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Khurshidbanu Natavan

Poet and philanthropist (1832–1897), daughter of the last khan of Karabakh, who built Shusha's first water supply.

Natavan with her children
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Khurshidbanu Natavan was born in Shusha in 1832 into the family of Mehdigulu Khan, the last khan of Karabakh, and was known among the people as the "Khan's daughter".

Her lyric ghazals are full of tender, sincere feeling and are among the brightest examples of Azerbaijani women's poetry. In Shusha she founded the literary circle Majlisi-Uns, bringing poets together.

A great philanthropist, she had a water supply built for Shusha in 1883, and the "Khan's Daughter Spring" still bears her memory. She died in 1897 and was buried at the Imarat cemetery in Aghdam.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia

Updated: October 1, 2026

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