Reflection of Qajar European Developments in the Travelogues of Tahfa al-Alam and Meraat al-Ahwal

In the early days of the Qajar dynasty, several prominent religious figures traveled to British-occupied India for various reasons. The prevalence of many manifestations of modern Western civilization in India, which was provided by the presence of colonialists in this country, had made this country one of the important gateways for Iranians to get acquainted with the changed Europe. Mir Abdul Latif Shoushtari and Agha Ahmad Behbahani were two clerics who, through their presence in India and their relations with the British, wrote down what they saw and heard in the form of twoThe travelogue called Tahfa Al-Alam and Marat Al-Ahwal Jahan Nama also reacted to these developments. The present study intends to use the content analysis method to examine the extent of reflection of new aspects of Western civilization in the book "Gift" and the views and opinions of the authors of these two travelogues about these developments. The importance of this research stems from the critical moment of writing these travelogues and on the other hand because for the first time two Iranians have recorded the achievements of the emerging Western civilization for their compatriots, which could have been in the society of the time.D be the source of dramatic changes. The findings of the study indicate the fact that Shoushtari and Behbahani have provided valuable information about scientific progress and political and social developments in European countries and have praised these developments in various cases. In the meantime, Behbahani has tried in various ways to persuade the Qajar rulers to take on the positive aspects of Western civilization