The harem of the monarchs of the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925) consisted of several thousand people. The harem had a precise internal administration, based on the women's rank.
The harem of the monarchs of the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925) consisted of several thousand people. The harem had a precise internal administration, based on the women's rank.
As was customary in Muslim harems, the highest rank of the harem hierarchy was that of the monarch's mother, who in Qajar Iran had the title Mahd-e ʿOlyā (Sublime Cradle). She had many duties and prerogatives, such as safeguarding the harem valuables, particularly the jewels, which she administered with the help of female secretaries. [1]
In contrast to what was common in the Ottoman Empire, where the sultans normally only had slave consorts, the Qajar shah's also had a custom of diplomatic marriages with free Muslim women, daughters of Qajar dignitaries and princes. [2] Another phenomena of the Qajar harem was that the Shah entered two different kinds of marriages with his harem women: ṣīḡa (temporary wife), which was often done with concubines, and ʿaqdī (permanent wife), which was a promotion. [3] The wives and slave concubines of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar came from the harems of the vanquished houses of Zand and Afšār; from the Georgian and Armenian campaigns, as well as from the slave markets (see Circassian slave trade) and presented as gifts to the shah from the provinces. [4] [5]
Every consort had white and black slave servants (women or eunuchs), whose number varied according to her status. Some wives had their own residence and stables. [6]
There were different types of female officials within the harem: some managed the royal coffeehouse inside the harem; a body of female sentinels commanded by women officials "protected the king's nightly rest"; [7] women called ostāds (masters) supervised the group of female dancers and musicians who entertained the harem and were housed with their servants in a separate compound. [8]
Young slave boys below puberty (ḡolām-bačča) served as servants and playmates in the harem. [9] Eunuchs were mainly African slaves. [9]
The women of the harem were responsible for everything inside the harem quarters, but the harem were guarded from the other parts of the palace (biruni) by the eunuchs, who together with the visits from relatives, physicians and tailors served as links to the outside world for the women, but the women were normally not allowed to leave the harem themselves except with special permission.
The harem women had daily entertainments such as music, dance, theatrical performances and games. They studied the arts, calligraphy and poetry, and entertained themselves and the shah with music, dance and singing, and by reciting verses and telling stories, which the shah enjoyed at bedtime. [10] The harem had its own theatre where passion plays (taʿzia) were performed, and one of the shah's wives was the custodian of all the paraphernalia. [11] Toward the end of the Qajar dynasty, foreign tutors were allowed into the harem.
Inside the harem, women performed religious functions such as rawża-ḵᵛāni (commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Ḥosayn at Karbalā); preached from the pulpit on the day of ʿĀšurā (q.v., the 10th of Moḥarram) and directed the ritual of sina-zadan (beating of the chest). [12]
The Qajar harem also had the political influence and intrigues common in royal harems. Until a regulated succession order to the throne was established by Nāṣer-al-Din Shah (r. 1848–1896), the harem was a place of intense struggle by mothers of potential heirs to have their own sons elected heir to the throne as well as material benefits for themselves, higher ranks for members of their own families, or precedence for their own children. Nāṣer-al-Din Shah's mother Jahān Ḵānom Mahd-e ʿOlyā wielded major influence which secured his own succession and the dismissal and subsequent assassination of Prime Minister Mirzā Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, [13] and Nāṣer-al-Din Shah's favorite wife Anis-al-Dawla brought about the dismissal of the Premier Mirza Hosein Khan Moshir od-Dowleh in 1873. Both Persian policymakers as well as foreign diplomats, therefore, sought support within the royal harem. [14]
The last Qajar ruler to have a big and traditionally organised harem was Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848-1896). After Naser al-Din Shah, the royal harem diminished, and Mohammad Ali Shah (r. 1907-1909) is known to have only one consort, which was a term for his marriage to his cousin princess Malekeh-Jahan.
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irrevocable ceding of Iran's northern territories in the Caucasus, comprising what is nowadays Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 and the resulting treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay. Historian Joseph M. Upton says that he "is famous among Iranians for three things: his exceptionally long beard, his wasp-like waist, and his progeny."
Harem refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic servants, and other unmarried female relatives. In the past, harems also housed enslaved concubines. In former times some harems were guarded by eunuchs who were allowed inside. The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygyny has varied depending on the family's personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. Similar institutions have been common in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations, especially among royal and upper-class families, and the term is sometimes used in other contexts. In traditional Persian residential architecture the women's quarters were known as andaruni, and in the Indian subcontinent as zenana.
Qajar art was the architecture, paintings, and other art forms produced under the Qajar dynasty, which lasted from 1781 to 1925 in Iran (Persia).
Firuz Mirza Nosrat ad-Dowleh Farmanfarma was a Qajar prince, military commander and administrator in 19th-century Iran. He was the sixteenth son of Abbas Mirza.
Fereydun Mirza was a Qajar prince, governor and poet in 19th-century Iran. The fifth son of Abbas Mirza, he held the governorship of Tabriz (1833–1834), Fars (1836–1840), and Khorasan (1851–1854).
The History of slavery in Iran (Persia) during various ancient, medieval, and modern periods is sparsely catalogued. Slavery was abolished in Iran in 1929.
Malek Jahan Khanom was the wife of Mohammad Shah Qajar of Persia and the mother of Naser al-Din Shah. She was the de facto regent of Persian Empire for one month, from 5 September until 5 October in 1848, between the death of her husband and the accession to the throne of her son.
Naser al-Din Shah's slide was a slide in the subterranean baths of the Negarestan Palace in Tehran, Qajar Iran. The Encyclopedia Iranica notes that Western visitors commented on "the royal palace of Negārestān and salacious reports about its slide used for erotic purposes". The slide was destroyed by Reza Shah Pahlavi after he overthrew the Qajar dynasty.
Manuchehr Khan Gorji Mo'tamed al-Dowleh was a eunuch in Qajar Iran, who became one of the most powerful statesmen of the country in the first half of the 19th century.
Soltan-Ahmad Mirza Azod od-Dowleh was a Qajar prince and official in 19th-century Iran, who is known for composing the memoir Tarikh-e Azodi. He was the 49th son of the shah (king) Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, and his mother was Taj ol-Dowleh.
Ashraf os-Saltaneh was an Iranian princesses and photographer of the Qajar period, known as one of the earliest women photographers and journalists in the period. After the death of her first husband, she preserved his daily journal, which she had helped write. It was published in 1966 and provides insight into court life and the personality of the monarch during the 19th century.
Abu'l-Fath Khan Javanshir was an Iranian commander who participated in the Russo-Iranian War of 1804–1813. He was the son of Ibrahim Khalil Khan, a member of the Javanshir tribe and governor of the Karabakh Khanate in the South Caucasus.
Golbadan Baji or Gulbadan Khanum, also known by her title Khazen ol-Dowleh was a concubine and later wife of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar of Persia.
Jeyran was one of the beloved wives and first mistress of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.
Anis al-Dawla was a royal consort of shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia.
Amina Aqdas was a royal consort of shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia.
Maryam Khanom Bani Isra'il was the royal consort of shah Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and then the thirty-ninth royal consort of Agha Mohammad's nephew and successor Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.
Hossein Ali Mirza, a son of Fath-Ali Shah, was the Governor of Fars and pretender to the throne of Qajar Iran.
Soltan Mohammad Mirza better known by his honorific title Sayf ol-Dowleh was an Iranian prince of the Qajar dynasty and thirty-ninth son of Fath-Ali Shah, king of Qajar Iran. He was the governor of Isfahan between 1820 and 1835 and contributed to its restoration after the damage it suffered in the civil war between Zand sovereigns and Agha Mohammad Khan, rebuilding several of the Safavid pavilions and designing his own palace.
Mahmud Mirza Qajar was an Iranian prince of the Qajar dynasty and the fifteenth son of Fath-Ali Shah, king (shah) of Qajar Iran. He was a patron of the arts and an accomplished calligrapher, poet, and anthologist in his own right.
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