P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Khodoidodzoda, Boboyunus

Tajik poet Boboyunus Khodoidodzoda was born in the village of

Kostrash in Khatlan province in 1870. He received no formal education

other than learning the poetic meters from the poet Mirzo Sho'ir. Elud-

ing the Governor of Baljuan for most of his youth, he was in hiding in

Khujand, Ferghana, Quqand, Tashkent, and Samarqand. In 1916, he

was sent to Russia for service behind the front and did not return until

1919.

His artistic career begins when he returns from the front in 1919. He

sang the Kuroghli epic with exceptional skill, and taught it to some

twenty-five novices, including Sodiq Razzoq, Haqnazar Kabud, and

Qurbonali Rajab. His contributions include Shi'r va Dostonho (Poetry

and Stories, 1941), Bahoduroni Maidoni Jangi Mihani (The Warriors of

the Battlefield of the Great Patriotic War, 1943), Mahabbati Khalq (The

Love of People, 1951), and Surudhoi Hofiz (The Songs of Hafiz, 1967).

Khodoidodzoda died in the village of Chilchila in the Khatlan prov-

ince in 1945.