Mahmud Mirza Qajar
| Mahmud Mirza | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Mahmud Mirza, first half 19th century | |
| Governor of Nahavand | |
| Reign | 1813–1825 |
| Predecessor | Unknown |
| Successor | Homayun Mirza |
| Governor Lorestan | |
| Reign | 1825 – ? |
| Predecessor | Unknown |
| Successor | Unknown |
| Born | 1799 |
| Died | Between 1854 and 1858 |
| Burial | Nahavand |
| House | Qajar |
| Father | Fath-Ali Shah Qajar |
| Mother | Maryam Khanom |
Mahmud Mirza Qajar (also spelled Mahmoud; 1799–between 1854 and 1858) was an Iranian prince of the Qajar dynasty and the fifteenth son of Fath-Ali Shah, king (shah) of Qajar Iran (r. 1797–1834). He was a patron of the arts and an accomplished calligrapher, poet and anthologist himself.
Biography
Mahmud Mirza was the fifteenth son of Qajar shah Fath-Ali Shah (r. 1797–1834), born by his Jewish wife from Mazandaran known as Maryam Khanom, said to have been a great beauty. Mahmud Mirza Qajar was Maryam Khanom's eldest son and considered her most accomplished son. His other full siblings who survived to adulthood included Zia ol-Saltaneh, Soltan Begom (died 1826), Homayun Mirza (died 1851), Ahmad-Ali Mirza (born 1804), and Jahanshah Mirza (died 1835).[1][2]
Mahmud Mirza grew up in the household of Mirza Shafi Mazandarani (died 1819), his mentor and then prime minister of Iran. In 1813, Mahmud Mirza was given the governorship of Nahavand, followed by governorship of Lorestan in 1825. He soon established himself as a patron of the arts, inviting many poets and men of letters to join his provincial residence at Nahavand, including Mohammad Taqi "Lesan ol-Molk" Sepehr. Mahmud Mirza also ordered the construction of majestic buildings in Nahavand, amongst them the Ru'in-dez fortress, the Kakh-e Homayun palace, a madraseh for his son Siyavash Mirza, and a garden known as the Bagh-e Shah; however, only a minimal traces of these buildings have survived to this day.[1]
Mahmud Mirza also promoted scholarly works, himself writing over twenty works ranging in topic from historical to literary to religion, including two essential anthologies (tazkerehs) of poetry by his father, his own sons, and other contemporary male Qajar poets. These two anthologies are known as the Safinat ol-Mahmud and the Bayan ol-Mahmud.[1] The Safinat ol-Mahmud was completed in 1824–1825 at the order of his father, who also gave the book its title.[3]
Mahmud Mirza was also a respected calligrapher and poet, and he reportedly trained a series of wives of the shah and their daughters to write poetry, teaching them also to write calligraphy in the Shekasteh and Nashq forms. Mahmud Mirza also authored the Sonbolestan and Noql-e Majles ("The confection of the assembly"). Although these works are less known, they contain important information on contemporaneous Qajar women and the poetry they wrote. In the introduction of the Noql-e Majles, Mahmud Mirza writes that the book was at the request of his sister Zia ol-Saltaneh.[1]
Mahmud Mirza's chief wife (galin), the daughter of Mohammad Khan Qajar Iravani, was selected for him by his father Fath-Ali Shah. Mahmud Mirza's other wives were a daughter of Ali-Morad Khan Zand (r. 1781-185) known as Gowhar-Taj Khanum; a relative of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747): and a wife who had once been married to the late Mirza Shafi Mazandarani. Mahmud Mirza had thirty-four children, equally divided between seventeen boys and seventeen girls.
He was against the accession of his nephew Mohammad Shah Qajar (r. 1834-1848); as a result he was incarcerated along with other rebel princes in Ardabil and later in Tabriz. He apparently died at some point inbetween 1854 and 1858 during the reign of his nephew's son Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, and appears to have been buried in Nahavand—the site of his first governorship.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Brookshaw 2006a.
- ^ Brookshaw 2006b.
- ^ Abe 2017, p. 132 (note 16).
Sources
- Abe, Naofumi (2017). "The Politics of Poetics in Early Qajar Iran: Writing Royal-Commissioned Tazkeras at Fath-ʿAli Shāh's Court". Journal of Persianate Studies. 10 (2): 129–157. doi:10.1163/18747167-12341311.
- Brookshaw, Dominic Parviz (2006a). "MAḤMUD MIRZĀ". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
- Brookshaw, Dominic Parviz (2006b). "MARYAM KHANOM". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.