Takhir and Zokhre

(also Zokhre and Takhir), a lyric epic poem of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Middle Asia and the Volga Region; it is also known in Azerbaijan and Turkey. The plot, similar in many versions, recounts the tragic story of a betrothed couple separated by the malevolence of the padishah (monarch), the maiden’s father. The main theme of the versions that took form during the age of feudalism was that of a search for justice. The Uzbek version retained elements of the fantastic that are typical of myth.

The story of Takhir and Zokhre was first given literary form by Säyeadiy, an Uzbek poet of the 17th and 18th centuries. In Turkmenia, two variants of the story exist: an oral poetic version and a literary version, Zokhre and Takhir, written by Mollanepes in the 19th century.