Zafarnama (Yazdi Biography)

The ''Zafarnama'' ( fa, ظفرنامه, lit=Book of Victories) is a panegyric book written by Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi approximately two decades after the death of its main subject, Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror. It was commissioned by Ibrahim Sultan, Timur's grandson between 1424–28, and remains one of the best-known sources of Timur's life. The text was written using the notes taken by royal scribes and secretaries of Timur, suggesting that the history of the book was based on a careful and desired selection of facts.

Most of the poetry and texts in the beginning of Islamic Iran were panegyric, written at the demand of political and religious leaders as part of their attempt to establish their own legacy. In his lifetime, Timur wished that his deeds would be commemorated through clear and simple language. However, the ''Zafarnama'' has a decent amount of hyperbolic language and panegyric sentiment, revealing that the current literary tastes of the next generation of writers prevailed over Timur's wishes. The ''Zafarnama'' was often copied and illustrated in Persia before making its way to being translated into Chagatai under the Uzbeks, and into Ottoman Turkish during the 16th century. More recently, the ''Zafarnama'' was translated into French in 1722 by François Pétis de la Croix and into English the following year.

The ''Zafarnama'' of Yazdi is one of several fifteenth-century texts that highlights Timur's leadership and military accomplishments. Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi relied on these previous texts about Timur's career as a conqueror to influence his text of the ''Zafarnama''. One of his main influences was a biography written by Nizam al-Din Shami in 1404. An example of proof of this statement is the use of Ghiyas al-Din Ali's story detailing Timur’s experience in India (the Ruz-Name-ye Ghazavat-e Hindustan) that is present in both versions of the ''Zafarnama'' that are decades apart. In 1410, one of Timur's sons, Shah Rukh, demanded an updated version of his father's history. By then, the original ''Zafarnama''s author, Nizam al-Din Shami, had passed so another scribe, Taj al-Salmani, finished the manuscript and put Timur's last few years onto paper. These textual precedents were important to the creation of the ''Zafarnama'' of Sultan Husayn, as they dictated the content of the text in the manuscript.

Author

Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi, also known by his pen name Sharaf, was a 15th-century scholar who authored several works in the arts and sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, enigma, literature such as poetry, and history, the ''Zafarnama'' being his most famous (539). He was born in the affluent city of Yazd, Iran in the 1370s. He devoted much of his life to scholarship, furthering his education in Syria and Egypt until Timur’s death in 1405 (1,19). Sharaf al-Din rebelled against ruler Shah Rukh in 1446–47 when the government was vulnerable, but was later commissioned to different cities for his acumen. The later years of his life were spent in Taft, where he eventually died in 1454 (Monfared 539).

Yazdi was directed to write a biography of Timur in 1421 known as the ''Zafarnama'', completing it four years later in 1425. Timur’s grandson Sultan Abu al-Fath Ibrahim Mirza was patron during the completion of his father’s biography (Monfared 539).

Manuscripts

Several illustrated manuscript versions of the ''Zafarnama'' exist; however, out of the versions written in the fifteenth century, only three illustrated copies survive, the ''Zafarnama'' of Ibrahim Sultan, the Garrett ''Zafarnama'', and the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Müzesi ''Zafarnama''. The variety of versions of the ''Zafarnama'' can be attributed to the wide variety of patrons who commissioned the production of this manuscript. Each patron had different personal tastes and goals for their version of the ''Zafarnama'', which influenced the choices of illustrations and design executed by the artists of their choosing.

The Garrett ''Zafarnama'' (or Baltimore ''Zafarnama'' or ''Zafarnama'' of Sultan Husayn Mirza) is an early manuscript of the ''Zafarnama'' (''Book of Victories'') by Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi now in the Johns Hopkins University Library in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The manuscript has twelve Persian miniatures, in six double-page spreads, and was made around 1467–8, possibly in Herat. The colophon states that the manuscript was the work of "the most humble Shir Ali," who was a popular scribe in his day. It is believed that the six illustrations were painted by the renowned artist, Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād.

A version was produced in the workshop of the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 1590s.

File:Conquest Baghdad Zafarnama Met 55.121.17.jpg, Conquest of Baghdad, Shiraz, 1435–1436, Ibrahim Sultan's copy
File:Wedding of Timurid Princes.png, Wedding of Timurid Princes (Muhammad Sultan, Pir Muhammad and Shah Rukh)
File:Tamerlane Besieging Urganj.JPG, Timur besieging Urganj, 1595–1600
File:Timur defeats the sultan of Delhi.jpg, Timur defeats the sultan of Delhi, from Akbar's copy, between 1595 and 1600
File:Timur orders campaign against Georgia.jpg, Timur orders campaign against Georgia, from Akbar's copy, between 1595 and 1600
File:Teymur.jpg, Timur feasts in the environs of Samarkand, 1628

References

{{Reflist

Iranian books
Timurid dynasty
15th-century history books
Timur
Biographies (books)
History books about India
Historiography of India
Indian manuscripts
Persian-language books
Panegyrics