INTRODUCTION

NAME

ORIGIN

GENEALOGY

BIOGRAPHIES

SOURCES

CONTACT


Mirza Reza Gholi Khan Mazandarani, called "Hedayat"
Amir-ol Sho'ara, Laleh Bashi
1800 - 1871

Reza Gholi Khan was born in Tehran on 8. June 1800. He was named after Emam Reza because his father was at a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Emam Reza at Mashhad, when he was born.

Having lost his father in early childhood, he lived for some years with relatives of his mother at Barforush, and later, having returned to Fars, he was cared for by his step-father and later father-in-law, Mohammed Mehdi Khan 'Shahneh' Mazanderani, who held high office in the province. 
Upon the completition of his education he entered the service of the Governor, Prince Hossein Ali Mirza Qajar, Farman-Farma I., and held various appointments in attendance upon him and his sons. During a visit of Fath Ali Shah in Shiraz in January to February 1830, Reza Gholi was presented and was given the titles of "Khan" and "Amir-ol Sho'ara".

After Mohammed Shah's accession in 1834 and the defeat and arrest of Prince Hossein Ali Mirza, the province of Fars came under the authority of Prince Firouz Mirza and Manuchehr Khan, Motamed-ol Douleh. Reza Gholi Khan was appointed Companion to the former and held this position for a year or two, but when Firouz Mirza was transferred to the governorship of Kerman, he remained in Shiraz at the court of the new Governor Prince Faridun Mirza, Farman-Farma II. In 1838 he was sent to Tehran by Faridun Mirza with presents for Mohammed Shah, who had just returned from his unsuccessful expedition to Herat. Mohammed Shah instructed him to remain at the court and in 1841 appointed him guardian to his son Prince Abbas Mirza. He became the constant companion of the king, with whom he uses to discuss history and poetry. At the end of 1847 he was appointed Governor of the district of Firouzkuh and in accordance with a recognized custom sent his eldest son, Ali Gholi Khan, to administer the district as his deputy.



I


After the accession of Nasir-ol Din Shah in 1848 he retired from official life for a time, but was chosen to lead the Embassy to Khiva for which he left on 7th April 1851. On his return after an absence of eight months he was appointed Principal of the newly founded Dar-ol Fonun College at Tehran. About the same time he was instructed to bring the Rouzat-ol Safa' up to date. For nearly fifteen years he remained at the College and then he was appointed Laleh-Bashi (= chief tutor) to the Crown Prince Mozaffer-ol Din Mirza, who had just been nominated Governor of Azerbaijan and with whom he spent some years-Tabriz. (2)

Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, writer and philosopher, secretary of a-French extraordinary mission from 1855 - 1858, gives following portrait:

J'ai vu dans un dîner Ryza Kouly Khan, ancien gouverneur du frère du roi, ambassadeur á Bokhara, historiographe, grammarien et poéte excellent en persan littéraire et en dialecte. C'est un des hommes les plus spirituels et les-plus aimables que j'aie rencontrés dans aucune partie du monde. (3)

Mirza Reza Gholi Khan deceased in Tehran on 30. June 1871. (1)






(1) Family records
(2) C.A. Storey: Persian Literature; A Bio-Bibliographical Survey; 2 Vols., London 1953 (Storey seems
     to have recollected above detailed information mainly from Reza Gholi Khan's autobiographical
     information)
(3) Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie; Voyage en Perse 1855-1859, Paris 1980
     (Re-Edition), p. 317




 

used sources:
(1) Family records
(2) C.A. Storey: Persian Literature; A Bio-Bibliographical Survey; 2 Vols., London 1953 (Storey seems to have recollected above detailed information mainly from Reza Gholi Khan's autobiographical information)
(3) Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie; Voyage en Perse 1855-1859, Paris 1980 (Re-Edition), p. 317