Nusrat

Biography

Nusrat was one of the poets active in the Kokand literary circle in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Very little about him survives in the historical sources, and his divan has not come down to us in full. What is known appears mainly in Fazliy's “Majmua-i shoiron”, in Po'latjon Qayyumov's “Tazkira-yi Qayyumiy”, and in studies of the Kokand literary milieu. Nusrat lived in the reign of Umarkhan and took an active part in the literary gatherings at court. His contemporaries recognised him as a gifted, quick-witted poet and improviser. He wrote chiefly in the ghazal, the mukhammas and the qit'a; his verse gives artistic expression to love, devotion, human virtue, the transience of life and the ideals of enlightenment. Sadly, no separate divan of his has yet been found — only a few poems and his name itself have reached us through the tazkiras. According to the sources, Muhammad Amin, the son of Norbo'tabiy, once tested Nusrat's gift for improvisation at a literary feast: the poet answered the given line at once and fittingly, and was rewarded with fifty cartloads of wheat. The episode shows both the strength of his talent and his readiness of wit.

Works

• Tazkiralarda saqlangan g'azallar
• Muxammaslar
• Qit'alar