DASTŪR AL-KĀTEB FĪ TAʿYĪN AL-MARĀTEB, administrative manual written by Moḥammad Naḵjavānī (ca. 679/1280-after 768/1366), son of Faḵr-al-Dīn Hendūšāh b. Sanjar Naḵjavānī, author of Tajāreb al-salaf. The work was commissioned during the reign of the Il-khan Abū Saʿīd (716-36/1316-35) by the vizier Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Moḥammad, son of the great vizier Rašīd-al-Dīn Fażl-Allāh. It provides a detailed and immensely valuable description of the machinery of government as it existed toward the end of the period of Mongol rule in Persia. It was not, however, completed during the lifetimes of Abū Saʿīd and Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn. It took nearly thirty more years to reach its definitive form and was ultimately dedicated to the Jalayerid sultan Shaikh Oways (757-76/1356-74). According to what is apparently the best manuscript (Köprülü Library, Istanbul, ms. no. 1241), dated 798/1396, Naḵjavānī finished the work in 761/1360, but revision and polishing (in Tabrīz) took until 767/1365-66. The work contains a great deal of information not found elsewhere, for example, information on legal procedures under the late Il-khanids (see Morgan, esp. pp. 174-76). It has been edited by A. A. Alizade (2 vols. in 3 pts., Moscow, 1964-76); the second volume (pt. 2, pp. 40-69) contains an introduction and a discussion of the whole work in English.
Bibliography:
D. O. Morgan, “The ‘Great Yāsā of Chingiz Khān’ and Mongol Law in the Īlkhānate,” BSOAS 49, 1986, pp. 163-76, esp. 174-76.
(David O. Morgan)
Originally Published: December 15, 1994
Last Updated: November 18, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 2, pp. 113-114