ÁKÁ SEYYID YAHYÁ OF DÁRÁB AND THE
NÍRÍZ INSURRECTION.
Gobineau makes no mention of the Níríz
insurrection. Kazem-Beg gives a long account of it, occupying fifteen pages (ii, pp. 224-
239), which contains neither much more nor much less than the Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh. His error as to the date of the Zanján siege (see
supra, p. 187) has led him to give a wrong date for this event likewise.
Áká Seyyid Yahyá's death - the closing catastrophe of
the Níríz insurrection - occurred, not, as he implies, early in A.D. 1850,
but on Sha'bán 28th A.H. 1266 (July 9th, A.d.
[page 254]
1850, see supra, p. 45, note 1). The Rawzatu's-Safá
contains a much briefer account of the matter, which agrees in the main with those above
alluded to. The Táríkh-i-Jadíd, on the other hand, differs
considerably from the Musulmán histories, and supplies us with much new matter.
As the versions embodied in the latter are rendered sufficiently accessible to the European
reader by Kazem-Beg's narrative, I shall confine myself here to giving a brief presentation
of the account according to the Bábí tradition.
Seyyid Yahyá's father Seyyid Ja'far,
surnamed Kashfí or Kashsháf ('the Discloser') because of his
skill in the exegesis of the Kur'án and the visions which he claimed to have,
seems, according to all accounts, to have been universally respected and revered. Before the
events with which we are concerned took place he left his native town of
Dáráb and settled in Burújird. His son Seyyid Yahyá
would seem to have resided at Teherán for some time previously to the Báb's
appearance, but for how long does not appear. At all events, shortly after this took place he
(at the command of Muhammad Sháh as stated at p. 7 of the present work, at
the request of his disciples and followers according to the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd) proceeded to Shíráz with the express object of enquiring
into the Báb's claims; and was present, according to the Násikhu't-
Tawáríkh, at the Báb's examination before Huseyn
Khán on Ramazán 21st A.H. 1261 (Sept. 23rd, A.D. 1845). Although,
if we are to give credence to the Musulmán historian's assertions, the Báb
scarcely emerged from this ordeal with flying colours, Seyyid Yahyá was
sufficiently impressed by what he saw of the young reformer to desire fuller opportunities
of conversing with him. The usual result followed. After a brief period of hesitation and
doubt, Seyyid Yahyá eagerly embraced the new faith. A long account of his
conversion is given in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd, which, interesting
as it is, lack of space compels me to omit.
Seyyid Yahyá does not seem to have remained
in Shíráz long after his conversion. The present history (p. 8) states that he
"hastened to Burújird to his father Seyyid Ja'far"; the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd describes him as "setting out for Yezd";
[page 255]
while the Násikhu't-Tawáríkh asserts that after the
Báb's flight to Isfahán he was informed by Huseyn Khán that
"his further sojourn in Fárs was undesirable," and that accordingly he betook
himself to Yezd. Whatever his immediate movements on quitting Shíráz may
have been (and it is not improbable that he may have visited many towns besides those
mentioned to preach the new faith, being, as would appear, commissioned by the Báb
so to do) he would seem to have again visited Teherán, and there to have remained for
some considerable time. Subh-i-Ezel, in reply to a question which I
addressed to him as to the character of Áká Seyyid
Yahyá and the truth or falsity of the charge of perfidy brought against him by
a certain writer (Kazem-Beg, ii, p. 239), wrote thus:- "The virtue and perfections of His
Excellency Áká Seyyid Yahyá were beyond all limits
and bounds. He was not such as that historian has described. I bear witness by God and His
Spirit that this [historian] has written downright falsehood. Most of the
people of Persia admitted his virtue and perfections. I myself in the days of my youth met
him several times at night in my own house and elsewhere, and witnessed the perfection of
his virtues and endowments"
The information at our disposal is insufficient to enable us
to trace Seyyid Yahyá's movements from the period of his conversion in the
autumn of A.D. 1845 till we find him involved in the troubles at Yezd in May 1850. If the
reiterated assertions of the Táríkh-i-Jadíd to the effect that he
proceeded directly from Shíráz to Yezd, returned directly from Yezd to
Shíráz and Níríz, and also visited Teherán, are to be
credited, we must suppose that he visited Yezd twice at least during this period. At all events
in May 1850 we find him in that city, busily engaged in preaching the Bábí
doctrines, and surrounded by a considerable number of followers. The governor of Yezd,
Áká Khán, at length considered it advisable to interfere, and
sent men to arrest Seyyid Yahyá, who retired with some of his followers to
the citadel and prepared to defend himself. An unsuccessful attack on the insurgents' position
resulted in a loss of thirty lives to the besiegers and seven to the
Bábís.
[page 256]
Seyyid Yahyá, however, does not seem to
have been altogether satisfied with his position. One night he said, "If anyone could lead out
my horse so that I could go forth to put an end to this matter and convey myself to some other
place, it would not be a bad thing." A youth named Hasan, distinguished by a singular
devotion to Seyyid Yahyá, at once volunteered to make the attempt, and
persisted in his purpose in spite of his master's warning that he would be taken and slain.
This actually befel. Hasan was captured by the enemy and brought before the
governor, who ordered him to be blown from the mouth of gun. So little did this terrible
sentence affect the brave youth that he requested that he might be bound with his face
towards the cannon so that he might see the match applied. In spite of this untoward event
Seyyid Yahyá succeeded in effecting his escape from Yezd in company with one
of his disciples. He first made his way to Shíráz, whence he proceeded to
Níríz. After his departure, the Bábís at Yezd were soon
subdued by the governor, who punished some with death, some with imprisonment, and some
with fines.
No sooner had Seyyid Yahyá reached
Níríz than he again began his propaganda, undeterred by the remonstrances
and threats of the governor Zeynu'l-'Ábidín Khán. The latter finally
called upon the people of Níríz to assist him in forcibly expelling the
disturber. Seyyid Yahyá, being apprised of this, repaired to the mosque
where his father had been wont to preach, and addressed to the people there assembled an
affecting discourse, wherein he reminded them of their former love for himself, declared
that his only object was to make him partakers in that faith which had been to him a source
of such great happiness, and concluded by conjuring them by the veneration in which they
held his father's memory not to suffer themselves to be made the instruments of the
governor's malice. Having finished his discourse he left the town accompanied by seventeen
of his followers, and took up his abode at an old ruined castle in the neighbourhood.
Seyyid Yahyá was not suffered to remain long
undisturbed. His foes soon discovered his retreat and proceeded to lay siege to it. At first they
were unsuccessful, Seyyid
[page 257]
Yahyá having apparently been joined by a large number of supporters (three
hundred according to the Musulmán historian); and indeed the Bábís
gained at least one decided victory over their foes. But in a short while the besiegers were
re-inforced by troops sent from Shíráz at the command of
Fírúz Mírzá, the new governor of Fárs, and commanded
by Mihr 'Alí Khán Shujá'u'l-Mulk of Núr and
Mustafá-Kulí Khán Kára-
gúzlú. The arrival of these troops greatly dispirited the besieged; many of the
less ardent deserted, and in a short time the occupants of the castle were reduced to
seventy.
In spite of the defections from their ranks, the
Bábís (according to the Táríkh-i-Jadíd)
continued to defend themselves with such vigour that the besiegers were fain to have
recourse to treachery similar in character to that whereby Sheykh Tabarsí
and Zanján were finally subdued. They sent a message to Seyyid Yahyá
asking him to come to their camp and hold a peaceful consultation with the royalist leaders,
and assuring him with oaths registered on the Kur'án that no harm should
befal him at their hands. Seyyid Yahyá, in spite of the remonstrances and
warnings of his followers, acquiesced in the proposed arrangement, and forthwith betook
himself to the besiegers' camp. He was at first received with courtesy and treated with all
respect, but when, on the following morning, he attempted to leave the tent which had been
assigned to him, he was prevented by the sentinels from so doing. The Bábís,
becoming aware in some way of the insult offered to their chief, made a sudden sortie and
succeeded in greatly discomfiting their foes. Thereupon the officers of the besieging army
hastened to Seyyid Yahyá's tent and remonstrated with him on the action of his
followers, reminding him that he had agreed to co-operate with them in striving to bring
about a peaceful settlement. Seyyid Yahyá in turn reproached them with
wanton violation of good faith in confining him to his tent, which conduct on their part, he
assured them, was the sole cause of what had now occurred. The royalist officers apologised
for the insult offered, which, they declared, they had in no wise sanctioned, and finally
prevailed on Seyyid Yahyá to write to his followers instructing them to lay
down their arms, evacuate their
[page 258]
fortress, and return to their homes. The Bábís faithfully obeyed the
commands of their chief, but no sooner were they disbanded and scattered than they were
seized by the soldiers and brought in chains to the camp, while their houses were given over
to plunderers.
The besiegers, having now gained their object, readily
forgot their oaths and plighted troth. Seyyid Yahyá was strangled with this
own girdle by one of whose two brothers had been killed during the siege, and the other
Bábís likewise died by the hands of the executioner. The heads of the victims
were stuffed with straw1, and,
bearing with them these grim trophies of their prowess, together with some forty or fifty
Bábí women and one child of tender age as captives, the victorious army
returned to Shíráz. Their entry into that city was made the occasion of
general rejoicings; the captives were paraded through the streets and bazaars and finally
brought before Prince Fírúz Mírzá, who was feasting in a
summer-house called Kuláh-i-Firangí. In his presence Mihr
'Alí Khán, Mírzá Na'ím, and the other officers
recounted the details of their victory, and received congratulations and marks of favour. The
captive women were finally imprisoned in an old caravansaray outside the Isfahán
gate. What treatment they experienced at the hands of their captors is left to our conjecture.
Twelve Bábís who had escaped from Níríz to Isfahán
were there captured and sent to Shíráz where they were executed. Thus ended
the first Níríz insurrection.
The second insurrection occurred about two years later. A
number of Bábís took refuge with their wives and children in the mountains
about Níríz, and for a long while offered a vigorous and successful resistance
to those who strove to dislodge them. They even attacked the town and killed the governor
Zeynu'l-'Ábidín Khán - the chief author of their sufferings - while he
was at the bath. Finally troops were sent from Shíráz by the governor
Tahmásp Mírzá, and these, aided by the tribesmen of
Dáráb and Sábúnát, succeeded at length in
stamping out the insurrec-
1 Concerning this disgusting practice compare
Eastwick's Diplomate's Residence in Persia, vol. ii, pp. 55-56.
[page 259]
tion. The fate of the captives was in every respect similar to that which had befallen their
predecessors.
The author of the Táríkh-i-
Jadíd in concluding this narrative takes occasion to point out how literally was
fulfilled in these events the prophecy contained in a tradition referring to the signs which
shall mark the appearance of Imám Mahdí:-
[five lines of Persian/Arabic text]
"In him [shall be] the perfection
of Moses, the preciousness of Jesus, and the patience of Job; his saints shall be abased in his
time, and their heads shall be exchanged as presents, even as the heads of the Turk and the
Deylamite are exchanged as presents; they shall be slain and burned, and shall be afraid,
fearful, and dismayed; the earth shall be dyed with their blood, and lamentation and wailing
shall prevail amongst their women; these are my saints indeed"1
When I was at Yezd in the early summer of 1888, I became
acquainted with a Bábí holding a position of some importance under
government, two of whose ancestors had taken a prominent part in the suppression of the
Níríz insurrection. Of what he told me concerning this the following is a
summary taken from my diary for May 18th, 1888:-
"My maternal grandfather Mihr 'Alí Khán
Shujá'u'l-Mulk and my great-uncle Mírzá Na'ím both
took an active
1 This tradition, called [~~~] is also quoted from the
Káfí (one of the principal compilations of Shi'ite traditions) in the
Ikán.
[page 260]
part in the Níríz war - but on the wrong side. When orders came to
Shíráz to quell the insurrection, my grandfather was instructed to take
command of the expedition sent for that purpose. He did not like the task committed to him
and communicated his reluctance to two of the 'Ulamá, who, however, re-
assured him, declaring that the war on which he was about to engage was a holy enterprise
sanctioned by Religion, and that he would receive reward therefor in Paradise. So he went,
and what happened happened. After they had killed 750 men, they took the women and
children, stripped them almost naked, mounted them on donkeys, mules, and camels, and led
them through rows of heads hewn from the lifeless bodies of their fathers, brothers, sons,
and husbands towards Shíráz. On their arrival there, they were placed in a
ruined caravansaray just outside the Isfahán gate and opposite to an Imám-
zádé, their captors taking up their quarters under some trees hard by.
Here they remained for a long while, subjected to many insults and hardships, and many of
them died.
"Now see the judgement of God on the oppressors; for of
those chiefly responsible for these cruelties not one but came to a bad end and died
overwhelmed with calamity.
"My grandfather Mihr 'Alí Khán presently
fell ill and was dumb till the day of his death. Just as he was about to expire, those who stood
round him saw from the movement of his lips that he was whispering something. They leant
down to catch his last words and heard him murmur faintly 'Bábí!
Bábí! Bábí!' three times. Then he fell back dead.
"My great-uncle Mírzá Na'ím fell
into disgrace with the government and was twice fined, 10,000
túmáns the first time, 15,000 the second. But his punishment did not
cease here, for he was made to suffer diverse tortures. His hands were put in the el-
chek1 and his feet in the tang-i-
Kájár2; he was made to stand bare-headed in
the sun
1 The torture called el-chek consists in placing pieces of
wood between the victim's fingers, binding them round tightly with cord. Cold water is then
thrown over the cord to cause its further contraction. 2 The tang-i-
Kájár or 'Kájár squeeze' is an instrument
of torture resembling the 'boot' once used
in England, for the introduction of which (as its name implies) Persia is indebted to the
dynasty which at present occupies the throne.
[page 261]
with treacle smeared over his head to attract the flies; and, after suffering these and other
torments yet more painful and humiliating, he was dismissed a disgraced and ruined
man."1
Áká Seyyid Yahyá
was, as Subh-i-Ezel informed me, not more than forty years old at the time
of his death. A certain Bábí named Biyúk Áká
used to say jestingly, "I like a handsome 'Commander of the Faithful' like Seyyid
Yahyá, not an ugly old man bent double with age like Mullá Sheykh
'Alí."
Major-General Sir Frederick Goldsmith was kind enough to
call my attention to the following passage in Lovett's Surveys on the road from
Shíráz to Bam (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1872):-
"It (i.e. Níríz) is divided into three parishes
or mahallas; that to the South, termed the 'Mahalla-i-
Bábí' is well known to be peopled almost entirely by
Bábís, who, though they do not openly profess their faith in the teachings of
Seyyid 'Alí Muhammad the Báb, still practise the principles of
communism he inculcated. It is certain, moreover, that the tolerance which was one of the
precepts inculcated by the Báb is here shewed, for not only was I invited to make use
of the public hammám, if I required it, but quarters were assigned to me
in a madrasa."
Is it in the least degree probable that, if Seyyid
Yahyá's conduct had been such as Kazem-Beg describes it,
Níríz should have continued so long one of the strongholds of that faith
whereof he was the apostle?
1 Another yet more striking instance of Divine vengeance was related
to me in the same connection, but I omit it as not bearing on the present subject. The belief
prevalent amongst the Bábís, that signal punishment befalls those who are
most active in persecuting them, is strangely supported not only by the above instances but
by the fates of the Amír-Nizám (Gobineau, pp. 253-254), of
Mahmúd Khán the Kalántar (Gobineau, p. 295), of
Sheykh Bákir, and others (B. i, pp. 491-492).