User:Revolution Saga/sandbox/Mesrop Taghiadian

Bust of Mesrop Taghiadian in the village of Karbi in Armenia

Mesrop Davtian Taghiadian (Armenian: Մեսրոպ Դաւթեան Թաղիադեան; 2 January 1803 – 10 June 1858) was an Armenian writer and educator. He lived much of his life in Calcutta, India. He wrote prolifically in Classical Armenian and is regarded as one of the first Armenian authors of the Romantic movement.

Biography

Mesrop Taghiadian was born in the village of Karbi near Yerevan in the Erivan Khanate of Qajar Iran on 2 January 1803. Taghiadian lost his father at a young age and was raised by his grandmother. He received his primary education at a seminary in Etchmiadzin. From 1816 to 1821, he traveled throughout the provinces of Eastern Armenia with a group of monks collecting and recording folk songs and oral traditions. During this time, Taghiadian was made a deacon (sarkavag) of the Armenian Church.

While at Haghpat Monastery, Taghiadian decided to travel to Paris via Constantinople to receive a higher education, but was forced to abandon his plans and instead decided to go to India. In India, he was immediately hired as an assistant teacher at the Armenian College in Calcutta. From 1826 to 1830, he studied at the Bishop's College and received a master's degree. He publsihed several works during this time, including translations into Classical Armenian of Grotius's De veritate religionis Christianae (1829) and Reginald Heber's poem Palestine (1830), as well as his own booklet titled Dits’abanut’iwn.

Taghiadian returned to Etchmiadzin in 1831 with the intention of opening his own school, after an unsuccessful attempt to do in New Julfa in Iran. However, he faced hostility from the clerical establishment in Etchmiadzin and departed once again. He lived briefly in New Julfa (1834–36), where he worked as a teacher and married Tangkhatun Setian, the daughter of a local Armenain merchant. They had two sons together, both of whom died at a young age. In late 1836, Taghiadian traveled to Tabriz, where he became the English teacher of one of the sons of Fath-Ali Shah. In Tabriz, Taghiadian's financial situation remained dire, and in November 1837, his wife and second son died. That same year, Taghiadian wrote a long poem dedicated to his late wife titled Egherergut’iwn horhas T’ankay T’aghiadeants’ ("Elegy on the Death of Tank Taghiadiants"), which was published in Tiflis in 1893.

After the death of his wife, Taghiadian returned to Armenia and then left for Constantinople. He lived in Constantinople for about a year, working as a tutor in the home of a wealthy Armenian amira. Taghiadian was targeted for persecution by the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Hakobos for his his association with American Protestant missionaries. The patriarch had Taghiadian arrested and transported to Trabzon, whence he was to be deported to the Russian Empire and exiled to Siberia. However, he managed to escape from his captors in Trabzon and, after a number of misadventures, once again reached Calcutta in late 1839. In December 1839, he became the head of the Armenian section of the printing house of the Bishop's College. He married for a second time in 1841 and worked as a peddler in Calcutta, although he never found success as a businessman.

Taghiadian published a number of works during his second sojourn in Calcutta, including the pedagogical works Mesrovbean aybbenaran (1840) and Mesrovbean sharadrich’, the first part of a history of ancient India titled Patmut’iwn hin Hndkastani (1841), and a work on the importance of girls' education Char’ dastiarakut’ean oriordats’. In 1846, he published his novel Vep Vardgisi, an Armenian adaptation of Heinrich Zschokke's Abaellino der große Bandit. Taghiadian published a collection of his poems in 1847 under the title T’ut’ak T’aghideants’. Also in 1847, he published Chanaparhordut’iwn i Hays, an account of his earlier travels in Armenia. Taghiadian's works are some of the earliest Armenian works of the Romantic style and express the author's humanist views and belief in the capacity for humans to change for the better. In his poem Sos yev Sondipi, Taghiadian expresses ideals of human equality and the social importance of individual happiness.

From 1845 to 1852, Taghiadian published a periodical called Azgaser ("Patriot," later Azgaser araratean), which mainly published his own writings. He published articles on the importance of education, the economic and political development of Armenia, and unity among Armenians. Taghiadian welcomed the Russian conquest of Armenia in 1827 and called on Armenians in the diaspora to return to Armenia, seeing repatriation as the key to Armenia's development. In 1846, Taghiadian founded a coeducational Armenian school in Calcutta called Surb Sandukht ('Saint Sandukht', also known as the Armenian Infant Seminary), where he sought to apply contemporary European pedagogical methods. In 1852, Taghiadian moved his printing press and school to Chuchura north of Calcutta, but both were closed soon after. In 1858, having lost his second wife and being in constant conflict with the Calcutta Armenian community, Taghiadian decided to return to Armenia. He fell ill and died on the journey and was buried in Shiraz.

Works

• Astuacasēr ew azgasēr hasarakut῾ean hayoc῾ p῾rkeal k῾ałak῾in Erewanay srbakrōn k῾ahanayic῾, barecnund išxanac῾ ew hamayn barepastōn žołovrdoc῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1828
• Pałestin: Psakeal k῾ert῾ac, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1830 (translation of Reginald Heber's Palestine)
• Dic῾abanut῾iwn, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1830
• Mesrovbean aybbenaran, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1840
• Mesrovbean šaradrič῾ hay ew angłiakan lezuac῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1840
• Patmut῾iwn Parsic῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1846
• Vēp Vardgisi, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1846
• Zuarčaxōs aṙakk῾ parsic῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1846
• T῾ut῾ak T῾ałiadeanc῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Karg ew kanonk῾ surb Snduxt dproc῾i ōriordac῾ ew paronkac῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Čanaparhordut῾iwn Mesrovbay T῾ałiadeanc῾ V. A. sarkawagi srboy Ēǰmiacni i Hays, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Čaṙ dastiarakut῾ean ōriordac῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Mesrovbean aṙaǰnord mankanc῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Sōs ew Sōndipi, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847 (reprinted in Constantinople in 1871)
• Vēp Varsenkan skayuhwoy ałuanic῾, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Vkayabanut῾iwn srboyn Sandxtoy, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1847
• Hamaṙōt k῾erakanut῾iwn haykazean lezui, Kalkat῾a [Calcutta], 1848
• Ełerergut῾un yōrhas T῾ankay T῾ałiadeanc῾, Tiflis [Tbilisi]. 1893
• Gełarvestakan erker, Erewan, 1965 (collection of Taghiadian's works translated into Modern Armenian, ed. Ruzan Nanumyan)
• Ułegrut῾yunner։ Hodvacner։ Namakner։ Vaveragrer, Erewan, 1975
• Diwan, Mesrop D. T῾ałiadean։ antip ōragrut῾iwnner, erker ew k῾ert῾uacner, vaweragrer, namakner, ed. Mesrop Ark῾․ Aščean, Nor J̌uła [New Julfa], 1979 (reprinted in Yerevan in 1993)

Sources

• Aščean, Mesrop Ark῾․ (1993). Diwan, Mesrop D․ T῾ałiadean (antip ōragrut῾iwnner, erker ew k῾ert῾uacner, vaweragrer, namakner) (in Armenian). Erewan.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Bardakjian, Kevork B. (2000). A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500–1920: With an Introductory History. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814327470.
• Hacikyan, Agop Jack; Basmajian, Gabriel; Franchuk, Edward S.; Ouzounian, Nourhan (2005). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3221-8.
• Nanumyan, Ṙ.; Grigoryan, G. (1978). "T῾AŁIADYAN Mesrop Davt῾i". In Hambarjumyan, Viktor (ed.). Haykakan Sovetakan Hanragitaran (in Armenian). Vol. 4. Erewan. pp. 130–131.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Taghiadian's works on greenstone.flib.sci.am