Abstract
A Window to Ottoman Society of the 16th Century Fakîrî’s Risâle-i Ta’rifât
Contrary to the political history of the Ottoman Empire,
there are rarely information and document about social
life. Consecuently, it is difficult to say that the studies have
carried out in the field at the desired level. Based on the
idea that poets have not been insensitive to the society and
social issues in which they live, it is possible to say that
literary texts have important resource allocation about
social life. It has seen that significant findings have reached
as a result of the investigation of divan literature products
from this point of view. In this connection, Risâle-i
Ta’rifât, which is the subject of study, have contained
valuable information about the mentioned field.
Fakîrî, in his mesnevi named Risâle-i Ta’rifât, which he
completed in 1534, described 149 characters in the social
life of that period in three couplets chapter. In the work
consisting of 492 couplets, there is information about the
type of people from all society of life such as messenger,
torment, mudarris, lieutenant, imam, rich, old, Turkish,
Iranian, ases, aremmâl, barber, neyzen, kalenderî, helvacı,
butcher, gypsy. The poet sometimes has a humorous or
critical attitude, and sometimes uses obscene expressions.
But the poet has never described these 149 kinds of people
without making any contradictions and described them as
an individual who came from within the society. Risâle-i
Ta’rifât has an exceptional place in the tradition, reflecting
the impressions of the Ottoman society in the imagination
of a poet. This article has previously the subject of different
studies, but the full text has not published. In addition, the
shape and content of this work first have examined. Also, the translation and written text of the existing copies have
compared.
Keywords
Ottoman society, social life, tarifat.