp nezre/ Glile macer-yi cy-bra/ Ki ylda bir grinrsz diy c/ Dker verdn ayana souk su/ Suyile bd idp ho zindegn/ Sever cn gibi b- revn/ Anun stinden er ir eer ki/ Yavuz sel esdini istemez hi/ Anunndr ki bd olduka cnban/ Olur ab stine her bid lerzan/ Dirlp kular ider ana ahenk/ Gider zrileri ferseng ferseng/ grdi gzlerimiz ol makam/ Unutduk ravza-i Dars-selm/ Biraz kreyleyp Perverdigra/ Ki irgrdi bizi yine bakara
133

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol I, 476.

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acknowledged and depreciated Cfer elebi because he preferred to express his love for women, thus he preferred metaphorical love to divine love:134 He defends the idea that metaphorical love is a means to divine love, throughout the Hevesname, he seems content to pursue the means with scant attention to the end, and the passion he describes is explicitly carnal. He feels that those who suffer because of love are fools; no man of good sense would choose such a course. Though Heves-nme narrates the poets love with a woman, it also accounts for a multiplicity of beautiful young men as ornaments of the urban space: 135 Graceful and slender lovers like young plant bodies ornament the city Cfer elebi declares his desire that the city of Istanbul would become the place of reconciliation between esoteric and ascetic ideals. This ideal also embodies the poets wish that such reconciliation would also reconcile divine and natural love. Thus the poets portrayal of a beautiful woman and his representation of the beautiful young men in the same story represent the desire to unify the experience of the divine and natural love. The appreciation of the multiplicity of beautiful young men represents the contemplation to apparent bodies where natural love would lead the poet to divine love. The desire for a woman represents natural love which would only satisfy of the poets worldly desires: 136 Two seas merge to one another on its edge The late 18th c. poems of Fzl- Endern also depict the multiplicity of the beloved ones. Defter-i Ak depicts the adventures of the poet concerning his love affairs. Hbn-nme and Zenn-nme depict, consecutively, beautiful young men and
134

Ernsal, The Life and works of Taci-zade Cafer elebi, LIX. Levend, ehrengizler, 95:Seh-kametlerile zeyn olupdur. Ibid., 95: Kenr mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur.

135

136

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women of the world from India to America. Rakkas-nme (eng-nme) depicts the dancers of the city of Istanbul.137 Fuzulis mesnevi emphazises the importance of health in love different from the other two themes of the mesnevi form. The human being is made out of four parts, spirit (intellect), soul (desires), body (form) and heart. Health is explained as a harmonic balance between these different parts. His story takes place at spaces called Land of the Body, Castle of the Mind, City of the Liver, City of the Heart, Garden of Self-Depreciation and Valley of Betrayal.138 The depiction of the human body as a space is a common theme in Islamic culture. The dynamics of the human body and the whole universe is represented by spatial metaphors. The 15th c. Ottoman health treatise called Hazins-Sadt (Treasures of Happiness) acknowledges health as the only treasure of happiness. Health is seen as the harmony of body, soul, spirit and heart. In this treatise, the sustainablity of health is related to the harmony of the whole universe. The treatise depicts this harmony through a metaphor of the city.139
137

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 633-636. Holbrook, The Unredeable shores of Love, 131. Health Eref bin Muhammed, Hazins-Sadt (1460), ed. Bedi N. ehsuvarolu

138

139

(Ankara, Trk Tarih Kurumu, 1961), 1-4 (1b-4b); 7-8, (6a-6b): amma adem vcudunun sal, sayruluu drt nesnesindedir. Ol drt nesnesi sa olan tamam sadr. Birisi sayru olan drl sayrudur. kisi sayru olan iki drl nesnesi sayrudur. Drd bile sayru olan tamam sayrudur. Evvel bedendir kim ol drt asldan olmutur. kinci Candr kim ol beden sohbetinden ol dahi sayru olur. ncs akldr kim bu alemin sohbetinden ol dah sayru olur. Drdncs gnldr kim gerekmez nesneleri adet edenleri grmekten ol dahi hasta olur, neuzibillahil azim. Bu drdnn her biri birmani sebebile saln saklamay baaramaz (ise) sayru olur. Bu avam (halk) arasnda mehur olub hret tutan beden hastaldr. Kimin bedeni hast aolub yatarsa filan hastadr derler, bedeni hastadr demezler. Annin kim bilmezler, can hastal nedir? Bilmezler, akl

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PARTICIPANTS OF CITY RITUALS: MARGINAL POETS AND GUILD BOYS

The ehrengiz rituals are gatherings in which city dwellers of lower status meet others from higher status. The participants of the ritual comprised both court poets and guild boys of all ranks. The genre was developed mostly by court poets, who were competent in articulating Persian or Arabc language and the most complicated arts of poetry. However, when composing ehrengiz poems, these court poets preferred to use simple Turkish which made the poems understandable to common public.

hastal nedir? Bilmezler, gnl hastal nedir? Hemen hastalk ol beden hastal sanurlar. Ana il etmekin tb ilmidir kim anda bunca kitablar dzmlerdir. Tbb ebdan oldur. Ama can ilac in ahlktr. Zira can hastal oldur kim hulklar yaramaz ola. Bir adamn kim hulklar yaramazdr, can hastadr. Zira huk can sfatlarndandr. Pes ilmi ahlk can hastalna il etmekndr. Ama akl ilcin ilmi tedbir, ilmi siyasettir. Akl hastal tedbiri, fikri savab dmemektir kim ehli menziliyle ya cemi halkla dirlik nice gerek baarmiya; ol kiinin akl hasta olmu olur. lmi tedbr ve ilmi siyaset ann ilcndr. Amma gnl ilcin tefsir, hadis usul din, ilmi fkhtr. Zira gnl hastal nifak, ekdir; Kimde itikat olmiya ek ve gman olur kim ol nifaktr. Yakn gerektir. Bil imdi kim her ademin bedeni temam olunca kim can gelip diri olmaya layik ola, drt mertebede drt keyfiyet bulsa gerek. Evvel mertebede Erkndr kim, ana Ecza-y evvel derler. Hak taal celle cellhu kemali kudretinden evvel ol erkn yaratt; Ol drttr: Biri od (ate), biri hava, biri su , biri yerdir, biri toprak. Bunlara eczay evvel derler, ol sebebden kim bedenn terkibi anlardandr. Erkn derler, ol sebebden kim asl beden de anlardr. Od har, yabstr, yani ssdr, kurudur. Hava har ratibtir, yani ssdr, yadr. Su barid ratibtir, yani souktur, yatr. Toprak barid, yabistir, yani souktur, kurudur. Hak taala kemali hikmetile bu drt muhtelif eczay biribirine kartrd.....kinci mertebe Mizactr kim ana Tabiati saniye derler. Mizac demek yurulmak manasnadr. Tabiat ile mizac bir mayadr. Amma tabiat evvelidir. Ol manann mizac tamamdr.

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Mesh was called as the city-boy (ehir olan). Levend mentions that Vizier Ali Pasha called Mesh a city-boy since he was used to get lost within the city. Mesh was known to spend most of his time in Tahtakale, gardens and common grounds (mesire yerleri) and wine-houses140. Riehle acknowledges Mesh as a rind.141 Riehle acknowledges that during most of his life-time, Mesh was literally committed to worldly joy and pleasures as opposed to platonic love: 142 His poetry about wine and love is not a product of an old tradition. It is obvious that for a certain period of time, he had lost himself in worldly pleasure. He was spending his leisure time in the Bozhane assemblies during the winter, strolling in Tahtakale, and in the winehouses of Galata. With his daring claims simply declaring his desire for the worldly joys, Mesh had a rind nature. The rind nature is a major characteristics attributed to many poets. As a rind (dissident), Mesh became a role-model for the definition of the concept of city-boy in the early 16th century. It should be questioned why anybody would ever love to get lost in the city, what could be the driving force for practicing worldly joys other than mere entertainment? How does a person - in such an intimate relationship with the city, would perceive the city? What is a city for the rind? In order to further understand the rind, it is necessary to analyze the poet as a subject as that takes its source in the school of Arab, constituting of different cognitive faculties empovered by spirit, soul, body, and heart.
140

Levend, ehrengizler, 16: Kaynaklar Meshyi rind, laubali-mereb bir air olarak kaydederler. Ak l.den aldmz u satrlar onun bu halini ok iyi anlatmaktadr: Hi bir zamanda Paa nesne yazman Mesh in ol ehir olann bulun dimezdi ki hazr buluna veya hidmeti in muntazr oluna. Elbette kapclar ya Tahtel-kalada ya deyr-i muganda ya mahbublarla gue-i glistanda bulurlard. Ol sebepden Paa dil-gir olurdu. Uslana diy terbiyet ve terakkisi their olur.

141

Riehle, Leben und Literarische werke Meshs, 260-61. Ibid., 260-61; translated from Turkish.

142

287

According to Gibb, the originality of Mesh was his liberated standpoint differing from the conventional and traditional framework of the Persian poetry, and it deserves attention for being the result of mere personal observations of the objects and landscape.
143

Mesh was a well known talented poet who lived during the

reign of Beyazd II (1481-1512).144 He was acknowledged as an original character by the Ottoman literary critics. According to Gibb, he was talented, and his poetry was sincere, liberated, daring and realistic, and at the same time quite moving. Similar to Mesh, who was acknowledged as a city-boy, other poets of the ehrengiz genre (Figures 73-77) also display dissident characteristics. They were known for their protest attitudes against general conventions, explained in their ideas, outfits, or lifestyles. Though most of them were also court poets, they can be recognized to occupy marginal positions within the general public and court life. Even Cfer elebi, whose mesnevi Heves-nme was a source of inspiration for other ehrengiz poems, was a protest character. He was a well known scholar, poet and was also involved in politics. His father was one of the consultants of Beyazd II (1481-1512). He worked as a teacher and a kad in Simav, as a teacher in Istanbul (Mahmud Pasha Medresesi), and as an administrator of the Beyazd II Foundations in Edirne. In 1497, he was appointed to the Sultans court. However, his post was taken from him when he was suspected to collaborate with ehzade Ahmed in favor of ehzade Selim. The latter was enthroned as the Sultan with the
143

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol.I, 448. Originally born in a small town of Albania, he migrated to Istanbul at a younger age; and

144

won reputation in calligraphy. Due to his talent in the arts of writing and in poetry, Mesh gained the patronage of Vizier Ali Paa and appointed as the divan-secretary. Vizier Ali Pasha supported Mesh. After Ali Pashas death in 1511; Mesh had searched for the patronage of other royalties like Cfer elebi. However, he never had the prosperity of the former days he spent under the patronship of Ali Pasha and died in poverty one year after his patron; Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol.I, 445-46.

288

support of the Jannisaries, and Cfer elebi was executed in 1515 as a result of a slander. Ernsal, who examined elebis work, acknowledges that there are similar verses in the poems of Cfer elebi, Mesh, shak elebi, Zt and Revani suggesting a certain interaction between these poets who lived during the same epoch.145 Vardar Yeniceli Usuli was a member of the Gleni tariqat. Upon the death of his eyh, he returned to his hometown and died in poverty refusing to accept any patronage. Usuli was known to be a believer and strong defenser of the doctrines of the Unity of Being. His poetry had a didactic tone in acknowledging the priorities of the doctrines of the Unity of Being. However chronicler Ak elebi accused Usuli for being a non-believer and a follower of Nesimi - the 14th century Turkish poet from Bagdad who was accused for being against the orthodox rules of Islamic Law and executed.146 Ishak elebi was a well educated person from skp. He worked as a teacher in many schools of various cities. He was a man of free behaviors.147 Though his poetry was tender and caressing the soul, he was well known for his outrageous and inappropriate behavior, unconventional love affairs, and liaisons, and his hatred for women.148 Zt was a shoemaker born in a small village of Balikesir in 1471. For the sake of being a poet, he left his home-town, and migrated to Istanbul. He had a small store in the courtyard of the Beyazd Mosque. In his small shop he used to fortune-tell by reading the numbers and signs that appear on sand. His shop was frequently
145

Ernsal, The life and works of Taci-zade Ca'fer elebi. entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 223. Ibid., 231-232. Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, vol.II, 41-43.

146

147

148

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visited by the renowned poets of the period, young and talented poets like Baki.149 He was a very ugly person, almost deaf and his body was not strong. Though he won the courtship and admiration of other poets and the intellectuals of the capital city, he was not able to get the proper support in order to sustain his life, because he was not a healthy man to participate in the courts of the elite regularly. Thus, he stayed as a self employed poet during his whole life time.150 Both the ehrengiz poets and the guilds formed the participants of the city rituals. It is quite obvious that the ehrengiz rituals both included people and depicted the presence of city dwellers of different social status. The recognition of the multiplicity of city-dwellers within the city with reference to their different professions recalls the procession of guilds in the 1582 festival; rope-dancers, glassmakers, bedquilt-makers, silk-workers, bath-cloth weavers, yarn-dealers, matweavers, sword-makers, paper-galzers, comb-makers, mirror-makers, lion-tamers, archers, incense-sellers, kaftan-makers, clock-makers, stone-masons, builders, seamen, herbalists, gardeners, cooks, fruiterers of skdar, greengrocers, coffeehouse, coffedealers, barbers, jewelers, Rumelian veterans, Anatolian theological students, Koran reciters, preachers, Sufis of Eyyub-i Ensari, dervishes of Hac Bayram Veli, dervishes of Ebu Ishak Veli, Redcaps become muslim, muezzins, scholars, crippled beggars, those imprisoned for debt, etc.151 The system of guilds ordered all the subjects of the Sultan into groups that anchored them to the imperial authority. Guilds formed the foundation of the Ottoman economy, but they also formed the main body of the Sultans subjects.

149

Ibid., 45-52. entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 235. Nurhan Atasoy, 1582 Surname-i Hmayun An Imperial Celebration (Istanbul: Kobank

150

151

Publications, 1997).

290

The imperial authority used guilds as a tool in re-populating and urbanizing the city of Istanbul after the conquest.152 ehrengiz poems represented themselves and their poetry as a medium of interaction where the subjects would encounter the Sultan. Especially Talcal Yahya, who must have also carried the fear of getting punished for promoting ordinary poor guild boys as beloved ones, declared that his intentions was only to introduce the guild boys to the Sultan. Thus, he presented himself as a delegate between the Sultan and his subjects. Yahya also declared that ehrengiz poems depict secret meetings that should not be declared openly. In his ehrengiz of Edirne, Yahya advises to be confidential. He addresses the mystics who acquired knowledge of ehrengiz rituals and advises them to act as storehouses of secrecy (mahzenl-esrr).153 Similarly, the Melm pole and poet Srbn Ahmed also refers to confidentiality and calls Melms masters of the storehouse of secrecy (mahzeni esrr ehliyz).154

SPACES OF CITY RITUALS

ehrengiz rituals took place in various spaces within the city. These spaces were not private gardens or spaces representing the imperial authority. ehrengiz rituals suggested an image of the city like paradise. However this image was different than the generic image of the paradise garden reproduced by the gazel rituals.

152

nalck, Osmanl mparatorluu, 156-169. Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by Mehmed avuolu, 243. Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 215.

153

154

291

While ehrengiz poetry developed representing various city spaces, the Ottoman authority was also interested in the representation of city spaces. The Ottoman authority used the arts of cartography as a tool to represent their authority and power. Most of these maps, produced under imperial authority, were highly circulated. Ottoman maps comprised cosmological maps (Ottoman version of the world map of Ibn Al-Wardi in Zbdett-tevrh by Seyyid Lokman, dated 1520-69), siege plans, maps used for engineering and military sieges, maps of holy places, pilgrimage and travels, chronicles of history, architectural plans and waterway maps.155 After the conquest of the city, its representation had become a challenge both to the Ottoman and to the western artist, in terms of representing a historically loaded space which was conquered by a new culture who aimed to construct an empire. idem Kafesciolu, in her unpublished Ph.D. thesis, studies the western and the Ottoman patrons struggle to assert an imperial perspective regarding the image of Istanbul by means of a newly flourishing genre of painting city views.156 Kafesciolu argues that there are two maps most possibly commissioned by
155

Cevdet Trkay, Osmanl Trklerinde Corafya (Istanbul: Milli Eitim Bakanl, 1999); A.

Adnan Advar, Osmanl Trklerinde lim (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi. 2000, c.1943) ; Cevat zgi, Osmanl Medreselerinde lim vol. I-II (Istanbul: z Yaynclk, 1997); Ahmet Karamustafa, Introduction to Ottoman Cartography, in The History of Cartography vol 2 Book 1 Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies, ed. by J.B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 206208.
156

idem Kafesciolu, The Ottoman capital in the making: the reconstruction of

Constantinople in the fifteenth century, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis (Harvard University, 1996), 213-214; Karamustafa, Ahmet. Military, Administrative, and Scholary Maps and Plans, in The History of Cartography Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies, ed. By J.B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 209-210.

292

Mehmed II representing the Ottoman Istanbul; the 1480 version of the Buendolmonti map (Figures 84-92) and the map of Vavassore (Figure 95), dated c. 1520-30. These two maps represented Istanbul as an Ottoman city in two different styles. The 1480 Buendolmonti map portrayed an ideal image of the city in a symbolic manner. The latter map of Vavassore portrayed a more realistic image of the city giving more emphasis to its topography. The change in the style, as Kafesciolu argues, was related to the birth of realism and the flourishing interest in the representation of cities in Europe, from the medieval to early modern period. Late medieval maps were called city ideogram and represented ideal images of the city. By the end of the 15th c. ideal images of the city were replaced by naturalistic representations; and in the early modern period, perspective plans were introduced that represented cities in a more realistic manner.157 Buendolmonti view, also called Isalorio, was originally illustrated in 1410 by Christoforo Buondelmonti. It was drawn in the late medieval period style of the birds eye view. Until the 16th c., there had been several reprints of Buondelmontis Isalorio, which some of them are illustrated in this study. It was a highly circulated map, not only in Europe, but also in Ottoman land. 1410 copy depicted the city walls, few columns and monuments in the city. Later versions of the map reproduced after the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, did not depict any evidence for the presence of Ottomans in the city, with the exception of one particular copy, the 1480 Dsseldorf manuscript. Kafesciolu claims that this copy was most probably commissioned by the Ottoman court. In the 1480 print, the city was represented with its new Ottoman identity illustrating the Ottoman monuments; the new palace, Hagia Sophia, Hippodrome, the bedestan, the whole complex of the New Mosque of Fatih Sultan Mehmed II including its madrasas, the grave of Ayyub al-Ansari; the dense fabric of Pera and cannons at the Bosphorus. However all the elements of the city float on the picture plane as if in the empty space. Thus, the 1480 Ottoman version of Buondelmontis Isalorio depicts an ideal

157

Kafesciolu, The Ottoman capital in the making, 219-224

293

image of the city. It aimed at portraying the new Ottoman identity of the city.158 However, the Vavassore map dated c. 1520-1530 was drawn in a realistic way. In the Vavassore map the monuments were embedded in a densely depicted urban fabric on a precisely drawn topographical site.159 Both the Vavassore map and the Buendolmonti prints were highly circulated.160 Istanbul map, dated 1537, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn by Matrak Nasuh illustrates an ideal image of the city as a garden (Figures 97-99). It represents the city as a garden densely populated.161 The Map of Hnernme, dated 1584, proposes various viewpoints from within and out of the city. It suggests the ceremonial shift from within the city to the Golden Horn.162 Maps in the Kitab- Bahriye (Book of Seafaring) which was produced in 1521, revised in 1526 and reproduced until 1700, suggests the experience of the city from the sea (Figure 101).163

158

Ibid., 224. Ibid., 240- 258. Ibid., 224-239. Kafesciolu argues that later versions of the Vavassore map present the

159

160

city as a prosperous Ottoman House; Civitates Urbis Terranum by Braun and Hogenberg dated 1572 which illustrated the city under the title of Byzantium now Constantinople, and later maps by Dilich, and Lorichs.
161

ffet Orbay, Istanbul viewed: the representation of the city in Ottoman maps of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Unpublished Ph.D. diss. (Cambridge, MA; MIT, 2001), 29-72.
162

J. M. Rogers, Itineraries and Town Views in Ottoman Histories. In The History of

Cartography Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies, edited by J.B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 248-251; Orbay, Istanbul viewed, 73-116.
163

Orbay, Istanbul viewed, 117-298.

294

The circulation of maps provided an image of the city as a representation of imperial power (Figures 84-101). They presented the city within a larger landscape; as a garden; and as a prosperous space, in relation to its surrounding neighborhoods, with respect to its topography. It provided an image of the city in birds eye view and also suggested multiple viewpoints.

IDEAL SPACES

ehrengiz poems illustrate opposites; Edirne the house of gazs, as opposed to Istanbul - the house of imperial court; the capital city as opposed to its provinces; imperial gardens as opposed to public open spaces; night as opposed to day; spring as opposed to winter; land as opposed to sea; sultan as opposed to his subjects; the Shariah as opposed to the Tariqat. This kind of comparison of opposites is called tanzih. It is also used in gazel genre, in which the opposites are contrasted to one another in terms of superiority. However, in the genre of ehrengiz, the opposites unite in harmony. The city unites opposites within its body. It becomes a space of reconciliation where the opposites reside side by side. ehrengiz poems depict the city as a barzakh, as an intermediary space bringing together opposites. The below verses from Mesh depict the city as a place of reconciliation: 164 Such a celebrated joyful paradise where all the sinful ones would enter See the dissident with the conformist together represented in it Yahya also presents the city as place where the two worlds resides. According to Yahya, the city is a space where both metaphorical and divine love can be
164

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 138: Zihi cennet ki girer her gneh-kr/ Grr si vu bid anda didr

295

experienced. Thus it embodies the knowledge of both the phenomenal and the divine worlds.165 Listen to this conversation of love If you desire for the taste of the two worlds Talcal Yahya Bey describes the city as a gathering place of lovers. The city is illustrated as a garden. The lovers are symbolized as flowers in this symbolic garden of reconciliation. Meeting of the lovers symbolize the meeting of form and meaning, hence the attainment of knowledge: 166 Graceful and slender lovers like young plants bodies ornament he city Two seas merge to one another on its edge Fakiri also portrays the city as a meeting place of the two seas. This is a metaphor portraying the city as a meeting place of the opposites. As well as it is a truth illustrating meeting of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea: 167 Its darkness (gardens, vineyards, meadows, fields) is a land to seek refuge Its brightness is where the two seas meet

165

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by Mehmed avuolu, 236: Bu ehrn dilber-i rans okdur/ Gzellikde kamunun misli yokdur; Kulag ur dinle bu cn sohbetini/ Dilersen iki lem lezzetini

166

Levend, ehrengizler, 95: Seh-kametlerile zeyn olupdur/ Kenr mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur

167

Ibid., 97: Sevd Melce-i kevneyn olupdur/ Beyaz mecmaul-bahreyn olupdur;

296

As it has already been discussed earlier, the metaphor of the two seas was also a common metaphor both in Arabs work and his followers, such as the 17th c. Ottoman Sufi poet Niyazi-i Msr (1618-1694). Below, Terziolu explains Niyazi-i Msrs interpretation of the concept of two seas: 168 In his explication of the Quranic verse He has set two seas in motion that flow side by side together/with an interstice (barzakh) between them which they cannot cross. (Rahman, 19-20), Msr explained that the relationship between the two seas was analogous to the relationship between sharia (the religious law, the object of the study of the ulama al-zahir) and hakika (divine reality, the object of the quest of the ulama al-batin). In Islamic tradition, water symbolizes the origin of all creation.169 In all ehrengiz poems, there is a constant emphasis on water, traveling by water, river, swimming, skating at a frozen river. In a story told by Evliya elebi, when Edirne was proclaimed to be the capital of the Ottoman Dynasty, the Muslim community entered the city through the river, guided by Hac Bekta Veli.170 Water is the most important element in the paradise garden.171 It symbolizes the source of divine knowledge. In the 3rd c. BC, king Sargon II of Assyria was born out of water and he was recognized as the gardener of his people. The story of

168

Terziolu, Sufi and dissent in the Ottoman Empire, 270. Annemarie Schimmel, "The Water of Life," in Environmental Design 2 (1985), 6-9. Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi , vol. 5, 304. Emma Clark, Underneath Which Rivers Flow The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden

169

170

171

(London: The Prince of Wale's Institute of Architecture, 1996); John Brookes, Gardens of Paradise The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens (London: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Ltd., 1987); Annemarie Schmimmel, The Celestial Garden in Islam, in Islamic Garden, ed. by Elisabeth B. MacDougall and Richard Ettinghausen (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Publications, 1976), 11-39; Mehdi Khansari, The Persian Garden Echoes of Paradise (Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 1998).

297

Gilgamesh is an account for the search of the secret of eternal life that is located in the far away seas. 172 Resemblance between knowledge in the form of illuminating light and the source of life in the form of water is symbolized in the rock crystal lamps of the Islamic tradition. Rock crystal lamps, ornamented with precious stones and pearls used in mosques, symbolize divine knowledge and the rivers of paradise. Shii tradition also uses the metaphor of water for divine knowledge.173 Talcal Yahya acknowledges water as the source of creation of beautiful things, thus the beloved. He also stresses the association of water with divine knowledge. However, divine knowledge is attained by the individual self who is determined to do so. Thus, Yahya asserts the importance of individuality when associating the participants of ehrengiz rituals to the natural elements of the city 174 Out of a drop of water, creates a beautiful form His cheeks shining like moon, rose colored . By will, the individual becomes a bright pearl By pure understanding and by the power of poetry

172

Khansari, The Persian Garden, 34-35. Avinoam Shalem, Fountains of Light: The Meaning of Medieval Islamic Rock Crystal

173

Lamps, Muqarnas 11 (1994), 1-11;5-6

Yahya Bey Divan, ed. and trans. by Mehmed avuolu, 245; the first and the last

verses from the below fragment: Yaradur katradan bir sret-i hb/ Kamer-fer rz gl-reng mahbb; Nigrun kklin dm- dil eyler/ Bel-y k gayet mkil eyler; Olur kadr ile merdm drr-i meknun/ Virr idrk- pk tab- mevzn

298

ehrengiz poems also compare the city spaces to the gardens of paradise. However ehrengiz poems portray the paradise garden as an intermediary space uniting all kinds of city spaces, different than gazel poems which depict the paradise garden as an interior space with superior as opposed to the exterior spaces. In ehrengiz rituals each of the city spaces, meadows, gardens, rose gardens, imperial gardens, rivers, canals, seas, mosques, Sufi lodges, streets, open public spaces, populated houses, bath houses, palaces, private houses of friends and poets, castles, hills, spring waters, city walls, bazaars, guild shops, neighborhoods is represented with paradisiacal qualities. For example, Mesh compares the city of Edirne to the paradise garden:175 Such a city that its gardens and mountains Gives the individual the serenity of Paradise Its waters handsome and flowing with charm Clouds flowing by are refreshing If you watch every one of these minarets Turn into a beloved with a posture like a cypress Beauties getting naked go into Tunca Unfolding their breasts, tiny bellies One seeing this city, with reference to this picture Would think that the number of paradises has become nine
175

entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 138: Aceb ehr ol ki anu bg u rgu/Virr kiiye cennet ferg; inde sular mevzun u reftr/ Bulutlar ba ucunda hevdr; Tem eylese her bir minaret/ Dnpdr serv-kmet bir nigra; Soyunup Tuncaya girer gzeller/ Alur ak gsler ince beller; ........ Gren bu ehri bu resme kymet/ Sanur bunula tokuz old cennet; Zihi cennet ki girer her gneh-kr/ Grr si vu bid anda didr

299

Such a celebrated joyful paradise where all the sinful ones would enter See the dissident with the conformist together represented in it Similarly, Fakiri presents the city of Istanbul as a paradise: Like the gardens of Paradise, all its places are enjoying A tender breeze makes all its citizens happy and pleasant176 Every sinful getting into this prosperous state Watch and adore this paradise like place177 There is nothing similar to it, it is the one and only in this world Such a gracious such a beautiful city178 The anonymous poet also places the city above the paradise garden:179
176

Levend, ehrengizler, 98: rem ba gibi her beyt-i mamur/ Nesim-i hulki eyler halk mesrur

177

Ibid., 98: Zihi devlet girp her bir gneh-kr/ Bu cennet ire eyler seyr-i didr

178

Ibid., 98. Naziri yok cihanda bidedeldr/ ken nzk iken ehri gzeldr

179

Ibid., 105. Greydi dem ol zb makam/ Unudurd dil Darus-selm; Anun her cmii bir Kabe-i nur/ Saray- ah olupdur Beyt-i mamur; Olup fte her bir eme-sr/ Gzinden ya dker grdke yr; der halk- cihan dayim ziyaret/ Olupdur san bu eh-rah- velyet; Girer suya gzeller anda gh/ Der bahra sanasn aks- mh

300

If Adam had ever seen that bejeweled location The heart would have forgotten the Paradise Foreign travelers also depict the city of Istanbul. Similar to the depictions of the city in ehrengiz rituals, travelers also portray the city possessing divine beauty. The below quotation is the impression of an anonymous Venetian who had been to Istanbul in 1534:180 The city is about 18 miles round; it occupies seven little hills of no great height, . the site of Constantinople is such that one can, not only, describe it fully but not even fully conceive its beauty. Indeed we are disposed to regard it rather as divine than anything else, nor can he who has seen it hesitate to deem it worthy to be preferred to all other places in the world. Similarly, geographer George Braun who traveled to the city in 1575 also portrays Istanbul with natural beauty and well maintained by its citizens. He declares that The city is so magnificent that it seems to have been raised not by the hand and labors of man, but by the felicity of nature and the aid of the elements. 181 Henry Austell, who was in Istanbul in 1586, praised the prosperity of the well-built city and its panorama ornamented with beautiful houses, monuments and mosques:182
180

The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by

Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: MDCCCLXXIII), 32; quoted from Cose de Turchi (Venice 1539).
181

The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by

Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: MDCCCLXXIII), 35; quoted from George Braun et Fr. Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum vol. 1 (1576-1621), 51.
182

The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by

Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: MDCCCLXXIII), 35-36; quoted from The Voyage of Master Henry Austell 1586 in Hakluyts Navigations (London: 1599-1601), vol 2, 196.

301

We arrived at the great and the most stately city of Constantinople, which for the situation and proud seat thereof, for the beautiful and the commodious houses and for the great and sumptuous building of their temples, which they call Mosches, is to be preferred before all the cities of Europe. George Sandys, who traveled to the city in the early 17th c., glorified the beauty of the city (Figures 107-108). He portrayed the image of the city as a garden with beautiful monuments embedded in a cypress grove: 183 It stands in a cape of land near the entrance to the Bosphorus; in form triangular; on the east side washed with the same, and on the north side with the haven, adjoining on the west to the continent; walled with brick and stone, intermixed orderly; having four and twenty gates and posterns; whereof five do regard the land and nineteen the water; being about 13 miles in circumference. Than this there is hardly in nature a more delicate object, if beheld from the sea or adjoining mountains; the lofty and beautiful cypress trees so intermixed with buildings that it seemeth to present a citie in a wood to the pleased beholders, whose seven aspiring heads, for on so many hills and no more they say it is seated, are most of them crowned with magnificent mosques, all of white marble, round in form, . By the end of the 17th c., Grelot illustrates the city as an enchanted town set in a densely planted garden: 184 Nothing can be seen or imagined more charming than the approach to Constantinople. When I arrived there for the first time, I thought I was
183

The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by

Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: MDCCCLXXIII), 37; quoted from George Sandys, A Relation of a Journey begun AD 1610 (London: 1615), 30-31.
184

The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by

Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: MDCCCLXXIII), 38-39; quoted from G. Joseph Grelot, Relation nouvelle dun voyage de Constantinople (Paris: 1680), 68-71.

302

entering an enchanted town; I found myself in the midst of three great arms of the sea, one coming from the north east, another from the north west, and the third formed by the meeting of the other two, discharging itself into the great basin of Propontis. These great arms of the sea as far as the eye can reach bath shores rising insensibly, hill above hill, all covered with country houses, gardens and kiosks, which become thicker as the town is approached. They are set one above the other, as in an amphitheater, the better to enjoy so fair a prospect. Amidst these houses printed of various colours, there rise an incredible number of great domes, cupolas, minarets, and towers, ascending far above the ordinary buildings. The verdure of cypresses, and other trees of many gardens, add much to the agreeable confusion which charms the eyes of the stranger. ehrengiz poems use metaphors of the paradise garden to picture the city. Though, foreign traveler accounts also acknowledge the city of Istanbul having a divine beauty, suggesting that the ehrengiz poems might have not depicted an ideal image of the city, but a real image of the city which was actually beautiful. In contrast to the natural beauty of the city of Istanbul, the ehrengiz poems also criticize the status of the city for maintaining an imperial agenda and housing the imperial court. In the ehrengiz poems of Edirne, there is a clear subtext that criticizes the imperial agenda for asserting central authority. Yerasimos, who researched the intertextuality of historical texts about the city of Istanbul and its monuments after the Ottoman conquest of the city, argues that almost a century after the capture of the city - from 1453 until 1560s, the Ottoman culture proposed conflicting histories considering the newly flourishing imperial identity associated with the capture of the city of Istanbul, its monuments, and its Byzantine heritage. The official chronicles commissioned by the court, like Akpaazade, Neri, and Tursun Bey did not depict the foundation of the city; on the contrary, the unofficial chronicles illustrated its founders, its monuments and its faith. The early unofficial chronicles depict the foundation of the city within the circles of Rome-Alexandria- Istanbul, or Troia-Rome-Istanbul; and emphasize its pagan and Christian heritage for the sake of proposing an anti-imperial agenda during the Ottoman appropriation of the city in the second half of the 15th c. The latter

303

chronicles, which carry an imperial agenda, however, associate the city with that of other holy cities of the Islamic tradition; Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. They convey the faith of the city as associated with the Orthodox Islamic tradition and blessed by prophet Muhammed. 185 Interestingly, the anti-imperial arguments were mostly presented by authors from Edirne. The city of Edirne was a challenge to the city of Istanbul. Edirne, which represented anti-imperial tendencies, was the house of gazs who wished to sustain their freedom and power. On the other hand, upon its conquest Istanbul became the symbol of the imperial agenda which subjected all the populace to a centralized authority including the gazs. Yerasimos has shown that, among these texts, the first relevant chronicles written with an anti-imperial agenda were composed by Bayrami-Melm authors from Edirne. Two Bayrami-Melm authors, Yazcolu Mehmed and Yazcolu Ahmed, were brothers.186 Drr-i meknun, by Yazcolu Bican Ahmed composed c. 1453, formulated the background of the anti-imperial agenda upon which the latter antiimperial texts were constructed. Drr-i meknun was a highly circulated book even in the 17th c. Its simple language enabled the text to be understood by everyone. It was used as a text-book for teaching Ottoman to foreigners. Also classified as a book of geography, Drr-i meknun describes mountains, animals, cities and buildings, and concentrates on the history of the city of Istanbul. At the end, it announces an apocalypse as associated with the history of the city.187 It also
185

Stefanos Yerasimos, Trk Metinlerinde Konstantiniye ve Ayasofya Efsaneleri, trans.

irin Tekeli (Istanbul: Iletiim Yaynclk, 1993, c. 1990).

Yerasimos associates the contend of the chronicles composed by these two Bayrami-

Melm authors; Risale-i Muhammediye by Yazcolu Mehmed, and Envar l-aikin (dated 1451, the life of the prophet) and Drr-i meknun (dated c.1453, classified as a book of geography) by Yazcolu Bican Ahmed.
187

Yerasimos, Trk Metinlerinde Konstantiniye, 61-62.

304

makes a list of the monuments of the city as a huge mirror, a miraculous building that tells about the faith of the lost people, a copper hand that estimates just exchange for trading people, the Eqyptian Obelisk and the Serpentine Column.188 A Russian chronicle dated c. 1453, narrates the city as located between the two seas. Although this is a foreign chronicle, it also conveys an apocalyptic end for the city, and takes part within the intertextual web of the chronicles that compose the anti-imperial agenda.189 This city will be called the city with the Seven Hills; it will have fame and fortune more than all the other cities in the world, but because it is located between the two seas, the waves of these two oceans beating upon it, it will incline once to this side and once to the other. Since, throughout Yerasimos well documented work, it is assured that these chronicles were all well circulated in the Ottoman land, enabling construction and transformation of such an agenda, it is also possible to argue that these chronicles were also available to the ehrengiz poets. They were most probably not only considering political-social agendas, but who like Cemali, were taking into account even the simple geographical depictions like the location of the city as inbetween the two seas of Mediterranean and Black Sea. The 1468 dated history of the city of Istanbul by Oru Bey, and its second version dated 1497 and the 1512 dated chronicle composed by Edirneli Ruhi were also anti-imperial accounts whose authors were from the city of Edirne. 190 The 1491 dated anonymous Kuruluundan Sonuna Kadar Konstantiniye Tarihinin yks narrated the history of the city from its foundation until the sultanate of
188

Ibid., 117. Ibid., 70. Ibid., 207; 220-221.

189

190

305

Beyazd II, citing each one of its founders and its rulers. Yerasimos states that the story is an original Turkish version of the history of the city. The story depicts the construction of Hagia Sophia in a very peculiar way. The emperor wishes to build a church that had no equal in the whole world. So, upon consulting a seventeen hundred years old wise man, the emperor organizes a contest to find the most talented architect for the design and building of this church. He poses a simple structural question. Among the participants of the contest, a poor young man from the guild of bath-houses is also forced to propose a solution to the problem of the emperor. This poor man who is not at all aware of any of the incidents about the emperor and his problem, is being helped by a spirit only seen to him. Thus, with the spirits help, he not only proposes the correct answer regarding the structural problem, but he also becomes the architect of the church. Again with the help of the spirit he also proposes a picture of the church to be built for the approval of the emperor. The story also depicts the Arab conquests to the city and narrates the legendary story of the Eyyb Ensari, his campaign to the city, his death, and his place of burial which had become a holy shrine. The anonymous chronicle reports that besides Ensaris burial, there was a holy spring which was also favored by the citizens of the Byzantine city. The Ottoman emperor, upon seeing his own citizens visiting the location of the burial felt himself obliged to commission the building of a mausoleum for Eyyb Ensari.191 The important features of this story, as related to the discussions on the genre of ehrengiz are, first, the attempt to construct an imperial identity related to the material history of the city. Second, is the criticism of this imperial attempt and accusing the imperial agenda which forces individual citizens to become subjects. Thirs important point is that, the story constructs new characters and refers to historical persons in the history of the city. Among these characters, there is the imaginary person called Yanko Bin Madyan, who is an anti-hero. Another character is the legendary Muslim Eyyub Ensari and his tomb with its holy spring that carries divine associations even for the non-Muslim community of the city. The fourth
191

Ibid., 13-49.

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important point is the refernce to Yunus Emre192, which proposes associations with Islamic mysticism and the foundation of the city. The fifth, important point is the real occupation of the architect of Hagia Sophia, who is depicted as a poor guild boy of the bath-houses. The sixth, and the least important point for the discussion of identity, but prominent in terms of perception is the use of the concept of the picture of Hagia Sophia as displayed to the public and the emperor by the guild boy again directed by the divine spirit. First one of these points is discussed by Yerasimos in detail throughout his whole his intertextual study. The last two points, are introduced for their relevance to issues brought about by the genre of ehrengiz, though, all six points are related to the genre. There are two chronicles from the 15th c. which depict the topography, monuments and miraculous items of the city. Both chronicles are considered a compilation of former sources. The first one, anonymous, depicts Hagia Sophia, its interior, its courtyard, the Hippodrome, miracles of the city, manastr, and the water supply system. The second one is a compilation of Arabic texts, books of gerography, hagiography, and pilgrimage. It was composed by Ali bin Abdurrahman and called Acaib l-Mahlkat. It portrayed the city plan, city walls and the Hippodrome.193 The diverse influence and different places of interest depicted in these chronicles resemble the depiction of different places in the various ehrengiz poems. One chronicle which depicts the foundation and history of Hagia Sophia in favor of an imperial agenda is a translation made by emsddin in 1480. The author reinterprets the Byzantine texts and translates it in such a way as to be cherished by a centralized power and its Muslim community. emsddins story locates the emperor above the architect. In this story, the emperor was divinely inspired by Khidr three times in his dreams about the design and construction of the church.194
192

Ibid., 86-87. Ibid., 105-106. Ibid., 118-129.

193

194

307

The anonymous Tarih-i Bina-i Ayasofya, written during the sultanate of Kanuni Sultan Sleyman, is another chronicle of the imperial agenda which shifts the discussions about the faith of the city within an Islamic circle, different than the most of the previous chronicles association of the city with its Byzantine and Christian heritage. The text focuses on Hagia Sophia mainly through the eyes of former Islamic mythology which reflected the capture of the city by Ottomans, as predicted by the prophet Muhammed. When Muhammed had ascended to the Heavens, Gabriel had shown him all the levels of the paradise. In the Garden of the seventh paradise, Firdevs, the prophet was amazed when seeing a replica of Hagia Sophia.195 By the sultanate of Yavuz Sultan Selim II, the anti-imperial arguments which depict the history and foundation of the city or its monuments became almost totally replaced by chronicles that serve for the centralized imperial agenda. The Tarih-i Konstantiniye by Ilyas Efendi, dated 1562, is a chronicle that represents the city as a haven totally blessed by God. It begins with a geographical description, and cites the founders of the city. The Chronicle abandons any irritating parts of the previous chronicles with their claims for an anti-imperial agenda and warning of the inevitable future apocalypse of the city. In the blissful and pleasant story of the city, Ilyas appraises the city and its monuments. He depicts the Fatih Mosque, the medrese, similar to Paradise; pictures the Beyazid Mosque citing its location close to the Old Palace, and, mentions the mosques that were commissioned by Kanuni Sultan Sleyman. Thus, with Ilyas story, the imperial project was made into a success story. The Sleymaniye Mosque was compared to the Kabe, the prophets mosque at Medina and Mescid-i Aksa, at Jerusalem.196 With respect to all the various narratives about the foundation of the city of Istanbul; there are two main chronicles which depict the importance of the city of
195

Ibid., 252-253. Ibid., 239-246.

196

308

Edirne as the house of gazis, in rivalry to the city of Istanbul. These chronicles are dated to from the late 15th c. to the early 16th c., parallel to the dating of the antiimperialistic arguments, and as well parallel to the development of the genre of ehrengiz. The Saltukname, dated 1475-1480 narrates the capture of Edirne by the gazis, and their leader Sar Saltuk. It conveys a story where Sar Saltuk meets Khidr and Elias in the place called Hdrlk (The Groove of Khidr) and talks about the faith and fortune of the city as the house of gazs and the center of the world.197 The Hikaye-yi hekim Beir elebi ve Edirnede olan Eski Camii Tevarihi ve Yeni Saray ve Hisar- Edirne dated c. 1520 by Beir elebi tells about the foundation of the city of Edirne. The author conveys the city as blessed, and dedicated to Islam, contrary to the cursed city of Istanbul. In the story, Ilyas, as the founder of the city predicts that in the future Edirne will be the house of the gazis. Hadrianus, builts the first hagiasma of the town and predicts the future occupation of the city by a Muslim community who would conquer the whole world from this station point. In the text, four holy places of the city are narrated, first the hagiasma of Hadrianus, second Hdrlk, third, a mosque built by Murad III, and fourth Dar-l Hadis, a religious school. The text links the heritage of the city to Islamic legendary by referring to two black stones that were brought back from Kabe in the Old Mosque (1414). According to the story, Hac Bayram Veli, who visited this mosque, had a revelation from Prophet Muhammed during his visit, ensuring that this mosque would serve his commune, and that it would never be deserted.198 Edirne, the house of gazs, and its provinces had a significant Melm population. When the central authority had threatened Melms with hostility, the prominent figures of the society had chosen to live outside the city of Istanbul, in the provinces of Edirne and the Balkans. When Hac Bayram Veli visited Edirne upon
197

Ibid., 223-224. Ibid., 222-23.

198

309

the Sultans invitation, he acquired many adherents in the region. Melm pole Ismail Mauki (d. 1539) and his companion Pir Ahmed-i Edirnev traveled between the cities of Istanbul and Edirne until Mauki was executed in Istanbul.199 Melm pole and poet Ahmed-i Srbn (d. 1545) was living in Hayrabolu, a province of Edirne.200 Melm pole Hamza Bali (d. 1561-62) carried Bayrami-Melm philosophy to Thracia and the Balkans, in the environs of Edirne, Tekirda, Vize, Hayrabolu, Zlovnik, Gracanica, Dolnja Tuzla, Gornja Tuzla and Hersek.201 These regions formerly housed the followers of eyh Bedreddin. Bedreddin had a lot of disciples and admirers in Edirne, its provinces and the Balkans. There was also a prominent Bektai population in the area.

REAL SPACES

ehrengiz poems are constructions. These constructions are stories, books, a pearl necklace, and thus a city. They construct images by words, evoke forms in imagination. While the city is being constructed in imagination, the narrative leads the reader, or the listener to experience the events of the city. This is enabled by telling stories within stories, creating different panoramas within the continuity of the same text, providing multiple viewpoints. ehrengiz poems depict various scenes from different spaces, both real and imaginary. The poems as a whole demonstrate the multiplicity of characters, stories, events and the multiplicity of city spaces.

199

Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 46; Ocak, Zndklar ve Mlhidler, 254. Ocak, Zndklar ve Mlhidler, 261. Ibid., 290-304.

200

201

310

The ehrengiz poems illustrate spaces of the city such as; meadows, gardens, rose gardens, imperial gardens, rivers, canals, seas, mosques, Sufi lodges, streets, open public spaces, populated houses, bath houses, palaces, private houses of friends and poets, castles, hills, spring waters, city walls, bazaars, guild shops, neighborhoods.The ehrengiz poems also illustrate different cities apart from Istanbul. Within the city of Istanbul, the ehrengiz poems depict spaces from within the walled city and from without. Within the walled city, Hagia Sophia, its interior space and courtyard, the Hippodrome and populated streets leading to the Hippodrome, the mosques of Beyazd (r. 1481-1512) and Fatih (r. 1444-1481) are narrated. Outside the walled city, Yedikule, Eyp, Galata, skdar, Yenikap, Beikta, Kathane, Anadolu Hisar, Gksu, Kavak, Kadky and Davudpaa neighborhoods are cited. The poems also depict scenes from bath houses and private residences, or shops which cant be located in the city. There is a constant emphasis on water, indicating whether, the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn or a river which could be the Kathane or the Gksu River. Some of these neighborhoods and spaces were manifestations of the imperial order. In the 1537 map of Istanbul by Matrak Nasuh, the city representation is a display of imperial ideology.202 ffet Orbay, in her unpublished thesis study, examines the 1537 map.203 Her analysis of the 1537 map is included among the illustrative material of this chapter. In the 1537 map, the real dimensions are distorted in order to present a diagrammatic ideogram of the imperial ideology. The walled city occupies half of the map. In the 1537 map, the former Byzantine ceremonial axis of the Mese is represented as the new Ottoman imperial axis furnished
202

with

Ottoman

imperial

monuments.

Thus,

Hagia

Sophia,

the

1537 maps depict territorial gains of the Ottoman ruling class who appropriated the Shii

cities of Bagdad , Najaf, Karbala and Hilla; Rogers, Itineraries and Town Views in Ottoman Histories, 228-255.
203

Orbay, Istanbul viewed, 29-72.

311

Hippodrome, the old palace, Beyazd Mosque and the Fatih Complex are drawn on a straight axis inhabiting the center of the walled city.204 As if using the 1537 Istanbul Map of Matrak Nasuh as a guide, an Italian traveler to the city also depicts the monumental imperial mosques along the main axis he visited after Hagia Sophia:205 There is the mosque of Sultan Mohammed, which has an imaret attached to it that is like a hostel; in which they lodge anyone, of any nation or law, who may wish to enter, and they give him food for three days,- honey, rice, bread, and water, and a room in which to sleep. Near this they have baths and some fountains, most beautiful and delightful to behold. There are the mosques of Sultan Beyazid, Sultan Selim, and other Signors, which are very beautiful and exceedingly well-built. Further, the map also includes the neighborhoods of Galata across and Eyp at the end of the Golden Horn. skdar is also included across the Bosphorus. The 1537 Istanbul map illustrates the imperial image of Istanbul with its neighborhoods. The 1537 map also announces another imperial ideal which is representing the Ottoman city as a garden. Thus, the map depicts the monuments of the city in the background of a green garden, planted with colorful trees and flowers of all kinds. However, the map emphazises Galata as a Christian neighborhood and the garden does not continue within Galata region. Though ehrengiz travels include these spaces which exhibit the imperial ideology, they are not limited to them. ehrengiz poems present every corner of the city as a

204

Cyril Mango, The Urbanism of Byzantium Constantinople, Rassegna 72 (1997), 19;

Stephanos Yerasimos, Ottoman Istanbul, Rassegna 72 (1997), 24-36.

Albert H. Lybyer, The government of the Ottoman Empire in the Time of Suleiman the

Magnificent (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913), 239-261; from Benedetto Ramberti, Libri Tre delle Cose de Turchi (Venice: 1543), 131-146.

312

paradise, including the Galata region. Moreover, the emphasis on the spaces outside the walled city is more than the ones inside. Meadows are also important spaces of the ehrengiz rituals. Different from gardens, meadows in the countryside along Bosphorus, or at Kathane provided a multiplicity of spaces where city dwellers used to enjoy themselves. Such meadows were called mesire. Mesire have always been an important part of Ottoman culture. In the 16th century, the mesire experience is usually narrated through the personification of natural elements. Allegorical stories are narrated depicting the roses passion for the river, the nightingales hopeless desire for the rose that had shed his blood all over, the shivering willow, the birds gently accompanying the wind blowing foresees a mythical atmosphere, and the space is defined in terms of Nature. The space has a Spirit of its own narrating her own stories, and with its beauty gently reflecting the beauty of the God. The countryside becomes a representation of divine aesthetics. As the poet wanders out in the countryside, Kathane and Gksu are presented as a favorable spots in the countryside, embracing, caressing and refreshing the spirit and the heart. Evliya elebi makes a long list of private and public mesire areas where everybody can stroll without any restraint206. Within the city Evliya elebi names sixteen places as mesire including promonades, open spaces, and gardens of the mosques, or religious complexes. These mesire listed are; Atmeydan, Aa ayr, Yenibahe, Baruthane, Vefa, Beyazd- Veli, Sleymaniye, Fatih, Atpazar, Arabaclar, Selimiye, Kadrga Port, ehzade, Yedikule, Valide Mosque, and Ayasofya. Ten city doors including docks listed as public squares (meydan) are Eminn, Odun Kaps, Ayazma Kaps, Byk Ayazma skelesi, Eyp Ensari Kaps, Kumkap, Langa Kaps, Samatya Kaps, Murad Paa Kaps. Langa SeaBath, vineyards of Langa, Buak, Lalezar are the other places in Evliya elebis record, among which public can visit without any restraint.

206

Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, vol. 2, 146-147.

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Outside the city Evliya lists Sleyman Sahras outside the Silivri Kaps. According to elebis account, the place is described as a big empty space, most likely a lawn, less probably a meadow, where there is fountain of life-giving water and a high-rise pavilion (yksek kk). The mesire of the Yenikap Mevlevihane Tekkesi; The promenades of the Topular, Otaklar, Yavedud, Cirit Meydan on the way to Kathane; Bayram Paa and Kasm Aa vineyards are listed as public places outside the city. Evliya elebi records the village of Alibeyky, with forty houses, and a mosque, ornamented with about seventy-eighty plane trees as a place of stroll. Other mesire listed are still diverse in their typology. They are villages, open spaces, or dervish lodges.207 Some of these places were named after a single artifact like a pool, or a specific garden that the site accommodates. The sites of mesire, as depicted by Evliya elebi, were favorable locations for lovers and friends to meet and converse. Among these mesire were; the Dervish Lodge of the Indian Kalenderis; the mesire of Emir Gune Garden, which was once built in the honor of Emir Gune, the ruler of Revan captured, later became a garden for the public visit; the mesire of Cendereci village; mesires of ayba, Sultan Osman pool, the mountains of Istranca, the dairy farm of Selim Han, the Terkos Lake Hunting Site, ekmece lakes, Okmeydan. Evliya elebi records the mesire of Kathane as a favored place among the citizens of Istanbul and even among the Arabs, Persians, Indians, natives of Yemen, travelers from Habesh. He praises its waters and its air. Its river is surrounded by plane trees, cypresses, and willows. It is a famous place for washing clothes in the river, whose water bleaches the dirtiest garments naturally. One of the major sites of interest was the Mesire of Lalezar famous for its tulips. Another well-known site was the Mesire of Imrahor Pavilion which had a bejeweled timber pavilion as elebi describes, it constructed on a meadow beside the Kathane River. Evliya recites the plants of the site, the high qualities
207

Ibid., 148-150.

314

of grass types such as kara kark, sar kark, clover and, appreciate other kinds of various weed of this particular meadow comparing it to some other meadows in the eastern provinces of the empire, like Erzurum, Mu, Van, and Bingl. The site was mostly enjoyed during the holidays by the old and the young lovers who arrived to the mesire by boat. These visitors used to gather in groups, converse and, enjoy themselves in parties of poetry, and music. Evliya elebi also portrays the large number of people who used to swim in the river, wearing blue cloths on their naked bodies. Kathane Tekkesi, is illustrated as a place for conversing, described having a dervish lodge which had rooms, corridors organized for lovers (poets), a kitchen having seventy stoves, a storage space, one oven, one coffee-house, a mosque, and a water well. Evliya records that the visitors were able to board at the lodge for about five-ten days. Another site of stroll in Kathane Mesiresi is called the Promenade of JewelryMakers (Kuyumcular Gezinti Yeri). This place was identified as the gathering location of the guilds of jewelry-makers, who used to meet at the site and enjoy themselves by conversing for twenty days every forty years. Evliya elebi accounts the activity as an old tradition of the guilds, established during the times of Sleyman, who had himself learned the art of jewelry-making when he was a prince. The Sultan also used to participate in these gatherings. The imperial tent would be constructed at the site among the many other tents of the guild members who had traveled to Istanbul, from all the other provinces of the empire. The members of the guilds, according to the traditions would visit the imperial assembly. The Sultan was expected to offer a present to the master of the guild, and in turn the master of the guild was required to present him a set of gifts. There are accounts of other guilds who were used to gather at Kathane every twenty years. And the site would mostly be enjoyed by the public, who would camp in tents, before the holy month of Ramadan. This activity, which used to last for about one month was called eb-bk as accounted by Evliya elebi, and within this month the public would enjoy themselves celebrating the arrival of the holy month. Located at the entrance of Kathane valley, Evliya elebi identifies Baruthane, which was a site of gun-powder production. This place is also listed under the title of mesire, for the joy and excitement of watching the sight of powder-mills. He

315

narrates the playful and amazing movement of the mills, the sound of the machinery and workers as a delightful sight that is located along the river.208 Busbecq, who traveled to Istanbul in the second half of the 16th c., desribes a countryside meadow from an outsiders point of view. He illustrates a particular meadow between Edirne and Istanbul as a prosperous place ornamented with flowers: 209 We stayed one day in Adrianople and then set out on the last stage of our journey to Constantinople, which was now close at hand. As we passed through this district we everywhere came across quantities of flowers narcissi, hyacinths, and tulipans, as the Turks call them. We were surprised to find them flowering in mid-winter, scarcely a favorable season. There is an abundance of narcissi in Greece, and they possess so wonderful a scent that a large quantity of them causes a headache in those who are unaccustomed to such an odour. The tulip has little or no scent, but it is admired for its beauty and the variety of its colours. The Turks are very found of flowers, and, though they are otherwise anything but extravagant, they do not hesitate to pay several aspres for a fine blossom. He also illustrates another meadow in Istanbul: The next day we left Scutari and journeyed through fields of fragrant plants, especially lavender.210 Busbecq also narrates Istanbul and environs as ornamented with gardens of the Sultan. These gardens were housed in charming valleys: 211 I had a delightful excursion, and was allowed to enter several of the Sultans country-houses, places of pleasure and delight. On the folding
208

Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, vol. 2, 144-147. The Turkish Letters of Ogier de Busbecq Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople 1554-

209

1562, trans. from the Latin Elzevier Edition of 1633 by E. S. Forster (Oxford, UK: The Clarendon Press, 1968, c. 1927), 25-26.
210

Ibid., 43. Ibid., 39-40.

211

316

doors of one of them I saw a vivid representation of the famous battle of Selim against Ismael, King of Persia. I also saw numerous parks belonging to the Sultan situated in charming valleys. What homes for the Nymphs! What abodes of the Muses! What places for studious retirement! Another neaighborhood cited frequently in ehrengiz poems is Eyp. Eyp is located at the end of the Golden Horn. Ebu Eyyub-i Ensari was a friend of the prophet Muhammed, and died during the Arab siege of Istanbul. According to the legend, he was buried in the skirts of the city walls, outside the city. Later, when Fatih conquered Istanbul, the exact site of Ebu Eyyub-i Ensaris tomb was located at the site. Evliya elebi recounts that Eyp, located outside the city of Istanbul, was two hours away from the main center of the city. As Evliya further describes, there was no empty land between the city and Eyp, though it was known to be a separate town with twenty-six neighborhoods, numerous vineyards, and gardens. Fatih Sultan Mehmed had built a mosque in this town, in the honor of the Muslim Saint, who was killed during the first Arab conquest of the Byzantine Constantinople. Evliya, tells that this monumental site of Muslim pilgrimage was visited on Fridays: Every Friday thousands of men come to visit Hz. Eba Eyb, thus its bazaar and market place becomes like a sea of men. The gentlemen of pleasure are seated at the balconies of the desert (kaymak) shops drinking fresh milk, and eating cheese with pure honey.212 Among the sites for visiting, Evliya lists Eyb Promenade, which used to embody the Kplce Hagiasma with its life-giving water, located on a hillside overlooking the sea; Aa Eskisi Promenade, a meadow looking over the Golden Horn; Harp Meydan (Promenade of War), a place famous for riding and the arts of musketeering; Kalam, a spectacular site favored for fishing, and traveling by boat; Deniz Hamam Gezinti Yeri (Sea-Bath Site of Journeying), islands in front of the town of Eyb, where on every Friday, friends visit by boat and enjoy themselves sitting at its serene grassland after swimming in the Golden Horn. The
212

Evliya elebi, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, vol. II, 81.

317

site of a well in a house located in the cemeteries, north of Eyb was known as Can Kuyusu Gezinti Yeri (the Well of the Spirit). This well was known to have magical powers in guiding people for finding their lost goods, or beloved intimates, who were lost. The gardens of a dervish lodge that belonged to the Bayrami order, and called the dris Kk (Idris Pavillion) was another site in the vicinity. This dervish lodge, as accounted by Evliya elebi, was demolished by Mustafa I (16221623) accusing the master of the order as a non-believer. Its garden, as elebi mentions, was still a place of pleasure with its big fountain, pool, plane trees and lawn. Evliya elebi says that this site was favored by the dervishes and the friends of the tariqat as a place of gathering and joy.213 Other mesires, listed are, Krk Selviler (Forty Cypresses), Aa Krl (The Meadow of the Aga), and Blbl Deresi (The River of the Nightingale). The town of Stlce was famous for its prosperous gardens and beautiful palaces.214 Evliya elebi lists a number of gardens such as the garden of Ali Aa, Eski Yusuf, Gani-zade, and gardens of private residences; gardens of the Karaaa water-front mansion, which belonged to the imperial household, and where Sultans used to enjoy watching people going to Kathane by boats; the garden of Ebussud, the vineyard of Bezirganba, gardens of brahim Han-zade. Other favorable grounds of the town are listed as the gardens of dervish lodges; Caferbd, Hasanbd, Abdsselm. The Caferbd Lodge located on a hilltop and decorated with a variety of trees, was among the favorable sites which Sultan Sleyman used to visit. Evliya elebi presents Hasanbd as a place of gathering, where at the beginning of each month parties of reading and singing were organized, and the people of Istanbul whoever loves journeying were invited. The paradise like gardens of the Abdsselm Lodge were favored by the members of the guilds. For the town of Kasmpaa on the Golden Horn, Evliya elebi accounts
213

Ibid., 82. Ibid., 90-91.

214

318

for ten sites of mesires;215 Tirendazlar Tekkesi, Ayazma, Hasan Karl, Pota Yeri, Divdar emesi, Piyale Paa Tekkesi, Stk Ayazmas, Hac Ahmet Bostani, Bonak Ba, Dede Bostan. Among these promenades, Hasan Karl, Didar emesi, and Piyale Paa Tekkesi are recorded as places of convivial gatherings of friends, for conversing. Sandys who traveled to Istanbul reported about the neighborhoods of Eyp and Kathane, and, their use by the imperial court. He described the sword girding ceremonies of the Sultans at Eyp and the imperial gardens at Kathane where the Sultans used to hunt:216 All the suburbs that this city hath, lie without the Gate of Adrianople; adjoining to the North west angle thereof, and stretching along the uppermost of the Haven. Where within a stately monument, there standeth a Tomb of principal repute in the Mahometan devotion: the Sepulcher of J(E)upe Sultan a Santon of theirs, called vulgarly and ridiculously, the Sepulcher of Job. To which the Caption Bassa doth repair before he sets forth, and at his return; there performing appointed Orai-ons and Ceremonies, and upon a victory obtained, is obliged to visit the fame every morning and evening, for the space of three weeks. Before this in a Cypress Grove there standeth a Scaffold, where the new Sultans are girt with a Sword by the hands of the Mufti, their principal Prelate, with divers solemnities. Now speak we of the Haven, rather devoured than increased by a little River called formerly Barbysez, now by the Greeks, Chartaricon, and Chay by the Turks; much frequented by Fowl, and rigorously preserved for the Grand Signiors pleasure, who ordinarily hawks thereon; insomuch that a servant of my Lord Ambassadors was so beaten for presuming to shoot there, that shortly after he died (as it is thought of) the blows. This falleth into the west extent of Haven: throughout the world the fairest, the safest, the most profitable.
215

Ibid., 99-100. George Sandys, Sandys travels, containing an history of the original and present state
th

216

of the Turkish EmpireA Relation of a Journey begun An Dom: 1610 , 7 ed (London: Printed for J. Williams Junior, 1673, c. 1610), 29.

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Many of the ehrengiz travels included Galata. Galata was famous for its wine houses. Evliya elebi counts a number of wine types such as: Ankona, Sakoza, Mudanya, Edremit, Bozcaada sold in the taverns of Galata. Evliya gives the names of some of these taverns as Kefeli, Manyeli, Milhalaki, Kakaval, Snbll, Konstantin, Saranda. The total number of taverns in Galata was about two hundred, as recorded by Evliya elebi.217 There were also about two hundred taverns (meyhane) and places selling soft drinks (bozahane) in Kara Piri Paa, hundred taverns in Hasky.218 Though in ehrengiz poems, there is no account for drinking alcohol, it would not be daring to assume that wine was part of ehrengiz rituals like that of the gazel rituals. Traveling to Galata, ehrengiz rituals might propose enjoying the tavers of Galata as well. Busbecq, illustrates the scene of taverns by accounting for drinking wine with the Turks who had enjoyed it enourmously: 219 The drinking of wine is regarded by the Turks as a serious crime, especially among the older men; the younger men can commit the sin with greater hope of pardon and excuse. They think, however, that the punishment which they will suffer in a future life will be just as heavy whether they drink much or little, and so, if they taste wine, they drink deep; the punishment being already deserved, they incur no additional penalty, and they count their drunkenness as all to the good. Such are their ideas about drinking and others are still more absurd. I once saw an old fellow at Constantinople, who, when he had taken the cup into his hand, began to utter loud cries. When we asked our friends the reason of this, they declared that he wished by these cries to warn his soul to betake itself to some distant corner of his body or else quit it altogether, so that it might not participate in the crime which he was about to commit and might escape pollution by the wine which he was about to swallow.
217

Ibid., 108-109. Evliya, Evliy elebi Seyhatnmesi, vol. 2 , 92-93. The Turkish Letters of Ogier de Busbecq, 9-10.

218

219

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In the ehrengiz poems, there is a strong emphasis on the tradesmen and guilds. Though the space of the bazaars is not depicted directly, if the location of these bazaars are mapped on the late 15th-early 16th century maps of Istanbul, it can be understood that these spaces of trading were established around the major klliyes, and monuments that are mentioned in some of the ehrengiz, and they constitute the continuity of city space. Doan Kuban gives a detailed list for the shops as accounted after the conquest until the early 16th c. There were many shops built around the Fatih complex. Sultans Bazaar had 286, Saralar ars (leather goods and saddlers) had 110 shops. There were ironsmiths and coppersmiths located around the Sarahane. Other shops were juxtaposed on top of the Byzantine commercial quarters, between the port area, and the Mese. Near Forum Tauri, there were the textile shops. Near the Column of Constantine, Fatih had commissioned the Old Bedesten ( Bedesten/Eski Bedesten) which had 126 shops. Around the bedesten there were about 800 shops. There was no ethnic discrimination in the ordering of the Grand Bazaar. Muslim, Jew, and Christian merchants worked together within the same space. imkehane in Beyazd accommodated the silver and gold embroided fabrics,and the Sarahane housed 80 shops. The bazaar of the Ayasofya had 48, Dikilita had 77 shops. Near Mahmud Paa Complex, there were 265 shops.220

220

Kuban, Istanbul An Urban History, 225-226.

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CONCLUSION

ehrengiz rituals were practiced by marginal groups and involved participants from all ranks of the society; court poets, guild boys and dervishes. It aimed at introducing subjects of the Ottoman rule to see themselves as individuals. Sufi metaphors formed the ideal content of imagination in ehrengiz rituals. However, its storehouse also borrowed images from the immediate environment. Thus, Sufi metaphors which were used to define the image of the city developed with impressions nourished from the immediate environment. The ehrengiz rituals proposed different spaces of the city as realms of imagination where individuals practiced the attainment of knowledge. The city also came to be used as a storehouse of signs which the individuals contemplate. ehrengiz rituals came to be spiritual and physical journeys of the individuals in the city. Each ehrengiz proposed a different path within the city. Each path defined various spaces as realms of imagination and as storehouses. These different city spaces involved imperial spaces, but they mainly engaged in spaces beyond the imperial power. ehrengiz rituals involved free movement of the body. It asserted the importance of free movement participating in the cosmic order. Free movement enabled the liberation of the self. In contrast, gazel parties enabled the liberation of self by intoxication while the body was seated in a static position.

322

Figure 59. Circle, Time and Geometry. 60 equal intervals standing for the 60-year cycle, 60 minutes, 60 seconds: Nodal points on the circle regulating geometric patterns of the square, equilateral triangle, pentagon and the hexagon. Reproduced from Critchlow, Islamic Patterns, 157.

323

Figure 60. Circles: Orbital movement of the planets. Reproduced from Critchlow, Islamic Patterns, 153.

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Figure 61. Diretl vcd (Circle of Being) from a late Melm treatise. Concentric circles houses different storehouses in the different levels of the cosmology. Within the inmost central circle, the invisible realm of divine being (yellow) and the visible realm things reside together. Reproduced from Glpnarl, Melmlik ve Melmler, 270.

325

Figure 62. The circle according to Ibn alArabi:Divine and cosmic relations within the body of the circle. Reproduced from Chittick, Self Disclosure, 229.

326

Figure 63. The circle according to Ibn alArabi: Variety of circles housing variety of storehouses. Reproduced from Chittick, Self Disclosure, 230.

327

Figure 64. Map of the Timurid world from a scientific manuscript executed for Iskandar Sultan ibn Umar-Shaykh, Isfahan (c. 1413), TSM B411, 141b-142a. Reproduced from Lentz, Princely Vision, 150.

328

Figure 65. Fixed Stars as a Sufi: The Dancer (Heracles) in Kitb Suwar al-Kawkib athThbita (1224), Vatican Bib. Apostolica, 19b, reproduced from Richard Ettinghausen, Treasures of Asia Arab Painting (Washington, DC: Skira), 130.

329

Figure 66. Sufi dance. The historian Mustafa Ali presenting his work to Mustafa Pasha while whirling dervishes performing their ritual dance, TSM H1365, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 11.

330

Figure 67. Sufi dance. After reciting from the Koran and Mevlanas Mesnevi, the dervishes whirl to musical appointment in Sawaqib al-Manaqib, New York, Morgan Library, No. 466, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 110.

331

Figure 68. Sufi dance. Mevlana dancing at his convent in Sawaqib al-Manaqib, New York, Morgan Library, No. 466, reproduced from Halman and And, Mevlana, 109.

332

Figure 69. Spaces of Sufi dance rituals. Dancing Sufis and a Bathhouse Scene, Private Collection of H.P. Kraus, 1b-2a, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 165.

333

Figure 70. Sufis by a Mountain Spring in a treatise on Sufi poetry (1610-1630), reproduced from Eric Schroeder, Persian Miniatures in the Fogg Museum of Art (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1942), 141.

334

Figure 71. Watching the swimming beauties: Iskandar and the Sirens in Khamsa of Nizami (1431), Cat No. 38, 484a, reproduced from Lentz, Princely Vision, 170.

335

Figure 72. Watching the swimming beauties: Iskandar Spying Upon the Sirens, Private Collection of H.P. Kraus, 315b, reproduced from Grube, Islamic Paintings, 101.

336

Figure 73. Hayreti (d. 1535), Poet of ehrengiz-i Belgrad, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, page 192.

337

Figure 74. Usuli (d. 1538), Poet of ehrengiz-i Yenice, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, 223.

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Figure 75. Talcal Yahya (d. 1582), Poet of ehrengiz-i Edirne, Istanbul and ah u Ged. in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, page 390.

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I) Figure 76. Lamii elebi (1472-1532), Poet of ehrengiz-i Bursa, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, page 186.

340

Figure 77. shak elebi (d. 1538), Poet of ehrengiz-i Bursa, in Meair-uara by Ak elebi, Millet K. AE 722, reproduced from entrk, Antoloji, page 230.

341

Figure 78. Procession of Guilds: Sufis of Eyyub-i Ensari, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 53a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 57.

342

Figure 79. Procession of Guilds: Gardeners, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), H1344, folio 196a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 60. TSM

343

Figure 80. Procession of Guilds: Gardeners, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 349a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 59.

344

Figure 81. Procession of Guilds: Kebab Cooks, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 343a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 44.

345

Figure 82. Procession of Guilds: Seamen, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 137a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 45.

346

Figure 83. Procession of Guilds: Wrestlers, in Surname-i Hmayun (1582-84), TSM H1344, folio 204a, reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 77.

347

Figure 84. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. Galata e al-Qustantiniyya (after 1453), Paris Biblioteque Nationale, N.A. lat. 2383a. The map also shows Kathane Suyu, and Ali Bey Suyu with other monuments and neighborhoods of the Ottoman period, all inscribed in Ottoman. The original version of the map was printed in Liber Insularum Archipelagi, by Cristoforo Buendelmonti, dated 1420.

348

Figure 85. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Kayra, Cahit. Istanbul Mekanlar ve Zamanlar (Istanbul: Ak Yayinlari, 1990), 21.

349

Figure 86. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. In Liber insularum Archipelagi of Buendelmonte (1420), Biblioteca Nazionale, Paris. Cod. Lat. 4825, fol 37. reproduced from Philip Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred City (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 19.

350

Figure 87. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, in Biblioteca Classence, Ravenna, cod. no. 308, reproduced in Vespignani, G. Il Circo Di Constantinopoli Nuova Roma (Spoleto: Centro Italiano Di Studi Sullalto Medioevo, 2001).

351

Figure 88. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced in Myth to Modernity Istanbul Selected Themes, edited by Nezih Basgelen and Brian Johnson (Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayinlari, 1997), front page.

352

Figure 89. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, in Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, reproduced from Rassegna 72 (1997), front page.

353

Figure 90. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Istanbul (Istanbul: Istanbul Ticaret Odasi, 2003, c.1997), 17.

354

Figure 91. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul, reproduced from Istanbul Everyman Guides, 234.

355

Figure 92. Version of Buendelmonti map: Istanbul. Constantinople (1422) reproduced from Kuban, Istanbul, 175.

356

Figure 93. Istanbul: Version of Schedel Map (Original dated 1493, Bildlexicon 31), reproduced from Istanbul (Istanbul: Istanbul Ticaret Odas, 2003, c. 1997), 14.

357

Figure 94. Map of Istanbul from the 15th century reproduced from Kayra, Istanbul, 22.

358

Figure 95. Plan of Constantinople by Giovanni A. Vavassore (Venice, ca. 1520-1540), reproduced from Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred, 13.

359

Figure 96. Vedute (panorama) of Constantinople by Anselme Bandurri in Imperium Orientale (Paris:1711), reproduced in Sherrard, Constantinople Iconography of a Sacred City, 70-71.

360

Figure 97. Map of Istanbul by Nash s-Silah el-Matrk, in Beyan- Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn (1537-38), T5964, folios 31b-32a.

361

igure 98. Analysis of 1537 Map of Istanbul. Diagram showing the compaction of the wall area in the map of Istanbul in Mecmu Menazil, reproduced from Iffet Orbay, Istanbul viewed: the representation of the city in Ottoman maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Unpublished Ph.D. diss. (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2001), 428.

362

Figure 99. Analysis of 1537 Map of Istanbul. Diagram Showing the symmetrical arrangements in the map of Istanbul in Mecmu Menazil, reproduced from Orbay, Istanbul viewed, 429.

363

Figure 100. Krkeme Waterways Map, in Tarih-i Sultn Suleymn Hn (1579-80), BL MS 413, folios 22b-23a, reproduced from een, Taksim ve Hamidiye Sular, 28-29.

364

Figure 101. Map of Istanbul in Kitb- Bahriye (ca. 1670-1720), NKC MS 718, folios 3b-4a, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden For the Sultan, 274.

365

Figure 102. Image showing the imperial barge of Murad III sailing at Boshorus and the possible station points of his travel. Bosphorus, (1588), Bodleian Library, Oxford Ms. Or. 430, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 28.

366

MARMARA SEA

TOPKAPI PALACE

GOLDEN HORN

ASIAN SIDE

EUROPEAN SIDE

BLACK SEA

Figure 103. Diagram showing shore palaces, neighborhoods and gardens at Bosphorus as depicted in the Bodleian album, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 29.

367

Figure 104. Craft in the Sea of Marmara: Galleon (above left), a pereme ferry and a sail boat (above right) and Sultans barge (below), in Lamberts Wyts, Iter factum e BelgicoGallice Voyages de Lambert Wyts en Turquie, Vienna, sterreicheische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 3325, folio 221, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 141.

368

Figure 105. Istanbul (ca. 1590) in sterreichische Nationalbibliotek Codex X Vindobonensis 8626, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 22-25. Above left beginning with Topkap Palace showing Hagia Sophia, emberlita, Atk Ali Pasha Mosque, Mahmud Pasha Mosque, Beyazd Mosque; continuing below from left beginning with the Old Palace and its gardens, Sleymaniye Mosque, ehzade Mosque, Aqueduct, Fatih Mosque. The image shows the city surrounded by the Marmara Sea in the background, Golden Horn in the foreground and the Bosphorus to its left.

369

Figure 106. Galata (ca. 1590) in sterreichische Nationalbibliotek Codex X Vindobonensis 8626, reproduced from And, Istanbul in the 16th Century, 68-69.

370

Figure 107. City dwellers enjoying at a hillside on the European side, overlooking Boshorus and the Topkap Palace. Reproduced from George Sandys (1578-1644), Sandys Travels, containing an history of the original and present state of the Turkish empire ... The Mahometan religion and ceremonies: a description of Constantinople ... also, of Greece ... Of Aegypt ... A voyage on the river Nylvs ... A description of the Holy-land; of the Jews ... and what else either of antiquity, or worth observation. 7th Edition (London, Printed for J. Williams junior, 1673), 24.

371

Figure 108. Detail from figure 107.

372

Figure 109. City dwellers outside the city walls. The true situation and the quality of the city of Constantinople from without the walls, from nature. Also the pride of the Turks and their behavior after receiving any special good or joyful tidings. Also how they carry the children of the Christians to be circumscribed, various meats following in dishes and other vessels, that they may feast together in joyous banquets and collations after the circumsicion is over. in Peter Coecke, Maeurs et Fachons de faire des Turcz (Antwerp: 1553), British Museum, (copied from the Venice edition), Print VI, original inscribed in French, reproduced from The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: 1873).

373

Figure 110. The Sultan Traveling in the City. The town of Constantinole as seen from within, with the mosques or temples, the obelisks or spires, and columns with the brazen serpent. Also how in what manner the Great Turk, hav;ng before h;m twelve hackbuteers or archers, and behind him two of his most noble chamberlains, goes round the town seeing, and being seen. In Peter Coecke, Maeurs et Fachons de faire des Turcz (Antwerp: 1553), British Museum, (copied from the Venice edition), Print VII, original inscribed in French. Reproduced from The Turks in MDXXXIII, A Series of Drawings made in that Year at Constantinople by Peter Coeck of Aelst (1502-1550), ed. by Sir William S. M. Bart (London; Edinburg: 1873).

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CHAPTER V

GARDENS AND CITY SPACES IN THE NEW RITUALS OF THE TULIP PERIOD (1718-1730)

Tulip Period spans a short lived era of twelve years from 1718 to 1730. It spans Damad Ibrahim Pashas entire appointment as the Grand Vizier during the final phase of Ahmed IIIs reign (1703-1730). During the Tulip Period, refinement of the capital city and refurbishment of urban life became a state policy in the Ottoman court. The Ottoman produced new spatial and social models, and metaphors for describing earthly happiness moving away from traditional comparisons with the promised Paradise Garden. A new model was built upon the bricolage of elements borrowed from the arts, architecture and gardens of European and Persian cultures outside the Ottoman territory. This innovative modeling brought about a prosperous urban culture. It lasted for a short period of twelve years allowing the pleasures of daily life to be celebrated by festivities in the streets and gardens of the city of Istanbul. It was named the Tulip Period for the love and craze for tulips that developed then. Elite circles were introduced to a new awareness of the pleasures of conversation in joyful courts held in gardens dispersed all over the city. These courts reveled mainly in poetry and history accompanied with festive meals, songs and dancers. However, other parts of the society grew discontented with this new way of living, its excessive indulgence in consumption, and became concerned about the emerging appreciation of profane pleasures that entered into conflict with Orthodox customs. The turmoil these groups stirred within the Istanbul society culminated in the Patrona Halil Revolt, which lasted for forty days and put an end to the Tulip Period in 1730. By the beginning of the 18th c., Ottoman history again experienced the enduring rivalry between Edirne and Istanbul, when the citizens of the capital reacted

375

against the Sultan Mustafa IIs abandonment of the city of Istanbul and his political and economical negligence, in favor of a retreat in the Edirne Palace. Social groups took part in this 18th century rivalry of the two cities and their motives were different from those of social groups that fought for and against the dominance of the cities over one another. However, the constant struggle between the two cities and its impact on the establishment, development, and transformation of the Ottoman urban culture has an undeniable continuity in history that has to be stressed and studied. In July 18 - 21, 1703 merchants and artisans joined rebelling Janissaries in front of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul. In August 1, 1703, scholars, students, merchants, and artisans joined the Janissaries marching towards Edirne in order to meet the lesser number of feudal forces protecting the Sultan in Edirne. In August 22, 1703, the Sultans forces joined the rebels. Finally, Sultan Mustafa II was defeated and dethroned. Instead his nephew Ahmed III was enthroned.1 The Tulip Period began and ended by the revolting acts of janissaries, displaying the influential and powerful status of the Janissaries vigorously transformed from conquering and maintaining land asserting imperial power out in the frontier, turned into a self-defeating system powerful in urban politics within the center of the empire. The Janissaries who acted against the Sultan in 1703 Edirne Event, in a way, yielding to the possibilities of modernization and urbanization during the Tulip Period, terminated it in 1730, yielding to retreating revolutions that had prevented the eventual transformation and modernization of the Ottoman culture for a long period of time. Janissaries, who were once established to maintain the empire,

Stanford Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey Volume I: Empire of

the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1280-1808 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 227-29.

376

developed into a self-centered war machine that destroyed the same empire which originated it.2 Since 1683 the army was not as victorious as it had been before. Signing the 1699 Karlofa Treaty, after four unsuccessful attempts to capture Vienna (1683-1699), the Ottoman Empire lost a significant amount of land to the Austrian, Russians and Venetians. Following the defeat at the Austrian border, with the 1718 Pasarofa Treaty, they also lost Eflak, Bogdan, Belgrad, and north Serbia (1715-1718) at the western frontier. On the contrary, the Ottoman Empire was in a superior state at the northern and the eastern frontiers. Russians neighboring the empire at the north and the Safavids at the east were in vulnerable conditions. Russians were fighting with the Swedish. Safavid Dynasty was surviving hardly for the last years of its power. However the Ottoman regime preferred not to try taking advantage of circumstances; or simply was not able to do so. Since the Ottoman sultans were not able to sustain the imperial agenda by extending their power over new territories, by the end of the 17th c. they abandoned the city of Istanbul which was the symbol of the imperial tradition. The court preferred to stay out of sight and they retreated back to the Edirne Palace until the 1703 revolt. During the Tulip Period, Damad Ibrahim Pasha employed the imperial order in a different way. Instead of battling in the frontiers, he sent ambassadors to the east and to the west of the empire. In 1719 second treasurer Ibrahim Pasha went to Vienna. In 1720-21 Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi visited France. In 1721 Ahmet Drri Efendi went to Tehran. In 1722-23 Nili Mehmed Aga was sent to Moscow, and in 1730 Mustafa Efendi was appointed to Vienna, and Mehmed Efendi to Poland.3 Each one of the chronicles depicting travel notes of the ambassadorial offices
2

See Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatari, A Thousand Plateaus Capitalism and

Schizophrenia, trans. by Brian Massumi (Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), 351-424 on the concept of war machine.
3

Hadiye and Hner Tuncer, Osmanl Diplomasisi ve Sefaretnameler (Ankara: mit

Yaynclk, 1997), 48-84; Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire, 233.

377

frequently illustrate landscapes of the countries visited. Similar to the 16th c. maps of Matrak Nasuh, who had illustrated each city visited during the military campaign to Iraq, the early 18th c. chronicles narrated landscapes, cities, towns, and gardens observed by diplomatic envoys. Ibrahim Pasha, who visited Ni, Belgrad and Vienna (Be), describes towns, cities and their surrounding landscape, in the 1719 chronicle. The chronicle pictures the city of Vienna, tall buildings - with eight to nine stories, within the city walls, and depicts the Danube as artificially guided through the city. The chronicle refers to the joyful life within the city walls and illustrates the shops in details where the sight of glass lanterns hanging at front facades was creating a charming sight. It portrays living quarters of the city as picturesque and delightfully ornamented, referring to the name of each district. The villages surrounding the city are said to be like small cities in terms of planning and splendor. The chronicle also mentions prosperous and appealing vineyards and gardens surrounding Vienna.4 In the 1721 chronicle of Ahmet Drri Efendis visit to Tehran, there are interesting anecdotes to be mentioned in reference to the arguments discussed in this thesis, apart from textual illustration of landscapes. First is an important reference about a private garden party hosted by the Grand Vizier of the Persian court in the honor of the Ottoman emissary. In this party, which is described similar to the private garden parties of the Ottoman tradition where poetry was enjoyed; the chronicle acknowledges that the Persian courtiers were quite surprised to observe the Ottoman emissarys familiarity with the tradition of private garden parties, his knowledge of poetry and his proficiency in the Persian language.5 Second important reference is the Ottoman ambassadors description of the city of Istanbul to the Persian Shah. In this description, the Ottoman officer presents the city as a paradise. When they converse, the Persian Shah asks Ahmet Drri Efendi
4

Ibid., 48-56. Ibid., 77.

378

if the Ottoman Sultan was living in Istanbul for the rest of his time. The ambassador receives this question in doubt, and says that he was not able to understand the underlying motive for asking such a question. The ambassador cites the Shah as he further elaborated and explained his question as such: Some places are famous for its water, some for its fruits and weather, and some for its promenades. Which one of these the Sultan would prefer? The Ottoman ambassador responds to Shahs question in certainty and informs him that Istanbul is the paradise on world that no human being would dare to leave it for any other place. Then he tells the shah about the atmosphere, natural beauties, promenades, palaces, gardens and wonders of Istanbul.6 Third, it should be noted that the Ottoman chronicle refers to the Persian landscape as impoverished in contrast to the other chronicles that depict the Austrian or French landscapes in splendor.7 Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi, who was sent as an ambassador to France, came back, to Istanbul, bringing various novelties that influenced and accelerated the transformations of the Ottoman culture. The printing press was one of them. He also published his impressions of the French gardens and landscape.8 It is remarkable that, the narrative of French life in gardens seems to have inspired and transformed the Ottoman culture as much as the printing press did, since upon the same site of Kathane, the Sultan commissioned the construction of Sad-bd Palace as well as a paper factory, following observations by elebi. Traveling to Kathane Commons was not only a journey into the countryside, but also into the

Ibid., 79. Ibid., 84. Abdullah Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi (Istanbul: Garanti

Matbaaclk ve Neriyat , 1975); Gilles Veinstein, lk osmanl Sefiri 28 Mehmet elebinin Fransa Anlar Kafirlerin Cenneti, trans. by M. A. Erginz (Istanbul: Ozg Yaynlar, 2002).

379

Ottoman dreamscape made of gardens of France. Venetian ambassadorial chronicles depict the construction of Sad-bd Palace after French models:9 Nothing succeeded more in holding his interest than the construction of buildings on the shore of the Sweet Waters. Mehemet Efendi had brought designs from France, among which one of Fontainebleau inspired Ibrahim to erect a kiosk equal to the Sultans dignity and a large palace. The Venetian chronicles also refer to the French influence in the design of other gardens, like in the restoration of Hsrevabd at Alibeyky close to Kathane Commons:10 Achmet delighted in flowers, gardens and everything in imitation of the designs from France. Many thousands of trees had been planted in one part adjoining Cladabut. The other part had been divided among ministers; each one, commencing with the vizier, had constructed kiosks, which were decorated with different colors and had trees and vines at sides. At the same time, the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha initiated new social and cultural reforms in the city. The first two public libraries, the Endern Library (1719), and the Library of the New Mosque were founded. Intellectual groups for discussions were formed under the court of Ibrahim Pasha. Literary works such as Ayn Tarihi (Ikd-l-cman fi tarih-i ehl-iz-zaman, 24 volumes, from Arabic) by Antepli Bedreddin Mahmud, Habib-s-siyer (from Persian, 16th c.) by Hondmir, Cami-d-dvel (from Arabic) by Mevlevi Ahmed Dede, Matlaussadeyn (from the Ilhanids) by Kemalddin Abdrrezzak and works of Aristotle were translated into Ottoman Turkish as a consequence of the flourishing historical consciousness. By 1727 July, the first press printing Ottoman Turkish is founded by Said Efendi (who traveled to France with his father Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi in 1720-21, during his

Mary Lucille Shay, The Ottoman Empire from 1720 to 1734 as Revealed in Despatches

of the Venetian Balili, in Illnois Studies in the Social Sciences vol. 27 no. 3 (Urbana, Illnois: University of Illinois, 1944), 20-21.
10

Ibid., 22.

380

emissary service and studied publishing in France) and the Hungarian Mteferrika Ibrahim Efendi.11 During the Tulip Period, the city was refurbished with fountains, lodges, pools, libraries and gardens. As can be observed in miniatures depicting festivals of that period, all citizens were encouraged to build gardens, and cultivate flowers; and typical garden plans were displayed as models of construction. This period saw the breeding of more than 200 types of tulips, each valued as a fortune. Scenes from the royal gardens ornamented the walls of living quarters. Floral depictions ornamented fountains that were dispersed like jewels within the urban fabric. Gardens, hunting parks, vineyards were favored more than ever by all ranks of society. The city was bursting with flowers and gardens, or with their representations disseminated in fragments.12 Gardens, pavilions, kiosks and gardens were built on both sides of the Bosphorus and at the Kathane Commons, which was located at the end of the Golden Horn along the Kathane River (Figures 126; 128-131). Tlay Artan, who studied the building activity along the Bosphorus during the entire 18th c., argued that Bosphorus had become a social space favored by all ranks of the society by these extensive building activities. It became a promenade of spectacle.13 Arel makes an explicit list of these activities with the dates of building activities; initiation of building activities at Kathane (1720), endowment of land to the elite for building kiosks and gardens at Kathane Commons (1722-23); on the
11

Ismail Hakk Uzunarl, Osmanl Tarihi I-IV (Ankara: Trk Tarih Kurumu, 1956), volume

IV; 153 -156.

Ahmet Refik Altnay, Lale Devri (Istanbul: Sanayii Nefise, 1932); Orhan Erdenen, Lale

Devri ve Yansmalar (Istanbul: Trk Dnyas Aratrmalar Vakf, 2003).

Tlay Artan, Architecture as a Theatre of Life: Profile of the Eighteenth Century

Bosphorus, Unpublished Ph.D. diss., MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1989.

381

Bosphorus building of Kandilli Palace and gardens (1719), raan Palace of Damad Ibrahim Pasha (1719), Beikta Palace (1720), Amn-bd Palace (1725); building activities at Ortaky and the building of Ortaky Mosque (1721-22), building activities at the Hmayun-bd Gardens at Bebek (1725), building of Neat-bd Palace at Defterdar Burnu; restoration of ubuklu Garden (1721-22); refurbishment of Fener Gardens at skdar (1727-28), Vineyard of Halil Efendi at Rumelihisar (1727-28), Pavilion of Kethda Mehmed Pasha (1727-8), eref-abd Palace (1728).14 About 216 fountains were built during the sultanate of Ahmed III.15 These fountains were larger in scale compared to the fountains of earlier periods which were embedded within the mass of a building, a mosque, within the body of another structure in general. The latter ones were free standing sculptural objects, defining a center within the city space by themselves. Shirine Hamadeh, in her study of 18th c. Ottoman urban culture, argues that these fountains became public meeting points. Most of these fountains were called as meydan emesi alluding to their locations within public spaces creating a node of gathering. The term was first used in 1682 for the Silahdar Mustafa Aga Fountain in Salacak. Ahmed IIIs imperial fountain built in 1728-1729 outside the Topkap Palace is an example of this new type of monument. These fountains were ornamented with natural motifs, inscribed with religious verses and with poetry. Besides the Sultan, different members of the society were identified as patrons of these fountains; Hatice Sultan Fountain in Ayvansaray (1711), Nevehirli Ibrahim Pasha Fountain in ehzade (1719), bnlemin Ahmed Aga in Kasmpaa (1727), Rakm Pasha in Rumelihisar (1715).16
14

Ayda Arel, Onsekizinci Yzyl stanbul Mimarisinde Batllama Sreci (Istanbul: 1975). Hatice Aynur and H. Karateke, III. Ahmed Devri Istanbul emeleri (Istanbul: 1995), 70-

15

71.
16

Shirine Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures: Architectural Sensibility in 18th Century

Istanbul, Unpublished Ph.D. diss., MIT (Cambridge, MA: 1999), 42-48; 105-114.

382

The Kathane Mesiresi (Kathane Commons) was a site of experiment where social and cultural projects of the Tulip Period (1718-1730) were tested. Kathane Commons had always been a favorable meadow housing a hagiasma, with its fresh air and open fields fitting for the arts of sports. There was a tradition of going to hagiasma in the Byzantine era in hope for a better life and good health. It was much visited by the Byzantine and the Ottoman elites and the common public for different purposes as discussed in the previous chapter. The Kathane Commons was located along a river in a secluded valley outside the dense fabric of the city of Istanbul, and outside the reach of gaze away from the city. During the Tulip Period, it became a meadow flourished with more than forty mansions belonging to the Ottoman elite, each with splendid gardens. It was also surrounded by a public park. It also housed the Sad-bd Palace built in 1723 for the court. City people went there almost as in a pilgrimage in search of a new way of life enjoyed in pleasure and prosperity. Different social groups used the Kathane Commons with different social status, gender, purpose of visit, with varying temporality. It was destroyed altogether in 1730, during the Patrona Halil Riot that put an end to the Tulip Period.

EMERGENCE OF NEW RITUALS AND NEDMS POETRY

The court and the elite lived a festive life in the city of Istanbul during the Tulip Period. Every occasion was turned into a festive celebration. Religious days like the Ramadan holidays or the birthday of the prophet were commemorated with celebrations. Imperial family organized festivities for the births, marriages and circumcisions of the princes and sultans. The court, elite and the public enjoyed winters conversing at dessert parties (helva sohbeti) and summers at garden parties (lale raan). The new years day (Nevruz) was celebrated. Even the

383

promenade of the harem (halvet) in the city and the Sultans visits to imperial abodes around the city became festive ceremonies.17 The most renowned celebration of the period was the 1720 festival which was organized for the circumcision of the princes Sleyman, Mustafa, Mehmed and Beyazd; the wedding of Aye Sultan with the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha; and the wedding of Emetullah Sultan with Sirke Osman Pasha. The festival is depicted in several chronicles. One of these chronicles is Drr Biraderi Sadinin Sr- Hmayn Tarihidr (Shhatnme ve Sr- Htna Mteallik Kasid, TSM Revan No. 826, folios 31a-23b). It shows the participants of the festival who gathered at the open space of Ok Meydan. The chronicle compares persons in the crowd attending the celebrations to roses in a garden, to rose buds in an imperial garden, and, to the date palm in the paradise garden: Each one is a blossoming rose bud in the imperial garden Each one is a jewel in the rose garden of the world18 Now the Ok Meydan is the gathering place of beloved ones of the city The world has become lively with the lover and the beloved19 Each firework is a comet in flames
17

Tlay Artan, Architecture As a Theatre of Life, 55-56. Mehmet Arslan, Trk Edebiyatnda Manzum Surnameler Osmanl Saray Dnleri ve

18

enlikleri (Ankara: AYK Atatrk Kltr Merkezi, 1999), 104: Her biri bir gonca-i zib-y ba- saltanat/ Her birisi rub- meskun gleninn zneti
19

Ibid., 104: imdi Ok Meydn old mecma- hbn- ehr/ k u k ile buld cihn germiyyeti

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Come and watch this art on the joyful sky20 Variety of fruits ornament the procession Remind the palm tree in the garden of paradise21 The fifteen day festival is also illustrated by Vehbi in the book of festivities (Surname-i Vehbi) which was completed in 1727-28. The book of the festival was widely circulated among both the elite and the public. Atl mentions twenty-five copies still existing today.22 In 1722, Venetian ambassadorial chronicles depict the Sultans visit to Damad Ibrahim Pashas shore palace. The chronicle depicts this instance as an unusual event and notes that it was not common for an Ottoman Sultan to visit his grand vizier.23 However, during the Tulip Period Sultans visits to the shore palaces and gardens of the grandees are frequently accounted for. The change in the courtly rules of conduct and flexibility in the court hierarchy was also apparent in the use of urban space and urban festivities. In 1723, birth of Ahmed IIIs fifth son was celebrated and the festival was extended to celebrate the birth of the Grand Viziers son. In 1724, the marriages of mm, Atika and Hatica Sultans with Ali, Ahmed and Mehmed Pashas were celebrated.

20

Ibid., 104: Her fiek bir ahter-i dunble-dr u ule-p/ sumn- zevkde seyr eyle gel bu sanat

21

Ibid., 105: Drl drl miveler resmi mzeyyen eylemi/ Andurur insna hkka nahl-i ba- cenneti

22

Esin Atl, The Story of an Eighteenth Century Fetsival, in Muqarnas 10 (1993), 181. Shay, The Ottoman Empire from 1720 to 1734, 20.

23

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The court poet Nedm is closely associated with the festive life of the Tulip Period. He was a talented poet. He composed artful poems using all means of the Ottoman poetic tradition. He was a court poet. Though, at the same time he composed poems using plain Turkish. These poems were comprehensible to the common people. In his poetry, he employed daily urban themes common to and experienced by all city dwellers.24 Nedms poetry depicted real places of Istanbul, instead of ideal places of the metaphysical world. His poetry stressed a new development in the appropriation of the Ottoman creative imagination. The real places of the city formed the pool necessary for contemplation by the imaginative faculty. By referring to real gardens and spaces, his poetry also challenged the Ottoman cosmology. Such appreciation of daily life and mundane physical environment was also evident in the ehrengiz poetry. However, ehrengiz poems were only known to members of a small group. When some of them attained more powerful positions within the Ottoman society during the early 18th c., enjoyment of daily life, real spaces and daily pleasures flourished more openly.

24

See Abdlbaki Glpnarl, Nedim Divan (Istanbul: Inklap ve Aka Kitabevleri, 1972);

Hasibe Mazolu, Nedim (Ankara: Babakanlk Basmevi, 1988) and Nedimin Divan iirine Getirdii Yenilik (Ankara: TTK, 1957); Kemal Slay, Nedim and the Poetics of the Ottoman Court Medieval Inheritance and the Need for Change (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1994); Ahmet Evin, A Poem by Nedim: Some Thoughts on Criticism of Turkish Literature and an Essay, in Edebiyat: A Journal of Middle Eastern and Comparative Literature II/1 (1977): 43-55; Tunca Kortantamer, Nedimin iirlerinde Istanbul Hayatndan Sahneler, in Ege niversitesi Edebiyat Fakltesi Trk Dili ve Edebiyat Aratrmalar Dergisi IV (1985): 20-59.

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Table 6: Inventory of real places and events in Nedms kasdes, chronograms, and mesnevis

City spaces in Nedms Poetry

No. of Poems

Fountains

14

Private Places in the City Palaces, gardens, vineyards, kiosks, pavilions, water-front mansions, etc. 21

Public Places Bath houses, market places, bazaars. Religious institutions Mosques and Sufi lodges. Other Institutions Klliyes, schools, caravanserais, court houses. Social Events Visits to friends houses; leisurely travels of the Sultan in the city; desert parties; private garden parties; celebrations of holy-days and new year.

15

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Out of 110 poems (Kasdes, chronograms, and mesnevis) in total, there are 65 poems referring to real places or events. The above table shows the classification of his 65 kasdes, chronograms, and mesnevis according to different places or events referred to.25 Out of 28 songs in total, there are 16 songs depicting real places (11 songs illustrate real gardens and pleasure of their experience) and events (5 songs are invitations to events or recount visits anonymous gardens, or indicate of movement and traveling in the city space). However out of 162 gazels, there are only four gazels depicting real places in the city. Kasde is a long poem composed for the purpose of praising; a person, a holy-day, an event, a festival, an artifact, a building or a place.26 Mesnevis, as discussed in the previous chapter, are long poems about love stories. Chronograms are poems written in the honor of a particular event or of the building of an artifact. The main purpose of a chronogram is to date a particular event; the establishment or foundation of a building, fountain or garden.27 Songs were composed to be recited
25

Glpnarl, Nedm Divan, for fountains see pages 137, 147-48, 149; 150-51, 176-77,

181-82, 186, 190-91, 193, 201, 207, 208, 208 (2), 221; private residences and gardens in 75-78, 79-84, 85-87, 111-113, 114-115, 138, 152, 153, 154, 162-63, 164, 165-67, 167-68, 170-7 172-73, 183-85, 196-98, 199-200, 209-10, 211, 216-17; public places in the following 38-43, 179-81, 221-22, 189-190; religious institutions in 175, 177-78, 178, 205, 211-12, other institutions in 30-32, 135-36, 169-170, 174, 179-80, 212-15; and social events in 4447, 48-53, 93-95, 97-98, 99-100, 100-2, 103-4, 105-6, 107-8, 109-10, 118, 123-126, 158, 161-62, 225-7.
26

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, 70-71. For detailed information on chronograms see, Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures, 213-

27

231. Chronograms are one of the major sources in the study of history of architecture. In her unpublished thesis on 18th c. Ottoman urban culture, Shirin Hamadeh makes a broad study of chronograms. Hamadeh uses chronograms as a source which informs about building types and their patrons. These chronograms, which are written in the honor of artifacts, in order to celebrate its building, date of foundation, and recalling its patron were

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with music. They used plain language. Their subject matter was metaphoric and natural love, mundane pleasures. Nedm is acknowledged as the most innovative poet in composing songs.28 In his kasdes, Nedm compares the city to the heavens, and praises the Kathane Commons by referring to the favorable mansion Sad-bd and its gardens built as a sealing monument of the period. In the below verses written in the honor of Vizier Ibrahim Pasha with reference to the city of Istanbul, Nedm presents valuable documentation concerning the daily life and the spirit of the period in which the use of green space was secularized and the public quest for joy replaced the contemplation of nature for the sake of its divine beauty:29 Holy Paradise! Is it under or above the city of Istanbul? My Lord, how nice its atmosphere, its water and weather! Each of its gardens is a pleasing meadow, Each corner is fertile, a blossoming assembly of joy. It is not proper to exchange this city for the whole world . Or to compare its rose gardens to Paradise!
listed in magazines which compile the genre under the subtitles of different architectural types of buildings.
28

Gibb, Osmanl iir Tarihi, 77. The below verses are translated from entrk, Osmanl iiri Antolojisi, 599-580: Altnda m stnde mdr cennet-i al/ El-hk bu ne hlet bu ne h b hevdr (4); Her baesi bir emenistn-i letafet/ Her kesi bir meclis-i pur-feyz safdur (5); nsaf degldr an dnyaya deimek/ Glzarlarn cennete tebh hatdur (6); imdi yaplan alem-i nev-resm-i safnun/ Evsf hele baka kitab olsa sezdur (13); Nm gibi olmutur o hem sad hem abd/ stanbula sermye-i fahr olsa revdur (14); Khsarlar balar kasrlar hep/ Gy ki btn evk tarab zevk safdur (15).

29

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Quality of these novel festivities Only a book will be able to tell about! One of the kasdes that mention real places is the Ramazanniye Kasdesi. It gives a very lively account of a Ramadan day, beginning with a description of how people used to sleep until noon time when they were fasting. In this poem, Nedm tells about his travel plan that he would carry out after the Ramadan to go and visit Sad-bd, which he portrays as the highest level of paradise. He gives an account of particular places which he would like to visit for pleasure. He mentions the pool and the palace. Then he cites Hrrembd. He accounts for rowing in the pool. Thus, he proposes to go to the other side of the pool by boat, where he intends to spend a couple of hours enjoying himself.30 Another kasde illustrates the festivities of the Ramadan Holiday in detail. Nedm portrays the court ceremonies to which foreign diplomats were also invited. He argues that, neither Alexander had envisioned such a festival in his imagination (hlya), nor Feridun had ever fantasized about such a court assembly and organization in his dreams (ruya). Nedm further describes the celebrations and he tells that all the beloved ones would soon populate the open spaces at the Hippodrome (Atmeydan) and at Tophane (meydan- Top-hne). He informs that most of the public would pay a visit to the tomb of Eyyub Ensari at Eyp. He also lists the neighborhood of skdar as another favorable place to visit and enjoy. Then he depicts Sad-bd Palace in detail.31 Another kasde written in the honor of Sad-bd begins as Nedm tells how he felt so joyful that he was initiated to compose this particular poem with great pleasure. With joy and willful desire, he explains how he participated in a private party, where
30

Glpnarl, Nedm Divan , 44-47; Kasde IX, titled brahim Paay medih zmnnda

Ramazaniyye.
31

Ibid., 48-53; Kasde X, titled Bayram Trenini Anlatan ve Sultan III. Ahmedi ven

Kasde.

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his host invited him to display his art of poetry by describing Sad-bd with the sweetest words. So, upon his hosts wish, Nedm explains that, he began to write about Sad-bd which is a glorious new work of art. Nedm begins his description by illustrating a bridge. This bridge was a semienclosed bridge. It was covered with an ornamental ceiling. Nedm personifies this bridge as a lover who is watching the beautiful beloved ones walking by. Then he describes Hayr-bd (The Lodge of Mohammed) explaining that it is a place of joy and delight that had been the pilgrimage place of masters of pleasure. At this point, it is not clear whether Hayr-bd was a dervish lodge, but Nedm cites the place as a pilgrimage lodge for those dervishes who knew how to enjoy themselves. Then he continues depicting other elements at the site. He says that it is impossible to describe the pleasure of contemplating the sight of the waterfall, that one should see it in real. Then he cites Kasr- Cinn (The Pavilion of Paradise) for having an unparralled beauty. He further describes eme-i Nur (The Fountain of Light) and Cetvel-i Sim (The Pool of the Silver Ruler). He praises Kasr- Net (The Pavilion of Eternal Gaiety) for its site chosen with such a careful consideration. Nedm expresses that even though it was quite small, its fame was significant. Then Nedm tells about another artifact in the garden, which is called Nev-Peyda (The New Bridge) which was probably a covered deck protruding on the pool. He cites it as an original invention. He further mentions two other pavilions. This couple of pavilions were called Ferkadan (The Constellation of Ursus Majoris and Beta Ursus Majoris) resembling the two brightest stars of the Ursa Minor constellation. He also designates two other pavilions; Hrrem-bd (The House of Sultan) and Cesr-i Srur (The Pavilion of Happiness) which were located close to the site of Ferkadan. Then he tells about a very long column called Stun- Bla (The Tall Column) gilded at the top having an adorable sight. Illustrating the garden, Nedm refers to Sultan Ahmed III as its owner. He further alludes to other rulers of Persia and Turan, the legendary characters of Feridun, Dr, Husrev, Iskender and Cem. He compares Iskenders affection for Aristotle to Ahmed IIIs affection for his sonin-law Damad Ibrahim Pasha, the Grand Vizier. Nedm praises Damad Ibrahim Pasha, for all his decisions thus he became the cure for many. Finally, he

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concludes his poem by stating that upon seeing Sad-bd, even Iskender would bite his fingers out of jealousy.32 In another kasde, describing Sad-bd, Nedm portrays the site as the new construction of Istanbul, whose water and weather would prolong the life of the citizens of the city. In his long appraisal of the site, Nedm explains the pool Cetveli Sim which would carry the ones rowing in its waters to the shores of Paradise. He argues that even though describing this sight is impossible, he would compose a gazel that would survive in the honor of Sad-bd. He concludes the poem by affirming that the court should enjoy themselves at Sad-bd , or at other waterfront mansion on the Golden Horn, or Bosphorus, while their enemies would get bored with ennui. 33 In another kasde about the city of Istanbul, Nedm describes the city as beyond comparison to any other city in the world. The city of Istanbul, by itself, would worth the whole land of East. Nedm portrayal of the city between the two seas is similar to the earlier depictions used in the ehrengiz and many Sufi poems. Further, Nedm argues that Istanbul is superior to all the gardens of the paradise, that all of its gardens, meadows, lawns, all of its places are beautiful, and that he would not exchange the city for the whole world. In this city, everybody would satisfy their own desires. Nedm refers to all the mosques in the city, both the grander Friday mosques, and the smaller mosques which are less significant. He appraises the hills, vineyards, gardens, kiosks, and pavilions of the city, without being specific, or naming any of them. Then he mentions Sad-bd which he portrays as the new representation of pleasure and joy. Nedm argues that the qualities of Sad-bd would fill in a single book of its own.34

32

Ibid., 75-78; Kasde XVI, titled Sad-bd vasfeden Kasde. Ibid., 79-84; Kasde XVII, titled Sad-bd vasf zmnnda III. Ahmede Kasde. Ibid., 85-87; Kasde XVIII, titled Istanbulu vasf zmmnda Ibrahim Paaa Kasde.

33

34

392

Out of eleven songs that mention real places within the city, five of them evoke Sad-bd.
35

Others depict kiosks and pavilions of evk-bd36 and appraisal of

the Sultans kiosk at Net-bd;37 the beauty of eref-bd.38 Another mentions the tradition of strolling in Bosphorus39 and one refers to Feyz-bd and Asaf-bd as places one must to visit on the way to Sad-bd.40 One song cites the neighborhood of Beikta. The first song about Sad-bd, is an invitation to visit, enjoy and contemplate the palace and gardens, depicting its grounds as a promenade worth traveling to.41 The second one compares the garden of Sad-bd to the char-bagh of Isfahan, narrating the formers superior qualities and paradise-like gardens. Nedm depicts how the place that once was a simple ground has become a prosperous garden. Illustrating the range of activities one can contemplate on its varied and expanded site. Suggesting that the organization of the site is like a book, Nedm states that it should be appreciated from above the surrounding hills. In this way, one can see its elongated pool carved out of the ground as if precisely drawn on paper.42 Another song mainly about Nedms interest in a particular beloved, depicts the site of Sad-bd, telling how this beloved had escaped from the poet and traveled to the gardens of the palace. The song tells how the beloved enjoyed the site,
35

Ibid., 343, 344, 345, 346, 350, 351(Bosphorus), 353, 353-355, 356-7, 359. Ibid., 344; Song III. Ibid., 343; Song I. Ibid., 359; Song XXVI. Ibid., 350-51; Song XIII. Ibid., 352-53; Song XVI. Ibid., 344-45; Song IV. Ibid., 346-47; Song VII.

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

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watched the Sultans ceremonial procession to the palace; and traveled around the kiosk.43 In another song about love, Nedm compares the running river into the site of Sadbd to the burning heart, desireful to occupy and experience the site, with many beloved wondering in its gardens.44 The final song about Sad-bd is an invitation by Nedm composed to convince his beloved to travel to the site. He offers to go to the site on a Friday afternoon by boat.45 He claims that they should enjoy the gardens, and as well drink water from its new fountain designed in the form of a dragon. Then he proposes to promenade along the pool, and watch the beauty of the kiosk. He recommends to sing songs or to cite poetry in this picturesque location:46 Let us give a little comfort to this heart that is wearied Let us visit Sad-bd, my swaying Cypress, let us go! Look there is a swift caique all ready at the pier below, Let us visit Sad-bd, my swaying Cypress, let us go! There to taste the joys of living, as we laugh and play, From the new built fountain Nev-Peyda drink the water of life, Then watch the enchanted waters flowing from the gargoyle spout of this dragon, Let us visit Sad-bd, my swaying Cypress, let us go! For a while well stroll by this pool, and then by another one

43

Ibid., 348-49; Song IX. Ibid., 357; Song XXIII. Ibid., 356-57; Song XX II. Ahmet Refik Altnay, Lale Devri (stanbul: Sanayii Nefise, 1932), 52-53; Kuban, Istanbul,

44

45

46

343.

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Off well go and view the Pavilion of Paradise and be aroused by its sight Then we will sing a ballad and become a composer Let us visit Sad-bd, my swaying Cypress, let us go! Upon the arrival of spring, Nedm compares the blossimg nature to himself. He suggests that like blossoming roses and tulips, they should also begin the enjoy the gardens and the meadows.47 There are five other songs that depict anonymous places that seem to be illustrated with reference to real places. These songs are like invitations to visit and enjoy gardens and private parties at gardens. Most of them indicate a sense of movement as suggested by the invitation. First of these songs is an invitation to enjoy the spring days, to travel and to contemplate gardens, especially tulips.
48

The other two songs announce the time for the spring celebrations, known as Light Festivals (ergan) which were favorable during the Tulip Period.49 The fourth one is an invitation to a private party, 50 and the fifth to a garden party.51 It is interesting that Kathane was recognized as a whole continuous space, and called as a single entity by the name of mesire; despite being composed of different elements and being extremely long four kilometers. Kathane was not considered as a distant place retreat from the city, but like all the other mesire it was one of many leisure places within easy reach from the city.

47

Glpnarl, Nedm Divan , 357-58; Song XXIV. Ibid., 345; Song V. Ibid., 353-54; 350; Song XVII; Song XXVIII . Ibid., 354-55; Song XIX. Ibid., 355-56; Song XX.

48

49

50

51

395

There are forty one chronograms of Nedm dedicated to the building of waterfront mansions, libraries, palaces, fountains, pavilions, kiosks, gardens, vineyards, bath houses, mosques, schools, bazaars, caravanserais and restoration of fountains and mosques. These chronograms cite the names, locations and properties of artifacts. They also cite the patron of each artifact. These chronograms depict the artifacts praising their splendor and beauty. The following chronogram is an example written for the Palace of Beir Aga:52 Excellent, the captivating and exalted palace! Its charming layout Was entirely matchless, pleasing and close to the heart Excellent, the champion, the new house of rank and glory! The wing of the bird of paradise was neighbor to its rooftop Well done, the lofty celestial vault is so filled with ornament and intricate work That it is a refuge for happiness and prosperity The intricately ornamented pavilions are adorned with Kashan tiles As though every one of its glass panels is a mirror showing the world Each of its captivating rooms, the new plan of its building, were truly such That they achieved the articulation of the meanings of joy and felicity Being in ruin, as a result of noble endeavors it become prosperous The attractive building enhanced the beauty of this shore Hamadeh, who studied the 18th c. chronograms, argues that changes in the patronage of building activities sheds light upon the urban culture of Istanbul. Hamadeh argues that the variety of patrons inform about different participants in the renewal of the urban space. Previously, members of the court exercised such patronage. However, during the Tulip Period, a new elite group emerged close to the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha. They were friends, sons-in law and

52

Translated by Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures, 230; from the chronogram titled Tarih-i

beray- saray- dil-gua saray- Dar us Saade Agas Beir Aa in Glpnarl, Nedm Divan, 199-200.

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relatives of the grand vizier who were appointed to high ranking governmental positions. They became the new patrons of urban space development.53 As opposed to Nedms other poems which depict real places and events, out of his 162 gazels, only 4 gazels refer to real places. These gazels briefly depict Gksu and ubuklu promenades, Sad-bd Palace, the city in general and compares Istanbul to Isfahan in Iran. 54

53

See Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures. Asaf Halet elebi, Divan iirinde Istanbul (Istanbul: Hece Yaynlar, 2002), 112; 102-3;

54

101-102; 102: Gksu bir naho heva imdi ubuklu bir ziham/ Sevdiim tenhaca ekdirsek mi Sad-bd e dek Uakn olsa nola feda nakd-I canlar/ Seyr itmedin mi dnk fedai civanlar; evk ateine sen de tutudun mu ey Gnl/ Grdn m dn gre tutan pehlivanlar; Ol peremin nazirini hatrda m Gnl/ Grm idin geen sene snbl zemanlar; eng engane zevk biraz ursun el-aman/ Seyr idelim bu seyre gelen dilsitanlar; Malumdur benim shanim mahlas iztemez/ Fark eyler an ehrimizin nktedanlar. Sklma bezme gel bigane yok davetlimiz ancak/ Nedma bendeniz var bir dahi sultanmz vardr; Bir sz didi canan ki keramet var iinde/ Meyhane mukassi grnr taradan amma; Bir baka ferah baka letafet var iinde/ Eyvah o ifte kayk ald kararm; arki okuyup geti bir afet var iinde/ Olmakda derununda heva aet-I suzan; Nayin dilebilmem ki ne halet var iinde/ Ey uh Nedma ile bir seyrin iitdik; Tenhaca varub Gksuya iret var iinde ran zemine tuhfemiz olsun bu nev gazel/ r grsn Isfahana Stanbul diyarn

397

PARTICIPANTS OF NEW RITUALS: CONFRONTATION OF THE COURT AND THE PUBLIC

The court and the elite had always been enjoying private garden parties prior to the Tulip Period. However, during the Tulip Period private parties and spaces where the court and the elite enjoyed such parties became visible to the eyes of the common public. As well, the participants of the court and the elite engaged in festive activities that challenged the hierarchy of the classical Ottoman cosmology. The court, the elite and the common public utilized various kinds of space at the same time. The 1720 circumcision festival, illustrated in Surname-i Vehbi (172728), provides an example. The festival brought all ranks of the society together; The Sultan, the Grand Vizier, Janissary corps, kethda, defterdar, endern, religious scholars, pages, poets, historians, painters, various kinds of guilds, foreign ambassadors and the common public at Ok Meydan (Figure 127). Vehbi illustrates the common public watching and enjoying the festival (TSM A3593, folios 42b-43a, 46b-47a, 51b-52a, 53b-54a, 59b-60a, 64b-65a, 83b-84a, 89b-90a, 168b-169a).55 Similar to Vehbis depiction of the common public peeping into the imperial festival and enjoying the processions; in an illustration of Kathane Commons by DOhsson, the court and the public are depicted mutually enjoying the two halves of the same open space split by a low garden wall allowing the participants of each side to observe the other. This illustration depict the public meadows populated by poets, pages, women, mirahors, seyyids, bostanc overlooking imperial Sadbd Palace and its gardens.

55

Atl, Levni ve Surname, 208-209; 204-205; 198-199, 192-193; 188-189; 174-175; 170-

171; 168-169.

398

In her unpublished thesis, Artan also argues that during the 18th c. Bosphorus had become a public promenade where the court and the public enjoyed the spectacle of urban life and urban scape.56 The participants of this spectacle not only observed the court and the elite groups use of space and their festive life, they recognized the changing balance in social hierarchy. Until the Tulip Period, the Sultan constituted the center of the society. The imperial court followed him in hierarchy. However, during the Tulip Period, the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha almost constituted a second center in terms of hierarchy. He employed a group around him similar to the imperial court around the Sultan. This new group, composed of poets, scholars, historians, court officers of high ranks and his relatives, was visible to the eyes of the common public. This group even hosted the Sultan on several occasions. Though since 15th to early 18th century, the demography, or the harmony of the society had been transformed a lot, still all the groups who participated in shaping the Ottoman society were each fighting for their ideals, either for moral or material benefits. In different ways, each was fighting for survival, or dominance. The society of religious scholars constituted diverse groups in terms of their sociopolitical standpoints. Some, like the chief juriconsult of Mustafa II was appallingly taking advantage of his powerful status and eliminating any kind of reforms by using his authority. At the same time, the supporters of the Kadizadelis were still acting against the more liberal Sufi orders like Bayrami-Melms; the development of the school of Arabi. Fractions of the Mevlevi society supported such groups against the development of Melm society. Though, meanwhile, the Melm society, in order not to be harmed by such opponents, developed in concealment. As discussed in the chapter concerning the followers of Ibn Arabis philosophy of the Unity of Being, by the Tulip Period the adherents of the Melm philosophy increased in the higher classes of the society. There were court officers appointed
56

See Artan, Architecture as a Theatre of Life.

399

to the court service such as grand viziers, and religious scholars, such as chief juriconsults who were prominent Melms, even poles. By the early 18th c. ehid Ali Pasha (1713-1716) who was the grand vizier, was also the leader of Melm society (Melm pole). In the early 18th c., grand vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha, court poet Nedim, Habeizade Mevlevi Abdrrahim Efendi known as poet Rahimi, Lalizade Abdlbaki, Reislkttab Mustafa Efendi, Ahmed Arifi Paa, Defterdar Sar Mehmed Paa, historian Mehmed Raid, Mustafa Sami, Osmanzade Taib were all Melms, as discussed in the second chapter. The society of guilds, as merchants and artisans was still a diverse group of society, where every other group participated in different Sufi orders and influenced by different principles of these orders. During the Tulip Period, poetry was still enjoyed and it still constituted an important part of the Ottoman culture. The poets of the period were Mehmed Nesb Dede (d.1714), Drr-i Yekem (d.1724), Selim (d.1725), Nedm (d.1730), Rsih (d.1731), Arpaeminizade Sm (d.1733), shak Efendi (d.1734), Ens Receb Dede (d.1734), Mustafa Skb Dede, zzet Ali Paa (d.1734), Rid (d.1735), Seyyid Vehb (d.1736), Neyl (d.1748), Nahif Sleyman Dede (d.1738) and Atf Efendi (d.1742). Among all these poets, Nedm is commonly associated with the festive spirit of the Tulip Period. His poetry also constituted the dual nature that was innate to the Tulip Period; the shared experience of the common public on one side, and the newly flourishing elite groups on the other side. Nedm was a court poet. He composed poems using an artful language. But he also composed simple poems using plain Turkish. He was able to employ all the conventions and canons of the Ottoman poetry artfully. But he was also able to employ the daily language and common terms of daily life. Nedm is recognized as a participant of the Trk-i Basit (Simple Turkish) Movement. Trk-i Basit was initiated by Edirneli Nazm and Tatarl Mahrem at the end of the 15th c. Slay acknowledges the adherents of Trk-i Basit Movement as rebels who tried to use simple Turkish in their poetry. Using simple Turkish was associated with being vulgar, peasant like, rude, stupid, ignorant, artless. Using a complex language

400

mixed together with Persian and Arabic words, phrases and rules was considered as sophisticated, cultivated, clever, precious, knowledgeable and musical.57 The opposition between plain Turkish and artful court language had always been an issue of debate. Kbsnme by Mercmek Ahmed written in the first half of the 15th c., praises using plain language understandable to common public. Smblzde Vehbis 18th c. treatise titled Kasde on Poetry written by imperial order and decree during the grand vizier-ship of Hall Pasha in order to ridicule and admonish those poets of this age, who speak nonsense criticizes using artless and plain language.58 Nedm was an inventive poet who introduced common phrases from public life into Ottoman poetry. He was inspired by folk literature, troubadour poetry, and especially Yunus Emre. He depicted street language and daily life. His poetry was sincere. Like the paintings of Vehbi, Nedms poetry represents the emphasis on realism in Ottoman arts.59 Nedm didnt accept the conventions of the idealized beauty imprisoned in the imagery of classical court poetry. Instead he looked into the city as a source of beloved ones (Figures 111-117). For him the ideal beauty

57

Slay, Nedim and the Poetics of the Ottoman Court, 57-69; Kprl, Mehmed Fuad

Kprl, Milli Edebiyat Cereyannn lk Mbeirleri ve Divan- Trk-i Basit (Istanbul: Devlet Matbaas, 1928).
58

Slay, Nedim and the poetics of the Ottoman court, 7-56. Slay, Nedim and the poetics of the Ottoman court; Ahmet Evin, A Poem by Nedim:

59

Some Thoughts on Criticsm of Turkish Literature and an Essay; Mehmet Kaplan, Nedimin iirlerinde Mimari, Eya ve Kyafet; Tunca Kortantamer, Nedimin iirlerinde Istanbul Hayatndan Sahneler, in Ege niversitesi Edebiyat Fakltesi Trk Dili ve Edebiyat Aratrmalar Dergisi IV (1985): 20-59; Hasibe Mazolu, Divan Edebiyatnda Sadeleme Akm, in Dil Yazlar 1 (Ankara: TKK Yaynlar, 1998): 44-52 and Nedim (Ankara: Babakanlk Basmevi, 1988) and Nedimin Divan iirine Getirdii Yenilik (Ankara: TTK, 1957).

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was a mere dream. In his below gazel, he criticizes the concept of idealized beauty: 60 Nowhere in this city is the beloved you describe, Nedm! It was only an illusion, that appeared to you with a fairy-face.

CONSTRUCTION OF AN IDEAL SPACE: SAD-BD PALACE AT KAITHANE COMMONS

During the Tulip Period places which were favored and frequently visited by the common public were re-discovered by the members of the court. Different countryside meadows were favored by different sections of the public for different reasons throughout centuries since the conquest of Istanbul in 1453. Either grown out of an ascetic tradition for contemplation, or ordinary citizens desire for fresh water and weather for healing purposes, visiting meadows had been a common leisurely practice for the citizens of Istanbul since the Byzantine times.61 Ritual
60

Andrews, Poetry's voice, society's song, ottoman lyric poetry, 72; translates from Nedm: Yok bu ehr ire senin vasf ettigin dilber Nedm/Bir peri suret grnm bir hayal olmu sana

61

For Byzantine suburbs and places of retreat see Doan Kuban, Istanbul An Urban

History (Istanbul: Trk Tarih Kurumu, 1996), 118-140. Along Bosphorus outside the city, the Byzantine had mansions, monasteries and churches. These dwellings outside the city, were either places of escape as in the case of some monasteries, or palaces of pleasure for seasonal retreats. Most of the villages, which were later identified as Ottoman suburbs were established in Byzantine times. There is a specific name given to the Byzantine suburban residence was called "proasteion". Procopius talks about lofty mansions of upper class along Bosphorus: "nobles of Constantinople spent almost the entire year in their littoral proasteia, probably their suburban mansions." A general list of settlements along Bosphorus, either identified by mansions, or religious buildings on the european shore are

402

journeys to the groves and meadows surrounding the earlier temples of Byzantium, later pilgrimage sites of the holy springs of Constantinople had been transformed by the Ottoman citizens and adapted to a variety of new uses. From the late 15th century to the early 18th centuries, these meadows had become spaces of leisurely joy. Evliya elebi gives a brief idea about how these countryside meadows were used by common public and how they were part of the urban fabric which the citizens were used to map for leisurely purposes in the late 17th c. Evliya elebis accounts about 17th c. were examined at the end of the previous chapter, when discussing urban practices which ehrengiz poetry was influenced from and was an

Diplokionion (St. Mamas) at Beikta (constituting of a palace, a sanctuary, a market and the Temple of Zeus, and later an harbour was added.); St. Phocas at Ortaky (later identified as Anaplus where Anaplus has a specific meaning as "the European shore of the Bosphorus" ); Promotus/Hestiae at Arnavutky; Sosthenion at stinye: There is also a church of St. Micheal; on the Asian shore are Argyronion at Macar Burnu (a monastery, a palace, which is later transformed into "a home for destitute"); Sophianea at engelky; Chalcedon (there was a small walled city with a hippodrome, theather, churches and a palace built by Constantine III by the beginning of 7th century); Eutropiu at Kalam; Hieria at Fenerbahe (Justinian I and Theodora built a palace in Fenerbahe. There was also a port, bath, and a church. It is also important tha there was a public garden. Kuban talks about the transformation of Hieria from a sacred place into a place of pleasure: "In the Greek period there was a hierion of Hera, hence the name. This was a beautifully small promontory where Justinian I, at the sugesstion of Theodora, built a palace with a small port, a bath, a church dedicated to the Mother of God and a public garden. Heraclius after his victorius Persian campaign, used to stay in Hieria. Until the Comnenians, Hieria remained an important resort for the emperors.") Rouphinianai at Caddebostan; Bryas at Dragos; Poleaticon at Bostanc (Poleaticon was acting as a gate to the territory defined by the Constantinople. There was an imperial mansion and a port. Forests within the vicinity accommodate the mansions of royal families.); Damatrys at Alemda (an hunting lodge). On the Marmara shore there were Hebdomon at Bakrky; Stronglyon at Zeytinburnu and Pege at Balkl.

403

inspiration to. Kathane was one of those places that had multiple uses and favored by different ranks of the society. Kathane was located at the end of the Golden Horn, continuing towards the Kathane valley along the former Barbyzes, the latter Kathane River. The place had been known since the Byzantine Empire, and in it had been favored both by the Ottoman elite, court, and the public since the late 15th century. It had been depicted as a place of private gathering and parties for both the elite and the public. It had been a gathering place for the private parties of the guilds. It had been a favorable retreat for Selim I and a royal hunting area for Sleyman I.62 Apart from merely social and joyful assemblies; it had also been used for the meeting of the ascetics and for contemplation, as discussed in the previous chapter. In the early 18th century, the Ottoman court rediscovered places like Kathane, and renovated them by extensive building activities. These rediscovered places were reintroduced to the use of court and as well as the public. The court began to enjoy these meadows and countryside similar to the public who had been enjoying these sites for centuries. However the confrontation of the public and the court was a new experience in Ottoman culture. As well, the extensive luxury expenditures of court entered into visible contradiction with the modest public use of the same space. Until the early 18th c., Ottoman historical chronicles frequently referred to the Kathane Commons. In 1530, the historical chronicle of Peevi mentioned the site as Kathane Open Space (Kathane Sahras).63

62

Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 278. Mnir Aktepe, Kathaneye Dair Baz Bilgiler, Ord. Prof. smail Hakk Uzunarlya

63

Armaan. (Ankara: 1976), pp. 340; Sedad Hakk Eldem, Sadabad (stanbul: Kltr Bakanl Yaynlar, 1977), p. 141; from Ibrahim Peevi Tarih vol. I (Istanbul: 1283), 155.

404

In a 1614 document, the site and its surrounding neighborhoods were acknowledged for being a hunting area expanding towards the Aqueducts (ikargh olan Kathane ve Kemerlerde ve sair ol etraflarda olan mahallelerde). The chronicle said that the hunting area was only open to the court of Ahmet I and those Venetians who entered the site for hunting were punished and warned not to enter the site again.64 In a 1630-40 document compiled during the sultanate of Murad IV, visiting Kathane is acknowledged offering a pleasurable visit and sightseeing (seyre giden). Scholars with their books, dervishes with their prayer rugs, writers with their pens, ink and other stationeries were allowed to enjoy their sightseeing activities.65 In the 1721 chronicle of Raid, an interesting story is told. In 1721, the Sultan ordered the conservation and maintenance of a countryside meadow in Alibeyky, close to Kathane. The chronicle names this countryside meadow as mesire. The chronicle states that this meadow had long been favored and had been visited by the common public. It refers to these former visitors as the masters of strolling and leisurely pleasure (erbab- get gzr). The site is depicted as a beautiful place with its water and weather. It had a comforting mild breeze and trees shedding soothing shadows. The chronicle states that the site was assured to be a pleasant place according to the testimony of all the public (mehd- cmle-i efrad) who had been enjoying the site for such a long time. The Sultan had commanded the upholding of the place like those other mesires, and he demanded the building of pools and sofas at the site. Sultans unexpected ordering of the conservation of the place created a curiosity among the public. All the public of Istanbul (bil-cmle
64

Aktepe, Kathaneye Dair Baz Bilgiler, 342-43; Mhimme Defteri 80, 217; Ahmed

Refik, Hicri Onbirinci Asrda Istanbul Hayat 1000-1100 (Istanbul: Devlet Matbaas, 1931), 48.
65

Aktepe, Kathaneye Dair Baz Bilgiler, 340-41; from Hammer, Devlet-i Osmaniye

Tarihi IX (Istanbul: 1335), 167.

405

Istanbul ahalisi) who had been using the site for such a long time and who had known the place by heart was concerned with the new building activities at the site. Thus upon hearsay revealing that the Sultan and his Grand Vizier were having their meals at this particular location during the month of Ramadan, some members of the concerned public decided to visit the site in order to see and understand what was going on. Then, as the chronicle narrates, the public was totally amazed and overwhelmed upon seeing the newly constructions on the site. The chronicle concludes by asserting that the construction activities were completed. With respect to the new prosperous state of the site, and its new constructions of three pools, one bridge, and various settings of assembly (sofa); the site was named as Hsrevbd. The name of the site can be translated as the Sultans House, or the Hsrevs House referring to the legendary character of Hsrev in the mystical love story of Hsrev and Shirine.66 The same chronicle also tells about the conservation and reconstruction of another site which was depicted as a pleasing countryside for visiting, contemplating and visual enjoyment. The site is Kathane which had a public promenade (nzgetgh- hass- m olan mesire-i dilnin).67 A chronicle depicts the construction a neighborhood (mahallt) on this site in 1721-22. The new neighborhood was called Sad-bd, with several buildings, including an imperial pavilion called Kasr- Cinan, and its harem building called Harem-i Hmayn, Kasr Hmayn, a marble cascade, three piers, fountains, a mosque, four bridges, and a pool.68

66

Aktepe, Kathaneye Dair Baz Bilgiler, 344-45; from Raid Mehmed Tarih-i Raid V

(Istanbul: 1822), 305-6.

Eldem, Sadabad, 142-3; from Raid Mehmed, Tarih-i Raid vol V, 443-46; vol III, 111,

112, 113.
68

Ibid., 143; from Muhasabe Defteri, TSM H1134.

406

1721-22 the building activity at the Kathane environs69 as told by the 18th c. historian Raid also further informs about the construction of the new neighborhood of Sad-bd. The necessary marble for the construction was carried from the dismantled tower of Kuleli Gardens which was in a derelict condition. The Grand Vizier visited the construction site frequently. There was a palace for the Sultan and the harem. It mentioned the construction of a canal and marble pools, several fountains including a peculiar one with its sprout like a dragon. As well there were many other mansions being built on the banks of the river, between Sultans new palace and the Golden Horn. These mansions resembled the water front mansions along Bosphorus. The total number of these mansions was recorded as one hundred and seventy. All the mansions built were unique in style. They were painted in different colors. Their gardens and vineyards were planted with trees. There are several accounts ordering the transportation and planting of 450 already-grown trees70 in the garden, and along the main pool.71 Sad-bd was portrayed as a place of strolling and spectacle (Temagah- Sadabad).
72

The names of the new constructions on the site were as following;

Pavilion of Paradise (Kasr- Cinn); Pavilion of the Head Stabler (Kasr- Mir-hur); Pavilion of Happiness (Kasr- Srr); New Pavilion of the Sultan (Kasr- ehinah Cedid); Harem (Harem-i erif), Palace of the Court Women (Feriye-i Hrrembd). Six new bridges were recorded (Srat, Fil, Kovanl, Nevpeyda, Ebyaz, and Ahmer). Four new piers were documented; Pier of the Hayr-bd Lodge, Pier of Everybody, Pier of Vizier, and the Pier of Sultan (Hayr-bd, Eyy69

Ibid., 142-3; from Raid Mehmed, Tarih-i Raid vol. V, 443-46; vol III, 111, 112, 113. Ibid., 143-46; from documents from Babakanlk Arivi NE7724 dated 1721-23 and

70

Babakanlk Arivi NE 7737 dated 1724.

Ibid., 144; from Ziyafet-i Asafi Bicenab- ehriyar- skender Nihad der Temagah-

Sadabad, in Zeyl-i Raid Kk elebizade Ismail Asm, No. B. 22 folio 18a.

Ibid., 146; from Ziyafet-i Asafi Bicenab- ehriyar- skender Nihad der Temagah-

Sadabad, in Zeyl-i Raid Kk elebizade Ismail Asm, No. B. 22 folio 18a.

407

hennas, Vezir, Hnkar). The new neighborhood also had two dervish lodges at either site of the main garden of the Sultans palace; The Blessed Lodge of Muhammed (Hayr-bd), The Lodge of the Vizier (Asaf-bd). Only two of the gardens that are known were bestowed with names, both within the property of the Sultan. These were called The Garden of Iram (Ba- rem) and the Garden of the Sultan (Bahe-i Has). The pools were named as the Pool of the Sea and the Pool of the Silver Ruler, Two-headed Pool (Havz- Dery, Cetvel-i Sm, Havz- D-ser). In the gardens there were also cascades, the Column of Pole/ Arrow (Stun- Tr) and the Dragon Fountain (Ejder-i Cr), fountains of Marble and Gilded Bowls (Kse-i Mermer, Kse-i Summki). There were documented two seating locations; Paradise Sofa (Sofa-i Cinn), the Sofa of the Guests (Sofa-i Mihmn). There was a market place called the New Bazaar (Sk- Cedid). 73 The palatial grounds were reached by boat. In previous centuries, where the Sultan would ride to the site on horseback for hunting; however the newly developing neighborhood of Sad-bd was planned to be accessed through the canal. Thus, there were four different piers serving different visitors of the palace. One pier for the use of the Sultan, one for the Vizier, and another one for the use of public; each named after its users; as the pier of Everybody, Vizier, and the Sultan (Eyy-hennas, Vezir, Hnkar). The fourth pier belonged to the Hayrbd Lodge, and was named after it. Sad-bd Palace was built in 1722/23 after the ambassador Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi returned from his travel to France. In France, elebi visited many palaces and their gardens during his stay (November 21, 1720 - September 6, 1721/ Muharrem 20, 1132- Zilhicce-i erif 16, 1133). His emissary accounts are compiled in a chronicle.74 It is also known that he brought plans of several French palaces;
73

Ibid., 143. See Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, ed. and trans. by evket

74

Rado (Istanbul: Hayat Tarih Mecmuas Yaynlar, Doan Karde Yaynlar, 1970); Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi and Veinstein, lk Osmanl Sefiri.

408

Marly, Versailles and Fountainebleau.75 Irepoglu, in her study in the Ottoman archives identifies a large number of books of European print. Some of these books are dated prior to 1720, which might have been brought back by elebi from France.76 There is also one book in German and another one in Italian dated prior to 1720 (Figures 119-125). The common feature of these European printed books in the Topkap Archive is that they are all about gardens. They include specific or generic plans and site plans of gardens, palaces in gardens, elements of garden design, various ways of planting of flower beds, arrangement of trees, different types of pools, engineering plans for the construction of waterways for different types of pools, various decorative elements, fountains, jet sprouts, fences, grottoes, sculptures, vases. The books also picture the festive life in the gardens in perspective engravings, illustrate decorative elements like flowers arranged in vases and even birds that enliven gardens. Though there is such a vast amount of material on European gardens, mainly on French, general scholarship avoids the comparison of Sad-bd and French gardens and palaces, arguing that there are no formal similarities. The below argument from Sedad Hakk Eldem illustrates this perspective: 77 The greatest and the finest example of 18th century domestic architecture is visible in the Sadabad Gardens at Kathane. Whenever mention is made of cascades and the Sadabad installations, it is customary to talk about the French influence. I must admit that I am unable to find any reminiscent of French art, with the possible exception of the Cetvel-i-Sim (Silver Line).Thus it is futile to look for similarities between Sadabad and Marly.
75

Semavi Eyice Tarih inde stanbul ve ehrin Gelimesi. Atatrk Konferanslar 1975

(Ankara: Trk Tarih Kurumu Basmevi, 1980), 134.

Gl repolu, Topkap Saray Mzesi Hazine Ktphanesindeki Batl Kaynaklar zerine

Dnceler, Topkap Saray Mzesi Yllk 1 (1986), 56-72; 174-197.

Eldem, Sadabad, page 132.

409

Eldem asserts that there are more similarities between Sad-bd and the Indian, or Safavid gardens in terms of architectural form and details. Recently, Hamadeh also calls attention to the importance of Persian inspiration in Sad-bd gardens:78 We must also note the curious kinship of the newly acquired names of Ottoman imperial and grandees palaces and gardens with those of the Safavid, like Sad-abad with Saadet-abad, one of Shah Abbass private gardens in Isfahan, both meaning the Abode of Happiness. In an entry in his personal diary dated 10 August 1722, the bureaucrat Mustafa Efendi reported that in the wake of the construction of Ahmed IIIs palace the place previously known as Kathane was increasingly referred to as Sadabad. These eponymous associations with Safavid monuments and, more generally, the trend of ascribing garden palaces of the imperial and ruling elite with poetic names in the manner of their Persian counterparts, as with Feyzabad, Hurremabad, and Neatabad, dated only to the reign of Ahmed III (r. 1703-1730). Hamadeh asserts the Persian influence in the architectural iconography, in order to claim a counter-argument against the general conviction that modernization of the Ottoman culture during the Tulip Period is associated with westernization. Thus, she asserts the presence of an eastern model against the western one. She presents the early 18th c. as a period of innovation with respect to the early modernization. She presents the manifestation of terms and phrases repeatedly used in Ottoman poetry which describe innovation and novelty in architecture and arts of the period, such as:79 nev (new), cedd (new), nev-cad (new invention), tze (fresh), ihtir (invention), hayl (imagination), bed and ibd (original, to create from scratch), and vaguer allusions to novelty such as hsn- diger (a different sort of beauty) and slub-i ferd (a unique style).

78

Shirine Hamadeh, Ottoman Expressions of Early Modernity and the Inevitable Question

of Westernization, JSAH 63:1 (2004), 43.

Ibid., 33.

410

Hamadehs argument about the Persian impact in Ottoman culture is correct. However, such impact was not limited to the 18th c. Ottomans not only used Persian, but all other imperial traditions of the near east as models since the 15th c. as discussed in the third chapter of this thesis. The Ottoman vocabulary on novelty was also repeatedly used since the early 16th c. in describing Sufi practices, as discussed in the second chapter of this thesis; and in ehrengiz poetry illustrating the experience and image of the cities by marginal groups as discussed in the third chapter of this thesis. Though, Hamadehs and Eldems discussions, and further Evyapans arguments regarding the formlessness of Ottoman gardens are suited in reference to formal analysis of architectural and site plans. However, it is also obvious that the festive life observed at French gardens and palaces became an essential model for Ottoman court practices during the Tulip Period. elebis textual accounts of life and narrations of different spaces have become a source of inspiration for the building and use of the Sad-bd Palace, its surrounding gardens and restoration of the Kathane Commons. The French gardens constituted a new pool for the Ottoman imagination. This pool of images was constructed upon both textual and visual depictions. Both the textual accounts of Yirmisekiz elebi and the printed plans of the French gardens formed the new storehouse of Ottoman imagination. The court preferred to use the western iconography instead of the eastern one. The reason for this sudden fascination with the western models was limited in visual and architectural idioms. The subtext for such fascination was already produced from within the dynamics of the society since the early 16th c. Thus, the Ottoman culture produced its ideal spaces within the continuity of its artistic and social tradition. However, it borrowed forms to accommodate these ideals from different storehouses. Once it borrowed the imagery of Persian and near eastern imperial traditions, then it referred to the Byzantine tradition. Though, during the Tulip Period it also borrowed images from the French landscape. In his chronicle, elebi does not use a certain method, like dating, or a thematic content, but he tells about places and events as he experiences them. The story

411

begins by his entrance to France and continues. The text tells about elebis travels in French landscape. He arrives at a city, a village, a town, a garden; meets the French bureaucrats, the young king; he visits a palace and wanders in a garden, leaves it and travels to another one. elebi describes French gardens and palaces as the paradise of infidels. He continuously stresses his amazement upon seeing different palaces, different gardens, innovations, beauties. He expresses the impossibility to imagine these novelties, the impossibility to illustrate them in words and asserts the necessity to see them in reality.80 Canals and traveling by canals is a constant theme throughout the chronicle.81 elebi is impressed by traveling through artificial canals. He describes them as providing comfort for travelers and merchants carrying people and goods.82 The second common theme that endures throughout the whole narrative is elebis experience of the French gardens. Another common theme is the portrayal of the public. elebi illustrates masses of people enjoying both in the gardens, and in the villages and cities he visited. He notes that both the common public and the court

80

The following quotations are consequtively from the following pages in Rado, Yirmisekiz

Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, 32; 55; 57; 58; 63; 63: Grlmedike havsalaya sdrmak mmkin deildir.; yle gzel bir tertip tem eyledik ki tabir olunmaz.; Bir saray tem ettik ki, vasf vehile mmkn deil.; Gnllere ferahlk veren bir saray ve gamlara dev olan acaip dzen mahede olundu ki gzellikleri dil ile anlatlamaz.; Bahesi dahi yle tanzim olunmu ki, tbiri mmkin deil. Bunda dahi trl trl fskiyeler ve adrvanlar etmiler ki anlatlamaz.; yle ssl bir keyif yeri mahede olunmutur ki misli yok.
81

Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, 15-19; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30;

31, 32-33; 34; 36-38; 49; 65; 66; 67; 87-88; 93-97.
82

Rado, Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, 26.

412

included a lot of women. 83 Thus, the whole chronicle can be summarized as the story of a journey from one garden to another through canals where at the same time, both the French court and the common public - including women, were traveling freely in the open space and enjoying themselves. elebi depicts the gardens and palaces of Vincennes, Villeroi, Tuileries, Meudon, Versailles, Marly, Chantilly, St. Cloud, Fontainebleau and Orleans.84 He explains his desire to see nice buildings several times throughout the text. He especially likes Paris.

83

elebi mentions the living population several times. See Uman, Yirmisekiz

elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, 25; 27; 29; 31; 35; 36; 41-42; 44; 47; 50-52; 53, 59; 76-77; 77-78. The following quotations from elebi exemplify his amazement seeing crowds which included women as well, in the consequent pages of Rado, Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, 25, 32, 38: Halkn okluu, hele kadnlarn fazlal yle haddinden akn idi ki, tabiri mmkn deil.Etraftan, bilhassa Monglirden cmle kibar ve devletlusu karlar ile gelp bizi grmek iin toplanmlar. Gece olsun, gndz olsun halkn okluu, kadn ve erkek kalabal anlatlr gibi deildir. Kadn ve erkein devletlu ve kibar, kimi tebdil, kimi aikare gelmiler. Dn evlerinin bu kadar kalabalk olduu grlmemitir. Kraln taht yaknna varnca, iki tarata dn evine konulan sedirler gibi, birka yz sediri bibirinden yksek koyup tertip etmiler. Bu sedirlerde ne kadar kibar karlar ve kraln hsmlar var ise toplanup mcevherlerle ssl, prl prl elbiseler ile oturmular.
84

Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, 24-26; 27-29 (Toulouse); 29-

32 (Bordeaux); 34-35 (Poitiers); 36-37 (Amboise, Chatellerault); 37-38 (Orleans); 41, 7274, 76-77 (Paris); 49-52 (the palace and gardens of the emperor, most probably Louvre); 62-64 (St. Cloud); 64, 70-72 (Versailles); 64-66 (Meudon); 66-67 (Trianon); 67-70 (Marly); 87-92 (Chantilly); 93-94 (Fontainbleu); 57-58 (landscape models); 94-97.

413

He is fond of St. Cloud and its tree lined walkways. He talks about a pool on a site covered with trees, where a jet sprout springs out water to a very high elevation that he recorded higher above the surrounding trees. Then he describes a cascade and a pool with great interest. He portrays the cascade as a couple of stairs occasionally covered with the running water falling out from the pool. He notes that there were many fountains in the garden. He says that he observed many fountains in the shape of the mouth of a dragon.85 elebi portrays Versailles as a single garden made out of four different gardens and four different palaces.86 In Versailles, elebi is amazed with the number of the fountains he has seen. He counts thirty nine fountains. Each of these fountains is a part of a single story. elebi compares the story told in the garden of Versailles to the stories of Hmayunnme.87 He describes two kiosks made out of colorful marble that was located on the sides of the pool. In Marly, elebi illustrates another cascade, whose sight impressed and overwhelmed him.88 Chantilly89 is portrayed as another garden elebi was impressed with. He depicts the palace in a unique style, which was different from the other palaces they had visited previously. The palace was similar to a big castle with towers. On one side of the castle there was a river which was designed as a deep pool. Thus the palace surrounded by this pool was entered through bridges. From the interior of the palace, elebi had the impression that it looked like a water front mansion like those on Bosphorus. The garden of Chantilly was also accessed through bridges. It had many pools and was planted with different kinds of trees. elebi narrated a
85

Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, 62-63. Ibid., 155. Rado,Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, 59. Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, pp. 69-70. Ibid., 87-91.

86

87

88

89

414

hunting party within the forests of Chantilly. He also depicted the gardens at night illuminated with thousands of candles, which he was invited to enjoy watching from a room overlooking the garden and the pool. elebi depicts two different pools in the gardens of Fontainebleau; one large enough to accommodate people rowing and the other as extremely long.90 elebi also describes the festive life in the French gardens. He is amazed by the festive life, how the emperor enjoys himself in the gardens. He describes joyful assemblies that take place during the daytime and celebrations at night time. He narrates his experience of an opera performance. He describes the rules of conduct and explains the seating arrangement at the opera, where everyone is seated according to his or her status within the society.91 In another anecdote, he refers to the illumination of the gardens at night time and the impressive sight of fireworks. As in Versailles, many mansions were built along the Kathane River in order to accommodate Ottoman grandees accompanying the Sultan and taking part in the celebrated life of the Sad-bd Palace. The newly built palaces, pavilions, kiosks, pools and gardens were given poetic names like in the stories of Hmayunnme, following elebis observations about French gardens recalling stories.92 Thus, the Ottoman artifacts were named as if symbolizing spaces within a larger story that takes place all over the city: Sad-bd (House of Eternal Happiness), erefbd (House of Eternal Honor), Emnbad (House of Eternal Security), Hsrevbd

90

Ibid., 93-94. Rado,Yirmisekiz Mehmet elebinin Fransa Seyahatnamesi, 51. Ibid., 59.

91

92

415

(House of Eternal Hsrev), Neatbd (House of Eternal Gaiety), Hmyunbd (House of Eternal Ruler), evketbd (House of Eternal Desire).93 The depiction of individual elements in the gardens of St. Cloud resemble those in the gardens of Kathane; tree lined walkways along the grand canal, a jet sprout in the shape of a dragon and the cascade in the form of a staircase.94 The site plan of Chantilly as described by elebi partially resembles the site plan of Sad-bd.95 elebi depicts a castle besides a river which was built into a pool and he illustrates a palace surrounded by this pool entered through bridges. Similarly, Sad-bd was located along a river turned into a pool and it was accessed through bridges. elebi depicts two different pools in the gardens of Fontainebleau, one large enough to accommodate people rowing, and the other as extremely long.96 Similarly, at Kathane, people used to row in the river, and likewise, the River of the Silver Pool was extremely long. Using the elements from the French gardens, Kathane, however became a site which housed an ideal garden whose image had already been part of Ottoman culture for two hundred years. Even though it is not possible to reconstruct the site plan with accuracy, the names given to the elements of design suggest a certain relationship. For example, the Garden of Iram was considered as the representation of the paradise garden on

93

Translations of the names of the palaces and gardens are in Artan, Architecture as a

Theatre of Life, 62.

Uman, Yirmisekiz elebi Mehmed Efendi Sefaretnmesi, 62-63. Ibid., 87-91. Ibid., 93-94.

95

96

416

earth.97 There was also a bridge called Al-Siraat, or Srat. Most probably, the special the Garden of Iram was reached passing through the Al-Siraat Bridge. In the Islamic tradition, the Al-Siraat Bridge is known as the bridge that would carry the believers to their eternal abodes in the afterlife, to hell or to heaven. Most probably, the Garden of Iram at Sad-bd was the paradise on earth accessed through the Al-Siraat Bridge. One of the chronicles depicting the use of the new garden by the court suggest that the guests had to leave the garden grounds in a ceremonial way, following the ordering of the spaces, and passing through a certain peculiar bridge, whose name was not cited openly.98 Sedad Hakk Eldem has illustrated the hypothetical plan of Sad-bd according to the inventory of spaces narrated in Nedms poetry and other historical chronicles. However, this study will try to examine the Eldems site plan by reordering the hypothetical location of garden elements with respect to a hypothetical ceremonial entrance (Figures 128-445). Sad-bd Palace and gardens were located along the Kathane River, almost parallel to the hills bordering the Kathane Valley. The Kathane River was made into a long canal of 28 meters wide and 1100 meters long. The palace complex stood on one side of the canal. On the other side was the public garden. The palace complex was reached through the canal and there are piers successively where the approaching guests land according to their status. When guests arrived, they followed a certain route in order to approach the gardens beyond the palace complex. Once the guests went by the palace, they reached a huge open space called Cirit Meydan. This space was used for sports
97

William Hannaway JR, Paradise on Earth: The terrestrial Garden in Persian Literature,

in Islamic Garden, ed. by Elisabeth B. MacDougall and Richard Ettinghausen (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Publications, 1976), 41-68.
98

Eldem, Sadabad, 146; from Ziyafet-i Asafi Bicenab- ehriyar- skender Nihad der

Temagah- Sadabad, in Zeyl-i Raid Kk elebizade Ismail Asm, No. B. 22 folio 18a.

417

activities and for accommodating huge banquets. This part of the garden must have been called the Garden of the Sultan (Bahe-i Has). This open space run through the whole length of the canal, and on the other side, it was bordered by natural topography. There were three cascades close to the palace complex. These cascades were used to join the three different pools to one another. These pools were the Twoheaded Pool, the Pool of the Sea and the Pool of the Silver Ruler. The palace was sited along the Two-headed Pool. There were fountains of Marble and Gilded Bowls at the Two-headed Pool. Two-headed Pool was followed by the Pool of the Sea, and then the Pool of the Silver Ruler. The cascades between the Pool of the Sea and then the Pool of the Silver Ruler turned into a bridge and connected the Garden of the Sultan to a smaller garden. This small garden was actually located between the huge imperial garden and the public garden. This smaller garden might be the Garden of Iram. Iram is a renowned garden in the Islamic tradition. The Koran refers to it as the legendary garden built on earth whose beauty surpassed the beauty of the paradise gardens:99 Shaddad, the ancient king of Yemen, South Arabia constructed earthly rival of Paradise by building the garden of Iram in his kingdom. The story relates that a messenger was sent by God to Shaddad, warning him not to challenge the Almighty. When Shaddad ignored the warning, God destroyed the garden. There were water channels running underneath this Garden of Iram at Sad-bd, connecting the artificial pools to the river. The flowing channels underneath the garden space also resembled the paradise garden. Koran mentions paradise

99

Abdul Rehman, Earthly Paradise The Garden In the Times of the Great Muslim Empires

(Lahore: M. Shahid Adil for Dost Associates, 2001), 15.

418

garden more than 120 times, and for over 30 times, it acknowledges paradise as gardens underneath which rivers flow.100 The bridge connecting the Garden of the Sultan to the Garden of Iram might be the Bridge of Al-Siraat whose name is documented in the chronicles. Thus, passing through this bridge, the guest might have accessed to the Garden of Iram overlooking the Two Headed Pool and the Pool of The Sea, both carrying resemblances to the concept of paradise garden in the Islamic tradition. The two fountains at the Two Headed Pool resembled the two fountains promised in the paradise garden. The below verses from Sura ar-Rehman (LV: 46-69) in Koran exemplify such a resemblance clearly:101 But for him who feareth the standing before his Lord there are two gardens Which is it, of the favors of your Lord, that ye deny? Of spreading branches. . And beside them are two gardens, . Dark green in foliage. . Where in are two abundant springs. Waters of The Pool of The Sea and the Fountain of Light might call to mind the Islamic ideal that water resembled eternal knowledge promised in the gardens of paradise.102

100

Ibid., 14. Ibid., 14-15. Emma Clark, Underneath Which Rivers Flow The Symbolism of the Islamic Garden

101

102

(London: The Prince of Wale's Institute of Architecture, 1996).

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The Garden of Iram was located between two gardens; the Garden of the Sultan and the public garden. In Kathane Mesiresi, the palace and its private garden were built within public grounds. As discussed in the previous pages, in an illustration of Kathane Commons by DOhsson, the court and the public are depicted enjoying their mutual presence in the two halves of the same open space split by a low garden wall allowing the participants of each side to observe the other (Figure 126). This illustration depict the public meadows populated by poets, pages, women, mirahors, seyyid, bostanc overlooking imperial Sad-bd Palace and its gardens. A scene form Fazl Enderunis Zenanname illustrating the harem enjoying itself in the gardens of the Sad-bd Palace, the brick wall between the private and the public spheres is depicted to be quite low allowing the participants of each side to see one another. Gudenus also accounts for a part brick and part see-through trellis fence. 103 It is not well documented whether the public grounds were open to visit at the same time as the private garden was being used by the Sultan. However, since there were other mansions along the Kathane valley, other than the Sultans retreat in Sad-bd, it is more than likely that these smaller private gardens and the public grounds might have been enjoyed at similar times. There are accounts of the Sultans and his Grand Viziers visit to the site on a Wednesday and the following Thursday.104 A chronicle dated after the Tulip Period, accounts for the use of gardens by the Sultan, and the public at different times. However it is not known whether this was a precaution taken after the rebellions of the Tulip Period, which have totally destructed the gardens and palaces of the Kathane, where the public was able to see the elite in their private gardens: 105
103

Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures, 142. Eldem, Sadabad, 144-46; from Ziyafet-i Asafi Bicenab- ehriyar- skender Nihad der

104

Temagah- Sadabad, from Zeyl-i Raid Kk elebizade Ismail Asm, No. B. 22 folio 18a.
105

Hamadeh, The Cities Pleasures, 135; from Walsh and Allom I-58.

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On these occasions (while the Sultan is visiting) the valley is shut up with guards, and no stranger permitted to intrude; at other times, it is open to all classes, who come here to rusticate, particularly Greeks, on Sundays, and festivals. There is a period however, in which it is the thronged resort of every person seeking amusement; and the Golden Horn is covered with caiques from all other parts of Pera and Constantinople. This occurs on St. George Days in the month of May.

CONCLUSION

During the Tulip Period, both the court and the common city dwellers enjoyed the city. The court and the elite enjoyed traveling from one private garden to another, while common city dwellers were enjoyed traveling thru the city and indulging in the serenity of different city spaces located side by side with the gardens of the court and the elite. The court poet Nedm celebrated this festive life enjoyed in all kinds of city spaces. During the Tulip Period, the Ottoman court built new spaces and restored old ones and engaged in a festive life. These spaces consisted of palaces, pavilions and gardens that provided new spaces for practicing garden parties. These garden parties differed from the gazel parties since their spaces were visible to the common public. The Ottoman court was in search of a new architectural vocabulary for the expression of this new festive life. They have used French garden models and palaces as a new storehouse of images, along with the former traditional models of the middle and near eastern models, especially in the production of Sad-bd Palace and Kathane Promenade. They have used these images in the construction of an ideal garden of Iram between the court garden of the Sultan and the public promenade of the common city dwellers. Thus, the paradise garden of earth took place between the spaces court and the common public. The Sad-bd

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Palace comprised of several gardens. One of these gardens was called the Garden of Iram representing the mythological garden on earth whose beauty surpassed the beauty of the paradise garden. The Garden of Iram was a literal representation of the paradise garden constructed between the Sad-bd Palace and the public meadow. The subtle intervention of the Garden of Iram can be perceived as an ideal of Melmi philosophy, following after the doctrines of Ibn alArab; being an intermediary space, a garden of reconciliation between the Sultan and his subjects; between the court and the public. It was a symbolic garden representing the realm of imagination between two worlds. Sad-bd Palace and its gardens built at Kathane Commons displays a significant difference compared to the gardens of the Topkap Palace,. The Topkap Palace was well protected with high walls from public gaze, where the Sad-bd and its gardens, surrounded by low walls was located within a public meadow. When the emperor enjoyed himself at the shores of the Topkap Palace, the gardeners used to throw stones at the sea for prohibiting strangers coming nearer. However, Sad-bd and its gardens were visible to the eyes of the common city dwellers. The new palaces and gardens of the Tulip Period were given thematic names, each symbolizing different stories like those narrated in Hmayunnme and similar to the thematic allocation of spaces in the gardens of the French Palace Versailles, as observed and documented by its Ottoman visitors. Correspondingly, the Ottoman court and public came to play parts in these festive stories by traveling from one garden to another. Thus the city was enjoyed by all its inhabitants where each one of the newly built palaces, mansions and restored promenades were called after allegorical names resembling the stories of Hmayunnme.

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The below quotation from Pertusier illustrates the panorama of Istanbul appreciated both by public and the Ottoman court, mapping every corner of the city:106 In the fine season, there are few points of the banks of the Bosphorus which he does not visit; employing on each excursion two days in the week. These relaxations from affairs and business, when applied to the Sultan, are termed beniche; but when to subjects, are called to make keif. This last expression, one of very common use in the Turkish language, corresponds to joy and joviality. To be in keif, therefore, among the orientals denotes the highest measure of satisfaction and gladness. It has, however, no relation to the delights afforded by Momus and his crew; but indicates that happy peace of heart and mind which rejects all violence of emotion; which places man, in some sort, in an intermediate state between terrestrial and celestial enjoyment. Nedms poems also depicted the experience of traveling in the city. Different than the garden parties enjoyed at private gardens, Nedms poems also informed about different city spaces enjoyed; palaces, gardens, vineyards, kiosks, pavilions, waterfront mansions, but also fountains, mosques, sufi lodges, Klliyes, schools, caravanserais, court houses, bath houses, market places, bazaars; and depicted visits to friends houses, leisurely travels in the city and public celebrations. Such experiences shared by all the city dwellers remind ehrengiz rituals where individuals used to travel and experience different city spaces. As well, similar to the ehrengiz genre, Nedm also illustrated common city dwellers as individuals. Modernization of the society, during the Tulip Period followed from an open development of cultural attitudes illustrated by the ehrengiz poets, since the early 16th c. Nedm, who expressed the experience of the city dwellers both from the point of view of the Ottoman court and the common public and involved in an intellectual group of the Ottoman elite, mastered by the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha. The participants of this intellectual group had important offices in the Ottoman court. Some of them, including Nedm and the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha were Melms, and others were most probably familiar with the
106

Artan, Architecture as a Theatre of Life, 66.

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Melm doctrines. This group of intellectuals were the architects of the Tulip Period who enjoyed a festive life in the gardens of the city, but at the same time provided the visibility of the Ottoman ruler to the public and provided their reconciliation by suggesting a terrestrial role of the Sultan who traveled in the city while at the same time reminding the presence of the public to the Sultan.

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Figure 111. Persian Dancing Woman by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 69.

425

Figure 112. A Rowdy by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 67.

426

Figure 113. Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 64.

427

Figure 114. Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 65.

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Figure 115. Palace maiden by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 62.

429

Figure 116. Persian Youth by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 68.

430

Figure 117. A Drunk by Levn (early 18th c.), reproduced from Ottoman miniatures, leaf 70.

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Figure 118. The site plan of the Palace and Gardens of Fontainebleau, reproduced from TSM H2605. Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi had visited the palace grounds on August 6, 1721.

432

Figure 119. The site plan for the Palace and Gardens of Chantilly, reproduced from TSM H2605. Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi had visited the palace grounds in July 29-31, 1721.

433

Figure 120. The site plan for the Palace and Gardens of 1721. Meudon reproduced from TSM H2605. Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi had visited the palace grounds in June 7-11,

434

Figure 121. Pages from Neue Gartenlust oder Vlliges Ornament, reproduced from TSM 2986.

435

Figure 122. Page, reproduced from Utilissimo Trattato dell Aque Correnti (1696), TSM H2988.

436

Figure 123. Images depicting life in French gardens from books which Yirmisekiz Mehmed elebi brought back from France.

437

Figure 124. Fireworks at the Versailles in Festes de Versailles (1675-1678), reproduced from TSM H2587, with a note in Ottoman.

438

Figure 125. A page from Plans Veves et Ornaments de Versailles (1673-1682), reproduced TSM 2598, with a note in Ottoman.

439

Figure 126. Kathane Mesiresi in the second half of the 18th c: Public grounds in the foreground together with the imperial gardens at the background. Etching by dOhsson, reproduced from Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan, 280.

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Figure 127. A Night Scene from 1720 Festival at Ok Meydan: Celebrations enjoyed by the Sultan (seated at the elevated pavillilon on the right folio), the Grand Vizier (seated at a tent on the right folio) and the public (on the upper part of the left folio), in Surname-i Vehbi (1727-28), folios 51b-52a, reproduced from Atl, Levni, 200-201.

441

Figure 128. Site Plan of Kathane Mesiresi by Sedad Hakk Eldem, reproduced from Eldem, Sadabad, 8-9.

442

Figure 129. Plan of Sad-abad Palace at Kathane Mesiresi by Sedad Hakk Eldem, reproduced from Elden, Sadabad, 280.

443

Proposed Key for the Plan: A: Two Headed Pool B: Pool of the Sea C: Pool of Silver Ruler 1: Bahe-i Has: Imperial garden; the main open space accomodating the Cirit Meydan. 2: Ba- Irem: Proposed location for Garden of Iram, Paradise Garden on Earth. a: Al-Sraat Bridge: Proposed location b: Kasr- Cinan: Pavilion of Paradise c: Kasr- Srr: Pavilion of Happiness d: Ferkadan: Twin Pavilions of Stars e: Underground water channels f: eme-i Nur: Fountain of Light Figure 130. Proposed location for Ba- Irem: Garden of Paradise on Earth Underneath Which Rivers Flow. Base map used from Eldem, Sadabad, 134.

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Figure 131. Bridge and pavilions in front of the Pool of Silver Ruler in the imperial gardens of Sadabad, reproduced from Eldem, Sadabad, 44

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CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

The study aimed to understand the Ottoman concept of space from an interior perspective and used the products of Ottoman culture as internal sources. In Ottoman culture, the discourses pertaining to space, urban life and urban culture developed by poetic, metaphoric and intertextual means. The dissertation investigated different concepts of space as carried out in Ottoman orthodox and heterodox traditions and in different rituals which these traditions practiced in gardens and different city spaces; focusing on the concept of space developed mainly in the city of Istanbul from the late 15th c. to the early 18th c., from the conquest of Istanbul to the end of the Tulip Period, in parallel to the development of a certain heterodox order and a certain genre of poetry which became the expression of this order that contrasted with the court poetry produced under the rule of Orthodox traditions. The study of different forms of Ottoman poetry shed light on understanding different concepts of space. The study of ehrengiz genre which developed through the early 16th c. to the early 18th c. informed about the perception and use of city spaces in a very novel way. ehrengiz poems are translated from transcriptions and studied. The analysis of ehrengiz poems not only became a material that was used in understanding different concepts of space, it also called attention to the fact that the concept of space was essential to these poems and to the heterodox traditions that they illustrated. ehrengiz poems accounted for the journey of the poet in the city. The city unfolds in a realistic manner, as the poet wanders along the different neighborhoods; watches around; utters affection for beautiful young men of the guilds; and broods over urban culture, daily life, and different spaces of the city. Traveling, exploration, and contemplation were major themes, and the city was a source of joy and pleasure and as well was a source of

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knowledge. These poems depicted not only Istanbul, but also thirteen other provincial cities outside Istanbul. The genre developed until early 18th c. with poems mapping the poets experiences in the city of Istanbul, going back and forth to other provinces, especially to Edirne. The thesis argues that the genre documented rituals of marginal Sufi groups in real spaces of different cities and in ideal spaces of the Sufi imagination. ehrengiz poems portrayed a certain understanding of space by using Sufi symbolism in the experience and depiction of space. It illustrated rituals performed by the participants of a deviant Sufi order called Melms, or and involved certain concepts of space and philosophies of individuality which this order used to employ. The main argument of this thesis is about space; experience and perception of space; metaphors and practices that inform about space. The Ottoman understanding of space developed as a result of the ideals proposed by the orthodox and the heterodox traditions, establishing an ontological understanding of the world. The Ottoman concept of space was structured as a multilayered hierarchical understanding of spaces that informed the order of cosmography, where all the spaces of different layers comprised of an interior and an exterior. Interior was the domain of essence and God. The exterior was the domain of form and material world. The limit between the exterior and interior was itself a space reached by imaginative faculties. This intermediary space was called barzakh. The orthodox and different heterodox traditions challenged the superiority of the interior, the exterior and the intermediary space, arguing the superiority of one over the other. The Ottoman orthodox tradition argued for the superiority of the interior spaces. However, following after the doctrines of the 13th c. Islamic philosopher Ibn al-Arab, Melms argued the superiority of the intermediary space of barzakh to the others. Ibn al-Arabs philosophy was significantly instrumental in the development of Ottoman culture, though its influence was extremely diverse. Interpretations of his doctrines fundamentally differed from one another. Ibn al-Arab proposed that the attainment of knowledge was possible by contemplation. Contemplation implied understanding the order of the cosmos and

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by doing so participating in this order. It involved all things existent in physical and metaphysical reality. Alluding to the dual nature of the Islamic cosmography made out of an interior and an exterior, Arab explained all things as signs made of two parts; an invisible essence and a visible form. Contemplation aimed understanding the relationship between the parts of a sign. Contemplation, thus the attainment of knowledge, was enabled by the faculty of imagination. Arab also asserted the importance of the space where the attainment of knowledge takes place. He defined such spaces as gardens. Gardens became ideal representations of the realm of imagination. Arab also defined real spaces as realms of imagination. Thus, he defined a three-tiered definition of space; the human self, the phenomenal world and the world of idea-images. Each one of the ideal and the real spaces, be it a garden, the human self, the city, or the world of idea-images facilitated the attainment of knowledge. Furthermore, Arab defined each one of these spaces as a storehouse of signs. He also asserted the importance of individual involvement in the attainment of knowledge since each individual was able to contemplate according to his own capacities. Thus, the concept intermediary space, barzakh, enabled both deconstruction and construction of all things in the universe; both the analysis of existing things and the synthesis of novel ones.

The Ottoman orthodox tradition acknowledged gardens as spaces for the attainment of knowledge, thus spaces of contemplation. Gardens were designated as interior spaces allowing for communication of divine essence resided in the interior spaces of the cosmography. The heterodox tradition of Melms adopted Arabs three tiered definition of space and cherished the encounter of interior and exterior spaces in the intermediary space of the barzakh to be superior.

The second argument of the dissertation is that, the concept of the intermediary space of barzakh employed the development of importance given to the individual more than the importance given to the community. Melms valued each human being as a beloved reflection of God. They regarded every single citizen as deserving objects of mystic love. In order to pursue this endeavor of meeting and

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getting to know the individual self and other individuals, they contemplated the city offering a variety of spaces enabling an encounter with the other individuals. In different city spaces each individual became a beloved one reflecting the divine qualities of God. Thus, through ehrengiz rituals, spaces of the city were recognized as intermediary spaces, each as a barzakh. The city was experienced as a compilation of intermediary spaces between the invisible realm of celestial and visible realm of material space.

Rituals either performed by the Ottoman elite in the gardens or by marginal Sufi groups in various spaces of the city, gave way to the production of new cultural patterns and in turn implied the production of new spatial practices and new spaces. The differences in the temporal and spatial orders of the gazel and ehrengiz rituals, the contrast between their endeavors gave way to the production of new spatial practices, and in turn to a different understanding of space. Gazel rituals informed the use of garden spaces. ehrengiz rituals informed the use of different city spaces including the private gardens. They carried different ideological motives and defined their spaces of performance with different political perspectives. Gazel rituals aimed to anchor the imperial power within the secluded spaces of the gardens. On the contrary, ehrengiz rituals treated each one of the subjects of the Ottoman authority as individuals, aimed to liberate and direct them to their own theophany outside the secluded spaces of the gardens. Gazel rituals followed after an imperial tradition, governed strict modes of social behavior and involved pre-established cultural patterns. However, ehrengiz rituals followed after a marginal philosophy and each employed a liberated order. ehrengiz rituals, developed after marginal Sufi practices, also used Sufi metaphors extensively. The contrast and the clash between gazel and ehrengiz rituals gave way to open developments of new social and cultural patterns adapted by larger groups of city dwellers who neither pursue the imperial agenda of the gazel rituals, nor carry the anti-imperial marginal perspectives of the ehrengiz rituals.

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The court poets who were participants of the gazel rituals performed in private gardens of the Sultan, or other members of the ruling class, also participated in ehrengiz rituals and acted as agents of social transformation. Though the poets, who acted as social agents, depicted ehrengiz rituals in different temporal orders, they maintained a fixed mindset sharing the ideal of equality.

Spaces of different rituals became spaces of manifestation. They were used as tools to express the ideals who participated in the rituals. However, in turn, rituals employ a new symbolism to these spaces. Each space came to express different ideals. Thus, spaces were in turn designed to express different ideals.

ehrengiz poems described meadows, gardens, rose gardens, imperial gardens, rivers, canals, seas, mosques, Sufi lodges, streets, open public spaces, populated houses, bath houses, palaces, private houses of friends and poets, castles, hills, spring waters, city walls, bazaars, guild shops, neighborhoods. ehrengiz rituals made use of Sufi metaphors of contemplation and traveling. However, in time, these Sufi metaphors came to be used for profane practices as well and defined spaces of profane activity shared by the common conscious of the city dwellers. By time, common folk used to perform activities similar to the practices enjoyed in ehrengiz rituals, like watching and adoring the beauty of different city spaces. By means of the communication process, Sufi metaphors, which the ehrengiz rituals made use of, came to be used for profane purposes.

Sufi metaphors of contemplation (seyr, temaa, teferrc) came to mean watching and adoring profane beauty. Even, Sleymaniye Mosque, which was once disregarded by ehrengiz rituals for representing the imperial power, much later in the 17th c. was illustrated by Evliya elebi with the same metaphors used in ehrengiz rituals with reference to elevated courtyard of the complex, overlooking the city as a balcony to contemplate the world. Even Sufi metaphors of contemplation (seyr, temaa, teferrc) came to be used in the identification of public promenades enjoyed by city dwellers, as places (mesire, temaa-gah,

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teferrc-gah) to go for strolling and to enjoy contemplating the beauty of its sight where the heart is freed from ennui1 In an early 17th c. document, visiting Kathane is acknowledged as going for a pleasurable visit and sightseeing (seyre giden). In the 1721 chronicle of Raid, an interesting story is told which has already been discussed in the previous chapter. However it is important to note again that Raid named the countryside meadow as a mesire which had long been favored and had been visited by the common public. It referred former visitors of the mesire as the masters of strolling and leisurely pleasure (erbab- get gzr). 2

Accordingly, the thesis also argued that the idea and the image of the city, regarding its perception and experience, were also shaped with respect to the encounter of contrasting ideals. City was shaped inbetween the encounter of opposing forces, inbetween power struggles that shaped the society and its culture. It was neither ehrengiz rituals, Melm doctrines, individuals assertion to express their identity; nor gazel rituals, conventions of orthodoxy, or the control mechanism of the ruling class that shaped the city of Istanbul. However, their opposition and encounter constructed the city of Istanbul. Going forth between Edirne and Istanbul, between imperial and anti-imperial ideologies, between ideal and real spaces created the city and enforced a unique experience shared by its citizens. This construction can also be discussed with respect to Ibn al-Arabs arguments on the concept of imagination and its spaces.

Imagination, as discussed in the second chapter of this study, was defined as an intermediary realm, a barzakh that takes shape between two opposing realms by their encounter. According to Ibn al-Arab, this encounter had creative powers and provided the attainment of knowledge. This encounter was defined as creative imagination. Thus, this study proposes that the experience of the city of Istanbul
1

Ferit Develioglu, Osmanlica-Turkce Ansiklopedik Lgat (Istanbul: Aydn Kitabevi, 2000)

626; 945; 1072; 1057.

Aktepe, Kathaneye Dair Baz Bilgiler, 340-41.

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and its image was shaped in such an intermediary realm, and its consequences gave way to the creation of the city, its image, and its real spaces.

This study can be categorized among the studies conducted on landscape culture. Recently, there are many studies conducted, emphasizing the use and experience of gardens and landscapes by examining rituals performed in the gardens. These studies from various disciplines of landscape, art, architecture, agriculture, archeology, folklore, anthropology, literary studies and religious studies, are compiled together under the supervision of Michel Conan, stressing the importance of rituals in understanding the concept of space in terms of its experience.3

There are few major books on Ottoman landscape culture, focused mainly on the arts and architecture of Ottoman gardens. The most recent source on Ottoman garden art is compiled by Prof. Nurhan Atasoy under the title of A Garden for the Sultan (Hasbahe) in 2002. Atasoy has researched a huge collection of archival visual material from different periods of the Ottoman history and arranged a major documentary on the representation of gardens and flowers in Ottoman arts, presenting allegorical stories of each depiction and giving a vivid experience of garden spaces, and at the same time, arguing for the development of realism in Ottoman art. Other works, which focused mainly on the form of the gardens as the final consequence of an architectural study, did not consider the particulars of the internal dynamics of the society and fall short of acknowledging the quality of life experienced in these spaces. It was Prof. Gnl Evyapan, who had first attempted to study the Ottoman gardens. Her book dated 1972, is reprinted in 1999 in English under the title Old Turkish Gardens: Old Istanbul Gardens in Particular. Evyapan makes a list of gardens of the cities in Bursa, Edirne, and especially in Istanbul. Her work as a frontier in the discourse attempts to define the background for understanding the general principles of the so called Anatolian Turkish gardens.
3

See Michel Conans forthcoming article on The Significance of Bodily Engagement with

Nature.

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Sedad Hakk Eldems 1974 dated book Turkish Gardens is the second major study conducted on the subject. Eldems work is on the typology of gardens, parks, or common grounds, presents drafted drawings of Ottoman Both Evyapans and Eldems work, try to categorize the garden tradition within a nationalist discourse under the title of Turkish gardens. Besides these three studies which can be classified as major recollections on the subject, there are three other studies to be cited. First is the essay by Glru Necipolu Kafadar, titled "The Suburban Landscape of Sixteenth Century Istanbul as a Mirror of Classical Ottoman Garden Culture," which studies the 16th century gardens and palaces along Bosphorus, with reference to maps, miniatures, and travelers chronicles. The two others are unpublished Ph.D. thesis conducted at MIT; Tlay Artans Architecture As a Theatre of Life: Profile of the Eighteenth Century Bosphorus and Shirine Hamadehs The Citys Pleasures: Architectural Sensibility in Eighteenth Century Istanbul. These theses are not especially written on Ottoman gardens, but they examine the 18th c. urban life and fabric of Istanbul. Artan studies the development the culture of spectacle and mobility along Bosphorus and Hamadeh studies changes in patronship and argues for the secularization of urban space. Following after these studies, this dissertation aimed to study Ottoman space culture and Ottoman urban culture from an interior perspective, relating the use and symbolic meaning of the variety of spaces of the city of Istanbul in Ottoman rituals of poetry presenting a different panorama of the city through the late 15th c. to early 18th c.

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APPENDIX A

Life of Ibn al-Arab4 He is also called Abu Bakr Muhammed ibn al-Arab or eyh Ekber Muhyiddin-i Arabi in Turkish - which the latter Ekberiyye tariqat is founded referring to his name. He had traveled extensively in the lands of Muslim countries. Arab was surnamed after Plato as Ibn Aflatun.5 In history of world philosophy, Ibn Arab has also been recognized as a neo-platonist, as the Tao of Islam.

See the third chapter in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Three Muslim sages: Avicenna,

Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964c, 1969). For more detailed arguments on Arabis philosophy, see Corbin and Chittick, who discusses various concepts as constructed in the works of Arabi analytically, and in detail; Henry Corbin, Creative imagination in the Sufism of Ibn El-Arabi, trans. by Ralph Manheim. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969); William C. Chittick, The Sufi path of knowledge: Ibn al-Arabi's metaphysics of imagination. (N.Y.: State University of New York Press, c.1989); William C. Chittick,The self-disclosure of God: principles of Ibn al-Arabis cosmology. (Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c. 1998). For the translation of parts of Arabis works in English see, The Meccan Revelations (al- Futuhat al Makkiya) ed. by Michel Chodkiewicz, trans. by William C. Chittick, et al. (New York: Pir Press, 2002); The wisdom of the prophets (Fusus al-hikam), trans. by Titus Burckhardt. (Aldsworth : Beshara, c1975); A collection of mystical odes (Tarjuman al-ashwaq) ed. by Reynold A. Nicholson (London : Royal Asiatic Society, 1911); The bezels of wisdom, trans. by R.W.J. Austin (London : SPCK, 1980). For further reading on Arabi, see; Murata, Sachiko, and Chittick, William C. Vision of Islam (New York, NY : Paragon House, 1994); Takeshita, Masataka, Ibn Arabis theory of the perfect man and its place in the history of Islamic thought (Tokyo, Japan: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1987). Elmore, Gerard. Poised Expectancy: Ibn al-Arabs Roots in Sharq al-Andalus, Studia Islamica 90 (2000), 51-66.
5

Corbin, Henry. Creative imagination in the Sufism of Ibn El-Arabi, trans. by Ralph

Manheim. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), p. 40 - 41.

491

Born in Murcia Andalucia, died in Damascus, he traveled to Andalusia and to North Africa, Fez, Tunis (1193-1200); to Mecca and Mosul (1201); Cairo; Mecca (1207). Invited to the Seljuk land by the Sultan, lived in Malatya, and in Konya, Diyarbakr (1210). He had been to Bagdad (1211); returned back to Mecca, and traveled to Aleppo (1214). Finally he settled and died in Damascus (1223-1240). Ottoman Sultan Selim I built a mausoleum for him (1517) upon the conquest of the city of Damascus. Ibn Arabs way of writing, thinking, and discussing is parallel to his discussions in the domains of ontology, epistemology, and hermeneutics. His philosophy and his life corresponds to one another in harmony. There are more than four hundred books attributed to Ibn Arabi. One of the most important works of Arab is Fusus al-Hikam (The gems of the Wisdom of Prophets) written in 1229 was about the wisdoms of twenty seven prophets from Adam to Muhammed. His other most well known book is Kitab-al Futuhat ali Makkiya fi marifat al-asrar almalikiya wal mulkiya (The Book of the Reveleations Received in Mecca concerning the King and the Kingdom) written between 1230-1237 was consisted of 560 chapters. It was mainly about Ibn Arabs principles of metaphysics. The book had a complex structure with juxtaposed thoughts, both a theoretical and experimental text at the same time. As Nasr acknowledges: 6 The Futuhat contains, in addition to the doctrines of Sufism, much about the lives and sayings of the earlier Sufis, cosmological doctrines of Hermetic and Neoplatonic origin integrated into Sufi metaphysics, esoteric sciences life Jafr, alchemical and astrological symbolism, and practically everything else of an esoteric nature which in one way or another has found a place in the Islamic scheme of things. His style of writing can be depicted as a continuous practice of arguments lined one after another. It explains a particular way of thinking which is not linear or confined within its a single body. It develops and unfolds into different arguments or contradictions, as it continues. It is not a text to prove any hypothesis. However it should be considered as a map of thinking which had been developed by writing.
6

in Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Three Muslim sages: Avicenna, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi.

(Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1964c, 1969), p. 98.

492

Writing was his actual practice of thinking, it was a technique of representation arguing for and against different concepts. Interpretations of Arabis work may lead to different directions of thoughts and reasoning, or to contrasting results. It is due to these inherent qualities of the text. It was not an illustration of any profane idea, or objective, but a representation of the process of thinking which takes place in different territories of schools of thought. Thus, as a philosopher, Arabis purpose and technique of writing, the structure of his text, and its contend coincide with one another as a philosophy of inquiring True Knowledge through comparing, and contrasting, discussing and explaining concepts in numerous ways, in an endless pattern. Thus, as Corbin acknowledges, Arabis whole life, and his entire work should be considered within the line of his arguments, where everything about him becomes parts of a philosophical system compiled to respond to all phases of his life, without ignoring, but ever welcoming every other kind of logic, reasoning; welcoming the reality of both the physical and metaphysical worlds as a quest for learning: It is the work of an entire lifetime; Ibn Arabis whole life was this long quest. The decisive encounter took place and was renewed for him through Figures whose variants never ceased to refer to the same Person.7

Corbin, Henry. Creative imagination in the Sufism of Ibn El-Arabi, trans. by Ralph

Manheim. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), p.44.

493

APPENDIX B

Index of Related Terminology in Ibn al-Arabs Philosophy

Abode (dr) Absolute (mutlaq) Active imagination (quwwat al-khayl) Apparent (zhir) Appetite (shahwa) Ardent Desire (harakat shawqya) Assimilation/comparison Creator and creation (tashbh) between

Essence (dht)

Faculty (quwwa) Form (sra) Form giving (taswr, musawwir)

Gaze (nazar)

Body- corporeal (jism, jesed, badan) Beloved typified (mumaththal)

Heart (qalb) Creativity of the heart (Himma) Hermeneutics, interpretation of symbols (tawil, tabr) Hidden (btin)

Combining action and passion (jmia baynal-fl wal-infl) Cosmos (lam)

Human being (insan)

Desire (irda)

Earth (ard) Epiphany (mazhar, tajall) Epiphanic form (mazhar, majla) Epiphanic forms (mazhir)

Imagination Theophanic imagination (takhayyul mutlaq) Creative Imagination (Hadrat khaylya) Imaginative union (ittisl flkhayl) Imaginative contemplation (mushhadat khaylya) Intellect (aql) Intermediate world (barzakh) Intuitive mystics (ahl alkashf)

494

Image-symbol (mithl) World of idea-images (lam mithl nrn)

Symbol (mazhar, mazahir) Symbolic theology (tashbih) Theophany (tajall, tajall ilh)

Knowledge, science (ilm, marifa) Dogmatic science (ilm al-itiqd) Science of vision (ilm shuddi) Science of imagination (ilm alkhayl) Locus (mahall) Locus of manifestation (mazhar) Love (love, mahabba) Divine love (hibb ilh) Spiritual love (hibb rhn) Natural love (hibb tab)

Taste (zhawq) Time Instant (al-n) Present time (zamn hdir)

Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujd) Vision (shuhd) Visualition

Negation (tanzh)

Perception (idrak) Philosophy (falsafa) Pure concepts (man) Real (Haqq) Reason (aql) Reflection, typification of immaterial realities in visible realities (tamthl) Report (khabar) Representational faculty (wahm) Revelation (wahy)

Supreme contemplated ones (al-manzir al-ul) Sign (alma)

495

APPENDIX C

Disciples of Ibn al-Arab in Bayrami and Melm-Bayrami orders

Bayrami order: Some of Hac Bayram Veliss dervishes 1. Gynkl Salheddini Tavil 2. Ince Bedreddin 3. Seykh Bedreddin (acknowledged as the founder of Bedreddini order) 4. Akbyk Abdullah 5. Ak emseddin (founder of emsiyye-yi Bayramiyye order) 6. Mehmet Bican 7. Ahmet Bican 8. mer Sikkini (founder of Melm order)

Development of Bayrami Order into Melm Order

Hac Bayram Veli (1352 - 1429) Bayrammiye Ak emseddin (1389-1458) emsiye Order (emsiyye-yi Bayramiyye) - remembrance (zikr) mer Sikkini (d. 1474-6 ?) Melm Order (Melamiyye-yi Bayramiyye) - conversing (sohbet)late 15th c. - early 18th c.

496

APPENDIX D

List of Melm Poles

1. mer Sikkini 2. Bnyamin Ayai

(d. 1474-6 ?) __________________north-west ANATOLIA (d. 1522 ?) (d. 1528)_________________________central ANATOLIA (d. 1539)__________________________
ISTANBUL

Pir Ali Aksaray smaili Mauk*

Welcomed in Sipahiler Oca and the guilds of Istanbul

5. Ahmed Srbn

(d. 1546)_______________________THRACE & BALKANS

6. Him Seyyit Osman 7. Hsameddin Ankaravi

(d. 1594)_________________________VIZE & ISTANBUL (d. 1556) __________________________

Melm - Hamzav

8. Hamza Bl 9. Hasan Kabadz 10. Idris-i Muhtefi

(d. 1561) __________________________

BOSNA

(d. 1601) ______________________north-west ANATOLIA (d. 1615) _____________________ISTANBUL & BALKANS

11. Hac Bayram Kabay 12. St Beir Aa* 13. Bursal Seyyid Haim

(d. 1617) __________________________ (d. 1661) __________________________ (d. 1676) __________________________

ISTANBUL ISTANBUL ISTANBUL

14. eyhlislam Pamakzade Ali Efendi (d. 1711) _____________ISTANBUL court 15. Sadrazam ehid Ali Paa (d. 1715) ______________________ ISTANBUL court

* : executed with several of his diciples.

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APPENDIX E

List of ehrengiz Poems

16th century 1. ehrengiz-i Der Medh-i Cuvanan- Edirne Piritineli Mesihi, sa. 1512. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 481; Sleymaniye Ktp. Lala smail No. 483. 2. ehrengiz-i Edirne Balkesirli Zati Ivaz. 1512. Sleymaniye Ktp. Lala smail No. 443. 3. ehrengiz (stanbul ve Vize ehrengizi) orlulu Katib, 1513. Nurosmaniye Ktp. No. 4086 (Aknamenin sonunda 27b-58a) 4. ehrengiz-i stanbul Talcal Yahya, 1522. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 2982. 5. ehrengiz-i Bursa Bursal Lamii Mahmud elebi, 1522. Flgel Viyana Ktp. C.I s. 632, no. 671 6. ehrengiz-i Belgrad Yenicevardarl Hayreti Mehmed, -1534. Millet Ktp., manzum No. 599. 7. ehrengiz-i Bursa skpl Klzade shak elebi, - 1537. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 2800 8. ehrengiz-i Yenice Yenicevardarl Usuli, -1538. zmir Milli Ktp. No. 35/234. 9. ehrengiz Bursal Nihali Cafer elebi, - 1543. 10. ehrengiz-i Rize Cefayi (?). 11. ehrengiz-i stanbul Kalkandelenli Fakiri, 1534. Kprl Ktp., Fazl Ahmet Paa No. 270 (Yahyann ah u Gedas sonunda v. 62b)

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12. ehrengiz-i stanbul (Farsa) Safi, 1537. Nurosmaniye Ktp., No. 3383. 13. ehrengiz-i Edirne Edirneli Kerimi b. Mahmud, 1544. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 615. 14. ehrengiz-i stanbul Talcal Yahya, -1582. ah u geda Mesnevisi banda. 15. ehrengiz-i Gelibolu Gelibolulu Vechi, -1551. 16. ehrengiz Moral Kad Firdevsi elebi, -1563. 17. ehrengiz-i Yeniehir Bursal Rahmi Pir Mehmed, -1567. Pertsch, Berlin Ktp. S. 406, No. 407. 18. ehrengiz-i Bursa Ak elebi, Seyyid Pir Mehmed, -1568. 19. ehrengiz-i Amid Diyarbakrl Halife, -1572. 20. ehrengiz-i stanbul Fikri, Dervi Mehmed, Molla Maizade, stanbullu, - 1584. 21. ehrengiz-i Bursa Bursal Halili (Sar Halil) 22. ehrengiz-i Edirne Tabii (Edirneli Feyzi Ali) 23. ehrengiz-i stanbul Kastamonulu Kad Kyasi, 24. ehrengiz Amasyal Sluki Mehmed 25. ehrengiz Kemali, 26. ehrengiz-i stanbul -, Kanuni Devri 27. ehrengiz-i stanbul stanbullu Tabi smail, -1636. 28. ehrengiz-i stanbul stanbullu Defterdarzade Cemali Ahmed, 1564.

499

st. niv. Ktp. T. No. 9263 (Matali-i cemali, c. 31a-44a, batan 15 beyit eksik) T. 3770 (mecmua iinde v. 29b- 38b, eksik) 29. ehrengiz-i Siroz stanbullu Defterzade Cemali Ahmed, -1583. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 9263, 3770, 818. 30. ehrengiz-i Siroz ? st. Ktp. Ty. No. 818 (v.74a- 78b) 31. ehrengiz-i stanbul der Huban- Zenan (Nigarname-i Zevk-amiz Der ehrengiz) Azizi Mustafa, Yedikuleli, -1585. Pertsch, Berlin Ktp. S. 29, No. 8/18. 32. ehrengiz-i Manisa stanbullu Ulvi Mehmed Terzizade, 1556. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 1532. 33. ehrengiz-i Sinop Sinoplu Beyani zmir Milli Ktp. No. 35/132. 34. ehrengiz-i Antakya Galatal Siyami, 16.yy 35. ehrengiz Beray-i Hub-ruyan- Gelibolu Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali, -1599. Beyazid Ktp. No. 5665; Milet Ktp., Emiri, manzum eserler No. 271 (v. 143b- 146a). 36. ehrengiz-i Bursa Mani, Kad alkzade Mehmed, -1599. 17th century 37. ehrengiz-i Beray- Takpr ?, -1639. Pertsch, Berlin Ktp. Sy. 24, No. 6. 38. ehr-i Kaanun Vasf ve Medh-i Cemilidr ? Pertsch, Berlin Ktp. Sy. 55, No. /10, v. 108b-113a). 39. ehrengiz Fehim-i Kadim, Uncuzade Mustafa, stanbullu, -1648. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 2932 (divan iinde v. 60a-64a, v.65a-65bde bahr- tavil der end zeban balkl mstehcen bir eseri vardr). 40. ehrengiz-i Edirne Edirneli Neati Ahmed Dede, -1674. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 545 (divan iinde v.51b-56a).

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41. ehrengiz-i Bursa Bursal Konya Kads Nazk Abdullah, -1686. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 2914; Sleymaniye Hac Mahmud Efendi No. 3511. 18th century 42. ehrengiz-i Cilve-resa ve Ayine-i Huban- Bursa Bursal Beli smail, 1707 st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 1653. 43. ehrengiz-i Bursa Bursal Beli smail, -1707. 44. Lalezar (Yeniehir ehrengizi) Vahid Mahmudi, stanbullu Mehmed, -1732. st. niv. Ktp. Ty. No. 2913; Sleymaniye Ktp., Hac Mahmud No. 3505.

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CURRICULLUM VITA
PERSONAL INFORMATION Nationality 1974 Marital Status Phone/Fax Email EDUCATION MArch BArch 1995 High School Prime School Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Brooklyn, NY 1998 METU Faculty Of Architecture, Department of Architecture TED Ankara College, Ankara 1991 TED Ankara College, Ankara 1985 : Turkey ( TC) : Married : +90 212 287 4763 : dcalis@hotmail.com Birth Place and Date: Ankara, May 4,

SCHOLARSHIPS 2003-2004 1996-1998 1996-1997 Dumbarton Oaks Garden and Landscape Studies Junior Fellowship, Washington DC, USA TBTAK (Technical and Research Council of Turkey) NATO Science Scholarship Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, Assistantship.

WORK EXPERIENCE Academic Positions 2002-2003 Bilgi University, Department of Visual Communication Design, Graduate Program, Istanbul. Part-time Instructor, with Mehmet Ktkolu. 1998-2000 METU, Faculty of Architecture, Undergraduate Program, Ankara. Research Assistant. 1996-1997 Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Brooklyn, NY. Teaching Assistant. 1997 Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Brooklyn, NY. Research Assistant. Professional Occupation 2000-2003 Enternasyonal Tourism Investment Company, Istanbul. Project Management. 1998 Artu Office of Architecture, Ankara. Architect. FOREIGN LANGUAGES Advanced English; Fluent German PUBLICATION 2002 Istambul: a Cidade como Paraso, Notas sobre a cultura paisagstica otomana, In Si(s)tu Revista de Cultura Urbana, Paisagem no. 03-04 (Porto: Associao Cultural Insisto, June -November, 2002), 50 57.