著者

後藤 裕加子

出版者

東洋史研究会

雑誌

東洋史研究 (ISSN:03869059)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.66, no.4, pp.663-631, 2008-03

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In Islamic historical writing the canonical Hijra calendar was ordinarily used to date historical events. In the area where Persian was the main written language of the inhabitants, historians began to write in Persian, but the Hijra calendar remained in use. After the Mongol invasion, the cyclical Chinese-Uighur calendar, in which the years were represented by a series of twelve animals, was introduced and used in parallel with the Hijra calendar in Persian historical writing and in dating the issuance of farmans (royal decrees). After the fall of the Il-Khanid dynasty in the first half of the 14th century, the use of the solar animal calendar in Persian historiography became rare, even though it was still in use in administrative affairs. The Safavid dynasty, which had taken control of Persia in 1501, revived the use of the animal calendar, in the form of the Turkish calendar, sal-i turki. A special characteristic of this calendar is the conformity of New Year's Day with nauruz (New Year's Day) of Persian origin. Then in the later reign of Shah Tahmasb I and that of Shah Sultan Muhammad Hudabandah, most of the farmans that were issued between the late 960's (the early 1560's) and the late 990's (the late 1580's) had a corresponding animaldesignated year in addition to a Hijra date. This period corresponds to the period when the Turkish calendar was given precedence over the Hijra dates in the Safavid chronicles, and both calendars were used in tandem. In the reign of 'Abbas I, dates based on the coronation of the shahs were added to supplement the dates from the Turkish and Hijra calendars. These chronicles were written by munsis (secretaries) who were in charge of drawing up farmans with animal-designated years. From this period onward the nauruz festival began to be celebrated in the Chihil-Sutun palace in the capital Qazwin and was established as an important ceremony of the royal court. The Safavids had struggled up to this point to escape the influence of the Qizilbas tribes and construct a centralized government. The introduction of the Turkish calendar and the nauruz festival are aspects of a policy that sought to establish a strong Safavid kingship.