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eBook - Poem of Shota Rustaveli: The Knight in the Tiger Skin

A word on Shota Rustaveli | 1 - Introduction | 2 - Story of Rostevan, King of the Arabians | ... | Gallery of Miniatures

A word on Shota Rustaveli by Irakly Abashidze

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The age of Rustaveli was, in world history, the time when the future captains Dzhebe and Subetey were riding and shooting beneath the burning sun of Central Asia, preparing for the wars to come. Bloody clouds were gather­ing in the incandescent skies of Mongolia; in the West the third crusade was raging and the terrible Saladin, having defeated the knights of Europe, was entering Jerusalem.

Both the political and spiritual future of Georgia and the life of Rustaveli himself were bound up with these important parallel processes.

But in the meantime, the "golden age" reigned in Rustaveli's homeland. On the throne sat T'hamar (1184-1213), a queen famed for her intelligence and beauty. Her state was united and strong, resting on the firm foundations which her great forebear, David the Builder (1089-1125), had laid. David had taken advantage of the crusades to expel the Arabs and Turks from his country after 300 years of domination.

Georgia's renaissance was closely linked to both Western and Eastern culture. It was at this time that "Iranian literature met the literature of the North, of Europe, that Leili met Isolda, Buddha the legend of Ahasuerus. Georgia was the land where these two cultural streams, rushing towards each other, met. The focal point of this meeting, a man endowed with a remarkable lyrical gift, intelligence and passion, was Rustaveli" (Nikolai Tikhonov).

History has no precise facts for us about the great Georgian poet, but The Knight in the Tiger Skin itself and a handful of other historical and literary documents now at our disposal make it possible to form a definite pic­ture of the poet's personality and of the times in which his work of genius was created.

Shota Rustaveli's life and the time of creation of his poem exactly coincide, according to the events described in it, with the era of Queen T'hamar, down to the dynastic conflicts that reflected contemporary clashes at court.

It is fortunate that the author refers to himself more than once in his poem, introducing himself as Rustaveli. "I, Rustaveli, indited a poem.... Hitherto the tale has been told as a tale; now is it a pearl of measured poesy."

Of T'hamar the poet writes:

"By shedding tears of blood we praise Queen T'hamar, whose praises I, not ill-chosen, have told forth."

The lines: "I, Rustaveli, have composed this work by the folly of my art," and "I am sick of love, and for me there is no cure from anywhere", clearly indicate the poet's unspoken love for the queen. Some Georgian scholars of Rustaveli consider that the amatory conflict conveyed in the poem reflects the personal relations of poet and queen and it is possible that isolated coincidences occur, but we lack the corresponding historical and biographical documents to conclusively prove this.

In fact, we possess no precise historical information on Rustaveli's character. However, the life of Queen T'hamar is presented relatively fully in ancient Georgian historical writings ("Kartlis tskhovreba") and, in particular, in the stories by "Basil", the queen's personal historian and court tutor.

Several people bearing the name Shota appear in historical sources of the 12th and 13th centuries and in ancient deeds. Could it be that one of them is the poet? Georgian scholars have long investigated this question, settling now on one, now on another Shota as the author of The Knight in the Tiger Skin. (It is only since the examination of the Jerusalem fresco depicting Shota that this dispute may, to a certain extent, be considered settled.)

Who, then, was Shota, the poet from Rustavi?

Two settlements in Georgia have laid claim to the poet. One lies twenty kilometres from Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. Eight centuries ago this Rustavi was a large administrative, economic and cultural centre in the kingdom of Georgia.

In 1265 the town was utterly destroyed by the Mongols. The builders of modern Rustavi were confronted by a striking sight while clearing a section of the ancient ruins: the headless skeleton of a young girl separated by some metres from her skull. An axe was in the girl's hands. She had evidently been defending herself from an invading Mongol soldier, who beheaded her with his sword. Beside the girl's skeleton the remains other devoted dog were found.

On that day, 700 years ago, the Mongols also beheaded the town which consi­ders itself the birthplace of Shota Rustaveli.

The second Rustavi is a small village in the south of Georgia, on the border with Turkey. This part of the country is sometimes referred to as Meskhetia.

The cliff town of Vardzia, which dates from the 12th century, is located here. This cave complex served both religious and secular purposes and had remarkable frescoes depicting Queen T'hamar and members of her family. Here, too, are found the multi-level Van Caves, cut in the 13th century, and the fortress of T'hmogvi, birthplace of Sargis T'hmogveli, author of the Dilarget'hiani, who is mentioned in The Knight in the Tiger Skin. The fortress of Khertvisi and many other historical monuments which played a major role in the political and cultural life of ancient Georgia are also located here. Meskhetia gave Georgia's culture many outstanding figures, writers, scholars, artists and philo­sophers. Scholars confirm that the name Shota was particularly common in this province in the 10th, llth and 12th centuries.

According to tradition Shota Rustaveli came from this corner of southern Georgia and many scholars now consider that Shota Rustaveli was a Meskh from Rustavi in Meskhetia.

But which of the Shotas mentioned in historical sources was the poet? The majority of Georgian literary sources name the author of the poem as Shota, treasurer of the court of Queen T'hamar.

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