Kazim Mechiev

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"Mechiev" redirects here. For other uses, see Mechiev (disambiguation).

Kazim Mechiev
Native name	Мечиланы Беккини жашы Кязим
Born	1859 Shiki, Russian Empire
Died	15 March 1945(1945-03-15) (aged 85) Taldıqorğan Oblast, Soviet Union
Occupation	Poet, Enlightener, Humanist
Language	Karachay-Balkar
Nationality	Balkar
Genre	Poem, Dhikr
Notable works	Takhir and Zukhra, Bouzdzhigit, Wounded tur

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Kazim Mechiev or Kyazim Mechiev (Karachay-Balkar: Мечи́ланы Беккини́ жашы́ Кязи́м; Russian: Кязи́м Бекки́евич Мечи́ев; 1859, Shiki village, Bezengi valley, Terek Oblast, Russian Empire — March 15 1945, Taldıqorğan Oblast, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) was a Balkar poet who wrote in Karachay-Balkar language using Arabic letters. Was perceived by contemporaries as one of the spiritual leaders of the Balkar people. Considered as the founder of Balkar literature. His poems are translated to Russian, Turkish and other languages.

Biography

Kazim Mechiev was born in the village of Shiki in the peasant family. His father Bekki was known as a handy craftsman. The village Shiki was located high in the mountains in the very end of the Bezengi valley. Due to the isolated location and severe climatic conditions the life of people of Shiki was poor and hardscrabble. There were very few who could read and write and most of them were Muslim clerics. Kazim Mechiev had birth defect of his left leg and he had to lean on the staff when walking.

Having learned the basics of Arabic grammar from local mullahs Kazim Mechiev continued his studies for several years in nearby village of Bezengi and then in medrese of Lesken village. He enriched his knowledge of Arabic and Persian literature and poetry with help of Chepelleu Byozyulany - effendi of Bezengi who was known as one of the most educated persons in the area and owned a well-stocked library of Eastern and Western literature, natural science and medicine. Inspired by Eastern poetry Kazim Mechiev starts creating his own writings in Karachay-Balkar language using Arabic letters.

Returning back to the home village Kazim Mechiev starts working in forge making housewares and agricultural implements. He developed skills inherited from his father and became a blacksmith well-known in the surroundings. Being theologically educated Kazim Mechiev gains authority between countrymen and devotes himself to enlightening and preaching of Islam.

In the period from 1900 to 1917, traveling in the Middle East, Kazim Mechiev visited Istanbul, Baghdad, Mecca, attended lectures in Omeyades' madrasah in Damascus, and Cairo University.[1]

The social process and military and political events in the Caucasus after the February Revolution 1917 were reflected in his works and in his active social position: in the following spring, he participated in the village's meeting. This period of complex political and social transformations was accompanied by bloodshed, brutal repressions and reprisals against political opponents. Highlanders society was spit into opposing camps. Perhaps a series of tragic events in which he lost close friends predetermined the choice of the Kazim Mechiev and made him support the Bolsheviks despite his primary skepticism about their ideas. He dedicated his poems "Soltan-Hamid" to the death of Balkar Bolshevik S-H. Kalabekov, a fellows of Sergei Kirov and "Chepelleu effendi" to the death of his friend and teacher Chepelleu Byozyulany who was killed by White Guards among with 18 other villagers during their conter-Bolshevik raid in Bezengi. His elder son Muhammad died during Russian Civil War fighting against White Guards in Daghestan. Kazim Mechiev dedicated to him another his poem called "Jashima" ("To the son").

Soon after the victory of the Bolsheviks, Soviet power started ideological and political purges among former revolutionaries and ordinary people. Religious leaders became one of the categories of people subject to repressions and extermination. Many of the Kazim Mechiev's fellows were killed or exciled. Thanks to the intercession of Kaisyn Kuliyev and other Balkar public and cultural figures Kazim Mechiev himself managed to avoid serious reprisals. Reflecting to the tragic deaths and murders of distinguished Balkar revolutionaries he dedicated his poem "Kairi ketdi Eney ulu" ("What happaned to Eneev") named after Magomed Eneev, one of the founders of Mountain ASSR; the other poem "Ne bolur minga taskha?" ("How did it happen, Khajibekir?") dedicater to his arrested and murdered fellow.

In spring 1932 Kyazim Mechilany was elected the deputy of the First Congress of Distinguished Kolkhoz Workers in the city of Nalchik; in 1938 was admitted in the USSR Writers Union; in November 1939, received the rank of the "honored artist of Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic". As a poet, Kazim Mechiev could not avoid the officially encouraged themes in the "era of socialist construction". In 1940 his first in Soviet time collection of poems was issued under the name "Meni sezum" ("My Word"). It contained selected works praising the labor of agricultural and civil workers. All poems were edited by the strictest censorship what caused an angry reaction of Kazim Mechiev who answered to this publication with his poem "Bu ne zatkha ushagandi?" ("How does it look like?").

On March 8, 1944 Kazim Mechiev, along with all Balkar people, was deported to Central Asia. As well as thousands of other people in old age being under harsh and violent conditions Kazim Mechiev died after one year of exile on March 15 1945 in Kumtobe vilage of Taldy-Kurgan Region, Kazakhstan, ibidem buried.

Сreative work

Kazim Mechiev wrote his writings in his native Balkar language using Arabic characters. The earliest known publication called "Lessons on the Purity of Human Body and Spirit" was issued in 1896 in city of Temirkhan-Shura. Among the early samples of religious and philosophic character are "Edifications to Women", poems "Iman-Islam" and "Prophets", and religious poem songs (zikirs). Besides the religious enlightenment topic that took a major part in his poems Kazim Mechiev addresses different subjects in his poetries and lyrics: love lyrics, humanism, social injustice, devotion to native country and people.

Kazim Mechiev's views were molded by the realities of life and the traditions of the highlanders, their ethics code (tau adet) and his strong Islamic beliefs and education. Several long pilgrimage journeys that Kazim Mechiev made during his life had major effect on his mindset and found reflection in philosophy of his poems and social activity. Kazim Mechiev's poetry was influenced by Arabic, Turkic, and Persian literature. He translated certain Eastern poems (dastans) into his native language, in particular, Turkmen poet Molla Nepes's "Legend of Takhir and Zukhra". His poem "Buzjigit" was a kind of a dedication to teachers. The main topics of his works are religions and moral search, the issues of power and fairness, good and evil, a human's place in the world and in the society. His compositions are characterized with depth of thought, richness of images, fine shades of emotions; at the same time, they express the tragic notes of the perception of life and psychological tension similar to the social and emotional atmosphere of that time.

Legacy

Balkar poets and writers K. Kuliev, K. Otarov and S. Shakhmurzaev were ollowers of Kazim Mechiev. Many of Mechiev's poems were alloyed with the folk songs of the Balkars; some of them were distributed on papers. A big part of his manuscripts and lyrics written down at his dictation was lost forever in 1942 together with the archive of Kabardino-Balkar Scientific Research Institute. Kazim Mechiev's compositions are most completely published in a two-volume collection published in Balkar language in Nalchik in 1989.

In 1989 in the former village of Shiki which had been abandoned by dwellers under pressure from the authorities in 1939 the house museum of Kazim Mechiev is founded.[2]

In November 1999 a special expedition to Kazakhstan was organised to carry out reburial of Kazim Mechiev. His relics were transported and commited to the earth in Nalchik.

Bibliography

• "Lessons on the Purity of Human Body and Spirit" (Karachay-Balkar: ???; Russian: "Поучения о чистоте человеческого тела и духа"). 1986, Temirkhan-Shura.
• "Iman-Islam" (Karachay-Balkar: "Ийман-Ислам"). 1903 (1909?), Temirkhan-Shura.
• "My Word" (Karachay-Balkar: "Мени Сёзюм"; Russian: "Мое Слово"). 1940, Nalchik.
• Selected Works (Karachay-Balkar: Сайлама Чыгъармалары). 1959, Nalchik.
• "Poems" (Russian: "Стихи и Поэмы"). 1962, Nalchik.
• "Flame of Hearth" (Russian: "Огонь Очага"). 1970, Moscow.
• Selection (Karachay-Balkar: Сайламалары). 1975, Nalchik.
• Selection (Russian: "Избранное"). 1976, Moscow.
• "Book of poems" (Karachay-Balkar: "Назмула Китабы"). 1984, Nalchik.
• "Poems" (Karachay-Balkar: "Назмула бла Поэмала"). 1987, Nalchik.
• Collected Works issued in 2 volumes (Karachay-Balkar: Чыгъармаларыны экитомлугъу). 1989, Nalchik.
• "Poems, Dhikrs." (Karachay-Balkar: "Назмула, Зикирле, Поэмала"). 1996, Nalchik.
• "Tahir and Zuhra" (Karachay-Balkar: "Тахир бла Зухра"). 1999, Nalchik.
• "Poems" (Russian: "Стихи, Поэмы"). 2003, Nalchik.
• "Mind and Voice" (Russian: "Разум и Голос"). 2009, Nalchik.
• Selected Works (Karachay-Balkar: Сайлама Чыгъармалары). 2009, Nalchik.

External links

• Kazim Mechiev Culture Foundation

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