MIRKHWAND

born 1433, Balkh [now in Afghanistan] died June 22, 1498, Herat also spelled Mirkhond, byname of Muhammad Ibn Khavandshah Ibn Mahmud one of the most important Persian chroniclers of Iran under the Timurid dynasty (15th century). He was a member of an old family of sayyids (those who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad) established in Bukhara. Spending most of his life in Herat in the court of the last Timurid sultan, Husayn Bayqarah (14691506), Mirkhwand enjoyed the protection of Husayn's renowned minister, 'Ali Shir Nava'i, a celebrated patron of literature and himself a writer of great distinction. At the request of his patron, he began about 1474 his general history, Rowzat os-safa' (Eng. trans. begun as History of the Early Kings of Persia, 1832; continued as The Rauzat-us-Safa; or, Garden of Purity, 189194). The work is composed of seven large volumes and a geographic appendix, sometimes considered an eighth volume. The history begins with the age of the pre-Islamic Persian kings and surveys the major Muslim rulers of Iran up to the events of 1523. The seventh volume may have been finished by Mirkhwand's grandson, the historian Khwandamir (Khondamir), and in the 19th century Reza Qoli Khan Hedayat wrote a supplement to the work. Mirkhwand is often criticized for his highly embellished and bombastic style and for his uncritical approach to the sources, but his history preserves sections from earlier works that have since been lost. Volumes 5 and 6 are particularly reliable, for they utilize the abundant historiographic materials of the Mongol and Timurid periods and furnish independent information on the events that are contemporary or nearly contemporary with the author's lifetime.