Sadriddin Ayni

Sadriddin Saidmurodzoda Ayni
Founder of Modern Tajik Literature and National Hero of the Republic of Tajikistan

Sadriddin Saidmurodzoda Ayni was born on 27 (15) April 1878 in the village of Soktare, Gijduvan District of the Emirate of Bukhara (present-day Gijduvan District, Bukhara Region, Republic of Uzbekistan).

His son was the distinguished Tajik orientalist Kamol Ayni. His father, Saidmurodkhoja, was a farmer who, despite his modest occupation, was literate and placed great importance on education. Determined that his children should receive a proper education, he enrolled Sadriddin in the village madrasa at the age of six. Ayni later described this period in his autobiographical work “The Old School”, and in his memoirs “Reminiscences” he wrote:

“When my father realized that I could not receive a proper education in that school, he transferred me to a girls’ school.”

At the girls’ school, Ayni studied selections from the works of Bedil and the ghazals of Saib Tabrizi, completing his primary education at the age of ten. However, his childhood was tragically cut short. During the cholera epidemic that swept through Bukhara and its surrounding regions in 1889, he lost both of his parents within forty days.

Driven by a passion for learning and poetry, Ayni moved to Bukhara at the age of twelve. For a young man from a poor family, admission to the city’s madrasas was extremely difficult. Nevertheless, through determination and dedication, he overcame numerous hardships and spent sixteen years studying in Bukhara. He attended the Mir-i Arab, Olimjon, Badalbek, Khoja Zohid, and Kukaldash madrasas, completing his studies in 1908.

During his twenty-seven years in Bukhara, Ayni received not only a religious education but also invaluable lessons from life itself. To support himself, he worked in various occupations, including madrasa caretaker, cook, laundry worker, and laborer.

These experiences gave him a profound understanding of society, social inequality, class relations, and the injustices of the Emirate’s political system.

In 1896, Sadriddin adopted the literary pen name “Ayni” and began writing poetry independently.

After reading Ahmad Donish’s renowned work “Navodir-ul-Vaqoe'”, Ayni’s views on the decaying political and social system of the Emirate of Bukhara changed fundamentally. Inspired by the progressive educational ideas of Ahmad Donish and Shahin, he devoted himself to the cause of enlightenment and social reform.

In 1909, he wrote the textbook “Tahzib-us-Sibyon” for students of the New Method schools in Bukhara, with the aim of educating young people according to modern educational principles. His reformist activities displeased the Emir of Bukhara. As a result, Ayni was imprisoned and subjected to 75 lashes. After spending 52 days recovering in hospital, he moved to Samarkand. Later, both in Samarkand and Tashkent, he participated in the work of revolutionary committees, prepared proclamations, appeals, and informational bulletins, and actively engaged in public education and political outreach.

Because the Soviet authorities supported Ayni, the Emir of Bukhara accused his younger brother Sirojiddin of collaborating with anti-Emirate forces and had him brutally executed in prison. In memory of this tragedy, Ayni wrote his moving elegy “Marsiya”. Soon afterward, his elder brother Muhiddinkhoja was also executed. These tragic events deeply influenced Ayni’s later historical, journalistic, and literary works, in which he demonstrated the historical inevitability of the collapse of the Emirate’s oppressive regime.

Following the victory of the October Revolution, Ayni devoted himself to public service and education. From 1918, he worked within the national education system and contributed to the first revolutionary Tajik and Uzbek newspapers and journals. After the establishment of the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic in 1920, he served for a period in its consular service and later in its trade administration.

From 1926, he worked as a literary editor and consultant at the State Publishing House of Tajikistan.

In 1934, he participated in the First Congress of Soviet Writers, where he was elected a member of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Writers.

For his outstanding scholarly contributions, Ayni was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philological Sciences and elected an Honorary Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR.

He later became a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR and served as its first President from 1951 to 1954.

Sadriddin Ayni passed away on 15 July 1954 in Dushanbe.

Today, the Mausoleum of Sadriddin Ayni is one of Dushanbe’s most significant cultural and literary memorials. It is located within the Sadriddin Ayni Park of Culture and Recreation and remains an important place of remembrance for scholars, writers, and visitors from across Tajikistan.