AN CODICOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SEWADÎ, BAZÎDÎ AND FUZÛLÎ’S LEYLA Û MECNÛNS IN A. JABA’S COLLECTION OF KURDISH MANUSCRIPTS

Abstract

There are three Leyla and Mecnun copies in the collection of A. Jaba manuscripts, each belonging to a different writer. In the copy Kurd 30 there is Sewadi's Layla and Majnun (Kurdish), in Kurd 31 there is Mela Mehmud Bazîdî's (Kurdish) and in Kurd 14 there is Fuzuli's (Turkish) Layla and Majnun. All three copies are valuable copies according to criterias such as completeness, clarity and oldness of the codicology. All three have information about their recordings on them. Fuzûlî's copy has the name of the recorder on it, while the other two do not include it. However, the available data suggests that the Bazidi copy was recorded by Bazidi himself. The years of recording of the copies of Fuzûlî and Bazîdî's are written, while the date of Sewadi's is not written. Fuzûlî's copy was recorded in 1218 (1803/1804) and Bazîdî's in 1274 (1858-59). The present data sets the date of the recording of Sewadi's Layla and Majnun as between 1759 and 1857. There is a note in the Bazidi copy that the original of this work is Turkish Layla and Majnun, so the origin of this copy is contradictive. According to A. Jaba, the original of Layla and Majnun is Fuzuli's Turkish Layla and Majnun, and according to Rudenko the original is Sewadi's Kurdish Layla and Majnun. The comparative analysis we have made among the texts reveals that Rudenko's view is proper.