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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [334v] (671/1814)
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.
440
PERSIA
is due. All these supplements being regulated at best only by use
wont, there is ample scope for extortion : and terrible a™ c ^
the cases, complaints whereof are seldom of any avail, the co 1 '
having probably to reckon with the bastinado. * ain ant
The tax list (tumar) is often drawn out years beforehand accordin
to the number of taxable objects in each district : acres fruit tree^
water-springs, beasts of labour, herds, Ac. Not only is this sum S>
acted thenceforward year after year, though the taxed objects Ire
meanwhile dwindling, but it is gradually raised. In these lists viU
figure villages which, from dearth of water or other causes, have been
abandoned by their inhabitants. Although, in consequence of the
silk-worm disease, and the dreadful famine of 1869-73, the economic
condition of Persia became greatly reduced during the twenty years
1864-84, whence it is but recently, through the culture of opium, that
it is beginning to revive, the taxes were yet continually going up, i n
many cases to an almost insupportable figure. Only the extreme
frugality of the Persian peasant and of the lower classes in general on
whom presses almost exclusively the burden of the taxes, explains how
they are got in at all.
I have quoted the above passage at length, because it is the
evidence of eye-witnesses, who lived for years in the country and
Mudahhil whose autll0I % is n ot to be impugned. From a perusal
of its contents, a glimpse will have been caught of that
which, along with, and perhaps even more than, the bribe or gift
i equired to secure or to retain office of any description, is a
cheiished national institution in Persia, viz. the OYbudcLlciiil, i.e.
consideration, lecompense, or profit which is required to balance
the personal account, and the exaction of which, in a myriad different
forms, whose ingenuity is only equalled by their multiplicity, is
the crowning interest and delight of a Persian’s existence. This
i emarkable word, for which Mr. Watson says there is no precise
English equivalent, 1 may be variously translated as commission,
perquisite, douceur, consideration, pickings and stealings, profit,
The word mvdahil, for which there is no exact English term, has for Persian
ears a charm which few Europeans can comprehend. Mudahil signifies all that
one can acquire by receiving bribes, by swindling and extortion, and by all other
ii regular means. It is mudahil and not salary which every Persian official is
anxious to secure. A salary regularly paid affords no scope for the display of the
talents in which Persians most excel—for dissimulating and over-reaching, oppress
ing and Clinging and therefore a post which has only a good salary attached to
it, and which affords no good opportunities of making mudahil, is looked upon by
Persians as being but a poor possession .’—of Persia, p. 372.
About this item
- Content
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 [334v] (671/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00004e> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain