Boygar Razikashvili

Boygar (Bero) Razikashvili was the brother of Vazha-Pshavela's father, Pavle Razikashvili. The ancestors of the Razikashvili family came from Khevi, specifically from Sno, where they were expelled and settled in the community of Tsabauri in Pshavi. As we read in the biographies, Razika's son was Kumsi, Kumsi's son was Imeda, Imeda's son was Bero, and Bero's son was Givi, who had three sons: Boygar, Nadira, and Pavle.

In appearance, Vazha-Pshavela was just like Boygar (Bero). Vazha's contemporary Pshavi elders often said, "Vazha is just like his uncle Boygar. Even his walking manner is like him." Vazha's father, Pavle Razikashvili, also often spoke about this similarity: "He [Vazha] is beautiful, he looks like Bogyar, my brother," - we read in Aka Morchiladze's story "Luka and Brothers." As Geronti Kikodze writes in his literary letters, Vazha's "team of domestic teachers is completed by Vazha's third tutor, his father's younger brother Boygar, a strong brave man and a famous hunter, whose portrait Vazha described in his novella "Memoir". It was his uncle who instilled in him the love of nature and hunting."

In Vazha's novella "Memoir," the uncle's character is found under the name of Ninia,[2] and we read the following

"My uncle Ninia was a famous hunter, and his arrival always brought joy to me. He always told me many hunting stories." In this novella, we meet a nephew who admires his uncle's personality, who always listens with excitement to the stories told by his uncle, and has a great desire to be like him:

"I wish I could be a hunter like you, uncle," I told my uncle. - Ha, ha, ha, - my uncle laughed bitterly: - you are a better hunter if you use your wits, son. Nothing compares to learning in the present time. Hunting gave me nothing but sin. I kill a lot of animals, but it goes in vain. I have nothing left.

I thought hunting was the first thing I wanted to do, and I was surprised by my uncle's words. I was surprised and offended, but I didn't say anything to him."

Many other literary and historical sources can reference Boygar's strength and character. Aka Morchiladze writes:[3]

"For quite a long time, it was a local custom that a Georgian should have a long mustache, and Boygar had such a big mustache that it could touch both sides of his chest. This Boygar was a shepherd and a hunter. He had a very memorable manner of walking, and Vazha had a similar one. The hunter was also very famous. He used to tell us that I had buried the rifle three times. According to this ritual, if you kill 100 pieces of the animal, you must bury the rifle in the ground for three days, then dig it up and go to the next hundred. In other words, as my uncle Boygar would say, Three Azari (Georgian word. means the rule of burying a rifle, common among Georgian hunters) has completed - i.e. Three hundred".