The six-thousand-year-old historical experience of
humankind instructs us in the following: a fortunate development and
longevity of existence of any nation totally depends on the extent of
its ethnic identity and psychology, as well as on the extent of its
power to defend its particular vital interests and intrinsic ethnic
unity – through the utmost mobilization of the energy the nation
possesses, disclosing the national concord and unanimity in selfless
devotion to protect the legacy of its ancestors: the fundamental values
of the mother-tongue, historical territory - the land of their country,
the statehood, religion, as well as the traditional ways of life. An
Indian thinker, Vivekananda is correct in his observation, that “Every
nation, as well as every individual has the sole theme as the basis of
his life, the central note, and all other notes of harmony assemble
around it... In case the nation rejects it, in case the nation rejects
the principle of its own vitality, the direction inherited from the
centuries – it will die”. Ilia Chavchavadze, our great writer and public
figure is right, too, in his opinion: “The nation of the sole interest
and deed, under the sole historical yoke, struggling in unity,
undergoing the same misfortunes and the same flukes - is strong through
its unanimity and steadfastness”, “A nation possesses a single soul, a
single heart, but the amount of flesh equals the number of separate
individuals”. The XXth century writer, K.Gamsakhurdia believed that “If
the greatest obligation of every particular individual is a Socratic
self-perception, even more should be required of the whole nation - that
incomparably profound and complex ideological entity to perceive the
full scope of its own potential and recognize the ranges of its
creativity”.
It should be said to the Georgians’ credit that long
beforer many of the world’s foremost nations, they managed to solve the
task of its development into a solid ethnosocial entity, and in the
acknowledgement and perception - either “of the scope of their own
might” or “the ranges of their creative potential” - they reached the
pinnacle of their ethnocultural and ethnopolitical evolution at the time
when the first heralds of European Renaissance were not even born, while
the major part of the old continent was in the mean nippers of
scholastic wisdom. It should be noted that in the IXth century, Georgian
monks on the Sinai mountain already prayed “for peace in Kartli, for the
fortification of its borders, for setting the king’s and feudals’ mind
at rest, for the repelling of invaders and for the influx of the
captives - and for the settling down of disastrous period”. In 1084, the
authors of the Petritsoni monastery typicon proudly inferred: “We, the
Georgians are alert, supported by our relations, raised by the warriors
and accustomed to the life of permanent hardships” - which, in itself,
was quite an early but ripe and clear demonstration of our ethnic
self-consciousness.
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Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi particularly clarifies
the national features characteristic to the Georgians in the past: In
his capital study - “A Description of the Kingdom of Georgia”, he
writes: “They had the ways and the habits... ever striving for the
integrity of the kingdom, but when deprived of some area, regretted they
a lot of the shrinking borders and attempted greatly to restore the
impaired position; displayed their unyielding devotion to their kings
and overpowered by some overwhelming force surrendered they not, but
struggled for the regaining of the former stance, and betrayed not their
Lord, and their king, and their ways”...
The quoted excerpt illustrates the existence of a
perfect doctrine since ancient period, regarding the essential
principles Georgian national policy, which are: 1) struggle for the
independence and the statewide unification of the native country, 2)
joint efforts to return the historical territories seized by the
enemies, 3) ever-devoted service to the monarchy and 4) life under the
conditions of national disobedience - concerning the power of foreign
rulers - and strict adherence to their own habits and traditions,
together with uncompromising defense of religion and statehood.
The rigorous implementation of the cited principles
developed in Georgians a strong sense of statehood and a compementary -
from their very teens molding in their honest character a specific
sensualistic vertical love - first for God, second for their homeland,
and - the traditions and ways of their forefathers, and lastly - for
their kin and their own selves. However, this type of mentality
transformed into an unbreakable ideological coat of mail that saved
Georgians from an almost seven centuries long pitiless press of
ethnocyde and spared them a nearly inevitable physical elimination,
thus, the nation, small in number and pursuing its way on the hanging
bridge of history, was provided with the tiniest chance of retaining its
ethnic identity.
How persuasively sound our poet’s - Grigol
Orbeliani’s words: “. .the courage of Georgians is a matter of general
praise, and they love their fatherland the proof of which is that the
smallness of kingdoms never impeded its abilities to protect its
frontiers, likewise its language and religion - were it not for the
exceptional bravery and love of the kings and homeland. A number of
times did the history demonstrate Georgia’s knack at restoring itself
again from total annihilation. Similar miracles are created only through
valour and love of the motherland and religion”.
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Therefore, all the generations of Georgians are
equally entitled to join P.lngorokva, our famed scholar, stating that
Georgia is “the land of the Georgian nation, where it realized its
history and where every piece of land and every corner is occupied by
the monuments of the colourful Georgian culture. No one shall ever find
a single piece of land, annexed through invasion or in any other way”.
It is true, that as a result of incessant expansion
of foreigners, Georgia diminished and shrank, while the people of
Georgia quite a few times reached an alarming stage of complete
exhaustion of national energy, yet it had never betrayed the basic
principles of the national policy, due to “the succession of days and
cycles of intervals”, likewise, out of its own wish, it had never thrown
on the scales of history the defining values of ethnic identity, the
concept of Sakartvelo “ itself has never been drained of ethnographic,
geographic, cultural or political contents.
In spite of the terrible repression, not a single
bloodthirsty agressor succeeded in quelling of the struggle for freedom
in the nature of Georgians, as well as in erasing the concept of
Georgianhood” and “the entity of Georgianhood” from their ethnic memory.
Even in the periods of complete deprivation of political rights, the
nation did not give up its historical ideals, and in certain regions of
the country it was possible to grasp the blessings and prayers for the
native country:
“Almighty God, pray, keep Georgia in the radiance of
happinness, within its borders. Set peace on all the four sides. The
blessed one, punish all the possessors of evil eye and evil heart!” (Tusheti).
“. .Let the entire Georgia’s angels-children of God
stay victorious! Let their grace and their might help the whole of
Georgia - and the one who supports the whole of Georgia. “ (Mtiuleti).
“Almighty God, provide the hapinness to each epitome
of Georgia, with its land and waters. May there never come their decline
and end!” (Gudamakari)
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It is a fact, that even at the most disastrous stages
of their historical development, the Georgians had never yielded to
despair and never fully surrendered their traditions of fighting the
ever overwhelming numerous enemies - as well as their honourable
tradition of agriculture (“the land-farming” and cattle-breeding), which
is expressed with an admiring simplicity in a Tushetian folk prayer:
“Lord, help the wearers either of hats or the head-scarfs: females,
males and youths! May Thou help the sabre-bearer (i.e. a warrior) and a
crook-bearer (i.e. a Shepherd) and the plough-man, may Thou make them
victorious over the enemies they have and endow them with wealth! “
So, we can hardly consider the words of our writer,
A.Tsereteli, an overestimation: “A real enigma should be called the life
of Georgians! When considering the story of our country, it always
puzzles me that there hardly can be found a nation that after becoming
stronger and invading other states, would not assault this tiny bit of a
parcel-of-a-country, but hey! Isn’t it a wonder, they share the fate of
huge waves, crushing against a small rock and repelling! Where are they
now? - There, transformed into the matter of fairy-tales, while our
small nation has survived to the present day... “
It seems, Vaja Pshavela’s opinion directly
substantiates the priority of historical experience of the “handful
nation” of Georgians -against that of the “fairy-tale matter” nations:
“. .All nations, worthy of the name of a nation, do have a history and a
past, they also possess a historical ideal - or a historical
testament... The virtues of the past provide a modern nation with
delight and resuscitation, cheering it up and encouraging for the
achievement of a better future... Doomed is the nation lacking a
history, the nation that does not regard its historical testament as its
icon... If a nation appreciates its own nationhood and cares about it,
it shall escape the death, whether physical or any other type. Still, it
is obliged to know, observe and remember the conditions of endless life.
The truth is, in case it succeeds in observing and following those
traditions, it will remain in the state of eternal youth, yet be
enriched by the experience of aged wisdom.”
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Now, as we approach the 3000th anniversary of
Georgian statehood, we can definitely state that our nation, “so used to
the life of permanent disasters”, has preserved and kept the “conditions
of endless life” with dignity, and at the cost of immense sacrifices and
losses has managed to remain “an eternal youth, enriched by the
experience of aged wisdom”.
In order to evade the aging of the Georgian
historical ideals in the XXI century and to prevent “the new Georgians”
– molded for “a citizen of the world” mental model - from losing the
habitual interest and devotion the Georgians duly feel towards their
historical testament, a perfect knowledge of their own country is a
must, as well as permanently keeping in memory that “the disappointed
ones in their own identity and indidviduality, those who have in fact
rejected their own “selfness” and torn it away from their hearts, and
have become oblivious of it, shall not be able to accumulate what
belongs to others, neither shall they become devoted to what is others’”
(1. Chavchavadze).
The book by Giorgi Gabeskiria, “Where a Georgian
comes to”, has a certain value for us because of its characteristic and
very balanced apologia for Georgianhood, which invariably increases in a
reader the vitality of national self-consciousness, spiritually
encourages him/her and “arouses a desire to achieve a perfect future”.
Although the author of the book is not a professional historian, the
quality of his work vastly exceeds the level of amateurish attempts of
some authors, obsessed by historical ambitions.
Although the book presents a kind of a summary of the
results of a number of Georgian researches in historical ethnography and
linguistics, and altogether is of a compiling nature, it nevertheless
possesses considerable features of an independent science research, and
above all - it is perfectly readable, since it collects an impressive
multicoloured informative and cognizant material, that an interested
reader can hardly find in special literature on history and ethnography,
or in booklets and reference books that have been published until now.
So, we can certainly state, that publications of this type, by all means
provide valuable service for the growth of the sense of ethnic identity
among Georgians, and it will certainly attract the attention of the
majority of our compatriots, who still consider their “historical
testament as a kind of icon”, the attention of those, who - unlike a few
West- or North-oriented individuals - do not, of course, require to be
reminded of the fact that “savagery, baseness of spirit and ignorance,
do not respect the past and adulate the present.” A.Pushkin)
It is clear, that the concept of a genuine patriot
does not imply a general Georgian obligation for everybody to follow
G.Gabeskiria’s example and start writing, dedicated particularly to
national issues, but the real patriots certainly should read this type
of books frequently - in order to widen their horizon, strengthen their
ethnic self-assuredness and save their sense of national esteem in this
blessed part of the universe, “where a Georgian comes to.”
Vakhtang ltonishvili
