On Some Implications of Ilia Chavchavadze’s Barakala

Abstract

Georgia’s unification with Russia has been assessed on many occasions fromvarious perspectives: artistic and metaphorical, cultural and historical, politicaland pragmatic, and many others, whether mixed or homogeneous. Two of theseassessments stand out most clearly in our memory:Nikoloz Baratashvili: “The road was opened and the Iverians were givenhope to receive education from there”;Ilia Chavchavadze: “What? Twenty generals in this handful of people! [...]Barakala! [Bravo!] Orthodox Russia! Fame and glory! Wherever it treads, it establishescivilization”.This article in no way means to question these two perspectives or to offera third one. Rather, it is aimed at researching the essence of the perspectives.I mean research into the explicit content of Ilia Chavchavadze’s metaphoricalassessment – Barakala! – on the basis of hitherto unknown or little knownGeorgian-Italian sources. These sources include materials kept in the historicalarchives of Propaganda Fide in Rome, and in the archives of the Capuchins, Theatines,and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.