Papuna Orbeliani as a poet - Historical poem „Troubles of Kartli“

Abstract

Papuna Orbeliani’s „The Troubles of Kartli“ ‘is a work of the documentary genre, which poetically narrates the situation in Eastern Georgia in the 20s and 30s of the 18th centuries. Papuna Orbeliani ‘The Troubles of Kartli ‘is a work of the documentary genre, which poetically narrates the situation in Eastern Georgia in the 20s and 30s of the 18th centuries.

It tells the story of the worst situation created by the Ottoman and Kizilbash rule in Georgia in the good faith of the chronicler. Such a view of epoch-making events in the poem is determined by the fact that its author is primarily a chronicler and not a poet.

P. Orbeliani was a figure of the VVIII century, the author of the famous historical chronicle of that period ‘Story of Kartlisani’. The interest in the poem in question is substantially increased by the fact that the author himself was a direct eyewitness to the stories narrated in it. This factor further enhances the importance of the work as a historical source. Although p. Orbeliani’s main goal is to accurately document the worst situation in eastern Georgia in the 18th century, he is not even a matte man from the outside of this state, but a direct eyewitness of events, who often even expresses his attitude towards these events with emotional admiration. So, p. Orbeliani’s ‘Troubles in Kartli’ is not only a poem that realistically depicts the  current situation in Georgia but also ‘Troubles in Kartli’ itself, as the first source of historical significance, helps us to understand more clearly and in-depth the situation in 18th century Kartli. Its author also actively draws attention to the ways to get our country out of this situation.

The work of P. Orbeliani begins the story from the time when Vakhtang VI, a vein seeker of ways to free himself from Iranian subjugation, turned to Khontkari for help.

P. According to Orbeliani, trusting Khontkari was a big political mistake, which put the country in an even worse situation. P. Orbeliani tells us with heartache the story of the Turkish occupation of Kartli and Tbilisi, which once again expresses Tavi’s sharply anti-Turkish position.

The main culprit in this new disaster for the country is P. Orbeliani considers King Vakhtang.

The author of the poem is much more sympathetic to the Iranians than the Turks. Even though Kizilbashoba suffered no less than the Ottoman Empire in Georgia, P. Orbeliani still has a relatively generous attitude towards the Iranians.This circumstance was conditioned by the fact that the liberation of Kartli from Ottoman domination became possible due to the active efforts of the Iranians. In his poem, P. Orbeliani clearly and unequivocally expresses the sharply negative attitude towards the policy pursued by Vakhtang VI to liberate the Kingdom of Kartli from the current difficult situation.