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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [137v] (281/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
368
KALAT-I-NADIRI
an almost even height of 1500 feet. The greater part of the height is
detritus at a very steep slope, though not inaccessible, but except at the
Arghawan Shah gap the whole length is crowned by vertical cliff with
scarcely a fissure in which a goat could find foothold.
At 3 miles from Hammam Kala the Issik Su turns sharply to enter
Kalat-i-Nadiri by the grim gateway of Arghawan Shah, a magnificent
cleft in the rampart wall. The entrance is cultivated and wooded.
Then path and stream together traverse a gorge between sheer cliffs
sometimes only 20 or 30 yards apart. The triple-arched barrier fortifica
tion portrayed by Macgregor and by Curzon was demolished by a flood,
said to have been in 1905, the year of Major Sykes’ visit. Only one
arch remains standing, and fallen masonry lies in the bed of the stream.
Immediately inside is a village with well-wooded enclosures. Towers
and battlemented walls in a dilapidated state are perched upon the
steep slopes. In a rickety shed facing the “ Darband ” is an antiquated
field gun on a broken-down carriage. The defences of the entrance
are altogether decayed and useless.
We rode on for 2 miles by a rocky path along the hillside above the
left—northern—bank of the stream before we reached Kabud Gumbaz,
the Khan’s residence, in a sheltered situation among the dense foliage of
walled gardens and orchards. The Persian flag was flying over a mud
wall enclosure. Across the road was drawn up a guard under the
decrepit old commandant.
A cobbled ramp under an arched gateway led us into the main court
yard of the Mukbarra of Nadir Shah. Dismounting, we entered by a
low doorway into an inner garden court, where we were welcomed by
the Khan, Fateh ul Mulk, and shown into the room prepared for us.
The Mukbarra is an octagonal building with rooms built round a
lofty central chamber which rises high above the rest, is surrounded by
sandstone columns —not fluted, as some accounts state—and was evidently
at one time roofed in with a dome. The dome has long since fallen in
and the central chamber is open to the sky. The occasional thud of
falling masonry detached by the heavy rain that fell during our stay
intimated that the process of decay continues rapidly, and made our
quarters feel none too safe. Some of the stone panels of the lower part
of the building are decorated with patterns in relief of trees and flowers
similar to those seen on the Mogul buildings of Delhi and Agra, but of
very inferior workmanship. Below ground-level are the vaults which
formerly contained the treasures amassed by Nadir Shah ; the entrance,
on the east side, was choked with masses of rubble.
The area enclosed within the natural ramparts that shut off Kalat-i-
Nadiri is about 25 square miles. Almost the whole area drains to
Issik Su, which, after entering by the Darband of Arghawan Shah on
the south-western face, issues by the Darband-i-Nafta on the northern
face, a course of about 1 o miles within the limits of Kalat-i-Nadiri. Besides
About this item
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These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [137v] (281/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000058> [accessed 9 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 136r:139v
- Author
- Tod, John Kelso
- Copyright
- ©Royal Geographical Society
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence