As you all may know, the basis of the The Story of Bamsi Beyrek is that Bamsi is taken hostage during his wedding night by infidels. Everyone believes Bamsi because Yaltajuk, who wants Bamsi out of the picture so he can marry Banu Chichek, dips a Bamsi's shirt he left behind in blood. While imprisoned by the infidels, it is revealed that the daughter of the King of the infidels is in love with Bamsi. His only way out of imprisonment is to promise to marry the infidel king's daughter if he gets away in sixteen years. He does get back home during that time, where he is eventually reunites with Chichek. However, he does not marry her right away; he actually goes back to marry the infidel king's daughter and then comes back to marry Chichek.
The irony to the ending of this is that Bamsi was an Oghuz Turk.
The Book of Dede Korkut is known for stories that represent pre-islamic and Turkish beliefs. The Oghuz Turks were monogamous, meaning that they marry only one person. It was the religion of Islam that supported polygamy, which is where people have multiple spouses. The irony behind the story of Bamsi Beyrek is that it is the ONLY story in
The Book of Dede Korkut that has polygamy.
Do you think that the polygamy part of the story was put in there on purpose? Why do you think they made Bamsi's marriage polygamous when the Turks believed in monogamy?
And yes, don't mind this picture of Bamsi looking seductive.
I would say that the polygamy story was put their on purpose. Even though they believed in only having one wife, maybe they placed the story in here to show that not every situation is ideal. That Bamsi is an exception to the belief. Along with in most older readings that we have read, men had several lovers. So maybe, this could be a parallel to an older story than we expect it to be.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting question, for sure. I also can't really make a guess because I don't have quite enough historical knowledge of the story or the people. Maybe some Muslims got a hold of it and made that change to it? Or, perhaps it just wasn't a big deal because the other woman was an infidel, so maybe that marriage was not really that legitimate and was more just to show that Bamsi kept to his word and was honorable that way, and not so much about the marriage itself. That's the best idea I have.
ReplyDeleteBy the time the Book of Dede Korkut was written down, the Oghuz Turks had been Muslim for centuries. Maybe the wonder is how much of the pre-Islamic flavor of the stories has been retained...
DeleteI think it is hard to decide whether the polygamy story was in fact on purpose or not. If it was on purpose though, my guess would be that polygamy was more accepted for a man to be in charge of, rather than a woman. I couldn't have imagined the story going the other way around. It could also be a possibility that the interpretation changed little parts within the many years that this has been around.
ReplyDeleteI think that Bamsi very clearly loved both of these women and certain circumstances made him get into the polygamist relationship with them. It didn't seem like he was purposely seeking out that type of relationship. He loved one woman, settled for another after he was band away from the other and then reunited with the the original again and BOOM, you have a pretty messy love triangle to reason through.
It is my belief that this this could have been a simple translation error, or it could be an instance where when being translated at a later date and a christian translator decided to try and make it seem less as if the christians in the story are all awful people, thus Bamsis marriage of the princess
ReplyDeleteHa, an enjoyable post, Cali!
ReplyDeleteWhen stories travel so far and across so many centuries, maybe it's no surprise to see that they have picked up themes and motifs from other cultures along the way. And the tellers at the time of writing have final say in how the story is cast...
I don't believe that the main idea of having him marry multiple woman has anything to do with polygamy at all but all to do with honor and keeping your word. I believe that the author had Bamsi marry the infidel princess first to actually boost his character as a man. In a twisted way, this confirmed that he keeps his word, even to his enemies. Now how being an honest man trumps being monogamous like the rest his culture I am not sure...
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