Loyalty, Betrayal and Retribution: Shah `Abbas and Kirman, Yazd and Fars

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Ferdowsi, theMongols and theHistory of lranART, LITERATURE AND CULTURE FROMEARLY ISLAM TO QAJAR PERSIA

Studies in Honour of Charles Melville

Edited byRobert Hillenbrand, A.C.S. peacockand Firuza Abdullaeva

Published by I.B.Tauris & Co. LtdIn association with the Iran Heritage Foundation

Contents

List of contriburors

List of illustrarions

Acknowledgements and note on transliteration and abbreviations

Bibliography of Professor Charles MelvilleCompiled by Ahram Khabibullaeu

r Charles Melville and Persian pembroke

Michael l(uczynshi

STUDIES ON HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHYIRAN AND THE ANCIENT \TORLD

z on the epithets of two sasanian kings in the Mujmal al-tawarikh wa-l-qisasTburaj Daryaee

3 The changing face of an Iranian sacred place: the Takht-i SulaymanJosef Wiesebtifer

4 Legitimating tyrants: the heroic rulers of archaic and classical GreeceLynene Mitchell

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC EAST

5 Between Persian legend and Samanid orthodoxy: accounts aboutGayumarth in Bal'amit TarikhnamaMaria Subtelny

6 Recent contributions to the history of the early Ghaznavids and SeljuqsC. Edrnund Bosutorth

7 Idris'Imad al-Din and medieval Ismaili historiographyFarhad Dartary

8 The Kimiya-yi sa'adat (The Alchemy of Happiness) of al-Ghazali:a misunderstood work?Carole Hillenbrand

ix

xi

XV

xvii

I I

I '

z6

) )

46

tz

t9

Help me if you can! An analysis of a letter sent by the last Seljuqsultan of KirmanDaaid Durand-Guddy

ro 'Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's Nusrat al-fatra, Seljuqpolitics andAynrbid originsA.C.S. Peacoch

r r The rise and fall of a ryranr in seljuq Anatolia: sa'd al-Din Ktipektreign ofterror,1237-8Sara NurYrl&z

MONGOL IRAN AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

tz 'rt is as if their aim were the extermination of the species': the Mongoldevasration in \trestern Asia in the first half of the thirteenth ..rr,,rruPeter Jachson

r 3 Juvayni's historical consciousnessBeanice Forbes Manz

14 Persian and non-Persian historical writing in the Mongol EmpireDauid Morgan

r 5 Ruling from tents: some remarls on woment ordos inllkhanid IranBruno De Nicok

r6 Mamluks, Franks and Mongols: a necessary but impossible triangleReuumAmitai

r7 Protecting private properry vs negotiating political authoriry: Nur al-Dinb. Jaja and his endowments in thirteenth-century AnatoliaIudith Wtft,

NOMADS, RULERS AND HISTORIANS AFTER THE MONGOLS

18 The Mongol puppet lords and the earawnasMichele Bemardini

19 Remarks on steppe nomads and merchantsThomas T Alken

zo Loyalty, betrayal and retribution: Biktash Khan, ya'qub Khan and shahAbbas It strateg' in establishing control over Kirman ,yazdand FarsRudi Manhee

zr Reading safavid and Mughal chronicles: kingly virtues and earlymodern Persianare historiographyShohh A. Quinn

7o

zR

92

rot

rr4

I20

tz6

r37

r77

147

r69

r84

BRITISH VIE\TS OF QAJAR IRAN

zz Sir John Malcolm and the idea of Iran

Ali M. Ansari

4 EdwardGranville Browne amongst the Qalandars

Jan Just'V'itkarn

209

STUDIES ON PERSIAN LITERATURE

LITEMRY CULTURE IN THE PERSIANATE \rORLD

z4 FromZulayl<ha to Zuleika Dobson: the femme fatale and her

ordeals in Persian literature and beyond 23,

FiruzaAbdulkeaa

z5 A pictorial aetiology of Ferdowsi as a transcendent poet 24t

Olga M. Dauidson

z6 theArmenian poet Frik and his verses on Arghun Khan and Bugha 249

Theo Maarten uan Lint

27 Anepic for Shah Abbas z6t

Gabrielle uan dcn Berg

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PERSIAN VERSE

z8 A note on form and substance in classical Persian poetry 269

Homa Katouzi.an

z9 Stringing replica pearls: translations of Persian verse into verse 278

Barbara Brend

PERSIAN AND ISLAMIC ART

ASPECTS OF RELIGION

3o The Prophet Muhammadt footprint 297

Christiane Gruber

3 r Non-Islamic faiths in the Edinburgh Biruni manuscript 3c6

Robert Hilbnbrand

p Atale of two minbars: woodwork in Egypt and Syria on the eve

of the Ayyubids 316

Bernard O'I(nne

zt8

THE ARTS OF THE BOOK

33 Illuminating ShahTahmasp's ShahnamehSheik R. Canby

34 Rethinking Persian painting: the Silsilaof Sultan Muhammadand the rise of sixteenth-century pictorial lacquer bindingLayk S. Diba

3 5 composite figures in the Hadiqat al-haqiqa wa shari at al-tariqaof sana'iFrancis Ricbard

36 A medieval represenration of Kay Khusraw's/rn-i glti namtiyMarianna Shreae Sirnpson

J7 The Muraqqa'album of the zand period (pNS 3g3) in the NationalLibrary of RussiaOIg"V Vasilyeua and OlgaM. Yastreboaa

38 Interrogating marks in a Persian painting from fifteenrh-century Herat- a noteBarbara Brend

SECULAR IMAGES

39 Delicate displays: on a Safavid ceramic bottle in the Museum ofCairo UniversitySussan Babaie

4o The return engagement of RostamLinda Komaroff

Index

329

J34

34r

35r

359

370

37t

l8r

39r

xoLoyalty, betrayal and retribution:Biktash Khan, Ya'qub Khan and Shah'Abbas I's strategy in establishingcontrol over Kirman, Yazd and Fars

Rudi Matthee

n the basis of the available source material, the study of the reign of Shah Abbas I

(I587-162y neatly divides inro two periods. The first runs from the time of the

Shaht accession and initial rise to power in99511587-99511588 to the moment

around l0151rc05 when he had completed a major portion of his domestic

reforms; the second period begins at this point and ends with Abbast death in 1038/early

1629.r \Tritten documentation for the first period mostly comes in the form of Persianlanguage

court chronicles, compendia of events that record the activities of the Shah and his entourage

in annalistic and rather formulaic fashion. The second period is covered by a much greater and

more varieg ated array of sources. Court chronicles naturally cover the last three decades of Shah

Abbas's reign as much as they narrate the earlier period, but modern scholars in addition have at

their dispolal a combination of several informative European travelogues as well as aplethora of

commercial, diplomatic and ecclesiastical documents written by \Testern visitors and residents.

These later sources have arguably played a preponderant role in constructing the image that

this formidable ruler rypically evokes in the modern mind, that of a wise and forwardJooking

king whose only real faw was the tragic killing and blinding of his male offspring. This image

go., b".k in part to contemPorary European visitors, who, enjoying the Shaht hospitality and

seduced by his apparent affection for Christianiry portrayed him as a resolute and energetic

monarch with a magnetic personaliry as visionary as he was tolerant. To be sure, they did draw

attention to the ,"rrg.rir"iy beginnings of Abbask reign, and their interaction with the Shah

and his entourage opened their eyes to Abbas's mercurial personality and demeanour as well:

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ESTABLISHING CONTROL OVER KIRMAN, YAZD AND FARS

as they saw it, royal clemency could turn to royal terror at a moment's notice, so that a gesture

of generosity might segue into an act of unspeakable cruelry. Anthony Sherley, the well-known

English adventurer-cum-diplomat who became personally acquainted with the Shah during the

five months he spent in Iran in 1598-9, characterised Abbas as'royall, wise, valiant, liberall,

temperate, mercifull, and an exceeding louer of iustice'. Yet he qualified this encomium by insisting

that the Safavid monarch ruled 'through general loue and awfull terror'.2 John Cartwright, anEnglish preacher who visited Iran a few years after Sherley, noted that Abbas had come to power

amid the 'shedding of much blood', yet concluded that at present he was 'exceedingly belouved

and honoured by his subiects, in so much that when they will confirme any thing by solemne

oaths they will sweare by the head of Abas the king, and when they wish well to any man, they

visually say, King Abas grant thee thy desire'.3Over time, the cruel element was further pushed into the background, and what really

stuck was the first part of the image - that of the magnanimous, ebullient and tolerant monarch

bent on creating a glorious, centralised state worthy of the name 'empire'. '$Tithin a few years

after the Shah's death in 1629 , his reign was already fondly remembered as a golden age of good

governance. This image, brought into sharp relief by the bloody purge undertaken by Abbast

successor, Shah Safi (r.162942), of real and suspected rivals, acquired even greater lustre as

subsequent rulers, men of lesser stature, lost their grip on power and allowed palace eunuchs,

harem women and doctrinaire clerical forces to put their mark on state policy.aThe story usually told follows this sequential, teleological narrative by distinguishing between

rwo phases in Shah Abbas's reign. Acceding to power at the age of 17, the Shah at first had to

claw his way to real power amidst fierce tribal rivalry. Once he achieved mastery over his direct

surroundings, he embarked on his real project, building an empire. This second phase involved

a series of forward-looking policy measures, of which sidelining the seditious Qizilbash, the

Tiirkmen warriors who had long been the mainstay of Safavid military power, was the most

urgent. To break their destructive hold over the country Abbas accelerated a policy initiated

by his predecessors, that of marginalising and supplanting them by appointing ghuldms, so-

called slave soldiers, who were Armenians, Georgians and Circassians from the Caucasus, to key

administrative and military positions. Equally spectacular was his selection of the centrally located

city of Isfahan as Irant new - and first real - capital. Isfahan's newly designed and embellished

centre provided the Safavid state with a vibrant commercial and political nexus. Funding for

these projecrs came from an increase in crown land holdings and especially from the expansion

of domestic and foreign trade - itself a symbol of Abbas's imperial aspirations, represented by the

resettlement of a large number of Armenians to a newly built suburb of Isfahan, where they were

offered commercial rights and privileges; the building of numerous caravanserais; improved road

security; and the creation of an outlet to the Persian Gulf by way of a new port, Bandar Abbas.

All this helped to shape an image of Shah Abbas 'the Great' in his glory days as the equivalent

of a European Renaissance prince - a judicious and visionary ruler who stayed in touch with his

subjects as he built a great empire.sOperating within the system that they described and that sustained them, and driven by

entirely different concerns and agendas, the Safavid court chroniclers naturally produce a different

narratiye and'project' a different shah. If the European travellers sought to explain a foreign ruler

in terms understandable to a'Western audience, contemporary Iranian authors wrote to legitimise

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FERDOWSI, THE MONGOLS AND THE HISTORY OF IRAN

Safavid rule, which means that they extolled the Shaht actions in a context that pleased their

patrons and that was familiar rc their readers. Significantly, planned empire-building hardly

figured in this. Indeed, the chroniclers pay remarkably little attention to the Shaht economic

and administrative policies, including the eye-catching selection and redesign of Isfahan, as part

of a visionary policy.6 They, too, praise Shah Abbast justice and judiciousness, viewing these

qualities as integral to the divine mandate of kingship. Their real focus, however, is on the

Shah's military exploits in the form of his many campaigns. Like Tirrko-Mongol rulers before

him, he appears mosdy concerned with mulk-glrl, territorial expansionism, and military matters

dominate in the accounts, before, during, and after the execution of the'imperial'project.T The

chroniclers occasionally refer to the Shah as a world conqueror, jahan-gtr, heir to Chinggis Khan

via Thmerlane - to whose genealogies they linked the house of the Safavids - who, like these

illustrious forebears, was destined to project dynastic greatness. Yet even this ultimate imperial

destiny is left ill defined and remains rather abstract in the actual narratives.8Put simply, the Shah in the hands of the chroniclers is a pre-ordained, God-sent ruler, but

he also comes offas a warlord operating in a brutal and unforgiving environment in which only

the fittest survive. Indeed, Shah Abbas, like his forebear Shah Isma'il (r.I50I-24), the founder

of the state, remains first and foremost the chieftain of a warrior band, moved to act by a raw andruthless will to power. This secular ambition involves clemency and magnanimity as required bycircumstances, but it also includes a variety of darker urges - among them suspicion, jealousy andresentment erupting as yolcanic wrath - and it justifies opportunistic, cruel behaviour like deceit

and betrayal, revenge and retribution in the form of severe punishment, even brutal murder - allpassions that are proffered as natural and integral to statecraft.

Nor is the perceived naturalness of such basic motives informing royal demeanour just

implicitly present in the narratives. In keeping with the reputation of the Safavids as thecharismatic leaders of a Sufi order, we tend to see mystical inspiration and messianic zeal ratherthan violence and terror as the key ingredients in the rise of the state they built.e Yet the riseto power of the paragon of religious inspiration, Shah Isma'il, was all but peaceful, and at least

one Safavid annalist considered that the founder of the Safavid state was motivated by worldlyambition as much as by spiritual concerns.lO The chroniclers treat his successors in similarfashion, often resorting to prescriptive admonitions. Thlking about the reign of Shah Isma'il I(157 6-7), Natanzi inhis Naqawat al-athar expounds on the notion that the realm goes to ruin in

the absence of a leader willing to enact severe measures.ll Iskandar Munshi, the most celebratedof the royal scribes, in a separate 'discourse' preceding the annalistic part of his Alam-ara-yiAbbasi, explicitly lists despotic behaviour and an inclination to deal swiftly and severely withwrongdoers not just as one of Shah Abbast attributes but as one of his virtues.12 Iskandar Munshiis no exception, and Shah Abbas is not the only monarch thus characterised. Abu 'l-Mafakhir

Thfrishi, narrating the reign of Abbas's successor, Shah Safi, in his introduction legitimises thatruler's two primary urges, to make war and to enjoy himself.t3 Political theorists included siyasat,punishment, and intiqam, revenge, in their lists of necessary kingly attributes. Muhammad BaqirSabzavari, the shayhh al-isLcm of Isfahan under Shah Sulayman (r.1555-94), offers a religiously

based legitimation for royal firmness, arguing that, in light of the human penchant for deviantbehaviour, it is important to have a shah as the guardian of God's domain in the absence of theimam. It is of the utmost importance for a ruler to organise and equip a strong army in order to

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combat the enemies of Islam, he explains, since soldiers are the protectors of the abode of Islamagainst evil-doers.la The late seventeenth-century man of letters and faqlh Sayyid Abu ThlibFindiriski, a student of the well-known hard-line cleric Muhammad Baqir Majlisi (d. 1699), iseven more explicit in justifying royal violence: 'It is thus clear that royal justice has nothing to dowith rectitude and the absence of causing harm. Some harsh policies of rulers generate security;and much of the blood-letting they engage in prevents people from unjustly shedding otherpeople's blood and, for fear of retribution, keeps them from killing others.'15

This essay will illustrate these propositions, using as a case study Shah Abbast endeavourto gain mastery over Kirman,Yazd and Fars, the final phase of the so-called civil war that hadstarted with the death of Shah Tfimasp in 98411576, and the only time in his reign when theShah travelled to southern Iran beyond Isfahan, visiting Yazd and Shiraz, although not Kirman.16h will focus on the methods and strategies the shah employed in his confrontation with therespective rulers of those regions, Biktash Khan Afshar and Ya'qub Khan Dhu 'l-Qadr.

Shah'Abbas and his rivals

Nothing can detract from Shah Abbas's stature as one of the most energetic, expansive andimaginative Iranian rulers of all time, with a reputation that deservedly resonates until today.But it is also true and - given the rough environmental conditions, the unstable socio-politicalclimate of premodern Iran, and the Turko-Mongol legacy of legitimacy residing in the rulingclan rather than the person of the ruler - perhaps inevitable, that the Shah was challengedby rivals for the duration of his reign. This begins with his emergence from the shadows ofkingmaker Murshid Quli Khan Ustajlu, which is the story of his initial bid for supreme ruleover Iran. Murshid Quli Khan seized power in Khurasan in 99411586, at a time when differentrivals competed to succeed the weak and purblind Muhammad Khudabanda(r.I578-87). Mostimportantly, it was Murshid Quli Khan who secured the Safavid throne for the young Abbasafter the assassination of the latter's elder brother, the heir apparent Prince Hamza, later thatsame year. Once invested with the royal dtle in Qazvin in99511588, Abbas appointed Murshid

Quli Khan ashis uahIl, main counsellor.For the next year or so the nvo men lived in an uneasy relationship, marked by condescension

on the part of the senior adviser and growing irritation on the part of a young, impatient monarchready to direct and lead rather than follow and obey, until the Shah had his utahtl executed inthe summer of 99711589. Murshid Quli Khan sealed his fate with his refusal to heed a desperaterequest for military assistance by his main rival, Ali Quli Khan Shamlu, who was holding outin Herat against an Uzbek army, until he had to surrender in early 99711589. Apprised thatMurshid Quli Khan was hatching a plot to remove him, the Shah that same summer had hispreceptor slain in his tent. This event was shortly followed by the elimination of other Qizilbashleaders, the first in a series of purges of rivals that would punctuate Abbas's reign.l7

Murshid Quli Khan paid the price for the death of Ali Quli Khan and the loss of Heratto the Uzbela. The execution of Muhammad Khan Tirrkman was a matter of revenge, but alsoserved as a warning to other ambitious men - his head was paraded round the army camp on apike. His death marked a phase in the coming of age of Shah Abbas. The Shah's subsequent riseinvolved the successive elimination of a series of other strong contenders for power, beginning

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with Farhad Khan Qgramanlu, his next close adviser and main general. Like Murshid QuliKhan before him, Farhad Khan at first was a trusted servant, to the point where the monarch

granted him the honorific tiile farzand,'sori. Farhad Khan served his master well, helping him'reconquer' alarge swath of Iranian territory.18 But just like Murshid Quli Khan, Farhad Khan

was eventually eliminated because he represented a formidable threat to the Shah's power and

wealth. The pattern of Safavid shahs taking control over state affairs by way of purging real and

imaginary rivals, accusing them of treason and sedition, continued until the early reign of Shah

Safi, who, shortly after ascending the throne, rid himself of the powerful ruler of Fars, Imam

Quli Khan, and his clan.leAside from these main players, the sources offer numerous figures of the second echelon,

men who never threatened the Shaht supremacy yet had serious regiond ambitions and thus

had to be brought down as well. This essay discusses two of these men - Biktash Khan of

Kirman andYazd, and Ya'qub Khan of Fars - and their conflict with each other, as well as their

intertwined entanglements with Shah Abbas. Their defeat and death represented the final phase

in the rulerb campaign to bring down the seditious Qizilbash and marked the end of the civil

war that had begun shortly after the death of Shah Tahmasp in 98411576, ushering in what

Kathryn Babayan calls the'Isfahan era of absolutism'.2o The story of the ghastly demise ofYa'qub

Khan, in particular, spoke to the imagination of contemporary observers, for it occurs in all the

annalistic sources, in the early ones, Q4di Ahmad Qummi's Khulasat al-tawarikh, the chronicle

closest to rhe eyents, written in99911590-1, andAfushta-i Natanzi's Naqawat al-athar, the next

near-contemporary account, composed in 100611598, as well as in later narratiyes, ranging from

Iskandar Munshi's quasi-official Tarikh-i 'akm-ara-yi Abbasi to Munajjim Yazdi's popularisingTarikh-i Abbasi, and, finally, Mirza Beg Junabadi's Rawdat al-Safauiyya, which was finished in103511627, almost four decades after the events. Afushta-i Natanzi indeed claims that itwas

precisely the amazing events surrounding Shah Abbas's victory over Ya'qub Khan, the news ofwhich spread far and wide throughout the Safavid realm, that prompted him to take up his pen

and write his chronicle.2l It spread beyond Iran as well, for Ya'qub Khan's demise is the only

episode singled out for recounting by the Indian court chronicler Shaykh Abu 'l-Fayz, betterknown as Fayzi (Faizi), Sultan Akbart Poet Laureate, who wrote about both Biktash Khan andYa'qub Khan on the basis of news he gathered from informants in Ahmadnegar.22

Modern scholars have looked at this episode in Shah Abbast early career, but the attentionhas been uneven. Lucien Bellan and Nasrullah Falsafi (briefy) discuss both chieftains in theirrespecrive studies; David Blow; the author of a recent (popular) biography of Abbas, omitsany reference to Biktash Khan and only fleetingly mentions Ya'qub Khan; the authors of the

three \Testern-language synthetic works of the entire Safavid period, Savory Roemer and

Newman, hardly pay any attention to either chieftain.23 Sholeh Quinn, in her excellent book onhistoriography, devotes an entire chapter to Ya'qub Khan. She does so, however, from a specificvantage point. Her exclusive interest is the textual variants of the narrative, the different waysin which the chroniclers deal with the story and what this says about their perspectives and,in particular, their view on the Qizilbash and their diminishing standing in Safavid society.Historiography trumps history in her account, obscuring the wider historical and geographicalcontext. She thus examines the story of Ya'qub Khan with a focus on his demise without anyreference to Biktash Khan.2a

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In truth the fate of the one is inextricably intertwined with that of the other, involving acomplex Power struggle from which Shah Abbas emerged victorious by way of a clever andruthless strategy of divide-and-rule, of playing two opponents and rivals offagainsr one another,neutralising both in the process.

Shah'Abbas, the Afshar and the Dhu'l-eadr

The removal of Murshid Quli Khan enhanced Abbas's personal aurhoriry, enabling him toexpand the territory under his control. Yet extending and consolidating his domestic grip proveda complicated undertaking in the face of the dual threat posed by the Ottomans in the west andthe Uzbeks in the north-east. The former had resumed war in 98611578, prompted to do soby Iran's manifest weakness following the recenr death of Shah Tahmasp. They took Thbriz in9931L585, and within three years had penetrated Safavid territory as far as Nahawand, halfwaybetween Kirmanshah and present-day Arak. The Uzbeks, too, capitalised on Iran's weakness inthis period. Unleashing a campaign in Khurasan, they managed to take Herat in 99611588, andtwo years later captured Mashhad, where they ransacked the shrine of the eighth Imam andmassacred a large number of Shi'a.25

Abbas had to resign himself for a while to this loss of territory on lran's wesrern andeastern borders. In order to avoid having to fight an unwinnable war on rwo fronts, andintent on putting his domestic house in order first, the Shah in 99811590 concluded thedisadvantageous Peace of Istanbul with the Ottomans, ceding to Iran's arch-enemies a largeswath of the country's western provinces. But before taking this step, he first set out to regainterritory in the interior. Among his first targets were the provinces of Kirman and Fars. Bothwere Yast regions held by tribal groups. Kirman had been a stronghold of the Afshar fromthe early days of Shah Isma'il's reign. This originally Anatolian tribe of the Qasimlu branchwas centred in western Iran in the regions of Kuh-i Giluya, Khuzistan, then called Arabistan,and in northern Kurdistan. In part as a result of a policy of resettling tribes, the Afshar underShah Isma'il I had spread over a far larger area, which included Kirman and Khurasan. Thefirst Afshar ruler on record in Safavid times is Bayram Beg (Bahram Beg), who appears in thesources in c.9l5-l6lI5l0 as head of a contingent ofAfshar tribesmen moving to Kirman.26Taking advantage of the weakness of Shah Khudabanda, rhe Afshar in the later sixteenthcentury managed to establish their independence in Kirman, bringing Yazd under their rule aswell. In 98511577 Wali BegAfshar became ruler of Kirman. This is also when we firsr encounrerhis son, Biktash Khan, as he inherited the post of yuzbashi, centurion, from his father.2z Thepower of the Afshar is refected in the high administrative functions they managed to arrogateto themselves in the early Safavid state. Afshar chiefs thus occupied the important function ofqurchilashl head of the Praetorian Guard, from the mid-1530s until the early reign of ShahAbbas. They also held the post of ishik-aqasi-yi khdssa, the major-domo of the palace, in theearly days of Shah Abbast rule.28

\(hereas Kirman was an Afshar stronghold, the Dhu 'l-Qadr had held sway over Fars sinceearly Safavid times. A Ghun tribe, the Dhu 'l-Qadr had entered the service of Shah Isma'il insome numbers after their principaliry in south-eastern Anatolia came under Ottoman pressure.Afterwards they had become concentrated in Fars, which they held from the early days of Shah

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FERDOWSI, THE MONGOLS AND THE HISTORY OF IRANIsma'il until the reign of Shah Abbas I, as well as in Azerbaijan. The Dhu 'l-eadr, roo, enjoyedbureaucratic standing in the Safavid administration order: they had ,

^onopiy on the post of

multrdAr, royal keeper of the seal, from the 1530s until rhe .ariy reign of Shah S"n t.,

Motives and methods

The story of the clash between Biktash Khan and Ya'qub Khan, the defeat and killing of the formerby the latter, and the eventual demise of Ya'qub Khan, comes to us in multiple versions andpoints up several themes, some ofwhich appear in all versions and some ofwhich can be distilledfrom comments in individual narratives. A presumed Safavid thrust to the south that would endwjth the incorporation of the Persian Gulf ftttoral is nor among these. The early accounts, rheKhuksat al-tawarihh an{ the Naqawat al-athar, as well as the 'lJte' and 'retrosp..tirr., ones, rhelarihh-i

'akrn-ara-Yi Abbasi and the Raudat at-Safaulya, ratherput the Shah's involvemenr withKirman and Fars in the context of military n.edr, more spe.ifi cally amanpower shortage in theface of large-scale Uzbek incursions into Khur"r"rr. Q,ri-i, Natanzi and M,r.rrhi explain thereason why Ya'qub Khan initially moved to Shiraz from Khurasan was motivated by a need tomuster troops from among the Dhu 'l-Qadr, whose chieftains had refused to show,rp A, a royalparade designed to mobilise troops.3' The wider contexr of this shortage is that Murshid euliKhant execution had frightened many tribal retainers who sought .o .rJ"p. the Shaht wrath byfeeing from Khurasan. These included the Dhu'l-Qadr in Ab[as's.nro,rr"g., who, wary of thefavours seemingly accorded to the Afshar, d.."-p.Jto Fars in order ro defend their inrerests.3r

As the story unfolds a number of additional animating forces become apparent. A principalmodve in the story as portrayed by the Safavid chroniclers is greed. Bikrasir Khan is presentedto the reader as a man driven by avarice. Eventually all of his i"."t*, would fall into the hands:{

S!"h Abbas, by way of Ya'qub Khan, who usurped Biktash's assets when he defeated andkilled him. Ya'qub Khan' too, in the chronicl., .o-., across as exceedingly greedy and partlymotivated by a lust for money in his desire to bring Biktash Khan down.

A related, even more- compelling modvational force that suffirses the entire story is thetheme of hubris, the fateful pride and arrogance of the underling who does not recognise thebounds set for him, seeks to break out of thel by way of disobeying the master of the realm, andpays a terrible price. The tetms ghurur, pride, zulm wafsdd,oppression and debauch ery, istikbAr,uhabbur ua ajabbur, arrogance and hubris, and, anantyar, .goiir*, o...r, *iJ g* a.qu..r.y inthe description of the actions and the character of both Biktash Khan and v",q",rb Khan.

The final, related and most important theme that permeates the chronicles is loyalty,the ideal of unconditional allegiance that is, in reality,tir. ,."r..r, of commodities, and itsobverse, betrayal, and the retribution that must follow. The rise to power and the fall of bothBiktash Khan and Ya'qub Khan are essentially tales of broken promises and loyalry betrayed.The acme of loyalty is represented by the term shdhsiuani,lovefo, th. shah, an epithet grantedto subjects who declared their loyalty to the ruler and contributed funds or l"bo,r, to publicworks undertaken by the crown.32

Nor is the ruler exempted from the motives ascribed to the Qizilbash chieftains broughtdown by him. The Shah, too, is driven by motives such as naked greed and a raw desire forpower' Represented as simmering grudges, explosive anger and a burning desire for revenge,

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these instinctive urges are masked or tempered by references to the Shah's divine nature, the

mandate of punitive action as necessary for the order and stabiliry of the realm, or the foolishness

and naivety of subordinates, yet they nevertheless come through as elementary, compelling and

legitimate in the various accounts.

Biktash Khan

The events preceding the confict unfolded in Qazvin, showing Shah Abbas engaged in

preparations for a confrontation with the Uzbeks, who in 99611588 had seized Herat. Later that

year, rhe Shah dismissed Mihdi Quli Khan Dhu 'l-Qadr, the leader of a conspiracy that sought

ro convince the ruler of the need to rid himself of Murshid Quli Khan, for insulting the latter in

his presence. Abbas stripped him of the governorship of Fars and in his stead appointed Murshid

Quli Khan's retainer, Ya'qub b. Ibrahim Khan Dhu 'l-Qadr - a loyalist who 'had joined Abbas in

Khurasan and had accompanied him to Iraq - goyernor of the province with the title of khan.

He also ordered him to kill his predecessor.33 All this was a prelude to the demise of Murshid

Quli Khan himself shortly thereafter. In the wake of Murshid Quli Khan's execution, Abbas,

having set up camp in Bistam in Khurasan, showed'Wali Khan, the governor of Kirman, his trust

by appointing him qnrchtbAsht, while allowing \fali Khant son, Biktash Khan, to take over as

gorrernor of Kirman. In the same period the Afshar, who for years had failed to heed the Shaht

mobilisation calls, were summoned to send troops to the nofth.34

Biktash Khan is said to have extended his hold over Kirman by marrying into a leading

local family. He established control over Yazd in similar ways, taking as his wife a daughter of

Mir Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Miran Yazdi, a sayyid of the Ni'matullahi Sufi order. He thus

ruled for 10 to 12 years with absolute autonorny over both Kirman andYazd.In that period he

allowed no one a say in the affairs of his realm, came to see himself as superior to everyone else,

and neglected to visit the Shah for the traditional pd-basi, the 'foot-kissing' ceremony during

which subordinates professed their loyalty and obedience to the ruler. This haughty heedlessness

persisted into the earlyyears of Shah Abbas's reign.35

Qummi from the outset establishes avarice as a leitmotiv in the story of Biktash Khan,

claiming that, while ruling Kirman, the Khan appropriated the possessions of various local

families, including their landed property, in the amount of 50,000 tumans.36 Natanzi, too, makes

this part of his account. According to him, Biktash Khan's rule was marked by the large-scale

confiscation of assets from the rich and the poor alike. During his time in power he became so

wealthy that his stable reportedly contained 380 bejewelled saddles. The Khant retinue included

8,000 servants, while 400 plates of food were served in his palace each and every day.37

The sources tell a similar tale about Ya'qub Khan, insisting that he quickly established quasi-

independent control over Fars. Before long he ruled over a territory stretching all the way from

the environs of Isfahan to the outskirts of Lar, encompassing a goodly portion of Iran's southern

half. Variant readings exist with regard to the quality of his rule. Qummi relates that, after

arriving in Shiraz in 99711588, he first had 20 rival Dhu 'l-Qadr chiefs executed.38 Natanzi

focuses on the vast amount of money and goods Ya'qub Khan collected, much of it from his

vanquished adversaries. He further elaborates on the unbounded arrogance, greed and violence

of the Khan's rule, and calls his lifesryle marked by 'lust and play', lahw u k'b - expressed in a

- r9r-


fondness for polo, musical entertainment and heavy drinking. The same chronicler includes thisquatrain as a warning about the fate of oppressive officials:

l.,rJl &rJ Jl+ ! JS c,/"S

Jl;3iI rJS 4s o4s,F dA o_,,

c'ejj.. Jt ot-,; rjxi ijgq

.t-pl Cr.,rfui C,,l$ Ol++ !

-.,11.$ CrS-l.c.c JJ+ JLni

s*+ oSt ol-,1 !l $ rlrrj

He who rules with injustice

Inflicts damage on the foundations of the state

Anyone who chooses oppression

\fill not be Ieft with his realm intact

On that path he will not face improvement

His road will end in hell3e

A segment of the Dhu 'l-Qadr, driven by feelings of hatred, hiqd, and revenge, hlna, resistedand rebelled against Ya'qub Khank rule. The latter responded by execuring most of the rebels,after which he gathered 'hooligans and scum' from every tribe around him. A few Dhu 'l-Qadrchiefs managed to escape, seeking refuge with Biktash Khan.ao Junabadi offers a variant readingof these events: he more charitably insists that, having arrived in Shiraz, Ya'qub Khan gave ourlarge amounts of landed property and pensions to his followers, and that he pleased the regionalelite as well as the common people with his just rule.ar

The first encounter between Biktash Khan and Ya'qub Khan introduces the theme of loyaltyand betrayal. Having arrived in Yazd, Biktash Khan proceeded to incarcerate the retainers ofYa'qub Khan who, led by Hamza Beg Jamillu, had fled from Khurasan toYazd, presenting hisactions as a noble deed of a loyal servant vis-i-vis his maste! the Shah. In realiry however, his werethe machinations of a shrewd operator who saw his chance to add Fars ro his domain by movingagainst the leaders of a tribe that had just fallen into disgrace with the Safavid ruler. At the sametime he used the fugitives, hoping to turn them into accomplices in his plan against their leader,Ya'qub Khan, with the ulterior motiye of replacing the latter as governor of Fars. \When Ya'qubKhan arrived near Yazd in pursuit of the Dhu 'l-Qadr mutineers, Biktash Khan welcomed him,offering him hospitaliry by inviting him into the city. Yet Ya'qub Khan, suspecting Biktash Khanof plotting to get the Dhu 'l-Qadr rebels on his side, declined the invitation. He left his baggage,fed the city under the darkness of night, and headed for Shiraz, where he proceeded to gatherallies against the Afshar.a2 To that end he supported the nomination of Abbas Sultan, BiktashKhan's uncle, as the new governor of Kirman. Abbas Sultan, invested with the sh,ihsia,int label,marched from Thbriz to Kirman, where he was welcomed by the Afshar, who had been given tounderstand by way of a royal decree that they were to obey him.a3

Shah Abbas next decided to move west to resist the Ottomans, but resolved to make adetour viaYazd with the intent of bringing the fugitive Dhu'l-Qadr insurgents to heel as wellas to chastise Biktash Khan for refusing to appear at rhe royal court. Yet, as Iskandar Munshitells it, he was dissuaded from doing so by Biktash Khan's father, \Wali Khan, who, remindingthe Shah of Biktash Khan's long-standing loyalry convinced him that alienating his son inthis manner might be counterproductive, and promised to mediate and bring him back intothe fold.aa

_rg2_


Abbas Sultan soon managed to gather 3,000 Afshar ffoops around him, and found himself

confronted by Biktash Khan, who marched toward Kirman at the head of his own army consisting

of 500 mounted tribesmen. Despite the numerical dispariry the impetuosity of Biktash Khant

assault was such that he carried the day, forcing his uncle to retreat into the fortress of the city,

which he next entered. Abbas Sultan proposed mediation via Hatim Beg Urdubadi, Biktash

Khan's vizier, and offered to surrender on condition that his life and those of his retainers be

spared. Biktash Khan consented, but broke his word when his uncle came out of the fortress: he

had him imprisoned and ultimately killed. One of Abbas Khant sons, Karam Beg, managed to

escape and made it to Shiraz, where he joined ranks with Ya'qub Khan.a5

Confrontation

Ya'qub Khan next received orders from the Shah to try to bring Biktash Khan, now clearly a

rebel, to heel by taking him into custody. Qadi Ahmad Qummi tells the story in rather summary

fashion, claiming, on the one hand, that Abbas moved to Isfahan with the intent of removing

him, and insisting, on the other, that Ya'qub Khan acted without the Shah's orders when he

headed forYazdunder the pretext of attacking the ruler of Lar. Junabadi, writing much later, is far

more circumstantial. Accompanied by the retainers of Abbas Sultan, Biktash Khan in his account

moved to Yazd and succeeded in persuading the Dhu 'l-Qadr prisoners to recognise one of his

own men, Hamza Beg Jamillu, as prospective governor of Fars, after which they marched toward

Fars in order to depose Ya'qub Khan. In his reports to the Shah, Biktash Khan presented Ya'qub

Khan's dismissal as a matter of state priority given the lattert mismanagement and the need to re-

establish order in the region, and he assumed that he would be chosen as his successor. The Shah,

however, was more realistically informed about the state of affairs by Hatim Beg Urdubadi.a6tVhether or not he was directly instructed by the Shah, Ya'qub Khan did not stand by idly.

He marched toward Yazd with his own troops, accompanied by his comrade-in-arms, Yusuf

Khan Afshar, ersrwhile qarchfuash and governor of Abarquh, whom he had designated as the

new goyernor of Kirman, replacing Biktash Khan. The confrontation that ensued between the

two chieftains was uneven: Biktash Khan and his 1,000 men were vasdy outnumbered byYa'qub

Khan's army, which reportedly numbered 12,000 to 15,000, consisting of Dhu 'l-Q-adr warriors,

in addition to Lurs, Kurds and Arabs, from Fars and Kuh-i Giluya.a7 Biktash Khan, who is said

to have been living in great luxury engaged in wine drinking and other forms of merriment,

was forced ro react. Having left Yazd and set up camp at the nearby town ofThft, he realised the

numerical inferiority of his army and thus tried the same tactic that had served him well in his

fight against Abbas Sultan - a frontal assault. This time he failed, however, so that he was forced

to seek cover in the fortress of Yazd. Ya'qub Khan next resorted to a ruse to ferret him out. He

sent a message to Mir Miran, making him responsible if his son-in-law were to escape from Yazd

to Kirman. The intimidadon worked: Mir Miran put Biktash Khan under guard so he would not

escape, and allowed some ofYa'qub Khan's men to enter the city.48

Biktash Khan's death comes in different versions. Qummi gives a summary account, limiting

hirnself to the observation that, captured alive, the Khan begged to be killed on the spot.ae The

same author has the account of Biktash Khan's death followed by this quatrain, suggesting how

his lust for power and possessions had spelled his downfall:

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r3l gLl.l g lUll gli +l g &l .t31c;fut+tJs e.y p-4S uijES{

.r9 u,lllLi &jy e,.r',a Jt {.:.!& .l^1l cr' t+ ci j cF-r" aS <rjtg_)

Biktash, whose fate it was ro be headlessThe ruby and pearl of the crown were his bait and snareHis head was severed from his bodyon the eve of the day thar he intended to take on Syria5o

Iskandar Munshi and Junabadi provide many more details. The former claims that, confrontedwith Ya'qub Khan's men and hurt by a musket ball, Biktash Khan decided to take his fate intohis own hands by pleading with his captors to kill him on the spot.5l Junabadi tells a similarstory, recounting how Biktash Khan was holed up in the house of his father-inJaw, how Ya'qubKhan sent his men, how these entered the house, and how Biktash Khan died in the ensuingfight. But he also offers a different version of the circumstances surrounding Biktash Kh"ntdeath, which begins with the lattert decision to leave his fortress ro meet Ya'qub Khan. Beforedoing so, he gave one of his servants a gun, taforg, and ordered him to rtand ty the gate whilewaiting for his master to approach his adversaries and to shoor him if the latter treated him withbaseness, but to refrain from doing so should they treat him properly. Biktash Khan next wentout, intent on mounting a steed so as to approach Ya'qub Khan on horseback. The latter's guardstried to prevent him from doing so, and his servant misjudged the ensuing discussion and shothim to death.52

Biktasht severed head was first brought before Ya'qub Khan, who subsequently sent it on rothe Shah accompanied by a letter. Ya'qub Khan appropriated Biktash Khan's considerable assets, ofwhich he only sent a small portion to the Shah. He also took Biktash Khan's daughter for himsel[Putting her in his harem. He then returned to Shiraz, where he settled into a life of pleasure andleisure. In his report to the Shah he stressed the shahsiu,inl nature of his devotion.53

Ya'qub Khan's fate

The subsequent story, too, is explicitly told in rerms of hubris and the price it carries. Thechronicles are in agreement that, having become a favourite of the Shah, Ya'qub Khan turnedarrogant - beginning with his omission to send all of Biktash Khant confiscated wealth tothe court. Iskandar Munshi offers this moral admonition: if only he had been a true loyalservant' content with the honour of serving the Shah instead of polluting himself by touchingthe wealth of Biktash Khan, the chronicler intones, Shah Abbas would have reward"ed ya'quiKhan with all of Biktash Khant possessions. 5a Faizi even claims that the Khan became hubristicto the point of claiming royal descent. According to the Indian commenrator, Ya'qub Khancame to pretend that he was among the offspring of Shah thmasp and that one day hewould be king himself.5t The Safavid chroniclers echo this assessmenr without referring tothe ultimate arrogance involved in claiming kingship. They do mention, though, that, likeBiktash Khan before him, Ya'qub Khan refused to appear before rhe Shah in person for thetraditional Astan-bust, the 'kissing of the threshold', or to send suitable gifts to the courr. Heput Yusuf Khan, Biktash Khan's nephew, who for fear of his uncle had fled to Shiraz, where

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he had collaborated with Ya'qub Khan, in charge of Kirman.56 This is also when he had some20 prominent Dhu 'l-Qadr executed under torture, confiscating their possessions, and whenhe is said to have surrounded himself with unsavoury characters from various uymdqs. As newsabout this rebelliousness spread, the Shah decided to take action. Abbas first summoned himto give up his possessions. Yet Ya'qub Khan refused. Realising that his dme was up, the Khanset out to build a fortress in the Bagh-i gulshdn, an area of Shiraz where previous rulers had hadtheir palaces, most of which were now in ruins. He first destroyed several of the city's famousTimurid madrasas, such as the Dar al-Safa (House of Purity) and the Dar al-Aytam (House ofOrphans), as well as the graves of Muslims buried berween Ja'farabad and Musalla, using theirmaterials for the construction of his fortress.5T

It is not clear what made Shah Abbas decide to bring Ya'qub Khan down, the latter'sroyal aspirations or his considerable wealth - or perhaps both. According to Faizi, Abbassubsequently moved against the Khan with 12,000 soldiers.58 Qummi and Natanzi offer anelaborate story, according to which Shah Abbas, angry at Ya'qub Khan's refusal to obey andpay homage to him, first sent an envoy named Kur Hasan Ustajlu to summon him to Qazvin.Kur Hasan was received with great fattery in Shiraz. Taking note ofYa'qub Khan's haughtiness,he tried yet failed to convince the latter to come to Qazvin. Ya'qub Khan, afraid to report tothe Shah in light of his previous behaviour, resorted to a policy of procrastination, offeringvarious excuses not to come to the court. Having failed in his mission, Kur Hasan returned tothe capital to report his findings.

It seems that the Shah thereupon gave Ya'qub Khan one last chance to return to royalgrace.Yazdi reports how Abbas issued an order announcing that, content with Ya'qub Khan,he had made 12,000 dinars available, that the Khans request not to have to report to the courthad been accepted but that he was to send troops to Khurasan without any delay or excuse.Elated, Ya'qub Khan went hunting.5e

The Shah thereupon decided to act. In Safar 998llate 1589 he left Qazvin, to arrive inIsfahan in February 1590. After spending some four months in Isfahan, during which time hedealt with its insubordinate governor, the ghul,am Yuli Beg, he left again on 1 Sha'ban 99815

June, heading for Ganduman.60 On the way, he set up camp in the valley of Lanban (or Lanjan),where he spent a week or so preparing for a campaign. Meanwhile, a royal courtier based inFars by the name of Abu'l-Muhammad Inju set out to apprehend Ya'qub Khan, rallying theinhabitants of Shiraz in the Friday mosque for consultation. Aware of his precarious position,Ya'qub Khan first tried to mend fences, sending his deputy, Ummat Beg, to Qazvin with gifts.\)fhen the latter was detained at the court, a frightened Ya'qub Khan departed from his newlybuilt but as yet unfinished stronghold in Shiraz under the pretext of going on a hunting parry;he repaired to Istakhr and on 13 Sha'ban 99819 June 1590 he retreated, with 400 retainers, tothis allegedly unassailable fortress.6l

The story of Ya'qub Khan's own ultimate demise, too, comes to us in slighdy differentversions. The later chroniclers, in particular, focus on the Shahb ambivalence about this formidablewarrior and narrate the denouement as a continuing cautionary tale of trust broken by betrayaland the punishment that inevitably follows.

Having arrived in Fars, Shah Abbas laid siege to Ya'qub Khan's stronghold and, after fourmonths, managed to seize it.62 Natanzi, expounding on the legendary strength of Istakhr, claims

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that, until that time, it had never been taken by an invading army, and calls Shah Abbast success

in doing so one of the amazingaspects of the saga of Ya'qub Khan that had prompted him to

write his chronicle.63 Following negotiations conducted by Ya'qub Khant vizier, MirzaJan Beg,

Abbas promised Ya'qub Khan safe conduct and, according to Yazdi, even reconfirmed him as

the vizier of Fars. Ya'qub Khan accepted,left his fortress and presented himself before the Shah,

who thereupon broke his pledge with the excuse that Ya'qub Khan was behind on his payments

to the central treasury. The Khant retainers, unawar€ of his arrest, were enticed to surrender as

well. Each of these was presented with a letter embossed with Ya'qub Khan's seal, summoning

him to the royal court in Shiraz. Upon arrival, each was led into the royal chambers, where, one

by one, they were executed.6a

Qummi offers a summary version of the execution, recounting how the Khan was captured

and hung from a tree and beaten with a stick, and how, a day later, he was torn to pieces.65 Shah

Abbast ambivalence towards Ya'qub Khan comes out most clearly in the version told by Faizi,

who claims that the Shah initially forgave him, having often declared that he had no better

servant than Ya'qub Khan. In the end, though, Abbas was persuaded by Khan Beg, one ofYa'qub

Khan's former servants, that the Khan aspired to the mantle of kingship and was out to kill him.

The shah decided to check him out, and discovered that, as Khan Beg had told him, Ya'qub Khan

did wear a coat of mail, a sign of his intent to rebel. Abbas thus took action during a gathering

of the dtwAn-hhana. The event, which took place on22Dhu'l-Hijja998l23 October 1590, was

livened up with the performance of rope dancers, who had been invited to display their skills

for the enterrainment of the participants. The Shah ominously announced that 'Kingship is

coming to Ya'qub Khan and we will be his seryant'. He then proclaimed that Ya'qub Khan had

ordered retainer so-and-so to be strangled with a rope, and this was done. In this manner all of

his supporters were killed, one by one, until it was Ya'qub Khan's turn to be strung up. According

toFaizi, he was hung by a rope, his body was put on a rack, his tongue was cut out, and his fesh

was fed in morsels to the dogs.66The populaising Thrikh-i Abbasi offers a slightly different version, recounting how, once

captured, Ya'qub Khan was first thrown into a pit, after which his retainers were killed on the

lower level of the dawlat-khanawhile apafty went on upstairs, with the celebrants unaware of

the gruesome events unfolding beneath them. The Shah then sent word to the occupants of

Istakhr that they should surrender. \(hen they refused, an angry Abbas ordered that Ya'qub

Khan be brought out of the pit and delivered to the Dhu 'l-Qadr. Their chieftains spat at him

and taunted him in other ways, whereupon Shah Verdi Sultan cut out his tongue. He was next

tortured to death. Some of the participants in the killing drank his blood, while others took

pieces of his fesh home as kebab. His severed head was sent to Istakhr as a warning to those

inside to give up their rebellion.6TFollowing these events, Fars was given to Bunyad Beg Dhu 'l-Qgdt, after which the province

remained in the hands of the Dhu 'l-Q4dr tribe for a few more years. After an interim period

during which Farhad Khan Qaramanlu held sway over the province, Fars in 100411595 was

awarded to the ghulam Allah Verdi Khan. It was the first province to end up in the hands of the

ascendant bureaucratic class.The region of Kirman, meanwhile, was divided into two parts; half of it went to Biktash

Khan's father, \Wali Khan, the other half to Isma'il Khan.68 'Wali Khan would rule for the next

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six years. His death in 99611595 marked the end of Afshar supremacy in Kirman. Shah Abbas,determined to break their power over the region, moved a large number of Kurds to Kirman.Control over the region fell to one of them, Ganj 'Ali Khan. For the next thirry years he andhis son, 'Ali Mardan Khan, ruled not just Kirman but a huge swathe of south-eastern Iran thatincluded Bam and Baluchistan, as well as Sistan, nominally controlling an area that stretched allthe way from Qandahar to Nayriz and from Birjand as far as Minab, about 1 million km2 in all.6eThe Afshar would cease to play a significant role in the regiont affairs until the late seventeenthcentury, when they were pressed into service again, this dme to withstand the growing threatposed to Irant eastern borderlands by marauding Baluchi and Afghan tribesmen.To

Conclusion

Studying Safavid Iran in general and the reign of Shah Abbas I in particular without beingable to rely on accounts written by'Western travellers, missionaries and merchants inevitablylimits the number of viewpoints represented by the source material. This has had imporranrconsequences for the representation of the personality and policies of the greatest of the Safavidrulers, Shah Abbas I, whose reign neady divides between a first hali for which we have littlemore than Persian-language sources, and a second half, which is documented by a combinationof Safavid chronicles and European eyewitness accounts. The image of Abbas that has come tous is mostly distilled from the latter sources, highlighting the 'imperial' phase of his reign, whenthe'ruthless king'was in the process of being transformed into an'Iranian legend'.7r

As significantly, without the input of European observers, it is difficult to discern anoverarching,long-term policy,let alone the outline of an imperial project, in the Shaht actions.A good example is his thrust toward Fars and Yazd in 99611588-99811590, which a modernnationalist perspective might interpret as a preliminary move that would culminate in theextension of Safavid control to the Persian Gulf littoral in the early seventeenth century. Eventhe chronicles written after the Safavid army had actually moved to the Gulf and taken on thePortuguese do not portray Shah Abbasb southern campaign as part of such a project. Instead,like their predecessors, they cast this episode in Shah Abbas's search for domination and territoryas the story of a titanic power struggle between the Shah and two Qizilbash chieftains, BiktashKhan and Ya'qub Khan.

In recounting this struggle, the Safavid chroniclers evince a keen appreciation for theingredients of power, the forces that go into acquiring it, wielding it and maintaining it. Lofryreferences to his divinely guided status aside, they portray the Shah at bottom as a warlord,ready to do anphing to maximise his power and wealth in a relentlessly competitive universe.They reserve explicit accusations of deceit and betrayal for his subordinates and adversaries;yet the Shah, too, inhabits this amoral universe, an arena in which 'might makes right', whereonly success counts, and where anything is permitted to attain and consolidate it - includingfoul play. The PersianJanguage chronicles evince a profound realism, even cynicism, in this,describing the ways of the world without any illusions about the animating forces. Power, tothem, provides its own justification.Tz

Moraliry or rather moralism, nevertheless and somewhat paradoxically, sits at the heart ofthe accounts of the struggle . Indeed, the entire episode discussed in this paper may be read as a

- r97-


moraliry tale centring on the notions of gratitude, obedience and loyalry the obverse, arrogance,

greed, duplicity and betrayal, and the terrible price subordinates pay for being on the wrong side

of *tir equatiorr. This - what Melville calls the 'competing thematic issues at stake: the absolute

authoriry of the ruler; the dangers and temptations of power; the demands of justice; and the

exemplary nature of the stories, whether to serve as a warning to oYer-ambitious ministers or

fickle rulers easily swayed by court intrigue'73 - is what makes the story of Biktash Khan and, with

its grisly ending, especially that of Ya'qub Khan so riveting and may be the principal reason why

theie tales loom so large in the Persian-language sources. Biktash Khan tried to deceive Ya'qub

Khan and betrayed his uncle, Abbas Sultan. He was in turn betrayed by his own father-inlaw,

Mir Miran. Ya'qub Khan next deceived Biktash Khan. Shah Abbas himself, it was seen, was not

above treacherlhimself. He used Ya'qub Khan to bring down Biktash Khan, thus reducing the

role of the Afshar, and then proceeded to topple Ya'qub Khan by way of deception and broken

promises. In all this, tribal feuding played a highly visible and persistent role, but the struggle

fo, po*., was above all a highly personal one, fought between men with massive egos and huge

appetites for power and possessions.

The Safavid state functioned and endured for as long as it did in large Part because its

leaders projected power in a pragmatic way, alternating ruthlessness with accommodation

and meting out punishment by way of setting examples rather than by way of 'systematic

"nd -ethodical enforcement of the law'.7a Loyaky was the litmus test of the reliabiliry and

trustworthiness of any official, periodically reiterated and reinforced by way of gift-giving and

supplicatory visits to rhe court. Those who broke this code and engaged in insubordination

"J r.r,olt might be dismissed and ultimately forgiven and even rehabilitated, or they might

be subjectedio siyAsat, summary and severe punishment in the form of death. The violence

involved was expected to the point where, half a century later, the Frenchman Jean Chardin

could claim that Iranians saw and accepted their rulers as inherently violent.T5

Nofes

r Given the different criteria on which it is bmed, this division does not contradict Charles Melville's suggestion that Abbast reign

can be divided into three periods, beginning with his initial reign, from995l1587 until 1007/1599, when Isfahan became his

new capital, followed by the period uniil lol2l1620, the year ofthe foundation ofFarahabad in Mazandaran' and the subsequent

oeriod until his death. See Ciarles Melville,'From Q-ars to Qandahar: the itineraries of Shah Abbm I (995-1038/1587*1629)"

in Jean Calmard (ed.), Etudes Safauidzs (Paris, 1993), pp.l97 '

199' 207 .

z Anthonysherley,sirAnthonysherleyHisRektionofHisTiaueblntoPersia(London, 1613),pp.29-30.

3 John Cartwright, The Preachers Ti"auels (London,1611; repr. Amsterdam, 1977)' p'64'

4 Th. firr, ,.,.oipective assessment along these lines may have been from the hand ofJan Smidt, a Dutch envoy to Shah Safit coun

who left a lengthy description ofhis Jncounter with that ruler shordy after Shah Abbmt death in 103811629. He portrays the

late Shah "r ""*ir.

.ul..iho had been respected by all the country's grandees. See Smidt's diary in H. Dtnlop (ed.), Bronnen

totdegeschiedenisdnOostindischeCompagnie(TheHague, 1930),p.T3l.JohnFryer,whovisitedlrmahalfcenturyafterthe

Shaht"death, reports that his name ws'iivoked wher "ny

co-mendable or famous action is performed; saying "Shaw Abas"

or "Shabas" as w€ are wont to say, "\(ell done".' See John Fryer, A Neu Account of Eart India and Persia being Nine Yeari Tiauels

1672-1681,3 vols, ed. William Crooke (london, I9l2)' vol.2, p.245.

5 This is the image that, on balance, emerges from Roger Savory, Iran under the Safauids (Cambridge' 1980), pp.9.5-103.

Unsurprisingly, isimilar image prevails in thle work of modern art historians; a few recent examples are Sussan Babaie, Isfahan and

hs paiog itanrrafi, Sbiismini theArchitecture of Conuiuiality in Early Modnn lran.(F.dinburgh, 2008); the various contributions

to Sheila R Canby (ed.), Shah Abbas. The Rem)hing of Iran (l,ondon, ZO09); and Kishwar Rizvi, The Safaaid Dynastic Shrine:

Architecture, Religion and Pouer in Early Modern Iran (London,2010).

6 This does to, -i"r

that the chronicles do not protide any information about Shah Abbast urban development, in particular,

just that this part ofhis activities is not at the heart oftheir concerns. Robert D. McChesney brings-the (scattered) information

found in the chronicles on this topic together in 'Four sources on Shah Abbast building of Isfahan, Maqarnas 5 (1988),

pp.103-34.

- rg8-


7 For this concept, in reference to the founder ofthe Mughal dynmty, Sultan Babur, see Stephen Dale, 7he Gardzn ofEight Parad.ises:BabarandtheCubureofEmpireinCentalAsia,Afghanistanandlndia(1483-1530) (Leiden,2004), pp.153,292,297,349.

8 Forthis,seeSholehQyinn,Historical\YritingduringtheReignoftheSafauids(SahLakeCiryUll 2000),pp.44-5.

9 For a foundational study that presents the Safavid state as a religiously inspired national project, see Valther Hinz, Iran Auftiegzum Nationalstaat im finfzehnten Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1936). A major exception is Jean Aubin in his portrayal of Shah Isma'ilx 'intelligent and barbuic'. See Jean Aubin, 'Lavdnement des Safavides reconsider6', Moyen Orient et Oclan Indien 5 (1988),pp.1*130.

ro Amir Sadr al-Din Ibrahim Amini Harawi, Futuhat-i shahi (Tarihh-i Safaai az aghaz ta sal-i 920 h.q.), ed. Muhammad fuza Nmiri(Tehran, 1383 I 2004), p. 233.

rr Mahmud Hidayat Allah Afirshta'i Natanzi, Naqawat al-athar f dhihr al-ahhyar, ed. Ihsan Ishraqi (Tehrm, 2nd edition,1373t1994), p.75.

rz EskandarBegMonshi,HktoryofShahAbbastheGreat(Tarihh-eAhrnara-yeAbbasi),uans.RogerSavory(Boulder,CO, 1978),p.525. See also Sholeh Quinn, 'Through the looking glass: kingly vinues in Safavid and Mughai historiogrrphy , Journal ofPersianate Stildies 3 , no 2 (2010) , pp . 143-55 .

13 Abu 'l-Mafakhir b. Fadl Allah al-Husayni Sawanih-nigar Tafrishi, Tarihh-i shah Saf. (Tarlhh-l tahauuulzt-i lran dar salha-yi1038-1052 h.q.), ed. Muhsin Bahram Nizhad (Tehran, 1388/2009), xlvi-xclvii and pp.5-6.

14 Muhammad Baqir Sabzawari, Rawdat al-anwar-i Abbasi (Dar ahhkq wa shiua-yi hishuardazl), ed. Isma'il ChangiziArdahani (Tehran, 137711998) pp.743-4. See aiso the discussion in Mansur Sifatgul, Sahhtar-i nihad wa andisha-i dinidar lran-i 'asr-i Safaui. (Thrihh-i tahauuullat-i dini-yi lran dar sadaha-yi dihum ta dauazdihum hijri qamari) (Tehran,138112002), p.497.

r 5 Sayyid Abu Talib Musavi Findiriski, Tuhfat al-'akm dar awsaf wa ahhbar-i Shah Suhan Husayn Safaui, ed. Rasul Ja'fariyan(Tehran, 13881 2009), p.r28.

16 For a map of the Shaht travels, see Melville,'From Qars to Qmdahar'.17 Monshi, History of Shah Abbas the Great, p.578.r8 For Farhad Khan Qaramanlu, see Rudi Matthee 'Farhad Khan Qaramtnlu, f1r.r9 Kathryn Babryan, Myxic1 Monarchs, and Mesiahs: Culnral Landscapa of Early Modnn Iran (Cambridge, MA, 2003), 349tr; and

Rudi Matthee, Persia in Crisis: Safauid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan (London, 2012), pp.3640.zo Brbayan, Mystics, Monarchs and Mesiah, pp.349tr.zr Natanzi, Naqauat al-athar, pp.7-8.zz Muzaffar Narn and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, A place in the sun: travels with Faizi in the Deccen, 159l-1593', in Frangois Grimal

(ed.), Les soarces et les temps/Sources and Times (Pondicherry, 2O0l), pp.272tr.z3 NasrullahFilsafi,Zindigani-yiShahAbbas-iauual,5bksin3volspaginatedrone(Tehran,I369lI990),pp. 1010-18;Lucien-

Louis Bellan, Chah Abbas I: Sa uie, son histoire (Paris, 1932), pp.33ff; David BIow, Shah Abbas: The Ruthbs KingVho Became anIranian Legmd (London, 2009), p.34; Savory, Iran under the Safauid"r Hans Robert Roeme! Persien auf dem Veg in die Neuzeit:Iranische Geschichte uon 135a-1750 (Beirut, 1989), and its English distillation for the Safavid era, 'The Safavid period', in 7/rCambridge History of lran,vol.6, PeterJaclcon and Laurence Lockhut(eds), TheTimurid and Safauid Poiol(Cambridge, 1986),pp. 189-350; and Andrew Newman, Safauid lran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire (London, 20O6).

u4 Quinn, Historical W'riting, pp.95-124.z5 Forthis,seeAudreyBurton, 'Thefal lofHerat totheUzbegsinl588' , I ran26(1988),pp.199-23;andRobertD.McChesney,

'The conquest ofHerat: 995-611587-8: sources for the study ofSafavid/Qizilbmh-Shibanid/Uzbak relations', in Jem Calmard(ed.), Endes s afaaidzs (P aris, 1 988), pp. 69- 1 08.

z6 Mulla Muhammad Mu'min Kirmani. Sahifut al-irshad (Tarihh-i Afihar-i Kirman - pd.ldn-i har-i Safawiyla), ed. MuhammadIbrahim Bastani-Parizi (Tehran, 13841 2005), introd., p. 26.

z7 Qrd.i Ahmad b. Sharaf al-Din al-Husayn al-Husayni Qummi, Khulasat al-tauarihh, ed. Ihsan Ishraqi (Tehran, new edition,1387 12008), p.665.

z8 Fnli Khuzani Isfahmi, Afdal al-tauarihh,vol.3, Christ's College, Cambridge, ms. Dd.5.6, fol. 81b.z9 See lfillem Floor, Safauid Goaerntnent Institutions (Costa Mesa, CA, 2001), pp.7lJ, with a list of incumbents.

3o Miza BigJunabadi, Raudzt al-Safauiya, ed. GhulamrizaTabataba'i Majd (Tehran, 137911999), p.683.

3r Qummi, Khulasat al-tawarihh, p.888.

3z SeeRichardThpper,FrontiaNomadsoflran:APoliticalandSocialHistoryoftheShahseuan(Cambridge, 1997),pp.54-5.Forreferencesto rhe shahseuan phenomenon in the period following Shah 'Abbas's reign, seeMatthee, Prsia in Crisis, pp.l6, 40, 147,248.

3 j Natanzi, Naqawat al-atltar, p.343; Mirzt Beg Junabadi, Raudat al-Safauiyya, ed. Ghulamriza Thbatabai Majd (Tehran,137911999), p.679; Monshi, History of Shah Abbas, p.554.

34 Khuzani lsfahm| Afdal al-tauarihh, fol.25b; Monshi, History of Shah Abbas, p.579.

15 Qummi, Khuksat al-tawarihh, p.903; Natanzi, Naqawat al-athar, p.326.

36 Qummi, Khaksat al-tawarihh, p.903.g7 Natnzi, Naqauat al-athar, p.329.

38 Qummi, Khulasat al-tauarihh, p.909.

39 Natanzi, Naqawat al-athar, p.344.

4o Ibid., pp.344-5.

4r Junabadi, Rawdat al-Safauiyya, pp.707-8.

4z Monshi, History of Shah Abbas, p.580.

41 Mulla Jalal al-Din Munajjim YazAi, Tarihh-l Abbasi ya ruznd.ma-i Malll Jakl, ed,. Sayf Allah \Zahid Niya (Tehran, 136611987),pp. 80-1.

44 Monshi, History of Shah Abbas, p.582.

45 Yndi, Tarikh-i Abbasi, p.81.

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Bellan, Chah Abbas, p.34.

Junabadi, Rawdat al-safauiyla, p. 7 1 1, gives a number of 2,500 soldiers'

Monshi, Hisary of Shah Abbas, pp.600-I.

Qummi, Khulasat al-tawarikh, p.9O3.Ibid.. o.904.Mor.hi, History of Shah Abbas, pp.6OO-1.

Junabadi, Rawdat al-Safauiyya, p.7 LI.

lbid., p.712: Monshi, Hi:nry of Shah Abbas' p.599'

Monshi, History of Shah Abbas' p.601.

Alam and Subrahmanyam, A place in the sun,' p.292'

Naranzi, Naqauat al-athar, p. 345.Yazdi, Tarihh-i Abbasi, p.76.Alam and Subrahmanyam, A place in the sun , p.292.

Yudi, Thrihh-i Abbasi, p.90.For these dates, and r.ma.l* or the variant dates given in the chronicles, see Melville, 'From Qars to Qandahr, pp'2o24'

N"t"rri, Naqauat al-athar, p.346.Istakhr, whicf, is believed to mean ttrong(hold)' in old Persian, had been a fortress since

Achaemenid times. See A'D.H. Bivar, 'Estakr', E1r.

Alam and Subrahmanyam, A place in the sun, p.292'

Natarzi, Naqawat al-athar, P.7.Qummi, Kh) ks at a l- tauari h h, pp. 9 | 8-1 9 | YarAi, Tari k h - i Ab b asi, pp' 97 -9'

Qummi, Khulasat al'tauaribh, pp.978-19'Alam and Subrahmmyam, A place in the sun

' p.292'

YazAi, Tarihh-i Abbasi, p.99.Ibid. , p.105.Kirmani, Sahifat al-irshad, p.63.That the .ol. Lf the Af.har diminished overall in the Safavid poliry is seen in the fact that in 1000/ 1591-2 they lost their near-

.or.rol or.. the position of 4 archilasht. For tlist of qilrchibishis, seeFloor, Safaaid Gouernment Intitutions, pp'l4l-3''With reference to the subtitli of David Blowt biography, Shah Abbas'

This is in line with Homa Katouziant argument "6on,

ir*'r traditional political culture, that 'legitimacy always belonged to the

winner' and that 'the real test of holdirrglanah [divine grace] was success itself'. See Homa Katouzian, 'kgitimacy and succession

in Iranian history' , Comparatiue Studiei of South 'Asia, Africa and the M;ddlz East23, no lJ (2003)' pp'238' 241'

Charles Melville, 'The h-istorian at wo.k , ir Charle. M ilvllle (ed.), Pers;an Hi*oriograplry, vol-10 of A History of Persian Liwature

(London, 2012\, p.86.ir.i.. iiuig"r n*i, 'rord oral the world: the state, heterogenous power and hegemony in the Roman and Mughal empires', in

peter Fibiler Ban[ and C.A. Bayley (eds), Tiibuury Empira in Gtoial Hisnry (Basingstoke and New York, 201 1), p' 186'

j.rrrCt"r?i", Vfiagodurh*aii"r'Chardin,erPeie,et)uteslieuxdel'Orient,ed.L.Langlds(Paris, 1810-11),vol'5,p'2I9'

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Loyalty, Betrayal and Retribution: Shah `Abbas and Kirman, Yazd and Fars

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