Childhood in Qajar Iran

Abstract

The history of children in general and that of Persian children in particular is that of the inarticulate. The social history of Iran is a neglected field although in recent decades a preponderance of material has appeared on the history of women. Aside from this no work has been undertaken on the private life of the period including childhood and family life. This article examines various aspects of the position and upbringing of children in Qajar Iran ranging from the rearing of children to their status in the family, discipline, amusements and education. This investigation attempts to cover the childhood of different sexes and social classes both in rural and urban areas. The discussion is limited to Shi'i children, the majority population of Iran.

Notes

¹Philippe Ariès, L'Enfant et la vie familiale sous l'ancien régime [Centuries of childhood: a social history of family life], trans. Robert Baldick (New York, 1962). As a result of this ground-breaking work there has been an upsurge of interest in the history of children in the West. For example see Paula S. Fass, ed., Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, 3 vols. (Macmillan Reference, 2003); Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, ed., Children in the Muslim Middle East (Austin, 1995).

²‘Abd-al Husayn Masʻud Ansari, Zindigani Man va Nigahi be Tarikh Ma'sir-i Iran va Jahan (n.p., n.d.); Mirza Mihdi Khan Mumtahin al-Dawla, Khatirat, ed. Husayn Quli Khan Shaqaqi (Tehran, 1983); Mihdi Quli Hidayat, Khatirat va Khatarat (Tehran, 1965); ʻAbdulla Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani-yi Man: Tarikh-i Ijtimaʿi va Idari-yi Dawra-yi Qajariyya, 3 vols. (Tehran, 1942) [published in English as The Administrative and Social History of the Qajar Period, 3 vols., trans. Nayer Mostofi Glenn (Costa Mesa, CA, 1997)], Saʻid Nafisi, Be Ravayt-i Saʻid Nafisi, ed. ‘Ali Riza A'atisam (Tehran, 2002).

³Muhammad ‘Ali Jamalzadeh, Sar va Tah-i Yik Karbas (Tehran, 2002); Qasim Ghani, Yadashtha Doktor Qasim Qani, 12 vols. (London, 1980); Aqa Najafi-yi Quchani, Siyahat-i Sharq, ed. R.A Shakeri (Tehran, 1983); James Morier, The Adventures of Haji Baba of Isphahan (London and New York, 1895).

⁴Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas (New York, 1991), 64–5.

⁵Isabella Bird, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, 2 vols. (London, 1988), 1: 139.

⁶See Shireen Mahdavi, “Children in Islam,” in Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society (see note 1); Ahmad Kasravi, Zindigani-yi Man (Tehran, 1944), 6.

⁷Samuel M. Zwemer, Childhood in the Moslem World (New York, 1915), 73.

⁸Jakob Eduard Polak, Persien, das Land und Seine Bewohner, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1865) [published in Persian as Safarnama-yi Polak: Iran va Iranian, trans. Kaykavus Jahandari (Tehran, 1982), 139]; Muhsen Rustai, Tarikh-i Tibb va Tibbat dar Iran, 2 vols. (Tehran, 2004).

⁹Rustai, Tibb va Tibbat, 1: 317–22.

¹⁰Shireen Mahdavi, “Shahs, Doctors, Diplomats and Missionaries in 19th Century Iran,” British Journal of Middle East Studies 32, no. 2 (2005): 174, 184; Rustai, Tibb va Tibbat, 1: 133–4, 136–7.

¹¹Nazim al-Islam Kirmani, Tarikh-i Bidari- yi Iranian, 2 vols., ed. ‘Ali Akbar Sa'idi Sirjani (Tehran, 1978), 2: 91–2.

¹²Ja'far Shahri, Tarikh-i Ijtimaʻi-yi Tehran dar Qarn-i Sizdahum, 6 vols. (Tehran, 1990), 1: 586–8; John G. Wishard, Twenty Years in Persia: a Narrative of Life under the Last Three Shahs (New York, 1908), 250.

¹³For more on him see Mahdi Bamdad, Tarikh-i Rijal-Iran Qurun-i 12,13,14, 6 vols. (Tehran, 1968), 3: 175–6.

¹⁴‘Abd al-Husayn Khan Sephr, Mirat al-vaqayi-i Muzaffari va Yadashtha-yi Malik al-Muvarrikhin, with corrections, explanation and introduction by ‘Abdal- Husayn Navaiʿ (Tehran, 1989), 156; Husayn Mahbubi Ardakani, Tarikh-i Muʿassisat Tamaduni Jadid dar Iran, 3 vols. (Tehran, 1991), 1: 382–4; Monica Ringer, Education, Religion and the Discourse of Cultural Reform in Qajar Iran (Costa Mesa, CA, 2001), 161. A photograph of these orphan boys can be seen in Iraj Afshar, ed., Ganjin-yi ʿAksha-yi Iran (Tehran, 1992), 301.

¹⁵For an example of this see Shireen Mahdavi, For God, Mammon and Country: A Nineteenth Century Persian Merchant (Boulder, CO, 1999), 70–71; also Shireen Mahdavi, “Everyday Life in Late Qajar Iran,” Iranian Studies 45, no. 3 (2012): 355–70.

¹⁶Haj Husayn Aqa Amin al-Zarb II, “Yadigar Zindigani,” in Savad va Bayaz, 2 vols., ed. Iraj Afshar (Tehran, 1970) [trans. Shireen Mahdavi, “Memento of a Life,” Iran 30 (1992): 107–21].

¹⁷Mustafa Khan Ansari was the eldest son of Mirza Sa'id Khan Ansari Mu'tamin al-Mulk, a prominent Qajar office holder. See Huma Natiq, “Sanadi dar Aʿyin-yi Milkdari va Zan Dari dar Qarn-i Nuzda,” in Majmuaʻ-yi Pajuhishha-yi Tarikh: Tarikh-i Iran no. 2 (Tehran, 1979), 86–90; also J.D. Gurney, “A Qajar Household and its Estates,” Iranian Studies 16, no. 3–4 (1983): 137–76.

¹⁸Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani, 1: 183.

¹⁹Mahdavi, For God, Mammon and Country, 65.

²⁰Taj al-Saltana, Khatirat, ed. Mansura Ittihadia (Nizam Mafi) (Tehran, 1361\1982) [published in English as Taj al-Saltana: Crowning Anguish, trans. Anna Vanzan, ed. Abbas Amanat (Washington, DC, 1993), 112].

²¹See also Abbas Amanat, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy (Berkeley, CA, 1997), 36–8.

²²Sir Robert Ker Porter, Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, etc. etc. During the Years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820, 2 vols. (London, 1821), 1: 345.

²³For paintings see Franco Maria Ricci, ed., Qajar (Milan, 1982). An example of girls' costumes can be found on page 115 where mother and daughter are identically dressed. Example of boys costume can be seen on page 197. For photographs see Yahya Zuka', Tarikh-i ʿAkasi-yi Pishgam dar Iran (Tehran, 1997) on many pages but especially page 27 which shows Muzaffar al-Din Mirza as a child with his companions and a group photograph of male members of the Ghaffari family p. 428, no. 25, Also http://hcl.harvard.edu/collections/digital.

²⁴Ariès, Centuries of Childhood, 50–61.

²⁵Wilfred Sparroy, Children of the Royal Family (London, 1902), 108.

²⁶Carla Serena, Homme et Chose en Perse (1883), trans. Ghulam Riza Samiʻi (Tehran, 1363\1984), 281.

²⁷Jakob Eduard Polak, Persien, das Land und Seine Bewohner, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1865) [published in translation as Safarnama-yi Polak: Iran va Iranian, trans. Kaykavus Jahandari (Tehran, 1982), 140].

²⁸ Encyclopaedia Iranica s.v. “Circumcision,” by Ibrahim Shakurzada and Mahmud Omidsalar.

²⁹Mustawfi, Sharh-i-Zindigani, 1: 206.

³⁰Nafisi, Be Ravayat, 600–2.

³¹ Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. “Esfand,” by Mahmoud Omidsalar and Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. “Chashm-Zakhm,” by Ebrahim Shakurzada and Mahmoud Omidsalar.

³²The major formulator of this system of medicine, practiced in Persia up to the nineteenth century, was Avicenna (980–1037). He was a Persian who united the two great traditions of scientific and philosophical knowledge (of Galen and Aristotle) in his numerous works. See Shireen Mahdavi, “Shahs, Doctors, Diplomats and Missionaries in 19th Century Iran,” British Journal of Middle East Studies 32, no. 2 (2005): 169–91.

³³Quchani, Siyahat, 2–3.

³⁴Sparroy, Children of the Royal Family, 260.

³⁵Dust ʻAli Khan Muʿayyir Mamalik, Yadashthayi' az Zindigani Khususi Nasir al-Din Shah (Tehran, n.d.), 163–7.

³⁶Ibid.

³⁷S.G. Wilson, Persian Life and Customs (New York, 1895), 254.

³⁸Edward Stirling, The Journals of Edward Stirling in Persia and Afghanistan 1828–1829, ed. Jonathan L. Lee, vol. 36 of Series Minor (Naples, 1991), 13.

³⁹C. Colliver Rice, Persian Women and Their Ways (London, 1923), 130.

⁴⁰Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani, 1: 206.

⁴¹Nafisi, Be Ravayat, 597–600.

⁴²See Polak, Safarnama-yi Polak, 139–40.

⁴³See Qahriman Mirza Salur ʿAyan al-Saltana, Ruznama-yi Khatirat, vol. 1, ed. Masʿud Salur and Iraj Afshar (Tehran, 1975).

⁴⁴Muʿayyir Mamalik, Yadashthayi' az Zindigani, 163–7.

⁴⁵See Encyclopaedia Iranica s.v. “Alak Dolak,” by H. Javadi. Also Nasir Najmi, Iran-i Qadim va Tehran-i Qadim (Tehran, 1984), 501.

⁴⁶For an example of a badbadak (kite) during the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah see the photograph of Kamran Mirza, Nasir al-Din Shah's favorite son at the age of nine with a kite in Yahya Zuka', Tarikh-i ʿAkasi-yi Pishgam dar Iran (Tehran, 1997), 30.

⁴⁷These stories have been collected in two volumes by “Sobhi” who through his programs on the radio regaled and acquainted generations of modern children with their heritage. See Fazllula Muhtadi (Sobhi), Afsanaha, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1946); D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (London, 1919); Ulrich Marzolph, “Persian Popular Literature in the Qajar Period,” Asian Folklore Studies 60 (2001): 215–36.

⁴⁸Najmi, Iran-i Qadim, 497.

⁴⁹Strictly speaking there is no “holy family” in Islam. However, the five personages (Pers. panj tan), namely Muhammad, Fatima, ʿAli, Hassan and Husayn, are nearest to that Christian concept in Islam.

⁵⁰Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani, 274–90.

⁵¹Najmi, Iran-i Qadim, 497–8.

⁵²Both Hidayat and Mustawfi relate that they had bad teachers in the maktab and in the case of Mustawfi they had to be replaced a number of times. See Hidayat, Khatirat, 4; and Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani, 1: 218–22.

⁵³The female teacher could also be called mulla baji, mirza baji or shah baji.

⁵⁴Nafisi, Be Ravayat, 645–9.

⁵⁵ Qiran: unit of currency in silver in Qajar Iran. Ten qirans equaled one tuman.

⁵⁶Muhammad Hadi Muhammadi and Zohra-yi Ghaeni, Tarikh-i Adabiyat Kudakan, 7 vols. (Tehran, 2001), 3: 43.

⁵⁷See Polak, Safarnama-yi Polak, 187–9. For an illustration of the maktab and bastinado see Afshar, Ganjina-yi ʿAksha-yi Iran, 317.

⁵⁸Ansari, Zindigani, 38.

⁵⁹ Guh Khurdan: extreme expression of repentance for some act or deed. Jamalzadeh, Sar Va Tah, 62–7.

⁶⁰Muhammad Taqi Ibn Muhammad Hadi Hakim, Ganj i Danish: Jughrafia yi Tarikhi yi Shahr i Iran, intro. Abd al Husayn Navai, ed. Muhammad Ali Suti and Jamshid Kianfar, Risala yi Tarbiyat: dar Qavaid-i Talim va Tarbiyat Atfal (Tehran, 1987), 28.

⁶¹Ibid., 23, 24. Ruznama-yi Fars, no. 812, 1289/1872.

⁶²See Taj al-Saltana, Ruznama-yi Khatirat, 21; and Mirza Mihdi Khan Mumtahin al-Dawla, Khatirat, ed. Husayn Quli Khan Shaqaqi (Tehran, 1983), 62–3.

⁶³Kasravi, Zindigani, 26–7.

⁶⁴George N. Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, 2 vols. (London: 1966, 1: 492.

⁶⁵Report by Consul Churchill on the Trade and Commerce of Ghilan for the year 1877, UK House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers (Sessional Papers), Accounts and Papers, ZHC 1/4115, p. 700.

⁶⁶Muhammad Hadi Muhammadi and Zohra-yi Ghaeni, Tarikh i Adabiyat Kudakan, 7 vols. (Tehran, 2001), 3: 256–7. See also editorial in Tarbiat, no. 29, 1315/1897, 113–14; and Muhammad Taqi Hakim, Risala-yi Tarbiyat.

⁶⁷Muhammad Taqi Hakim, Risala-yi Tarbiat, twenty-nine to thirty-five.

⁶⁸Rice, Persian Women, 129.

⁶⁹For a full discussion of these works see Muhammadi and Ghaeni, Tarik-i Adabiyat, 3: 238–401.

⁷⁰Abu al-Fazl Ibn Mubarak ‘Alami, ‘Ayar-i Danish (Kanpur, 1893); and Nigar-i Danish (Lucknow, 1902).

⁷¹Muhammad Ali Katuzian Tehrani, Akhlaq-i Asasi ya Muhazib-i Kalila va Damna, trans. Abu al-Ma'li Nasrulla Munshi (Tehran, 1329–32/1911–13).

⁷²Mahmud Miftah al-Mulk, Mathnavi-yi Atfal (Tehran, 1309/1891).

⁷³Mahmud Miftah al-Mulk, Tʿadib-Atfal, illus. Muhammd Naqash-i Isfahani (Tehran, 1293/1901).

⁷⁴‘Abd al-Rahim ibn Abu Talib Talibof, Safina-yi Talibi ya Kitab-i Ahmad (Istanbul, 1319/1901; reprint Tehran, 1356/1977).

⁷⁵Nafisi, Be Ravayat, 664–73.

⁷⁶Quchani, Siyahat, 7.

⁷⁷See Mustawfi, Sharh-i Zindigani, 1: 220; and Mahdavi, “Memento of a Life,” 115. The grammar of Mir was by Mir Sayyid ʿAli Sharif Jurjani Astarabadi (740–816/1339–1413). The Amsala Was a well-known language textbook for beginners. The Samadiyya or Hidaya was a treatise on syntax. The Hashiya of Mulla ʿAbdullah is probably a commentary on logic and theology by Mulla ʿAbdullah Yazdi on a work by Saʿd al-Din Taftazani (722–92/1322–89). Jalal al-Din Suyuti (849–911/1445–1505) was a famous fifteenth century scholar of the Mamluk period in Egypt. ʿAbd al-Rahman Jami (817–98/1414–92) was considered the last classical Persian Sufi poet. The Mutavval by Taftazani was on rhetoric. The Mughni was a standard work on Arabic grammar and syntax by Jamal al-Din Ibn Hisham (708–62/1308–60). The Alfiyya by Ibn Malik (601/1204-/673\1274) was on Arabic syntax.

⁷⁸Kasravi, Zindigani, 28.

⁷⁹Julien de Rochechouart, Souvenir d'un Voyage en Perse (Paris, 1867), 109–11, Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. “Education IV Madrasa,” by ʿAbbas Zaryab; Nafisi, Be Ravayat, 656–63.

⁸⁰Slavery in Iran was not a common phenomenon. Slaves were bought as status symbols by upper class families. They worked only as domestics and according to contemporary sources were well treated. Frequently they married, had children and were freed. Thomas Ricks, “Slaves and Slave Trading in Shi'i Iran 1500–1900,” Journal of African and Asian Studies 36, no. 4 (2001): 407–18; Mary Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (London, 1856), 243–5; Manucher Farmanfarmian, Blood and Oil: Memoirs of a Persian Prince (New York, 1997); Robert B.M. Binning, Journal of Two Years’ Travel in Persia, Ceylon, ETC, 2 vols. (London, 1857), 1: 272.

⁸¹Taj al-Saltana, Ruznama-yi Khatirat, 29, 74–5.

⁸²Letter from Haj Abu al-Qasim Malik al-Tujjar in Mashhad to his brother Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb in Tehran, dated 29 Muharram 1306/5 October 1888. Mahdavi Archives. Tehran, in Mahdavi, For God, Mammon and Country, 123.

⁸³F.A.C. Forbes-Leith, Checkmate: Fighting Tradition in Central Asia (New York, 1927), 153–4.

⁸⁴ Man: unit of weight approximately 3 kilograms. Quchani, Siyathat, 7–9.

⁸⁵C.C. Rice, Mary Bird in Persia (London, 1916), 108.

⁸⁶Muhammadi and Ghaeni, Tarikh, 23.

⁸⁷Rice, Persian Women, 133–4.

⁸⁸N. Malcolm, Children of Persia (Edinburgh and London, 1911), 76.

⁸⁹Rice, Mary Bird, 122–8; Pari Courtauld, A Persian Childhood (London, 1990). For a photograph of a child spinning see Zuka', Tarikh-i ʿAkasi, photograph no. 137.

⁹⁰Ella G. Sykes, Persia and its People (London, 1910), 64.

⁹¹Rice, Persian Women, 132.

⁹²Farmanfarmaian, Blood and Oil, 62; Encylopaedia Iranica, s.v. “‘Abd al-Husayn Farmanfarma,” by Cyrus Mir.

⁹³Haj Mirza Hassan Fasaʿi, Tarikh-i Farsnama-yi Nasiri, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1313/1895; reprint (Tehran, n.d.), 242 [published in English as History of Persia Under Qajar Rule, trans. Heribert Busse (New York and London, 1972), 73.

⁹⁴Amanat, Pivot, 34. Also Mahmud Mahmud, Tarikh Ravabit-i Siyas-yi Iran va Ingilis dar Qarn-i Nuzdah, 8 vols. (Tehran, 1974), 362.

⁹⁵‘Abbas Mirza Mulk Ara, Sharh-i Hal, ed. ʿAbd al-Husayn Nava'i (Tehran, 1946), 12, 18–19.

⁹⁶Mahdavi, For God, Mammon and Country, 100, 133.

⁹⁷For a description of the position of these boys see Bahram Afrasiyabi, ed., Shah-i Zulqarnayn va Khatirat-i Malijak (Tehran, 1989), 161. For a photograph of both ghulam-bacha and kaniz see Zuka’, Tarikh-i ʿAkasi, 27, which shows Muzaffar al-Din Mirza surrounded by both.