‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎210r] (426/722)

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Manners and customs .— ff In an attempt/^ says Malcoim, u to describe the
manners and usages of a nation, we must commence with those exalted lanks
whose example has always so powerful an influence upon the other branches
of the community. The customs and ceremonies of the court of Persia have,
within the last three centuries, undergone no substantial change. The cir
cumstance of the reigning family being hereditary chiefs of a warlike tribe,
and still preserving many of the usages of that condition, constitutes almost
the only essential difference we find between their personal habits and the
customs of their court and those of the Safavian kings, whose manners and
usages have been minutely described by the numerous European travel ers,
who visited Persia when they occupied the throne of that kingdom.
“ It is stated that, from the period of Shah Abbas the Great, the princes
of the blood were immured in the harem, where their education was entrusted
to women and eunuchs; and until the death of the king his destine suc
cessor was unknown. The son of the lowest slave in the harem was
deemed at that period equally eligible to succeed to the throne as the ott-
spring of the proudest princess. The usage of the families of lartary has
always been different. Great respect has invariably been paid by them to
the birth of the mother. The cause of this is obvious. Intermarriages are
deemed one of the principal means of improving the friendship and termi
nating the feuds between the tribes of that nation ; and the fulfilment o
this obiect has required that the descendants of a high-born mother, who
was a legitimate wife, should have prior claims to those of a common con
cubine ; otherwise the relations which were established by those ties must
have proved sources of discord, instead of union. The Kajars, who are prou
of their Tartar or, as they term it, Turkish origin, maintain m this parti
cular the usage of their ancestors. _ . . , v
“ According to the modern usage of Persia, the princes of the blood are
notimmured within the walls of the harem, beyond that period in which
they require female attendance and maternal care. They early learn tire
forms of their religion ; and at three or four years of age can repeat a
few short prayers, and are perfect in their genuflections and mode of hole m
their hands when occupied in devotion. They are also most carefully
instructed in all that belongs to external manner. They are taught how
to make their obeisance to a superior ; how to behave to a person of equal
rank or an inferior ; as also the manner m which they are to stand in the
presence of their father and monarch ; and the way in which they are
to seat themselves, if desired, and how to retire. These forms are deemed
of areat consequence at a court, where everything is regulated by cere-
monygand it is not unusual to see a child of five years of age as perfect
in his manners and as grave in his deportment m a public assembly
as the oldest person prelent. When the young prince is between
seven and eight years of age, he begins to read Arabic and Persian.
As soon as he understands the alphabet of the former language he
peruses the Kuran ; after which he learns the essential tenets of his
religion His mind is early imbued with the importance of those doctrines
which distinguish the Shiah faith from that of the Sunni ; and one of
his first lessons teaches him to regard the latter with abhorrence. When
the royal pupil is considered to be well-grounded m religion, Teisian
books are put into his hands; and the works of Sadi, while t ley give i
an early taste for fables and poetry, are expected to inspire his young min
with a desire of virtuous fame. He is also put through a superficial course