MUSLIM GRAVESTONES OF THE 14th - 15th CENTURIES IN THE VILLAGE OF KUBACHI: THE PECULIARITIES OF THE DECORATIVE FINISH

Abstract

The article covers the problems of decorative finish of Muslim gravestones of the 14th - 15th centuries in the village of Kubachi. The author of the article describes the technique of headstone carving, shows that specialties of stone-cutters, calligraphers and ornamentalists were inherited, and notes that the decorative finish of the gravestones was made by the local stone-cutters with the direct participation of the craftsmen who arrived or were specially invited from the countries of the Middle East. In the article, the evolution of decorative finish of the gravestones is traced from comparatively simple Late Cufic Arabic ornamental inscriptions with some elements of floral ornament to complex patterned and epigraphic compositions, in which Late Cufic relief, ornamentally decorated and calligraphically executed inscriptions were made against the background of the relief floral ornament. Arabic ornamental inscriptions include shahadah - monotheism formula: “There is no deity except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”; sayings: “Death is a cup, everyone drinks from it; grave is a gate, everyone enters it”, etc. On some headstones there are Quranic sayings: “There is no deity except Allah, ever-living, existing: neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him; to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens, and whatever is on the earth” (Quran, II. 256). The author of the article notes that there is a great variety in the treatment of the Arabic ornamental inscriptions of the gravestones caused both by the forms of the letters and by their decoration. It is noted that the sayings on the gravestones of the 14th - 15th centuries in Kubachi are widespread epitaphs on Muslim headstones in a large area (they were found on headstones in the village of Kalakoreish in Dakhadaevsky District, the village of Kumukh in Lak District, the village of Tatil of Tabasaransky District, etc.), they existed for a long time and became aphorisms. The article also contains the names of the buried people, which were carved on the headstones of the village of Kubachi. Most of them are pre-Islamic and are not readable because in many cases they have no vocalization (diacritic marks) indicating vowel sounds.