Mirzo Niyoz Fayziy

Biography

Mirzo Niyoz Fayziy was an enlightener who united in one person the poet, the teacher and the calligrapher, and who worked in the Kokand literary circle in the late 18th and the first half of the 19th century. The title 'Mirzo' attached to his name means scribe, a man of letters, and was given him because he was highly literate and knew script and orthography to perfection. Mirzo Niyoz not only studied in the madrasas but later taught the young calligraphy, grammar and the rules of literature; a number of well-known scribes and poets came out of his school. Fayziy commanded Uzbek (Turki) and Persian equally well, and his ghazals and muhammas in both languages stand out for their melody and their lyric depth. He showed particular brilliance in writing responses to the masterpieces of classical literature and in composing muhammas — above all the five-line muhammas he built on the ghazals of Alisher Navoiy and Hafiz of Shiraz, which were highly praised at the literary assemblies of his day. In his verse, alongside such Sufi ideas as human fidelity, divine love and the bridling of the appetites, moral and educative calls to learning take the leading place. As a scribe Fayziy displayed the skill of a master in producing manuscript books and multiplying their copies: the bayaz anthologies and divans he copied are distinguished by the fluency of the hand and the accuracy of the spelling, and several examples are preserved in the manuscript collection of the Abu Rayhon Beruniy Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. He took an active part in the circle of poets gathered by Amir Umarkhan (Amiriy); Fazliy Namangoniy's tazkira 'Majmuat ush-shuaro', compiled in 1821, includes his choicest work and rates his gift highly.

Works

• G'azal va muxammaslar
• Navoiy va Hofiz g'azallariga bog'langan muxammaslar
• Ko'chirilgan bayoz va devonlar