"Tradition and Innovation in Alisher Navoi's "Khamsa": Studying

the Works of Alisher Navoi in Literature Lessons

Okila Turakulova

, Shoira Isayeva

†

and Tadjikhan Sobitova

‡

Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature named after Alisher Navoi, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Chirc State Pedagogical University, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Epic (Poem), Navoi, "Khamsa", "Hayrat Ul-Abror" Epic, Epik Works, Art, Spiritual Culture of the Uzbek

People. Lyrical Works and Epic Works.

Abstract: In this article, we study the works of the great poet and thinker Alisher Navoi, who is an integral part of of

our nation’s spiritual heritage, in an attempt in an attempt to elucidate the specific characteristics of his work,

the artistry of his lyrics, and the pedagogical implications of his epic works. This article discusses the

methodical aspects of studying the works of Alisher Navoi in literature classes.

1 INTRODUCTION

In our society, the task of educating the next

generation as intellectually mature people is

becoming a steadfast responsibility of the state. In

fact, a country with developed spirituality, inner

world, and spirit will ascend politically and

economically. In this place, it is crucial to utilise

exemplary pieces of national literature in the spiritual

upbringing of the young generation, as in the

brochure. It should be noted that today more attention

is being paid to the education system than ever before,

and it is demanded to update the quality of education.

In this regard, the decrees of the President of the

Republic require the further improvement of the state

educational standards, curricula and other teaching

methods, and the qualitative renewal of education. At

the moment, particular importance is attached to the

problem of proper organization of literature classes.

This is because the artistic and organizational

appearance of literature as a subject is completely

unique. In literature classes, interpretations of

spirituality must stir the heart of the student. Under

these circumstances, the teacher must be capable of

guiding the thoughts and emotions of the students. A

work of art can fully convey the poetics of an artistic

text and the writer's skill to students only if it has been

thoroughly studied by the teacher. There are a number

of complications in giving examples of classic

Corresponding author

literature. Such complexity hinders a comprehensive

understanding of the work. A literature teacher should

be able to fully explain to students adverbial and

adverbial morphemes that are often used in classical

texts. Naturally, the imagery system in classic texts

often fails to accurately convey their nature and

character, leading to misunderstandings.

Here, the complexity of the science of metre and

rhyme presents challenges for students to study these

works. In this regard, the literary scholar Tokhta

Boboyev said: "... in the process of studying the

works of Yusuf Khos Hajib, Atoi, Alisher Navoi and

Zahiriddin Muhammad from the foundations of the

poetics of Uzbek poetry, a theoretical understanding

of the science of aruz in a general way intends to give

- that's right... While more than 300 artistic (poetry)

arts are used in Uzbek poetry, only tazad, husni talil,

radd ul-matla' are mentioned in the program..."

(Boboyev, 1997: 32)

It is important to note that numerous studies focus on

the shortcomings of teaching classical literature in

schools. Even today, substantial efforts are underway

to address these issues. Herein, we will express our

thoughts on studying the works of Alisher Navoi.

Turakulova, O., Isayeva, S. and Sobitova, T.

"Tradition and Innovation in Alisher Navoi’s "Khamsa": Studying the Works of Alisher Navoi in Literature Lessons.

DOI: 10.5220/0012485700003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 269-273

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

269

2 EXPERIMENTAL PART

The following problems are set and addressed in the

lesson:

1. Showing the principles of creating an epic

work and their peculiarities in Alisher

Navoi's work. Explaining the reasons why

this phenomenon was successfully

implemented in the poet's work.

2. Traditions of creating "Khamsa" in Eastern

literature. To an accurate understanding of

the poets who authored "Khamsa" and to

elaborate on the literary skills the poet

gained from them.

3. Explaining with the help of examples what

creative principles Navoi relied on when

writing "Khamsa".

Keywords and phrases used in the topic

Cultural and educational places. Streets and avenues.

Nights of Navoi Khan. The life of a thinker. Allama.

Sajiya. Responsiveness. A bad habit. Passion for

learning. Hafiza. Hard work and endurance.

Lesson plan:

1.Traditions of writing "Khamsa".

2. The poets who write "Kamda".

3.The courage to write "Khamsa" in the Turkish

language in the 15th century.

4. The principles on which Navai relies in writing

"Khamsa".

In organising classes on the works of Alisher Navoi,

the inappropriate use of various methods may not

yield the anticipated result. In addition, it can dull the

charm and artistry of the work in the complex, and

destroy the pedagogical effect expected from

teaching literature. In the lessons, it is mainly

necessary to rely on the magic of words, to rely on its

power, to work with more artistic text, to make the

student work for his own perfection, to search, to give

each of them the opportunity to come to an

independent conclusion at his/her own level.

After introducing the students to the world of

"Khamsa", they will be informed about the traditions

of its creation. Renowned literary figures thoroughly

studied and creatively mastered the achievements of

their illustrious predecessors, critically analysing

their work and following the path of innovation. Such

instances are plentiful in the history of our literature.

It is enough to show Navoi's attitude towards the

literary traditions of the past and to remember that his

followers always moved forward.

Navoi deeply studies the works of such luminaries

as his teachers - Firdavsi, Nizami, Dehlavi, Jami, and

considers their work as a school.

Alisher Navoi, who humbly paid respect to the master

poets, gave a lot of space to the praise of his

predecessors in his many works, "Khamsa".

As Navoi bravely enters the battlefield of ideas, he

tackles the most challenging task - writing Khamsa.

Ganjavi started the tradition of writing Khamsa in

Eastern poetry. Its creation started a new era in the

history of literature. The act of writing Khamsa

enabled the depiction of contemporary problems not

through a minor lyrical genre, but through extensive

epic narratives. And this opened a great way to

describe the perfect images, generalized character and

spiritual world of heroes. As a result, artistic

observations about people spread wide wings out of

the shell of genres such as ghazal and rubai.

(D.Yusupova, 2015. https://kh-davron.uz/)

After Nizami, Dehlavi was the poet who gave the first

great answer in writing Khamsa. After Dehlavi's

"Khamsa", this literary phenomenon has become a

centuries-old tradition in the entire Eastern literature.

Many poets, such as Maulana Ali Ohi, Fasih Rumi,

Khoja Lohuri, Shaykhun Suhaili, Abdullah Khatifi,

Kotibi Turshizi, Maulana Arifi, Muhammad Ahli

Sherozi, Badriddin Hilali, tried to create "Khamsa" in

the way of Nizami and Dehlavi. However, they did

not succeed in this way.

When Alisher Navoi took on the challenging task of

creating "Khamsa", he considered the needs of the

Turkic audience. As the orientalist G. E. Bertels said,

Navoi "extremely and deeply studied the laws of

writing Khamsa that Nizimi had harmonized." The

reason for the failure of the above-mentioned Khamsa

writers is probably that they did not master the

specific laws of writing Khamsa and the works of

Nizami and Dehlavi.

When creating "Khamsa", Navoi remained faithful to

the tradition of his predecessors Nizami and Dehlavi

in terms of form, but took a completely unique

approach in terms of content.

All epics included in "Khamsa" consistently followed

this creative principle. Near the start or conclusion of

almost every epic, he communicates his perspective

towards the writers of "Khamsa", highlighting their

accomplishments and occasionally mentioning their

shortcomings.

In "Hayrat ul-Abror", Navoi describes his

conversation with Jami about "Khamsa" and

expresses his positive opinions about Dehlavi.

Navoi also has a great admiration for these two

poets, "Gavhar sochuvchi" and "Nur taratuvchi", and

he took inspiration from them to write "Khamsa":

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According to Navoi, Khusrav Dehlavi is another

elephant in the room of poetry after Nizami.

While Navoi finds ideological and artistic

sustenance in Dehlavi's work, drawing 'strength' from

it, he simultaneously maintains his unique creative

flair without straying from it. For this reason, Navoi

objectively evaluates Dehlavi's work in "Khamsa".

A comparison of Navoi and Dehlavi "Khamsa"

shows that in matters of form, Navoi learns from

Dehlavi. For example, the fact that while Shirin is an

Armenian princess (in Nizami, the princess of Berda,

that is, from Azerbaijan), yet one of the main

characters in "Sabai Sayyor" is chosen as Dilorom.

Both Nizami and Dehlavi portray Khusrau as a

strong protagonist. Contrarily, Alisher Navoi

expresses this in his epic "Farhad and Shirin". He

embodies the genuine pain — the pain of love, an

element missing in his predecessors' interpretations

— through the character of Farhad.

Navoi does not belittle the spirit of his teachers and

feels that he is a student in front of them.

The description of the meeting found in Navoi’s

"Khamsa", particularly in the last epic "Saddi

Iskandarii", is especially interesting. Navoi wanders

in his mind in the garden. Then the poet Dehlavi takes

him to a group of artists. These were Sa'di, Firdausi,

Unsuri, Sana'i, Khaqani, Anwari. Navoi was led by

Jami and Khusrav Dehlavi to Nizami.

Through this imagined contest among poets, Navoi

holds his "Khamsa" in high regard, envisioning that

the masters of Khamsa would recognise and

appreciate the beauty and artistic prowess of his epics.

In this manner, the poet's work "Khamsa" comprising

54 thousand verses, wascreated.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The following problems are set and solved in the

lesson:

1. In line with the tradition of writing Khamsa, we

will address the requirements for his first epic and its

interpretation in Alisher Navoi's work.

2. Revealing that "Hayrat ul-Abror" is a

philosophical, moral, and educational work, and we

will discuss issues related to Alisher Navoi's skill in

this regard.

3. We will explore specific aspects of the articles

in the epic and issues of philosophical interpretation

of the stories provided therein.

Key words and phrases used in the topic

Article. About faith. Universe and man. A story

and a parable. Famous religious and statesmen. Grace

and generosity. Perfect definition. Analysis. Art.

Refer to.

Lesson plan:

1. The creation of the epic.

2. The theme of the epic.

3. An exploration of "Hayrat ul-Abror".

4. Issues covered in the epic.

5.The educational value of the epic.

Two hours have been allocated in the plan to

study the epic "Hayrat ul-Abror". The "tenth article"

from the epic "Hayrat ul Abror" is included in the

textbook. The article priases truthfulness and

demonstrates the consequences of lying. It is

advisable for the teacher to divide the lesson into

three parts to cover this article. In the first and second

parts, the text is read anddifficult words and

vocabulary are addressed. The meaning of any words

students do not understand is explained to them. If the

meaning of a word cannot be clarified in the lesson,

students are encouraged to look it up in dictionaries

at home. The teacher should not be embarrassed by

this. It is advantageous if the "Dictionary of Navoi's

works" is brought to the lesson and students find

explanations for such complex words.

Students are trained to work with vocabulary. Some

teachers believe that there are many complex words

in the epic, and this it is better to narrate the content

of the work. However, this approach, which exposes

the reader to the shadow of the artistic text rather than

its charm, undermines the spiritual and aesthetic

effect expected from literature education. Indeed, the

language of Hazrat Navoi's works may seem difficult

to readers, but these works are so compelling and

attractive that they captivate the reader's feelings and

lead them to understand their meanings. For this to be

achieved, it is necessary to read works expressively,

effectively and repeatedly

After an expressive reading of the passage, each

difficult word is explained. The teacher help the

students understand the tone of the epic and the deep

meanings behind its lessons. If the teacher starts this

at the beginning of the lesson, it will be easier to

achieve the pedagogical intention.

Following the tradition of the time, Navoi gave

Arabic titles to his epics and his other works. In

Uzbek, it means "Astonishment of good people". The

epic consists of 3988 couplets and is divided into 64

chapters and 29 stories. It is written in the sari of

Aruz. The work begins with a traditional introduction

- "hamd va na't"."Hamd" refers to the praise and

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attributes of God, and "na't" praises our prophet.

Navoi's views on the world are reflected in this

introduction. According to him, God is both the

beginning and the end of the world, the creator and

the watcher.

Articles begin from the twenty-second chapter.

The second story discusses and Islam. The third story

is about kings. Thus, each story is dedicated to one

topic. The author firstly introduces the topic. He then

reacts to it, that is, either affirming or denying it, and

provides an appropriate story. In the third story, the

poet addresses the king directly: "Oh, the sultan who

holds the world in luxury, the Haq (God) has given

you the rule, raised your hand and humbled the great

ones in your eyes. He forced his hands to serve you

and bowed his stature before you. But know this. You

are a weaker servant than most of them. They say that

you are not a light, and your form and smell, and your

limbs and body are equal. God is showing his power

by sending you out into the kingdom of heaven. He

entrusted you with a task. The first task is to thank for

the blessing given, the second is to respect the people,

to give them their rights, to protect them. It has been

entrusted to you. If you take out a broken needle from

the hand, it will be a diamond dagger in the hereafter.

If you have harmed a small snake, consider it a snake

that destroys you... What about you? You are

drowning in pleasure and life, you are oppressing...

Only God is innocent, if you do a mistake, apologize

for it. If you commit injustice, make it right too".

These thoughts of Navoi were a tern rebuke to the

Timurid princes of his time, who indulged in luxury,

fought for the throne, and caused many massacres. A

number of articles in the epic are about manners. For

example, the fifth story is about grace. Grace has a

wide meaning. It implies kindness, generosity,

charity. Generosity is the greatest of human qualities.

Avarice is the worst. However, there is a limit to

everything. Excessive generosity is wasteful. Waste

equals stinginess. Besides, there is a certain order in

any kind of generosity. For instance, it is neither

generous nor sensible to squander money just for the

sake of it. Either a drunk or a madman would do such

a thing. Can a drunkard or a madman be considered

human? Secondly, there are such people who say:

"Yoyar anga supraki, ul осh emas, Berur anga to‘nki,

yalang‘och emas". Such a person cannot be called

generous. He is like a person who lights a candle

during the day to help the sun. Thirdly, a person who

distributes what he has received from others cannot

be called generous. There are people who look at

people's wealth and spoil it. Then they want to show

themselves generous by sharing a part of it. What they

scattered and what they took. Because nothing comes

from giving but a loss, and there is no benefit from

giving.

Fourthly, one who does not give without being

asked cannot be called generous:

So, who is generous? The poet describes the

quality of a generous person based on the principles

of Sufi morality.

Such a person is satisfied with what the Creator

gives, obeys what He commands. He makes a short-

handed person happy with what he has. Even if he

stands in front of the sea, he will not ask for a drop of

water from it. If he sees someone's wound, he will not

spare his ointment. When a needy person asks for

something, he will give it as much as he can...

One of the stories is about the Motherland. The poet

has a great love for his homeland Khurasan and Herat,

and he praises them in high terms.

He writes, “…” He compares the cities of

Khurasan to paradise. Khorasan is the breast of the

world, and Herat is the heart of this breast The poet

continues and leads the reader towards the city. The

arch is as big as the nine heavens, its walls are as

bright as the sun, and the moats around it seem to

delve into the depths of the earth. At the entrance to

the city, there are the main roads leading to the

markets. In front of the bazozos, there are clothes as

colorful as the satins of the sky, and in the boxes,

there are innumerable jewels as many as the stars in

the sky. Everyone's mind is in a flurry. Navoi goes on

to describe the buildings in which his work was

absorbed, including the Jame Mosque. He calls

himself a world. The top of the mosque is a big sky.

A pulpit can be a stairway to heaven. The moon is a

candlestick for him, and the sky rainbow (kavsi

kuzah) is a mihrab. Madrasas? Each of them is

grander than the blue madrasa (dome of the sky), and

their domes resemble the dome of the sky. The sun is

reflected in every eye, and it is as if the sun is walking

in a blue dome. This article provides a picture and

scenery of Herat in the 15th century. We will get

acquainted with valuable information about the city

from its geographical location to its construction,

from its nature to its culture. True, they are

exaggerated. This is explained by the dominant

creative style in Eastern literature. For a long time,

exaggeration was considered as an ornament of

poetry. Our ancestors followed the saying "Ahsanahu

akzabahu" (the best poem is the most false poem).

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4 CONCLUSION

In teaching literature, the methodical skill of the

teacher is of paramount importance, as success

largely hinges on judicious use of effective teaching

methods. Moreover, the teacher's personal qualities

play a crucial role in achieving the desired goal.

When preparing for a lesson, the teacher should

choose a that suits each group. It's important to

understand that even the same teacher may not

achieve identical results when conducting classes

with two different groups using the same approach.

This is because it is not feasible to obtain the same

outcome when teaching students with different

personalities using a uniform method. Therefore, it

would be beneficial to start the lesson by

understanding the characteristics of the students in the

group and assessing their capabilities. The teacher

must embody a variety of qualities:

1. Pedagogical practice.

2. Scientific research.

3. Organization.

4. Literary mediation.

5. Artistic performance.

6. Pedagogical creativity.

Navoi indeed has left an incredible legacy across all

facets of artistic creativity. The epic "Hayrat ul-

Abror", which marks a in the evolution of the genre

of philosophical and didactic epic, is preserved

amongst the global literary he

In conclusion, it can be said that Alisher Navoi's

works are a spiritual heritage with vast potential for

elevating the spirituality of the younger generation

and educating them on the basis of national and

universal values. Today, it is recognised that classical

literature, particularly the works of Alisher Navoi, is

one of the primary factors in the educating oa well-

rounded individual, which is the primary goal of the

educational reforms in our country.

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Boboyev T. 1997 Studying the basics of the poetics of

Uzbek poetry in higher educational institutions. DDQ.-

T.:., page 32

Yusupova D. Alisher Navoi case issues. Important

information about his life. https://kh-davron.uz

Alisher Navoi. 2006 Hayrat ul-Abrar. - T.: NMIU named

after G'.Ghulam,.

Hamidov Z. 2001 Navoi's fine arts. — T. University.

Phytrate. 2000 About Navoi's Persian poetry and works in

Persian language. Selected works. Volume 2. -T.

Hojiahmedov A. Khamsa. 2010 Collection. - T. The

generation of the new century.

Alisher Navoi. 2003 Complete collection: 20 volumes. T.

Science.

Issues of Alisher Navoi's literary skills. 2000 T. Science.

Good luck to Navoi. 2003 Compilers: B. Kadirov, G.

Tokhliev, B. Amirboev and others. T.

Komilov is a blessing to N. Navoi. Book 4. - Tashkent, 2004

Phytrate. 2000 About Navoi's Persian poetry and works in

Persian. Selected works. Volume 2. -T.

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