| Vakhushti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1696 (1696) Tbilisi,Kingdom of Kartli,Safavid Empire |
| Died | 1757 (aged 60–61) Moscow,Russian Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | MariamAbashidze |
| Dynasty | Bagrationi dynasty |
| Father | Vakhtang VI of Kartli |
| Religion | Georgian Orthodox Church |
Vakhushti (Georgian:ვახუშტი;c. 1696 – 1757) was aGeorgian royal prince (batonishvili), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works,Description of the Kingdom of Georgia and theGeographical Atlas, were inscribed onUNESCO'sMemory of the World Register in 2013.[1]
Born as aroyal bastard, son of KingVakhtang VI of Kartli (ruled 1716–24), he was born inTbilisi, 1696. Educated by theGarsevanishvili brothers and aRoman Catholic mission, he was fluent inGreek,Latin,French,Turkish,Russian andArmenian.
His name Vakhushti derives fromOld Iranianvahišta- ("paradise", superlative ofveh "good", i.e., "superb, excellent").[2] Its equivalent inMiddle Persian iswahišt and inNew Persianbehešt.[2]
In 1719 and 1720, he participated in two successive campaigns against the rebel duke (eristavi)Shanshe of the Ksani. From August to November 1722, he served as a governor of the kingdom during his father's absence who was engaged in theGanja campaign. Later he served as a commander inKvemo Kartli. After theOttoman occupation ofKartli, he followed King Vakhtang in his emigration to theRussian Empire in 1724. Retired toMoscow,Tsarevich Vakhusht (as he came to be known in Russia) was granted a pension. He died at Moscow in 1757. He was buried at theDonskoy Monastery inMoscow, a traditional burial ground of Georgian emigrant royalty and nobility.
Most of his works were written or completed in Moscow. The best known areDescription of the Kingdom of Georgia (completed in 1745),The Geographic Description of Georgia (completed in 1750) and two geographic atlases of theCaucasus region accompanied by the images of several historic coats of arms (1745–46).
His famousDescription of the Kingdom of Georgia is essentially an adorned synopsis of the initial texts of the corpus of medieval Georgian annals,Kartlis Tskhovreba. Vakhushti was critical of the re-edition of the corpus assembled by a scholarly commission chaired by his father Vakhtang VI. So as to rectify perceived oversights of Vakhtang's version, Vakhushti compiled his own comprehensive history and geographical description of the Georgian people and lands. One of the chief goals of his corrective was to underscore all-Georgian political and cultural unity despite the fact that Georgia was politically divided among competing kings and princes during Vakhushti's lifetime. The popularity of Vakhushti's tome is evidenced by the many copies made of it, and his narrative significantly shaped the way in which subsequent generations have conceived of an all-Georgian past.[3] It is also a major source on the Georgian history of the 16th and 17th centuries.[4]
Vakhushti's works were soon translated into Russian and later into French[5] and served as a guide to many contemporaryEuropean scholars and travelers to Caucasus up to the early 20th century.
He also completed, together with his brother, Prince Bakar, the printing of theBible in Georgian, which he had been only partly done by their father, Vakhtang VI. He established for that purpose, in his house near Moscow, a printing-press, taught the art of printing to several Georgian clergymen, and completed the first printed edition of the Bible in Georgian in 1743. The printing-press was afterwards transferred to Moscow, where several religious works in Georgian were printed.
Vakhushti married in 1717 Mariam, youngest daughter ofGiorgi-Malakia Abashidze,ex-King of Imereti (1702–07), and had several children:
