Amiran-Darejaniani
Amiran-Darejaniani is a medieval Georgian romance, which heralded the emergence of native secular literature and laid the foundation for the Georgian chivalric romance.
There is not exact information about its origin. According to the linguistic data, as well as other sources, it should have been written in the 11th–12th centuries. Amiran-Darejaniani was popular even in the classical age. In the bibliographic verse of The Knight in the Panther's Skin, Moses of Khoni (Mose Khoneli) is considered to be the author of Amiran-Darejaniani. The chronicler of Queen Tamar was also familiar with this work.
The twevle sections of Amiran-Darejaniani tell the story of several famous heroes. The main character, Amirani, is the son of Darejani, whose heroic deeds are narrated in five sections.
A large number of researchers consider the folk tale Amiraniani as one of the main sources of Amiran-Darejaniani. It has elements of fairy-tales and fantasy motifs of the folk epos. The language of the works is simple and concise. Amiran-Darejaniani expresses Georgian and Persian sentiments at the same time. On the one hand, it reflects the image of Georgian sociopolitical life, on the other hand — traces of Muslim morals and customs. This led to a dispute about Georgian or Persian origin of Amiran-Darejaniani. M. Brosset, N. Marr, and others supported the idea that the work had Persian origin. I. Javakhishvili, M. Janashvili, K. Kekelidze, A. Baramidze, Sh. Nutsubidze and others claimed that Amiran-Darejaniani had Georgian origin. They consider the traces of the Persian tendency as a non-essential event for the clarification of the origin of the work.
The text of Amiran-Darejaniani was obtained through the manuscripts of the late 17th and following centuries. The extensive version of the novel belongs to the editors-compilers of the 18th century. The versified version of Amiran-Darejaniani was also created around this time.
Amiran-Darejaniani was published five times — in 1896, 1939, 1949, 1960, 1967. It is translated into English (R. Stevenson, London, 1958) and Russian (B. Abuladze, Tbilisi, 1965).
Text: მოსე ხონელი, ამირანდარეჯანიანი, ლ. ათანელიშვილის გამოც., თბ., 1967.
Literature: ბ ა რ ა მ ი ძ ე ა., ნარკვევები ქართული ლიტერატურის ისტორიიდან, [ტ.] 1, თბ., 1945; კ ე კ ე ლ ი ძ ე კ., ქართული ლიტერატურის ისტორია, [ტ.] 2, თბ., 1958; ქართული ლიტერატურის ისტორია, ტ. 2, თბ., 1966.
G. Imedashvili
