Documents of Sardar is published

12/26/2020 13:47

Documents of Sardar is a collection of the documents related to Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan Sardar Qajar of Qazvin – patriotic commanders (sardārs) and friends of Abbas Mirzai Qajar. The documents are selected from the private collection of Engineer Homayoun Poursardar by the efforts of Enayatollah Majidi and Golnar Karimi and released by the CGIE press.

Documents of Sardar is a collection of the documents related to Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan Sardar Qajar of Qazvin – patriotic commanders (sardārs) and friends of Abbas Mirzai Qajar. The documents are selected from the private collection of Engineer Homayoun Poursardar by the efforts of Enayatollah Majidi and Golnar Karimi and released by the CGIE press.

The beginning of the Qajar reign and specifically the period of Iran-Russia wars, despite its significant importance in the history of Iran and the world, is not properly recognized yet. Studying various aspects of that era can explain Iran’s relations with major world powers and the country’s domestic circumstances. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before we can recognize the references and documents of that period appropriately. Aside from governmental and international documents, family documents are apparently substantial in our understanding of that era.

Documents of Sardar is selected from the private collection of Engineer Homayoun Poursardar, a member of an extensive patriotic family, who donated his valuable library to the Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia (Centre for Iranian and Islamic Studies). For many years, Mr. Poursardar enthusiastically has collected these documents, which will shed light on a part of the history of our country, and publishing them could be the least expression of gratitude to the person who donated his collection generously.

Hossein Khan Sardar Qajar of Qazvin and his brother Hassan Khan Sardar known as Sāru-aslān (yellow lion) were two patriots who fulfilled a significant role in the history of our homeland. These two brave commanders spent their lives together with Abbas Mirza Qajar in defense of Iran.

In some studies, the life and acts of Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan, Sardar Qajar of Qazvin, who are also known as “Sardar Irvani” due to their long stay in Yerevan (1219-1243 AH/1804-1828), has been intertwined with another family, who lived at the same time and had similar titles. But the political strategy and efforts of these two families to preserve the borders of Iran were drastically different. Mohammad Khan Ziad Oghli Qajar, another Sardar Irvani (died: 1255 AH/1839) and his son, Mohammad Hassan Khan Sardar Irvani or Khan Babakhan (died: 1271 AH/1855), unlike the aforementioned sardars, had ties to the Russians and encouraged them to occupy Yerevan.

The present documents shed light on the following subjects: First, the father of Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan, the Qajar Sardars of Qazvin, was undoubtedly Bahram (Bayram) Qoli Beig Qajar, not Mohammad Khan Qajar Irvani, the son of Hassan Ali Khan Qajar Ziadlu-ye Irvani. The second subject is the names of the offspring of the two families, which due to the mentioned mistake, has caused confusion in their biographies. The third is the endowments (mowqufāt) and charity works of the two families: Mowqufāt of Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan was limited to Qazvin, Yerevan, and Karbala; while the second family (Mohammad Khan and his son) are known for qanāt (aqueduct) of Sardar (Absardar), Sardar garden, and Sardar bath in Tehran. Finally, it was Mohammad Hassan Khan Sardar Irvani, the son of Mohammad Khan Irvani, who ruled over Kerman for a while, not Hassan Khan Sardar Qajar Qazvin, son of Bahram Qoli Beig.

It seems that Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan Sardar did not write their autobiographies, or at least such documents have not been obtained so far. However, some researchers, based on the sources of the Qajar era, described their lives and activities, such as Mohammad Ali Bamdad, Seyyed Mohammad Ali Golriz, Parviz Varjavand, Seyyed Mohammad Dabirsiyaghi, Taghi Afshari and Maryam Arjah.

Documents of Sardar includes 76 documents in 370 pages, released by the Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia press in 200 copies.

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