Manuscript Versions and Authorship Issues of Homidiy Balxiy’s ‘Yusuf and Zulaykha’ Epic

Abstract

In the history of literature, the abundance of poems belonging to the “Yusuf and Zulaykha” cycle, as well as the fact that the majority of them were created under literary influence or as a result of free translation, has given rise to a number of debates concerning their authorship. One of such issues is the question of the authorship of the poem “Yusuf and Zulaykha,” attributed to Homidi Balkhi (Durbek). In literary scholarship, the existence of numerous manuscript copies of this poem, the variation in verses, lines, and textual units that may clarify the issue of authorship, as well as the absence of a colophon, hinder the establishment of a single, unified conclusion. Therefore, two groups of scholars—those attributing the work to Homidi Balkhi and those to Durbek—have attempted to substantiate their positions on the basis of available evidence. However, the existing evidence has not yet provided a definitive resolution to this problem. This article presents information on manuscript and lithographic copies of the Turkic “Yusuf and Zulaykha” poem preserved in various regions. Based on the formal and structural features of these copies, their chronological attribution is determined. In the discussion section, the still unresolved issue of authorship is examined through manuscript texts, the presence or absence of a colophon, and textual evidence found in verses and lines, as well as through the art of chronogram (ta’rikh). The study substantiates that the Turkic “Yusuf and Zulaykha” poem belongs not to Durbek, but to Homidi Balkhi.