AMĪN(-E) ḴALWAT (Trustee of the Shah’s private household or court), an office and title in the late Qajar period held by the following members of the Ḡaffārī family:
1. Mīrzā Hāšem Khan was the keeper of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah’s private funds (rīāsat-e edāra-ye ṣarf-e ǰīb-e mobārak) until 1278/1861-62, when he was appointed amīn(-e) ḵalwat and the head of the court personnel (rīāsat-e ʿamala-ye ḵalwat), commander of the royal musketeers (tofangdārān-e ḵāṣṣa), and the dean (rīš-safīd) of the Shah’s household (ḵalwat). In 1288/1871 he was given a seat in the Consultative Assembly of the government (Dār-al-šūrā-ye Kobrā) and in the same year, after the death of his brother Farroḵ Khan Amīn-al-dawla (Ṣafar, 1288/May, 1871), the Shah granted him the latter’s title and appointed him wazīr-e ḥożūr (M. ʿA. Ḡaffārī, Ḵāṭerāt, p. 34; Mostawfī, Zendagānī-e man I, p. 105). Hāšem Khan died in 1294/1877 and was buried in Qom (Bāmdād, Reǰāl IV, pp. 413-15).
2. Moḥammad Khan Eqbāl-al-dawla (1264-1342/1848-1923), the son of Hāšem Khan, succeeded his father as amīn-e ḵalwat in 1288/1871. He also served as governor of Kāšān, Kermānšāh, and Isfahan and as minister of state lands (wazīr-e koll-e ḵāleṣaǰāt). In Šawwāl, 1299/August-September, 1882 the Shah granted him the title Eqbāl-al-dawla (Bāmdād, Reǰāl III, pp. 214-15). He is buried in Qom.
3. Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Khan Ṣāḥeb(-e) Eḵtīār (1276-1366/1859-1947), younger son of Hāšem Khan and brother of Moḥammad Khan; he was appointed amīn-e ḵalwat and commander of the musketeers in Šawwāl, 1299/August-September, 1882. He also became the private secretary (monšī-e ḥożūr) of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah. In 1307/1889-90, as amīn-e ḵalwat, he was appointed the head of the court personnel. In 1309/1892, he received the laqab of wazīr-e maḵṣūṣ and in Raǰab, 1314/December, 1896, during the reign of Moẓaffar-al-dīn Shah, he was appointed minister of the court (wazīr-e darbār-e aʿẓam; see Afżal-al-molk, Afżal al-tawārīḵ, p. 57). This ministry seems to have gradually replaced amīn-e ḵalwat’s office and this title finally ended as purely a laqab. He held several cabinet posts and was the governor of Fārs (twice), Khorasan, and Tehran. He died at an advanced age after having served the last four kings of the Qajar dynasty.
4. Ḥasan-ʿAlī Khan (1267-1359 Š./1888-1980) nephew of the above; he received the laqab of amīn-e ḵalwat in 1325/1907 and became moʿāwen-al-dawla in 1337/1918 after his father, Moḥammad-Ebrāhīm Khan Ḡaffārī (1276-1337/1859-1918).
Bibliography:
See also Ḡ. Ḥ. Afżal-al-molk, Afżal al-tawārīḵ, ed.
M. Etteḥādīya and S. Saʿdvandīān, Tehran, 1361 Š./1982, pp. 82, 189, 384.
M. ʿA. Ḡaffārī, Ḵāṭerāt o asnād (Tārīḵ-e Ḡaffārī), Tehran, 1361 Š./1982.
Q. Ḡānī, Yāddāšthā-ye Doktor Qāsem Ḡānī IX, London, 1982, p. 479.
D. Moʿayyer-al-mamālek, Reǰāl-e ʿaṣr-e Nāṣerī, Tehran, 1361 Š./1982, pp. 127-39.
ʿA. Mostawfī, Šarḥ-e zendagānī-e man yā tārīḵ-e eǰtemāʿī o edārī-e dawra-ye Qāǰārīya I, 2nd ed., Tehran, n.d., pp. 90-91, 413.
Ḥ. Narāqī and F. Ḡaffārī, Ḵāndan-e Ḡaffārī-e Kāšān, Tehran, 1353 Š./1974.
Ḥ. Neẓām-al-salṭana Māfī, Ḵāṭerāt o asnād, ed. M. Neẓām Mafī et al., Tehran, 1361 Š./1982, I, pp. 148, 168, 199, 202-03; II, pp. 472, 473.
(F. Gaffary)
Originally Published: December 15, 1989
Last Updated: August 3, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 9, pp. 946-947
F. Gaffary, “AMĪN ḴALWAT,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/9, pp. 946-947, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amin-e-kalwat (accessed on 30 December 2012).
