Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkbilig, cilt.49, ss.163-183, 2025 (Scopus)
A dragon is a crocodile-like mythical creature that comes from Pahlavi word aji/aj (snake or serpent) and has the same origin as Aj-i Dahhak (snake of Dahaka). This creature is called universe by Turks. In his work entitled Nuzhat al-Qulūb (“Pleasure of the Hearts”), Hamdullah Mustafa-i-Qazwinî tells that this creature was first a snake which turns into a dragon as it gets to the age of 100 years. He further states that the dragon keeps getting bigger until the animals on the land are terrified of it, whereupon the creator throws it into the sea. The dragon causes damage in the sea too and is thrown by God into the land of Ye'cuc and Me'cuc (referred to as Gog and Magog in the Hebrew Bible) to feed them. The dragon motif is frequently used in architecture for its features such as fertility, protectionism, and power, while it is often used in literature for its frightening features. Nef’î, one the sharp-tongued poets of classical poetry, often used this mythological creature in his ghazals (odes) due to its extraordinary and scary features and particularly the influence of its character. Nef’î, who lived in the 17th century and is known as the poet of qaṣīdah, used the words ejder thirteen times, ejderha seven times, and ejdehâ once in his Turkish Divan. Among these uses, sixteen were detected in the qasîdah section and five in the ghazal section. In these sections, Nef’î touched on the features of dragons protecting treasures, breathing fire, flying, and being curled up. There are also analogies with reference to the dragon-shaped fountain faucets in architecture and to dragon-shaped field guns. The dragon metaphor is used to depict the beauty of the lover in ghazals. This study aims to explore the association between the representations of the mythological creature dragon in classical literature and its uses in Nef'î's Divan.