An Evaluation About the Grievance Based Expressions on Turk- Islamic Gravestones

Abstract

It can be seen that happiness and sorrow, which have important places in our social lives, constitute important theme of our culture and art works. As in other artistic elements, this theme can widely be encountered on the tablets depicted on the gravestones. However, whatever has a historical background is exposed to different external influences and inevitably affected in different ways. The widely seen stalagmites of Turks before Islam, human / animal-shaped, figurative and with praise / sorrow epigraphs, gain a different dimension with Islam, as well. However, this variation does not remove the old tradition completely. It can be seen that the ancient theme, patterns and forms were continued in one way or another. Considerable studies have been done related to the grave epigraph of Turks including the comparison of the pre-Islamic Turkish inscriptions with the ones in Islam period in Turkey. However, considering the studies have been conducted, it is believed that how the Yenisei expressions, with the content of "grievance", affected each Seljuk and Ottoman period have not been questioned adequately. In this study; by quoting from different sources, we tried to examine how pre-Islamic Turk grave epigraph influenced the grave epigraph of Seljuk and Ottoman period (XIX.-XX. Century) comparatively.