Qajar Research Articles

Religious function of Sagha-Nefar Architecture in Mazandaran on the Qajar era

Religious function of Sagha-Nefar Architecture in Mazandaran on the Qajar era

History of Coin Minting in Yerevan

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to study the coinage in Yerevan, which is one of the ancient cities of the Caucasus, located on the most important trade routes. The study of the history of the Yerevan Mint is important for the study of topical socio-economic and political issues of the history of the Caucasus. Methods and materials. Based on the comparative method, the article examines the coinage in Erivan using written and numismatic sources. Along with the descriptions of coins given by R.S. Pul, A.K. Markov, R. Fasmer, E.A. Pakhomov, M.A. Seyfeddini, A.M. Rajabli, E.A. Sinitsyna, and A.V. Hakobyan, information taken from medieval written historical sources containing important data on Yerevan, such as the works of Arakel Davrizhetsi, Zakaria Akulisi, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, Parsadan Gorgijanizde, Evliya Chelyabi, and Iskender bek Munshi Turkman, is also used. Analysis and results. Having arisen during the period of weakening of the Hulaguid state, the Yerevan Mint began periodically minting coins under the Safavid dynasty and under subsequent rulers from the Afsharid dynasty, Zand dynasty, and Qajar dynasty. Tаnka was fought in Yerevan until the mid-90s of the 16th century. The catalogs describe the tankas minted at the Yerevan Mint on behalf of Tahmasp I and Ismail II. As a result of the monetary reform of Abbas the Great in 1595, abbasi weighing 7.8 grams began to be minted at the Yerevan mint. The location of the Erivan Khanate on favorable trade routes contributed to the activation of the mint of the Erivan Khanate. The coins found in the Caucasian coin hoards, minted at the Yerevan mint, testify to the developed trade relations of Yerevan with the countries of the East. Until 1828, the monetary circulation and coinage of the Erivan/Yerevan Khanate were integral parts of the currency and coinage of Qajar Iran.

A Bridge Between East and West: Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer's Medical Contributions in Qajar Iran (1819-1881).

Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer (1819-1881), a Dutch physician, played a transformative role in the development of modern medicine in Qajar-era Iran. Arriving in Iran driven by a deep passion for Eastern culture, Schlimmer's contributions extended far beyond the confines of traditional medical practice. His work in medical education, particularly at the prestigious Dar al-Fonun, laid the foundation for the modernization of Iranian healthcare. Schlimmer's efforts to bridge the gap between Western and Iranian medical knowledge are epitomized by his collaboration on the Persian medical dictionary, commonly known as Schlimmer's Dictionary, and his seminal work, Terminologie Médico-Pharmaceutique et Anthropologique Française-Persane. These texts not only expanded the Persian medical lexicon but also integrated contemporary Western medical concepts with traditional Iranian practices. Schlimmer's approach, which emphasized the indigenization of medical knowledge, made complex medical phenomena accessible to Iranian practitioners and laid the groundwork for the advancement of public health in Iran. His legacy, marked by a commitment to cultural and scientific exchange, continues to resonate in the field of Iranian medical history. This article explores the multifaceted contributions of Dr. Schlimmer, highlighting his enduring impact on the evolution of healthcare in 19th-century Iran.

Prospects of cotton growing in the Caspian provinces of Iran in the assessments of officials of the Russian Empire on the eve and during the First World War

The article is devoted to the assessment of the prospects for the development of cotton growing in the Astarabad and Mazanderan provinces of Qajar Iran by the statesmen of the Russian Empire on the eve and during the First World War. The pre-war years were characterized by the intensification of Russian policy in the region. Among other things, with the active participation of the consulate in Astarabad, the formation of large Russian land ownership in the Caspian provinces and the development of peasant resettlement in the region is taking place. Cotton was considered as one of the main promising crops for breeding in the established farms, while it was the most interesting from the point of view of solving Russia’s strategic tasks to ensure the country’s resource independence. This problem is one of the little-studied in the existing historiography. On the basis of archival and published sources, the views of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Resettlement Department on the problem of cotton growing are investigated. It is shown that due to the favorable climatic conditions of the region and its natural resources, the prospects for cotton cultivation for the Russian market looked promising. The connection in the ideas of the officials of the Resettlement Department of the success of cotton growing with the development of Russian peasant resettlement, the influence of the ideas of the "civilizing mission" of Russia on their considerations is also noted.

Siyāq Numbers on Copper Coins and Countermarks during the Qajar Era

Iranian copper coins of the Qajar era—all described by the word falus—have a great variety of designs, weights, and sizes. These coins sometimes also include letters and phrases that are undeciphered to date. This article uses siyāq script to read some of these mystery notations for the first time. The multiple fascinating examples of siyāq numbers found thereby on Qajar coins and countermarks show that, contrary to former belief, some copper coins of this era had specific face values written on them in the siyāq script. This research uses these copper coins to take a small step toward a better understanding of the monetary system of the Qajar era by introducing several denominations never reported before. Finally, as siyāq script had never been discovered on coins, this new possibility now allows numismatists and scholars to revisit and correct former interpretations or to intro- duce and decipher new coins in the future.

A People of the Frontier: An Account of the Āyromlu Tribe between the Qajar, Ottoman, and Russian Empires

Abstract This article offers a translation of the unpublished short historical chronicle of the Āyromlu tribe, a ten-folio manuscript located in the British Library. Entitled Ketābcha-ye tāyefa-ye Āyromlu (The Booklet of the Āyromlu Tribe), it was composed in 1886/1304 in the northwestern borderlands of Qajar Iran by one Mohammad b. Bahrām Khān Āyromlu. Although principally motivated by the author’s desire to obtain salaries and lands that had been taken away from his family by its rivals, the text recounts the fascinating history of the Āyromlu over the course of the Safavid, Afshar, and Qajar eras. Drawing on oral and written sources, the author offers us a picture of tribal life and politics in the Caucasian imperial borderlands between the Ottoman, Iranian, and Russian states.

The cultural life of kurds according to the writers of foreign travelers in the qajar era (1796-1925)

The increasing number of foreigners entered Iran, especially the Europeans in the 19th Century A.D. enabled them to know more about the Iranian society. Moreover, the writers of Foreign travelers who got interested in the social and cultural issues of Iran about which recorded important information. For example, the Kurds, one of the ancient Iranian tribes, attracted many foreign tourists, especially the Europeans, the Americans, and the Japanese to come to Iran in the Qajar Era. The present study aimed at shedding light on the cultural life of Kurds according to the writers of foreign travelers in the Qajar era depending on the works and observations of those travelers when visited the Kurdish regions in Iran. Moreover, such recordings were in the form of stories and traveling. An analytical and descriptive approach was adopted. Data were collected from the books on the foreign traveler in the Qajar era. As a matter of fact, the cultural life of Kurds which discussed by such writers in detail includes ethical characters, language,

Tohfeye Ziyarat (Souvenir of Pilgrimage): Religious Mobility and Public Health in Late Qajar Iran, c. 1890–1904

AbstractFollowing the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, long-distance pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites expanded and quickened, resulting in the spread of cholera among travelers. The necessity of taking circuitous routes to holy cities both inside and outside Iran significantly exacerbated the spread of cholera. Although potential factors such as inadequate public health infrastructure and ineffective quarantine measures contributed to the dissemination of cholera, overall religious mobility in the form of pilgrimage primarily factored behind cholera's spread. Analyzing the influence of religious mobility and rituals sheds light on how pilgrims, as contagions, dealt with the pandemic and the treatment they received from authorities, members of host societies, and individuals within and outside Iran during the cholera pandemics of the1890s and early 1900s.

Fruits of the Gardens: Ethics, Metaphysics, and Textual Pleasures in Late Qajar Iran

Abstract This article introduces a miscellany notebook in Arabic and Persian, entitled Favāka al-basātin (Fruits of the Gardens), compiled around 1914 in Tehran by Hājj Mirzā Mohammad Tehrāni (d. 1914–21), a learned sugar merchant and bookseller. The notebook covers a broad range of topics on faith, philosophy, and ethics. It frequently draws on the Qurʾan and the Hadith, as well as Stoic proverbs, mostly from the Meditationes (Meditations) of Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–80), which was well received in nineteenth-century Persian advice literature. The text also includes passages from the Thousand and One Nights and sections on modern sciences, such as electricity, gas laws, and liquid dynamics, and a theory of colors explaining the rainbow. The article’s introductory section provides brief biographical background of the compiler of this notebook, the second section presents an overview of its contents, and the final section explores the question of authorial subjectivity and the author-text relationship by putting in perspective the volume’s gradual compilation, its eclectic range of topics, and its fluid structure. Through its diverse reading and writing strategies, this notebook represents an informative and heuristic venue that opens new analytical angles on Iran’s cosmopolitan, multifaceted, and heterogenous intellectual milieu in the late Qajar period.

The State and the Class in Qajar Iran, 1794-1925

The form of the relationship between the state and social class throughout the history of Iran has always been explained by theories of the ‘Asiatic mode of production’ and ‘Oriental Despotism’. According to these theories, the power of the state is unlimited and it has all classes under its control. Meanwhile, many historical data of the Qajar era question this point of view and represent a situation in which various social forces limit the power of the state. The present article was written in response to the conflict between the theory of the ‘Asian state’ and the historical reality of the Qajar era. The main question of the article is: was the Qajar state limited by the social classes or did it have absolute and supra-class power? In answer to this question, the state classifications of Elman Service, Andrew Vincent, Max Weber, Karl Marx and Samuel Huntington are used. The research method is a historical case study that collects and analyzes data using two documentary methods and pattern matching. The results of the research show that the pattern of “balance, opposition and limitation” is established in the relationship between the state and the social classes of the Qajar era. This pattern can be described according to the classification of states based on the criterion of “accumulation and distribution of power”. It is split into three periods. The first period is characterized as a “patriarchal” state, the second — as a “patrimonial” state, and the third — as a “constitutional” state. The state in the first and second Qajar periods was associated with a low accumulation of power and centralized power distribution, and in the third period, that of post-constitutionality, it took the form of a low accumulation of power and scattered power distribution.

IRANIAN ART OF THE QAJAR ERA: EUROPEAN INFLUENCES AND «PERSIAN STYLE» FOR EXPORT

The Qajar era (late XVIII-1925) gave the world a unique style, unmistakably recognizable in painting, crafts, and photography. Clumsy, striking the imagination with its amazing brightness of colors and bold artistic techniques, it was formed largely due to active interaction with European culture via respect for the Persian traditional styles. The article deals with the significance of Europe and the European in the formation and development of Qajar art, addressing two opposing processes. Borrowing Western methods and techniques, educational models and new products on the one hand, and European fashion for Persian things, which influenced local production and its transformation on the other. The first process is seen in easel painting and the fashion for "european«details in interior decoration, the second — in «re-creation» of an updated carpet and ceramic production in Persia. The illustrative effect will be provided by selected items from the collection of the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow, including court portraits, glass paintings, qalamkaras, tiles, etc.

The Security Situation in the Pusht-e Kuh Government in the Late Qajar Era and the Role of Gholam Hossein Khan Shahab al-Mulk in It

In the final third of the Qajar period, the Pusht-e Kuh government faced various vulnerabilities, threats, and security incidents. Border disputes with the Ottoman Empire, internal uprisings, regional wars, dissatisfaction and lack of trust among subjects, mismanagement by some officials, and the involuntary migration of inhabitants led to severe security disruptions. Gholam Hossein Khan Shahab al-Mulk, a key figure within the ruling elite, was tasked with restoring order and took actions aimed at reproducing, improving, and enhancing security in the region. This study seeks to answer the question: What role did Gholam Hossein Khan Shahab al-Mulk play in the security of the Pusht-e Kuh government during the late Qajar period? It also tests the hypothesis that Shahab al-Mulk, through effective agency, strengthened the financial capacity, guided and reassured the subjects, improved intelligence, and implemented military and security measures, thereby improving security in Pusht-e Kuh during the late Qajar period. The present research has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, and a significant portion of the documents and materials reviewed in this study are being published for the first time. Additionally, the elite theory has been used as the theoretical framework of the research. The findings of the study indicate that Shahab al-Mulk was able to contribute to the maintenance and preservation of security in the Pusht-e Kuh government by improving financial resources, building trust and hope among the subjects, and implementing military and security measures.

Տաթևի, Ս․ Թադեի և Ս․ Ստեփաննոս Նախավկայի վանքերը ԺԹ դարի առաջին կեսին

From the beginning of Qajar rule in Iran the Armenian monaste-ries of Syunik and Artaz suffered the hardships of the Russo-Persian conflict and wars for the regions of Transcaucasia. The Persian docu-ments of the Matenadaran throw light on some political and economic developments around the monasteries and help elucidate some aspects of Qajar policy as regards the Armenian sanctuaries under their rule. Tatev monastery, located in the territory subject to the khan of Karabagh had passed under the rule of Russian empire after the treaty concluded in Kurakchay in 1805 and then after the fights of the Russo-Persian war of 1804 - 1813 its annexation to Russia was confirmed by the treaty of Gulistan. The monastery served as a refuge of the Russian troops fighting for the region. The monasteries of Artaz remained under the rule of Qajar Iran after the treaty of Turkmenchay concluded in 1828, at the end of the second Russo-Persian war. The Qajar governement supported the mo-nasteries of St. Thaddeus and St. Stepannos, the apostles, and tried to keep away its Armenian followers, the inhabitants of Azerbayjan from migration to the regions passed under the rule of Russia. In spite of these attempts the major portion of the Armenians of Azerbayjan migrated. However, the Qajar powers granted some estates to the monasteries in the villages around them and protected their rights with royal decrees and other documents in order to secure their survival in later Muslim environment.

Persian orientalism: Raciolinguistic ideologies and the construction of ‘Iranianness’

AbstractThis article excavates the Eurocentric roots of Iranian nationalist discourse, which emerged from the political and intellectual trajectories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Premised on the epistemic privilege of the Persian language, a selective remembrance of the past, and forging an internal Other, I contend that this raciolinguistic ideology equated Persianness with Iranianness and naturalised Persian as both a language and a race. I begin by tracing the origin of Iranianness or Irāniyat: a concept coined by Mirza Fath'Ali Akhundzadeh and Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, two influential figures in late Qajar Iran, whose writings introduced and disseminated the Eurocentric and Orientalist view of the non‐Persian Other. In the second section, I examine how the Berlin Circle, a group of Iranian nationalist intellectuals in the early 20th century, elaborated these ideas into a coherent racial and political ideology that later informed the Pahlavis' state‐building project in 1925. The last section of the article engages with the recent neologism of the ‘Persianate World’, an intellectual enterprise imbued with an Orientalist predisposition that aims to inscribe a trans‐border and transcultural quality to Persian culture far beyond its current boundaries, encompassing Eurasia and Central Asia.

Iraj Mirzā: Women and Their Representation in His Poetry

Abstract Iraj Mirzā has a reputation for excessive sexual content in his poetic oeuvre. His “forbidden literature,” so to speak, and to quote Paul Sprachman, has suffered unjustly from charges of frivolity, and while vanity and profanity do indeed feature prominently, these allegations disregard the artistic high-mindedness that is ever-present in the prince’s extensive canon. Recent scholarship has attempted to rehabilitate his reputation by highlighting the formalistic aspects of his poetry as well as by emphasizing the striking intricacies of his particular poetic perspective. In this article, I will delineate Iraj’s line of poetic maturity—especially when interlaced with thoroughgoing thoughts of Constitutional Revolution—and will discuss how, juxtaposing the stylistic decorum of classical Persian poetry with interlocution and colloquialism, he could impact the upcoming movement of new poetry (she‘r-e no) in Iran. More emphatically, I will illuminate how Iraj Mirza’s attitude toward women is self-contradictory—though in some places he seems sympathetic toward women, criticizing the restrictions placed on them in Qajar Iran, he ultimately betrays them by degrading them to the status of sex objects as in ‘Ārefnāmeh, where he depicts the veil as an obstacle to women’s and the country’s progress and he contaminates women’s chastity by justifying his (character’s) raping. Iraj’s boldness in addressing female genitalia and sexual intercourse pushed the boundaries of literature in transitional Qajar era; however, seen from a feminist perspective, his poetry equates the Persian literary woman to the fictionalized demimonde who wished to be sexually abused.

Non-invasive imaging and spectroscopy techniques for identifying historical pigments: a case study of Iranian manuscripts from the Qajar era

In recent years, the expansion of non-invasive methods has been a trend in identifying historical pigments. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the pigments used in three Iranian historical manuscripts from the Qajar era by utilizing a non-invasive and multi-analytical approach. A combination of various multi-band imaging methods, along with µ-XRF, Raman and FORS spectroscopy, were employed to identify pigments. The results revealed that emerald green, cochineal, ultramarine, orpiment, and red lead were used as pigments for green, red, blue, yellow, and orange colors on a golden leaf made of brass alloy. The study also demonstrated the mixtures of lead-barite white, lead white-ultramarine and lead white-red lead-indigo-cochineal in the white, light blue, and pink sections. While multi-band imaging was found to be a suitable tool for the primary classification of pigments, relying solely on this method without a complete pigment database is not advisable, as differences in underlying paint layers and mixed pigments can affect imaging results. Overall, the combination of imaging and spectroscopic techniques provides a reliable and non-invasive approach to identifying historical pigments and their alterations.

Investigation of Pirnia's orientation theory (Roon) in Yazd Qajar houses

This paper carefully explains Pirnia's theory regarding the orientation of traditional Iranian cities and buildings (Roon) and investigates the factors involved in this historic architectural phenomenon. For this purpose, 40 traditional Yazd Qajar houses were under study. Most of which are in the Rasteh Roon and close to the southwest direction, and only five contradict the direction that Pirnia had pointed. While the primeval data indicated the theory is strengthening, the investigation followed the fundamental factors behind this event. From the perspective of analysis and discussion on involved factors (climate, topography, aqueducts, urban arteries, politics, trade routes, privacy, noise, view, and religion), it turns out that the direction of the wind and sun had negligible impacts on this orientation, and architects of the Qajar era in Yazd old city did not care about these climate factors. It seems religious factors were more influential. Thus, despite being approvingly referenced in many scientific studies, Pirnia's orientation theory (Roon)—the efforts of past Iranian architects to orient buildings in a specific direction due to their unique knowledge of region and climate factors—becomes not solid.

Retrieval of Identity Layers in Persian Illustrated Lithographed Manuscripts with Religious Themes of the Qajar Era

This paper aims to scrutinize the identity layers in artworks of the Qajar era. Identity in art has different layers and each layer depends on different aspects. the Qajar Era is one of the culturally productive periods in Iran. It also had widespread relations with the West in different matters. Thus several identity layers in the culture and artworks can be seen in this period. The research tries to answer this question: what are the identity layers and their priorities found in the Lithographed Manuscripts with religious themes in the Qajar Era? The analysis of 10 manuscripts with various dates shows that there are four identity layers: archaism, Persian-Islamic, Western-style and Islamic-Shi? tendency in artworks of the Qajar Era and each type of artwork, some layers have more importance.

Reading the Façade of Shiraz residential houses in the Qajar Era

The research uses a qualitative method. A review of library and also 3d modeling of three types of the Qajar Era houses, led to the selection of 10 houses out of 290 registered houses of this era. The findings suggested an interrelationship among all buildings. The houses are mainly characterized by the symmetry of the windows, doors, and stairways while differing in terms of the decorative work, whether or not the houses belong to the officials, landlords’ livelihood status, and their area. Analyses suggest that most facades have a horizontal skyline and a horizontal rhythm with 1/4 and 1/3 ratios. The main materials used in these facades include woods, stone, simple and colored glass, and glazed tiles and bricks on the bodies. Decorations at the entrances include five-door, three-door, and seven-door designs, mostly made of glass. Thus, it is concluded that the entire facades of this era include visual and mental elements, while other elements are used to strengthen this aspect.

Debating Caliphs and Kings in the Twentieth Century: ʿAbd ul-Ḥalīm Sharar’s Essays on Empire and Governance

Abstract The following is an English translation of three essays by the late nineteenth-century Urdu novelist, historian, and essayist ʿAbd ul-Ḥalīm Sharar (1860–1926). In the essays translated here, Sharar offers commentary on contemporaneous world-historical events such as the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (which had garnered huge public uproar in British India, later culminating in the Khilafat movement) and the “Great Game” in Iran that resulted in its bifurcation into Russian and British spheres of influence. These polemical pieces concerning major imperial changes of the early twentieth century oscillate between impassioned pleas to the colonial government to save Islamic empires from total ruin and rousing calls to action to the Muslim community to band together and save themselves. The first essay, “The Fall of the Persians” (Zavāl-e ʿAjam), reflects on the twilight years of Qajar Iran and presents “Islamic” Persia as the civilizational fountainhead of large swathes of Asia from “the Bosphorus to China.” The second essay, “The End of Ottoman Power” (ʿUṡmānī Sat̤vat kā Ḳhātimah), responds to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1912 by analyzing the material reasons for the triumph of Europe. The third piece, “The Democratic Spirit of the Arabs” (ʿAraboñ kī Jamhūriyat-pasandī), captures the style for which Sharar was primarily known: narrating history through entertaining stories for moral edification. Here, a short vignette about the Andalusian ruler ʿAbd ul-ʿAzīz and his gradual decline towards conceit, at the behest of his Gothic wife, is framed by a historical review of the many ways in which Islamic rulers avoided inadvertent polytheism by not using grand titles like sult̤ān and bādshāh for themselves. This is held up as representing the intrinsic democratic ethos of the Arabs which was forfeited by later Islamic rulers under the influence of Persian culture. These essays will be of interest to literary scholars and historians of twentieth-century India interested in imperial transitions. They preserve trends in Urdu historiography that were central to the fashioning of national publics, providing a window into negotiations of the place of Urdu and Indian Muslims in the world.