Motamed-al-Dowleh Gorji and Fars State

The Shiraz and Mamasani Conquest by Manoochehr Khan Motamed-al-Dowleh Gorji and his dominance over this land and the whole Fars State, from 1834 to1836 AD is one of the most important historical events in Fars and Iran during the Qajar dynasty. In his manuscript, ‘Madayih Al-Motamedieh’, written in his name to describe his political life, intentionally or unintentionally, the events that happened during these two years are briefly and practically distorted. Unfortunately, in other first-hand sources, only brief and repetitive references to this period have been made. This paper aims at explaining Shiraz and Mamasani Conquest by Manoochehr Khan Motamed-al-Dowleh and his political style in Fars based on first-hand sources. Moreover, this article also discusses the importance of why the state of Fars has been so important in the eyes of the Qajar government and has always been the center of discord and policy-making.

This paper is based on the memoir ‘Madayih Al-Motamedieh’, applying a personal historiographical method to describe the biography of a Qajar politic called Manoochehr Khan Motamed-al-Dowleh Gorji, written in 1843 AD. As the title shows, this memoir praises him; however, it is worth mentioning that Mirza Mohammad Ali Bahar, through his talent and subtlety in writing, has portrayed his personality and behavior. The main question in this paper is why a memoir, written to portray Motamed-al-Dowleh’s conquests, has only briefly mentioned Shiraz and Mamasani conquest even though this is one of his most important achievements. Surprisingly, other sources have ignored what has happened during these two years too. It seems that the conquest had been so disastrous that a memoir, which aimed at praising a governor, had to hide the facts. Other sources, however, need to be searched considering why they had refrained from mentioning these events. The author is Mirza Mohammad Ali Mazhab Isfahani, called Farhang/Bahar. In a long ‘introduction’, he explains the dominance of Motamed-al-Dowleh Gorji. Manoochehr Khan Gorji had a noble family in Georgia, Russia. He was captured in 1803 during the Iran-Russia wars and was taken to Tehran. It seems that he was castrated by the government and was sent as a slave to the king’s palace. This painful misfortune left a lifelong psychological effect on him. He used his culture and knowledge of some languages and political talent to find an important place in the palace. After Mirza Abdolvahab Nishat Isfahani died in 1829, Manoochehr Khan replaced him. During Fath-Ali Shah and Mohammad Shah, two Qajar kings, he became the governor of Fars.

This research is a library and contrastive analysis of first-hand sources to explain the subject of research according to the memoir ‘Madayih Al-Motamedieh.’ Different sources have mentioned the events very briefly. The authors of this study used the contrastive method to collect different parts like a puzzle from different sources to put forward a holistic picture of what had happened during those two years.

Motamed Al-Dowleh had authority over the affairs. According to many sources, he helped Mohammad Shah to strengthen his power over Tehran, Isfahan, and Fars. Later, Mohammad Mirza joined Motamed Al-Dowleh, the governor of Guilan to fight against other claimants. Georgians supported Mohammad Shah in all affairs. Motamed Al-Dowleh was sent to conquer Fars state in 1834. He then passed the doors of Fars and conquered the State in that year after three days. After a while, he attacked country people to get their property. It seems that most of these issues are not mentioned in the memoir, issues like the suicide of women in Fars. As it is observed in general histories, local sources, and other reports, the government of Manoochehr Khan on Fars state and nearby states had been a government of terror and horror. The tower that he made out of living human bodies of Fars was so horrendous, which is reflected in the itineraries of travelers. The reason behind this inhuman atrocity maybe for his ruthless personality. Even based on psychological studies, it is possible to find a type of suppressed anguish and anger resulted from his castration. Furthermore, Fars state was a wealthy state because of farming and trading, therefore the central government advised governors to use force to get high taxes from states’ heads, tradesmen. Then the central government played the role of a savior by dismissing the governor and confiscating the properties. This happened about Manoochehr Khan too. It is not strange why a memoir written about Motamed Al-Dowleh has ignored his inhumane atrocities. Based on documents, his two-year government on Fars was a government of deception. The researchers have to collect the parts of the puzzle form different texts to conclude what had happened to urban and rural societies during the Qajar was a dark, ruthless image.