‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎291v] (589/722)

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stroke win eh fell upon Haji Ibrahim was sudden and crushing'. On a <nvefi
day the minister and all his relatives were suddenly seized and put to death •
and even two young- boys were brought from Shiraz to Tihran "to share the
same fate. Their lives were spared; but the elder, who was handsome and
high-spirited, was deprived of manhood. The younger escaped on account
of his feebleness, but lived to perpetuate the family. He became guardian
of the shrine of Imam Raza at Mashhad; and was still residing there in
18 fid.
Fateh Ali Shah appears to have effected the destruction of Haji Ibrahim
and all his household as a necessary preliminary to the prosecution of ambi
tious designs at a distance from his capital ; for very shortly after this event
he projected a resettlement of the affairs of Khurasan. It appears that the
rule of Nadir Mirza had proved so oppressive to the chiefs of that province,
that they petitioned the Shah to interfere. Fateh Ali Shah accordingly
marched a force to Mashhad and blockaded the city; but hesitated to open tire
upon a place which contained so holy a shrine. The sufferings of the peo
ple of Mashhad during the blockade were most severe; but they were com
pelled to submit to the horrors of a continued siege, as the gates and citadel
were in the possession of Nadir Mirza. At this juncture Nadir Mirza was
unable to meet the pressing demands of his soldiery for arrears of pay; and
he entered the shrine and carried away the silver railings from the tomb, and
stripped t he golden covering from the dome of the mosque. The people were
infuriated at this outrage, and prevented further spoliation by sheer force of
numbers. Nadir Mirza believed that the crowd had been instigated by a
holy Saiyid, who was seventy years of age, and the foremost saint in Persia.
Accordingly, whilst the holy man was engaged in his own house in the act
of prayer, Nadir Mirza cut him down with his battle-axe and left him for
dead. At this enormity the whole people arose with one accord, and threw
open the gates of the city to the Persian army. Nadir Mirza escaped
through a drain ; but was captured outside the walls, and carried in chains to
Tihran. His punishment was horrible. His hands were cut off; his tongue
was torn out; and red hot wire was drawn across his eyes; and all those who
had abetted in the sacrilege were put to death.
Whilst Fateh Ali Shah was thus engaged in putting down rebellion in
Khurasan and elsewhere, he had been unable to give his attention to the
aggressions of Russia on his north-western frontier. A brief outline of
these aggressions may not be out of place, as they tend to show the circum
stances under which Persia was so long prevented from pressing her preten
sions to the eastward. During the seventeenth century and part of the
eighteenth, the chiefs of Georgia had been tributary to Persia, and had sent
every year a number of their sons and daughters to be slaves to the Shah.
During the period of anarchy, when the Safavian dynasty was overthrown
by Afghan invaders, Peter the Great had taken possession of certain portions
of Persian territory; but these were all recovered by Nadir Shah. The dis
tractions which followed the death of Nadir Shah, in 1747, induced Czar
Heraclius, the ruler of Georgia, to throw off the Persian yoke. From the
death of Nadir Shah to the accession of Agha Muhammad Khan, in 1795,
there was only one break m these distractions, caused by the tranquil reign
of Karim Khan, the Zand, between 1760 and 1779. Karim Khan, as
already stated, demanded the usual tribute from Heraclius, which should
include members of his own family and twelve sons and daughters under
twelve years of age from the families of Ins nobles. The messenger who