The lyrical poet and satirist Gasym bey Ali bey ogly Javanshir, who is known under the pseudonym “Zakir” (“praising God”) was born in 1784 (1789) in the city of Shusha into a noble family.  He came from a famous family of Javanshirs, his great-grandfather Kazym-aga was the brother of the founder of the Karabakh Khanate - Panah Ali Khan. Gasym bey Zakir received his first education at the Mollahana in Shusha, where he studied Arabic and Persian. Knowledge of these languages gave him the opportunity to become acquainted with the works of famous masters of the Middle East, such as Ferdowsi, Nizami, Sadi, Hafez. During his years of study, he deeply studied the artistic heritage of the mentioned poets and writers.

The poet’s adolescence and youth occurred during the period of political and military events in Karabakh. In 1795, the Kajars attacked Karabakh and besieged Shusha, the population bravely defended the city. In 1797, the assassination of Agha Mohammed Shah Kajar in Shusha took place, as well as the murder of the poet Molla Panah Vagif and his son on the Jidir plain. At the beginning of the 19th century, Ibrahimkhalil Khan was brutally shot in Karabakh. These and other events that Gasym bey Zakir saw, the stories that he heard in adolescence and early youth - all this influenced the formation of his worldview.

During the first Russian-Iranian war (1804-1813) and the second Russian-Iranian war (1826-1828), Gasym bey Zakir served in the ranks of the Caucasian Muslim volunteer cavalry detachment of the tsarist army and participated in the military operations against Iran. In July 1826 he took part in the defense of Shusha, and in 1827 he was wounded in the arm. On March 15, 1828, by decree of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, Zakir was awarded a silver medal for his courage. He witnessed all the hardships of the war and therefore was very sympathetic to the peasants forced to leave their native lands, and did everything possible to bring them home.

His participation in the war was also reflected in the poet’s work. In the poem “The Royal Preface,” which he wrote for his close friend, Baba-bey Shakir, there is a description of Zakir’s participation in the battles of Jaro-Belokan, as part of the Karabakh cavalry detachment.

At the end of the 1830s, Gasym bey Zakir began to engage in agriculture. He spent the summer season in Shusha, and the rest of the year in the village of Khyndyrystan, given to him by Khurshidbanu’s father Natavan Mehdigulu Khan. He worked together with the villagers and did not hesitate to sit at the same table with them.

Zakir gained deep respect for himself and had a great influence among his contemporaries. Famous personalities with whom he corresponded and communicated were Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, Ismail bey Gutkashynli, Baba bey Shakir, Khurshidbanu Natavan, as well as the Georgian prince Iliko Orbeliani, Baku Governor-General Mikhail Kolyubakin. However, there were those who did not like Zakir and were jealous of him. His irreconcilable enemies were Jafargulu Khan Nava, who became famous in Karabakh as an intriguer and provocateur, Mirza Abulgasim, the governor of Shusha, and Tarkhan Mauravov, a local royal judge. These people, who became the object of Zakir's satirical criticism, were looking for some reason and were waiting for the right moment to discredit the poet. Finally, such a reason was found: Tarkhan Mauravov accused Zakir of keeping in his house the nephew of Behbud-bey Javanshir, who had escaped from the government, and in October 1849, K. Zakir was arrested along with his family and sent to Shusha prison. After this, Tarkhan Mauravov plundered the village of Khyndyrystan and made the village residents completely poor.

While in prison, the poet wrote several times to high government circles and stated that he was detained illegally, but there was no response to his complaints. After staying in Shusha prison for up to a year, the poet was deported to Baku without trial. Najafgulu-bey and his nephew Iskander-bey were taken to Tiflis, from where they were first exiled to Voronezh, and from Voronezh to Kaluga. The poet's family remained in Shusha. Arriving in Baku, Zakir wrote a letter to his friends working in government agencies and told them that he had been illegally arrested. At this time, Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, Ismail bey Gutkashynly, Baku governor Mikhail Kolyubakin and Georgian prince Iliko Orbeliani tried to free Zakir from exile. After spending several months in exile in Baku, thanks to the efforts of these people, the poet returned to Shusha. However, he lived under police surveillance for the rest of his life. His son and nephew spent 3 years in exile in Russia.

Imprisonment, exile, a plundered village, loss of property, separation from relatives undermined the poet’s health.

Gasym bey Zakir ended his life in financial need and difficulties. He died in Shusha in 1857 and was buried in the city cemetery Mirza Hasan.

The first poem by Gasym bey Zakir was published in 1854 in the Kafkaz newspaper. Zakir mainly wrote lyrical couplets, ghazals, satire and fables.

The poet wrote his lyrical poems mainly in the form of couplets (a love form of poetry). The simplicity of the language and the use of this form made his poetry popular. One of Zakir’s famous poems is the poem “Cranes”. Zakir created a rich creative heritage with his lyrical and epic works. Some of these poems, which enrich our poetry in themes and ideas, speak of human beauty and pure love, while others criticize the social and moral evils of the times.

The main line of Zakir’s creativity is satirical poetry. For this reason, he is considered the founder of critical realism in Azerbaijani literature. Those who trample on the rights of the weak and helpless are most harshly criticized in his satire. In his poems, he not only criticized these people, but also fought against them. His satirical poems were both a mirror of the times and a means of struggle. Among his satirical works, the main place is occupied by poetic letters written by him in the 1840-1850s and addressed to Mirza Fatali Akhundov, Ismail bey Gutkashynly, Khurshidbanu Natavan, Jafargulu bey and others. In these letters, Zakir exposed the arbitrariness and despotism of the nobles, bribery of royal officials, and the hypocrisy of the clergy.  It was these satirical works that aroused hatred of him from the nobility and clergy. With these works he made a great contribution to the formation and development of enlightened realism as a literary movement. The poet made a great contribution to the formation of satire as a movement. Firidun bey Kocharli called these works of the poet “a mirror of the life of the Azerbaijani people.”

Poetic stories also play an important role in the poet’s work. Some of these works (“The Prince and the Man”, “Zovtsi-ahar”, etc.) talk about issues of love and marriage, the other part (“The Man Who Lost His Camel”, “Tarlan and the Envoy”, etc.) are educational in nature, and some (“Girl with a Dervish”, “Shameless Dervish”, “Immoral Ghazi”, etc.) are satirical-critical in nature. In a number of cases, the poet implicitly reflects social vices and defects of human nature in interesting stories “Lion, Wolf and Jackal”, “Camel and Donkey”, “Fox and Wolf”, “About treacherous comrades”, “Snake, Camel, Turtle”, “The Fox and the Lion", "About True Friends", "Turtle, Crow"). In these works, he speaks out against oppression and violence, condemning aspects such as deceit, betrayal and complacency. The poet's images are valuable examples that instill in young people virtue, courage, dedication and loyalty.

Zakir’s creativity is also valuable because it fully reflects the beauty and capabilities of our native language. From this point of view, he is assessed as “an artist who further enriched and improved the artistic language of Azerbaijan after Vagif.”

The poet's consistent and skillful use of colloquial words and expressions gave his works a special flavor and freshness. He created clear, flowing, cheerful couplets using local proverbs and sayings. All this strengthened his poems from an artistic point of view, and also gave them a deep meaning.

Zakir showed great skill, achieving great success in the works he wrote, both in the poetic meter of “heja” (syllabic metric) and in the meter of “aruz” (this is the meter of Eastern poetry, alternating syllables with vowel sounds of different lengths).

The literary heritage of Zakir, one of the brightest representatives of realistic Azerbaijani literature of the 19th century, entered the cultural treasury of our people. The educational activities of the great poet, prominent satirist Gasym bey Zakir were continued and further developed by his successors, including his friend M.F. Akhundov.

By the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of May 7, 2019, Gasym bey Zakir was included in the list of authors whose works are declared state treasures in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Recommended literature:

1. Hacılı, Asif Abbas oğlu. Şuşa: əbədi-mədəni mühit / A. A. Hacılı ; Azərbaycanda Vətəndaş Cəmiyyətinin İnkişafına Yardım Assosiasiyası. - Bakı : CBS Polygraphic Production, 2022. - 256 s.
2. Məsud, Afaq. Qarabağın incisi Şuşa / A. Məsud ; red. Y. Əliyev. - Bakı : Azərbaycan Dövlət Tərcümə Mərkəzi, 2022. - 162 s.
3. Zakir, Qasım bəy. Seçilmiş əsərləri / Q. Zakir ; tərt. K. Məmmədov. - Bakı : Avrasiya Press, 2005. - 400 s.
4. Hüseynov, Süleyman Səfər oğlu. Qasım bəy Zakir / S. S. Hüseynov ; elmi red. R. C. Məhərrəmova ; Azərbaycan Respublikası Gənclər və İdman Nazirliyi, Azərbaycan Dövlət Bədən Tərbiyəsi və İdman Akademiyası. - Bakı : Yazıçı, 2010. - 344 s.
5. Kərimov, Raqub Şahmar oğlu. Qasım bəy Zakir və müasirləri / R. Ş. Kərimov ; elmi red.: M. Z. Nağısoylu, Z. Ş. Əsgərli ; AMEA M. Füzuli adına Əlyazmalar İnstitutu. - Bakı : Elm və təhsil, 2013. - 252 s.