Literary History of Persia

3 Taqí-záda’s letter was received in time to correct the two passages to which the two concluding notes refer, but I have allowed them to stand because the first specifies the true authorship of the articles in question, while the second lays down a rule of which I had hitherto been unaware.

4 Taqí-záda’s letter was received in time to correct the two passages to which the two concluding notes refer, but I have allowed them to stand because the first specifies the true authorship of the articles in question, while the second lays down a rule of which I had hitherto been unaware.

5 London: Smith and Elder, 1866.

6 Of Krusinski’s and Hanway’s admirable accounts of the later Ṣafawí period I shall speak in chap. iii.

7 Since this was written I have received through a Persian correspondent a copy of the excellent lithographed edition of the Ṣafwatu’ṣ-Ṣafá published at Bombay in 1329/1911.

8 Don Juan calls him (f. 120^b) “Uzen Aly Bech,” but Antonio di Govea has “Ussein Alibeg,” which shows clearly that the first part of the name is Ḥusayn, not Úzún, as I had at first supposed.

9 See especially The Sherley Brothers…by one of the same House (Chiswick, 1828), pp. 22-35.

10 F. 230 of my ms. marked H. 14.

11 Although the envoy is here named Dengiz Beg Shámlú with the title of Yúz-báshí (Captain), not Ḥusayn ‘Alí Beg, as in Don Juan’s narrative (f. 120^b), there can, I think, be little doubt as to their identity.

12 History of Persia (London, 1815), vol. i, p. 527.

13 Ff. 46^b-47^b of my ms. H.14.

14 When this was written, I possessed only the first volume, which contains 626 pp. and comes down to the year 966/1558. By the kindness of my friend Ḥusayn Dánish Bey I have since acquired the second volume also.

15 Some other very interesting State Papers from the Dastúru’l-Inshá of Ṣárí ‘Abdu’lláh Efendi (d. 1079/1668) have also been published and annotated by the late M. Ch. Schefer in his Chrestomathie Persane (Paris, 1885),vol. ii, pp. 218-259 and ٢٣١-٢٠٩.

16 Leroux, Paris, 1890, pp. cxv + 465.

17 To these we must not omit to add the Mirátu’l-Mamálik (“Mirror of Kingdoms”) of the gallant Turkish admiral Sídí ‘Alí Ra’is, who travelled overland from India to Turkey in A.D. 1554-6, and was received by Sháh Ṭahmásp at Qazwín. Vambéry’s English translation of this book (Luzac, London, 1899) leaves a good deal to be desired.

18 Creasy’s History of the Ottoman Turks (London, 1877), pp. 171-2 ad calc. Cf. Forster and Daniell’s Life and Letters of…Busbecq (London, 1881), vol. i, pp. 221-2.

19 See E. J. W. Gibb’s History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. ii, p. 261, for a brief account of Salím’s Persian Díwán, of which a most sumptuous edition, based on numerous mss., by the late Dr. Paul Horn, was printed in Berlin as a gift to the late Sulṭán ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd from the ex-Emperor of Germany in 1904. A number of Sháh Isma‘íl’s Turkish poems are given in my ms. of the Silsilatu’n-Nasab-i-Ṣafawiyya. See J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, p. 412, where other references are given.

20 See Firídún Bey, vol. i, p. 381.

21 An interesting proof that, contrary to the views of Professor Nallino, the position of Caliph was already claimed by Sulṭán Salím, as it certainly was by his son and successor Sulaymán.

22 Literally, “he who rubs in the dust the noses of the Pharaohs,” alluding to Sulṭán Salím’s conquest of Egypt and overthrow of the Mameluke dynasty.

23 The Kháqán is the title given to the king of Túrán and the Turks. The word is, I believe, Mongol, and is identical with the alternative forms Qá’án and Khán.

24 Ḍaḥḥák is the Azhi-daháka or Dragon-king of the Avesta, represented in the Sháh-náma as an Arab usurper.

25 Under the year 908/1502-3, f. 47^b of Mr. A. G. Ellis’s ms.

26 The second dynasty of the ancient legendary kings of Persia.

27 Káwa was the patriotic blacksmith who led the revolt against the foreign usurper Ḍaḥḥák, and whose leather apron became the national standard under the name of Dirafsh-i-Káwayán.

28 Add. 200, f. 41^a of the Cambridge University Library. See Sir E. Denison Ross’s description of this book in the J.R.A.S. for 1896, vol. xxviii, pp. 264-283.

29 See the second English edition of Olearius (London, 1669); p. 212.

30 See Shahristání’s Kitábu’l-Milal, ed. Cureton, pp. 2-3.

31 Op. cit., pp. 108-9.

32 E.g. the second Imám, al-Ḥasan, elder son of ‘Alí, ostensibly surrendered his rights “for prudential reasons” (taqiyya) to the Umayyad Mu‘áwiya, but he could not really divest himself of the sacred quality of Imám.

33 He wrote about the end of the ninth Christian century, and his excellent history, edited by Houtsma, was published at Leyden in two vols. in 1883. See also vol. i of my Lit. Hist. of Persia, p. 229 and n. 2 ad calc.

34 Abundant illustrations of this are furnished by such works of the Saljúq period as the Siyásat-náma and the Ráḥatu’ṣ-Ṣudúr.

35 For the full pedigree, see the J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, p. 397 and n. I ad calc.

36 Ibid., pp. 417-18.

37 For the text of this passage, see p. 43 infra.

38 See the J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, pp. 407-8.

39 See Gibb’s History of Ottoman Poetry, vol. ii, pp. 227-8 ad calc.

40 Ibid., p. 259, and pp. 71-3 infra.

41 L’Estat de la Perse en 1660, ed. Schefer, pp. 16-17.

42 See J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, the Persian words on the illustration facing p. 415.

43 Ed. Valladolid. 1604. f. 50^a.

44 Krusinski agrees with this view. See p. 68 of the English version (London, 1728).

45 He was born on Rajab 5, 892 (June 27, 1487).

46 The original text is quoted on p. 53 infra, ad calc.

47 This biography of contemporary poets by Prince Sám Mírzá, the son of Sháh Isma‘íl, is another work which urgently needs publication.

48 Lithographed at Ṭihrán in two large volumes in 1295/1878.

49

50 The liberality of Humáyún towards poets and men of letters is especially noticed under the year of his death (962/1555) in the Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh. This and the succeeding topics will be more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter.

51 See Krusinski, op. cit., pp. 159-161.

52 The full pedigree is given (with only slight variants) in the Ṣafwatu’ṣ-Ṣafá, Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh, Silsilatu’n-Nasab-i-Ṣafawiyya and most other histories of this dynasty, and runs as follows:(1) Ṣafiyyu’d-Dín Abu’l-Fatḥ Isḥáq b. (2) Amínu’d-Dín Jibrá’íl b. (3) Ṣáliḥ b. (4) Quṭbu’d-Dín Aḥmad b. (5) Ṣaláḥu’d-Dín Rashíd b. (6) Muḥammad Ḥáfiẓ b. (7) ‘Awaḍ al-Khawáṣṣ b. (8) Fírúzsháh-i-Zarrín-kuláh b. (9) Muḥammad b. (10) Sharafsháh b. (11) Muḥammad b. (12) Ḥasan b. (13)Muḥammad b. (14) Ibráhím b. (IS) Ja‘far b. (16) Muḥammad b. (17) Isma‘íl b. (18) Muḥammad b. (19) Sayyid Aḥmad al-A‘rábí b. (20) Abú Muḥammad Qásim b. (21) Abu’l-Qásim Ḥamza b. (22) AL-IMÁM MÚSÁ AL-KÁẒIM, the seventh Imám and fifth in direct descent from ‘Alí and Fáṭima.

53 See my article on the Persian mss. of the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler, K.C.I.E. in the J.R.A.S. for Oct. 1917, pp. 693-4, and my Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion (hereinafter sometimes denoted as “Pers. Lit. iii”), pp. 80-87.

54

55 Shaykh Ṣafí died in 735/1334 at the age of 85. Rashídu’d-Dín was put to death in A.D. 1318 at the age of 70 or somewhat over.

56 Or Túklí as it is written and pointed in a note in Mr. Ellis’s manuscript.

57 Since this was written I have obtained through the kindness of one of my Persian correspondents a copy of an excellent lithographed edition published at Bombay in 1329/1911, of the very existence of which I was ignorant when this chapter was written.

58 See Rieu’s Pers. Cat., pp. 345-6.

59 See my Suppl. Hand-list, p. 137, No. 837.

60 Ch. viii comprises no less than 27 sections.

61 Prefixed to his metrical translation of the First Book of the Mesnevi (Mathnawí) of Jalálu’d-Dín Rúmí, published in Trübner’s Oriental Series in 1881. The Manáqib, or “Acts of the Adepts,” occupies pp. 3-135.

62 Les Saints des Derviches Tourneurs (Études d’Hagiographie Musulmane), vol. i (Paris, Leroux), 1918; vol. ii, 1922.

63 See my account of this rare and interesting work in the J.RA.S. for July, 1921, pp. 395-418. Both Dr. Babinger and M. Minorsky have called my attention to the fact that another ms. of this work at St. Petersburg was described by Khanikoff in the Mélanges Asiatiques, i, pp. 580-583.

64 Ed. Houtsma, vol. ii, p. 500.

65 For some account of the believing Jinn, see Qur’án, lxxii.

66 This, as M. V. Minorsky has pointed out to me, and not “Gilkhwárán,” is the proper pronunciation of this name.

67 Muḥammad, Ṣaláḥu’d-Dín Rashíd and Isma‘íl.

68 Ya‘qúb and Fakhru’d-Dín Yúsuf.

69 The supernatural achievements of thaumaturgists are divided by Jámí (Nafaḥátu’l-Uns, ed. Nassau Lees, pp. 22-31) into three classes: (i) the evidential miracles of the Prophets, called ma‘jizát; (ii) the “gifts” (karámát) vouchsafed by God to his saints for their greater honour; and (iii) the “wonders” (khawáriqu’l-‘ádát) wrought by ordinary men by means of Black or White Magic.

70 University of Chicago Press, 1909.

71 Paris, Leroux, 1918-1922.

72 The last ‘Abbásid Caliph, al-Musta‘ṣim, is said to have been put to death by Húlágú Khán in this way, the Mongols having a dislike to shedding kingly blood. So Clavijo informs us that at the court of Tímúr “the custom is that when a great man is put to death he is hanged; but the meaner sort are beheaded.” See Sir Clements Markham’s translation of his Narrative, published by the Hakluyt Society in 1859, p. 150.

73 He reigned A.D. 1295-1304. See my Pers. Lit. iii, pp. 40-46.

74 According to Jámí (Nafaḥát, p. 548) he died in Sha‘bán 678 (Dec. 1279).

75 On Monday, Muḥarram 12, 735 (Sept. 12, 1334).

76 See J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, p. 403.

77 Mr. A. G. Ellis most kindly placed at my disposal his ms. of this rare book, to which all subsequent references are made.

78 F. 166^a.

79 See J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, pp. 403-4.

80 Compare Dr. Franz Babinger’s remarks in his admirable study Schejch Bedr ed-Dín der Sohn des Richters von Simāw (Berlin and Leipzig, 1921), especially p. 15 of the Sonderabdruck.

81 See pp. 36-7 supra, and J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, pp. 406-7.

82 Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion, pp. 473-486 and pp. 365-6. I must here note an error into which I fell concerning the verses of Qásim quoted on p. 474. These obviously refer not to Shaykh Ṣafí but to his son Ṣadru’d-Dín, who actually lived exactly ninety years (A.H. 704-794). The word ﺪﻗﺬ in l. 1 probably needs emendation to some word (like ﻞﺠﺬ) meaning “son”; in any case this is its meaning here. The translation should run:”The Ṣadr of Saintship, who is the son [or survivor or representative] of Shaykh Ṣafí etc.

83 See d’Ohsson’s Histoire des Mongols, vol. iv, pp. 740-2.

84 J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, pp. 405-6.

85 See J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, p. 407. Dr. Franz Babinger wrote to me in a private letter: “Quds-i-Khalíl ist vielmehr al-Quds wa’l-Khalíl, d.h. Jerusalem und Hebron, eine häufige Bezeichnung für Südpalästina.” This is confirmed by the Rev. Canon J. E. Hanauer, to whom Dr. Babinger wrote about this matter, and who kindly endeavoured to identify this tomb. His very interesting letter is too long to quote in full. “The Arab historian Mejd ed-Dín,” he says, “who wrote about A.D. 1495, i.e. seventy years later [than Khwája ‘Alí’s death], gives a list of the most renowned Shaykhs buried at Hebron, but does not mention ‘Alí ‘Ajamí. We must therefore look for the shrine elsewhere. Four different places of note suggest themselves.” These are (1) the Ḥaram of ‘Alí ibn ‘Alawí 2½ hours north of Jaffa; (2) the Walí of al-‘Ajamí, just south of Jaffa; (3) a sacred oak-grove with the shrine of “the Imám ‘Alí” near the Báb-el-Wad; and (4) another very holy shrine of al-‘Ajamí, on the hill above the village of Bayt Maḥsír, amidst woods and thickets. Canon Hanauer is inclined to think that the last is most probably the tomb in question.

86 J.R.A.S. for July, 1921, p. 408.

87 See Sir John Malcolm’s History of Persia (ed. 1815),vol. i, pp. 496-7 and footnotes. The ascription of this act of intercession to Shaykh Ṣadru’d-Dín and still more to his father Ṣafiyyu’d-Dín is an anachronism.

88 These particulars are from the Ta’ríkh-i-‘Álam-árá-yi-‘Abbásí.

89 In 850/1456 according to Babinger, op. cit., p. 83.

90 See Pers. Lit. iii, p. 407.

91 Translated and edited by Charles Grey and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1873, pp. 139-207.

92 These were Sulṭán ‘Alí Mírzá (or Pádisháh), Isma‘íl, and Ibráhím, according to the Ta’ríkh-i-‘Álam-árá-yi-‘Abbásí, but they are differently given in the Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh.

93 See the late Sir A. Houtum-Schindler’s note on this in the J.R.A.S. for 1897, pp. 114-115. For a long note on Qizil-básh, see Babinger’s Schejch Bedr ed-Dín ,pp. 84-5 of the Sonderabdruck.

94 This, of course, is an error, for the Twelve Imáms include ‘Alí, who was the first of them and was succeeded by eleven of his descendants.

95 According to the rare history of Sháh Isma‘íl represented by Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library, however, Shaykh Ḥaydar was killed in 895/1490.

96 Pp. 101-2 of the Hakluyt Society’s translation by Charles Grey.

97 The following portion of this account, taken from the rare history of Sháh Isma‘íl mentioned in n. 1 on p. 15 above, has been published with translation by Sir E. Denison Ross in the J.R.A.S. for 1896 (vol. xxviii), pp. 264-283.

98 P. 206 of the Hakluyt Society’s Travels of Venetians in Persia (London, 1873). See also p. 223 of the same volume, where Vincentio d’Alessandri speaks in similar terms of the devotion of his subjects to Ṭahmásp, the son and successor of Isma‘íl. Most of this passage has been already quoted on p. 23 supra.

99 Cf. Pers. Lit. iii, p. 417. So the rare history of Sháh Isma‘íl (Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library, f. 27^a):

100 These were the Shámlú, Rúmlú, Ustájlú, Takallú, Dhu’l-Qadar, Afshár and Qájár. From the two last respectively there arose in later days Nádir Sháh and the present Royal House of Persia.

101 Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library, f. 35^b.

102 Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library, f. 40.

103 Ibid., f. 44^b. The text of this important passage, to which reference has been already made (p. 22 supra), runs as follows:

104 F. 44 of Mr. A. G. Ellis’s manuscript.

105 See Weil’s Geschichte der Chalifen, vol. iii, pp. 92-102. Al-Basásírí was the Commander-in-chief of the troops of the Buwayhid al-Maliku’r-Raḥím. He espoused the cause of the Fáṭimid Caliph al-Mustanṣir and attempted to depose the ‘Abbásid Caliph al-Qá’im. He was killed on Dhu’l-Qa‘da 6, 451 (Dec. 14, 1059). Since Isma‘íl was crowned in 907/1501-2, we must understand “previously” as referring not to this event, but to the composition of the Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh, or rather this portion of it, for it extends to the year 985/1577, while the date we require is 979/1571-2 (451 + 528 = 979).

106 The name is defective in the ms., but most closely resembles this. Such a writer is mentioned towards the end of the fifth Majlis of the Majálisu’l-Mú’minín, but he has no work bearing precisely this name. It is possible that the popular Sharáyi‘u’l-Islám of another al-Ḥillí is intended. See Rieu’s Arabic Supplement, p. 212.

107 F. 45 of Mr. Ellis’s ms.

108 According to contemporary European accounts he was put to death in cold blood by Isma‘íl. See p. 62 infra.

109 Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library, f. 55.

110 See the Ráḥatu’ṣ-Ṣudúr, ed. Muḥammad Iqbál (“E. J. W. Gibb Memorial,” New Series, vol. ii, 1921), p. 30.

111

112 According to Add. 200 of the Cambridge University Library (f. 61) the body was conveyed to Iṣfahán and there blown to pieces in the maydán with gunpowder.

113 His commentary on the Hidáya is still the favourite text-book for beginners in philosophy. See also Brockelmann’s Gesch. d. Arab. Litt., vol. ii, p. 210, and Rieu, B.M.P.C., p. 1077.

114 Embassy lo the Court of Timour, A.D. 1403-6, published by the Hakluyt Society, 1859, pp. 149-150.

115 W. Erskine’s History of India, etc. (London, 1854), vol. ii, p. 281.

116 “All the Curds,” says the anonymous Italian merchant (p. 157), “are truer Mahometans than the other inhabitants of Persia, since the Persians have embraced the Suffavean doctrine, while the Curds would not be converted to it: and though they wear the red caftans, yet in their hearts they bear a deadly hatred to them.”

117 They are thus enumerated in the Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh (f. 109^b of Mr. Ellis’s ms.): (1) Qará ‘Uthmán; (2) ‘Alí Beg; (3) Sulṭán Ḥamza; (4) Jahángír Mírzá (these four ruled over Diyár Bakr only); (5) Úzún Ḥasan; (6) Khalíl; (7) Ya‘qúb; (8) Báysunghur; (9) Rustam; (10) Aḥmad Beg; (11) Muḥammadí Mírzá; (12) Alwand Mírzá; (13) Sulṭán Murád.

118 Add. 200, Camb. Univ. Lib., f. 83^a:

119 In this hunting expedition 56,700 head of game are said to have been killed.

120 Narrative of Italian Travels in Persia (Hakluyt Society, London, 1873), pp. 46-8. See p. 22 supra, where part of this passage has been already cited.

121 Narrative of Italian Travels in Persia, p. 102 and p. 22 supra.

122 Ibid., pp. 109 and 196, and p. 23 supra.

123 Ibid., p. 111. See pp. 22-3 supra.

124 Ibid., p. 115.

125 Ibid., p. 202. Part of this passage has been already quoted on p. 23 supra.

126 I am at a loss to explain this word.

127 Aḥsanu’t-Tawáríkh (Ellis ms.), f. 74^b.