著者

徳永 佳晃

出版者

日本イスラム協会

雑誌

イスラム世界 = The world of Islam (ISSN:03869482)

巻号頁・発行日

no.94, pp.1-27, 2020-12

著者

徳永 佳晃

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 = The Toyo Gakuho (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.100, no.4, pp.01-026, 2019-03

---

Scholars believe that Safavid Iran (1501–1722) and Mughal India (1526–1858) emphasized their friendly relations with each other and peace was established for many years. It is typical of their good relationship that their monarchs referred to each other in diplomatic correspondence as family members since the seventeenth century. However, detailed analyses of this diplomatic practice have not been conducted. Why did these two empires continue this practice over several generations? To investigate this practice, this study analyzed the usages of terms and expressions indicative of their fictive kinship between the Safavids and the Mughals in their diplomatic correspondence of the seventeenth century. The study particularly focused on correspondence about the Qandahar dispute, which was the biggest disagreement between these two empires. This study revealed the following three points. Firstly, Abbas I (r. 1587–1629) and Jahangir (r. 1605–1627), who experienced a military confrontation regarding Qandahar in 1622, justified their operations using the discourse of kinship, thereby preventing a total breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two empires. Secondly, when confronted by the Qandahar dispute, the heirs of these two monarchs followed this diplomatic practice in an attempt to lessen the negative influence of the Qandahar problem on theit relations, Thirdly, their fictive kinship was referred to in their correspondence with the intention of fixing the relationship, while diplomatic relations generally deteriorated in the second half of the century. In sum, to maintain friendly relations between Safavid Iran and Mughal India, the countries’ monarchs used terms of fictive kinship in their diplomatic correspondence. In addition, they each used that kinship discourse to request the other to accede to their political and diplomatic demands and to explain their military actions. In conclusion, the usages of terms of fictive kinship between these two imperial houses in their diplomatic correspondence over several generations reflect their diplomatic policies used to justified pursuit of their greatest interests while preventing full-scale confrontations.