Re-Examination of the Inscription and Construction Date of Agha Bozorg Mosque Portal

Inscribed historical works such as coins, seals, manuscripts, documents, various objects, tombstones and inscriptions are among the most significant and reliable sources of all nations’ culture and history. In the field of Iranian civilization in Islamic era, inscriptions and written sources have always been interesting for the rulers and public. Meanwhile, monuments have been the most important document for determining the architecture history and originality of a building while being exposed to destruction or elimination by conquerors or opponents to the same extent. These valuable research sources are seriously in danger due to several ecological and preserving causes; therefore, it is likely that these sources be destroyed and future generations would not have access to them if they do not be documented. On the other hand, they must be read accurately since misreading may result in incorrect information acquisition. The main issue of this research is text investigation and reviewing the inscription of Agha Bozorg mosque portal in Kashan which was visited in Shahrivar, 1397SH (Sep.2018). Agha Bozorg mosque and school located in the historic area of Kashan, is adjacent to Khajeh Taj Al-Din tomb in a district of the same name, in Agha Bozorg street branched off Fazel Naraghi street. This school mosque is attributed to Mollah Mahdi Naraghi known as Agha Bozorg, one of the great philosophers of Kashan and was built in Mohamad-Shah Qajar era. Haj Mohamad-Taghi Khanban was the founder of this complex who constructed its mosque for public prayer and as a venue for holding debate and training sessions of his son-in-law Mollah Mahdi Naraghi. The project of building the mosque started in 1256AH (1840AD) and finished 8 years later in 1264AH (1848AD) during the early years of Naser Al-Din Shah Qajar’s reign. The dates 1263, 1264, 1268AH (1847, 1848, 1852AD) mentioned on the inscriptions of the dado, the nave (shabistan) platform, the interior space of the nave under the dome, the altar and the portal relate to the time its decoration process ended. Agha Bozorg mosque is one of the monuments with many inscriptions. The text inscribed over the portal is a 24-distich ode written with beautiful white Nastaliq handwriting on an azure tile background. The king’s name of that time (Naser Al-Din Shah), the chronogram, the poet’s nick name (Hasrat), signature (calligrapher = Hosein), the founder’s name Mohamad-Taghi and Mollah Mahdi Naraghi known as Agha Bozorg have been written on this inscription. Its text and the issue if it was read correctly are investigated here. Hasan Naraghi’s book is one of the most important books written about Kashan and its counties. He has tried to mention all inscriptions of the investigated buildings but lack of their photos in this book has made it really difficult to compare what was read by the writer to the original inscription. Through library studies and referring to Naraghi’s book, it is perceived that some distiches of the ode, inscribed on 3 sides of the portal have not been read correctly. Inscriptions are seen as the most significant document of architecture history as well as means of determining the originality of a monument. Hence, through some field studies, the writer concluded that 10 mistakes were made in reading the inscription chronogram of Agha Bozorg mosque portal while writing “The monuments of Kashan and Natanz” book. Some dates have also been read incorrectly. Such mistakes have been corrected in this research according to some field studies and through entering the inscriptions photos into this paper.