Or 16122 (3)

This section contains a lengthy Ottoman Turkish version of the popular narrative recounting the heroic exploits of Seyyid Battal Gazi.

Little is known of the historical Seyyid Battal, save that he was a gazi who fought under the Umayyads in the early second century AH/eighth century CE. He took part in a number of Byzantine expeditions. Following the Danishmendid conquest of Malatya in 495 AH/1102 CE, Seyyid Battal began to be portrayed as a Turkicised hero in local epic traditions celebrating the Arab-Byzantine Wars. He was transformed into a champion of the Abbasid period, active in the third century AH/ninth century CE. Battalname narratives were greatly informed by both Turkic and Turkicised Persian traditions and motifs, perhaps especially from the Shahnama. Ottoman historians and scholars drew on these narratives in their writings, and conveyed the legends of Seyyid Battal as historical fact. Seyyid Battal continues to be an important figure in the Alevi and Bektashi traditions and in modern-day Turkish culture more generally. His shrine is in the Seyitgazi district of Eskişehir.

The present volume generally accords with tenth century AH/sixteenth century CE copies of the Battalname. It has some linguistic differences with Or 7310 and Or 8768, as well as the critical edition prepared by Yorgos Dedes on the basis of four texts from this period. Add MS 10000 and Or 16188 appear to be slightly later texts, judging by linguistic differences and changes in character details.

Begins:

Besmele elhamdülillah Rabbi’l-Alemin ve la ‘udvan illa ‘ala’z-zalimin, Raviler rivayet etmişler kim bir gün Resul-ı Hazret sallallah ‘aleyh ve sellem oturmuş eder (sic) Ashap rizvanu’llah ‘aleyhim ecma‘in karşısında türmüşler eder…

Ends:

…Seyyidin Yasin yerine getirdiler Her iklimde canı için hatamlar okudular ruhuna dualar ve sanalar ettiler. Şimdiki vakitte her kanda kim ol merhum ve mağfur leh cihan pehlivanını anarlar rahmetullāh ‘aleyh rahmeten vesi‘aten (sic).

The colophon on f 235v is in somewhat defective Arabic. It states that the work was completed at Bursa, while travelling, on 21 Rebiyülevvel 1183 AH/25 July 1769 CE, by Mehmed Said ibn el-Ḳadı el-Hac Mustafa ibn el-Hac Ahmed ibn eş-Şeyh Veliyyüddin el-Malati (of Malatya).