'A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations' [‎18v] (41/1826)

XX
DISSERTATION.
contributed to the preservation of written and tra
ditional history in the East, is pride of blood, upon
which their great men value themselves far beyond
the proudest European grandee. Genealogy has
consequently long been cultivated with singular
attention; and the following, amongst other rea
sons, may be assigned for it. The desultory form
of government, which has in general prevailed in
Asia, has seldom left any security but the sword
for the possession of power. Reverses of fortune
have, in consequence, been frequent and sudden ;
and it has been no uncommon object to behold a
man rising to sovereignty, whose father had been
in the meanest condition of mankind. Yet this
abject creature might possibly have been descend
ed from some ancient dynasty of kings, whom a
similar revolution had driven from their throne.
The most powerful and most favoured nobles
would naturally, at the same time, share the fate
of their prince. Some obscure corner or distant
country might give them refuge ; where a regard
for personal safety, and the prospect of a new re
volution, would induce them to conceal, under a
mean disguise, the royalty or nobleness of their
origin. This gave an extensive range to claims of
superior birth; and whether real or imaginary,
they were considered as points of too much con
sequence to be neglected by a new monarch, a
successful general, or a rising statesman. Every
species of evidence was therefore anxiously sought
for; and the skilful in genealogy were encouraged
with a liberality that had nothing European in it.
Innumerable proofs might be brought: I shall
mention a few. Ardeshlr, surnamed Babegan, who
(A. D. 202 ) wrested the sceptre from Ardaban, the
last king of the Ashkanian dynasty, was the son
of a shepherd, who kept the sheep of one Babak,
and married his daughter. No sooner however
was he fixed upon the throne, than, with the assist
ance of genealogists, he proved his descent from
Sassan, the disinherited son of Bahaman. Bugah,
the father of Amadu’d’dawlah, the first Persian
monarch of the Daylamite race, was a fisherman ;
but his son, when he assumed the diadem (A.D.
932), traced the family to Bahrain Gur, who reign
ed in the middle of the fourth century. Seljuk,
the founder of the Seljukian dynasty of Turks,
claimed kindred to Afrasiab, an ancient king of
Turan, or Scythia, who makes a conspicuous figure
in the early periods of Persian history. One of the
first cares of Tamerlane was to ascertain his rela
tionship to Changlz Khan ; farther it was unne
cessary to go, for that conqueror, in the meridian
of his greatness, had carried up a regular pedigree
to Turk, the son of Japhet. Ismael Sufi, the first
king of the late reigning family of Persia, who,
after defeating the princes of the White Ram,
mounted the throne about the year 1502, traced
immediately his genealogy to the Caliph Ali, and
Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. It must be
unnecessary to multiply examples : inferior men
were equally ambitious of high descent: whilst it
may not be unworthy of remark, that the whole
idea appears to have originated more from fashion
or a natural impulse of the mind, than any consi
deration of state-policy : for we by no means find
that the people of Asia have ever distinguished
themselves for attachment to royal blood ; having
submitted, in general, with equal facility to so
vereign power, whether administered by the son
of a prince or the son of a peasant . 41
Such having been the ruling passion in the East
for illustrious descent, it is hardly necessary to
observe, that genealogy is a study so intimately
connected with historical knowledge, that if is im
possible to arrive at any proficiency in the one,
without being minutely versed in the other : but
particularly on the present ground, where appeals to
the eras and actions of distinguished men, through
whom it would be necessary to connect the chain
of evidence, must have required a very critical ac
quaintance with chronology and public facts; to
avoid obvious contradictions, and give an air of
plausible accuracy to pedigrees, which, in many
cases, must have been more specious than solid. 42
The same elevation of sentiment, we may also
observe, which inspired those high ideas of supe
rior birth, led naturally to a wish for future fame.