خواجه

This article tries to explain the function and dysfunctions of eunuchs in the Qajar court. The author has analyzed the current issue based on the theory of functionalism and dysfunctionalism and based on this, the main question of the article is, what are the functions and dysfunctions of the eunuchs in the Qajar court? Based on the theory of functionalism, the article puts forward the hypothesis that the most important function of the eunuchs was to establish order in the harem. Some other functions of the eunuchs include regulating the sexual relations of the Qajar kings and escorting the women of the harem in "Bironi". But in the case of dysfunctions, we are faced with emotional relationships of eunuchs and sometimes marriages and even illicit relationships with other men. The results of this article confirm that until the end of the Nasrid period, eunuchs often played their role well and order was established in the harem. but from the end of the Nasrid era to the end of the Qajar dynasty, due to the malfunctions of the political system and the malfunctions of the eunuchs, there was a disturbance in the establishment of internal order. We are witnessing disobedience by the women of the harem, which was a symptom of a new period in Iran's history, and with the establishment of the new constitutional order, the old internal order was disrupted,.

This article examines cultural attitudes on race and African slavery in late Qajar chronicles prior to abolition in 1929. In contrast to previous scholarship, Qajar textual sources reveal that elite cultural attitudes were relevant in structuring the social conditions of enslavement in Iran. Visual depictions and narratives about African eunuchs and concubines naturalized the violent acquisition and use of the Other. Slave narratives also bear witness to how such views of African corporeality determined the social worth of eunuchs and concubines in the domestic sphere.

Eunuchs have played numerous roles in the political structure of Eastern rulers since ancient times.Their existential necessity in the political structure was, in principle, derived from the needs and of a part of the political system. The harem was a place where only numerous women and female slaves of kings lived there. Now to organize the internal affairs of the harem, as well as the relations of the king and every other person and with the harem women, they had hired eunuchs. The fundamental question of the present article is how can eunuchs be defined sexually? Did the eunuchs define themselves as a man or not on the contrary, they considered women themselves to be able to have a proper relationship with women in harem. The research hypothesis is that Eunuch cannot be regarded as necessarily male or female ,rather it is about the third sex that possess some biological biological traits on the one hand and some biological and sexual feminine traits on the other. According to the study, it became clear some of these male children are castrated as a child and so they lose one of the most important biological characteristics of the male and others that were eunuchs naturally and congenital. Physically and morphologically some organs eunuchs such as facial shape, lack of beard and sebaceous limbs gave them a feminine appearance. The third sex theory introductory presented in this paper,it involves the idea that eunuchs are an example of androgyny, not the word yung that is about combining the mental states of men and women in the same sex, Rather, they are an example of the male and female hybrids at the physical level.

During the Qajar era in Iran, servants found abundantly in the houses of the wealthy, were the kanīzān, ghulāmān and eunuchs. There were African ghulāman and kanīzan who were traded via the Persian Gulf. The white servants of various ethnicites were bought or captured during wars and invasions. Often any behaviour towards these groups were admitted by all and accepted in the society. Kanīzān entered the harem either as concubines and legitimated wives or as servants of the wives of the grandees. Ghulāmān were also used in different fields of military, domestic works, guards, agricultures, irrigators, fishermen and divers in the south. Able and experienced servants could reach high official and military positions. This research aims to examine the state of slaves (kanīzān, ghulāmān and Eunuchs) during the Qajar era through several discourses: provision centers, population, treatment of slaves, their responsibilities and the ways of behaving towards them.