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Movses Baghramian

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Movses Baghramian (Armenian: Մովսես Բաղրամյան) was an 18th-century Armenian writer and activist.

He was born in Karabakh and studied under a vardapet named Gevorg in Julfa. He lived for some time in Russia. In 1762–67, he cooperated with his relative Joseph Emin in the Caucasus in order to organise an Armenian uprising against Persian and Ottoman rule. Baghramian left the Caucasus after becoming convinced that Emin's plan for an uprising was unrealistic. In 1768 he settled in Madras in India and became an active member of Shahamir Shahamirian's group.[1] Baghramian tutored Shahamirian's son Hakob in Classical Armenian and played an important role in running the printing press that the Shahamirians had founded.[2] In 1773 Baghramian's work Nor tetrak vor kochi hordorak (New booklet called exhortation) was published at the Madras Armenian press. According to Sebouh Aslanian and Vazken Ghougassian, Baghramian co-authored the work with Hakob Shahamirian.[3][4] Nor tetrak has been called "the first journalistic-political work" in the Armenian context[5] and "the cornerstone of Armenian political literature.[4] The work summarizes Armenian history, blaming the misfortunes of the Armenians on the despotic rule and arbitrariness of their native rulers and on Armenians' ignorance, laziness, carelessness and disunity. Hordorak calls for the Armenian youth to conduct armed struggle for the freedom of their homeland.[5] Some scholars have interpreted Hordorak as calling for a constitutional monarchy, while others argue that it is calling for the establishment of an Armenian democratic republic.[1]

Baghramian's work was received extremely negatively by the Armenian Catholicos Simeon of Yerevan, who saw the book's ideas as dangerous. Simeon excommunicated Baghramian from the Armenian Church.[6] Baghramian spent the next seven years in exile in Persia, Yemen and Egypt, working as a commercial agent for Shahamir Shahamirian.[7] The excommunication was lifted by Simeon's successor Ghukas Karnetsi in 1780 after Shahamirian's repeated requests. Movses later moved to Bombay, apparently having become wealthy as Shahamirian's agent. At one point, he was visited by his relative Joseph Emin, who writes in his autobiography that he found Movses "transformed, behaving imperiously and haughtily."[8] In 1795 Baghramian published articles in the Madras Armenian periodical Azdarar (1794–96) under the pseudonym Hay vordi Hayi ('Armenian, son of an Armenian').[9] According to Tadevos Avdalbegyan, he also wrote the extended appendix to a 1796 publication of Abraham of Crete's history.[10]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b Katvalian 1976.
  2. ^ Aslanian 2023, p. 308.
  3. ^ Aslanian 2023, p. 316.
  4. ^ a b Ghougassian 1999, p. 251.
  5. ^ a b Grigorian 1972, p. 208.
  6. ^ Aslanian 2002, pp. 70–72.
  7. ^ Aslanian 2002, pp. 74.
  8. ^ Aslanian 2002, pp. 77–78.
  9. ^ Davtyan & Manucharyan 2015, p. 20.
  10. ^ Davtyan & Manucharyan 2015, p. 41.

Bibliography

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  • Aslanian, Sebouh (2002). "Dispersion History and the Polycentric Nation: The Role of Simeon Yerevantsiʼs Girk or kochi partavchar in the 18th century National Revival". Bazmavēp. 160 (1–4): 5–81.
  • Aslanian, Sebouh (2023). Early Modernity and Mobility: Port Cities and Printers Across the Armenian Diaspora, 1512–1800. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-24753-4.
  • Davtyan, M. Kh.; Manucharyan, H. G. (2015). Movses Baghramyan: Hay kʻaghakʻakan hraparakakhosutʻyan skzbnavorumě [Movses Baghramian: The beginning of Armenian political journalism]. Yerevan State University Publishing House. ISBN 978-5-8084-2006-9.
  • Ghougassian, Vazken (1999). "The Quest for Enlightenment and Liberation: The Case of the Armenian Community of India in the Late Eighteenth Century". In Hovannisian, Richard G.; Myers, David M. (eds.). Enlightenment and Diaspora: The Armenian and Jewish Cases. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. pp. 241–264. ISBN 0-7885-0604-8.
  • Grigorian, V. R. (1972). "Madrasi hayrenasirakan khmbaki gortsuneutʻyuně" [Activities of the patriotic group of Madras]. In Khachikian, L. S.; et al. (eds.). Hay zhoghovrdi patmutʻyun [History of the Armenian People] (in Armenian). Vol. 4. Yerevan: Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House. pp. 206–215.
  • Hacikyan, A. J.; et al., eds. (2005). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 147–150. ISBN 9780814332214.
  • Katvalian, M. (1976). "Baghramyan Movses". Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran [Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia] (in Armenian). Vol. 2. Yerevan: Main editorial office of the Armenian Encyclopedia. pp. 258-259.
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