Bio: Dominic Parviz Brookshaw
Dominic Parviz Brookshaw teaches Persian language and medieval
Persian literature at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. His
recent publications include: ³Palaces, Pavilions and Pleasure-gardens: the
Context and Setting of the Medieval majlis,² in Middle Eastern Literatures,
Vol. 6, No. 2 (2003), pp.199-223; Zia'-al-Saltana and Maryam Khanom
(respectively 7th daughter and 39th wife of Fath-'Ali Shah Qajar) in
Encyclopaedia Iranica (forthcoming).
Abstract
Secluded Voices: Women at the Court of Fath-'Ali Shah Qajar
The women of Fath-'Ali Shah's haramsara have often been dismissed as the
by-products of the erotomania of a decadent age. But, what can we rediscover
of their literary and artistic talents, their position at court and how they
were regarded by the men who surrounded them? This paper will focus on the
prominent wives and (especially) the daughters of Fath-'Ali Shah and it will
survey the arenas in which they were most influential, namely, as poets and
calligraphers; as secretaries in the andaruni; as holders of official
positions in the haramsara and as religious preachers. Through an analysis
of unpublished Qajar tadhkiras, published Qajar histories and contemporary
western accounts, I hope to shed light on the important role played by women
of the royal court in this period.