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

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student in Iranian history, Islamic course, Shiraz University

2 PhD student in Iranian history, Islamic course, Ferdowsi University

Abstract

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

Keywords

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

References

Behbahani, Agha Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Ali (1372). Meratalahal Jahannama, with introduction, correction and margins by Ali Davani, Tehran: Qibla Cultural Center.
Haeri, Abdul Hussein (1372). The first encounters of Iranian thinkers with two aspects of Western bourgeois civilization, Tehran: Amirkabir.
Shoushtari, Mir Abdul Latif (1363). The gift of the world and the following gift, by Samad Movahed, Tehran: Tahoori Library.
Kasravi, Ahmad (2536). Karvand Kasra (Collection of 78 treatises and speeches by Ahmad Kasravi: The article "Both a thief and a swindler"), by Yahya Zaka, Tehran: Pocket Books Company.
Mirza Abu Talib Khan (1373). Talebi Path (1213 - 1218 AH), by Hossein Khadiojam, third edition, Tehran: Scientific and Cultural.
Jafarian, Rasool (1373). "About Meratalahwal", Mirror of Research, No. 26, pp. 36-49.
Fakhr Razi, Muhammad ibn Umar (1418 AH). Product in the science of achievement, third edition, Beirut: Rasalah Institute.
Salwar, Sima (1393). "The Role of Iranian Indian Thinkers in the Thought of Modernity in Qajar Iran", Shebqareh (Academy Special Issue), No. 3, pp. 167-180.
Sepehri, Omid (1387). "A comparative-confrontational approach to the two travelogues of Meratalahwal Kermanshahi and Tahfa al-Alam Shoushtari", Ayneh Heritage, No. 40, pp. 320-343.
Sufi Niaraki Najafi, Taqi (1383). "Farang Report / A Look at the First Travelogues Written in Iran", Zamaneh, Year 3, No. 34, pp. 65-72.
Moradi, Massoud (1389). Mir Abdul Latif Shoushtari's Interactions with the British Government of India (Discussion on the Iranians' First Confrontations with the Colonial West), Historical Studies, New Volume, Second Year, First Issue (Fifth Consecutive), pp. 107-124.
________ (1388). "Interaction of Iranians and British in India after the collapse of the Safavids", History of Iran, No. 5/61, pp. 101 - 122.
10- Discourse of History
Volume 15, Issue 34 - Serial Number 34
Volume 15, Issue 34, Summer 2021
July 2021
Pages 55-75

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics