ḴAZINADĀR

 

ḴAZINADĀR (or ḵezānadār; also ḵāzen, pl. ḵozzān), title of the royal treasurer since the early Islamic period. The title Moʾnes-al-Ḵāzen, mentioned in the early 10th century as that of an associate of the ʿAbbasid vizier Ebn al-Forāt, may actually refer to the royal treasurer (Sourdel, II, pp. 387-88, 742). As in pre-Islamic period (see GANZABARA), the term could also refer to lower menial court personnel such as ḵozzān al-faraš “keepers of bedding storage” and ḵāzen al-šamʿ “keeper of the candle supply” (Helāl b. Ṣābeʾ, p. 23).

Under the Buyids the royal treasurer was known as the ṣāḥeb divān al-ḵazāʾen (Burgel, p. 11). The terms ḵazinadār, ḵezānadār or ḵāzen were used in Persia throughout its Islamic history from the Ghaznavid period to the Qajars (Bayhaqi, p. 267; Horst, p. 23; Naḵjavāni, I, pp. 296-99, 368, I/2, pp. 140, 238, 409-10, II, pp. 34, 75, 77, 83, 88, 97, 128-29, 458; Nabipour, pp. 35a, 43b, 68a, 68b, 70a; Woods, p. 11). Towards the end of the Safavid dynasty, the head of the treasury was referred to as ḵezānadār-bāši (Āṣaf, p. 100; Tavernier, p. 220). Under the Il-khanid and Timurid officials known as ḵezānači are mentioned, of whom there were more than one, who were in charge of keeping gold, silver, and other precious objects, but it is not known what their function was and what treasure they were in charge of (Waṣṣāf, pp. 47, 207, 578; Rašid-al-Din Fażl-Allāh. III, pp. 392, 538-39; Manz, pp. 170-71).

The function of the royal treasurer remained rather unchanged throughout the Islamic period. He was in charge of the ḵezāna, that is the storehouse where the ruler’s precious possessions were kept. Under the Saljuqs the term also was synonymous with māl-e ḵezāna or treasury taxes (Horst, p. 79). The state treasury was known as ḵezāna-ye ʿāmera under the Il-khanids, which term continued to be used to the end of the Qajar period (Nabipour, pp. 35a, 43b, 68a, 68b, 70a; Mirḵᵛānd, VII, p. 107; Mirzā Rafiʿā, pp. 44-46; Mervi, index, s.v.; Qāʾem-maqām, 1978, II, pp. 132, 302; idem, 1979, pp. 139, 205, 210).

Gold and silver (coined, wrought or bullion) were kept in the treasury, as well as all kinds of other precious and valuable pieces, such as precious stones, jewelry, furs, carpets, robes, weapons, horse tack, royal banners, and kettle drums (Bayhaqi, p. 267; Horst, p. 23; Afšutaʾi, p. 128; Wāleh, 1938, p. 212; Idem, 2001, p. 209; Fraser, p. 77; Momtaḥen-al-Dawla, pp. 169-70). Costly manuscripts also were usually part of the royal treasury (Neẓām-al-Molk, p. 4; Horst, pp. 11, 164; Mostawfi, I, pp. 391-92; Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, Sāl-nāma, in idem, 1942, V, Appendix, p. 25).

The treasurer kept records of what entered and left the treasury (Bayhaqi, p. 267; Horst, p. 23; Raḥimlu, p. 69; Mirzā Samiʿā, p. 65; Wāleh, 1938, pp. 207, 283). Under the Safavids, the treasurer were always one of the eunuchs in the royal service (Jawhar, tr., p. 74; Mirzā Rafiʿā, pp. 44-46; Wāleh, 1938, p. 283; Olearius, p. 672; Du Mans II, pp. 14, 266; Floor, 1998a, p. 36; Floor and Faghfoory, pp. 184-85; Gemelli Carreri, II, p. 221). The treasurer was assisted by a staff of ḵazinadārs, supervisors (mošref), scribes (dabir) and porters (ḥammāl) as well as, in Safavid times, of ʿazabs, key-keepers (keliddār), and ṣarrāfs (Bayhaqi, pp. 220, 259; Horst, p. 23; Naḵjavāni, I, pp. 296-99, 368; Wāleh, 2001, p. 446; Astarābādi, p. 129; Mirzā Rafiʿā, pp. 44-46; Mirzā Samiʿā, pp. 56, 93, 95; Du Mans, II, p. 267). Magnates as well as large pious endowments (waqf) also had treasurers (Bayhaqi, p. 147; Qalqašandi, III, p. 475; Mojmal al-tawāriḵ 408; Puturidze, doc. 49, Fraser, p. 77; cf. ḵāzen-e ḵānaqāh, in Minovi and Afšār, eds., pp. 137, 139, 147, 149, 158, 221-22, 225).

There seems to have been two types of royal treasuries since the 10th century, if not earlier. The ḵezāna-ye ḵāṣṣ of the Saljuqs probably is an early example of one (Horst, p. 23). Neẓām-al-Molk reports: “Kings have always had two treasuries, the capital treasury [ḵezāna-ye aṣl] and the expenses treasury [ḵezāna-ye ḵarj]” (Neẓām-al-Molk, p. 323; tr. p. 246]. This two-fold division also became a physical one under the Safavids when the Shah’s treasury (gold, silver, and crown jewels) was kept in the harem Mirzā Rafiʿā, pp. 44-46; Wāleh, 1938, p. 283; Olearius, p. 672; Du Mans, pp. 14, 266; Floor, 1998a, p. 36; Gemelli Carreri, II, p. 221). Under the Qajars, there the royal treasury (ḵezāna-ye andarun) was kept at the royal harem and directly managed by the shah himself and one of his trusted wives; by the end of the 19th century it became the Wezārat-e ḵezāna-ye ʿāmera. The other treasury (ḵezāna-ye mālia) comprised the department of revenues (ʿāyedāt) and back (baqāyā) taxes and other government sources of income. The mint was also part of the treasury as was the trunk office (ṣandoq-ḵāna) under an official called ḵāzen-al-molk, ḵāzen-al-mamālek, or ganjvar. Starting in 1880, the treasury, which collected taxes, became known as the Wezārat-e ḵezāna or Wezārat-e mālia and the treasurer as vizier (Mostawfi, I, pp. 391-93).

 

Bibliography:

Faridun Ādamiyatand Homā Nāṭeq, Afkār-e ejtemāʿi wa siāsi wa eqteṣādi dar āṯār-e montašer našoda-ye dawrān-e Qājār, Tehran, 1977, p. 49.

Maḥmud b. Hedāyat-Allāh Afuštaʾi Naṭanzi, Noqāwat al-āṯār fi ḏekr al-aḵyār, ed. Eḥsān Ešrāqi, Tehran, 1971.

Moḥammad-Hāšem Āṣaf, Rostam al-tawāriḵ: salāṭin-e selsela-ye Safawiya, Afšāriya, Zandiya, wa Qājāriya, ed. Moḥammad Moširi, Tehran, 1969; tr. Brigitt Hoffman as Persische Geschichte 1694-1835 erlebt, erinnert und erfunden, 2 vols., Bamberg, 1985-86.

Abu’l-Fażl Moḥammad Bayhaqi, Tāriḵ-e Bayhaqi, ed. ʿAli-Akbar Fayyāż, Tehran, 1971.

Christoph Burgel. Die Hoffkorrespondenz ʿAḏud ad-Daulas, und ihr Verhältnis zur anderen historischen Quellen der frühen Buyiden, Wiesbaden, 1965.

Gaspard Drouville, Voyage en Perse, fait en 1812 et 1813, 2 vols., Paris, 1825, II, p. 31.

Raphael du Mans, L’estat de la Perse en 1660, ed. Francis Richard as Raphael du Mans, missionnaire en Perse au XVIIème siècle, 2 vols., Paris 1995.

Ḥosayn b. Mortażā Estrābādi/Astarābādi, Tāriḵ-e solṭāni: az Šayḵ Ṣafi tā Šāh Ṣafi, ed. Eḥsān Ešrāqi, Tehran, 1985.

Maḥmud-Ḥasan Khan Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, Nāma-ye dānešvarān-e nāṣeri, Tehran, 1942.

al-Maʾāṯer wa’l-āṯār, ed. Iraj Afšār as Čehel sāl tāriḵ-e Irān dar dawra-ye pādšāhi-e Nāṣer-al-Din Šāh, 3 vols., Tehran, 1984-89 (annotated by Ḥosayn Maḥbubi Ardakāni).

Maḥmud Khan Eḥtešām-al-Salṭana, Ḵāṭerāt-e Eḥtešām-al-Salṭana, ed. Sayyed Moḥammad-Mahdi Musawi, Tehran, 1987, p. 41.

Willem Floor, The Afghan Occupation of Safavid Persia 1721-1729, Paris, 1998a.

Idem, A Fiscal History of Iran in the Safavid and Qajar Periods 1500-1925, New York, 1998b.

James Baillie Fraser, Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea, with an Appendix Containing Short Notices of the Geology and Commerce of Persia, London, 1926.

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Carreri, Giro del mondo del Dotter ... Gemelli Carreri: parte secunda contenente le cose pič ragguardevoli vendute nella Persia ..., Naples, 1699.

Helāl b. MoḤassen Ṣābeʾ, Toḥfat al-omarāʾ fi taʾriḵ al-wozarāʾ, ed. ʿAbd al-Sattār Aḥmad Farrāj, Cairo, 1958.

Heribert Horst, Die Staatsverwaltung der Grosselgunqen und Hōrazmšāhs, 1038-1231; Eine Untersuchung nach Urkundenformularen der Zeit, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission 18, Wiesbaden, 1964.

Jawhar Āftābači, Taḏkerat al-wāqeʿāt; tr. Charles Stewart as The Tazkereh al vakiat: or Private Memoirs of the Emperor Homayun, Calcutta, 1904.

Beatrice Forbes Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane, Cambridge, Mass., 1989.

Moḥammad-Kāżem Marvi, ʿĀlamārā-ye nāderi, ed. Moḥammad Amin Riāḥi, 3 vols., Tehran, 1985.

Mojtabā Minovi and Iraj Afšār, eds., Waqf-nāma-ye rabʿ-e rašidi: al-Waqfiya al-rašidiya, Tehran, 1977, pp. 150, 159, 197, 218.

Moḥammad Mirḵᵛānd, Tāriḵ-e rawżat al-ṣafā, 11 vols., Tehran, 1959-72.

Mojmal al-tawāriḵ wa’l-qeṣaṣ, ed. Moḥammad-Taqi Malek-al-Soʿarāʾ Bahār, Tehran, 1939.

Momtaḥen-al-Dawla Mahdi Khan Šaqāqi, Ḵāṭerāt-e Momtahen-al-Dawla, Tehran, 1974, pp. 169-70, 220, 222.

James J. Morier, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808-1809 ..., London, 1812, p. 209.

ʿAbd-Allāh Mostawfi, Šarḥ-e zendagāni-e man yā tāriḵ-e ejtemāʿi wa edāri-e dawra-ye Qājār, 3 vols., Tehran, 1964, I, pp. 391-96.

Mirkamal Nabipour, “Die beiden persischen Leitfäden des Falak ʿAla-ye Tabrizi über das Staatliche Rechnungswesen im 14. Jahrhundert,” unpub. diss., Göttingen, 1973.

Moḥammad b. Hendušāh Naḵjavāni, Dastur al-kāteb fi taʿyin al-marāteb, ed. ʿAbd-al-Karim ʿAlizāda, 2 vols. in 3, Moscow, 1964, ʿAli-Naqi Naṣiri, Alqāb wa mawājeb-e dawra-ye salāṭin-e Ṣafawiya, ed. Yusof Raḥimlu, Mašhad, 1993.

Ḵᵛāja Neẓām-al-Molk Ṭūsī, Sīar al-molūk (Sīāsat-nāma), ed. Hubert Darke, 2nd. ed., Tehran, 1968; tr. Hubert Darke as The Book of the Government, or Rules for Kings, London and Boston, 1978.

Adam Olearius, Vermehrte newe Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reyse, so durch Gelegenheit einer holsteinischen Gesandschafft an den russischen Zaar vnd König in Persien geschehen ..., Schleswig, 1656, facs repr., Tübingen, 1971; tr. A. Behpur as Safar-nāma-ye Ādām Oleʾāirus (baḵš-e Irān), Tehran, 1984.

V. S. Puturidze, Gruzino-persidskie Istoricheskie Dokumenty (Georgian-Persian historical documents), Tbilisi, 1955.

Mirzā Abu’l-Qāsem Qāʾem-maqām Farāhāni, Nāmahā-ye pārakanda-ye Qāʾem-maqām Farāhāni, ed. Jahāngir Qāʾem-maqāmi, 2 vols., Tehran 1978, II, pp. 31, 138, 282.

Idem, Nāmahā, ed. Jahāngir Qāʾem-maqāmi as Nāmahā-ye siāsi wa tariḵi-e Sayyed-al-Wozarāʾ Qāʾem-maqām Farāhāni, Tehran, 1979, pp. 139, 205, 210.

Šehāb-al-Din Aḥmad Qalqašandi, Ṣobḥ al-aʿšā fi ṣanʿat al-enšā, ed. Moḥammad-ḤosaynŠams-al-Din, 15 vols., Beirut, 1987.

Mirzā Rafiʿā Moḥammad-Rafiʿ Anṣāri, Dastur al-moluk, ed. Moḥammad-Taqi DānešpaŽuh, in MDAT 16, 1968-69; Russ. tr. A. B. Vil’danova, Tashkent, 1991; facs. ed. and annotated tr. M. I., Marcinkowski as Mīrzā Rafīʿā’s Dastūr al-mulūk: A Manual of Later Safavid Administration, Kuala Lumpur, 2002; publ. in Iraj Afšār, ed., Dafter-e tāriḵ: majmuʿa-ye asnād wa manābeʿ-e tāriḵi, Tehran, 2001, pp. 474-651; ed. and tr. Willem Floor and Mohammad Hassan Faghfoory as Dastūr al-Moluk: A Safavid State Manual, Costa Mesa, Calif., 2007.

Rašid-al-Din Fażl-Allāh Hamadāni, Jāmeʿ al-tawārik, ed. ʿAbd-al-Karim ʿAlizāda, 3 vols., Moscow and Baku, 1957.

Ruz-nāma-ye Irān, facs. ed., 5 vols., Tehran, 1995-99, pp. 825, 1559, 1653, 2750, 3318, 3554, 3759, 3816, 4003, 4038, 4099.

Mirzā Samiʿā, Taḏkerat al-moluk, facs. ed. and tr. V. Minorsky as Tadhkirat al-mulūk: A Manual of Safavid Administration (ca. 1137/1725), London, 1943.

Karim Solaymāni, Alqāb-e rejāl-e dawra-ye Qājāriya, Tehran, 2000, p. 63.

Dominique Sourdel, Le vizirat ʿabbāside de 749 à 936 (132 à 324 de l'hégire), 2 vols., Damascuss, 1959-60.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes, ed. Pascal Pia, Paris, 1930.

Šehāb-al-Din ʿAbd-Allāh Waṣṣāf Ḥażra, Tajziat al-amṣār wa tajziat al-aʿṣār, ed. M. M. Eṣfahāni, Bombay, 1269/1853.

Moḥammad-Yusof Wāleh Eṣfahāni, Ḏayl-e tāriḵ-e ʿālamārā-ye ʿabbāsi, ed. Aḥmad Sohayli Ḵᵛānsāri, Tehran, 1938.

Idem, Ḵold-e barin: Irān dar zamān-e Šāh Ṣafi wa Šāh ʿAbbās-e dovvom, 1030-1071 h.q., ed. Moḥammad-Reżā Naṣiri, Tehran, 2001.

John E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire, Revised and Expanded, Salt Lake City, 1999.

(Willem Floor)

Originally Published: May 31, 2013

Last Updated: May 25, 2010

This article is available in print.
Vol. XVI, Fasc. 2, pp. 221-223