THE GHAZNAVID AND SELJUK TURKS This new view on aspects of the Ghaznavid and the Seljuq dynasties con- centrates on the relationship of the panegyric poets Farrukh-ı S-ısta-n-ı (c. 995– 1032) and Mu‘izz-ı (c. 1045–1127) to the Ghaznavid and Seljuk rulers and dignitaries for whom they wrote. Dr Tetley investigates the reliability of the historical sources. A solid and impressive work of learning, of interest to scholars in Oriental Studies, Medieval Literature, and History, The Ghaznavid and Seljuq Turks is the first extended English study of Mu‘zz-ı, it presents much new material concerning both this little-studied poet and also the better-known Farrukh-ı. Additionally, there is a valuable exploration of the relationship between Persians and Turks, a highly significant factor during the rule of the two dynasties. G. E. Tetley, a graduate of the University of Oxford, worked as a linguist at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, UK, before embarking on her doctorate. ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF IRAN AND TURKEY Edited by Carole Hillenbrand University of Edinburgh This series publishes important studies dealing with the history of Iran and Turkey in the period 1000–1700 AD. This period is significant because it heralds the advent of large numbers of nomadic Turks from Central Asia into the Islamic world. Their influence was felt particularly strongly in Iran and Turkey, territories which they permanently transformed. The series presents translations of medieval Arabic and Persian texts which chronicle the history of the medieval Turks and Persians, and also publishes scholarly monographs which handle themes of medieval Turkish and Iranian history such as historiography, nomadisation and folk Islam. HISTORY OF THE SELJUQ TURKS The Saljuq-nama of Zahir al-Din Nishpuri Translated by Kenneth Allin Luther Edited by Edmund Bosworth THE ANNALS OF THE SALJUQ TURKS Selections from al-Kamil fi’l-Ta’rikh of Ibn al-Athir D. S. Richards EARLY MONGOL RULE IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY IRAN A Persian Renaissance George Lane THE GHAZNAVID AND SELJUQ TURKS Poetry as a Source for Iranian History G. E. Tetley THE GHAZNAVID AND SELJUQ TURKS Poetry as a Source for Iranian History G. E. Tetley First published 2009 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2009 G.E. Tetley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tetley, Gillies, 1930- The Ghaznavid and Seljuq Turks : poetry as a source for Iranian history / G.E. Tetley. p. cm. – (Routledge studies in the history of Iran and Turkey) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Iran – History–640–1256. 2. Ghaznavids. 3. Seljuqs – Iran – History 4. Literature and history. 5. Farrukhi, ‘Ali ibn Julugh, d. 1037 or 8. 6. Mu’izzi, Amir ‘Abd Allah Muh. ammad, b. 1048 or 9. 7. Poets, Persian – Biography. 8. Persian poetry–747-1500–History and criticism. I. Title. DS288.7.T48 2008 955’.024 – dc22 2008002320 ISBN 0-203-89409-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 10: 0-415-43119-0 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0-203-89409-X (ebk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-43119-4 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-89409-5 (ebk) CONTENTS Preface vi List of abbreviations vii Introduction 1 1 The social and political history of the period: the Turkish element 17 2 Farrukh-ı S-ısta-n-ı: his biography, background and patrons to 420/1029 43 3 Farrukh-ı S-ısta-n-ı: his biography and patrons from 420/1029 to the end of his career 68 4Mu‘izz-ı: biography to 485/1092, background, personality 91 5Mu‘izz-ı: biography, career and patrons, from 485/1092 to the end of Berkya-ru-q’s reign (498/1105) 123 6Mu‘izz-ı: life under Sanjar as Malik, 498/1105 to 510/1117 157 7Mu‘izz-ı: the final phase. Life under Sanjar as Sultan, 510/1117 to c.518/1124–27 179 Bibliography 196 Index 202 v PREFACE The present work is a slightly revised version of my doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Oxford in 2002; the bibliography has not been up-dated. The transcription of Arabic and Persian words and names is as recom- mended by the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Quotations - - - - - from ‘Uns.urı’s Dıvan are from the edition of Yah.ya Qarıb unless otherwise stated. In all quotations from Mu‘izz-ı’s Dı-va-n the textual references are to - - - both printed editions, first Iqbal, then H. ayyerı,asH. ayyerı’s edition, though unsatisfactory in several respects, was published in 1983 and is more likely to be available. In the case of the Selju-k-na-ma- both printed editions have also been quoted, first Afsha-r’s, then the superior but less generally known version in Jami’ al-tawa-rı-kh (see Bibliography). I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the following: to Julie Meisami, my supervisor, who first introduced me to the delights of medieval Persian poetry and to the poetry of Farrukh-ı and Mu‘izz-ı in particular; to Christine Kennedy, who undertook the exacting and time-consuming task of producing a machine-readable version of my text, and gave valuable advice and support at all times; and to Luke Treadwell, Chase Robinson and Celia Kerslake for their sympathetic interest and occasional very useful suggestions. I have enjoyed much help and kindness from Vicky Sayward and the staff of the Oriental Reading Room of the Bodleian Library, from Eira Spinetti at the Oriental Institute, and from many others. To all of them, and to my family, my heartfelt thanks. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS i) Journals and works of reference BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies CHIR The Cambridge History of Iran Dehkhuda Dehkhuda-, ‘Al-ı Akba Lughatna-ma 14 vols. Tehran 1325/ 1946, 1372/1993–4 EI2 Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition EIr Encyclopedia Iranica IC Islamic Culture IJMES International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies IRAN Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society ii) Persian and Arabic texts - - - - - CM Niz.ami ‘Arud. ı Chahar Maqala IA Ibn al-Ath-ır al-Ka-mil QN Kay Ka-’u-s b.Iskandar Qa-bu-s-na-ma - - - - SN Niz.am al-Mulk Siyasat-nama/Siyar al-muluk - - - TB T. arıkh-i Bayhaqı - - - - TS T. arıkh-i Sıstan - - - - - - - - ZD Z. ahır al-DınNıshapurı Seljuk-nama vii INTRODUCTION The King’s Musicians are not only the most Skilful, either as to Singing and touching of Instruments, but are commonly the Ablest, and most ingenious Poets in the Kingdom; they sing their own Works, as it is related of Homer, and other Greek poets, who liv’d in his time; they are for the most Part in Praise of the King, and on several Actions of his Life, which they are ingenious enough in Flattery to extol, let them be never so worthy of Blame, and Oblivion. (Chardin, p. 10) This elegantly phrased but cynical view of panegyric poetry, the comment of a Persian-speaking European in Iran during the declining years of the Safavid empire (1084–8/1673–7), though it contains an element of truth, is not how practitioners of the art of court poetry saw their own achievements. Two examples, separated by more than a thousand years but surprisingly similar in phraseology, will suffice. The Roman poet Horace, who addressed panegyrics to the Emperor Augustus and his minister Maecenas in the second half of the first century BC, claimed that with his poetry he had built a monument more lasting than bronze and grander than the Pyramids; it would outlast the ravages of weather and time and preserve his fame throughout the known world (Odes III, 30). Firdaus-ı, not strictly a court - poet, made a comparable claim in a passage of panegyric to Mah. mudof Ghazna (vol. V, p. 238, ll. 64–65): Noble buildings are ruined by rain and by the heat of the sun. I have laid the foundations of a high palace of poetry which will not be damaged by wind and rain. Bayhaq-ı, no admirer of the Sha-hna-ma, used the same metaphor. His pur- pose, he said, was to build ‘a foundation for history [ta-rı-kh-paya] on which to erect a great building which will last until the end of time’ (TB p. 96). These three very different writers, a court poet, an epic poet who regarded himself as a historian, and a secretary turned historian, all spoke of their work in material terms, as buildings which would last forever, and, in the - - - - words of Niz.amı ‘Arud. ı, would ‘give immortality to their patrons and the characters in their history’ (CM p. 29). Panegyric poetry as practised by 1 INTRODUCTION Farrukh-ı and Mu‘izz-ı was not history in Firdaus-ı’s sense, but it has a note- worthy historical component.