On the Significance of Determining the Origin of One of the Characters in ,,King Erekle and the Ingilo Woman”

Abstract

The authors of the monograph ,,The Tragedy of the Georgians Known as Ingilos” write: “According to Baku-based historians, the terms ‘Azerbaijan’ and ‘Azerbaijani’ are just as ancient as the term ‘Ingilo’; however, these Ingilos, they claim, are not of Georgian origin. Rather, historically, they are simply Ingilos—members of some ancient Turkic, Persian, or Mongolian nomadic tribe, and according to the latest ‘discoveries,’ even an Albanian tribe to whom Georgian kings allegedly taught the Georgian language in the 12th–13th centuries. There are many other claims of a similarly laughable nature. Without much consideration, they are particularly fond of antiquating their own ‘history.’                                                      As for the term ‘Azerbaijanis,’ we shall not elaborate here, but regarding the Ingilos, it must be stated that this term emerged in the 1820s–1840s of the 19th century. It does not denote newly subdued, newly Islamized, or newly Christianized people; rather, the term ‘Ingilo’ means ‘new’ or ‘newly arrived’ (yeni gelen). In the historical short stories of Iakob Gogebashvili, we encounter the terms ‘Ingilo’ and ‘Saingilo,’ which the author associates with the period of King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti. For the reader to properly understand the essence of the matter, certain clarifications are necessary. Specifically, the author of the literary work is neither a historian nor a scholar nor a researcher. When he offers a literary depiction, he has every right to write as he sees fit, since he is producing a work of fiction rather than a scholarly study.       The well-known historian Lovard Tukhashvili provides a fully acceptable explanation of this issue: “Iakob Gogebashvili included the story ‘Erekle II and the Ingilo Woman’ in a textbook. The event described there took place in Kiziki, in the village of Vakiri. The great educator replaced a Kiziki woman with an Ingilo woman. Why? Saingilo is an integral child of Georgia, and love for it must be instilled in a Georgian from childhood. The patriotism of the Ingilo woman, her love for the Georgian hat (as you may recall, in the story the Ingilo woman throws plums at Erekle II for wearing an Iranian hat), evokes very pleasant associations and makes us love the Ingilos themselves.”

In short, writers and poets are not prohibited from artistically portraying even historical facts in their works. Our goal, however, is to call things by their proper names and, through necessary explanations, prevent certain foreign researchers from distorting history.