Document Type : pajoheshi

Authors

• Jamshid Noroozi ¹
• Narges khazaei ²
• zahra fatemi moghadam ³

¹ Jamshid Norouzi, Associate Professor of History, Faculty of Literature, AlZahra University, Tehran.Iran.

² PhD student of Islamic Iranian history, AlZahra University, Tehran

³ PhD student of Iran Islamic History, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Abstract

A B S T R A C T
The cultural and religious relations of some Iranian cities and regions with the Muslims and Shiites of  neighboring countries such as Indian subcontinent are among the important issues related to the local history of Iran. Due to the influence of Iranian cultural in India and the presence of Shiites, Sufis and Sadats who were interested in Imam Reza in this region, during the Qajar period, as in the Safavid era, many Indian pilgrims were traveling to Mashhad. They were from various social groups, including Sadat and Sufis and occasionally encountered problems. To explain their situation and present and resolve their problems, they used the customary method of writing a petition to the Astan Quds Razavi guardians during their long journey and stay in Mashhad. These petitions which are preserved in the Astan Quds document center, reflect the situation of these Indian pilgrims and provide valuable information about their problems, as well as how the Astan Quds guardians interact with them and support them. The current study, using a historical method and a descriptive-analytical approach based on the documents of Astan Quds Razavi, aimed to provide answer to these questions that what problems the Indian pilgrims who traveled to Mashhad during the Qajar era were encountered? What solution did they mainly resort to reduce them? What interactions and supportive acts did the Astan Quds Razavi guardians have with these Indian pilgrims? The findings indicate that the Indian pilgrims who traveled to Mashhad from various regions of Indian subcontinent experienced a variety of problems including illness, property, theft, and the inability to earn a living. These trapped pilgrims using the pilgrimage atmosphere of this city and the long-standing practice of Astan Quds' support, turned to the Astan Quds guardians to find a solution for their problems. Due to the age of writing a petition of stranded pilgrims and the allocation of significant financial resources and endowments for support them, the Astan Quds guardians and officials considered various support measures, including cash and non-monetary aid after studying their petitions and the situation and problems, sometimes by influencing the social base of the pilgrims and the way of expressing the problems in the petitions, gave more attention to some pilgrims, especially Sadat.
 

Keywords

• Pilgrims
• Indian subcontinent
• Qajar
• Imam Reza (PBUH) Holy Shrine
• Mashhad
• Astan Quds ‎Razavi documents.‎

Main Subjects

• Iran Local Histories