I need
help in this area. I am going to research this more but if
you have anything that can help make this part of our webpage
more useful please contact us.
Bakhtiyari
history, stretching back to the fourteenth century, and the
200-year leadership role of Duraki khans within it tantalize
the social historian of Iran. There is great temptation to
assume that the extraordinary continuity in the name Bakhtiyari
can also be found in Bakhtiyari political, economic, and social
organization.(Khans and Shahs, A documentary
analysis of the Bakhtiyari in Iran by Gene R. Garthwaite)
This
is from the book by W.Morgan Shuster and in it he talks about
the Bakhtiari's as part of the forces who fought for the restoration
of the constituation.
The Strangling of Persia; W.Morgan Shuster
At this
juncture the Russian Legation again intervened by sending
a threatening communcation to Sipahdar, demanding, in effect,
the cessation of his march on Teheran.
On June
16 the Bakhtiyari forces, composed of about 800 men, actually
started for Teheran, and shortly thereafter they were in communication
with the Nationalists at Kasvin. Both the British and Russian
Legations exhausted every effort to deter the Bakhtiyari leaders
from their purpose, but without success. On June 23 the advance
guard of this force had reached Qum, eighty miles to the south
of Teheran.
In Spite
of repeated threats from the Legations the Sarda-i-Asad announced
that he had certain demans to make on the Shah, and the advance
continued. Still endeavoring to frighten the Nationalist forces,
the Russian Goverment began to assemble an expeditionary army
at Baku to be sent into Northern Persia.
At this
time the Shah's troops were reported to be some 5000 at Saltanatabad
and 1350 soliders of the Cossack Brigade, of whome 800 under
Colonel Liakhoff were at Teheran, 350 to the north of the
capital, and 200 to the south, awaiting the approach of the
Bakhtiyaris. On July 3, the force at Karaj fell back to Shahabad,
only 16 miles from Teheran, and on the next day a skirmish
between this body and the advancing Nationalists took place.
The Persian Cossacks, under Captain Zapolski, with Russian
non-commissioned officers and three guns, lost on Persian
officer, three men killed and two wounded. The Nationalists
lost twelve.
Meanwhile,
Russia was despatching her troops from Baku and by July 8
some 2000 of them were on Persian soil. On July 11 they had
reached Kasvin. The Legation had also warned the Nationalists
that any further advance by them towards the capital would
be followed by foreign intervention.
Further
endeavors to frightern or pursuade the Nationalist leaders
were made, but without effect.
On July
10 an engagement took place between troops of the Cossak Brigade
and the Bakhtiyaris at Badamak, fifteen miles to west of Teheran,
but the result was indecisive. Skirmishing continued for the
next two days, and on July 13 the two Nationalist forces,
to the utter surprise of the Cossack Brigade and Royalist
troops, slipped through their lines and quietly entered Teheran
at 6:30 in the morning. The skill of the manoeuver was undoubtedly
due to Ephraim Khan, the Armenian leader who has been mentioned
heretofore.
There
was street fighting in Teheran during the entire day. The
people received the Nationalist forces with the greatest enthusiasm,
and July 13 was regarded as the day of their salvation. On
the next day the Cossack Brigade, under Colonel Liakhoff,
was still beseiged in its barracks and square in the center
of the city, and the Russian Colonel wrote to the Sipah-dar,
as head of the Nationalist forces, proposing terms for the
surrender of the Brigade. The Nationalist troops behaved themselves
throughout with the utmost discretion and gallantry. On July
15 they were in full possession of the capital, although the
Cossack Brigade still held the central square.
On July
16 at 8:30 A.M. the Shah, with a large body of his soliders
and attendents, took refuge in the Russian Legation in Zargundeh,
some miles outside the city, and thus abdicated his throne.
He had previously obtained the consent of the Legation to
his doing this. Both Russian and British flags were hoisted
over the Russian Minister's home as soon as it was occupied
by the Shah. In the meantime Colonel Liakhoff had practically
surrendered to the Nationalist leaders, and had formally accepted
server under the new Goverment, agreeing to act under the
direct orders of the Minister of War.
Late
this same evening an extraordinary meeting took place at the
Baharistaan grounds, and the Shah was formally deposed. His
son, Sultan Ahmed Mirza, aged twelve, was proclaimed his successor,
and Azudu'l-Milk, the venerable head of the Qajar family,
was declared Regent.
Thus,
on July 16, 1909, the apparently lost cause of constitutionalism
in Persia had been suddenly revived, and by a display of courage,
patriotism and skill by the soliders of the people, their
hopes for a representative goverment had been restored, almost
over-night.
The following
is from 'Aleph:The
Bakhtiari'
In tracing
the origins and history of the Luri-speaking Bakhtiari and
the peoples of the central Zagros region we come upon the
difficulties of an inadequate literary evidence to serve as
a sequence and record of millenia of history in this elevated
region.
Thus we are
obliged to gather information from a number of sources inorder
to get evidence on who the Bakhtiari are, how they live and
if possible from where they come. In this search archaeology,
linguistics, mythology and a host of other cultural sciences
are better needed to study the history of the Bakhiari or infact
any living ancient peoples.
The Bakhtiari
do not figure in ancient records and there is only a passing
mention of them in medieval accounts. From the eighteenth century
there is increasing notice of them, in particular nineteenth-century
European travellers and emmisaries report on the Bakhtiari,
somewhat filling the gaps left by the lack of scientific evidence
with their own peculiar romanticism.
"Bakhtiari"
itself means bearer,or friend, of luck or good fortune, it is
posited that the name "Bakhtiari" became associated with these
pastoral nomads from some time in the Safavid period (1501-1722).
Further it is possible that some leader was known as 'friend
of good fortune' and his followers were identified with him
and his name.
The roots
of the Bakhtiari may be partly revealed through a number of
legends:
- The
Bakhtiari arrived from Syria. This legend is given some
substance by the 14th century source Tarikh Guzidah(Select
History)
- Another
states: "The tribes of Louristan trace their origin to the
most remote antiquity; but say that their ancestors intermarried
with several Turkish hoards which they had invited from
Syria to settle amongst them.
- A more
mythical piece of folk-history is the legend that the Bakhtiari
are descendents of the men who were allowed to escape the
fate of having their brains fed to the serpents growing
from the shoulders of Zahak-e Mar-Dush, whose legend
may be read in Firdausi's "Shah-Nameh" (Book of Kings).
