CC BY
0ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF HISTORICAL WORKS
Egamberdiyeva Iroda Abdurahimovna
The Department of Tour Guiding, Intercultural Communication and Translation Studies, Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages, Andijan, Uzbekistan https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11217743
Abstract. The art of translation and interpretation has evolved over centuries as one of the oldest creative domains, deeply embedded in the histories and cultures of diverse peoples worldwide. Across generations and continents, people have expressed their creative passions, interests, and capabilities through translation, transforming it into a vital tool for communication among nations. Through translators, humanity has gained awareness of each other, fostering connections and facilitating exchanges that have catalyzed advancements in trade, craftsmanship, infrastructure, agriculture, and defense. This mutual learning and exchange of ideas have not only enriched cultures but also contributed to the development of comfortable and secure ways of life. Translators, serving as bridges between languages, have played crucial roles in shaping relationships, facilitating agreements, andpromoting harmony among peoples. Their intelligence, dedication, and commitment to equality have elevated translation into a noble and invaluable endeavor, essential for fostering understanding and cooperation across diverse societies.
Key words: Turkestan historians, History of Rashidi, British orientalist, Chigatai dynasty, ghazals, cultural life, House of Timurids, Western scholars.
INTRODUCTION
Official historical works and chronicles written by Turkestan historians have been attracting the attention of Western scientists and researchers for hundreds of years. We can see this interest in the translations of the works of our famous grandfathers: Amir Temur, Alisher Navoi, Zahiriddin Muhammed Babur into several international, especially European, languages. For example, Amir Temu's "Tuzuklari Temur" was translated by the English Mer Devi in 1783 in Oxford, in 1785 in Calcutta; L. Translated into French by Langle, published in Paris in 1787.
Alisher Navoi's works have also been translated into many languages. A fragment taken from the epic "Saba'i Sayyor" was translated into Italian by Christopher Arminius in the form of a story in 1557 and included in his work "The Pilgrimage of the Three Sons of the King of Sarandib", which was later published in European languages.
"Boburnoma" was translated into English three times at different times: by William Erskine and John Leyden (1826), Aneta Beveridge (1922) and Willer Thaxton (1996), and was reprinted in England and the United States.
The work "History of Rashidi" written by Mirza Muhammad Haydar is among the rare works that have attracted the attention of Western scholars.
Translation Studies of «History of Rashidi"
"History of Rashidi" was translated into English for the first time by the British orientalist Edward Denison Ross (1871-1940).
Ney Elias (1844-1897), the winner of the gold medal of the British "Royal Geographical Society", the consul-general appointed by the British Queen to Hurosson and Seystan, geographer, tourist scientist Ney Elias (1844-1897) edited the translation, enriched it with comments and a map, and published it in London in 1895 "Sampson Lowe, Published by Martson and Company, Ltd.
Ney Elias wrote in the preface to the translation of "The History of Rashidi", although this publication is the first official translation of the work into English, the orientalist who knows Persian and Turkish languages, W. Erskine, H. Howorth, Sergeant-General W. H. Bellew, Eliot, R. B. Cho. It is reported that Western scientists such as Even the scholar R. B. Cho extracted and translated only the geographical parts of the work and published it in 1876 in the "Geographical Society's Journal" (which began to be published in Great Britain in about 1831). Also, orientalist U. Erskine translated some chapters of the work into English, but this translation was not published anywhere. According to N. Elias' assumption, we also agree with this opinion, in general, Erskine did not translate "History of Rashidi" for publication, but the book he was writing at that time "The hand of Babur and Humayun, the first two princes from the house of Timur "A History of India under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur: Baber and Humayun", London, 1854.
Translators Who Pioneered Research of "History of Rashidi" in the West
Ney Elias first had the idea to translate "History of Rashidi" into English in 1877 thanks to his friend R.B. Cho. According to Elias, after Cho finished the Turkish dictionary he was preparing, he wanted to start translating " History Rashidi". But that scientist died suddenly in 1879, and the translation was not completed. After that, Elias starts to find the original copy of the work, but these efforts are in vain.
Ney Elias's "A Journey through Western Mongolia", "An Apocryphal Inscription in Khorassan", "Notice of an Inscription at Turbat-i-Jam" ("Notice of an Inscription at Turbat-i-Jam" [4] it is permissible to mention.
N. Elias, who returned to England in 1893, got acquainted with a partial translation made by W. Erskine. At first, he had the idea to complete the translation and publish it under Erskine's name, but in the process of getting to know the English text closely, he was convinced that some of the passages there were not actually translations, but merely summaries.
Charles Reo Ney, a scholar who compiled a catalog of oriental texts in the British Museum and has carefully studied the "History of Rashidi", gives a different advice to Elias. He recommends involving his student Eduard Denison Ross, who knows the Persian language well, is a linguist and a specialist in Far Eastern languages, to cooperate in a new translation of the work.
A few words about Edward Denison Ross. He is an orientalist, a linguist, a specialist in Far Eastern languages. He could read forty-nine languages and spoke thirty of them fluently. He worked as the director of the Middle East British Informatics Bureau. Edited 26 chapters of The Broadway Travelers with Eileen Power. This collection of travel impressions written in different languages by tourists from the 14th to the 19th centuries was published in London between 1926 and 1936.
As mentioned above, in 1894, the first official translation of "History of Rashidi" into English was started, and this process lasted for seven months. Add to the translation by E.D. Ross in the catalog of the British Museum. 24. Or. with the Persian text preserved under number 090, under the supervision of Professor Kauyel. 157 is based on the numerical text. In the translation of the second part of the work, he chooses one of the two Turkish copies belonging to the British and Foreign Bible Society. According to N. Elias, during the translation process, Erskine's comments were very helpful to Ross. [5]
N. Elias, as we mentioned, edited the translation of "History of Rashidi". The scientist also added an introduction to the translation, which consists of six chapters, that is, the author of the work, which contains historical, ethnic, ethnographic, geographical, etc. information related to that period. These chapters with rich information are called: "The author and his work", "Chigatai
dynasty", "The land of the Mongols", "The people - Mongolian, Turkic and Uygurs", "East Khanate or Uyghuristan", "History of Rashidi" and the later period".
In the first chapter, the scientist touched on the importance of the work, emphasizing that it contains little-known history of Central Asia, rich in information about its social, political, and cultural life, and that it was written by a local historian.
In the chapter "The author and his work" it is said about the topic of interest to everyone, that is, Haidar Mirza and Babur Mirza: "Babur was a descendant of Amir Temur (or Tamberlane) and therefore he was not a Mongol. was even more Turkish (Turkic - D.A.), because Temur was from a high-born Turkic tribe called Barlos... Mirza Haidar came from the Dughlat tribe, which is a part of the real Chigatai Mongols and this tribe was as prestigious as the Barlos tribe..."
In the chapter "People - Mongols, Turks and Uyghurs", there is a common mistake in world historiography, that is, about the incorrect name of the Babur dynasty, in general, the Turkic peoples of Central Asia as "Mongols". speech is noteworthy. For example, the scientist writes: "...Not only Babur himself, but also his ancestors were Turks in every way, and these aspects were seen not only in their language and customs, but also in the extent to which they mixed with other nations. was However, in the Indian portraits of his (Babur's) descendants that can now be found, there are no hereditary signs of the real Mongol nation. [3]
Continuing his opinion, N. Elias, first of all, emphasizes that it will take many centuries for the signs of the Mongolian heritage to "fade out".
Scientists' conclusions on the works
After these considerations, the scientist comes to the following conclusion:
1) when reading the works of Muslim historians (this emphasis is directed to Western scholars), the tribal names used by them should not always be accepted in an ethnic sense, in other words, the author It should be noted whether he is saying the word "Turk" or "Tatar" in general terms, or whether he is emphasizing the nationality of a certain group of people to distinguish them from others;
2) in works where the word "Mongolian" is used to indicate someone's nationality, it is often used incorrectly and is widely used in this regard. Basically, the original Turks, tribes that were not Mongolian at all, were called by this name;
3) the use and significance of the names "Turk", "Tatar" and "Mongolian" were different in different periods.
The scientist hoped that these thoughts would help to avoid confusion in the use of the term "Mongol" in scientific communication. Unfortunately, despite the serious comments expressed by the meticulous scientist N. Elias, 116 years have passed since then, the Baburi dynasty is still the "Mongol dynasty" in world historiography, and the author Amir Temur is in western encyclopedias and scientific books. They are called "Tatar", "Tartar", "Mongol", "Mongolian".
The well-known writer, national writer of Uzbekistan, Muhammad Ali, in his essay "Amir Temur chamani" raises an urgent question: "Why is it that Caesar, Alexander, Genghis Khan or others are given the same information in all encyclopedias in the world, and their names are written the same with respect - and about Amir Temur, as Klaviho said, various names and definitions are given, as if trying to belittle him? Perhaps this is done to mislead the reader? we must understand that it will not happen." U.S. professor U. Thaxton, while translating "Boburnoma", touched on this very topic in the introduction and lamented that Babur was called "Mongol" and deprived of his honorable status like Timurid. Indeed, it is high time to put an end to such confusion. Especially at a time when there is a debate in scientific circles about whether it should be called the "Great
Mongol Empire" or the "Baburi Empire", it should be noted that the views of American scientists on this issue are very important. [10]
Back to the translation of "History of Rashidi"
The above-mentioned chapters are 128 pages long. N. Elias reports that this edition of the translation includes a medieval map of Central Asia drawn by H. Charbau. However, for reasons unknown to us, this map is not available in the copy of the work that we have in the Suzalo Library of the University of Washington. The translation includes an appendix, indicators, places, names of people, chronologies. In addition, three genealogies are included in the book: 1) the genealogy of the "Khigatoys family" published in the book "Muhammadan Dynasties" by S. Lane Pool prepared by scientist H. Haworth; 2) the genealogy of the "House of Timurids" taken from the book "Ain-i Akbar" by professor Blokman and given in an abbreviated form; 3) Family tree of "Dughlat Amirs" prepared by Elias himself.
This publication in our hands consists of 535 pages, including translation, commentary and appendices. On the title page of the book, under the title "History of Rashidi" "History of Moghuls of Central Asia" is added as a footnote.[12]
In order to facilitate the translation process, the editor noted in the preface that he took the names and place names as they are written in the official documents of the Indian state according to the simple method of expert W. Jones, i.e. the pronunciation is as close as possible to the original.
The thin crescent brackets in the translation belong to Muhammad Haidar. Bold and angular brackets, according to N. Elias, were put by an unknown Turkic-speaking translator. Narrow angle brackets were used by the editor and translator for the words given in order to make the text easy to understand, read fluently and to preserve the spirit of the work. They have given not only the English words, but also the words used in the Persian or Turkish text, sometimes in parentheses. For example, on page 296 we read: "The valley of the Shahnaz lies in the western range, and the [high] road from Kashghar to Badakhshan runs through this valley. On the road from Kara Chanak to Kilpin Rabat, is a resting place [manzil] for those coming and going [on the road] ..." [high] road crosses this valley. On the way from Kara Chanok to Kiplin Rabat [on that highway] there is a resting place [address] for those who come and go.". Many such examples can be given.
In his comments, N. Elias enriched the historical context of that period with logically related facts in order for the reader to better understand the work. Sometimes a single comment can take up a page and a half or more. For example, on page 278, the word "koragon" (the editor gives it as "kurkan" in English) is explained in almost two pages in order to explain it in detail to the English reader. It should be noted that scientists Haworth and Wadel contributed to the writing of the comments.
According to N. Elias, the translator E. D. Ross omitted the words repeated in one sentence in the translation. Six stars at the beginning or end of the chapter mean that the original ghazals were left untranslated. In some places, "verses" - "ghazals", "verse" - "ghazal" or "two couplets" -"two verses" are written in thin angle brackets to inform the reader of untranslated ghazals. etc. is given as However, ghazals were not left everywhere.
DISCUSSION
It is not difficult to imagine how much research and work was required to prepare a 535-page translation with annotations (in addition to the 128-page introduction) in a short period of time, that is, seven months. Ney Elias' enthusiasm in this regard is certainly worthy of praise.
The growing interest in " History of Rashidi" can be seen from the fact that Ross's translation was reprinted without any changes in 1898 by the "Curzon" publishing house in London. In 1973, the third edition was published by "Academica Asiatica" in Patna (The second and third editions are 535 pages each). Both have a map. The fact that the map was printed separately in the famous British geographical magazine shows how important it is.
In 1970, the 1898 edition, this time without the map, was published by Prager in New York. A 696-page copy of " History of Rashidi" was published for the fifth time in 2008 by Cosimo Inc. in New York. was published in the printing house. This publication was titled A History of Moghuls of Central Asia.[13]
In 1996, Professor U. Thaxton translated the "History of Rashidi" completely into English, wrote an introduction, added notes, indexes, and a map, and published it at the Faculty of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at Harvard University. It is noteworthy that the translator translated the poetic passages of the work into English and put them in italics. The publication is titled Mirza Haidar Dughlat's Tarikhi-i-Rashidi: A History of the Khans of Moghulistan. RESULTS
Translations and reprints of "History of Rashidi" into English show the great interest of Western scholars in the history of the Turkestan-Turonian region. However, it should also be noted that this interest was not without political goals at the time. Because, as mentioned above, we must remember that most of those who got acquainted with "History of Rashidi" were military orientalists who were sent to India, in general, to the East for a certain purpose. Today, the reason why "History of Rashidi" is important for foreign scholars is that it covers an under-represented period of Central Asia, there is a lot of information about social, political, cultural life, history, geography, ethnography, etc., and most importantly, the work is covered. It was written by a child of this land who saw the era with his own eyes. Therefore, there is no doubt that there will be new translations of this rare work into English, as well as research on its historical significance. CONCLUSION
Uzbek literature is one of among the ancient literatures of the world. Based on this point of view, while studying the history of translations of Uzbek literature into English, we considered it permissible to pay attention to two aspects.
First of all, the translation of examples of our literature into English, not only into English, but also into other languages, has not been carried out in a planned way. In most cases, the jubilee of a writer or poet, or days of literature, in general, are used for some reason.
Looking at the translation of examples of Uzbek literature into English, one can be sure that Uzbek literature, both in the classical and modern sense, is rich in meaningful and interesting works. Its widespread promotion, translation not only into English, but also into other languages of the world will always remain one of the urgent problems.
REFERENCES
1. Abdurazzoq Samarkandi. May Allah bless you. -Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 2008.
2. Alisher Navoi. Complete collection of works. 13 volumes of 20 volumes
3. Majlis un-nafois.-Tashkent: Fan, 1997
4. Madraimov A, Fuzalov G. Source studies. -Tashkent, 2008.
5. Abulghazi. Shajarai turk. - Tashkent, 1992.
6. Ahmedov B.A. Uzbek nation. -Tashkent: Meros, 1992.
7. Ahmedov B.A. Lessons from history. - Tashkent: Teacher, 1993.
8. Ahmedov B.A. Istorika-geograficheskaya literature. Middle Asia XVI-XVII centuries. -Tashkent: Science, 1985.
9. Bartold V.V. History of Turetsko-Mongol people. Hair. T.V.- Moscow, 1988.
10. Bartold V. V. Dvenadtsat lektsiy po istorii turetskikh narodov Sredney Dear. Hair. T.V. -Moscow, 1999.
11. Kolesnikov A.A. Vostochniy Turestan. Alma-Ata. 1988.
12. Zahiriddin Muhammad Babur. Bobournama. -Tashkent: Sharq, 2002.
13. Muhammad Haydar Mirza. History of Rashidi. Tashkent Shark. 2010.
14. Muhammadyar ibn Arab Qatagan. Musakhkhir al-bilad (of the countries
15. occupation) - Tashkent, 2009.
16. Muhammad Salih. Shaibaniinama. -Tashkent: Science, 1961.
17. Rashid ad-din. Sbornik Letopissiy. - Moscow-Leningrad, 1992,
18. Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi. Zafarnama. Tashkent. East. 1997.
19. Shaniozov Karim. The formation process of the Uzbek people. -Tashkent:East, 2001.
20. Hafiz Tanish Al-Bukhari. Abdullanama. -Tashkent, 1999.
