„სამთა ფერთა ...“ საიდუმლო: („ვეფხისტყაოსნის“ პროლოგის ერთი ტაეპის განმარტებისთვის)

ანოტაცია

The fourth line of the tenth stanza of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin’s prologue – “samta perta saqebelta lamis leqsta unda vlena” – has al­ways sparked diverse opinions among commentators. In manuscripts and printed editions, this line can be read in different ways. The most significant variation is the alternation between „vlena“ and „levna“ which modifies the meaning of the line to some degree. However, researchers have primarily focused on decoding “samta perta.” Taken in its literal sense, “three” refers to the poem’s three principal protagonists: Tariel, Avtandil, and Fridon.

In the dictionaries and commentaries accompanying editions of the poem, “three” is interpreted allegorically as the Holy Trinity; the beloved’s beauty, virtue, and merciful heart; the interplay of celestial rays, a gleaming shimmer; the rainbow; three kinds of poetry; the three voices of song, and more. Some scholars interpret “peri” (“color”) as a noun (which, apart from its direct meaning, may denote shape, genus, essence, face, or hero), while others understand it as meaning “fitting,” “appropriate,” or “deserved.” Nana Gonjilashvili expresses the view that “three colors” allegorically represent the loftiest ideals: specifically, Tariel stands for love, Avtandil for faith, and Fridon for hope.

Yet the interpretation of “samta perta” alone does not unequivocally elucidate the entire line’s meaning. For some reason, less attention is paid to the word “lamis”. What does “lamis” (“hlamis”) mean? it is a verb meaning “desires, intends.” Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani defines “lamis” as “(h)nebavs” (“he/she wishes”). The root of the verb is “lama.” According to I. Abuladze’s definition, it signifies “wanting, intent, desire”. In Akaki Shanidze’s Lexicon of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, we read: “shelama: shehlamis, moun­do­mebs, daupierebs” (“he/she sets out to do, makes up one’s mind to do”). We encounter this verb in precisely this sense in the tenth stanza of the poem.

It is noteworthy how people of earlier centuries read and understood this line. An echo of it can be heard in one of the stanzas by an unknown continuator of the poem:

“I entreat Thee, O Most High, Thou who discernest all hearts,

Grant me strength and succor, O Lord of rightful dominion,

We desire to praise those heroes, with praises befitting them,

First Tariel, and thereafter his brothers.”

Clearly, this interpolator takes “samta perta” to mean “that which is fi­tting” for Tariel and his sworn brothers, while “gvinda” (“we wish”) is a tran­­s­formation of Rustaveli’s verb “lamis” (“he/she desires, intends”).

Now the question arises: according to Rustaveli’s line, who wishes to compose (praise and adorn) “samta perta”? We must search for the verb’s subject in the preceding line – “miajet vin, khortsta datsva kmaris, mitses sulta lkhena.” The subject of the verb “mitses” (“let him/her grant”) is the poet’s adored Queen Tamar (for whom the poet’s heart is enraptured). She desires (“lamis”) that the poet create a laudation worthy of the “three.”

If in this line we read “lamis” as a verb (“he/she desires, intends”), then it makes sense that the line before it should end with a comma rather than a period, and that there should also be a comma after “lamis.” With this pun­ctuation arrangement, taking into account the caesura, the line aligns pre­cisely with the preceding one.

In the analytical text, the last, rhyming word Levna/Leva is the reading preserved in the manuscripts of the poem. It is interpreted as exhaustion, exhaustion (of poems) (Vakhtang VI, Teimuraz Bagrationi). This is also exp­lained in dictionaries. I think the "leva of poems" - to exhaust, to spend – in­di­cates the large volume of the poem. „Leva“– is found in the prologue itself, related to "poem" (13). In addition, „Leva“ and its derived verb forms are found in many types.

The choice of the rhyming word for the analytical line – Levna/ Leva/ Vlena – is the prerogative of the editors of the subsequent academic edition of "The Rider in the Panther's Skin".

In any case, if we read the word “lamis” in the given text as a verb (He/She has a desire.), then it is logical that there should be a comma (and not a period) after the previous text, and a comma should be placed after “lamis”: “Samta perta sakebelta lamis, lexta onda leva”.

Therefore, the analytical text reads: [Queen Tamar] wants to create a suitable eulogy (poems of praise) for the "Trinity" (Holy Trinity), she wants to devote a lot of poems to it, that is, create a great work.

This reading of the line is entirely consistent with and reinforces the main point of the prologue's discourse on "affection": that the poet's primary goal is to convey divine love.