Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History

by Amila Buturovic

  Marko Marulić established the traditional metaphor of Turks as invaders from

  the East in his Molitva suprotiva Turkom [Prayer against Turks] and in Judita

  (1501), his versified Biblical story of Judith, the two cultures mutually co-existed

  at the level of everyday life.26 Setting the story of inter-religious love (based on

  a historical document) at a time when the negative representation of Ottoman

  civilization had been established, Botić’s poetical revision of the sixteenth-

  century text becomes a revision of the dichotomous structure established by the

  Croatian literary canon.

  Ašikovanje is probably also inspired by the real courting that the author witnessed

  on his journey through Bosnia. Ašikovanje was still sung in Bosnia even at the

  beginning of the twentieth century, when the Croatian writer Antun Hangi vividly

  described it. He considered it one of the most important social rituals of Bosnian

  Muslims. The scenes he portrayed and songs he recorded were performed under a

  girl’s window. All have similar dialogic, stylistic, and semantic structures, using a

  characteristic vocabulary, puns, metaphors, and comparisons. In his romanticized

  descriptions, the absence of any physical touch is also remarkable, because love

  is experienced through seeing or a longing to see.27 Botić uses a similar pattern:

  Mara is shy and embarrassed at the sight of Adel, whereas for Adel the song is the

  only way of expressing his feelings:

  U Turčina đulvodica

  A Turk’s rose-water

  Slatko miriše;

  Smells sweet;

  Al’ je ljepša djevojčica,

  But a girl is nicer,

  Ljepša od ruže;

  Nicer than a rose;

  A ja Turčin ginem za djevojkom, And I, a Turk, am pining for a girl,

  Za djevojkom krotkom golubicom! For a girl, a gentle dove!28

  The concept of longing, waiting, and seeing serves as an initiation to the actions

  of all of Botić’s characters. Melka, a Muslim girl who represents Mara’s rival, is

  also in love with Adel, although she has not seen him. Being the daughter of an

  Ottoman aristocrat, Melka at first sight represents a woman isolated from the

  world outside of her room. The portrayal of Ottoman girls and their surroundings

  is a typical example of romantic exoticism—while the Christian environment is

  depicted through stylistic forms drawn from the history of literature. The room is

  described as a private feminine space, with the typical and traditional figures of

  exotic Oriental beauty:

  Al’ u sobi i jest teke čudo:

  Oh, there is just a miracle in the room:

  Svi gospodski sazi i nakiti

  Only luxury carpets and ornaments

  Naokolo sobu zaodjeli,

  Clothe the room on all sides

  Pram prozoru suncu pritvorenom Towards the window left ajar for the sun,

  Na mekijem dušecim kadife,

  On soft velvet mattresses,

  Na visokim svilnijem blazinjam,

  On lofty silk blankets,

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  Srebrom, zlatom sitno izvezenim

  Embroidered with fine silver and gold,

  Leži sama sumorna djevojka.

  Lies a somber girl alone.29

  The setting in which Melka appears for the first time resembles what is a very

  frequent opening scene in the ballads of Bosnian Muslims: a girl sitting alone on

  the window sill, doing her handywork, and longing for her loved one:

  Vezak vezla Melka na pendžeru

  Melka sat by the window knitting

  Vezak vezla, sjetno uzdisala.

  Knitting her knitting, sighing wistfully.30

  The one for whom Melka longs is Adel. She has learned of his beauty and heroism

  from her brother Omer’s stories. Omer, however, tries to explain to her the

  uselessness of her pain and longing for one whom she has not seen—in a word,

  the entire paradoxical notion at the heart of sevdah:

  Al’ odavna sad ne viđam Adu,

  Oh, how long I’ve not seen Ado,

  Nit je momak tebe kad vidjeo.

  Nor has the lad ever seen you.31

  Omer therefore tries to convince her to stop longing for him. He stresses shyness

  as a virtue, and the impossibility of love for the unseen one as the essence of

  sevdalinka.

  The concept of shyness as a feminine virtue in a patriarchal society is,

  as Hatidža Krnjević has pointed out, one of the main motifs in the ballads of

  Bosnian Muslims, and thus of Ottoman Bosnian Muslim women. She considers

  it the crucial tragic psychological element in Hasanaginica, the most famous of

  all such ballads.32 Hasanaginica’s bashfulness destroys her life, but in Melka’s

  case shyness disappears as soon as she finds salvation from her current state—the

  poet-healer comes to her room and tells her that Mara, her rival, has entered a

  monastery.

  Melka overcomes her shyness very easily and proves capable of using her

  entire patriarchal, social, and family network to lure Adel into marrying her. First,

  there is her brother Omer who decides to help her because he is outraged by

  her sorrow. His anger at seeing his sister’s pain opens the gate of the patriarchal

  household. The subordinate role of the sisters in comparison with their brothers

  did not mean that they could not count on the latter’s absolute love and protection;

  on the contrary, compared with the role of the husband, for instance, the role

  of the brother had the importance of “a born [blood] relationship.”33 In many

  instances, a brother also served as a replacement for the patriarchal role of the

  father. The affectionate relationship between brothers and sisters is not only

  typical for Ottoman Bosnia, but also for other regions of the Ottoman Empire.

  Giving the example of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Nablus, at the time part

  of the Ottoman Empire, Judith Tucker has argued that in the absence of a father,

  there was the brother on whom women could count in case of divorce or the death

  of their husband.34

  New insights into family relations during the period in question call into

  question the direct applicability of western notions of patriarchy to Islamic culture,

  Šolić, Women in ottoman Bosnia

  317

  without taking into account local, historical, social, and economic circumstances.

  Although the mother’s role was not equal to the father’s in the public sphere

  of the patriarchal system, recent theories argue that the family structure was

  established on the principle of hidden matriarchy within the marital relationship,

  since women had powerful positions within the household, dealing with marriage

  arrangements and even legal issues, traditionally considered part of the public—

  and thus masculine—domain. As Tucker has noted, instead of “a crude patriarchy

  in which an all-powerful male head of family imposed absolute submission on

  women, be they wives or daughters, [court material] suggests that women’s

  lives encompassed a number of affective family relationships.”35 Not only did

  mothers occupy the central position of protectress in the emotional life of their

  children, but upon reaching the age of seniority and thus becoming experienced,

  they gained power over new female family members, su
ch as daughters-in-law,

  to the extent that they became female “patriarchs”; in many cases they would

  serve as replacement for a daughter-in-law’s own mother, and would assume the

  traditional kinship responsibility of protecting her honor.36

  In Bijedna Mara, we find this role shouldered by Adel’s mother, whose

  influence and social position work in Melka’s favour. As Hatidža Krnjević has

  argued, Bosnian Muslim ballads developed the theme of the mother in myriad

  ways, frequently featuring a “bad” mother who, because of an excessively

  passionate nature, wants to harm or even kill her children; there was also the

  mother who falls victim to unfavorable external circumstances.37 A very common

  motif in these kinds of ballads is that of the mother who warns her son that her

  milk, the symbol of his blood and existence as well as of their relationship, will

  be cursed if he disobeys her wishes. Furthermore, in relation to the potential bride

  or wife, the mother acts as the “mother of the son” or “mother of the husband of a

  young woman,” a privileged position in the hierarchical structure of the family.38

  An example of a young girl who tries to use the mother to attract the son is

  explicitly given in Petar Bačić. Mejra, a young Muslim girl, flatters and entertains

  Petar’s mother who awaits her son and hopes that he will return alive from battle.

  Mejra uses the mother’s weakness and anxiety, and tells her about spells that she

  cast the previous night in order to protect her son from swords and guns. She

  offers the mother sweets and other gifts, and runs away at the sight of the Ottoman

  army coming back, begging her not to forget her good deeds:

  Pa da vidiš ljepote djevojke!

  And if you see a beautiful girl!

  Ona s’ maši u svileno krilo,

  She reaches into her silk lap,

  Iz krila mi vadi đakonije

  From which she takes out delicacies

  Od samog meda i šećera,

  Of pure honey and sugar,

  Pa mi nudi Bačićevu majku,

  And offers them to Bačić’s mother,

  Svojom rukom nudi i zalaže.

  With her hand she offers and feeds her

  Starica se brani i otima

  The old woman defends herself and

  pulls away

  U nevolji, u žalosti svojoj;

  In her misery, in her sorrow,

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  Djevojci se otet ne mogaše,

  She cannot say no to the girl,

  Niti njenom silnom silovanju,

  Neither to her powerful violence,

  Niti njenom milom milovanju.

  Nor to her kind tenderness.

  …

  …

  Zavikali umoreni Turci

  The tired Turks yelled

  Dogoneći plijen ispred sebe;

  Driving booty before them as they went;

  A Mejra mi lagana djevojka

  And Mejra, a slight girl,

  Skočila je od zemlje na noge:

  Leapt up from the ground on her legs:

  ‘Pozdravi mi svog sina Bačića,

  Greet your son Bačić,

  I nemoj me, majko, ostaviti,

  And don’t leave me, mother,

  Nemoj mi se iznevjerit majko!

  Don’t betray me mother!39

  Finally, a mother was actively involved in the search for a potential bride and

  in negotiations and arrangements for the marriage. As a woman, she was involved

  in communication with the bride and with other female members of the family,

  and her approval was sometimes crucial for stability within the family. Just as

  “the connection between mother and son was a vital political bond throughout

  Ottoman history” in imperial and ruling families,40 so was it decisive for the well-

  being of all the members of an “average” family as well.

  In Bijedna Mara, Adel’s mother is concerned about the state of her son, seeing

  that he enjoys the poetic isolation implicit in playing the saz (a string instrument

  traditionally used for performing sevdalinka) and the melancholic mood created

  by sevdah. She knows that he suffers from love, but she also carefully reminds

  him of his responsibilities, and says she expects him to care about his family

  and to get married. The importance of his marriage is further stressed by the fact

  that his father has died, and that there is no male member to lead and protect the

  family. His mother wisely offers him her mediation in finding the proper bride

  from the wealthy families among their friends and acquaintances:

  Mnogo puta smislih da ti kažem

  Many times have I thought to tell you

  Pa sve srcu odoljeh do danas,

  And until today I have resisted my heart

  Zašto mi se ne ženiš, sinko?

  Why don’t you get married, my son?

  Po tvojoj mi ćudi djevu kaži

  Choose a girl according to your likes,

  Prijatelja glavnijeh imamo,

  We have important friends,

  Nadaleko dosta jih imamo,

  Enough of them we have all around,

  A imamo božjeg blagoslova,

  And we have god’s blessing,

  Mnogijeh se stiditi ne moraš,

  You need not be ashamed before them,

  Pa da t’ majka isprosi djevojku!

  Your mother can ask for a girl for you!41

  At long last Adel’s mother finds out that the source of his pain is his dead beloved;

  but knowing that there is also another one waiting for him, she decides to arrange

  a meeting. Pretending to be full of compassion, she wisely supports him in his

  sorrow, patiently waiting for the moment when he will be ready to think about the

  girl she has secretly chosen for him:

  Šolić, Women in ottoman Bosnia

  319

  S njom se mlađan slatko naplakao, The lad cried sweetly to her,

  Njoj je tužan rane pootkrivo.

  Sadly he revealed his wounds to her.

  Al majka mudra bješe glava,

  But the mother was a wise woman,

  Ne će ništa prigovorit sinu,

  She addressed no reproaches to her son,

  No sve žali za mrtvom djevojkom, But still he mourned for a dead girl,

  Dok je svoga osvojila sina.

  While she had won over her son.42

  When the moment comes, Adel’s mother invents a story that Melka is their

  relative, and that she had been left alone after her mother, Adel’s maternal aunt,

  supposedly died. She praises her beauty, and considers her socially suitable for

  her son. She tells Adel that she is going to visit her and help her choose a future

  husband. Adel decides to marry her right then and begs his mother to help him get

  her only for himself. The melancholy and longing of sevdah disappears as Adel

  submissively obeys the will of his mother and bows to tradition:

  Idem sine, da ja vidim Melke,

  I am going, my son, to see Melka,

  Evo meni glasi učestali,

  Frequently do I hear the voices,

  Navalili prosci njenom ocu,

  The suitors hasten to her father,

  Mnogi prosci iz mnogijeh strana, Many suitors from the four winds,

  Kažu, dizdar hoće ćer udati;

  Saying the captain wants to

  marry his daughter;

  A ja ti se bojim za siroče,

  But I am afraid for the poor orphan,

  Udat će se i prevarit će se,


  She will marry and will bewail,

  Bit će ljuba, srećna ne će biti.

  She will be a mistress, but not be happy.43

  Adel’s decision also signifies a sudden discontinuity with the melancholic

  mode of a tragic love ballad. However, it is not true that the unexpected decision

  means an artistically inappropriate and weak choice of ending, as some critics

  have suggested.44 Although events surrounding Mara’s and Adel’s love form the

  ideological centre of the plot, the ballad begins with a description of Melka’s pain

  and love for Adel, and ends with their marriage. In this context, Adel’s love for

  Mara and her tragic destiny is the central part of the story. But it is also the main

  obstacle (as the love between a Muslim and a Christian) to the fulfillment of the

  traditional customs and the social environment typical of the sixteenth-century

  Dalmatian-Ottoman hinterland.

  If Melka is a representation of an Ottoman-Bosnian woman, Mara, whose

  tragedy and death are the real sources of the ballad, is portrayed as a typical

  pious Christian. Although involved in the courting game of sevdah, she belongs

  to the “Christian” framework of narration. In contrast to Melka, Mara is a passive

  suffering character, without developed psychological features. Mara’s pain ranges

  from the suffering typical of the sevdalinka to the religious suffering that she

  endures in the monastery because of her betrayal of family and tradition. The

  influence of Christian moral principles is evident in the fact that the poet absolves

  Mara of sin before her father, stating that her purity had been preserved because

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  Adel did not touch her. Moreover, he tries to explain that Mara did not even talk

  to Adel, that the only communication between them had been visual:

  Djevojka je vidjela Turčina,

  The girl saw the Turk,

  Ma da š njime govorila nije,

  Though she never spoke to him

  I to može da grijehu vodi;

  That could also lead to sin;

  Al’ nije l’ ga jadna iskajala,

  But hasn’t the poor girl atoned for it,

  Što je srcem svojim ratovala,

  In battling with her heart,

  I na volju silnom što ne dade?

  And not surrendering to

  its powerful will?45

  The Christian cultural model and the principle of suffering (caused by passion