IRAN AND THE WORLD IN THE SAFAVID AGE
Abstracts

Szuppe, Dr. Maria, CNRS, Paris, Some Observations on the Musakhkhir al-bilad (ca. 1605/1014) by Muuammad-Yar Qataghan, a Rare Uzbek Chronicle of Sixteenth Century Transoxiana and Khurasan

The Musakhkhir al-bilad is a rare and largely under-exploited Uzbek chronicle written in Persian ca. 1014H./1605 by Muhammad-Yar b. 'Arab Qataghan.  This precious contemporary source on the sixteenth-century history of Central Asia and Eastern Iran (Khurasan) has been very rarely used in the historiography of the pre-modern period as well as in modern research, both in Soviet and in Western scholarship.

The text is a detailed dynastic chronicle of the Abu 'l-Khairid (Shaibanid) family of the Uzbeks (ca. end 15th c.- end 16th c.), which competed with the Safavids for the possession of the Khurasan province.  Although the source certainly belongs to the 16th century Khurasani historiographic tradition of Timurid, Safavid and Uzbek milieus, it contains much original information and it is more detailed on the Abu' l-Khairid dynastic history than all other Uzbek chronicles, both in Persian and in Chaghatay.

The chronicle, written for a Central Asian reader, adopts the Uzbek viewpoint of history, mostly aimed at consolidating dynastic legitimacy.  Its treatment of the rival Safavid power, seen as an outsider, is very characteristic.  The chronicle is not interested in describing the Safavid state, its birth, or its organization...  The Safavids are important in connection with the Khurasan conflict, and are treated in political and military terms through the action of individuals, not as a regime.  Three Safavid shahs only, each qualified simply as 'governor of Iraq' (vali-yi 'Iraq), are mentioned by their names: Isma'il I and Tahmasp I at the beginning of the century, and Abbas I at the end.

In these particular cases, when both powers were engaged in direct war, some rivayats of the Musakhkhir al-bilad differ from or complete other Uzbek and Safavid sources.  Especially, this is the case of the chapters concerning the alliance of Babur and Shah Isma'il I - one of the most enigmatic episodes of Safavid-Uzbek history.  More generally, the passages dealing with campaigns of the Safavids in Khurasan and Transoxiana, both under the early Shahs and under Shah Abbas I, are among the most valuable for their additional data.  They shed light, from the Uzbek viewpoint, on Safavid efforts to stay in control of the situation on the Khurasan border.  They reflect the methods used to achieve that goal: direct conquest, the establishment of allied rulers, interfering with internal conflicts among the Uzbek sultans...

The Musakhkhhir al-bilad reveals itself as an important complementary source issuing from the Central Asian political tradition.  It should be exploited together and confronted with other Uzbek and Safavid sources of the same period.  It completes the general picture of the Uzbek tribal state and its interaction with the neighbouring rival state on the Khurasan frontier: that of the Safavids.

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