THE HISTORICAL REALITY AND THE POEM BY DAVIT GURAMISHVIL “ KARTLIS CH'IRI” (“DISASTERS OF KARTLI”)

Abstract

The represented work shows the ways and goals of reproducing the historical reality in the poem by Davit Guramishvili . It is noted here that the historical reality given in the poem refers to the issue of the genre’ it is noted that the role and the importance of the subject who conceives the realirty, is different in the different genres; it is noted that in the epic genre of literature, the ideological and artistic position of the main subject, his mood, sympathies and antipathies are comprehended through the comprehension of the object. As for lyrics, the situation is vice versa. The lyric poetry works on subjectivising of the object, giving the picture of the objective reality with all its content and characteristics emotionally, excitingly. The researchers such as K. Kekelidze, G. Qiqodze, relate the epic poem “Kartlis Ch'iri” (transl. - “Disasters of Kartli”) to the genre of the historical epos, though it is noted in the work that this piece of literature do not represent a typical example of historical poem. Besides the historical facts, the mood and thoughts of the author are also described in the lines of the epic poem. Thus the genre to which the poem belongs can be called a lyrical-epic poem. The answer to the question what is historical in the content of the poem, is given in the given paper: first of all, it is clear from the poem when we read about the historical persons: first of all, the history of the King Vakhtang VI, then, there we meet such personages as Konstantine II, Peter I, Shakh Tamaz, Nadir-Shakh, the monk Didoveli, Simon Abramishvili, the poet Javakhishvili, Davit Guramishvili (the author of the given poem). It is also denoted that the historical reality described in the poem serves to the didactic goal of the author to show to the young generation the main reason which had caused the disastrous situation for the country – namely, this reason is negation of God. It also described that the poem “Kartlis Ch’iri” shows us the situation of those times in details. The period described in the poem involves the situation existing in the Georgian provinces Kartl-Kakheti (East Georgia) from the 20-ies of the XVIII century till the departure of the King Vakhtang VI to Russia. The political failure of the king was almost immediately followed by his personal tragedy - he was captured and imprisoned by the Daghestanian people, who are called lekebi – Leks (in Georgian). Then he escaped from prison, was invited at court of the Russian Empire, his Departure towards the Caspian Sea, his death, the hard days of his friends and surrounding people, the period of collapse of their ideology. The author of the poem D. Guramishvili associated the tragedy of the King Vakhtang VI with the Russian politics. Davit Guramishvili describes the historical events with true narrative. The facts he describes in his poem correspond to the historical facts though as for the King of Kakheti, Konstantine II the poet describes him as a reasonable politician which does not coincide with the facts known in Georgian historiography. Through description of the aspiration and striving of the personages of Konstantine II and Vakhtang II, the author of the poem describes the idea of united Georgia. Davit Guramishvili shows the perfidious politics of the king Iesse, his lies and the disastrious situations in the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti. It should be also said that D.Guramishvili gives the precise dating of historical facts: the years 1721, 1739, 1742, 1757, 1758, 29 November of 1774 which are exact undoubtedly. It is noted in the poem that Davit Guramishvili did not aim to play the role of a chrongrapher; his aim is to describe the historical events and show the examples to the new generations through discussing those events, describing them poetically.

Key words: histotical reality, epic genre,Vakhtang VI , the epic poem Kartlis Ch’iri, Konstantin II, Russian politics.