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The Man Who Would Not Be King: Abu'l-Fath Sultan Muhammad Mirza Safavi in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Giorgio Rota
Giorgio Rota*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Studi Eurasiatici, University of Venice, Italy
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Extract

The fall of Isfahan to the afghans in 1722 marked the end of effective Safavid rule over Iran, but not the disappearance of the Safavids from Persia's political scene. During the entire course of the eighteenth century, many pretenders to the Persian throne made their bids for power by trying to capitalize on their claims to Safavid origins, genuine in some cases, spurious in others. A few of them played a part in the struggle against the Afghans (for instance, Shah Tahmasp II and Mirza Sayyid Ahmad), and others managed to ascend a throne, although only as mere figureheads (like Shah ᶜAbbas III, Shah Sulayman II, and Shah Ismaᶜil III). Since the issue has already been dealt with by John R. Perry in a very detailed article, I need not elaborate further. Perry, however, devoted only a few lines to the very last of them, Abu'l-Fath Mirza b. Shah Sultan Husayn II b. Shah Tahmasp II, also known as Sultan Muhammad II, whose claims Perry dismissed as certainly spurious.

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Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Fall 1999 , pp. 513 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1999

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this article was presented at The Second Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies in Bethesda, Md., May 22-24, 1998.

References

1. Perry, John R., “The last Ṣafavids, 1722-1773,” Iran 9 (1971): 59–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. Ibid., 63 n. 20; Perry, John R., Karim Khan Zand (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 45 n. 43CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Nothing is added to our knowledge of the life of the prince by Maryam Ahmadi, Mir, Tārīkh-i siyāsī wa ijtimāᶜi-yi Īrān dar ᶜaṣr-i Ṣafavī (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1371/1992)Google Scholar, 113, who mentions the Fawāyid al-ṣafavīyah (see note 4) as her only source.

3. Rota, Giorgio, “Un sofi tra i nababbi: l'ultimo safavide a Lucknow”, in Ex libris Franco Coslovi, ed. Bredi, Daniela and Scarcia, Gianroberto (Venice: Poligrafo, 1996), 337–80Google Scholar.

4. Abu˒l-Hasan Qazvini, Fawāyid al-ṣafavīyah, ed. Ahmadi, Maryam Mir (Tehran: Mu˒assasah-i mutalaᶜat wa tahqiqat-i farhangi, 1367/1988), 1–2Google Scholar (hereafter: FS). The printed text of FS is not a critical edition and is based on only two extant manuscripts (FS, chahārdah). Furthermore, misprints and misreadings are numerous, especially in the case of personal and place names, which sometimes make the text quite difficult to understand. Some of these mistakes will be pointed out in the present article, others are listed and amended in Rota, “Un sofi tra i nababbi,” passim, and idem, “Le Favāyedo'ṣ-ṣafaviye e la storia della Georgia,” Annali di Ca’ Foscari 33, no. 3 (1994): 427–44Google Scholar.

5. FS, 135.

6. Qazvini also claims that the mother of the prince was of Buyid origin (ibid., 136). As often happens, the printed text is misleading, since it reads “az ṭaraf-i mā [that is, seemingly from Mirza Muhammad Jaᶜfar Shamlu, who is speaking at that time] az Āl-i Būyah ast” instead of “az ṭaraf-i mādar az Āl-i Būyah ast.” (However, see FS, India Office, Ethè 567, fol. 100a and Ahmad Gulchin Maᶜani, Tārīkh-i taẕkirahhā-yi Fārsī [Tehran: Intisharat-i Danishgah-i Tihran, 1348-50/1969-71]Google Scholar [henceforth TTF], vol. 1, 166.)

7. FS, 82-90 (Shah Tahmasp II), 90-92 (Shah ᶜAbbas III), 92-96 (Shah Sultan Husayn II).

8. Ibid., 95, 155. At least in the printed edition of the FS, there is no mention of Shah Ismaᶜil III either.

9. Ibid., 81, 88. Mirza Muhammad Khalil b. Sultan Dawud Mirza b. Shah Sulayman II died in India around 1220/1805-06 (see Mirza Muhammad Khalil Marᶜashi Safavi, Majmaᶜ al-tawārīkh, ed. ᶜAbbas Iqbal “Ashtiyani” [Tehran: Sana˒i-Tahuri, 1362/1983]Google Scholar, jīm, but these are the only references to him in the printed text of the FS.)

10. FS, 131.

11. Sultan ᶜAli was born in Ardabil and had settled at Lucknow during Shujaᶜ al-Dawlah's reign (1753-1774). On him and his Maᶜdan al-saᶜādat, which extends to 1218/1803-4, see Storey, C. A., Persian Literature (London: The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1970), vol. 1, pt. 1, 520Google Scholar.

12. An example of such dependence is shown in a letter in Calendar of Persian Correspondence, ed. Sen, S. N. (New Delhi, 1949) (1790-1791), vol. 3, 3, 13Google Scholar (hereafter: CPC). In it, the nawwāb of Bengal, Mubarak al-Dawlah (1770-1793) replying to a letter of condolence from the government of the EIC dated 18 Rabiᶜ al-sani 1204/5 January 1790 on the death of Sultan Dawud Mirza, the father of both Muhammad Khalil Marᶜashi and the anonymous princess, states that “the late Mirzā depended on the friendship and support of his lordship [the governor-general] and was recipient of many favours from him.”

13. Qazvini himself acknowledges that historians are often likely to transform “injustice into justice” (ẓulm-rā bih ᶜadālat) in order to appease the rulers of the age. Of course, to Qazvini, the Safavids and their historians stand out as notable exceptions, FS, 173-74.

14. A complete survey of the information in the FS on the life of Abu˒l-Fath Mirza can be found in Rota, “Un sofi tra i nababbi,” 337-80.

15. He was about thirty years old (qarīb-i sī sāl) in 1207 (19 August 1792-8 August 1793), FS, 135.

16. Ibid., 96-97.

17. Ibid., 97.

18. On the wives and the marriages of Abu˒l-Fath Mirza, see ibid., 112, 117-18, 123-25, 130-31, 137-38, 144-45.

19. Ibid., 98.

20. Ibid., 98-99. According to Qazvini, however, Mir Muhammad Khan died in 1204/1789-90: ibid., 162.

21. Ibid., 99.

22. Ibid., 97.

23. Ibid., 99. Qazvini states that Shah Niᶜmatullah Wali had predicted the accession of Abu˒l-Fath Mirza to the throne after 1200/1785-86, ibid., 97. Since Aqa Muhammad Khan entered Tehran on 11 Jumada al-Ula 1200/12 March 1786 (see Hambly, Gavin R. G., “Āghā Muhammad Khān and the establishment of the Qājār dynasty,” in The Cambridge History of Iran, ed. Avery, Peter, Hambly, Gavin and Melville, Charles [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991], vol. 7, 118)Google Scholar, the events in Tabas must have taken place between the latter date and the death of Mir Muhammad Khan Zangu˒i. Shah Niᶜmatullah Wali's quatrain quoted by Qazvini mentions a prince of Alid origin by the name of Muhammad, and in fact a Muhammad (that is, the Qajar leader) became shah of Persia after 1200/1785-86.

24. Morley, William H., A Descriptive Catalogue of the Historical Manuscripts in the Arabic and Persian Languages, Preserved in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (London: John W. Parker & Sons, 1854), 137 n.1.Google Scholar.

25. Poole, Reginald Stuart, The Coins of the Sháhs of Persia, Ṣafavis, Afgháns, Efsháris, Zands, and Ḳájárs (London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1887), 40, 81–82Google Scholar. The same is true for the works of Rabino, who says the same things in a more concise way: cf. Rabino di Borgomale, H. L., Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shâhs of Îrân, 1500-1941 (Hertford, 1945), 46Google Scholar; idem, Album of Coins, Medals, and Seals of the Shâhs of Îrân (1500-1948), ed. Mushiri, M. (Tehran, 1974)Google Scholar, which of course has no pictures of the coins of the prince. The above mentioned verse, found by Morley in the manuscript of the FS Royal Asiatic Society P Cat 145 and by Poole and Rabino in British Library Add Ms 16,698, fol. 148a, is not included in the printed edition of the text. It is apparently on the sole evidence of Poole that Zambaur entered the prince in his list of Safavid rulers as “Muḥammad Schāh, Abūl-l-Fatḥ,” see de Zambaur, Eduard, Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire de l'Islam (Hanover: Librairie Orientaliste Heinz Lafaire, 1927), vol. 1, 261–62Google Scholar. He calls him “souverain nominal, proclamé par Āqā Muḥammad à Ṭehran”: ibid., 261 n.14.

26. Mushiri, Muhammad, Sikkah-hā-yi Āqā Muḥammad Khān Qājār wa pidarash Muḥammad Ḥasan Khān Qājār (n.p. [Tehran]: Intisharat-i Gutinbirg, 1351/1972), 11, 14–31Google Scholar.

27. Broome, Michael, A Handbook of Islamic Coins (London: Seaby, 1985), 176–77Google Scholar.

28. Muhammad Fathullah b. Muhammad Taqi Sarui, Tārīkh-i Muḥammadī, ed. Ghulam Riza Tabataba˒i Majd (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1371/1992); Riza Quli Khan “Hidayat,” Tārīkh-i rawżat al-ṣafā-yi Nāṣirī (n.p.: Markazi-Khayyam-Piruz, 1339/ 1960); Muhammad Jaᶜfar Khurmuji, Ḥaqāyiq al-akhbār-i Nāżirī, ed. Jam, Sayyid Husayn Khadiv (Tehran: Nashr-i Nay, 1363/1984)Google Scholar; Iᶜtimad al-Saltanah, Tārīkh-i muntaẓam-i Nāṣirī, ed. Muhammad Ismaᶜil Rizwani (Tehran: Dunya-yi Kitab, 1363-1367/1984-1988)Google Scholar; Hajj Mirza Hasan Husayni Fasa˒i, Fārsnāmah-i Nāṣirī, ed. Mansur Rastgar Fasa˒i (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1367/1988)Google Scholar. However, Qazvini maintains that the events of those years were carefully recorded by Mir Riza Quli in the Tārīkh-i Qājāriyah, which he had written by order of Aqa Muhammad Khan. Later, Baba Khan (that is, Fath-ᶜAli Shah) had the Tārīkh-i Qājāriyah “cancelled” (mansūkh) and replaced with Sarui's work: cf. FS, 98.

29. The last Zand opponent, Lutf-ᶜAli Khan, was defeated and executed in 1794, and Shahrukh Shah was deposed and killed in 1796.

30. The question of legitimacy was a controversial issue for rulers in eighteenth century Iran. A useful way to legitimize the power of a warlord was to keep a Safavid nominal shah at his side. See Perry, “The last Ṣafavids”, 64-69 in particular; idem, Karim Khan, 214-17; Lambton, Ann K. S., “The Tribal Resurgence and the Decline of the Bureaucracy in the Eighteenth Century,” in Studies in Eighteenth Century Islamic History, ed. Naff, Thomas and Owen, Roger (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1977), 116–20Google Scholar. On Iranian and Ottoman reactions to Nadir Shah's seizure of power in 1736 and his subsequent attempts to legitimize his own rule, see Ernest Tucker, “Religion and Politics in the Era of Nādir Shāh: the Views of Six Contemporary Sources” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1992), 1-15, 28-37, 276-95 and passim; idem, “Explaining Nadir Shah: Kingship and Royal Legitimacy in Muhammad Kazim Marvi's Tārīkh-i ᶜālam-ārā-yi Nādirī, Iranian Studies 26, nos. 1-2 (1993): 95-117; idem, “Nadir Shah and the Jaᶜfari Madhhab reconsidered,” Iranian Studies 27, nos. 1-4 (1994): 163-79. On Shahrukh Shah Afshar, cf. Perry, “The last Ṣafavids,” 65-66; idem, Karim Khan, 5-10; Tucker, “Religion and Politics,” 214-15, 224-27; idem, “Explaining Nadir Shah,” 95-97, 113-15. Some instances of the persistence of pro-Safavid feelings in eighteenth- and even nineteenth-century Iran are recorded in Lambton, “Tribal Resurgence,” 113-14, 119-20. On Mirza Muhammad Mahdi Khan Astarabadi's support for Muhammad Hasan Khan Qajar's right to rule over Iran after the blinding of Shahrukh Shah Afshar (1750), based on his military skills, cf. Tucker, “Religion and Politics,” 215-17.

31. Perry, Karim Khan, 37, 77Google Scholar.

32. Lambton, “Tribal Resurgence,” 119.

33. Perry, Karim Khan, 299-300. The kalāntar Haji Muhammad Ibrahim Khan revolted against Lutf-ᶜAli Khan Zand in 1206/1791.

34. FS, 99.

35. Ibid., 99. It is worth remarking that the prince was well received thanks to the letters (murāsalāt) written by Haji Muhammad Ibrahim Khan to the Arab chiefs. However, it is not clear whether here Qazvini means letters of recommendation sent on this particular occasion, or rather a regular correspondence between the kalāntar and the Arab leaders of the Gulf region. On the often troubled relations between the Zands and Oman, see Perry, Karim Khan, 150-60, 172, 180-82, 270-71.

36. FS, 99-100. The sultan of Oman was Hamid b. Saᶜid (1786-1792), who was trying at that time to establish direct commercial contacts with Afghanistan via the Indus valley. See Allen, Calvin H. Jr., “The Indian Merchant Community of Masqaṭ,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 44, no. 1 (1981): 42, 49CrossRefGoogle Scholar. It would be interesting to know whether Abu˒l-Fath Mirza's decision to move on to Sind and later Peshawar may have been somehow linked to or influenced by the sultan's trade policy.

37. The Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), vol. 22, 399–400 (hereafter: IGI)Google Scholar; Aitken, E. H., Gazetteer of the Province of Sind (Karachi, 1907), 123Google Scholar.

38. FS, 100.

39. Ibid., 100.

40. Ibid., 100-101.

41. Ibid., 101. On Lohri, or Rohri, and the local Suhrabani dynasty, cf. IGI, vol. 21, 309-10; vol. 22,399; Smyth, J. W., Gazetteer of the Province of Sind, “ B”, Sukkur district (Bombay: Government Central Press, 1919), 3: 45Google Scholar; T. W. Haig, “Sind,” Encyclopédie de I'Islam (First Edition), 453; C. E. Bosworth, “Ḵẖayrpūr.” Encyclopédie de l'Islam (New Edition), 1191-92.

42. FS, 101. Being mere petty princes (mulūk al-ṭawā˒if) in Qazvini's eyes, Timur Shah and his father are called sulṭān throughout the FS. See also 158-73.

43. On Asaf al-Dawlah b. Shujaᶜ al-Dawlah, cf. Beale, Thomas William, An Oriental Biographical Dictionary, new edition, ed. Keene, Henry George (London, 1894; reprint, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1965), 81Google Scholar.

44. FS, 101-2.

45. On the Kalhoras, the Talpurs and the Daudputras, see Aitken, Gazetteer of Sind, 107-23, 175; IGI, vol. 22, 397-400; Tod, James, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, ed. Crooke, William (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920), vol. 2, 1137 n. 3, vol. 3, 1300–3Google Scholar; Haig, “Sind,” 453; A. S. Bazmee Ansari, “Dāwūdpōtrās,” Encyclopédie de l'Islam (New Edition) 191-93.

46. FS, 102.

47. Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 108Google Scholar.

48. FS, 102-3. On Pratap Singh, see Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 309Google Scholar.

49. FS, 102-103. On the struggle between the rajah and his grandson and successor Bhim Singh (1773-1803), see Tod, Annals of Rajasthan, vol. 2, 1076–77Google Scholar; on Bhim Singh, see Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 107Google Scholar; on the Minas of Rajasthan, “a notorious criminal tribe,” see Tod, Annals of Rajasthan, vol. 3: 1332–34, 1429-30Google Scholar.

50. CPC, ed. A. I. Tirmizi (Calcutta, 1969) (1794-95), vol. 11, 375. 9 November 1795 corresponds to 26 Rabiᶜ al-Sani 1210.

51. FS, 104.

52. Ibid., 104. It must be Count Benoit de Boigne (1751-1830), the Savoyard general of Sindhia. He entered the Maratha service in 1784, resigned his command in December 1795 and left India in 1796 to retire to his hometown, Chambéry, where he died: cf. Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 110Google Scholar; Buckland, C. E., Dictionary of Indian Biography (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1906), 115Google Scholar.

53. “Jiyājī Bakhshī-yi sardār-i martabah” (sic) in the text, FS, 104. Jiwaji Bakhshi, also known as Jiwaji Dada (d. 1796), was Daulat Rao Sindhia's minister and an important figure in the Maratha state. The word Marhatah is consistently misspelt as martabah throughout the whole printed text of the FS.

54. Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 390Google Scholar.

55. FS, 105-107.

56. Ibid., 108.

57. Ibid.

58. Ibid., 108-9.

59. Husayn, Mawlawi Muhammad Muzaffar “Saba,” Taẕkirah-i rūz-i rawshan, ed. Adamiyat, Muhammad Husayn Ruknzadah (Tehran: Kitabkhanah-i Razi, 1343/1964), 503Google Scholar; ᶜAbd al-Rasul Khayyampur, Farhang-i sukhanvarān (Tabriz, 1340), 415–16Google Scholar.

60. FS, 109, 116-17, 120.

61. Ibid., 120-21: The year 1215 corresponds to 25 May 1800-13 May 1801. The text says “in the Christian year 1800, corresponding to the Hijri year 1215.”

62. Ibid., 115: Wazir-ᶜAli Khan is called simply “ᶜAlī.”

63. Ibid., 117, 120.

64. Ibid., 131; for a similar expression of Qazvini's dislike of India and Indians, 134. Elsewhere the chronicler regrets the fate of his master, whom he considers a prisoner in the dark land of India just as Joseph was a prisoner in the well, 135.

65. Ibid., 120. The printed text incorrectly reads Yūrab. The word Purab (from Hindi pūrab, pūrb, “East”), was commonly in use in northern India to mean the region comprising Awadh, Bihar and the district of Benares. See Yule, Henry and Burnell, A. C., Hobson-Jobson, new edition, ed. William Crooke (London: John Murray, 1903), 724Google Scholar, s.v. Poorub, poorbeea and Platts, John T., A Dictionary of Urdū, Classical Hindī and English (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1993), 278Google Scholar, s.v. Pūrb, pūrab.

66. FS, 110.

67. Descriptive List of Persian Correspondence, ed. Arora, K. L. (New Delhi, 1984), (1802), vol. 2, 3 and 3 n. 2 (hereafter: DLPC)Google Scholar.

68. The others are Lord Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805), Sir John Shore (1751-1834), Lord Mornington (Richard Colley Wellesley, 1760-1842), Neil Benjamin Edmonstone (1765-1841), Lieut.-Col. (later Lieutenant General) William Palmer (1740-1816), his sons Capt. (later Colonel) Samuel Palmer (1762-1814) and Lieut. (later Major) William George Palmer (1763-1814), George Frederick Cherry (1761-1799), John Lumsden, Lieut.-Col. (later Colonel) William Scott (d. 1804), Dr. John Kennedy (d. 1802), Capt. (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Charles Wale Lamborne (d. 1818: this identification is not absolutely certain), Major General Claude Martin (1735-1800), Field-Marshal Sir Alured Clarke (17457-1832), Major (later Lieutenant) General Robert Stuart (1744-1820), General Sir James Henry Craig (1748-1812), Colonel William Vanas (d. 1803), Major Watkin Griffith, Alexander Russell, Claud Russell, Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick (1764-1805), A.s.t.w.r. Bahador and Edward A.s.t.r.b.ch.m.ī. Bahādor (who might be the same person), and General S.a.l.n.j.r. Bahador (d. 1213/1798-99). On the Britons mentioned in the FS, cf. The Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Stephen, Leslie and Lee, Sidney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963-64Google Scholar [1st ed., 1885-90]), (hereafter: DNB); Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography; Hodson, V. C. P., List of the Officers of the Bengal Army, 1758-1834 (London: Constable & Co./Phillimore & Co., 1927-47)Google Scholar; Beale, Oriental Biographical Dictionary; Mathison, John and Mason, Alexander Way, An East-India Register and Directory for 1803 (London, n.d.), 1, 18, 21Google Scholar; Crawford, D. G., Roll of the Indian Medical Service (1615-1930) (London: W. Thackey & Co., 1930), 39Google Scholar; A General Register of the Hon'ble East India Company's Civil Servants of the Bengal E. from 1790 to 1842, ed. Prinsep, H. T. (Calcutta, 1844), 322Google Scholar; The East India Military Calendar (London, 1823), vol. 1, 460–67Google Scholar. The relationships between the prince and single British individuals are discussed in a more detailed fashion in Rota, “Un sofi tra i nababbi,” 364-74.

69. FS, 114, 129, 131, 143. A soldier and a diplomat as well as a scholar, Baillie published several works on Arabic grammar and wrote a A Digest of Mohummudan Law which was completed by his son. On him, cf. Dictionary of National Biography, s.v.; Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, 22Google Scholar; Hodson, List of the Officers, vol 1, 73Google Scholar.

70. FS, 118; DNB, s.v.; Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, 324-25. During his stay in Lucknow, Sir Gore Ouseley was aide-de-camp of Saᶜadat-ᶜAli Khan; later he became ambassador to Persia (1810). Brother of the Orientalist, Sir William (1767-1842), he was one of the founders of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Oriental Translation Committee: he was also the chairman of the latter and the Society for the Publication of Oriental Texts (1842). His only published work is Biographical Notices of Persian Poets, with Critical and Explanatory Remarks, which appeared posthumously (London, 1846).

71. FS, 129; DNB, s.v.; Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, 154Google Scholar; Hodson, List of the Officers, vol. 2, 213–14Google Scholar.

72. FS, 114. Dr. William Hunter was the author of several works, including Concise Account of Kingdom of Pegu (1785) and Hindustani and English Dictionary (1808). His Collection of Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases in Persian and Hindustani, with Translations was completed and published posthumously by Capt. Roebuck and Horace Hayman Wilson (Calcutta, 1824). On him, cf. DNB, s.v.; Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, 211Google Scholar; Crawford, Roll of the Indian Medical Service, 28Google Scholar.

73. FS, 143. He was the son of John Lumsden, another friend of Abu˒l-Fath Mirza, who was the Resident at Lucknow between 1796 and 1800: on him, cf. ibid., 109, 114, 119-20, 125-26, 109 n. 136. Matthew Lumsden was also in charge of the Company's printing house between 1814 and 1817. His works include A Grammar of the Persian Language (Calcutta, 1810), an edition of the Shāhnāmah (Calcutta, 1811) and A Grammar of the Arabic Language (Calcutta, 1813)Google Scholar. On him, cf. DNB, s.v.; Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, 255Google Scholar.

74. FS, 118, 127-28, 143. William Yule published an English translation from the Arabic of the Apofthegms of AH (1837). On him, cf. Hodson, List of the Officers, vol. 4,555Google Scholar; Mathison, and Mason, Way, East-India Register and Directory, 18Google Scholar.

75. The Tezkereh al-Vakīat, or Private Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Humāyūn… by Jouher, translated by Major Charles Stewart … (London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1832), v and footnote, 70Google Scholar.

76. BL Add Ms 16,711, fols. 76a and la, respectively.

77. Ivanow, Wladimir, Concise Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the Collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 1985), 27–28Google Scholar; Shah Tahmasb b. Ismaᶜil b. Haydari (sic) al-Safavi, Taẕkirah-i Shāh Ṭahmāsb, ed. Saffari, Amrullah (Calcutta, 1912Google Scholar; reprint, n. p.: Sharq, 1363/1984), haft, 82. However, in the Taẕkirah-i Shāh Ṭahmāsb we read “D. Lumsden” instead of “Dr. Lumsden.” In 1803 a certain Capt. D. Lumsden was the commander of the escort of Col. William Scott, the Resident at Lucknow, see Mathison, and Mason, Way, East- India Register and Directory, 18Google Scholar.

78. FS, chahārdah, 127, 129, 143-46; Storey, vol. 1, pt. 1, 319-20; Storey, vol. 1, pt. 2, 1282. The list provided by the editor of the same manuscripts contains some errors, see FS, dah.

79. Qazvini mentions Hasan-ᶜAli Beg “Chaman” (ibid., 105, 124); ṯ.k.m.y.t. R.ā.y. Q.w.m. K.ā.h.n.y.h.h. (ibid., 124); Ray Khwoshhal Chand (ibid., 124, 138, 141-43); Mirza Safī al-Din Muhammad Khan “Safa˒i” Qumi (ibid., 138-39); Munshi al-Mamalik Mir Ghalib-ᶜAli Khan “Sayyid al-shuᶜara˒'” (ibid., 139, 145); Mulla Muhammad “Khata” Shushtari (ibid., 139-41); Mazhar-ᶜAli Huzuri (ibid., 142, 144); Mirza Zayn al-ᶜAbidin Kaziruni (ibid., 144-45). Mawlawi Muhammad Husayn and Mulla Muhammad Husayn Shirazi (ibid., 124 and 142 respectively) are probably one and the same person. They are probably also to be identified with the Mawlawi Muhammad Husayn Shirazi who wrote a list of the Safavid rulers, including Abu˒l- Fath Mirza on British Library Or Ms 153, fol. 79a of Khwurshah b. Qubad al- Husayni's Tārīkh-i īlchī-yi Niẓāmshāh and dated 15 Jumada al-Ula 1216/23 September 1801. The poet whose name is read Mawlawi ᶜ.l.y.h.m. Allāh by the editor of the FS (FS, 124) is probably Mawlawi ᶜAlimullah “ᶜAlim” Muhani, who was murdered at Lucknow sometime after 1229/1813-14, see Khayyampur, Farhang-i sukhanvarān, 405; Saba, Taẕkirah-i rūz-i rawshan, 559-60 and Sprenger, A., A Catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindùstàny manuscripts, of the Libraries of the King ofOudh (Calcutta, 1854; reprint, Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1979), vol. 1, 166Google Scholar. On these poets, see also Rota, “Un sofi tra i nababbi,” 360-62.

80. FS, 124, 137-38, mentions Munajjim al-Mamalik Mubashshir Khan, a Brahman from Lahore named Gur Narayan, Mirza Muhammad Taqi Isfahani, and Mirza Khalil Zayn al-ᶜAbidin Kaziruni—apparently the same as the poet mentioned above.

81. A letter sent to the governor-general, Lord Mornington, on 1 Ramazan 1216/5 January 1802 is illuminated: cf. DLPC, vol. 2, 3 and 3 n. 2.

82. FS, 105. Qazvini also reports the qaṣīdah written by Mirza Muhammad Jaᶜfar Shamlu to celebrate Abu˒l-Fath Mirza's entry into Lucknow: cf. ibid., 105-6.

83. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 1, 398–99Google Scholar; Rieu, Ch., Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1879-1883; reprint, 1966), vol. 2, 839–41Google Scholar (both manuscripts described there, Add Ms 16,876 and Add Ms 18,417, belonged to William Yule), vol. 3, 942. Later, the Manāzil al-futūḥ was partly translated into English.

84. Ibid., vol. 2: 839-40 (BL Add Ms 16,876).

85. FS, 143.

86. FS, 111.

87. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 2, 1146Google Scholar and vol. 2, pt. 1, 148-49; Ivanow, Concise Descriptive Catalogue, 124. Bandah-ᶜAli Khan was the brother of one of the wives of the prince and had two brothers, Mahdi-ᶜAli Khan and Sikandar-ᶜAli Khan: cf. FS, 145.

88. Rieu, Catalogue, vol. 1, 429–30Google Scholar; BL Add Ms 16,741, fols. 13b, 19b.

89. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 1, 478Google Scholar; Rieu, Catalogue, vol. 1, 238Google Scholar.

90. The only known manuscript of this work bears the date 1222/1807 (Mirza Abu Talib Khan died in 1220/1805-1806 or 1221/1806-1807) and is written in the same hand as the Ẓuhūriyah-i ṣafaviyah. See Hukk, Mohammed Ashraful, Ethé, Hermann, and Robertson, Edward, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (Hertford: Stephen Austin & Sons, 1925), 65Google Scholar; Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 2, pt. 1, 97Google Scholar. On Mirza Abu Talib Khan Isfahani and his works, see ibid., vol. 1, pt. 1, 144-46, 704-5, vol. 1, pt. 2, 878-79, 1245. On the Ẓuhūriyah-i ṣafaviyah, see below.

91. Sprenger, Catalogue, vol. 1, 164–65Google Scholar; Ivanow, Concise Descriptive Catalogue, 461Google Scholar. The Calcutta manuscript, described by both Sprenger and Ivanow, was copied in that year from the original. On the Tuḥfat al-shuᶜarā, cf. below.

92. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 2, 884–85Google Scholar; Gulchin Maᶜani, TTF, vol. 1, 322-23; Muhammad Shujaᶜat ᶜAli Sahib, Khan, “Kutub-khāna rīyāsat-i Rāmpūr-fan-i taẕkirāt-i fārsī,” Oriental College Magazine (Urdu series) 6, no. 2 (1930): 108—11.Google Scholar

93. FS, 127.

94. The verse is “shud Ṭulūᶜī chū shamᶜ-i In khānah/jamᶜ shud ṣadhazār parvānah“: ibid., 132-33; Gulchin Maᶜani, TTF, vol. 1, 160-68, 322-23, vol. 2, 888. On Tuluᶜi, see Khayyampur, Farhang-i sukhanvarān, 358Google Scholar; Saba, Taẕkirah-i rūz-i rawshan, 503Google Scholar.

95. FS, 133.

96. Ibid., 133; Gulchin Maᶜani, TTF, vol. 2, 568, 888.

97. FS, 135.

98. Ibid., 132, 135. Qazvini also records three qiṭᶜahs and three rubāᶜīs written by the prince: cf. ibid., I l l , 136-37.

99. Islam, Riazul, A Calendar of Documents on Indo-Persian Relations (1500-1750) (Tehran and Karachi: Iranian Culture Foundation and Institute of Central and West Asian Studies, 1982), vol. 2, 115Google Scholar.

100. Ẓuhūrīyah-i ṣafaviyah, Edinburgh University Library Ms Or 87, fol. 7b (hereafter: ZS).

101. Ashraful Hukk, Ethé, and Robertson, Descriptive Catalogue, 65-66. However, Storey remarked that “no reasons are given for this suggestion”: cf. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 1, 428 n. 1Google Scholar.

102. ZS, fol. 5b.

103. FS, 133-34; ZS, fols. 5b-6b.

104. FS, 145.

105. ZS, fols. 4b-5a. The Safavid offspring will be the sarddrs of the Mahdi, ibid., fol. 4b. However, it has been noted that pro-British feelings were common among Shicite notables in Awadh. See Cole, Juan R. I., “Invisible Occidentalism: Eighteenth- Century Indo-Persian Constructions of the West,” Iranian Studies 25, nos. 3-4 (1992): 5–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

106. ZS, fol. 4b. On the Tārīkh-i Ṭahmāsīyah see Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 1, 320Google Scholar. According to Storey, the Tārīkh-i Ṭahmāsiyah is mainly based on the Tārīkh-i īlchī-yi Niẓāmshāh. A manuscript of the latter work (now known as British Library Or Ms 153) came into the possession of the prince (dākhil-i kitābkhānah-i shāhzādah … Sulṭān Muḥammad Mīrzā-yi Ṣafavī gardīd) in the year 1200/1785-86 (see BL Or Ms 153, fol. 2a), and it is on a page of this manuscript that Mawlawi Muhammad Husayn Shirazi wrote his abovementioned list of the Safavid rulers (fol. 79a). One may wonder if there was any link between Mawlawi Muhammad Husayn and Muhammad Mahdi b. Muhammad Hadi, besides their common Shirazi origin.

107. FS, 112-13. Letters from the emperor, exhorting the prince to turn for help to the nizam, are mentioned ibid., 113-14, 116.

108. Ibid., 103-4: the printed edition omits the word Marhatah after sardārān in the aforementioned passage, which therefore reads “agar rājahgān-i Rājīpūt rā bā sardārān munāzaᶜah ast, mā rā bā aḥdī bih hīch wajh nizāᶜī nīst”: cf. however India Office Ethè 567, fol. 76b; British Library Add Ms 16,698, fol. 63b; British Library Or Ms 139, fol. 21b.

109. FS, 104.

110. Tod, Annals of Rajasthan, vol. 3, 1364Google Scholar; Bhattacharyya, Sukumar, The Rajput States and the East India Company from the Close of the 18th Century to 1820 (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1972), 10–14Google Scholar; Banerjee, Anil Chandra, The Rajput States and British Paramountcy (New Delhi and Allahabad: Rajesh Publications, 1980), 109–16Google Scholar. Qazvini reports that Karim Khan sent a body of Persian troops to Haydar-cAli Khan of Mysore as a reinforcement against the British, but Perry believes that they were just private mercenaries and not a Zand expeditionary force. See Perry, Karim Khan, 271 (unfortunately, the entire chapter on the Zands, as well as that on the Qajars, is omitted from the published edition of the FS).

111. Ahmad, Safi, Two Kings of Awadh. Muhammad Ali Shah and Amjad Ali Shah (1837-1847) (Aligarh: P. C. Dwadash Shreni & Co., 1971), 77Google Scholar; Hasan, Amir, Palace Culture of Lucknow (Delhi: B. R. Publishing Company, 1983), 27Google Scholar.

112. DLPC, vol. 2, 20. Qazvini does not record any commercial ventures of the prince, but one cannot rule out the possibility that his request to the government of the EIC was aimed at involving himself in Persian Gulf trade. Abu˒l-Fath Mirza had already been at Masqat in 1791, where he was seemingly on good terms with Omani authorities (See above, especially n. 35).

113. FS, 121-22.

114. Ibid., 130.

115. An entire “Indian branch” of the Safavid family was originated by Muzaffar Husayn Mirza b. Sultan Husayn Mirza b. Bahram Mirza b. Shah Ismaᶜil I, who surrendered Qandahar to the Mughals in 1595, and his brother Rustam Mirza. Khan, Mohammad Afzal, “Safavis in Mughal Service: The Mirzas of Qandahar,” Islamic Culture 72, no. 1 (1998): 59–81Google Scholar discusses their presence in India and that of their descendants. His essay mentions other members of the Safavid family who later moved to India and entered Mughal service as well.

116. Ahmad, Two Kings of Awadh, 75Google Scholar.

117. Ibid., 77.

118. An answer to this question may perhaps be found in one of the numerous histories of Lucknow and Awadh listed in Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 1, pt. 1, 703–13Google Scholar.

119. Jhao Lai became Asaf al-Dawlah's minister in 1796, but the following year the governor-general, Sir John Shore, had him fired because of his anti-British stance. See Sinha, D. P., British Relations with Oudh 1801-1856 (Calcutta and New Delhi: K. P. Bagchi & Co., 1983), 10–12Google Scholar.

120. FS, 109 n. 136.

121. Ibid., 110.

122. Ibid., 109 (which reads ẓāll instead of ẓāll) and 109 n. 136.

123. Ibid., 109 n. 136.

124. Ibid., 100.

125. Ibid., 120. For a similar sentence see 116.

126. Ibid., 130, which reads Bār instead of Yār. See Ethè 567, fol. 95b. The following year the prince married again, but the bride's name is not recorded by Qazvini, see FS, 144.

127. Ibid., 130-31.

128. Ekhtiar, Maryam, “An Encounter with the Russian Czar: The Image of Peter the Great in Early Qajar Historical Writings,” Iranian Studies 29, nos. 1-2 (1996): 57–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

129. Ibid., 61.

130. Shushtari is mentioned only once in the published edition of the FS, 113. However, in 1214/1799-1800 he carried to Calcutta some gifts sent by Abu˒l-Fath Mirza to some high-ranking British officers (see Ethè 567, fol. 86a). Conversely, Shushtari briefly describes Lucknow but mentions neither the prince, nor Abu˒l-Hasan Qazvini, nor the FS. See Mir ᶜAbd al-Latif Khan Shushtari, Tuḥfat al-ᶜālam wa Ẓayl al-Tuḥfat, ed. Muwahhid, Samad (Tehran: Kitabkhanah-i Tahuri, 1363/1984), 420–32Google Scholar.

131. Cole, “Invisible Occidentalism,” 8-9. It may also be noted that Qazvini shows no interest in British or European history, society, and culture, with the exception of his rather confused and confusing opinions on the origin of the Holy Roman Emperor, the English, and the French as expressed by William Yule and Charles Lamborne to Abu˒l-Fath Mirza. See FS, 126-27. In one case Qazvini states that reading the Ḥabīb al-siyar had made it clear (wāżiḥ) to him that the Russians were of Turanian origin (az Turān): cf. ibid., 127.

132. Ibid., 111.

133. Ibid., 160.

134. Ibid., 114.