BEAUTY THAT WON OVER THE WORLD

She was a fairy-tale beauty, constantly followed by admiring glances. This girl from a remote province adorned the secular receptions in St. Petersburg, the capital of the tsarist empire. Those who had heard about her, but never seen her, asserted that, after the first meeting, this young girl reminded one of a fairy-tale fairy, but in actual fact she quite rightly bore the "Miss World" title. Sona xanim [expression of respect for a woman in Azerbaijan] Mehmandarova officially received that title at the 1912 beauty contest in Paris, which was one of the most modern cities in the world at that time. In her beauty there was veiled mystery, charm, the secret of which was revealed when you got to know her better. The girl's beauty was not just a matter of her bewitching look and slender figure.

Her inner nobleness, gracefulness and pride made her especially attractive. Handsome, wealthy men from high society fell in love with her and offered their hands and hearts. Young girls and women envied her, watching her all the time with envious glances. It would have appeared that there was no reason for a splendid creation of the Almighty like her, who had won fame at such a young age, was bathed in the rays of glory and was the embodiment of beauty and joie de vivre, to be sad and grieve… But deep down in her look there was a hint of that sadness that she was hiding from everyone… This world which was in love with her, showering her with flowers and affection was alien to Sona Mehmandarova. She was all alone in it, like a female protagonist who has accidentally found herself in the wrong fairy-tale. The fairy story and the care-free moments of her life remained in far-away Lankaran...

From a worthy family

She had a happy childhood. Every wish of this affectionate little girl surrounded by the care of the famous Mehmandarov family, was immediately fulfilled. Sona khanum, the beauty, who was the daughter of Naqi bay Mehmandarov, grew up a real aristocrat. Right from childhood her parents paid her particular attention. She received a splendid education and upbringing. While she was still at the grammar school, she dreamt of receiving higher education when she left school. Among her relatives, both on her father's side and her mother's, there were many graduates of universities that were famous at that time, who were renowned and occupied important, high posts.

After studying at the madrassah [religious school] and the private Abdurrahim Aga Molla Ismayil oglu vocational school in Susa [Shusha, Karabakh, Azerbaijan], Sona's uncle, Mirza Sadig bay Mehmandarov, continued his studies at the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. He spoke French, German and English. It was there that he became acquainted with Haci Mir Abbas bay Talisinski. He worked as a translator, as a police chief under the head of Lankaran district, under the police officer in Mugan and as the police commissar of Lankaran. In 1849, he was awarded a bronze medal for his irreproachable service.

He was famous for his respectability and being patron of the arts. hen he returned from Shusha in 1840, at the customs house in Qara Donlu, Mirza Sadyg bey became acquainted with a poet from Samaxi, Mirza Ismayil Qasiri, whom he invited to Lankaran. He allocated rooms for him on his estate and helped to find 50 children so he opened the "Usili Cadid" (new style school - Author),

Sadyg bey left for another world in 1911. He had 11 children from his marriage to Tutu. They all received the extremely decent upbringing and education which was typical of the Mehmandarov family. His son served in the 21st Caucasus Regiment. Another son, Samed bey, who finished the grammar school in Baku, enrolled at the Second Konstantinov Artillery College in St. Petersburg. He became the first Azerbaijani to be awarded the rank of full artillery general. His heroism and bravery were legendary. Sona's father, Naqi bey, who eventually rose to the position of town governor in Lankaran, married Bika , the daughter of Mir Abulfat khan Talisxanov.

Beauty is a terrifying force

From childhood Sona had stood out for her intellectual ability, her nobleness and striving for education. She got offers of marriage from her early years. Many people were in love with that beauty. Although Sona and her parents turned them all down, the suitors kept on bothering them. Some people went crazy when they were refused. Proposals of marriage were made over and over again, in the hope of receiving a positive answer. One of the suitors, Ahmad bay Zeynalov decided to take revenge on Sona khanum's father, and he and a friend kidnapped Naqi bay from his own home one night. Having fatally wounded him they threw his body into the sea. This monstrous crime did not go unpunished. Naqi bay Mehmandarov's murderers were caught and banished to Siberia.

Naqi bey's death left an open wound in the hearts of his wife and daughter which could not be healed. Already an elderly woman, Bika, who was worried about Sona's fate, did not want to leave her daughter in Lankaran and sent the young woman, whose beauty had not faded in spite of the sorrow she had experienced, to relatives in Baku. Sona found herself in a city which changed with every passing day. The political, economic and cultural life there was packed with interesting events. The relatives living there and her new friends made every effort to distract the girl from the enormous sorrow she had experienced, awakening in her a thirst for life. Thanks to their care, she gradually began to adapt to the new environment, to the busy life style which made Baku completely different from Lankaran. But her dreams of a quiet life were not destined to come true. The fame of her beauty was rapidly spreading, and soon she was once again the focus of attention. The number of young men from distinguished Baku families who longed to meet her and marry her kept on growing. But none of them was to her liking.

She had never ever thought that she might one day be famous. It never occurred to her that at some point she would take part in a beauty contest. But in 1912 her friends persuaded her to participate in the competition which had been organised at the "Public Assembly" building (currently the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society - Author). Her incomparable beauty made her stand out there among all the other beautiful participants and determined the jury's decision. At that moment, Sona could not even have imagined how this event would change the whole of her life. In spite of her expectations, neither this competition nor this victory would be the last in her life.

The path to success

At the beginning of the 20th century beauty contests were the height of fashion in high society. A beauty competition of this type was held in Tiflis [now Tbilisi], which was the centre of Transcaucasia at that time. The winner of the Baku contest was awarded a trip to the Tbilisi competition. Her relatives and friends accompanied her to Tiflis. Sona khanum had no intention of staying there for long. She thought she would take a look at this ancient city and, when she returned, she would tell her near ones about her impressions of it. She did not even guess that she was setting out on a path along which there was no turning back. Everything happened as if in dream: she found Tiflis to be splendid, she was engulfed by anxiety during the contest and then she experienced the joy of winning which she had not realised before…

Now her path lay in the direction of St. Petersburg. She was to take part in the "Miss Russia" contest there. Once again she was the most beautiful contestant. Placing the valuable crown on the head of Sona only emphasized her mysterious beauty. Now she saw that those around her were charmed by her. Her own beauty, which she started to be aware of, brought her confidence in herself. It was precisely with these feelings that Sona set out for the finals of the Miss World competition in Paris in 1912. There, in one of the most prestigious cities in the world, she had no rival, winning that honorary title. All the major newspapers in the world at that time published the photograph of the contest's winner on their front pages, showing Sona Mehmandarova in an emerald crown, accompanied by an article about her.

She enjoyed fame all over the world. The girl from the provinces became Miss World. With time she began to be aware of the burden that fame brings with it. The success in Paris meant that all the ways back had been cut off. Now Sona Mehman-darova did not have the right to return to either Lankaran or Baku. Pride in the great empire meant having to live in the capital, St. Petersburg. Now she not only had influence in high society, but even at court. She acquired a luxurious mansion right in the centre of St. Petersburg and occupied a place in society that was worthy of her name and she became involved in secular life.

The fall of the clan

She had numerous admirers. She was the centre of attention in any society. People fell in love with her, even without any hope of their love being returned. For everyone knew that, according to the existing rules, the winners of beauty contests could not marry for a year. Sona was forced to turn down her handsome, wealthy, young admirers from distinguished families.

Many things changed after the First World War started. Finally, Sona Mehmandarova felt inclined to accept the offer of one of her admirers. She married Uruzov who hailed from Dagestan. Although her relatives were against the marriage, Sona did not listen to anyone. Her husband was a wealthy man, but their family life was not a happy since fate did not bless them with a child. Everything changed yet again after the 1917 October Revolution. The new authorities confiscated everything from them and destroyed their entire way of life. Since she had not heeded her relatives protests in their time, Sona did not return to her homeland, even when Azerbaijan became a democratic republic and her own uncle, Samad Mehmandarov, was appointed the defence minister.

The Bolsheviks soon made their way to her motherland as well. The national government of Azerbaijan was overthrown, and a struggle began against the former bays and khans. Hard times began for the Mehman-darovs, for Sona's relatives on her father's side and for the Talisinskies, her relatives on her mother's side. The Bolshevik government arrested Sona's uncle, Samad bay Mehman-darov, who had been a famous general in the tsarist army and the minister of defence in the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan. He was incarcerated in Baku for some time and then in Butyrka prison in Moscow. He was released together with General Aliaga Shikhlinsky on the basis of a letter from Stalin, and they returned to Baku a year later thanks to the efforts of [the head of the Soviet Azerbaijan government] Nariman Narimanov.

The Soviet authority could not deny that they knew that General Mehmandarov had been forced to sweep the area around the building which had housed the ministry he had once headed under the Azerbaijani government (now the building known as Azneft - Author). From 1923 he started to lecture on artillery science at the Azerbaijan Military Academy. He retired due to his health in 1928. He passed away in 1931 and was buried in the Cambarakand cemetery. After the death of Samad bay, his wife moved to St. Petersburg, taking their son with her. In 1937 they were banished to [the Russian Volga city of] Saratov and in 1941 to Siberia.

When they began to clear away the Cambarakand cemetery at the end of the 1930s in order to erect a monument to [Bolshevik leader Sergey] Kirov, one of the destroyed graves turned out to be that of Samad bay Mehmandarov. None of the relatives was able to move the grave to another cemetery…

When she heard about the misfortunes that had befallen her relatives, Sona was truly upset about it. She herself, like all members of the aristocracy, was living under the threat of being subjected to repressions. In those years, Sona Mehmandarova had to burn all her documents and photographs; many people hastened to do that, destroying evidence of their birth with well-known surnames like Mehmandarov and many others.

Beauty consigned to oblivion

From the 1920s she began to live in Moscow. The main reason for her change of residence was the guardianship offered by Anatoliy Lu-nacharskiy. Formerly, until 1929, he was People's Commissar of Education of the Russian Soviet Federal Socia-list Republic. The friendship with him evidently helped her to survive the post-revolutionary repressions which close representatives of many distinguished families were unable to bear. Sona Mehmandarova only returned to Baku many years later, in 1966. In 1912 the city had given her a send-off, when she had still been very young and was not aware that she was unparalleled in her beauty. Half a century later there was not a trace of that former beauty left which had amazed the world. When she returned here she was already a tired, sick old woman. Many misfortunes had befallen Sona Mehmandarova. The most bitter of them was what she had to endure because of her social background.

Life took away the beauty that the Almighty had bestowed upon Sona in abundance. The only thing that had not changed was the former melodious sound of her voice, as well as her proud, bearing and aristocratic nature. But, when she was not feeling well yet again, the relatives would call the ambulance. Even in that state, Sona would ask them to bring her a mirror and some make-up. She would not face the doctors unless she was properly made up.

Sona Mehmandarova did not live long in her homeland, dying after just a few years. She was buried at one of the cemeteries in Baku. But even her relatives cannot indicate exactly where she was buried. So, Sona Mehmandarova, whose beauty was admired by the whole world in the 20th century, but has now been consigned to oblivion, lies in an unidentified grave today.