A Short Biography Of Gabdullah Tukay

Gabdullah Tukay: The Greatest Tatar Poet & Writer (1886-1913)

Gabdullah Tukay was born on April 26, 1886, in the village of Kushlavich, Kazan. When he was five months old, his father Muhammed Garif died, and after several years, his mother, Memdude, was married to the mullah of the village of Sasna. This happy life did not last for long when he lost his mother after a year. Gabdullah was sent to his grandfather, Zinnetullah, who was a very poor man with many children. Lacking enough food for his own children, his grandfather sent him to Kazan with a coachman. There the coachman took Tukay to a marketplace called Pichen Bazaar, and started looking for someone who would like to adopt helpless, little Gabdullah. Muhammed Veli, from the Yana-Piste region of Kazan, decided to take care of him, but when both of his new parents got sick, they had to send him back to his grandfather. This time, he was sent for adoption to the village of Kirlay, to stay with the family of Saidi. During his stay with this family he was sent to school (Medrese, a religious school) for the first time in his life. In his own words, his enlightenment was started in this particular village.

In the fall of 1895, Tukay was brought to his aunt's family, the Osmanoffs, from Kirlay to Uralsk, where he was sent to the Medrese and to a Russian school. There he had the chance to get acquainted with world literature and started writing poetry at this very school.

In the fall of 1907 he went to Kazan inspired by his own creativity. There he made many friends with the leading Tatar writers and poets. He was successful in founding a new style in poetry, and wrote, "Kitmibiz," Shureli," "Tugan Ilime," and, "Par At," all of which were full of warm feelings towards his native nation. At the same time, he was writing for a newspaper and participated in the publishing of several Tatar magazines.

On February 26, 1913, he was hospitalized because of his severe case of tuberculosis. Even at the hospital, he never stopped writing poems for magazines and the school. On April 15, of the same year he passed away when he was twenty-seven years old.

Gabdullah Tukay always will be remembered.