Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

AGA MOHAMKD SHAH.
CHAPTER LXX1V
THE FOUNDING OF THE KAJAR
DYNASTY
Aga Mohamed e"tait dans 1'usage, a l'e"gard de ses serviteurs qui avaient le
malheur de lui deplaire, de leur faire ouvrir le ventre, et arracher les entrailles.
Nous pourrions citer sa vie entiere, pour montrer a quel point cet homme
fut atroce. Voyage en Perse, by G. A. OLIVIER, v. 136.
Aga Mohamed Khan, Kajar. The memory of few
Persians is so universally execrated as that of Aga
Mohamed Khan, the founder of the Kajar dynasty. The
eldest of the nine sons of Mohamed Husayn Khan, he
was captured and castrated by Adil Shah when a boy of
five, and this misfortune would sufficiently account for
the vindictiveness and cruelty which have branded the
Eunuch-Monarch for all time. 1
Karim Khan, who was eminently conciliatory, had
married Aga Mohamed's sister, and treated his brotherin-law,
who lived at his court as a hostage, with special
kindness. Moreover, realizing
his shrewdness and
capacity, he frequently asked his advice and paid him
the signal compliment of naming him Piran-wisa, after
the celebrated Vizier of Afrasiab, the legendary King of
Turan. This kindness the vindictive Kajar repaid by
cutting the carpets he sat on in the audience-room.
Hearing from his sister that Karim Khan was at the
Shiraz on the
point of death, Aga Mohamed quitted
pretext of a hawking excursion, and on his return learned
at the city gate that the Regent was dead. He immedi-
1
The character of Aga Mohamed is well pourtrayed in the historical novel Zohrab
the Hostage, by James Morier. G. A. Olivier in vol. v. of his Voyage en Perse also
gives an excellent contemporary account.
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