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A Qalandari dervish who lived at Merzifon in the XV century; he is known for the legends that grew up around his life and for his tomb at Merzifon.
What is known of his life rests on the Menakıb-ı Piri Baba, written by one Hoca İbrahim, and on Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname. Hoca İbrahim says that he himself built the Piri Baba lodge mentioned in the land-survey register of 926 (1520). That Piri Baba's nephew Ali Dede was still alive when the work was written shows that not very long had passed since his death; on this basis it has been suggested that the work was composed in the reign of Selim I. Evliya Çelebi, who passed through Merzifon in 1057 (1647) and visited his tomb, says that he was one of the dervishes whom Ahmad Yasawi sent to Anatolia together with Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. M. Fuad Köprülü, repeating Evliya Çelebi's view, likewise counts him, under the name Pir Dede, among Ahmad Yasawi's deputies in Anatolia.
According to the Menakıbname he came from the village of Narince near Merzifon. At the age of seven or eight his mother apprenticed him to a master shoemaker in Merzifon. The work stresses that he attained sainthood at an early age, and relates that even at that age he was deeply devoted to worship.
The main subject both of the Menakıbname and of Evliya Çelebi is his relationship with the Ottoman sultan of the day. According to the Menakıbname he lived in the furnace room of a bathhouse reserved for men in the morning and for women in the afternoon; when he stayed on in the bathhouse even when the women came, he provoked the scholars of Merzifon and was denounced to the sultan. The Menakıbname presents him as a saint who first wins the heart of the sultan who has come to punish him and then foretells the conquest of cities, raising him above the ruler of his time. According to the source this motif also appears in other hagiographies written in that period, such as the Vilayetname-i Otman Baba, and may be read as a reaction to the negative policy Mehmed the Conqueror pursued towards the dervishes. The legend also indicates that because of his Qalandari temperament he was not much liked by the scholars of his time.
The date of his death is unknown. The Menakıbname states that after his death his fellow villagers from Narince wished to claim him, but the scholars of Merzifon would not allow it. Hoca İbrahim relates that he built a tomb for him and married a girl of his own family to Piri Baba's nephew Ali Dede; the source says that this last episode may also be seen as Hoca İbrahim's effort to establish a tie of kinship with Piri Baba.
His Poetry and Sufi Line — This slot carries not his poetry but his Sufi line. The source lists the signs suggesting that he was a Qalandari dervish: his being called in the Seyahatname by the term "ışık", used around the XVI century for Qalandari dervishes; his going about naked; his conduct, according to the Menakıbname, when he met Mehmed the Conqueror; and his resemblance to Otman Baba. The miracle motifs related of him also resemble those of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli: a miraculous journey to the Kaaba, ripening fruit out of season and taking the form of a dove are among them. The references to Karbala in his legends stand out as an emphasis on love for the Prophet's family.
His Tomb and Complex — His tomb stands in the Tekke quarter of Merzifon; known to have been repaired several times, it was last restored in 1977 by the General Directorate of Pious Foundations. His lodge is recorded in the land-survey register of 926 (1520); at that time one Şahkulu Baba b. Bayezid was its shaykh, and the register of 982-983 (1574-1575) shows that he was still in office. Evliya Çelebi records that at the time of his visit a shaykh named Memi Dede Can served at the lodge, and that many visitors came and went to the lodge and to the bathhouse where Piri Baba was believed to have lived. In later periods many legends grew up around his person.
Miracles
The following are reports that appear in the source as TRANSMITTED accounts; the atlas records them not as 'this is what happened' but as 'this is what the sources transmit'.
Tales of his apprenticeship — The Menakıbname relates that during his apprenticeship he performed the noon prayer at the Kaaba, and that when his master asked for water he brought it from the well of Zamzam. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
The halva — According to one report, when his master left for the pilgrimage he entrusted him to another master on condition that he spend his evenings at his own house; while the master was on pilgrimage, Piri Baba brought him the halva his wife had made. When on his return the master told his wife of this, she, convinced that he was a blessed person, resolved to hand him back to his family; this woman not only discovered his sainthood but also made her husband aware of it. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
The second master and the water of Karbala — The Menakıbname reports that with a sign he blinded one eye of his second master, who did not believe in him; the source takes this as a sign that he was seen as a "punishing saint". It is also related that he once brought water from Karbala in a green cup, and that people came from Karbala to visit him. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
The meeting with the sultan (Menakıbname) — Mehmed the Conqueror, who came to Merzifon upon the complaint to punish him, saw some of his miracles and understood that he was a saint; Piri Baba in turn gave him the glad tidings that he would conquer Istanbul. After the conquest the sultan wished to bestow on him many gifts and lands, but he refused them and asked that they be given to the scholars of Merzifon so that they would pray for him. Koyun Baba, whom the sultan visited at Osmancık on his way back to Istanbul, likewise confirmed Piri Baba's sainthood. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
The meeting with the sultan (Seyahatname) — According to Evliya Çelebi the grounds of the complaint were that he scrubbed women's backs with the bath mitt and soap and told pregnant women the sex of the children they would bear. The sultan to whom he was denounced was Murad II; when the sultan went angrily to Merzifon, Piri Baba proved his sainthood by displaying extraordinary states, and foretold to him the conquest of Izmir and to Prince Mehmed the conquest of Istanbul. When the prophecy came true the sultan endowed the lodge with 366 villages and the town of Merzifon. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
In the form of a dove — Hoca İbrahim relates that after Piri Baba's death, when their ship was about to sink in a storm, they were saved by Piri Baba in the form of a dove, and that because of this he built a tomb for him. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
Healing in the bathhouse — Evliya Çelebi reports that the sick who bathed in the bathhouse where Piri Baba was believed to have lived were healed. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "Pîrî Baba", vol. 34)
Differing Scholarly Views
Which sultan — According to the Menakıbname the ruler to whom Piri Baba was denounced and whom he met was Mehmed the Conqueror; Evliya Çelebi, however, writes that he was Murad II, and splits the prophecy in two: the conquest of Izmir and that of Istanbul. The grounds of the complaint also differ in the two sources. The atlas makes no choice between them.
When he lived — The TDV presents him as a dervish who lived in the XV century. Evliya Çelebi, however, states that he was one of the dervishes Ahmad Yasawi sent to Anatolia, and that he lived from the reign of Orhan Gazi to that of Mehmed the Conqueror. The source reports Evliya's account; the atlas records the two side by side.
Bektashi or Qalandari — Ahmet Yaşar Ocak counts the Menakıb-ı Piri Baba among the Bektashi hagiographies written in the XVI century; the author of the article, however, states that on the information the work gives it hardly seems possible to call Piri Baba a Bektashi, and that the signs suggest he was a Qalandari dervish. Evliya Çelebi says the lodge was a Bektashi lodge at the time of his visit; Faroqhi, for her part, states that the lodge was under Bektashi control in the XVII century, but that it hardly seems possible to say it was founded as a Bektashi lodge. The atlas takes no side and records each view with its holder.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · vol. 34, pp. 279-280, entry “Pîrî Baba”
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