ʿABBĀS-QOLĪ MĪRZĀ QAJAR

 

ʿABBĀS-QOLĪ MĪRZĀ, son of Ebrāhīm Khan Ẓahīr-al-dawla and, through his mother (the princess Dawlatgeldī, titled Navvāb-e motaʿālīa), a grandson of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah. When Ẓahīr-al-dawla, governor of Kermān since 1218/1803, went to Tehran in 1240/1824, he appointed ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā as his deputy in Kermān. The latter took precedence over governor’s own twenty-one sons, thanks to his high-born mother. Ẓahīr-al-dawla died in Tehran in 1240/1824 or 1241/1825; and ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā was made governor of Kermān, as was customary in the early Qajar period and also because of his close family ties with the shah. Persia had fared badly during the Second Russo-Turkish War (1826-28), so that the shah’s position within the country weakened, and unrest made itself felt throughout the provinces. A particularly prominent factor was the hostility felt toward the crown prince ʿAbbās Mīrzā (q.v.), who was held responsible for the disaster. The rebellion of ʿAbbās-qolī must be seen in this context; it was evidently inspired by Moḥammad-Qāsem Khan Dāmaḡānī, who had already been vizier of Kermān under Ẓahīr-al-dawla. The chronology of events is uncertain. Ḵanlar Khan, whom the shah commissioned to reestablish his authority in Kermān, was murdered in Bāḡīn on the governor’s orders while returning to Tehran (20 Jomādā II1243/8 January 1828). An army of 20,000 men advanced from Kermān to Yazd, where Moḥammad-Valī Mīrzā (son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah) was governor. But it dispersed in Šemš (12 farsaḵs southeast of Yazd) after Mīrzā Ḥosayn Vazīr (grandfather of Aḥmad-ʿAlī Khan Vazīrī, author of a history and geography of Kermān) had remonstrated with them. ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā sought refuge with Ḥosayn-ʿAlī Mīrzā Farmānfarmā in Shiraz; finding no help there, he moved on to Māzandarān. Here he was placed under arrest; but his life was spared, because he was a grandson of the shah and son-in-law of the prince Moḥammad-qolī Mīrzā Molkārā, governor of Māzandarān. In 1243/1828 Ḥasan-ʿAlī Mīrzā Šoǰāʿ-al-salṭana was made governor of Kermān, and in 1831 the crown prince ʿAbbās Mīrzā was sent there to restore order. ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā played no further role in political life. Eʿtemād-al-salṭana mentions in the sālnāma for 1298/1881 (supplement to Tārīḵ montaẓem-e Nāṣerī, Tehran, 1298/1880-81, I, p. 3) a Šāh-morād Mīrzā, son of the “late” Ḥāǰī ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā; the latter could be the same governor of Kermān whom we described here.

Bibliography:

The most important source for the governorship of ʿAbbās-qolī Mīrzā is Aḥmad-ʿAlī Khan Vazīrī, Tārīḵ-e Kermān (Sālārīya), ed. M. E. Bāstānī Pārīzī, 2nd ed., Tehran, 1352 Š./1973, pp. 593-98; in numerous footnotes the editor has collected information scattered throughout the most important chronicles of the early Qajar period.

 

(H. Busse)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 13, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 1, p. 85

Cite this entry:

H. Busse, “'Abbas Mirza Qajar,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/1, p. 85; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abbas-qoli-mirza-qajar (accessed on 10 January 2014).