ალექსანდრე და გრიგოლ ორბელიანების ურთიერთდამოკიდებულება და პოემა „სადღეგრძელოს“ შექმნის ისტორია: (ახალი წყაროების საფუძველზე)

ანოტაცია

The House of Orbeliani, one of the most powerful and influential feu­dal nobility in Kartli, played a consistently significant role in the poli­tical, military, ecclesiastical, and social life of the region. In addition to holding high-ranking political positions – including military commanders, court dig­nitaries, household officials, judges, etc. -members of the Orbeliani family made substantial contributions to Georgian culture as writers, intellectuals, and scientists. The Orbelianis frequently appear in the artistic and and non-fiction works of major Georgian writers and public figures, such as Nikoloz Baratashvili, Grigol Orbeliani, Alexander Chavchavadze, Alexander Orbeli­ani, Solomon Dodashvili, Platon Ioseliani and others. They are featured as characters, addressees and dedicatees in their diaries, personal letters, me­moirs… As such, research into their biographies, activities, and creative le­ga­­cies remains an important and timely area within the broader field of Georgian literary history.

The presented article is devoted to the study of the relationship bet­ween two great representatives of the Orbelian family, prominent figures of the 19^th century, Georgian romantic writers Alexander (Puplia) Orbeliani (1802-1869) and Grigol Orbeliani (1804-1883), whose life and work have been thoroughly studied by Georgian literary scholars and historians (I. Me­u­nargia, Ak. Gatserelia, J. Chumburidze, I. Evgenidze, R. Chkheidze, N. Va­kha­nia, T. Jologua...), but our research is based on newly discovered archival materials and recently published scholarly editions. In particular, the re­search draws on the five-volume academic edition of Aleksander Orbeliani’s collected works (published in 2023), as well as the academic editions of Grigol Orbeliani’s personal letters prepared within the framework of the multivolume of Epistolary Legacy of Georgian Writers and Public figures of the 19^th–20^th Centuries (2012–2024). These publications have made accessible and scientifically processed a substantial body of texts that had previously been available only in archives, thereby laying the foundation for new lite­rary, historical, and cultural research.

With the presented research, we have tried to present various (fami­lial, collegial, professional...) aspects of the relationship between two promi­nent Georgian writers and public figures of the same noble family of the 19^th century, Aleksandre Orbeliani and Grigol Orbeliani. Although Aleksander Orbeliani was not a close friend of Grigol Orbeliani nor a frequent addressee of his personal letters, their relationship nonetheless reflects mutual respect, recognition, and trust, despite the ideological and biographical divergences that shaped their individual paths.

Special attention is given to their literary collaboration, particularly the history of the creation of Grigol Orbeliani’s famous poem “Toast” (Sad­ghegr­dzelo). The article also proposes a revised dating of one of Aleksander Orbeliani’s personal letters, offering further insight into their intellectual and historical context.