Vazha-Pshavela (Georgian: ვაჟა-ფშაველა), simply referred to as Vazha (Georgian: ვაჟა) (26 July 1861 –

10 July 1915), is the pen name of the Georgian poet and writer Luka Razikashvili (Georgian: ლუკა
რაზიკაშვილი).

"Vazha-Pshavela" literally means "a son of Pshavians" in Georgian.

Contents

1 Life

2 Works

2.1 Epic poems

2.2 Other poetry

2.3 Short stories

2.4 Plays (theatre)

3 Movies

4 References

5 Further reading

6 External links

Life

Vazha-Pshavela was born into a family of clergymen in the little village of Chargali, situated in the
mountainous Pshavi province of Eastern Georgia. He graduated from the Pedagogical Seminary in Gori
1882, where he associated closely with Georgian populists (Russian term narodniki). He then entered
the faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (Russia) in 1883, as a non-credit student, but returned to
Georgia in 1884 due to financial constraints. Here he found employment as a teacher of the Georgian
language. He also attained prominence as a famous representative of the National-Liberation movement
of Georgia.

Vazha-Pshavela embarked on his literary career in the mid-1880s. In his works, he portrayed the
everyday life and psychology of his contemporary Pshavs. Vazha-Pshavela is the author of many world-
class literary works – 36 epics, about 400 poems ("Aluda Ketelauri", "Bakhtrioni", "Gogotur and
Apshina", "Host and Guest", "Snake eater", "Eteri", "Mindia", etc.), plays, and stories, as well as literary
criticism, journalism and scholarly articles of ethnographic interest. Even in his fiction he evokes the life
of the Georgian highlander with a near-ethnographic precision and depicts an entire world of
mythological concepts. In his poetry, the poet addresses the heroic past of his people and extols the
struggle against enemies both external and internal. (poems A Wounded Snow Leopard (1890), A Letter
of a Pshav Soldier to His Mother (1915), etc.).

In the best of his epic compositions, Vazha-Pshavela deals powerfully with the problems raised by the
interaction of the individual with society, of humankind with the natural world and of human love with
love of country. The conflict between an individual and a temi (community) is depicted in the epics
Aluda Ketelauri (1888, Russian translation, 1939) and Guest and Host (1893, Russian translation 1935).
The principal characters in both works come to question and ultimately to disregard outdated laws
upheld by their respective communities,in their personal journey toward a greater humanity that
transcends the merely parochial.[1]