BAḴTĪĀR, ABŪ ḤARB

 

BAḴTĪĀR, ABŪ ḤARB B. MOḤAMMAD, the patron of the poet Manūčehrī (d. 432/1040-41) who praised his bravery, nobility, magnanimity, learning, and eloquence in three qaṣīdas and one mosammaṭ on the occasion of the ancient Iranian festivals of Sada (Dīvān, pp. 21-22), Mehragān (pp. 90-95), and Nowrūz (pp. 114-16, 169-73). The choice of these festivals may indicate that Baḵtīār belonged to a noble family of Iranian origin.

In my annotations to the Dīvān of Manučēhrī I had suggested that Baḵtīār might be identical with Abū Ḥarb b. ʿAlāʾ-al-Dawla Abū Jaʿfar Moḥammad b. Došmanzīār, the governor of Naṭanz, but the publication of three extant inscriptions of his (see Bibliography) has revealed his full identity as Abū Ḥarb Baḵtīār the son of Ḥājeb Abū Jaʿfar Moḥammad b. Ebrāhīm, one of the amirs of Semnān and Dāmḡān (old Qūmes). He was a vassal of the Ziyarid amirs and a contemporary of Falak-al-Maʿālī Manūčehr b. Qābūs (r. 402-23/1012-32) and his successors. The inscriptions are in chronological order: 1. in Dāmḡān, in the palace of his father, known as Pīr-e ʿAlamdār, dated 417/1026, when his father was already dead; 2. in Dāmḡān, on the minaret of the Tārī-ḵāna mosque of Dāmḡān during the reign of Falak al-Maʿālī; this must have been written between 417/1026 and 423/1032, when Baḵtīār had the position of ḥājeb at the court of this king; 3. in Semnān, on the minaret of the Friday mosque, which was built during his governorship between the years 417/1026 and 426/1035.

 

Bibliography:

Dīvān-e Manūčehrī, ed. M. Dabīrsīāqī, 3rd ed., Tehran, 1347 Š./1968-69; 5th ed., Tehran, 1363 Š./1984, nn. pp. 244, 245.

Ch. Adle and A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, “Les monuments du XIe siècle du DâmqÎʷân,” Studia Iranica 1/2, 1972, pp. 229-97.

Ch. Adle, “Le minaret du Masjed-e Jâmeʿ de Semnân. Circa 421-25/1030-34,” ibid., 4/2, 1975, pp. 177-86.

Search terms:

 بختیار، ابوحرب bakhtiar abouharb bakhtiar aboharb bakhtiyar abouharb

 

(M. Dabīrsīāqī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1988

Last Updated: December 15, 1988

This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 5, p. 542