Royal women have been male court poets’ object of praise in the Persian tradition for many centuries. Sadi’s poems in praise of the Salghurid royals who ruled in thirteenth-century Shiraz, Abish Khatun and Tirkan Khatun, are well known. There is also evidence from the pre-Timurid, Timurid and Safavid periods that some women of political importance such as Shah Tahmasp’s unmarried daughter Pari Khan Khanum composed fine poetry and commissioned historical chronicles (tazkira) to project their power. Pari Khan Khanum, who virtually ruled Iran during the last years of her father’s reign and played a key role in the rise to power of her brother Isma’il Mirza, left a strong impression on the minds of chroniclers. Safavid writers’ high regard for the celibate daughter—who gained social legitimacy through her distinguished birth and lineage—was due to the strong blood ties that united the social and political culture of the time.
This study will examine in particular how Pari Khan Khanum in literary projects collaborated with the court poet Muhtasham Kashani, whom she deemed as the most eloquent poet of the age. With her patronage, Muhtasham Kashani became more associated with Shah Tahmasp’s court than any other poet. This study will analyze Muhtasham Kashani’s qasidas which liken her to ideal daughters such as Fatima b. Muhammad and Maryam b. Imrān, underscoring the relation of poetry to political authority and the rhetoric of rulership; with dramatic imagery and emotive expression, he also describes his lady patron in somewhat sensual language. This study will also compare his panegyrics that refer to her to his poems dedicated to other dignitaries. In light of what is recorded in chronicles about Pari Khan Khanum’s extensive involvement in the affairs of state, Muhtasham Kashani's depiction of her as an august figure representing eros and sanctity is not empty hyperbole but an optimal abstraction of royalty on par with male counterparts. As Beatrice Gruendler states, panegyrics should not be read for their textual properties in isolation, but for their potential to persuade and affect audiences. This study hopes to survey how praise poetry—responding to the power of female literary patronage—affected the Safavid cultural and political contexts that shaped it and which in turn it shaped.
