Mahinbanu Sultan

Mahinbanu Sultan
Likely depiction of Princess Sultanum, in the The Princely Lovers, attributable to Mirza Ali, Qazvin, circa 1544.[1]
Born1519
Died1562 (aged 43)
DynastySafavid dynasty
FatherIsmail I
MotherTajlu Khanum
ReligionShia Islam

Mahin Bānū Sultan, better known as Princess Sulțānum,[2] or Shahzada Sultanim (Persian: مهین‌بانو سلطان; 1519–1562) was a Safavid princess of Iran, and the daughter of Shah Ismail I (r. 1501–1524) and Tajlu Khanum.[3] She was the youngest sister of Tahmasp I. She had a big influence on the reign of her brother, and acted as his political adviser.

Biography

Mahinbanu was born in 1519 in Tabriz.[4] She lost her father at the age of five and was given a higher education in the royal court. She was very interested in politics, which her mother Tajlu Khanum ensured she had an education in. After her mother's death in 1540, Mahinbanu was chosen as the only advisor to her brother, Shah Tahmasp. During her brother's reign, Mahinbanu was known as the greatest lady of the Safavid Empire. She never married and dedicated her whole life to the government of her father and brother. After the death of her older brother, Bahram Mirza, she took care of his three children, Sultan Hossein Mirza, Ibrahim Mirza, and Badi-al Zaman Mirza Safavi. Mahinbanu took charge and brought them up, then at her request, the two younger sons of Bahram Mirza married the two eldest daughters of Shah Tahmasp. After that, she was given the title of "Sultana." Mahinbanu Sultan finally died in 1562 at the age of 43 in Qazvin and was buried in her father's tomb in Ardabil, according to her will.

Policy

Mahinbanu Sultan was in politics for 22 years, from the time of her mother's death until her own death. She corresponded with Hurrem Sultan, and after Hurrem's death, these correspondences continued with Hurrem's daughter Mihrimah Sultan. Mutual gifts were exchanged as part of these correspondences, the most famous of which is the Iranian carpet that was given to Hurrem Sultan. She also corresponded with Hamida Banu Begum, the queen of the Gurkanian court.

Beliefs

Like other family members, she believed in shia beliefs and was a person of repentance, religion and practice of Sharia affairs. During her pilgrimage to Mashhad, she arranged the golden window and once again took the furniture and lamps with him and inspected all the Sadats and scholars and the atmosphere there. Also, every year, she dedicated a total amount to the fourteen innocents and placed its responsibility with the king of the time. Despite the fact that Mesopotamia had left Iran and Safavid rule, every year she sent a significant amount of money to the people of Karbala, Najaf, Jabal Amal, Sadat Medina, and the cost of furniture and fittings for the holy shrines.

International intrigue

The Princely Lovers, a likely depiction of an affair between Bahram Beyg and Princess Soltanum.[1]

Princess Soltanum was present at the Safavid court in Qazvin when an embassy from India visited, led by the deposed ruler Humayun, who has been ousted by the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri and betrayed by his brother Mirza Kamran.[1] One of the members of the retinue was Bairam Khan, who may have had an affair with the celibate Mahinbanu Sultan. A 1544 painting by Mirza Ali named The Princely Lovers seems to depict an amorous relation between the two.[1] The male in the painting has a slightly darker face, a convention used to depict people from India, and wears an Indian turban with a central bonnet (not the traditional Persian taj-i Haydari) and a yellow shawl.[1] He was himself a Shia, being of Qara Qoyunlu ancestry.[1]

At one point in the negotiations led by Bairam Beyg, Shah Tahmasp demanded that Bairam Beyg wear the Persian headdress, the taj-i Haydari as a sign of submission. Bairam Beyg refused, saying he needed the permission of his ruler. Shah Tahmasp, in anger, had several heretics executed as a veiled threat to Bairam Beyg. Humeyun later agreed to put on the Persian headdress, which he said he was accepting as "a crown of honor".[1] But when Humayun refused to convert to Shiism, Shah Tahmasp ordered for Humayun and his retinue to be murdered.[1] Mahinbanu Sultan famously intervened, in tears, imploring her brother Shah Tahmasp not to pursue the order.[1] This lends further credence to a possible amorous relationship between Mahinbanu Sultan and Bairam Beyg.[1]

Humayun finally made an implicit acceptance of the Shia faith, Bairam Beyg was given the title of "Khan" by Shah Tahmasp, and was sent as an ambassador to Mirza Kamran in Kabul.[1]

Arts

The Mahin Banu dish (central medallion). China; Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period, 1403–25. Endowment engraving on the back, by Princess Soltanum (1519-1562). It reads waqf-e...razavi 'abduhu mahin banu safavi.[5][6]

Mani Banu had a renowned collection of Chinese porcelain, which she donated to the Imam Riza Shrine at Mashhad in 1561.[7] One of the porcelains is the Mani Banu dish, now in the Al Thani Collection.[8] It is a Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403–25) blue and white porcelain dish manufactured in Jingdezhen, and it bears an endowment engraving on the back, by Princess Soltanum (1519-1562). It reads waqf-e...razavi 'abduhu mahin banu safavi ("This is an endowment dedicated to the Razavi shrine, made by its humble servant, Lady Mahin Banu Safavi.").[9][8]

Mani Banu learned calligraphy from Dust Muhammad, and some of her elegant poems appear in the Bahram Mirza Album.[10]

She dedicated her jewelry to Imam Zaman and Imam Reza.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Soudavar, Abolala (1992). Art of the Persian courts : selections from the Art and History Trust Collection. New York : Rizzoli. pp. 170–173. ISBN 978-0-8478-1660-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  2. ^ Soudavar, Abolala (1998). "A Chinese Dish from the Lost Endowment of Princess Sulțänum". Iran and Iranian studies : essays in honor of Iraj Afshar. Princeton, N.J. : Zagros. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-9663442-0-2.
  3. ^ Conze, Edward (1960). "The Calcutta manuscript of the Ratnaguasacayagāthā". Indo-Iranian Journal. 4 (1): 37–58. doi:10.1163/000000060790085311. ISSN 0019-7246.
  4. ^ a b ISMAIL, NASHWA (2020-01-08). "Wiki moderators' contributions to enhance the pedagogical implementation of Wiki". Journal of Education Culture and Society. 4 (2): 192–199. doi:10.15503/jecs20132.192.199. ISSN 2081-1640.
  5. ^ Soudavar, Abolala (1998). "A Chinese Dish from the Lost Endowment of Princess Sulțänum". Iran and Iranian studies : essays in honor of Iraj Afshar. Princeton, N.J. : Zagros. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-9663442-0-2.
  6. ^ "The Mahin Banu dish". The Al Thani Collection.
  7. ^ Golombek, Lisa; Mason, Robert B.; Proctor, Patricia; Reilly, Eileen (9 December 2013). Persian Pottery in the First Global Age: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. BRILL. p. 24. ISBN 978-90-04-26092-4.
  8. ^ a b "The Mahin Banu dish". The Al Thani Collection.
  9. ^ Soudavar, Abolala (1998). "A Chinese Dish from the Lost Endowment of Princess Sulțänum". Iran and Iranian studies : essays in honor of Iraj Afshar. Princeton, N.J. : Zagros. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-9663442-0-2.
  10. ^ Roxburgh, David J. (2001). Prefacing the image: the writing of art history in sixteenth-century Iran. Leiden ; Boston: Brill. pp. 45, 69. ISBN 978-90-04-11376-3The calligraphy is in folio 7b-8a of the Bahram Mirza Album{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

Sources

  • Hani Khafipour. The Foundations of Safavid State: fealty, patronage, and ideals of authority (1501-1576). — Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago, 2013. — P. 254.
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