St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies

32 Санкт-Петербургская международная конференция по афганистике Секция 1. Историография и источниковедение Афганистана... and the primary source on the history of the thirty-six-day siege of Bihbahan (the city located in the south-eastern part of Khuzistan) by Shah Mahmud Hutaki (Hotaki) in the year 1723. The author of the work, ‘Abd an-Nabi Shaykh al-Islam Bihbahani (in C.A. Storey (II, p.899) — Shaykh ‘Abd an-Nabi Munshi Bihbihani) eyewitnessed the siege of Bihbahan while remaining in the city. The Shaykh recalls how he personally helped one of the gunners, who defended the city, to shoot towards the advancingAfghans. He took up writing his testimonial book after learning of the victory of Shah Tahmasp II over theAfghans, and dedicated it to this sovereign. At the beginning of the work Shaykh al-Islam Bihbahani speaks of his objectivity and desire to write without any exaggeration. The author of the book is the founder of the dynasty of Shaykhs al-Islam Bihbahani-Sultani. The book consists of four parts. The introductory part, briefly and “from other people’s words” describes the arrival of Mahmud from Kandahar in Iran, the siege and fall of Isfahan and the establishment of the power of the Afghans in Iran. The author also expresses his own opinion on the reasons for the Safavid defeat. These include the absence of a proper defensive strategy, uncoordinated actions of the commanders of individual units, lack of time, poorly organized logistics, and a frequent change of governors on Iran’s eastern border and their poor interaction with the central government. The second and the main part of the source describes Shah Mahmud’s invasion of Bihbahan and the resistance of the Bihbahanis. According to the author, the advance of Shah Mahmud to the mountainous region of Kuhgiluya inhabited by the Lurs, was caused by a conflict with his first deputy ( qayim-maqam ) and commander Amanullah-khan over the distribution of the spoils of war. When Amanullah-khan, with two thousand fighters, left Isfahan, intending to join Shah Tahmasp II, Shah Mahmud went after him with a 6,000-strong army and 4,000–5,000 camels used to transport light cannons ( zamburaks ). It was during this campaign that he began the siege of Bihbachan in December 1723. However, having faced a fierce resistance of local residents and having lost many people and camels, eventually he was forced to lift the siege and leave. In the opinion of the author, the severe winter conditions of the Zagros mountains also played their role in the defeat of Shah Mahmud. This part of the work, in our opinion, is very valuable and should be used by historians studying this period. We intend to translate it into Russian. The third part of the work speaks of one of the leaders of the guerrilla struggle that was developing at that time against theAfghan and Ottoman (in the west of Iran) domination, who gathered an army of Lurs and Bakhtiyars and successfully operated under the name of Safi-Mirza (the son of Shah Sultan-Husayn Safavi, who fled Isfahan). Bihbahani believes that under the name of Safi-Mirza, was hiding a Shaykh from Kuhgiluya. To prove that this person was an impostor, the author of Bada’i‘ al-Аkhbar points to his young age (at the time of his death he was only twenty) and his pure Persian speech, since the real Safavid Prince was older in age and spoke Turkic.