Abstract
Folk Beliefs in Ahmed Ridvan’s Hüsrev ü Şirin Masnavi
Material or moral elements that society produces and owns are within the scope of culture. Folk beliefs represent a significant facet of cultural elements. Folk beliefs extend from folklore to the history of religions, having a multi-layered structure that closely concerns many branches of science such as literature, history, psychology and sociology. It is possible to come across folk beliefs in many of the literary products. Masnavis, which are the continuation of epics and tales after Islam, extending to stories and novels, offer a wealth of content, especially in terms of folk beliefs, as well as many cultural elements. One of these masnavis is Hüsrev ü Şirin, written by Ahmed Rıdvan, who lived in the 16th century. It is seen as a poem in Firdevsî’s Şehnâme. Nizâmî wrote the story as a complete masnavi. The masnavi of Hüsrev ü Şirin was written by several poets, especially Şeyhî, in the Anatolian region. However, Ahmet Rıdvan’s work has a larger scope in terms of folk beliefs. Furthermore, the vividness of descriptions, richness of imagery, and the narrative features of mythological elements and beliefs highlight Rıdvan's masnavi. Masnavi includes many folk beliefs such as treasure, fairy, magic, madmen, fortune-telling, natural events, some animals and many more. In this study, it is stated that folk beliefs, which are a part of culture, are among the sources of Classical Turkish Literature, and the beliefs in Masnavi are discussed with an interpretive approach and the results are aimed to contribute to the of literature and cultural history.
Keywords
Classical Turkish Literature, masnavi, Hüsrev ü Şirin, folk beliefs.