The Application of Imagery to Consolidating the Political and Religious Authority of States in Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy-i Juvaynī

Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy-i Juvaynī is a historical-literary work with technical prose. One of the features of this book is the use of imagery to express political concepts. The main question of this research is what role imagery plays in Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy to establish the political and religious authority of governments. Based on a descriptive-analytical framework, the analysis of imagery in Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy indicated that imagery was a tool for generating power discourse and for organizing specific political thoughts. The use of all kinds of imagery and expressive techniques in Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy was not only for the purpose of embellishing the speech and representing aesthetics, but it also served the purpose of persuading the audience and instilling political concepts in addition to reporting historical events. In his work, like other writers of prose texts, Juvaynī tried to use the persuasive and inductive functions of all kinds of imagery to political concepts such as the divinity of the source of power, the sovereignty of the sultans based on destiny, kingship, the requirements and duties of the king, absolute obedience to the sultan, the military power of the state, and suppression of enemies to instill the political and religious legitimacy of states, establish their authority, and justify their actions.