In Volume 1-1: Qurʾānic Literature, History, and Biography | Section 2, History, Biography, etc.

previous chapter: 3.1 General

§ 322. For the S̲h̲āh-nāmah of “Firdausī” see the section of this work relating to Poetry.

§ 323. S̲h̲araf al-Dīn Faḍl Allāh [b. ʿAbd Allāh acc. to Ḥ.K̲h̲.] Ḥusainī Qazwīnī (who is to be distinguished from ʿIzz al-Dīn Faḍl Allāh, the father of Waṣṣāf, see p. 209 infra) wrote in the reign (ah 695/1295 or 696/1296 to 730/1329 or 733/1333) of the Atābak Nuṣrat al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Yūsuf-S̲h̲āh of the Lur i Buzurg (see Ency. Isl. ii 46), who is praised in the preface to al-Muʿjam. A manuscript containing his dīwān and two prose compositions is described in Rieu Suppt. 257.

¶ al-Muʿjam fī āt̲h̲ār mulūk al-ʿAjam, a turgid history of the four pre-Islāmic Persian dynasties: Ḥ.K̲h̲. v p. 628 (where circ. ah 654 is wrongly given as the date of composition), Browne Lit. Hist. iii 68, Fātiḥ 4486 = Tauer 302 (ah 848/1444), 4488 = Tauer 304 (ah 877/1472), 4487 = Tauer 305 (ah 898/1493), ʿUmūmīyah 5528 = Tauer 303 (ah 855/1451), Cairo pp. 508–9 ((1) n.d. (2) ah 860/1456), Aumer 228 (ah 878/1473), Majlis 274 (ah 914/1508–9), Nūri ʿUt̲h̲mānīyah 3168 = Tauer 306 (ah 928/1522), 3169 = Tauer 308 (ah 1053/1643), Köprülü 1055 = Tauer 307 (ah 964/1557), Chanykov 86 (ah 990/1582), 87 (AD 1830), Leningrad Pub. Lib. (see Mélanges asiatiques iii (St. Petersburg 1859), p. 728), Blochet i 261 (16th cent.), 262 (17th cent.), 263 (19th cent.), iv 2143 (late 15th cent.), Ethé 534 (ah 1021/1612), 535 (ah 1028/1619), Bānkīpūr vi 517 (ah 1085/1674), Mas̲h̲had iii p. 103 (ah 1085/1674–5), r.a.s. P. 139 = Morley 137 (ah 1090/1679), Asʿad 2415 = Tauer 309 (11th/17th cent.), 2228 = Tauer 311 (ah 1245/1829), Āyā Ṣūfiyah 3089 = Tauer 310 (11th/17th cent.), Rieu ii 811b (ah 1113/1701–2), iii 1065b (19th cent.), Rehatsek p. 82 no. 21 (ah 1241/1825–6), Ivanow Curzon 15 (ah 1253/1837), d.m.g. 12 (ah 1256/1840), 13 i, Vollers 967 (ah 1272/1855–6), Riḍā Pās̲h̲ā 3141=Tauer 312 (ah 1273/1857), Berlin 428 (modern), 429, Bodleian 285, Browne Suppt. 1213 (defective at both ends), 1214 (n.d. King’s 116), Dorn a.m. p. 205, Hamburg 221 (pt. i only), Lahore Panjāb Univ. Lib. (defective at end. See Oriental College Magazine, vol. ii no. 3 (Lahore, May 1926) p. 63), Salemann-Rosen p. 19 nos. 179, 192, 486.

Editions: [Tabrīz¹] 1259/1843°, [Persia,] 1264/1848°, [Ṭihrān,] 1287/1870°, Persia 1301/1883–4 (see Āṣafīyah i p. 230 no. 812), Lahore 1884† (cf. Luzac’s Bibliotheca orientalis xxiii (1921) no. 495).

An abridgment: Rieu ii 809a (16th cent.).

Turkish translation: Balāg̲h̲at-nāmah or Tarjumān i balāg̲h̲at, written in 894/1489 by Kamāl Barg̲h̲amawī at the command of the Grand Vizier Maḥmūd Pās̲h̲ā: Ḥ.K̲h̲. vol. v, p. 629, no. 12382 (cf. vol. ii p. 62 no. 1898), Babinger Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen p. 34, where mss. in the Preussische Staatsbibliothek and in the Nūr i ʿUt̲h̲mānīyah mosque are mentioned.

[Rieu ii 811–12, Suppt. 257.]

§ 324. The soi-disant translator, i.e. most probably the author, of the Tajārib al-umam fī ak̲h̲bār mulūk al-ʿArab wa-’l-ʿAjam, whose name is effaced in ¶ the preface of the unique manuscript, describes his work as the translation of an Arabic history composed in 75/694–5, in the reign of ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān, by ʿĀmir [b. S̲h̲arāḥīl al-] S̲h̲aʿbī [a celebrated transmitter of oral tradition, not a writer of books, who died in or before 110/728, see Ency. Isl. under S̲h̲aʿbī], Aiyūb b. Fihr [perhaps Ibn al-Qirrīyah, for whom see Ibn Qutaibah al-Maʿārif p. 206, Ibn K̲h̲allikān, etc.] and ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Muqannaʿ [perhaps Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, anachronistically]. This history extending from Sām b. Nūḥ to Yazdajird iii was provided by al-Aṣmaʿī [for whom see Ency. Isl. etc.] at Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd’s command with an exordium covering the period from Ādam onwards, and the manuscript, written in the Kūfī character, was inherited by successive ʿAbbāsids. Subsequently it came into the possession of the Atābak Saʿīd b. Zangī [i.e. presumably Saʿd b. Zangī, the Salg̲h̲urid ruler of Fārs, d. 623/1226 (?)], and eventually it reached Īd̲h̲aj in K̲h̲ūzistān, where no one was able to read it, and a ruler whose name is not mentioned [probably one of the Atābaks of Luristān] gave orders that it should be translated into Persian.

Tajārib al-umam fī ak̲h̲bār mulūk al-ʿArab wa-’l-ʿAjam, a history of Persia to the Arab conquest and of Pre-Islāmic Arabia with accounts of the Pre-Islāmic Prophets: Āyā Ṣūfiyah 3115 = Tauer 301 (cf. Horn p. 506) (Īd̲h̲aj, S̲h̲awwāl 789/1387. Autograph ?).

§ 325. By order of Mīr ʿAlī S̲h̲īr (for whom see below under Biography: Poets) a certain Abū ’l-Ḥasan Ṭabarī wrote his

Mafātīḥ al-ʿAjam, a history of the Pre-Islāmic Persian dynasties in four ṭabaqāt: Būhār 51 (defective. 17th cent.).

§ 326. Farzānah² Bahrām b. Farhād b. Ispandiyār Yazdānī was a pupil of Ād̲h̲ar Kaiwān, ³ the great apostle of the Sipāsī or Ābādī sect of the Parsees. The latter died at Patna, the headquarters of the sect, in 1027/1618 (see Rieu i 141). According to a bibliographical note quoted by Rieu (ii, 479) Bahrām b. Farhād’s S̲h̲āristān was written in the time of Akbar (who reigned ah 963/1556–1014/1605).

S̲h̲āristān or S̲h̲āristān i c̲h̲ahār c̲h̲aman, a work in four c̲h̲amans ((1) on the Creation and the Pīs̲h̲dādians, (2) on the Kayānians, (3) on the ¶ As̲h̲kānians and Sāsānians, (4) on the Ād̲h̲arites, from the First Sāsān to Ād̲h̲ar Kaiwān): Rehatsek p. 204 no. 56 (n.d.), no. 57 (ah 1224/1809).

Editions: Bombay a.y. 1223/ah 1270/ad 1854° (C̲h̲amans i–ii and C̲h̲aman iii as far as K̲h̲usrau Parwīz, the editor having been unable to find a complete copy), 1327/1909° (apparently complete).

§ 327. In 1082/1671–2 was composed the

Baḥr al-laʾāliʾ, a history of the ancient kings of Persia from Gayūmart̲h̲ to Yazdajird: Ross and Browne 136 (ah 1217/1802–3).

§ 328. M. Ḥasan K̲h̲ān Marāg̲h̲ī, entitled Ṣanīʿ al-Daulah and afterwards Iʿtimād al-Salṭanah, died at Ṭihrān in 1896 (see p. 120 supra).

Durar al-tījān fī tārīk̲h̲ Banī As̲h̲kān. Edition: [Persia,] 1308/1890°–1310/1892° (3 vols.).

§ 329. It was at the request of Māṇekjī [son of] Līmjī Hōs̲h̲ang Hātaryā⁴ that M. Ismāʿīl K̲h̲ān Zand Tūsarkānī wrote his Farāzistān.

Farāzistān, “on the ancient empire of Persia from Mah-ábád till the fall of the Sásánians, in pure Persian, … a veritable rag-bag of legends and myths from the Sháhnáma, the Chahár Chiman, and the Dasátír.”⁵ Edition: Bombay 1894°.

[The Táríkh-i-Jadíd … by Mírzá Ḥuseyn of Hamadán, translated … by E.G. Browne, Cambridge 1893, p. xxxviii.]

§ 330. ʿAbd al-Ḥusain, known as (al-s̲h̲ahīr bi-) Mīrzā Āqā K̲h̲ān Kirmānī, was the son of Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm of Bardasīr near Kirmān and was born in 1270/1853–4. “He studied Mathematics, the Natural Sciences and Philosophy, and acquired Turkish, French and some English. In ah 1303 (= ad 1885–6) he left Kirmán for Iṣfahán on account of the tyranny of the governor, Sulṭán ʿAbdu ’l-Ḥamíd Mírzá Náṣiru’d-Dawla. At Iṣfahán he was well received by the Ẓillu’s-Sulṭán (Masʿúd Mírzá), who wished to retain him in his service; but he, disliking a courtier’s life, went to Ṭihrán and thence soon afterwards [in 1305/1887–8] proceeded to Constantinople with Shaykh Aḥmad ‘Rúḥí’ of Kirmán. There he was for some time on the staff of the Persian newspaper Akhtar (‘the Star’), and became acquainted with Sayyid Jamálu ’d-Dín [see Ency. Isl. under D̲j̲amāl ¶ al-Dīn al-Afg̲h̲ānī], with whom he worked for the awakening of the Persians and the promotion of Pan-Islamism.” While in Constantinople he and S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Aḥmad were accused of conspiracy by the Persian authorities and were tried by order of the Sulṭān, but acquitted. Later, however, the Persian government, having intercepted letters from them to various mujtahids in Persia, demanded their surrender, and they were conveyed to Trebizond, detained there for a while, and then taken to Tabrīz, where they were put to death on 4 Ṣafar 1314/15 July 1896.

In the preface to his Āʾīnah i Sikandarī he mentions a work of his entitled Āʾīn i suk̲h̲unwarī, on Persian literature, which he completed in 1307/1889–90. In 1313/1895–6, while in prison at Trebizond, he completed a metrical history, in the metre of the S̲h̲āh-nāmah, entitled Nāmah i bāstān. “Two years later, after the author’s death, the Farmán-farmá caused this poem to be printed, with the omission of certain passages which he considered dangerous, and the addition of a supplement written by another Shaykh Aḥmad of Kirmán known as Adíb, and this book he entitled Sáláriyya.” Of his numerous writings he enumerates twenty on the last page of E.G. Browne’s ms. of the Nāmah i bāstān. The Browne Collection includes also his Kitāb i Riḍwān, an imitation of the Gulistān composed in 1304/1886–7 and two volumes of fictitious letters between two imaginary princes, Kamāl al-Daulah of Delhi and Jalāl al-Daulah of Persia, on the ancient glories and present misery of Persia. He was an Azalī and married a daughter of “Subḥ i Azal” (Mīrzā Yaḥyā Māzandarānī).

(1)

Aʾīnah i Sikandarī, a history of Persia to the time of the Prophet’s death: Majlis 215, Riḍā Pās̲h̲ā 2387 (ah 1313/1895–6. See Tauer p. 465, note 1).

Edition: Ṭihrān 1324/1906 (see Majlis p. 122, 1. 4).

(2)

Nāmah i bāstān, a metrical history of eleven ancient Persian dynasties “according to the beliefs of European historians” (first the Ābādians and last the Sāsānians) ending with lamentations for the departed glories of Persia, satire on Nāṣir al-Dīn S̲h̲āh and an account of the author’s life: Browne Coll. V. 60 (9) (autograph).

Edition (expurgated): Sālār-nāmah (so in E.G. Browne The press and poetry of modern Persia, Cambridge 1914, p. xxxiii, 164), Persia⁶ 1315/1897–8 (see above).

Extract with English translation: E.G. Browne The Persian revolution, pp. 409–414.

¶ English translation of the preface: E.G. Browne The press and poetry of modern Persia, pp. xxxiii–xxxvi.

According to E.G. Browne The Persian revolution, p. 409, long extracts from the portions of the poem suppressed in the lithographed edition are quoted on pp. 244–264 of the Nāẓim al-Islām’s introduction to his Tārik̲h̲ i bīdārī i Īrāniyān.

[The adventures of Haji Baba of Ispahan … translated … into Persian by Ḥājī Shaik̲h̲ Aḥmad-i Kirmānī and edited with notes by Major D.G. Phillott, Calcutta 1905, introduction, pp. vii–viii; G. Browne, The Persian revolution of 1905–1909, Cambridge 1910, pp. 93–5 (portrait facing p. 94. Phillott’s account quoted), 409 (account based on the Nāẓim al-Islām’s Tārīk̲h̲ i bīdārī i Īrāniyān, introduction pp. 6–13 (for a transcript of these pages see Browne Coll. F. 28 (9) (5)), Materials for the study of the Bábí religion, pp. 221–5; A descriptive catalogue of the Oriental MSS. belonging to the late E.G. Browne, Cambridge 1932, pp. 67, 76, 147, 250–2.]

§ 331. M. Ḥusain K̲h̲an D̲h̲akāʾ al-Mulk “Furūg̲h̲ī” has already been mentioned (p. 187 supra) as the author of a Tārīk̲h̲ i Irān.

Tārīk̲h̲ i salāṭīn i Sāsānī-. Edition: [Persia] 1313–16/1895–8°.

Extracts: Hadiqa-i-Fasahat. A selection from the Diary of Nasiru-d-Din Shah, the Tarikh-i-Sasaniyan, and a private account of the Indian Mutiny by an eyewitness. Being the text-book for the Higher Standard Examination in Persian. Calcutta 1910°.

English translation of extracts: Hadiqa-i-Fasahat. The text book for Higher Standard Examination in Persian. A literal English translation of Tarikh-i-Sasaniyan by Muhammad Kazim Shirazi. Calcutta, 1911°.

§ 332. Appendix

3.2.1 Titled Works

(1)

Dastānhā i Īrān i qadīm, a sketch of the legendary history of ancient Persia and a discussion of its relation to historical fact, being a supplement to Īrān i bāstānī (no. 2 below), by Ḥasan Pīrniyā. Edition: Tihrān a.h.s. 1307/1928*.

(2)

Īrān i bāstānī, a history of Persia to the fall of the Sāsānians, by Ḥasan Pīrniyā (sometime Mus̲h̲īr al-Daulah. Portrait in Ḥ. Mudīr Ḥallāj Tārīk̲h̲ i nahḍat i Īrān, p. 74). Edition: Tihrān a.h.s. 1306/1928*.

(3)

Īrān i qadīm, yā tārīk̲h̲ i muk̲h̲taṣar i Īrān tā inqirāḍ i Sāsāniyān, by Ḥasan Pīrniyā. Edition: Ṭihrān a.h.s. 1308/1929 (see Harrassowitz’s Bücher-Katalog 430 (1931) no. 603).

(4)

¶ Kisrā-nāmah, an account of the Pre-Islāmic Persian kings to K̲h̲usrau Parwīz, by ʿAbbās Yazdī. Edition: Calcutta [, 1903°].

(5)

Majmaʿ al-mulūk fī d̲h̲ikr i salāṭīn i ʿAjam, written in 1841 by Mīrzā Ḥaidar Wazīrov Darbandī (cf. p. 335 infra): Chanykov 88 (Pt. i (to the As̲h̲kānids) only).

3.2.2 Untitled Work

(1)

History of K̲h̲usrau Anūs̲h̲īrwān: Blochet i 202 (11) (16th or 17th cent.).

next chapter: 3.3 The G̲h̲aznawids