The place and importance of Monsha'at in historiography; Relying on the Monsha'at and Tarassul of Moinuddin-Mohammed Zamji-Esfazari

Abstract

Monsha'at as one of the historical documentary sources has valuable content on various aspects of Iranian society. As it goes from the previous centuries to the later centuries, Monsha'at has gained importance and a high position among the Literati and Historians. Unfortunately, historians have paid little attention to them due to reasons such as their lack of widespread publication, the difficulty of their handwriting, the belief in the grand narrative of the superiority of their educational aspect, etc. Monsha'at research has not been seriously considered so far. This article, using the approach of Monsha'at research with the method of thematic analysis, aims to show the place and importance of Monsha'at and Tarassul of Moinuddin Mohammad Zamji-Esfazari, one of the 9th century actuaries (monshi) at the court of Sultan Hossein Bayqara. The calligrapher's position has led to his creations being diverse and unique in terms of letters and content. He has created a new type of historical documentation by combining the text script (Tarasul) and the epistle(Rogea) with the Mushat script, which is unprecedented in the eyes of his predecessors. By incorporating Sultani, Diwani and Ikhwani documents, Zamji-Esfazari's work has taken a step from the educational approach to creating a documentary text with minimal omissions.

Keywords

• timurid period
• documentary sources
• monsha'at
• tarassul
• zamji esfazari