MINIATURES OF THE MASNAVI LEYLA AND MAJNUN IN TURKISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY

Leyla and Majnun is a story written to describe the transformation of human love into divine love, which has always been processed in literature in terms of love and devotion. Fuzuli 's Leyla and Majnun, who is one of the leading poets who express love in the most beautiful way, has been a source of inspiration for many poets for hundreds of years. Having an important place in Turkish literature, its copies are known to be present in many manuscripts and rare books sections of libraries in Turkey. One of these copies is in the Turkish Historical Society Library. The Ankara Turkish Historical Society Library has been holding various documents and books in its archives since it was founded. The library has many important books and documents, as well as approximately 2177 manuscripts. The manuscript of Fuzuli’s Leyla and majnun was written in the Ottoman Turkish. There are miniatures in the form of a full page in the leaves 21b, 30b, 40b, 51b, 55b, 59b of the work inventory numbered Y/0431 which is thought to belong to the XVIII-XIX. century. These miniatures are depictions of love between Leyla and Mecnun and they were made to enhance the comprehension of the work visually. By examining these miniatures, iconographic analyzes have been emphasized and information has been given about the shapes and colors of the depictions in the nature. As a result of the study, it was seen that the phenomena of love between Leyla and Mecnun were included in the miniatures. Although there are many subject titles in the Leyla and Majnun masnavis, only six (6) miniatures have been included in this manuscript and the artist has mainly described emotional scenes. In the scenes, the emotional state between lovers is depicted with miniatures using nature depictions. The name of the calligrapher, the name of the author who copied the manuscript, and any date were not included on the manuscript page. For this reason, it was tried to be evaluated in the light of style, material and technical details in miniatures. It was concluded that Fuzuli's Leyla and Majnun Masnavi might belong to XVIII- XIX centuries. These works of art and miniatures, which are tried to be introduced to the world of science and art, are a special version that literature and art meet and co-exist together.

Keywords

Leyla and Majnun, Masnavi, Miniatures, Manuscript, Turkish Historical Society Library