Akhundov Mirza Fatali

Akhundov Mirza Fatali (1812-1878), Azerbaijani writer, educator, philosopher, founder of Azeri drama. He was born in present-day Shaki, Azerbaijan. Since 1834 till his death he lived in Tbilisi. He was employed at the Chancellery of Viceroy as an interpreter of Oriental languages. For some time he taught Turkish and Persian languages at a district school. Friendly relations with Georgian public figures – Grigol Orbeliani, Giorgi Eristavi, Giorgi Tsereteli, Alexandre Chavchavadze – along with Russian Decembrists and Polish participants of the 1830 Rebellion of Poland, who had been exiled to the Caucasus, contributed to the making of M.F. Akhundov as a writer and a thinker. In Tbilisi he wrote his well-known comedies: Mullah Ibrahim Halil, Botanist monsieur Jordan, Vizier of Lankoran Khan (all three plays – 1850), Bear that Defeated the Brigand (1851), Adventures of a Miser, Haji Kara (1852), Law Enforcers in Tabriz City (1855), which gave rise to the trend of critical realism in Azeri literature. The Russian version of the works of M.F. Akhundov were published first in Tbilisi in 1853 and in 1859 - in Azerbaijani language. Akaki Tsereteli was the first who translated into Georgian the comedy Vezier of Lankoran Khan under the title Khan’s Vezier.

M. F. Akhundov died in Tbilisi. There is a tale connected with his burial: the leaders of Muslim community were against his burial in Kharpukhi, at the old Muslim cemetery. However, thanks to Grigol Orbeliani’s endeavor, Akhundov was buried near the Muslim cemetery, on the territory of present-day Botanical Garden of Tbilisi.