Khvandamir

Khvandamir
Manuscript of Khvandamir's Habib al-Siyar. Copy made in Safavid Iran, dated 17th-century
Born	1475/6 Herat, Khurasan, Timurid Empire
Died	1535/6 (aged 59–60) Delhi, Mughal India
Occupation	Historian
Notable works	Habib al-Siyar Qanun-i Humayuni
Relatives	Mirkhvand (grandfather) Humam al-Din Muhammad (father) Amir Mahmud (son) Abdallah Khan (son)

Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, commonly known as Khvandamir (also spelled Khwandamir; 1475/6 – 1535/6) was a Persian historian who was active in the Timurid, Safavid and Mughal empires. He is principally known for his Persian universal history, the Habib al-Siyar ("The beloved of careers"), which was regarded as the first official court account by both the Safavids and Mughals.

Another notable work by Khvandamir is the Qanun-i Humayuni ("The regulations of Humayun"), a biography of the Mughal emperor Humayun (r. 1530–1540, 1555–1556), which has important information regarding the early Mughal symbolism of rulership.

Khvandamir is buried near the shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya (died 1325) in Delhi, India.

Background

Khvandamir was the son of Humam al-Din Muhammad, who was the vizier of Sultan Mahmud Mirza (r. 1494–1495), the ruler of the northern Timurid branch in Transoxiana. However, Khvandamir's family lived in Herat, the capital of the southern Timurids. Khvandamir was tutored by his maternal grandfather Mirkhvand (died 1498), which played a major role in his career as a historian. Furthermore, Khvandamir also inherited the patronage networks of his grandfather. Mirkhvand was one of the most prominent historians during the reign of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (r. 1469–1506), well-known for his universal history, the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ ("The garden of purity"), which he wrote under the patronage of the high-ranking functionary Ali-Shir Nava'i (died 1501). Khvandamir likewise wrote under the patronage of Nava'i, dedicating his first works to him, the first one being the Maʾāthir al-mulūk ("Memorials of the kings"), a compilation of sayings ascribed to pre-Islamic and Islamic sages and rulers; and the second being the Khulāṣat al-akhbār fī bayān aḥvāl al-akhyār ("Summary reports on the affairs of those gone by"), a concise version of the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ. After Nava'i's death in 1501, Khvandamir wrote a praiseful biography of the latter, the Makārim al-akhlāq ("Laudable virtues"). Khvandamir also completed volume seven and epilogue of the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ, which had been left incomplete after Mirkhvand's death in 1498.

Career

Under the Timurids

In the subsequent years, Khvandamir worked as a munshi (secretary) and diplomat under Sultan Husayn Bayqara's oldest son and heir Badi' al-Zaman Mirza (died 1514), under whom he composed the Dastūr al-vuzarāʾ ("Exemplary viziers"), a biography list of pre-Islamic and Islamic viziers. Following the co-succession of Badi al-Zaman and his brother Muzaffar Husayn to the throne in 1506, Khvandamir was installed as one of the two sadrs (head of religious fundings) of the entire kingdom. Khvandamir retained his position following conquest of Herat by the Uzbek leader Muhammad Shaybani (died 1510), which led to the fall of the Timurids. However, he found himself unemployed following the conquest of Herat by the Safavid shah (king) Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) in 1510. This was most likely due to religio-political reasons, as Khvandamir was a Sunni Muslim, whereas the Safavids were zealous Shia Muslims. Khvandamir soon left for the neighbouring region of Gharjistan, where he briefly served Badi al-Zaman's son Muhammad Zaman Mirza (died 1540), who unsuccessfully attempted to establish his rule in the area.

Under the Safavids

In 1521, Khvandamir started writing his universal history Habib al-Siyar for the Safavid sadr Amir Ghiyas al-Din Mohammad ibn Amir Yusuf Hosseini, seemingly in order to revitalize his career in Herat. The latter, however, was executed the same by the governor of the city, Amir Khan Mawsillu (died 1522). Durmish Khan Shamlu (died 1526) was soon made the new governor of Herat, whose vizier Karim al-Din Khvaja Habiballah Savaji became the new patron of Khvandamir.

Khvandamir was a historian, scholar, and poet, who, like his grandfather Mirkhvand, belonged to the Herat literary circle of Timurid vizier Mir Ali-Shir Navai. In around 1506, he was appointed comptroller for Sultan Husayn Badi al-Zaman, co-ruler of Herat. Herat was captured by Ismail I in around 1510, and during that period, Khvandamir recorded the rise of Safavid dynasty. In 1527, the Mughal conqueror Babur invited Khvandamir to India, where he lived and died. Khvandamir edited and completed 7th and 8th volumes of the general history composed by his grandfather, and around 1500 composed an extract from it "Holaset el-ehbar". Following the same pattern, in 1521 he composed for Ali-Shir Navai a three-volume general history entitled Habib al-Siyar, which means "Beloved of Careers", and which he dedicated to his patron, Ismail I. Another notable work was "Al-Destour Voser". In the European languages, other works of Khvandamir were not published.

Sources

• Bockholt, Philip (2020a). "Khvāndamīr". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
• Bockholt, Philip (2020b). "Mīrkhvānd". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
• Manz, Beatrice Forbes (2007). Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46284-6.
• Manz, Beatrice Forbes (2014). "ʿAbd al-Razzāq Samarqandī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
• Melville, Charles (2020). The Timurid Century: The Idea of Iran Vol.9. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1838606886.
• Newman, Andrew J. (2008). Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–296. ISBN 978-0857716613. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pollock, Sheldon (2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520228214.
• Quinn, Sholeh A. (2020). Persian Historiography Across Empires: The Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108842211.
• Roemer, H. R. (1986). "The successors of Tīmūr". In Lockhart, Laurence; Jackson, Peter (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20094-6.
• Spuler, Bertold (2003). Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India, and Early Ottoman Turkey. Pustaka Nasional Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-9971774882.