Mirza Jafar Topchubashev

Mirza Jafar Topchubashev (Russian: Мирза Джафар Топчибашев, Azerbaijani: Mirzə Cəfər Topçubaşov) was a Russian orientalist scholar and poet of Azerbaijani origin.[1][2] He also worked as privy councillor for sometime alongside teaching Oriental Languages at History-Philology Faculty of Saint Petersburg State University since 1819.[3] He was a member of Royal Asiatic Society, as well as teacher of Aleksander Chodźko, Alexander Griboyedov[3] and Vasili Grigoryev, who would be appointed as Imperial Censor of Russia.

Mirza Jafar Topchubashev
Born1790
Elisabethpol, Russian Empire
Died1869 (aged 78–79)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
OccupationOrientalist

Biography

He was born in either 1784 or 1790[4] to local minor noble family of Topchubashi. His father Ali-Mardan bek was a secretary and father-in-law of Javad Khan.[5] He grew up in Tbilisi, educated under the guidance of clerics. In addition to his native Azerbaijani language, he was proficient in Persian, Arabic and Turkish, which he studied in the madrasah. He also had a command of Russian, Georgian and Armenian languages.[6]

He was soon recruited as a translator to the Persian embassy with which he arrived in St. Petersburg in 1817. Not much later he was offered positions as a teacher of Oriental languages at the Main Pedagogical Institute and the Asian department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. After departure of François Bernard Charmoy on 31 December 1835, he was appointed to the post of extraordinary professor in the department of Persian literature.[7]

He was one of the founders of Imperial Russian Archaeological Society in 1846, heading it till February 1855.[8]

He resigned from academic work in 1849, citing health reasons. He was replaced by another Azerbaijani scholar Alexander Kazembek who was transferred from Kazan University. After leaving the university, Mirza Jafar worked in the Asian department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for another 18 years. He left work in the Asian department in 1867 due to the complete loss of working capacity. He still was connected to academia, granting scholarship to one of best students every year.[9]

He died on 8 February 1869. The obituary noted that the name of Jafar Topchibashev “will be pronounced with appreciation as long as the existence of St. Petersburg University”.[10]

Awards

References
  1. Altstadt, Audrey L., 1953- (1992). The Azerbaijani Turks : power and identity under Russian rule. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University. p. 331. ISBN 0817991816. OCLC 24846708.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Guliev, Vilai︠a︡t, 1952- (2015). The Azerbaijani school in Russian Orientalism : the first half of the 19th century. Budapest. ISBN 9789634140504. OCLC 1065084716.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. History of Azerbaijan - Baku: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan SSR, 1960; Volume 2, p.108.
  4. Topchubashov // Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia / Ed. J. Kuliev. - Baku: Main edition of the Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia, 1986. - Volume 9
  5. Hasanli, Jamil (2013). Tarixi şäxsiyyätin tarixi : Älimärdan bäy Topçubaşov. Bakı. ISBN 9789952273717. OCLC 894670841.
  6. Grigoriev V.V., Imperial St.Petersburg University during the first fifty years of its existence. - SPb., 1870. - p. 255.
  7. Pletnev P. A. The First Twenty-Five Years of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. - SPb., 1844. - p. 27.
  8. Veselovsky, N.I. The history of the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society for the first fifty years of its existence, 1846–1896. p. 295.
  9. Iskhakov, S. M. (2012). A.M. Topchibashi : dokumenty iz lichnykh arkhivov, 1903-1934 gg. Moscow. p. 8. ISBN 9785915790772. OCLC 862745067.
  10. News of Imperial Russian Archaeological Society (1872, volume VII, issue 3, p. 304)
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