History
Bakhtiari history, stretching back to the fourteenth century, and the 200-year leadership role of Duraki khans within it tantalize the social historian of Iran. There is great temptation to assume that the extraordinary continuity in the name Bakhtiari can also be found in Bakhtiari political, economic, and social organization. (Khans and Shahs, A documentary analysis of the Bakhtiari in Iran by Gene R. Garthwaite)
This is from the book by W.Morgan Shuster and
in it he talks about the Bakhtiari's as part of the forces who fought for
the restoration of the constitution.
The Strangling of Persia; W.Morgan Shuster
At this juncture the Russian Legation again intervened by sending a
threatening communication to Sipahdar, demanding, in effect, the cessation
of his march on Teheran.
On June 16 the Bakhtiari forces, composed of about 800 men, actually started
for Teheran, and shortly thereafter they were in communication with the
Nationalists at Kasvin. Both the British and Russian Legations exhausted
every effort to deter the Bakhtiari leaders from their purpose, but without
success. On June 23 the advance guard of this force had reached Qum, eighty
miles to the south of Teheran.
In Spite of repeated threats from the Legations the Sarda-i-Asad announced
that he had certain demands to make on the Shah, and the advance continued.
Still endeavoring to frighten the Nationalist forces, the Russian Government
began to assemble an expeditionary army at Baku to be sent into Northern
Persia.
At this time the Shah's troops were reported to be some 5000 at Saltanatabad
and 1350 soldiers of the Cossack Brigade, of whom 800 under Colonel Liakhoff
were at Teheran, 350 to the north of the capital, and 200 to the south,
awaiting the approach of the Bakhtiaris. On July 3, the force at Karaj fell
back to Shahabad, only 16 miles from Teheran, and on the next day a skirmish
between this body and the advancing Nationalists took place. The Persian
Cossacks, under Captain Zapolski, with Russian non-commissioned officers and
three guns, lost on Persian officer, three men killed and two wounded. The
Nationalists lost twelve.
Meanwhile, Russia was dispatching her troops from Baku and by July 8 some
2000 of them were on Persian soil. On July 11 they had reached Kasvin. The
Legation had also warned the Nationalists that any further advance by them
towards the capital would be followed by foreign intervention.
Further endeavors to frighten or persuade the Nationalist leaders were made,
but without effect.
On July 10 an engagement took place between troops of the Cossak Brigade and
the Bakhtiaris at Badamak, fifteen miles to west of Teheran, but the result
was indecisive. Skirmishing continued for the next two days, and on July 13
the two Nationalist forces, to the utter surprise of the Cossack Brigade and
Royalist troops, slipped through their lines and quietly entered Teheran at
6:30 in the morning. The skill of the maneuver was undoubtedly due to
Ephraim Khan, the Armenian leader who has been mentioned heretofore.
There was street fighting in Teheran during the entire day. The people
received the Nationalist forces with the greatest enthusiasm, and July 13
was regarded as the day of their salvation. On the next day the Cossack
Brigade, under Colonel Liakhoff, was still besieged in its barracks and
square in the center of the city, and the Russian Colonel wrote to the
Sipah-dar, as head of the Nationalist forces, proposing terms for the
surrender of the Brigade. The Nationalist troops behaved themselves
throughout with the utmost discretion and gallantry. On July 15 they were in
full possession of the capital, although the Cossack Brigade still held the
central square.
On July 16 at 8:30 A.M. the Shah, with a large body of his soldiers and
attendants, took refuge in the Russian Legation in Zargundeh, some miles
outside the city, and thus abdicated his throne. He had previously obtained
the consent of the Legation to his doing this. Both Russian and British
flags were hoisted over the Russian Minister's home as soon as it was
occupied by the Shah. In the meantime Colonel Liakhoff had practically
surrendered to the Nationalist leaders, and had formally accepted server
under the new Government, agreeing to act under the direct orders of the
Minister of War.
Late this same evening an extraordinary meeting took place at the Baharistan
grounds, and the Shah was formally deposed. His son, Sultan Ahmed Mirza,
aged twelve, was proclaimed his successor, and Azudu'l-Milk, the venerable
head of the Qajar family, was declared Regent.
Thus, on July 16, 1909, the apparently lost cause of constitutionalism in
Persia had been suddenly revived, and by a display of courage, patriotism
and skill by the soldiers of the people, their hopes for a representative
government had been restored, almost over-night.
In tracing the origins and history of the
Lori-speaking Bakhtiari and the peoples of the central Zagros region we come
upon the difficulties of an inadequate literary evidence to serve as a
sequence and record of millennia of history in this elevated region.
Thus we are obliged to gather information from a number of sources in order
to to get evidence on who the Bakhtiari are, how they live and if possible
from where they come. In this search archaeology, linguistics, mythology and
a host of other cultural sciences are better needed to study the history of
the Bakhtiari or in fact any living ancient peoples.
The Bakhtiari do not figure in ancient records and there is only a passing
mention of them in medieval accounts. From the eighteenth century there is
increasing notice of them, in particular nineteenth-century European
travelers and emissaries report on the Bakhtiari, somewhat filling the gaps
left by the lack of scientific evidence with their own peculiar romanticism.
"Bakhtiari" itself means bearer,or friend, of luck or good fortune, it is
posited that the name "Bakhtiari" became associated with these pastoral
nomads from some time in the Safavid period (1501-1722). Further it is
possible that some leader was known as 'friend of good fortune' and his
followers were identified with him and his name.
The roots of the Bakhtiari may be partly
revealed through a number of legends:
The Bakhtiari arrived from Syria. This legend is given some substance by the
14th century source Tarikh Guzidah(Select History.
Another states: "The tribes of Louristan trace their origin to the most
remote antiquity; but say that their ancestors intermarried with several
Turkish hoards which they had invited from Syria to settle amongst them.
A more mythical piece of folk-history is the legend that the Bakhtiari are descendents of the men who were allowed to escape the fate of having their brains fed to the serpents growing from the shoulders of Zahak-e Mar-Dush, whose legend may be read in Firdausi's "Shah-Nameh" (Book of Kings).
Iron Age Materials from Gandomkar Tomb Group
A cache of objects, including a series of vessels and metal objects were stored in the Shahr-e Kord Gendarmerie station in 1978. These objects were reportedly recently found in a grave in Gandomkar. I was allowed to photograph and draw the objects. Unfortunately, I was unable to gain access to a stamp seal; with a gazelle or goat's head handle, which I was able to view only briefly. This cache manifests very close similarities to so-called Loristan grave materials, which are common in the Pish-e Kuh, but are rarely found in the Bakhtiari area section of Loristan (published in Zagarell 1982). Suggested date Iron Age III.
This small vessel (ca. 9.5cm) was one of the objects reportedly discovered
in a grave cache in the vicinity of Gandomkar. This vessel is gray in paste
and surface color.
A red-ochre slipped and black-painted vessel from the Gandomkar cache.
Small finds from the Gandomkar cache. The objects include a section of a
bronze bowl and a bracelet or foot ring. Other objects not pictured included
silver and bronze vessels, silver beads, iron swords and arrow heads.
Late Chalcolithic Materials/The Site of Sharak:
All heights and distances in meters
Sharak as seen from northeast
This small, multi-period site in the center of the Shahr-e Kord plain contained large amounts of lower Mesopotamian pottery (bevel-rim bowls, crude trays and lugged vessels) as well as vessels typical of the Central Plateau (Sialk III 6-7b related). Both groups appear to be intrusions within the Bakhtiari region and may represent serial attempts at outposts on a major route connecting the Central Plateau and Khuzestan. Note that this suggests that the Sialk-related attempt precedes the Mesopotamian intrusion.
Late Sialk III-like materials
