تاریخ نگری و تاریخ نگاری (Nov 2013)
A Study of the Representation of Kiyanid Aspect in the Historiography and Epic Poetry of Ilkhanid Era
Abstract
One important consequence of the Mongol invasion and then the establishment of the Ilkhanid dynasty in Iran has been the growth and expansion of historiography, as well as the emergence of new trends in Iranian Historical Perspective. In this era, some Iranian historians, while taking the Mongol world conquest and the formation of Iranian historical epics into account, sought to revive and relate the most heroic period of the Iranian narrative tradition, Kiyanid period, while wittingly and knowingly projecting it onto the situation of the Ilkhanid state. In the present study, using a descriptive-analytical method and based on the interpretation of the textural sources and references, three stages in Iranian intellectuals’ endeavor to re-create and reflect the Kiyanid spirit in the Ilkhanid period have been investigated. In this context, the most important events, resources, and historical subjectivity associated with each stage have been evaluated. The first stage includes the historians’ interpretation of Mongol invasion as the realization of Turanian occupation, where Sultan Jalal Ald-Din KhwarazmShah is representative of Kiyanid heroes at the battle against Turanian invaders. The second stage is to comparison the Ilkhanid Sultan into the Kiyanid and to associate the Jaghatai dynasty with the Turanian, where the historians tended to emphasize the Ilkhanid external fights as a defense of the Iran boundaries. In this stage, Abaqa Khan due to his long-time wars against the eastern and western enemies was assumed to be a Kiyanid figure, ascending to the Kay Khusrau position. The third stage encompasses the converted Muslim Ilkhanid kings, from Ghazan to Abu Sa'id, where Iranian scholars assimilated the contemporary events and the undertakings of the Ilkhanid kings, and especially those of Ghazan, as in line with the Kiyanid paradigm through the composition of historical epics. Historical epics such as Zafar Nameh (by Hamdollah Mostowfi) and Ghazan Nameh (by Noori Azhdari) are two distinguished examples of recounting Kiyanid aspect in this period of Mongol history. Furthermore, through intensive study of Shahnameh and its various transcriptions, Iranian artists, writers, and administrators undertook an unprecedented task to revive old Iranian narratives and to represent a heroic depiction of the Ilkhanid rulers as defending the country against foreign enemies. Some examples, thus, include Hamdollah Mostowfi’s version of Shahnameh, as well as Zafarnameh, Great Mongol Book of Kings, and various imitations of Shahnameh produced in the court of the Ilkhanid and that of the Inju Dynasty in the Province of Fars.
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