Portrayal(s) of Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş in the Fifteenth Century

This article examines the portrayals of Hünkâr Hacı Bektaş (d. c. 1270), who has been one of the most influential velis (friends of God) among warriors and diverse dervish groups throughout the centuries. The persona of Hacı Bektaş has acquired new meanings within the transformed cultural and social contexts in different historical eras. This short analysis is limited to three intertextually related texts from the fifteenth century: the Ḫıżırnāme (1476), the Ṣaltuḳnāme (c. 1480), and the Velāyetnāme (c. 1481). Among these three works, while the Ṣaltuḳnāme and the Velāyetnāme have been subjects of numerous studies, as they include crucial details for understanding the historical events in pre-Ottoman and Ottoman times in Anatolia, the Ḫıżırnāme did not attract the attention of scholars until recently. With a particular focus on the portrayals of Hacı Bektaş in these three intertextually related texts, this study aims to generate new research questions for future studies about the historical image of Hacı Bektaş.