Shah Rukh

Shah Rukh
Forensic facial reconstruction
Reign 1405 – 1447 Most of Transoxiana and Persia
Coronation Self-proclaimed in 1405 after the death of Timur (Tamerlane)
Predecessor Timur
Successor Ulugh Beg Transoxiana and Central Asia, Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Persia
Born (1377-08-20)20 August 1377
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Died 13 March 1447(1447-03-13) (aged 69)
Spouse Gawhar Shad Agha
Malikat Agha
Tuti Agha
Aq Sultan Agha
Mihr Nigar Agha
La'l Takin Agha
Full name
Moin-ud-din Shah Rukh[1]
House House of Timur
Father Timur
Mother Taghay Tarkhan Agha
Religion Islam

Shāh Rukh (Persian: شاهرخ‎ Šāhrokh)[2][3] (August 20, 1377 – March 13, 1447) was the Timurid ruler of the eastern portion of the empire established by his father, Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) who founded the Timurid dynasty, governing most of Persia and Transoxiana between 1405 and 1447. Shāh Rukh was the fourth and youngest son of Timur.

In Persia and Transoxiana Shāhrukh was able to secure effective control from about 1409. His empire controlled the main trade routes between East and West, including the legendary Silk Road, and became immensely wealthy as a result.

The devastation of main cities led to the cultural centre of the empire shifting to Samarqand in modern Uzbekistan and Herat in modern Afghanistan. Shāhrukh chose to have his capital not in Samarqand, but in Herat. This was to become the political centre of the Timurid empire, and residence of his principal successors, though both cities benefited from the wealth and privilege of Shāhrukh's court, which was a great patron of the arts and sciences.

Culture

Shāhrukh's wife, Gowwhar Shād, funded the construction of two outstanding mosques and theological colleges in Mashhad and Herāt. The Gowwhar-Shād-Mosque was finished in 1418. The mixed ethnic origins of the ruling dynasty led to a distinctive character in its cultural outlook, which was a combination of Persian civilization and art, with borrowings from China, and literature written in Persian as well as Chagatay and Arabic.

Shāhrukh commissioned the production of a number of historical and geographic works by Hafiz-i Abru. Among them is Tāriḵ-e Šāhroḵ(i), the history of Shāhrukh's reign through AH 816 (AD 1413-14). It was later incorporated by its author into larger "universal history" compilations, Majmuʿa-ye Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru (a universal history work) and Majmaʿ al-tawāriḵ [al-solṭāni(ya)] (section Zobdat al-tawāriḵ-e Bāysonḡori).[4]

Foreign relations

During Shāhrukh's rule, relations between the Timurid state and Ming China under the rule of the Yongle Emperor and his descendants normalized, as compared to the era of Timur and the Hongwu Emperor (the first emperor of Ming China), who almost started a war (which was averted only due to the death of Timur). Chinese embassies, led by Chen Cheng, visited Samarqand and Herat several times in 1414-1420,[5][6] while a large embassy sent by Shāhrukh (and immortalized by its diarist, Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh) traveled to China in 1419-1422.[7][8]

Personal life

Consorts

Shah Rukh had six consorts:

  • Gawhar Shad Agha, daughter of Giyas-al-ddin Terkhan;
  • Malikat Agha, daughter of Khizr Ughlan Chaghatay, widow of Umar Shaikh Mirza;
  • Tuti Agha, a Narin Mughal lady;
  • Aq Sultan Agha, daughter of Charkas bin Timan Ilchigiday;
  • Mihr Nigar Agha, an Uzbek Bisut lady;
  • La'l Takin Agha;
Daughters
  • Maryam Sultan Agha - with Gawhar Shad Agha, married to Muhammad Jahangir Mirza, son of Muhammad Sultan Mirza, son of Jahangir Mirza, son of Timur;
  • Qutlugh Turkan Agha - with Gawhar Shad Agha;
  • Qutlugh Sultan Agha - with Tuti Agha;
  • Taghay Turkan Agha - with Tuti Agha;
  • Sa'adat Sultan Agha - with Gawhar Shad Agha;
  • Payanda Sultan Agha - with Aq Sultan Agha, married to Yahya Mirza, son of Muhammad Sultan Mirza, son of Jahangir Mirza, son of Timur;

Death and succession

Shāhrukh died during a journey in Rey in Persia and was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Taragae Uluğ Bēg, who had been viceroy of Transoxiana during his father's lifetime.

In total, Shāhrukh had five sons.

  • Ulugh Beg, viceroy of Transoxiana, was the oldest.
  • Sultan Ibrahim Mirza (1394–1435), viceroy of Persia, was second oldest but predeceased Shāhrukh.[9]
  • Baysonqor (1397–1433), Shāhrukh's artistic third son never had a vice-royal position, but played an important part in his father's government in Samarqand, also pre-deceased his father, perhaps due to over consumption of alcohol.[10]
  • His fourth son, Soyurghatmish Mirza (1399–1426), was viceroy of India and Ghazni, but also died before Shāhrukh, as did the others.
  • His fifth son Muhammad Juki Mirza (1402–1444), was viceroy of Garmsir and Khuttal, but also died before Shāhrukh, as did the others.

Thus, only Ulugh Beg, who was an excellent mathematician but an incapable ruler, was left to succeed his father.[9]

Facial reconstruction

Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov reconstructed the facial features of Timur, his son Shāhrukh and grandson Ulug Beg. Relative to the others, Timur appears to have been phenotypically East Asian, while Shāhrukh, the son of a Tajik woman, had more Europoid features. Shāhrukh appeared more similar to brachycephalic Europoids.[11][12] Shāhrukh's son Ulugh Beg however, had predominantly mongloid features, and no obvious caucasoid feature.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Karim Najafi Barzegar, Mughal-Iranian relations: during sixteenth century (2000), p.17
  2. ↑ Alternatives: Shāhruh, Shāhrokh or Shāhrukh
  3. ↑ The Persian meaning of the name is (literally) "face of a king"; it is also the Persian name for the chess move "castling". According to Ibn ‘Arabshāh, his father was playing chess when he received the news of his birth, using this chess move as a name for the newborn child (Ibn Arabshah, Ahmed (1936). Tamerlane or Timur the Great Amir. Trans. J.H. Sanders. London: Luzac and Co., p. 47).
  4. ↑ Maria Eva Subtelny and Charles Melville, Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru at Encyclopædia Iranica
  5. ↑ Tsai, Shih-Shan Henry (2002), Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle, University of Washington Press, p. 162, ISBN 0-295-98124-5
  6. ↑ Goodrich, L. Carrington; Tay, C.N. (1976), "Ch'en Ch'eng", in Goodrich, L. Carrington; Fang, Chaoying, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Volume I (A-L), Columbia University Press, pp. 144–145, ISBN 0-231-03801-1
  7. ↑ Brook, Timothy (1978), "Chapter 10, Communications and commerce", in Twitchett, Denis Crispin; Fairbank, John King, The Cambridge History of China, 8, "The Ming Dynasty: 1368-1644", Part 2, Cambridge University Press, pp. 583–584, ISBN 0-521-24333-5
  8. ↑ Brook, Timothy (1998), The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China, University of California Press, pp. 34–38, ISBN 0-520-21091-3
  9. 1 2 Stevens, John. The history of Persia. Containing, the lives and memorable actions of its kings from the first erecting of that monarchy to this time; an exact Description of all its Dominions; a curious Account of India, China, Tartary, Kermon, Arabia, Nixabur, and the Islands of Ceylon and Timor; as also of all Cities occasionally mention'd, as Schiras, Samarkand, Bokara, &c. Manners and Customs of those People, Persian Worshippers of Fire; Plants, Beasts, Product, and Trade. With many instructive and pleasant digressions, being remarkable Stories or Passages, occasionally occurring, as Strange Burials; Burning of the Dead; Liquors of several Countries; Hunting; Fishing; Practice of Physick; famous Physicians in the East; Actions of Tamerlan, &c. To which is added, an abridgment of the lives of the kings of Harmuz, or Ormuz. The Persian history written in Arabick, by Mirkond, a famous Eastern Author that of Ormuz, by Torunxa, King of that Island, both of them translated into Spanish, by Antony Teixeira, who liv'd several Years in Persia and India; and now render'd into English.
  10. ↑ BĀYSONḠOR, ḠĪĀT-AL-DĪN B. ŠĀHROḴ B. TĪMŪR in Encyclopedia Iranica
  11. ↑ Greater Iran: a 20th-century odyssey. Author
  12. ↑ Ich suchte Gesichter. Author:Mikhail Mikhaĭlovich Gerasimov

Further reading

  • Manz, Beatrice Forbes (2007). Power, Politics, and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15346-1.
Shah Rukh
Preceded by
Khalil Sultan		 Timurid Empire
1405–1447		 Succeeded by
Ulugh Beg
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