The Baz-Nama-Yi Nasiri, a Persian Treatise on Falconry;
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njig ^ wwii n ii npi » ogooBq^pq ipBll^HIWIHmBH—l UC-NRLF 1 iini I Ill p |ll{{ III II ,B ^ SDi s^s iifo^-> ---^_-:ij£i£.:^lt^^ ¥, :- R 1 j:^®, ^:^ ^^^'^i^ t^ lit iJ^ ^^/r^a/i^^' GIFT OF E W. CARPENTIER ( i THE BAZ-NAMA-YI NASIEI A PERSIAN TREATISE ON FALCONRY HUNTING AND HAWKING SCENE (from a painting in an ancient PERSIAN MS. THE BAZ-NAMA-YI NASIRl A rEU.SlAX TKEATLSK ( )X FALCOXKY TL'AXST.ATFD 7?F LIEUT.-COLONEL D. C. PHILLOTT SECRETAKY, BOAIID OF EXAMINERS, CALCUTTA, GENERAL SECRETARY AND PHILOLOGICAL SECRETARY, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, EDITOR OF THE PERSIAN TEXT OF THE (i.l uj Xfy >i 'S-SA V ).T /> ETC. KXC. LONDON 15 K UN A IM) gl" AKlTCli 1908 o. 0/ ->ti \pOO copies of this hooli hare heen printed'] , « • t It •»•• « e e • m • • TO HIS I']XCELLENCY THE 'ALA^ 'L-:\[ULK formerly Governor-General of Kirman AND Perslw Baluchistan THIS TRANSLATION IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED In Memory OF Certain Days not Unpleasant when we Met in the BAG H AND MINGLED OUR TEARS OVER OUR EXILE -^39972 , ^^^.. U ,J * I • • * y r^ >vy l^>-^ > ^ '"^ ^^^ jn ^ r^. y-f^' ^.j-^Ur^ ! I ,, XI TRANSLATOirS INTliODUCTION The author of tliis work was Husdm" 'd-Daidali Taymur Mirza/ one of the nineteen sons of Husayn 'All Mirza,' Farmdn-Farmd the Governor of tho Province of Fiirs, and one of the sons of Fath ^AlT Shfih, QfijAr. On the death of Path 'All Sliali, in A.H. 1250 (A.D. 18:34), general confusion prevailed : the claimants to the Crown were many. The details of these claims and the actions of the various aspirants to establish them are exceedingly complicated and difficult to follow. The old ZiU" 's-Sult/in first mounted the throne at Teheran. His nephew the young Muhammad Mlrza was then Governor of Tabrlz_, and his troops had not been paid for some time. However, receiving pecuniary support from the English ambassador, and moral support from the Russian, he marched on Teheran (pntting out the eyes of a brother or two eii route), and was met by the army (hastily paid up to date, and even in advance) of the ZiW^ 's-Snltpn. The moving spirit in Muhammad MlrziVs army appears to have Ijeen an Englishman named Lynch, wlio, nominally in command of the artillery, virtually managed what cannot be better described than as " the whole show." Tho camp ot t lie Zill" 'a-Sidhln awoke in the morning to discover that, during the night, their General had gone over to the enemy ; and that j\lr. Lynch, having pointed four big guns at their camp, was haranguing them from his position, and exhorting them to go home. His arguments appeared reasonable. Part of the Zill" 'n-SHlfoiis anny crossed over to !Mi'. Lynch, and part returned home. " Li a moment, this fine army was disbanded, scattered like the stars of the Great Bear, every man going to his own place." Muhammed ]MJrza now entered Teheran without the slightest opposition, and his uncle the Zill" 's-Sulf/hi, " in the greatest despondency,'' placed the crown on his head and handed him the state jewels. .Muhammad Shah (no longer Mirza) then proceeded to ' MJr:-! after (not before) a name signifies Prince. h 1 xii translator's introduction despatch the Zill" 's-Sultdn and most of liis uncles and brothers to the dreaded fortress of Ardabil. Shaykh 'Ah" Mirza, ShayMi" H-MulLih, '' though he had none of the requisites of sovereignty except a band of music/' was another prince that made an even more feeble bid for the throne. He was then Governor of Tfiy Sarkan. Royal governors, in Persia, have bands that play in the evening ; but a morning band is a prerogative of the Shah. 8haykh 'All Mirza ordered his band to play in the morning as well as in the evening, and thought that by so doing he had become Shah. However, on receiving the unexpected news that Muhammad Shah was in Teheran, he tendered his submission, and was soon packed off to join the "caravan " at ArdabTl. Haydar Quli Mlrza, SJhih lyhtiydr, another royal prince, also made a burlesque attempt to obtain sovereignty. His own adherents split into two parties, quarrelled amongst themselves, and then at a moment's notice turned him out of the city of which he was Governor. On his way to Isfahan he fell off his horse, and was carried into that city in a prostrate condition. Once or twice, after this, he flits across the page of history as a fugitive from the wrath of Muhammad Shah. It must not be supposed that all this time the Farmdn-Farma, the father of our author and the eldest living son of the late Fath 'Ali Shah, was idle. He seems to have been popular in Fars, for Sbiraz was kind enough to offer him the crown of Persia. He induced his brother the Shnjd'" 's-Saltanah, the Governor of Kirman, to have coins struck in his name there, and also the Khutjjah read in his name at the Friday prayers. He further sat on a throne in Shiraz. A few days later, news of the arrival of Muhammad Shah in Teheran and of the abdication of the ZiW 's-Sulf/hi, reached him. The Shnjd> 's-SaUajiah, who had arrived at Shiraz from Kirman, was then placed in conmiand of an army, and under him were two of the Farmdn-Farmd's sons, Najaf Qull Mirzfi in command of the Cavalry, and Biza QuIl Mlrza in command of the Infantry. The destination of the army appears to have been Isfahan, the inhabi- tants of which, it was hoped, would declare for the Farmdn-Farvid. The season was winter. The second march was commenced in a storm of snoAv and rain. The plains became a lake : the hill passes were blocked by snow : men and horses died : guns sank in the mud: property was lost. ,_Rations, too^ ran short, and — translator's introduction xiii the country had lately been visited hy locusts. Even proper guides were wanting. P>ut worst of all, one march fn mii Isfahan, ^\r. Lynch was discovered blocking- the way. In the night, three of Ml'. Jjynch's artillerymen "deserted" to the Shira/ camp, and tampered wirh its artillery. In the skirinish next morning, all the artillery horses of the Shn-az camp went hoijily over to Mr. livncli. The rcMuainder of the Shiraz army scattered and disappeared, got entangled in the mountains, and i-etraced its steps to iind Mr. Lynch with some artillei-y blocking one path, and a ^Fr. ^" Shir " aj)parently another Lnglishinan—blocking another. The Shiraz Comniander-iu-Chief, with his two nephews, and presumal)ly a i-emnant o\' the army, eventually slnid< hack into Shiraz, in a miserable plight from hunger and exhaustion. A grand Council was then held, and everybody talked, and the Farmdn-Fiiniiif listened to all in turn. One thing seems (piite certain^ no one did anything. Strange rumours now began to reach Shiraz of weird Turkish troops that spoke no Persian, and were commanded by an nl)i(|uitous Englishman. The merchants, panic-stricken, fled with their property. The city people revolted, and seized some towers; while the troops, of coui'se, deserted to the other side. A faithful eunuch then informed the Farmdn- Farmtl that he had met some of the city i)eo])le on their way to seize the gates, and that a plan had been concocted for cajituiang the Farm a V-Farm (^ with all his relations, adding that the delay of one minuUi meant the loss of everything. Still the Farrndn-Farmd " shilly-.shallied : still he maintained his attitude of keeping one foot in the stirrup and one on the ground," giving ear, first to the advice of his son to flee, and then to the advice of his brother the Shiij(7'" s-SaUannh to stay. The re.-ult was, that the two elder jn-inces were taken. 'I'he Farmdji-Farmd was deported to Teheran, where he was honourably treated but s]ieedily died. The Shaj<7> s-SaUcinah Vins carried to Teheran, deprivtd of his sii^-ht en route, and then sent to enliven the family party at Ardabil. Tli(> princes, Najaf Quli Mirza, Kiza Quli Mirza, Taymur ^Nlirza the author of this Baz-Kama, with Nawab l.lajiya the mother of Najaf QuiT Mirza, and three more princes, brothers or half-brothers, narrowly effected their escape, and a month later reached I^aghdad in safety. At tliat time relations between the English and Persian Courts were extremely friendly. The eldest prince, Kiza C^)uli Mirza, with xiv translator's introduction his brothers Najaf Qull Mlrza^ and Taymur Mirza our autlior, started for England to obtain the mediation of William IV., reaching Loudon via Damascus and Beyrout in the summer of 1836. Their journey from Damascus to Bej'rout was as feckless and mismanaged as their expedition to Isfahan. For four months the princes were a popular feature of London Society, and during that time succeeded in losing their hearts several times. Then, as they had obtained the object of their journey, Lord Palmerston having arranged matters to their satis- faction, they returned to Baghdad and exile. Xajaf QulT Mlrza wrote an account in Persian of the events that occurred on the death of their grandfather Fath 'All Shall, and of their own adventures in consequence, and he also kept a diary of their tour to England and back.