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The Amazon, the Sources of the Nile, and Tabriz: Nadir Mirza's Tārīkh Va jughrāfi-yi dār al-salṭana-yi Tabrīz and the Local Historiography of Tabriz and Azerbaijan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Christoph Werner
Christoph Werner*
Affiliation:
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
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Extract

Neither this article nor the work of Nadir Mirza is primarily concerned with the Amazon or with the quest for the Nile sources. But a certain amusing curiosity aside, the fact that Nadir Mirza touches on subjects like this in a historical work on Tabriz is a clear hint that we are leaving the traditional boundaries of Iranian local historiography—and not only in the metaphorical sense.

To place Nadir Mirza's history of Tabriz in a more general context is a rather difficult task. Such a context is provided of course by the longstanding tradition of Persian local and regional historiography—as treated in the present collection of articles—and particularly in connection with the late development of this genre in the nineteenth century. Local works of historiography from the Qajar period quite often defy attempts at classification according to medieval categories such as chronicles, biographical dictionaries, or adab-literature.

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Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Winter 2000 , pp. 165 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2000

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References

1. The work under discussion has only recently been made available in a critical edition—Nadir Qajar, Mirza, Tārīkh va jughrāfī-yi dār al-salṬana-yi Tabrīz, ed. Ghulamriza Tabataba˒i-Majd (Tabriz 1373/1994)Google Scholar (henceforth TJT). The reprint of the original lithograph edited by M. Mushiri is still useful, especially because of its more detailed and reliable index—Tārīkh va jughrāfī-yi dār al-salṭana-yi Tabrīz, ba-żamīmayi sharḥ-i ḥāl-i buzurgān, reprint of Tehran 1324/1945, with an introduction and indices by Mushiri, Muhammad (Tehran, 1351/1972).Google Scholar

2. Jaᶜfar b. Muhammad Jaᶜfarī, Tārīkh-i Yazd, (aka Jāmiᶜ-i Jaᶜfarī) ed. Iraj Afshar, 2nd edition (Tehran 1343/1964); Ahmad ᶜAli Khan Vaziri, Tārīkh-i Kirmān, ed. Bastani-Parizi, M. I. (Tehran, 1340/1961)Google Scholar; Husaini Fasa'i, Hajj Mirza Hasan, Fārsnāmah-i Nāṣirī, ed. Fasa'i, Mansur R., 2 vols. (Tehran 1367/1988)Google Scholar; and Muhammad Hasan Khan Iᶜtimad al-Saltana, Tārīkh-i Ṭabaristān (al-tadwīn fī aḥwāl jibāl Sharvīn), ed. Mihrabadi, Mitra, introd. Mashkur, J. and Ishraqi, I., (Tehran, 1373/1994).Google Scholar

3. Mir ᶜAbd al-Latif Khan Shushtari, Tuḥfat al-ᶜālam va ẕail al-tuḥfa, ed. Muhavvad, S., Tehran 1363 (1984)Google Scholar; Zarrabi, , ᶜAbd (Suhayl-i Kashani) al-Rahim Kalantar, Tārīkh-i Kāshān, ed. Afshar, Iraj, Tehran 1335 (1956)Google Scholar; Sanandaji ‘Fakhr al-Kuttab', Shukrullah, Mirza, Tuḥfa-i Nāṣirī dar tārīkh va jughrāfīyā-i Kurdistān, ed. Tabibi, Hishmatullah, Tehran 1366 (1987).Google Scholar

4. A more detailed discussion of local historiography in the nineteenth century is beyond the scope of the present article; the works mentioned here do not form a comprehensive list.

5. Storey, C.A., Persidskaya Literatura: Bio-bibliograficheskii Obzor, translated and revised by Bregel, Y. E., 3 vols. (Moscow, 1972).Google Scholar In the second volume, see the section on Istoriia Irana: Azerbaidshan, 1088-96. Tne original work by Storey lists only four works, and the section on Azerbaijan was only included in the additions to the first volume, Storey, C.A., Persian Literature, 1/2 (London, 1972), 1299–1300.Google Scholar

6. Storey/Bregel, 1088, “Tārīkh-i vāqiᶜa-yi Tabrīz—Risāla fi'l-vāqi'īyāt al-kubrā fī Tabrīz.”

7. Ibid. The work is reportedly in the Gulistan Library in Tehran, but no further information of any kind is provided.

8. Storey/Bregel, 1090-95. The description of the work includes a short biography of the author and a summary of its contents.

9. V. Minorsky's entry on Tabriz in the first edition of The Encyclopaedia of Islam remains the best sketch of the town's history. Despite its shortcomings, it was reprinted, substantially unchanged, in the new edition of the EI; see also its revised and annotated translation into Persian by ᶜA. Karang, Tārīkh-i Tabrīz (Tabriz 1337/1958).

10. This is quite contrary to the situation in modern Iran, where being from Azerbaijan or being “Azeri” is normally professed proudly, especially outside of Azerbaijan itself. The modern discourse on the relation between Azerbaijan and Iran has been highly shaped by nationalist discussions and sentiments, which bear directly on the historical perception of Azerbaijan. This has to be taken into account, even when discussing a rather innocent subject like local history. In this context—to avoid any misunderstandings—it also has to be stressed that although the native language of most people in Azerbaijan is of course Turkish, Persian was always the standard literary language. This fact did not influence the literary output of the region in any way and is certainly no reason for the lack of local histories.

11. TJT, 80.

12. Hafīz Husain Karbala˒i Tabrizi, Rawżāt al-jinān va jannāt al-janān, ed. J. Sultan al-Qurra˒i, 2 vols. (Tehran 1364/1985).Google Scholar

13. Hashri Tabrizi, Mulla Muhammad Amin, Rawża-yi aṭhār, ed. ᶜA. Dawlatabadi (Tabriz, 1371/1992).Google Scholar For further information on both of the above-mentioned works, see the introductions by their respective editors.

14. TJT, 86.

15. Such lists are given by both Tabataba˒i-Majd in the new edition (p. 54 of the introduction) and by Mushiri in the old edition of the Tarīkh-i Tabrīz (p. 14). For a further discussion on Nadir Mirza's sources see the section below.

16. A late example for this genre is Muhammad Riza Tabataba˒i Tabrizi, Tārīkh-i awlād al-aṭhār (Tabriz, 1304/1887).Google Scholar If there is any tradition at all concerning a historiography of Tabriz, then it is certainly founded on this rather special kind of literature. Whether it is justified to include such works under the generic heading of local histories seems questionable, however.

17. ᶜAbd al-Razzaq Beg Dunbuli Maftun, Tajribat al-aḥrār va tasliyat al-abrār, ed. Hasan Qazi Tabataba˒i, 2 vols. (Tabriz, 1349/1970).Google Scholar

18. Mirza Muhammad Hasan b. ᶜAbd al-Rasul Husayni Zunuzi (pen-name Fani), Riyāż al-janna. This work, completed around 1786, has not yet been edited. The manuscript kept in the National Library in Tabriz (Kitābkhāna-yi millī-yi Tabrīz, no. 3578) exceeds 1200 densely written pages. Nadir Mirza sometimes cites this work, especially for its biographies.

19. Mirza Rashid Adib al-Shuᶜara, Tārīkh-i Afshār, ed. Ramiyan, M. and Shahriyar Afshar, P. (Tabriz 1345-46/1967).Google Scholar None of the “Dunbuli-histories” has been edited so far, and there is much confusion concerning their respective authorship and the available manuscripts. The best discussion of these works is to be found in Riyahi, M.A., Tārīkh-i Khūy (Tehran, 1372/1993), 119–26.Google Scholar The references given by Storey/Bregel, II, pp. 1088-9, have to be treated with caution. I am currently preparing a critical edition of Muhammad Hasan Ishtihardi's Taẕkirat al-Danābila, the most interesting of these works.

20. Assuming that the continuous presence of notable families in a certain region or town would be crucial in this regard—with most authors of local histories traditionally originating from such a background—we would have to ask if such a tradition existed in Azerbaijan, or if not, what impeded its development. To inquire into the composition of local notables and their origins over the centuries would of course in turn require the existence of local histories—a vicious circle.

21. In the section headed “Guftār dar aḥvālāt-i khūd-i mu˒allif,” TJT, 378-85. This is the principal source for Nadir Mirza's life as presented in Y. Aryanpur, Az Ṣabā tā Nīmā—tārīkh-i 150 sāl-i adab-i Fārsī (Tehran 1350/1971), 1: 172-82; Bahar, M. T., Sabk-shināsī (Tehran, 1369/1990), 3: 396–98Google Scholar; Bamdad, M., Sharḥ-i rijāl-i Īrān dar qarn-i 12 va 13 va 14 hijrī (Tehran, 1371/1992), 5: 309–11Google Scholar; M. Mushiri in his introduction to the reprint of the lithographed edition, 8-10; Nakhjavani, H., Chihil maqāla, ed. Hashimi-Nasab, Y. Kh. (Tabriz, 1343/1964), 343–52Google Scholar; M. ᶜA. Qawsi, “Nivīsandagān-i mashhūr-i dawra-yi Qājāriyya: Nādir Mīrzā va Tārīkh-i Tabrīz, Yādgār 2/v (1945-46): 15-19 and M. ᶜA. Tarbiyat, Dānishmandān-i Āẕarbāyjān (Tabriz, 1373/1994), 342–45.Google Scholar

22. For details on his education, which was in large part auto-didactic, and on the standard works he studied with his tutors, see TJT, 382-84.

23. Nakhjavani, 348-52, reproduces an autobiographical note inserted by Nadir Mirza in one of his private manuscripts, where he describes the details of this completely arbitrary arrest.

24. On this office see Perry, J., “Justice for the Underprivileged: The Ombudsman Tradition of Iran,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37 (1978): 203–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25. Referred to in Muhammad Hasan Khan Iᶜtimad al-Saltana, al-Ma˒āir va'l-āār (reprint of Tehran, 1306./1888), 107, as Kitāb-i ṭabbākhī.

26. For details on these works and the manuscripts see Aryanpur, 180.

27. It is important to note that notwithstanding the title, the work was not commissioned by Muzaffar al-Din Mirza.

28. TJT, 149: “az shākhī ba shākhī parad va sukhan bā sukhan āmīzad.”

29. Ibid., 20.

30. Ibid., 20-24.

31. “I am going to write and record this chapter rather cursorily, so that no one can say that I was ignorant of it,” TJT, 393.

32. Qawsi, 20. Qawsi's article was very influential; many of his judgements were uncritically adopted by later authors writing on the Tārīkh-i Tabrīz

33. Bahar, 3: 396.

34. “maṣnūᶜ va mukallif…ᶜibārāt-i ū sust va muhavva˒ va baᶜzī awqāt nā-mafhūm.” In his capacity as editor of the journal Yādgār, where Qawsi's article was published, Iqbal presented his short critique as an addendum to Qawsi's article.

35. Tabataba˒i-Majd in his introduction to the new edition (41-45) again takes up the discussion of Nadir Mirza's style and its comparison to the Tārīkh-i Bayhaqī. He reaches a conclusion similar to Iqbal's on Nadir Mirza's style, but still considers the comparison to be valid with regard to the actual composition and structure of the work.

36. He quotes, for example, Ibn Battuta, Ibn Athir, and Ibn Khallikan as classical authorities, and the Qajar chronicles of Hidayat, Sipihr, and Jahangir Mirza for modern events. Of the works on Azerbaijan mentioned above, Nadir Mirza makes use of the hagiography by Mulla Hashri, Zunuzi's encyclopedia, and Ishtihardi's work on the Dunbuli.

37. These parts are clearly credited by Nadir Mirza to other authors. The difference in style—and consequently the readability of these passages—is remarkable.

38. TJT, 86: “nadānam az kujā īn guftārhā farāham āvardah.”

39. Ibid., 43.

40. Ibid., 248.

41. Ibid., 19. “ki āyandagān napandārand ki ān yāddāshthā nadīdah va nadānistah˒īm.”

42. Ibid. 301. The editor of the new edition, Tabataba˒i-Majd, protests of course in a footnote against these allegations, although he also tries to defend Nadir Mirza, taking these remarks as proof of his impartiality and noting the absence of empty flattery in his work, as well.

It is interesting to note how similar Nadir Mirza's verdict on the population of Tabriz is to the present widely-held view of the Tabrizis as xenophobic, professed especially by non-natives of Azerbaijan. The modern “anti-Turkic” sentiments that usually accompany these views, and in part also account for them, are, on the other hand, completely absent from Nadir Mirza's work.

43. Lambton, Ann K. S., Landlord and Peasant in Persia 2nd edition, (Oxford, 1969)Google Scholar; idem, “The office of kalântar under the Safawids and Afshars,” in Mélanges d'orientalisme, offerts à Henri Massé” (Tehran, 1963), 206–18.Google Scholar

44. Not included in this number are a unique decree from Jahanshah Qara-Quyunlu appointing a certain Nizam al-Din as amīr al-ḥājj (113-17), three apocryphal letters attributed to Rashid al-Din Fazlullah, two letters to Nadir Mirza concerning Muhammad Rahim Mirza, and an epigraphic decree by Shah Tahmasp. Even if we include these documents, Qawsi's figure of “more than a hundred documents” is clearly exaggerated.

45. Husayni, Muhammad Sadiq, Makhzan al-inshā˒ (Tabriz, 1274/1857).Google Scholar Later edited by al-Din Yaghma'i, Sayyid Badr as Munsha˒āt-i Qā˒im-Maqām Farāhānī (Tehran, 1373/1994).Google Scholar

46. ᶜA. Karang, Āār-i bāstānī-yi Āẕarbāyjān. Āār va abnīya-yi tārīkhī-yi shahristān-i Tabrīz (Tehran 1351/1972).Google Scholar

47. TJT, 311-77: “Guftār dar khānidānhā-yi buzurg ki bidīn miṣr-i mubārak vaṭan dārand.”

48. Ibid., 149-51.

49. Sheil, Lady Mary, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (London, 1856), 165–6.Google Scholar See also the description by Watson, R.G., A History of Persia from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Year 1858 (London, 1866), 392–4.Google Scholar

50. For a modem interpretation of the affair, see Amanat, Abbas, Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850 (Ithaca/London 1989), 397.Google Scholar

51. TJT. 161.

52. Ibid., 62-3. Nadir Mirza gives no date for this event, which is yet another sign of the timeless moral it is supposed to convey. Muhammad Khan Zangana, the Amir Nizam referred to, died in 1841.

53. Ibid., 97.

54. Ibid., 90: “mardum-i Āmrīkā-rā bā maẕhab kārī nīst.”

55. Ibid., 105.

56. Ibid., 106: “Ān īn būd kin ā'īn-i aḥmadī ba yakbārah farāmūsh kardand va du dīn nihādand, ‘alavī va ‘umarī, va īn millat-i buzurg-rā āshuftah kardand.”

57. Ibid. “Kujā-st īn mard kin ba hamah-yi Islām khāṭir-nishān kunad kin shumā-rā bā ‘Alī va ‘Umar kārī nīst. Har yak ba ḥaqq khalīfa bāshad, gū: bāsh! Mā-rā bāyad ba Muḥammad, kih ṣāḥib-i īn sharī'at ast gūsh dāsht va rāyat-i ū bar-afrūkht va kalima-yi Islām-rā farā-girift.”

58. This is a very interesting observation, because it shows the early influence of oriental studies in Europe on scholars in Iran. It also shows how fast books of this kind could become available in Iran, as little as two years after their original publication. The edition mentioned is obviously the one by Schefer, Ch., Sefer Nameh (Paris, 1881).Google Scholar

59. TJT, 123-125: the whole section on the Nile sources covers pp. 125-129.

60. Ibid., 130.