DUSHANBE, January 18, Asia-Plus — Work on rehabilitation of the tomb of the world-renowned poet Abu Abdullah Rudaki has started at Sughd’s town of Panjakent, Culture Minister Mirzoshorukh Asrori remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 16.
According to him, reconstruction works will also start at the Republican Rudaki Museum, which is also located in Panjakent, in the near future.
On the work on restoration of historical and cultural relics in the country, the minister noted that last year, the tomb of Mavlana Obiddin in Danghara was completely restored and work on restoration of a number cultural relics such as Qalai Urda (fortress) in Isfara, the tomb of Abulqosimi Gurgoni in Ayni, the tomb of Mavlana Usmoni Charkhi in Istaravshan, the mausoleum of Imam Zain ul-Obeddin in Jilikul, the mausoleum of Shoi Khomush in Mouminobod, Khojai Nour Museum in Mouminobod started.
Abu Abdullah Jafar Ibn Mohammad Rudaki (858-941) was a Tajik-Persian poet, and the first great literary genius of modern Tajik-Persian language, who composed poems in the “New Persian” Perso-Arabic alphabet script. Rudaki is considered a founder of Tajik-Persian classical literature.
He was born in 858 in Rudak (Panjrud), a village in Panjakent, northern Tajikistan. He was a Tajik-Persian poet, and the first great literary genius of modern Persian language. Most of his biographers assert that he was totally blind, but the accurate knowledge of colors shown in his poems makes this very doubtful. He was the court poet to the Samanid ruler Nasr II (914-943) in Bukhara, but he eventually fell out of favor and ended his life in poverty
The mausoleum of Rudaki was constructed in 1958.
It was due to the laborious efforts of the famous Tajik writer Sadriddin Ayni that some important facts from Rudaki”s life have been exposed. Having thoroughly studied all available historical manuscripts he managed to identify the poet”s burial place, and the well-known sculptor – anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov restored his appearance on the basis of the found remains.
In 1956, the year of Rudaki”s 1,100th birthday, the tomb, where the poet had been supposedly buried was dug out. The burial contained the skeleton bones, which belonged to a man who had died at the age of around 85-87 years. The objects found in the grave were related to the time in which the poet had lived. There were some other evidences proving the fact that it was Rudaki”s grave.
