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The Qara-Qoyunlu And The Qutb-Shahs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

THE historians1 who take the death of Jihan-shah's son Hasan 'All in 873/1468 as the end of the Qara-qoyunlu dynasty disregard the fact that for some time the descendants of Qara-Yusuf survived in Hamadan and in the beginning of the 16th century rose to new honours as the Qutb-shahs of Golconda. Under Indian skies they kept up their family traditions, and their court historians summed up afresh the history of the Qara-qoyunlu and restored the missing links in the genealogy of the kings of Golconda. These links form the special subject of the present article.

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Articles
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Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1955

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References

page 50 note 1 cf. Ghaffarl, BSOAS., xvi, 1954, 297

page 50 note 2 cf. Firishta, n, 320. Sir W. Haig's article in the E.I. is very brief and in the Cambridge History of India, m, he only occasionally refers to the dynasty.

page 51 note 1 Who should not be confused with his father Sultan Muhammad-juZj (989-1020/1581–1612).

page 51 note 2 Matla', 197, Habtb al-siyar, III/3, 179.

page 51 note 3 I found in it only three or four dates and at times the author writes: ‘In Sha'ban of the year so-and-so (fvlari)’.

page 52 note 1 An article (inaccessible to me) may be connected with this problem: Dr. Sayyid Azhar 'All, Qara-qoyunlu Turkman (in Urdu) in the Indian periodical Ruydad-i idara-yi ma'arif-i islamlya, Ijlas I, 1353/1933, pp. 369–402.

page 52 note 2 Firishta, II, 328–42, who himself acknowledges the incompleteness of his sources, says that Sultan-quli was a Baharlu Turk from the people (qaum) of Mir (*PIr) 'Ali Shakar, and although, according to some of Ms family, he was one of the grandchildren (ahfad) of the late (maqtul) Mirza Jihanshah, ‘the first version is nearer to the truth’. On Pir 'All Shakar see below, § 20. In any case it is claimed by the TQ that Sultan-quli was descended not from Jihanshah but from his elder brother Iskandar. Another tendency of Firishta (a Persian of Astarabad) is to underline the somewhat dependent character of the Qutb-shahs with regard to the Safavids (see below, p. 72).

page 52 note 3 Ba'di tatvil dasht ki an-ra ba-tarikh chanddn nisbati nabud.

page 52 note 4 See the samples quoted by Ch. Schefer in his Chrestomathie persane, II, 55–104.

page 52 note 5 Apart from some general likeness in expressions (see below, p. 59, note 1), the characteristic story of Qadi 'Imad's rule in Alinjaq (see below, §; 7) has a striking resemblance both in the Tarikh-i Turkmaniya and the ‘History of the Qutb-shahs’.See also p. 54, note 1.

page 53 note 1 The main body of its information on the fortunes of the Qutb-shahs in Deccan lies outside our purview.

page 53 note 2 See his reference to Uzun Hasan ‘sometimes styled Oozun Hussun, or Hussun the Red’, m, 339.

page 53 note 3 Long since Rieu, 225b, rightly stressed the general insufficiency and arbitrariness of his renderings.

page 53 note 3a See F. Sümer in Islam Ansiklopedisi.

page 53 note 4 The paragraphs are mine.—V.M.

page 53 note 5 For his story the author refers to Tarikh-i jihdn-gushay, whereas in fact he depends (directly or indirectly) on Rashid al-din's Jdmi' al-tavarikh, see Berezin's edition, n, 15–20 (Trudi Vost. Otd., v, 1858), cf. new Russian translation, 1952, I/l, 81.

page 53 note 6 See also below, §; 22

page 54 note 1 cf. also Tarihh-i Turhmaniya, fol. 24b, but it is usually taken that Bayram-khwaja was Qara-Muhammad's father. F. Siimer, in his article ‘Kara-Koyunlu’, in Islam Ansiklopedisi, thinks that Q.-Muhammad's second name was Toremish.

page 54 note 2 See Minorsky, ‘Uwais‘ in E.I. (1932).

page 54 note 3 Khwaja Marjan Uljaytu'i (a eunuch from Rum) revolted in Baghdad in 765/1364 and read the khutba for the ruler of Egypt. Despite this defection, in 769 Sultan Uvays reappointed him governor of Baghdad where he died in 774/1372, see 'A. 'Azzawi, Ta'rikh al-'Irdq, n (1936), pp. 110, 117.

page 54 note 4 In 766/1364 Sultan Uvays captured Baghdad from Murad, brother of Bayram-khwaja Qara-qoyunlu, and fought the latter in Mush, 'Azzawi, loc. cit., n, 114, 127.

page 54 note 5 Possibly: *Vostan in the S.E. corner of Lake Van.

page 54 note 6 This indicates the distribution of territories between the two chiefs.

page 54 note 7 Possibly the palace which Clavijo calls Tolbatgana, ed. Sreznevsky, St. Petersburg 1871, p. 170.

page 55 note 1 Sariq (‘yellow’) 'Adil of Sultaniya.

page 55 note 2 Sultan 'Ali, brother of Sultan Ahmad. He was killed in 785/1383. See al-'Azzawi, II, 171, who instead of Barik spells: Pir 'Ali Bav.k (Bawuk ? would sound Kurdish).

page 55 note 3 Shaykh 'Ali lost his life in 784/1382. In the following year the people of Baghdad asked 'Adil-agha of Sultaniya to send them a governor. The latter sent his cousin Tursun. Then Sultan Abmad moved to Baghdad and killed Tursun and his vazir Qavam Alinjaqi, see Habib al-siyar, in, 84

page 55 note 4 The date in the MSS. (Paris–750, Cambridge–795) is mistaken. It should be *789/1387. In the previous year Timur himself occupied Tabriz, see Zafar-ndma, I, 396. In the spring of 789/1387 he arrived in Barda' and heard of Tokhtamish's advance through Darband, loc. cit., i, 410. On the campaign against Qara-Muhammad, loc. cit., i, 417–20. In the beginning of 790/Jan., 1388, Timur returned to Samarqand to fight Tokhtamish (790–794), loc. cit., I, 447–557.

page 55 note 5 The inexact Moghul alternates in the text with the more correct Chaghatay

page 56 note 1 F. Siimer: killed in 1389 (Ibn-Hajar).

page 56 note 2 Zafar-ndma, I, 691–702 (summer of 796/1394). Avnik was situated half-way between Erzerum and Lake Van and was held by Misr even in 789/1387, when Timur had to content himself with plundering the neighbouring Qara-qoyunlu, Zafar-ndma, I, 418.

page 56 note 3 These details favourable to the Qara-qoyunlu are not in the Zafar-ndma.

page 56 note 4 ‘Which are described in larger histories.’

page 56 note 5 Zafar-ndma, n, 519.

page 57 note 1 loc. cit., II, 552: in 806/1403 the princes Rustam and Abu-Bakr with 3,000 men put to flight 10–15,000 Qara–qoyunlu.

page 57 note 2 Fleeing from Qara-Yusuf, Zafar-nama, II, 554.

page 57 note 3 ‘The terms of which are quoted in Matla' al-sa'dayn.’ This part of the book has not yet been published.

page 57 note 4 Thia unusual name occurs in the book of Dede Qorqud, ed. E. Rossi, 1952: Qara Budaq, p. 112, etc.

page 57 note 5 It is nowhere said that the town was Cairo. By quotations from Ibn-Iyas, Ibn-Hajar, and Maqrlzl, Huart, La fin de la dynastie des Ilekaniens, JA., Oct., 1876, 352, has shown that the place of imprisonment was Damascus. It is possible that by ‘the king of Egypt’ we have to understand the governor of Damascus, called Amir Shaykh. Sultan Ahmad left Damascus on 16 Dhul-Hijja 807/15 May 1405 (Maqrlzl).

page 58 note 1 ‘In Mafia' al-sa'dayn and in Rawjat al-safa.’

page 58 note 2 Dargazin, to the south of the Hamadan-Qazvin road was long known for its warlike population (darakazina) attached to the Sunna

page 58 note 3 Probably a Persian form for Mongolian dzaun-ghurban ‘the three of the left wing’, a tribe settled near Radkan, see Minorsky, ‘Tus’, in E.I.

page 58 note 4 Apparently in the Shahriyar canton (S.W. of the present day Tehran).

page 58 note 5 S.E. of Nakhchevan, see Minorsky, ‘Transcaucasica’, JA., July, 1930, pp. 91–8.

page 58 note 6 ‘For the reasons explained in the detailed histories.’

page 59 note 1 Ahl-i dakhl. In Tankh-i Turkmaniya the king of Egypt consults his arbab-i dakhl

page 59 note 2 The same story of the qadl is found in more detail in Tankh-i Turkmaniya, S. 156b–159a.

page 59 note 3 See Mafia', I, 198 (on 26 Jam. II 813/26 October, 1410).

page 59 note 4 East of Akhlai, on the northern shore of Lake Van.

page 60 note 1 The northern part of Tabriz.

page 60 note 2 On 28 Rabi' II 813/30 Aug., 1410, Matla' I, 195.

page 60 note 3 Probably a kariz.

page 60 note 4 See above, p. 59, on the siege of Sultanlya by the Sultan.

page 60 note 5 See BSOAS., xvi, 1954, p. 274.

page 60 note 6 Possibly Savur, i.e. the present day qada 'Auniya, Matla', I, 241, under 815/1412.

page 61 note 1 See Minorsky, ‘Shakki’ in E.I.

page 61 note 2 Konstantine I, brother of Giorgi VII and son of Bagrat V.

page 61 note 3 Matla', I, 242, on 12 Sha'ban 1415/25 November, 1412.

page 61 note 4 According to the Matla', I, 242, Q.Yüsuf set out on 12 Sha'ban 1415/25 November, 1412. He put to death Kustandil, his brothers, and 300 of his noblemen. The Georgian sources call the place of the encounter Chalaghan and give the date 1411. [Perhaps *Chaghan-naur.]

page 61 note 5 More probably the poll-tax.

page 62 note 1 Mafia', I, 410: 7 Dhul-qa'da 823. To the passages on the Qara-qoyunlu heresy quoted in BSOAS., xvi, 1954, p. 284, one can add the judgment passed on Qara-Yusuf by the Matla', i, 395 (after Hafiz-i Abru): it was reported to Shahrukh that Q.-Yusuf was fortifying various castles and that he ‘interfered (mukhtatt) with the established rules of the Shari'a, suspended and abased the pious institutions, and spent days and nights in impiety and licentiousness (fisq-vafujur)’. These accusations, however, do not hint at any special heresy.

page 62 note 2 Here the title is on the way to taking the later meaning of pasha.

page 62 note 3 The contemporary Armenian historian Thomas of Metsop' is an important source on this epoch. My analysis of his data will appear in the presentation volume to Prof. Muhammad Shafi', now being printed in Lahore.

page 62 note 4 ‘Whom henceforth we shall call Second Alexander,’ adds the author who gives to Qara-Yusuf the title of ‘famous amir’ (amir-i ndmdar). All the Safavid kings had also such postmortem titles.

page 62 note 5 The famous conqueror of Egypt. The reference is to the advice which he gave to Mu'awiya during the battle of SJffin (36/656).

page 63 note 1 The battle which took place at Yakhshi near Alashkerd on 1 Sha'ban 823/1 August, 1421, is described in detail in Matla/ I, 449–64.

page 63 note 2 Here this high title refers to some petty rulers. Under the Qajars ‘sultan’ meant only ‘a captain’.

page 63 note 3 The reference is to Malik Muhammad, son of 'Izz al-din of Hakkari and Van, see Sharafnama, i, 91. The title is taken hereditarily and possibly corresponds to the Kurdish *Yazdan-sher, which was the name of a Kurdish rebel about 1850.

page 63 note 4 Originally of Bitlis.

page 63 note 5 According to Lubb al-tavarikh, Or. 140, f. 62a, 'Izz al-din was executed in Ardabil in 828/1425 and in the same year Shams al-din was put to death (in Akhlat, Sharafnama, p. 380).

page 63 note 6 See above, p. 58, note 2.

page 63 note 7 On the battle of 18 Dhul-hijja 832/18 September, 1429, see the detailed report in Matla', 606–17. The text of the fath-ndma is found in appendix to Br. Mus. Or. 3587, pp. 171–3.

page 64 note 1 Son of Shahrukh who died in 848/1444. The name is said to be derived from Indian yogi (?).

page 64 note 2 See below on the connivance of the ruler of Sharvan with Iskandar's son Yar-'AII.

page 64 note 3 An Aq-qoyunlu allied to the Qara-qoyunlu?

page 64 note 4 Nil-i bi-vafa'i bar rukhsar-i i'tibar-i khud kashida. The author is constantly on the side of Iskandar, the ancestor of the Qutb-shahs.

page 64 note 5 ‘The pious and just king’ (khusrau-i ba-dln-u dad)

page 64 note 6 Some 40 kms. north of Tabriz.

page 64 note 7 F. Sumer: April, 1437.

page 65 note 1 This Yar-'Ali arrived in Herat in 836/1432 but was deported to Samarqand and later kept prisoner in the Neretu castle. In 1448 he escaped and seized Herat. He was captured and executedin 852/end of February, 1449. See Barthold, Ulugh-bek, 1918, pp. 125–8.

page 65 note 2 Perhaps this term is applied here loosely to some territory in Daghestan. On a similar use see the accounts of the northern raids of Shah Isma'il's ancestors.

page 65 note 3 Matla', p. 1029–32 (under 855/1451).

page 65 note 4 Mafia', p. 1039 (under 856/1452)

page 65 note 5 Matla', p. 1041

page 65 note 6 Not to be confused with Pir-Budaq, son of Qara-Yüsuf, who predeceased his father.

page 66 note 1 Matte', p. 1112.

page 66 note 2 Mafia', 1184: in the beginning of Safar 863/second week in Dec, 1458.

page 67 note 1 On Shah-Muhammad see BSOAS., xvi, 1954, p. 274. He was killed in Zohab. His killer Baba-Hajji, who had carved for himself a principality in Gavarud (Persian Kurdistan), is mentioned in the Matla', i, 257, as early as 816/1413, when he submitted to Qara-Yiisuf.

page 67 note 2 On Aspand see BSOAS., loc. cit.

page 67 note 3 Not to be confused with his uncle Aspand.

page 68 note 1 Math', p. 1073, mentions Alvand's prowess under 858/1454.

page 68 note 2 Mafia', p. 1117.

page 68 note 3 No Sa'dabad is known in the region of Hamadan. It is possible that we have here an auditive mistake for Asadabad, where the famous pass (to the west of Hamadan) is situated.

page 68 note 4 Alvand had another son, Allah-quli (see below, §; 21).

page 68 note 5 Reoccupation ?

page 69 note 1 Matla', p. 1320 (under 872).

page 69 note 2 Matla', p. 1331 (under 873). cf. BSOAS., loc. cit., 297.

page 69 note 3 See below, p. 70. It is likely that it was in honour of this amir that the region of Hamadan and Mt. Alvand bore the name of Qalam-rov-i 'All Shakar (see Khanikov's map in Zeit. d. Gesell. f.Erdkunde, 1872, vn, 78–9). [I strongly suspect the present-day Caragozlu (*Qara-gozlii) family, some of whose members own Bahar, of being related to the Qara-qoyunlu chiefs or amirs. My friend H. A. Caragozlu reminds me (22nd November, 1954) that in Adhar's anthology called Atash-lcada (second half of the 18th century) it is explained that Hamadan ‘for some time was in the possession of 'Ali-Shakar [sic] beg Baharlu Turkman and for this reason became known as his qalam-rov (a territory within someone's jurisdiction)’.

page 69 note 4 Under the Safavids, Rukn al-daula was the title of the principal ministers, see Minorsky, Tadhkirat al-muluk, 114, 116. What follows throws light on a very dark page in the history of the 15th century.

page 69 note 5 Mentioned in Matla', p. 1333 (under 873/1468), as a very handsome prince.

page 70 note 1 A short record of the events after Hasan 'Ali's death is found in the contemporary Math,', p. 1404–5. His blinded brother Yiisuf led some of the Qara-qoyunlu to Shiraz but was expelled by Uzun-Hasan. The son of another brother, Muhammadi, together with the children of Mir'Ali Shakar (see above) went to Kirman and thence arrived in Herat on 20 Jamada I 874/25 November, 1469. The author adds that Mir 'Ali was the maternal uncle (khal) of Muhammadi's son; consequently Muhammadi was married to his sister. [On the other hand Babur in his Memoirs, ed. A. Beveridge, fol. 28a, says that Pasha-begum was a daughter of 'Ali-Shakar beg, ‘one of the Turkman begs of the Baharlu oymagh of the Qara-qoyluq (federation)’. She was married first to Muhammadi-mirza, son of Jihanshah-mirza, BaranI of the Qara-qoyluq (federation). After Uzun-Hasan's victory the sons of 'Ali-Shakar, with 4–5,000 men, joined the Timurid Sultan Abii-Sa'Id. As the latter was defeated, they came ‘to these parts’ and Abu Sa'id's son Sultan-Mahmud married Pasha-begum. According to the Hablb al-siyar (Tehran), in, 251, the party of refugees, consisting of Yar 'Ali Turkman, Bayram, and the sons of Muhammad 'Ali-Shakar, with 1,000 men, included also MIrza Ibrahim b. Muhammadi. In Rajab 874/Nov. 1474 Uzun-Hasan sent an envoy to Herat to request their extradition but Sultan Husayn refused to surrender his guests.]

page 70 note 2 More probably on the night of 5/6 January, 1478.

page 71 note 1 Apparently using some other sources and traditions. See above after §; 20.

page 71 note 2 The whole story is in the first person as Sadr-i Jahan is supposed to have heard it (istima')from Sultan-quli (see f. 18a).

page 71 note 3 Hairat-i irshad-panahi 'arif-i ma'arif-i ilahl. The great Ni'matullah Vali died on 22 Rajab 834/5 April, 1431, see Mujmal-i Fasihi, Browne collection G8 (10), f. 508 (Murtada-yi mamalik-i Islam Nur al-Haqq wal-sharl'a wal-taqwa amir sayyid Ni'matullah), but here the reference is to ‘Ni'matullah II’. In addition to the sources quoted in BSOAS., xvi, 1954, 275, note 5, see also San'-allah Ni'matullahi, Sawaneh al-ayyam = SiUilat al-'drifin, Bombay, 1307, p. 46–8, who calls Jihan-shah's son-in-law: Na'Im al-din b. Habib al-din b. Burhan al-din b. Ni'matullah.

page 72 note 1 He died on 24 Dhul-Hijja 912/7 May, 1507 (Christ's, f. 35a). Here again Marghub al-qulub is quoted.

page 72 note 2 Similarly the Tdrlkh-i Turkmaniya (f. 139a) reports that according to the Deccan experts (Marghub al-qulub ?), Malik Sultan-quli, when he conquered all the fortresses and spread the Shi'a religion, boasted that the Duodeciman creed was not inaugurated by the Safavids, for his own family professed it even in the time of Qara-Muhammad and Qara-Yusuf before the rise of ‘the essence of the house of Prophecy and Sanctity Shah Isma'il Safavi al-Husayni’ (see, however, above, p. 62, note 1). On the contrary, Firishta, n, 329–330, 340, several times insists upon the fact that the Qutb-shahs recognized the religious leadership of the Safavids and that under Sultan-quli, Shah Isma'il's name was read in the khutba before his own name, as ‘the name of a descendant of his murshid’. The same practice was followed at the time of Shah 'Abbas (p. 330). Firishta ends his account with the mention of the first matrimonial link established between the Safavids and the Qutb-shahs (Shah 'Abbas on behalf of his son asked for the hand of a daughter of Muhammad-quli).