The British Museum Mīrzānāma and the Seventeenth Century Mīrzā in India

British Institute of Persian Studies

The British Museum Mīrzānāma and the Seventeenth Century Mīrzā in IndiaAuthor(s): Aziz AhmadSource: Iran, Vol. 13 (1975), pp. 99-110Published by: British Institute of Persian StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4300528 .

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THE BRITISH MUSEUM MIRZANAMA AND THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MIRZA IN INDIA1

By Aziz Ahmad

I

The British Museum Persian MS. Add. I6, 817, which is a collection of nine treatises and collections of letters, contains in its folios 89b to 95b, a manual of manners called Mirz~ndma by an anonymous author. The MS. was written in Shikasta-dmin c. I 152/1739;2 but the treatise itself was almost certainly written a few decades earlier. This is borne out by the date of completion given as I o070/66O

in the only other known copy of this Mirzdndma, one in the library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.3

These are two of the three manuscripts noted by D. N. Marshall4 under the title Mirzdndma; but the third of these is quite a different work, the title of which bears the name of its author as one Mirza Kamran, not to be confused with BTbur's son. It was found in the private collection of Muhammad Mahmiid of Chakdah in the Nadia district of Bengal by M. Hidayat IHusayn and published with an English translation by him in The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1913.5 The date of the composition of Mirzi Kdmrin's work has been suggested by Hidayat Husayn as c. I o 17/1608, which is the date on which Mirzi Rtfi' Shirazi, the author of the Tadhkirat al-mulak, began work on that book. This date seems erroneous, judging by the internal evidence of a comparison of the contents and style of B.M./ A.S.B. anonymous6 Mirzdndma and Mirzd Kimrdn's Mirzdndma. Compared to the former, the latter shows a great deal of vulgarization in theme as a manual of manners, as well as in its style, which is comparatively more demotic and inferior. The date suggested for the composition of Mirzi Kamrin's work by Hidayat IHusayn rests solely on his assumption that the Mirza Rafi' Shirazi mentioned by Mirzi Kdmrdn as his contemporary is the same person as the author of Tadhkirat al-mulak;7 which is doubtful. Mirzi Rdfi' was a common name; and two persons of that name from Shiraz could have made India their home at different times.

Both the Mirzdndmas, that of the B.M./A.S.B. manuscripts and that of Kimran, define themselves as manuals8 of the criteria and conduct for the gentleman who called himself a mirza in the seventeenth century; this person will be studied in some detail in the latter part of this article. In both cases, their authors alleged that they are writing their treatise because a number of pseudo-mirzds have assumed the title mirzd without adhering to the standard of requisites, qualities and accomplishments required of a true mirzd; but whereas the B.M./A.S.B. Mirzandma lays down the necessary guidelines for a mirzd in a general sequential order, Kamran's Mirzdndma reduces them to the mathematical exactitude of ten usal (principles) and sixty- four fura' (minutiae), borrowing these terms from Islamic jurisprudence.

x I am grateful to the Trustees of the British Museum for their permission to publish the facsimiles of the Mirzdndma. My warm thanks are due to my colleague, Professor G. M. Wickens, for his useful comments in tracing the etymology and history of the term mfrza and on my synoptical translation of the work.

2 Charles Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum (Oxford, 1866), II, p. 826 a-b.

a W. Ivanow, A Concise Descriptive Catalogue of the Persian Manu- scripts in the Collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta, 1924), p. 926.

'4 D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India, a Bibliographical Survey I, Manuscripts (London/Bombay, 1967), p. 241.

SMawlavi M. Hidayat Husain, " The Mirz1 Ndmih (The

Book of Perfect Gentleman) of MirzI K~mrin with an English Translation ", Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, New Series, IX (1913), 1-13.

6 While Marshall notes the BM/ASB Mirzandma as the work of an anonymous writer (op. cit., p. 241), on p. 326 he erroneously lists it as the work of Muhammad Khalil. The confusion seems to be due to the fact that in the BM Pers. MSS. Add. 16, 8x9, Muhammad Khalil's Inshd' follows the anonymous Mfrzdndma. The ornate style of Mulhammad Khalil's letters is very different from the matter-of-fact prose of the Mirzdndma, and the two works could hardly be by the same author.

' JASB, pp. 1-2. 8 BM, Add. 16,819, f. 89b; JASB, pp. 8-9.

99



100 JOURNAL OF PERSIAN STUDIES

II

The following is a synoptical translation of the B.M. Mirzdndma: [F.89b] This Mirzd Ndma is planned as a manual which would serve as a test to distinguish between

the " true " and the " false " mirzd, as well as to distinguish mirzds from non-mirzds; so that those people of" irregular gait " and " cancerous temperament " who claim to be mirzds should forego their baseless claim.

Mirzd-hood is tied to certain conditions, without the fulfilling of which one cannot be called a mirzd. The first of these conditions is a pure and well-known pedigree. The second is that in the eyes of the people a mirzd should have a position of dignity. Therefore, in the third place, he should have a mansab9 commanding at least one thousand dhdt and one thousand horses. The mirza- should be able to meet the expenses expected of his position. If he is not a mansabddr, he should be an affluent merchant. These are the three basic requirements of mirzd-hood. If one is born to this much economic fortune, one should not be greedy for more. The fortunate one who has the necessary means should set out in the path of becoming a mirzd with wisdom; and he should carefully observe the rules set forth below in this manual. In short, one should start being a mirzd with a mansab of a thousand, or the capital of Io,ooo tamdn, without which the title is meaningless. On the other hand, a non-mirza, whether he holds a minor rank or is a mansabddr with five thousand horse, is mean and worldly, if he does not possess the character and temperament of a mirzd. The purity of soul and uniqueness of attributes distinguish a mirzd, whose actions are wholesome, who is pure in outward appearance and virtuous in habits. All his qualities are as elegant as his appearance; on his stature his dress looks becoming; his disposition draws others to him; in generosity he is ahead of others so that his expenses sometimes exceed his income.

[F.90oa] If a mirzd has enough for his status, he should be grateful for it more than for being a commander of seven thousand (haft-hazdri), because service and subordination is degrading for a mirzd.10 He should not be beguiled by the attraction of the greater mansabs and the multitude of horsemen and foot-soldiers in the service of great nobles."1 The lesser the headache of high status, the better. There are among the mirzds some descendants of the nobles12 who hold lower mansabs and are not affluent, who are by the richness of their own temperaments attracted to mirzd-hood; their plight deserves com- passion. When one lacks personal affluence, if one has inherited some money or property from one's father, one should not spend it or dispose of it, as such money or property is unblessed and soon comes to an end. Some others hang on to the status of mirzd-hood by virtue of being the foster-brothers of a king, a noble or a khdn; they are like calves intoxicated with milk, though their milk is diluted with water; their position is one of insecurity and dependence on the fortunes of those to whom they are related. Others who claim to be mirzds are administrative officers who spend on themselves what does not belong to them, and who will have to face the consequences one day. Other aspirants to the title of mirzd are people who have accumulated some wealth and are in quest of digging more of it out of the earth; their mirzd-hood can have no durability; because for the love of money, the father disinherits the son, or the son kills the father and wastes the wealth in a few days.

The real mirzd-hood is a very different thing altogether. It is not merely pinning flowers to one's headgear or wearing a greenish or semi-greenish turban and strolling through a garden. [F.9ob] It is rather to inhale and imbibe the fragrance of the flower.

A mirzd should spend some of his time at day and night in the study of ethics. He should not be ignorant of the questions offiqh (jurisprudence) or oblivious of the study of Qur'gnic exegesis; for an irreligious mirzd is even more insignificant in the eyes of the accomplished ones than an impecunious mirzd. He should also study works of history. He should memorize the rules of prosody and rhyme, so

9 An office in the Mughal bureaucracy or army. For the early organization of the institution see Abfi'l-Fadl 'Allfmi, A'kn-i Akbarf I, tr. by H. Blochmann (Calcutta, 1939), PP. 241-3, 247-9, followed by Blochmann's useful notes, pp. 249-59.

10 There is an obvious contradiction here. The commander of I,ooo, the status recommended for a mirzd, was much more subordinate in the Mughal official hierarchy than that of a commander of 7,000, who was subordinate only to the emperor,

though responsible to the wakfl or wazfr in administrative and revenue matters.

1x The mfrzd of the manual is thus a " middle class " gentleman distinguished from the higher nobility, a few members of which also bore the title mirzd.

1' Mansabs and landholdings (jdgfrs) were not hereditary under the Mughals.



SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MIRZA IN INDIA 101

that he may not be incapable of understanding poetry, which is a great accomplishment. He should try to read collections of epistolography and to express himself with coherence; he should know correct orthography. He should strive in learning the science of etiquette. Keeping in view the manuals for the training of falcons and horses, he should be an expert in judging horses and the good and bad points of falcons.

He should use the shikasta (broken script) for worldly purposes and the naskh script for copying the Qur'an and other religious writings; and he should spend some hours in this occupation. He should not be inclined towards writing the nasta'liq script, which is pointless and a script of low category.

When talking, he should not speak at length; he should be brief and concise. If someone else speaks to him at length, and he has to listen to him, then he should only outwardly be attentive, but inwardly he should occupy his mind with something better, so as not to let time be wasted.

He should learn to recognize the qualities of swords, and acquire the science of archery. He should not be all that inclined to use a matchlock musket, so that the unpleasant smell of its fuse may not reach his nose. Of all the sports he should prefer playing chawgdn (polo). He should urge his horse forward. A soldierly mirzd is better than an unsoldierly one. He should be not inclined to enjoy (merely?) watching marksmanship. On the day of battle he should not choose the ignominy of running away; at the time of action he should remain firm like a soldier, even though he be killed. One who claims to be a mirzd welcomes such a death; for an honourable death is better than a dishonourable life. He should not dance attendance at the houses of great men, since this is undignified.

He should know the requirements of musical recital, so that he does not sing automatically in every gathering or assembly. Perfection in the art of music is very difficult to achieve; and if he sings badly, his listeners will be disgusted. This noble science (of music) was formerly held in great esteem; now, with the passage of time, it has declined. If he decides to listen to musical songs or instrumental music to dispel the oppression of his spirits, the singers [F.9 Ia] and musicians should sing and play in plaintive tunes. For his musical assemblies, held at day or night, he should choose the qdnan, chang, dd'ira and tanbar as musical instruments. Of the Indian musical instruments, he should prefer the rubdb and bin. He should regard pakhdvaj as the musical mode appropriate for festivities and weddings; and he should not favour the use of the dholki (a kind of drum) and the khanjari, which are musical instruments more suited to the assemblies of widows. Of the Indian musical modes, he should listen to and understand, the dhurpad of Tinsan and Nd'ik Bakhshwar. If he likes the khaydl, he should appreciate the compositions of Amir Khusraw and other moving compositions in his style. He should abstain from listening to the khaydl of Shaykh ShEr Muhammad Hindi, and the tappa of Shaykh IHusayn Faqir and the chutkula of

Shih .Husayn

Jawnptiri, which though perfect works of art, can be sung well by very few singers; also, because of unjustified interpolations, they are not what they used to be. The same can be said about the

Khayribidi Khaydl and other such compositions. He should rather avoid the company of those who enjoy listening to the Khayrdbddi Khaydl and chutkula and dholak and khanjari; for such people are shallow and ignorant and lack dignity. He should avoid the shows of bhdnds and jesters, but he should well enjoy the performances of the bhaya who realistically satirize all sorts of people. If one wants to learn about one's own faults, one should once in a while sit in one's own ambush. Knowledge and understanding of music is a great art; but the mirzd must confine himself only to the knowledge of the harmony and musical tones, words and their meanings, which cannot be regarded as disgraceful. He should under no circum- stances indulge himself in singing, but leave this rather to the professional musicians. Singing can lead to dancing, and that necessarily to other disgraceful and ignominious actions. He should totally abstain from giving a chance to his male friends and companions to listen to the singing of his private concubines; otherwise, it will amount to pandering, and may lead to a great deal of mischief.

If he has the bad habit of consuming alcohol, and cannot get rid of it by any other alternative medi- cine, he should indulge in it wisely. As far as possible he should drink at home, and in the company of his private sweethearts. If he happens to be in the company of other friends and acquaintances, and has to be considerate to them, he should not join in the circulation of the bottle, but rather keep his own bottle separate. The wine he drinks should be perfumed. He should consider the wine which upsets the stomach as undesirable as tobacco with a bad smell. He should not drink daily [F.9Ib], as it is the habit of the rabble of the market-place. He should drink when the sky is cloudy in spring [monsoon] time

10




and when it is drizzling; he should not expose the daughter of the vine to the sun. He should regard a bearded cupbearer better than an unbearded, handsome cupbearer; he should rather place the bottle and the cup in front of each one of his guests separately, so that everyone may be his own cupbearer. He should let everyone drink according to his own choice and should not drink according to the urging of another, for this can lead to evil; and someone may not like to have more of that food and drink. He should not praise his own wine, as this has an odour of self-praise. He should adorn his drinking feast with a gold-embroidered table-cloth, pleasing glass bottles and cups, jewel-studded jugs and golden goblets, as much as he can afford. He should not eat kabdb as a savoury with wine as the gluttons do; it besmears the hand. If he does not like quince and pomegranate as relish, he should eat salted pistachios and similar things (with his wine). Plain wine looks transparent in a glass, bottle or jug.

He should always provide perfumes in his parties; and try to keep his party fragrant with them. All sorts of vases full of flowers in every season should be on view. Without them, he should consider the luxury of living as forbidden. He should keep his feast colourful; so that whoever departs from it may feel that he has been to the feast of a mirzd; that is to say, he should depart bearing the fragrant smell of scent and flower After smoking the tobacco from a pipe, and after the perfumes have been served in the party and he has listened to some music, he should rise, making the excuse that it is time to go to bed; and then he should say farewell to his [departing] guests.

When going to sleep, he should unfasten the knot of his robe and straighten the lower garment; otherwise he will not sleep comfortably.

If he needs to borrow money, he should borrow it from a Hindu mahdjan (moneylender) whom he should prefer to a Muslim Mughal merchant, even though the latter lends money without interest. He should totally avoid purchasing anything from the shop of a Mughal, as it means a loss from beginning to end; for in the beginning, it means paying four times the cost of the thing purchased and suffer- ing great loss, and in the end it means listening to four-fold harangues of these [Mughal] merchants in the market-place. On the other hand, a Hindu is content even if he reduces the interest, considers'the little he gets as plenty and is thankful for it. The Hindu money-lenders ask for their due with salutations and an attitude of submission. The Muslim merchants make their claims [for the return of the debt] saying saldm 'alayka like equals and lord over the debtor.

[F.92a] The etiquette of dining. The table cloth for dining should be spread in the garden [in front of the house] at the edge of the pond. If one cannot afford a cloth of gold for a dinner-cloth, one should use the chhint with decorated design, provided it has no oily stain. If one cannot afford that every day, he should use a good white linen dinner-cloth, provided it is not spread repeatedly [without being washed]. The attendant at dinner should be a young man of wholesome appearance, who offers his prayers regularly. One must not employ a handsome person or a good-looking boy as a dinner attendant, as this leads to well-known errors and is imprudent. For it may induce the guests to eat the bread but to break the salt-bottle [i.e. abuse hospitality]; and that would be damaging to the dignity of a mirzd. If all the plates on the table-cloth are of the same set, so much the better. If he cannot afford it, he should try to have the drinking glasses, plates, pots and demi-pots similar, of the same colour and of the same kind. The colour scheme of the crockery on the dinner-cloth is an important matter. If he cannot afford the white china manufactured in the capital, he should regard the china of Mashhad as better and more elegant than the china of any other manufacture. If he cannot afford even that, then he should never affix the title mirzd to his name. He should not use broken earthen- ware, as it would be hopelessly defaming for a mirzd. But he can, according to his need, use pretty earthen-ware.

He should have the sour things for his meals, according to the season, such as clean achdrs (pickles) with vinegar; and should have glasses of the juice of pomegranate, mango, lemon and orange, especially the Kashmirijuice. He should ensure that a coloured or golden spoon is not used for food or for stirring a drink; he should be careful of the amber-coloured oiliness of a coloured spoon. He should be content with well-chiselled white spoons, and if he can afford china or glass spoons, so much the better. Of the varieties of food, he should prefer boiled rice with spices. He should not be an eater ofparkoko [?] and dizpydza (" double-onioned " curry), as it is the way of the gluttons. Instead of diipydza, he should




eat qalya.13 He should regard boiled rice and tender kabdbs as the diet of the mirzds. Of the varieties of

pilaf, he should prefer the ones made withyakhni (meat juice) or halwdn barbari [?] or with the meat of a fat, healthy sucking lamb; and he should eat them fresh with oil [presumably ghee]. He should regard the qdbali [of rice] with green peas better than bdqla pilaf. Likewise in the season of mangoes, he should prefer the qalya and pilaf containing mangoes. He should eat less of the food which greases the hand, such as pilafs,14 but eat rather boiled rice and kabdb; though it makes a choking morsel, it can be dealt with by taking that morsel and eating a spoonful of qalya with it.

I had the occasion to be present at the meals of an amir; [F.92b] and I noticed again and again, that though all sorts of food were there, he was inclined towards eating pilaf. One day I sedately inquired why he was not inclined to eat other things and liked the pilaf so much. In a tone most befitting the great, he answered that he preferred the pilaf because it did not grease the hand and he did not have to try hard to cleanse his hand with a towel, which was disgusting. In fact, it is a blemish to cleanse the hands with a towel after having washed them.15 In eating, this is a primary condition.

Although among the achdrs (pickles) those with mango and oil are quite familiar in India and are generally praised, he should not give them any credit. [If he eats them at all], he should mix them with the Indian khhichri (rice with lentils); for theyakhnipuldw (pilaf with meat juice) needs ghee with it, and not oil. This is the opinion of an expert who knows; it is a science, not just a saying or opinion. He should regard the colourful juice of pomegranate better than other juices. In season he should regard beetroot pilaf with relish as food suitable for a mirzd. Among the varieties of broth (dsh), he should prefer the one with delicate relish. He should also like the ashjaw (broth of barley) compounded with lemon juice, sugar, herbs and rose-water, but he should regard the meat in that broth as tasteless, and be content with the meat juice in broths like that. In winter, he should eat the top leaves of turnips, and always have them on the table-cloth; but he should eat turnip itself as little as possible openly; because the dignity of a mirzd does not withstand the eating of a cooked turnip. He should regard the proverb " cooked turnip is better than unalloyed silver ", as inappropriate to the dignity of a mirzd. Instead of turnip shula [pilaf], he may eat beetroots in shula with relish, or in pickles or with coagulated milk, or in qalyd; all this would be all right as beetroot is a food fit for a mirzd, being agreeable, colourful and sweet. In winter, he should serve on his dinner-cloth winter foods like goat's jaw, harisa (rich, thick, wheat soup with meat, cinnamon, and herbs), barley broth and shab-bakht [or shab-pukht], according to his means; but he should himself eat only the sarpdcha (boiled jaw and foot-joint) sprinkled with vinegar, lemon juice and mint, touching no other food, regarding this restraint as a requirement of the dignity of a mirzd, for the goat harisa and barley broth are not the foods for mirzds.

He should not trust the cleanliness of his cooks; but should take every possible care in the investiga- tion that they are clean. If he cannot afford [to have it cooked in his own kitchen] he may use the cheese-bread sold in the bazaars; but he should regard other foods sold in the Indian bazaars as unwholesome. Of all the varieties of halwa (sweetmeats) and Indian preserves, he should like the mango preserve with fresh, sweetened [F.93a] herb juice, provided it is not more than a week old. He should not even look at other Indian pickles or the pickle of green mango made with filtered vinegar.

He should eat a few spoonfuls of delicate, fragrant, perfumed pdlada (a beverage of water, flour or honey or other components). If it is possible, and if he can afford it, he should not eat the padlda without ice, or at least cooled by saltpetre. If this is not possible, he should not eat pdlada or even men- tion its name; for without ice and without being chilled by saltpetre it does not chill the teeth. He should like fragrant Indian boiled rice. Bread, cheese and melons are becoming eatables for a mirzd. He should offer milk syrup to his friends. Milk mixed with sour milk is the drink for a mirzd. He should leave the milkfirni (rice-pudding) to the gluttons; and regard the firni without milk as suitable for a mirzd. He should consider drinking water without bid-mushk (a fragrant ingredient) as a thing forbidden. He should regard the eating of dalama (new cheese) wrapped in the skin of a chicken or with a sweetener as unwholesome. He should find pleasure in cheese made of fermented milk. Of the varieties of

.halwd, he should prefer that of nuts with fragrance and tablets of amber, and pieces of lemon and

13 Originally fried food, but in India a highly spiced curry. 14 But see the next paragraph where he contradicts himself. 15 Probably because the hands were dried in the smoke of incense

in a censer after being washed at the end of the meal.




sandal-perfume. He should not be unmindful of the rishta (or sweet) of the style of khita (Turkestan) perfumed with amber.

He should form the habit of eating with the tips of his fingers. He should stop eating before he is full; even though he remains hungry; for it is not easy to be a mirzd. If he does remain hungry, he can eat [a little more] in the interior of his house, out of the sight of the critical. But this has a great risk of bad reputation, involving a loss of the prestige of the mirza. It is better to remain hungry. He should not eat outside the dining room;16 for eating outside it is like eating at a shop in the bazaar.

Of the fruits, after melon and grapes, he should regard first-class mangoes, which can be obtained only rarely, as the best of fruits. But he should not call it [i.e. the mango] superior to melon, as that would amount to apostasy. For the [cooked] foods he should regard unripe mango as a better ingredient than apples and other sour fruits. He should not be unmindful of relish made of pineapple mixed with sugar and rose-water; for like the fruit of Kuch-Bihar and the Sumatra of AkbarTb~d, it is a delicacy made especially for the mirzds. The sugarcane of the province of Bihar and of Akbarabid is befitting food for a mirzd, on condition that he does not pile the chewed refuse in front of himself. Of the greens he should like lettuce, green coriander and mint. He should regard leek and radish as enemies of God. From the belch which follows the eating of radishes and is worse and more unpleasant to the mind than the sound of a gunshot and the smell of gunpowder, he should preserve himself.

He should not eat with someone who is ignorant of the manners of dining and who is gluttonous. If by chance he has such a guest, he should soon finish his dinner and rise, making some such excuse which does not hurt the feeling of the guest. But after that he should shun the company of such a person, though he can occasionally send him a tray of food. Keeping company with a gluttonous person is not free from hazards, one of which is belching [F.93b]. Similarly, he should avoid someone who does not pick his teeth after washing his hands [after a meal] or does not clean his mouth and hands with water after picking his teeth, since the company of such a person is distasteful and disgusting. After the meal, he should wash his hands with fragrant sandal powder compounded with other perfumes. After chewing the pdn (betel-leaf) he should rinse his mouth, as it [i.e. the stain of pdn on the lips and the teeth] is unwholesome to look at. He should avoid a companion who talks at length after eating pdn, as the spray from his mouth may soil the mirzd's dress. He should consider it obligatory that perfume is brought in after the meal. In winter he should burn fire in an iron censer and put aromatic lakhlakha in it. In winter, if he can afford it, he should keep the house fragrant with the perfumes offitna, flower and argaja. He should constantly put aloe-wood in the fire. In summer he should consider it obligatory to have a khaskhdna (thick curtains of straw on the door and the windows, which are sprinkled with water to keep the room cool) prepared, to have fans, to have the floor-spreading of gangdjal sitalpdti (a variety of' North Indian matting) and to arrange vases with fragrant flowers of that season. A white linen floor- spread [on the top of the matting] is best for this season; and the best perfume for this time of the year is high-class Jahdngiri argaja. It is the best perfume for this season, except for rose, which is also the perfume for this season. He should regard the enjoyment of the monsoon season as a compound of winter and summer. The floor-spread of this season is sometimes a good mat of split-reeds and sometimes a good woollen broadcloth. In this season also he should consider it necessary to have a censer and lakhlakha. In the monsoon season he should occasionally sit elegantly on a wooden takht (wooden, platform-like sofa), but not without a carpet covered with quilting or a white linen-spread. This would be very inappropriate in winter-time. He should use carpets of good variety in winter, those made in Kirman if he can afford them; otherwise, those of Kashmiri patta.

A house without curtains and screens is like an open shop in a bazaar. In every season he should consider it unwholesome to eat without a magaskhana (a net hanging all around for protection against the flies); otherwise, it would be like eating in the bazaar.

He should regard the beauty of flowers as better than the green beauty of grass, though he should appreciate that also. [F.94a] He should appreciate more the green grass under the flower-shrubs. Of the jewels, he should like rubies and pearls; of the fruits, pomegranate. A house which does not have

16 Presumably during the winter and the rainy season, for earlier he had recommended that the dinner-cloth be spread in the

garden of the house near the pond, presumably during the summer.




a pond and a fountain surrounded by flowerpots filled with flowers of every season, is a house without enjoyment. He should set a garden wherever possible in the compound of the house, for the mirzd is equal in numbers (ham-'adad) to a gulzdr (a rose-garden); he is bound to be attracted by a garden. In every corner of his garden there should be colourful chirping and singing birds like nightingales" and parrots. He should hear unpleasant voices of other birds from a distance, because a mirzd's temperament cannot bear listening to such noises. The beauty of these flowers and birds is not merely for ex- ternal view; the beauty of every bird leads one to the contemplation of its Maker, and its singing leads the heart to the anguish [of divine love].

Of the fighting animals, he may like to view deer- and camel-fights, provided that he does not be- friend deer- or camel-keepers. But like a good mirzd, he should avoid viewing ram-fights or bull-fights, since the people of the bazaar like these. For his journey he should have camels ready with all their equipment.

He should avoid the company of such [self-proclaimed], self-opinionated, bastard mirzds who tie their turbans with great delicateness, who talk with the movement of head or with the gestures of body or of eyebrows, who are over-emphatic in speech, who praise halwas and greens from among the foods, and do not like the Kashmiri juice from among the drinks, who turn away with affected delicacy from whatever is invigorating, who do not clean their teeth without looking in the mirror, who clad themselves in the single layer of a thin and transparent upper garment and wear trousers of satin and kamkhdb (many-coloured, embroidered cloth), and who have the habit of eating pan frequently and blackening their teeth with missi. Such mirzds are no good. Mirzd-hood is to be mirzd khdn or mirzd-beg;1' not to be a mirzdda-begum or mirzdda-khanum [i.e. effeminate].

The etiquette of wearing apparel. In winter, he should wear a datahi (sc. a garment with two folds and made of various kinds of Indian material). He should use pearls for buttons, [F.94b] for pearl is natural while other jewels have to be cut. In winter, he should wear a shawl, either plain or imprinted with gold and silver leaves. He should wear gold-embroidered turbans (chira) which though of high quality are inexpensive, and come from the fatah workshops which produce high quality striped cloth for low prices. In summer, when he sits on a wooden seat with a white covering, he should wear the silver- threaded cap round the head and the ears (gash-pich), and a silver-threaded upper garment (bdla-band). He should never wear brocade or cloth of gold. He should never be inclined to wear a golden or embroidered turban, or a gash-pich of embroidered brocade, or trousers (shalwdr) of cloth of gold or satin, as this would be below the dignity of a mirzd. He should use the cloth of gold only for pillow-cases and curtains. If he has the means he can indeed give away cloth of gold and satin as a khil'at (robe of honour). He should not wear embroidered and gold-threaded turban as it may give the mirza a headache, and it may also fall down.

The etiquette of riding and hunting. Of all the means of riding, he should regard the pilki (palanquin) as the best. It is most harmless of all the kinds of rides available to a mirzd. In riding an elephant or a horse there is the risk of falling off. But, in the rainy season, an elephant ride is the best; as both in the pdlki and on the horse there is the risk of getting soaked in the rain, or of the mud and dirty water from the rooftops soiling the head and headgear and trousers, which would be against the dignity of a mirzd. But for visiting gardens and viewing flowers and flower-gardens, he should ride a flower-coloured or black and white (ablaq) horse. For shooting cranes or herons he should ride a black and white horse with long mane. Such horses should be available and ready in his stable every day....

[F.95a] Of the hunting birds, he should prefer the sparrow-hawk (bdsha). He should enjoy the sight of hunting with a bahri-hawk. He should adorn the wrapping linen and the headgear of the hunting animals, and should fully apply his aptitude for decoration and art in this matter so that the hunting animals of the mirzd remain distinguished from those of a non-mirzd. These are his associates, and the associates should be dressed like the man. He should know that hunting with a falcon is allowed for this reason, so that one may not remain empty-handed until one obtains a bahri. One should not gallop one's horse impatiently after the bahri, but should ride slowly and let one's companions gallop; for there is danger of falling off the horse in galloping on such occasions. One may well be enamoured of hunting

17 This is an euphemism; there are no nightingales in India.




and absorbed in it; but life is more precious than the spectacle of hunting, which is not worth falling from one's horse, or the falling off of one's headgear (chira), or breaking one's neck. One should only spend one pahr (a quarter of the day, or the first quarter of the day) in hunting; for continuing after that is doggish, and the hunting animals lose their lustre [after the first pahr]. He should leave prolonging of the chase to the dogs and should not join them. If he is hunting with a matchlock, he should not fire more than two shots. If he is hunting a heron or a lark, he should decorate his headgear with their feathers [presumably as a decoy], and give some of these to his companions. When he returns from the chase, he may rest by a pool or stream of water under the shade of a tree. A white linen sheet has to be ready on this occasion to be spread [overhead] under the tree, so that the dress of the mirzd may not get soiled by the droppings of the birds. After drinking coffee, he should distribute portions of the kill of the chase during the previous night and during that morning among all his companions, high and low. If he had hunted any deer, he should have kebdbs made of the venison, as they are delicious. [F.95b] He should have the hunted birds like bustard, partridge, heron or duck paraded in ones or twos by the foot-soldiers for general view.

He should enjoy unfamiliar and half-coloured (nimrang) flowers. If he wants a flower to yield fragrance, he should himself pluck it from the bough. He should not accept it from the hands of the gardener, for there is no hand cleaner than the hand of a mirzd. He should not wear flowers in his turban, as it is effeminate to do so. It is a blemish for the mirzd, who is a [masculine] lover. But he can, as a blessing, put a gul-i mutlaq [rose] which is made of the holy sweat drops of the Pride of All Creation on his head. Occasionally, in privacy, he may put a bunch of ndfarmdn flowers, which is like a plume of feathers, in the corner of his turban; it would look becoming.

Etiquette of bathing. In the bath he should not use the same brush for rubbing the body and for the rubbing of the feet. There should be different brushes for the purpose. He should not allow a bearded bath-attendant to rub his body with the brush; for the sweat which falls from his hair and beard is as unpleasant as water with brimstone.

He should not allow a mean person (pdji) to be his companion; he should not look at such a person if he stands in front of him; and he should regard his presence as disturbing to the mind. He can have one or two servants, whom he must employ, also serving in his parties, on condition that they do not remain standing in front of him. He should not utter anything vulgar or obscene, as this is degrading for a mirztd. Similarly, he should avoid ill-mannered and short-tempered persons. He should not speak to a person of low or mean origin without necessity; and he should try to communicate with him [only] by signs or gesture. If such a person does not understand his gestures, he should not retain him in his service.

When ill, he should not mind paying the physician handsomely; for life is more precious than money. He should avoid a sweetheart who has another lover running after her [or him]. He should stay a mile away from a mad elephant or camel, or a bullock attacking with his horns or an intoxicated person who has a sword in his hand. To be involved with them is foolishness. If he is with the imperial army, he should cross bridges, corners and narrow passes either before everyone else or after everyone else. He should not think of running away or being absent on such an occasion; for a living hero (pahlawdn-i zinda) is commendable. He should not become warmly familiar with someone destitute, be he a khdn or sultan; for such people profess friendship only to borrow money or for the attainment of some other end. Their friendship is tainted with selfishness and has no durability. But if a person is genuinely in want and in distress, he should help him in gratitude of the means which he has; and he should not be one of those mirzds who "spend little and sit high ". He should not accept anything from anyone, in return of which he does not intend to give something else of greater value. He should consider it obligatory to wear a dagger orjamdhar (an Indian dagger). He should regard as obligatory the wearing of rings of ruby, emerald, turquoise and cornelian on his fingers, as they have different properties.

III

Mirzt Kimran, the author of the other Mir~dndma, came in the fourteenth year of the reign of one of the Mughal emperors [Awrangzib?], by way of Kashmir to Lahore where he found a number of " undeserving " persons calling themselves mirzd, and decided to write a manual (dastir al-'amal) of




mirzd-hood. His own claim to be a mirza was based on his " personal efforts and the acquiring of pleasant manners ", though he confesses that his words (or verses) are inclined towards wit and jesting. Indeed, some of the points in his Mirzdndma and some of the requirements for mirzd-hood are quite trite compared to the B.M. Mirz~ndma.

Although his Mirzandma has been published"8 and translated (it was published over sixty years ago, and in a journal in India which is not easily obtainable in the West),19 it will not be out of place now to give a brief summary of his treatise here for any easy comparison with the B.M./A.S.B. Mirzdndma.

Mirzd-hood depends upon ten us.al

(principles) and a certain number [actually 64] of furi' (minutiae). The ten

us.l are that: a mirzd should believe in God; he should acquire learning, especially

that of grammar; he should have read in his youth the Gulistan and Bzistdn of Sa'di; he should have the capacity of judging men; he should not engage in scholarly disputes with a student who has just completed his education; he should not engage himself in conversation with every unworthy person but should associate only with those who are his equals; he should learn Arabic, Persian, Hindi and Tur- kish; he should be an expert in composition and a fast worker; he should have some knowledge of accounts; and he should have some knowledge of philosophy, but should not indulge in fruitless dis- cussions regarding free will and determinism or finite and infinite.

The [sixty-four] fura' of mirzd-hood are that a mirzd should stay a mile away from a mad elephant; he should prefer chinaware to gold or silverware in crockery; if there is one evil person among ten in a place, he should give up the company of those ten; he should shorten his name (for instance Mirzd Thsuf instead of MirzA Jaldl al-Din Yfsuf) ; he should not haggle when buying; he should regard ruby as the best of the jewels; he should regard pdlki as the best of all conveyances; he should regard melon as the best of all fruits; if he does not want to break his limbs he should not travel with the imperial army to Kashmir;20 he should prefer boiled rice with spices to other types of food; he should leave pure love on a high shelf, but at the same time he should not chase a capricious beauty; he should not smoke too much tobacco; he should be on his guard from diseases in India; when introduced to a house, he should first visit it on the occasion of introduction, then for a second time to pay his compliments, then a third time without compliments (i.e. informally) if he is welcome; he should regard Lahore as the best of all towns in India; he should regard the Agra fort as unique in the world; he should regard Isfahdn as the best city in Iran; in a crowd he should be mindful of the swords kept under their arms by ahdis (foot-soldiers); he should pay up to twenty rupees a day for payment to his palanquin-bearers and por- ter; he should not take a room in a sard (inn); he should not take part in a battle, and if he has to participate, he should not stand within the firing range, should never pursue a defeated enemy, and if in a defeated army, should make haste to run away;21 his conversation should be eloquent and expressive; he should like narcissus, violet and orange; he should know who is bad, but wisely not talk badly of him; he should know how to play nard, but must not become a gambler; he should not bet heavily in chess; he should not admire obscure verses which take time to understand; he should not keep company with a fast rider; he should not reveal his income to someone who could be coveting his job; at dinner he should not sit next to a mufti (jurist); he may sing occasionally if he has a good voice, but avoid pro- fessionalism; he should regard

Q:.4i-zdda Girahrtidi, Mirza Rafi' Shirdzi22, and Jaldld-yi Ardastini as

the ablest of his contemporaries; he should not be impressed by everyone who puts on the robe of learning; in a discussion, if he succeeds in making a point, he should do so fully, and if the other person gains the point he should be courteous; where people talk of their income or means, he should get the

1s JASB IX (1913), 8-13. 19 Ibid., pp. 2-8. 20 For a description of the imperial army's march to Kashmir,

see F. Bernier (English tr.), Travels in the Mughal Empire, A.D. r656-r668 (London, 1891), pp. 351-428; also Niccolao Manucci, Storia do Mogor, English tr. by W. Irvine (Indian reprint, Calcutta, 1965-67), II, 60-69.

21 This cowardliness advised by MirzA KdmrAn is exactly the opposite of the standard of courage enjoined for a mirzd, who must never run away from a battlefield, according to the BM Mfrzdndma; see above.

22 As mentioned earlier in the text, Hiddyat HIusayn has identified this Rafi' Shirazi with Rafi' al-Din Ibrahim Shirizi, the author of Tadhkirat al-mulak (begun in o0I7 1608-og and completed in o2o/ 16I -I 12), a history of the 'Adil Shihs of Deccan and of contemporary Indian and Persian dynasties (Cf. Storey, I/ii, 742-3). But the latter never went beyond Ahmadnagar to the north of India. There is no evidence that he visited the Mughal Empire, especially Lahore, where alone he could have met MirzA Kgmrqn. One may safely conclude that Mirzd K~mriin's Rafi' Shirazi is a different person.




topic changed, otherwise leave the company; he should visit Egypt; he should prefer Syria for making a home as bread, cheese and melons are nice there, even though these are the food of the Rdfidis;23 in India, he should not wear the chdqshar; he should not be fond of his own words; in an assembly he should not get involved in discussion, especially about his religion, which he may conceal to avoid the chance of bodily injury;24 unless he has a mansab of 5oo, he should not invite a guest; when in financial straits, he should not be guest of someone mean; he should regard watching gambling as the best of shows; he should not talk scandal; he should not indulge in jokes with an improper person; he should not repeat the visit [too soon]; with an income of a hundred rupees he can spend ten on belt and chira, but even fifty on a fur [jacket]: he should not talk when people are playing nard; he should not take his sweetheart to someone else's house, especially if he is richer; he should wash the dirt on his face with salt and vinegar; he should trust only the dervish; he must recite the first verse when reciting a poem, but should not interrupt to complete the second half-line if someone has recited the first; in India he should pay more attention to the strength of a house against rains than seek architectural beauty; in a bath he should not allow himself to be served by a bearded bathing attendant; he should not sit in a prominent place in an assembly, in order to avoid being snubbed; in India he should not expect wisdom from those who wear large turbans; he should not have any expectations by being familiar with [rich] persons; he should not eat fdlada and firn in India, as they make one lazy; if he has a low mansab he should not have costly trappings; riding with his superior, he should be a pace or so behind him, except when crossing a bridge [which is risky] and which he should be first to cross; even if impecunious, he should not use engraved brass vessels, as the dirt is unwashable in the engravings; he should not talk at Sunbal KhAn's inn, which is full of argumentative men; he should not be drawn in by someone who talks at length; he should avoid argumentative people; he should avoid the company of Muhammad

S.lih Beg and Mirza Fadli Beg, who have written [a version of] Kalila wa-Dimna; when invited, he

should not be the first to go to a party, as thus he will have to greet many more people.

IV Who was a mirzi, and what was the category of mirzd-hood in the latter seventeenth century when

these two manuals, and possibly others now lost or hitherto undiscovered, were written? Before one answers this question, one has to investigate the etymology of the title mirzd, its various

meanings and various applications. It is generally considered to be an abbreviation of amirzdda, though this derivation has been doubted by some."2 Mir, as an abbreviation of amir, was quite common from the sixteenth century onwards in Iran as well as in India as a title of amirs and sayyids, and for official designations such as mir munshi, mirshikdr, etc. In Safavid Persia more commonly26 than in Mughal India,'7 many sayyids used the prefix mirzd rather than mir.

In eighteenth century India, and almost certainly earlier, in the seventeenth century, the term mirzd had a primary and a secondary meaning. In the primary sense it has been defined by Arzfi as " used formerly in the titles of kings and princes, and now by noblemen and their sons; also used in Irin for the sayyids."28 It has been defined in the secondary sense by another eighteenth century Indian lexicographer, Shad, as " a manly person held in esteem by people ".29 A similar definition occurs in a dictionary compiled by Nafisi in Iran, who also defines mirzdmizsaj as one who appreciates subtleties, is of an independent temperament and haughty, and mirzdmanish as one of exalted nature, graceful,

23 This polemical reference to the Shi'is may either mean the Druzes of Syria, or Shi'is in general in which case Mirz! Kdmrin (who came to India through Kashmir) might be of TirAni origin. But see below, n. 24.

24 This advice for taqiyya is curious, coming from some one who polemically calls the Shi'is Rdfidfs. But some Sifis having heterodox or pantheistic views also concealed their faith.

21 Siraj al-Din 'Ali Khan " Arzfi" Akbarlbldi, Chardgh-i hiddydt, ed.

Muh.ammad Dabir (Tehran i96o), 293-98. Professor

Wickens, who also doubts this etymology, points out that other titles like shdhzdda, pfrzdda and shaykhzdda have not been simi-

larly abbreviated. '* MirzN Mulammad TAhir Nasribldi, Tadhkira (Tehran 1317

shams!), pp. 65, 71, 95, 99 et seq. and passim. 27 Shaykh Farid Bhakkari, Dhakhirat al-Khwanin (Karachi 1961),

I, 170-72, 230; Shah Nawiz Khan, Ma'dthir al-umard' (Calcutta 1888-9o), I, 222-4, 479-81, 739-48; II, 736-8; III, 218, 214-21, 590-94, 633-5-

28 Chardgh-i hiddyat, p. 297. 9* Muhammad PAdsh-h " Shid ", Farhang-i Anand Rdj, ed.

Multammad Dabir (Tehran 1335 shamsi), VI, 3939.




delicate and having delicacy.30 The two mirzdndmas are concerned with the mirzd in this secondary sense.

In the primary sense, the title mirz~ is said to have been used first by the Sarbadtrs of Harit,31 though the last Sarbadar used the title malik.32 The sons of Timiir were called amirzddas33 or mirzds, which is the strongest evidence for the theory that the latter term is an abbreviation of the former.

Shah Rukh was referred to both as amirzdda34 and as mirzd, the latter title being applied to him more generally after his accession.35 Among the Timiirid princes, the title mirzd could be a prefix or a suffix; in the case of the Safavids it was always a suffix. In Safavid Iran, wazirs, mustawfis and officers of the daftarkhdna affixed the title mirzd to their names.36 So did also some of the nobility in the Timafrid successor-states. By the fifteenth century, mirzd was quite a widespread title in the Islamic world. After, and possibly even before, the extension of the Ottoman suzeranity over the Giriy Khans of Crimea, leaders of the various Tatar tribes in Crimea were known as mirzds, and the Ottoman sultan installed or deposed a Girty Khan in Crimea generally in consultation with them. Four of these mirzds (dirt Karafi begi), the heads of ?irin, Argin, Barin, and Kipchak tribes held a more honourable position by tradition than the rest.37

Although Babur discarded the title mirZd and assumed the title Bddshdh,38 his sons Kamran and others retained the title mfrzd. Even in the sixteenth century, Akbar's half-brother was known as Mirzd Muhammad IHakim, though by this time the sons of the Mughal emperor came to bear the title shdh, shldhzda or bddshdhzdda, titles which had already come to be used along with the title amirzdda or mirzd during Timiir's reign.39

Even in the higher echelons of Mughal nobility, the title mirzd had considerably declined as early as the sixteenth century and the official title khdn, bestowed by the emperor, was taking its place. Shaykh Farid Bhakkari, whose tadhkira was compiled in 1060/1650, has written notices on 186 nobles of Akbar's court, of which only 13 bore the title mirze.40 The Ma'dthir al-umard', the other famous tadhkira of the Mughal nobility, which was compiled, revised and completed during the late eighteenth century, gives notices on 722 nobles from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, of whom only 55 bore the title mfrzd.41 Most of these mirzes bore the title in the primary sense, but some in the secondary one.

A brief survey of the mirzds in the upper echelons of Mughal nobility might be interesting. To begin with, there were the Timirid princes, distant relations of the Mughal reigning family, such as Muham- mad Sultan Mirza,42 a grandson of Sultan IHusayn Bayqara, and the Timarid princes of Balkh, Mirz~ Sulayman and Mirza Shih Rukh and the latter's son, Najabat Khan Mirza Shuja'.43 Then there were the Safavid refugee princes Muzaffar Husayn Mirza and Rustum Mirza who had surrendered Qandahar to Akbar, and their descendants in India, Mirza Shah Nawaz Khan, Mirzi JHasan, Mirzi Nawdhar, Mirz~ Sultin, and Mirza Mukarram Khan.44 To these one may add Mirza Safavi Khan 'Ali Baqi, who came to India during the reign of Awrangzib, who claimed to be of Safavid descent, and who received a title to that effect from the Mughal emperor.45 Several Iranis with real or pretended claims of Safavid ancestry came to India during the eighteenth century, after the fall of that dynasty.46

Among the Irani higher nobles of Mughal India was Mirza Ja'far Asaf Khan who rose to be wakil, the highest office in the state.4' Another equally illustrious mirzd was Nfir Jahan's father I'timid

30o 'All Akbar Nafisi (Ndzim al-atibba'), Farhang-i Naffsi (Tehran 1343), V, 3257.

3' For a detailed history of the Sarbadars, seeJohn Masson Smith, The History of the Sarbaddr Dynasty, 1336-r381 A.D. and its Sources ('s-Gravenhage I970).

3s Sharaf al-Din CAli Yazdi, .Zafarnama,

ed. Mul.ammad

'Abbisi (Tehran 1336 shamsi), I, 223, 232-7.

33 Thus, for instance, Amirzada Jahangir (ibid. I, i8o and passim) ; Amirz~da MirdnshAh (ibid. I, 336, 445 and passim); and

AmirzAda 'Umar Shaykh (ibid. I, 473). 34 Ibid. II, 30 and passim. 35 Kamal al-din 'Abd al-Razzdq, Ma.tala' al-sa'dayn wa majma'

al-bahrayn, B.M. Or. MSS. 1291, passim. 36 TAhir Nasrqbqdi, pp. 69-125. 3 Max Kortepeter, Ottoman Imperialism during the Reformation:

Europe and the Caucasus (New York 1972), pp. 8, 13- 38 'Abd al-Bdqi NihAwandi, Ma'dthir-i Rafhmi (Calcutta 1924),

I, p. 495- 3* Yazdi, Zafarnama I, p. 573 and passim. 40 Shaykh Farid Bhakkari, Dhakhirat al-khawdnin (Karachi 1961), I. 41 Shih Nawdz KhAn, Ma'dthir al-umard,' (Calcutta, I888-90). 42 Ibid. III, I92-9. 43 Dhakhirat al-khwadnn [Dh], I, 20-23; Ma'athir al-umard [MU],

III, 264-76; 329-34; 821-8. 44Dh I, 99-IOI; MU III, 296-30I, 434-42; 477-8, 555-7;

581-2; 583-5, 692-4; II, 670-76. 45 MU III, 653-4- 46 Ibid. III, 681-2. 47 Dh I, 170-72; MU, I, 107-15.




al-Dawla Mirzt Ghiyath BEg Tehrani, his eminent son Asaf Khan and his descendants who rose to high offices.48 Of the Tfirdni mirzds in the high Mughal nobility, only the Khan-i A'zam Mirzd 'Aziz Koka, Akbar's foster-brother, may have received the title mirzd from the emperor or assumed it as a token of his close relationship with the emperor. Bayram Khan Khin-i Khanan, a descendant of the illustrious Turkmen line ofJahdn Shih, did not use the title mirzd, but his son 'Abd al-Rahim Khan-i

Khdnmn did, as did also his sons and grandsons.49 Another distinguished dynasty of mirzds was that of Jani Beg Tarkhan, who claimed descent from the distinguished Tiirni clan of Arghiin and was ruler of Sind, but later submitted to Akbar and became one of the high nobles of his administration.50 Other illustrious nobles of his house such as 'Isd Tarkhdn and Ghazi Beg Tarkhan continued to use the title mirzd.51 Notices on three sayyid mirzds appear in the first volume of the Dhakhirat al-khwainin, and on eleven of them in the Ma'dthir al-umard', including Mahabat Khan Sipahsilar, who held the person of the Emperor Jahangir in detention and who though a Kabuli, claimed Sayyid descent. Of the Sayyid mirzds, Nawazish Khan 'Abd al-Bdqi called himself a mirzd,52 while his brother 'Abd al-Hadi called himself mir.53

Most interesting is the case of Hindu mirzes. Of these, Bahadur Singh was given the title of mirzd rdja by Akbar;54 and the famous Rajp*ft general Jay Singh was given the same title by Shah Jahan.55 Thus it seems that in rare cases, mirzd continued to be a title bestowed by the Mughal emperors until the middle of the seventeenth century.

But the usual title for the nobles and mansabddrs, high and low, was khdn, in both Mongol and Pathan tradition. This title became exclusive; and the small percentage of mirzds in both the tadhkiras we are examining, shows that the later title was merely an ancestral affix or suffix surviving in only a few cases. In most of these few cases, the nobleman also bore the more prestigious title of khdn.

Among the lesser nobility and among the more insignificant mansabddrs, some were called mirzds. In the case of some of them such as MirzA Quli Khan and Mirza 'Ali Khan of the reign of Akbar, we know hardly anything beyond their names and some minimal details.56 Eight such " insignificant " mirzds are subjects of short notices in the Ma'dthir al-umard'.57 It is possible that these " insignificant " mirzds represent the " vulgarization " of the title mirzd. What began as a royal title, became in due course, not only in India but also in Iran, an affix chosen by a gentleman or a lesser nobleman. Hence Mirzd became a category of gentlemen of taste and culture in the secondary sense of the term.

We meet the new mirzd, though in one case of high descent, already in the early seventeenth century: Mirza AbG-Sa'id, a grandson of I'timad al-Dawla and a nephew of N&r Jahdn. He was famous for his " good looks and delicate personality "; fastidious and " ceremonious in matters of dress and food and floor-spread "; showing off such tastefulness and pompousness in everyday life that his equals could not rival him; and " of such a proud and snobbish nature that he held the high heaven and the angels as of no account."58

Mirzds of this type, and of the secondary sense, multiplied during the seventeenth century. It was for their edification that the two mirzdndmas, and perhaps other such manuals, came to be written.

8 MU I, I27-33, 152-60, 180-82, 230-32; III, 431-3. 49 Dh I, 11, 31; MU II, 14-17, 645--8; III, 586-9. 0o Dh I, 176; MU III, 302-13.

R1 MU III, 345-8, 485-8. For a detailed study of Gh~zi B-g and his intellectual patronage see iHusAm al-Din Rgshidi, Mirza Ghdz Big Tarkhdn awr uski Bazm-i adab (Karachi, 1970). 52 MU III, 828.

53 Ibid. I, 167-7I. "4 Ibid. III, 360. " Ibid. III, 570-71. D Dh I, 212, 232.

6" MU I, 504-05; III, 459-60, 557-8, 351-4, 200oo-o4, 354, 258-61, 66o-6i, 482-5.

58 MU III, 513-14.



Documents

The British Museum Mīrzānāma and the Seventeenth Century Mīrzā in India