¹ See Rossiiski Gosudarstvennii Voenno-Istoricheskii Arkhiv [Russian State Military History Archive], fond 76, opis I, delo 378: 23 (henceforth RGVIA).

² For instance, sources termed forces from the Iranian province of Khorasan as Eeljaree. See, for example, Burnes, Alexander, Travels into Bokhara, Being an Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia. Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus from the Sea to Lahore (London, 1834), 2: 88Google Scholar. (Moscow, 1848), III: 128; Conolly, A., A Journey to the North of India, overland from England, through Russia, Persia, and Afghanistan (London, 1834), I: 219, 242Google Scholar.

³ RGVIA, fond “Voenno-Uchenii Archiv,” delo 4338: 17 rev.

⁴ Beg Domboli, Abd ar Razzāq, Maaser-e Saltānie (Tabriz, 1242), 260Google Scholar.

⁶ Farsakh or Farsang is an old Persian measure of length, and is approximately equal to seven kilometers.

⁷ Jaubert, Amédée, Mosaferat be Armanestan va Iran (Tehran, 1322), 183Google Scholar (in Persian).

⁵ Sometimes the inspection was carried out before Nouruz. Akti, sobrannie kavkazskoi arkheograficheskoi komissiei, Pod redaktsiei Adolfa Berge (Tiflis, 1868), II: 159 (henceforth AKAK).

⁸ Belozerskii, A., “Pisma iz Persii ot Baku do Ispagani 1885–1886 g.g.,” Sbornik geograficheskikh, topograficheskikh i statisticheskikh materialov po Azii, (Saint Petersburg, 1887), XXIII:, 29, 31Google Scholar (henceforth, Sbornik materialov po Azii).

¹⁰ See Quzanlu, Jamil, Tārikh-e nezāmi-ie Irān (Tehran, 1315), 2: 695–96Google Scholar.

⁹ RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 2

¹¹ Bagrationi, Teimuraz, “Sparsuli dghiurebi anu siskhlit natseri pikrebi” [The Persian diaries or the thoughts written by blood], in Sharadze, Guram, ed., Teimuraz Bagrationi. Tskhovrebis gza [Teimuraz Bagrationi's lifetime] (Tbilisi, 1972), 199Google Scholar (in Georgian).

¹² “O nineshnem persidskom shakhe, stolitse ego Tegerane i o voennoi sile,” Aziatskii vestnik (Moscow, 1825), 364. In some rare cases the army was able to travel approximately fifteen farsangs.

¹³ Drouville, Gaspar, Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh (Moscow, 1826), 2: 146Google Scholar.

¹⁴ Bagrationi, Sparsuli dghiurebi anu siskhlit natseri pikrebi, 202.

¹⁵ The British diplomat and writer James Morier made light of this phenomenon in his well-known novel the Haji-Baba from Isfahan. See, for example his Pokhozhdenia Haji-Babi iz Isfagana (Moscow, 1970), 207–08.

¹⁶ See RGVIA, fond 446, delo 168: 7 rev.-8. Frankini, General, “Zapiska o persidskoi armii (1877),” Sbornik materialov po Azii (1883), IV: 21–22Google Scholar.

¹⁷ See RGVIA, fond 446, delo 10: 27 rev.

¹⁸ See Ter-Oganov, N. K., Sozdanie i razvitie iranskoi reguliarnoi armii i deyatelnost inostrannikh voennikh missii v Irane v XIX veke [Formation and development of the Iranian regular army and activities of the foreign military missions in Iran in the nineteenth century] (PhD diss., Tbilisi State University, 1984), 64Google Scholar (in Russian)

¹⁹ Morier, James, A Second Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, between the Years 1810 and 1816 (London, 1818), 279Google Scholar.

²⁰ Blaramberg, I., “Statisticheskoe obozrenie Persii, sostavlennoe v 1841 g.,” Zapiski imperatorskogo russkogo geograficheskogo obschestva (Saint Petersburg, 1853), VII: 57Google Scholar.

²¹ RGVIA, fond 446, bez opisi, delo 39: 12 rev.-13 rev.

²² Frankini, General, “Zapiska o persidskoi armii (1877),” Sbornik materialov po Azii (1883), IV: 21Google Scholar.

²³ See RGVIA, fond 446, delo 41: 59 rev.

²⁴ See AKAK, III: 434.

²⁵ Waring, Edward, A Tour to Shiraz by the Route of Kazeroon and Feerozabad with Various Remarks on the Manners, Customs, Laws, Language and Literature of the Persia (London, 1807), 81, 85Google Scholar (Waring calls them Ambārdārs).

²⁶ “O nineshnem persidskom shakhe,” 362.

²⁷ Morier, James, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809 (London, 1812), 261–62Google Scholar.

²⁸ Malcolm, John, The History of Persia from the Most Early Period to the Present Time (Containing an Account of the Religion, Government, Usages, and Character of the Inhabitants of that Kingdom) (London, 1815), 2: 498Google Scholar.

²⁹ Borschevskii, Y., “K kharakteristike rukopisnogo nasledia V. A. Zhukovskogo,” Ocherki po istorii russkogo vostokovedenia, Sbornik V, pamiati V. A. Zhukovskogo (Moscow, 1960), 44Google Scholar.

³⁰ RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 5 rev.

³¹ In Iran, individuals or groups of people who were oppressed by the authorities and sought justice, or had a demand, traditionally took refuge in a bast, an inviolable place of refuge, as a last resort. In Persian, “bast neshastan” meant to take refuge. Places of sanctuary, such as Imām-zādeh (the tomb of Sayyid), the residence of the crown prince (Valiahd), as well as foreign missions (during Qajar rule), were considered bast. The persons having entered the bast remained there indefinitely until the problem was resolved. Providing food and water to the refugees was viewed as pleasing to God. See, for instance, Tigranov, L. F., Iz obschestvenno-ekonomicheskikh otnoshenii v Persii (Tiflis, 1905), 63–64Google Scholar.

³² Holmes, William, Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian (London, 1845), 78Google Scholar.

³³ See Kinneir, John, Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire (London, 1813)Google Scholar.

³⁴ Fraser, James B., Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822 (Oxford and New York, 1984), 223Google Scholar.

³⁵ Hedāyat, Rezā Qoli Khān, Tārikh-e rouzāt os-safā-ie Nāseri, ed. Parviz, Abbas (Tehran, 1339), 9: 416–17Google Scholar (in Persian).

³⁶ Batorskii, A.A., ““Proekt expeditsii v Indiu, predlozhennii Napoleonom Bonaparte imperatoram Pavlu I Aleksandru I v 1800 i 1807–1808 gg.,” Sbornik materialov po Azii Saint-Petersburg 1886), XXIII: 80Google Scholar.

³⁷ Waring, A Tour to Sheeraz, 82.

³⁸ RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 2 rev.

³⁹ It is worth mentioning that the military rank of Sarkyardeh, as was true of other Iranian military ranks that were influenced by the military organization of the Safavid and Afshar states, also existed in the eastern Georgian feudal army, as evidenced in the document composed in Russian, “Tabel chinam, bivshim v Gruzii pri tsariakh, 1801 goda” [The list of the clerks, being in Georgia, in the service of the king, 1801], AKAK, Pod redaktsiei Adolfa Berge (Tiflis, 1866), 1. All military ranks mentioned in the document: Sardali, Sarkardari, Min-bashi, Punsad-bashi, Yuz-bashi and Dah-bashi—are of Iranian (Perso-Turkish) origin.

⁴⁰ Ibid., 201.

⁴¹ Bagrationi, Teimuraz, Davit Bagrationis Istoria [The history of Davit Bagrationi] (Tbilisi, 1972), 33Google Scholar (in Georgian). Sometimes the Pishkhāneh also added bastions and dug trenches to avoid a sneak attack by the enemy.

⁴² Ferrier, Joseph P., Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan and Beloochistan (London, 1856), 39.Google Scholar

⁴³ od Dowleh, Mohammad Hasan Khān Sani', Al-māsir ua al-asār (Tehran, 1306), 224, 269, 319Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ During the Safavid period, the feudal army of the provinces was subordinate to the Beglarbegi (a provincial governor), who exercised civil and military duties in the province. However, later on, particularly in the period of Nader Shah Afshar, it appears that civil matters were delegated to the supervision of the Beglarbegi while the provincial army was under the command of a Sardār (a commander of the provincial irregular army). This division of the civil and military power indicates that Nader Shah wanted to avoid the concentration of power in the hands of the Beglarbegi. This division of power between the civil and military authorities was maintained through the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, there were some exceptions to the rule: certain powerful Beglarbegi could perform both civil and military duties. For example, the Beglarbegi of Erivan, Hossein Khan, was at the same time sardār. However, it should be stressed that during this period, as a rule, Beglabegi did not command the armed forces of the province. Iranian historian Abd ar Razzāq Beg Domboli confirms this assertion, particularly in his description of Hossein Khan as Beglarbegi and sardār: “Mostafa Āqā Qazāq rā ham ta'in nemud ke ba Hossein Khān Beglarbegi va Sardār-e Erivān banā-ie amr eltiām gozārad —[The shah] appointed Mostafa Āqā Qazāq to lay down the foundations of obedience with Hossein Khān Beglarbegi and Sardār of Yerevan”—See Domboli, Maaser-e Saltānie, 269.

⁴⁵ See Rajabi, Parviz, “Ārtesh-e Irān dar doure-ie Zandie,” Majale-ie barrasiha-ie tārikhi, Sāl-e sheshom, shomāre-ie sevvom (Tehran, 1350), 4Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Quzānlu, , Tārikh-e nezāmi-ie Irān, 2: 708Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Qājār, Jahāngir Mirzā, Tārikh-e nou. Shāmel-e havādes-e doure-ie Qājāri-ie az sāl-e 1240 ta 1267 kamari (Tehran, 1327), 10Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Ibid., 107.

⁴⁹ It should be noted that at the beginning of nineteenth century the irregular infantry was armed by the matchlocks. See “O voennoi sile Persii,” 176–77.

⁵⁰ Blaramberg, “Statisticheskoe obozrenie Persii,” 141.

⁵¹ Ibid., 83.

⁵² See Holmes, William, Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian (London, 1845), 75Google Scholar.

⁵³ Ibid., 75, 186, 289.

⁵⁴ The Persian narrative sources of the seventeenth century indicate that Jazāir was used long before Nader Shah Afshar. This is mentioned, for example, in the work of the court historian of Shah Abbas the Great, Iskander Munshi. See Torkaman, Iskander Beg, Tārikh-e ‘aālamārā-ie abbāsi (Tehran, 1350), 2: 1052Google Scholar. Although the information about the Jazāirchis was provided by many authors, during our research we have not come across a detailed description of the Jazāir. For example, according to the evidence of Captain Vasilii Bebutov, Jazāir was a matchlock—see RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 4. But as we know, at the beginning of nineteenth century all irregular foot soldiers were armed with various types of matchlocks. The explanatory dictionary of the Georgian language describes Jazāir as “an old, long bell-mouthed rifle.” See Kartuli enis ganmartebiti lexikoni [The explanatory lexicon of the Georgian language] (Tbilisi, 1964), VIII: 1551 (in Georgian). In the opinion of George Stone, considered one of the leading American specialists in arms, Jazāir or Jazāil is of Afghan origin. He writes that the word originally referred to a matchlock, which was later transformed to a flintlock by mounting European locks on it. See Stone, George C., A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in all Countries and in all Times (New York, 1961), 332Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ See Arunova, M. R. and Ashrafian, K. Z., Gosudarstvo Nadir-shakha Afshara (Moscow, 1958), 132Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ There is scant information on the Shamkhāl in the Persian and European sources. According to Persian scholar Ali Akbar Dehkhodā, Shamkhāl is “an old, crude and heavy rifle like a rifle having a rifled barrel.” See Dehkhodā, Ali Akbar, Loghat-Nāma, Shomāre-ie masalsal 169 (Tehran, 1350), 572Google Scholar. Mohammad Moin's (the author of the Persian explanatory dictionary) interpretation on the Shamkhāl seems less substantial. See Moin, M., Farhang-e farsi (Tehran, 1342), 2: 2075Google Scholar. Dehkhoda's description of the weight of the Shamkhal is confirmed by British officer A. Conolly, who describes the Shamkhāl as a big rifle that was put on a rest during shooting. See Conolly, A., A Journey to the North of India, overland from England, through Russia, Persia, and Afghanistan (London, 1834), I: 242Google Scholar. Similarly, the Russian newspaper Kavkaz reported: “In Khorasan Prince Hussam os Saltaneh assembled the troops known as Samkhanchis, armed with the long rifles from which they fire using the rests, and is engaged in their management.” See Kavkaz, no. 17 (Tiflis, 1853).

⁵⁷ Rzhevusski, A., “Poezdka v Meshkhed,” Voennii sbornik, no. 5–6 (1890): 208Google Scholar.

⁵⁸ Qājār, Tarikh-e nou, 102.

⁵⁹ od Dowleh, Mohammad Hasan Khān Sani', Mirāt al-buldān-e nāseri (Tehran, 1294), 2: 16–17, 147Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ od Dowleh, Mohammad Hasan Khān Sani', Tārikh-e montazam-e nāseri (Tehran, 1299), 2: 17–18Google Scholar.

⁶¹ RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 2 rev.

⁶² Bagrationi, Sparsuli dghiurebi anu siskhlit natseri pikrebi, 200.

⁶³ Morier, A Second Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, 278.

⁶⁵ Borschevskii, “K kharakteristike rukopisnogo nasledya V. A. Zhukovskogo,” 42–43.

⁶⁴ Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 152Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ “O nineshnem persidskom shakhe,” 365.

⁶⁷ RGVIA, fond 446, delo 5: 3.

⁶⁸ See Dowleh, , Tārikh-e montazam-e nāseri, 2: 14–17Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ Tumanskii, A.G., “Ot Kaspiiskogo moria k Khormuzskomu prolivu i obratno. 1894 g.,” Sbornik materialov po Azii (Saint-Petersburg 1896) XV: 20Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ od Dowleh, Mohammad Hasan Khān Sani', Al-maasir ua al-asār (Tehran, 1306), 37Google Scholar.

⁷¹ Fraser, James, Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (London, 1826), 256Google Scholar.

⁷² Malcolm, , The History of Persia, 2: 497Google Scholar; Holmes, Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian, 585.

⁷³ Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 105–06Google Scholar. Information on the division of the Gholāms into two categories, and on their participation in the military operations, is available in the works of Gaspar Drouville and Robert Ker Porter, as well as in Persian narrative sources. See Domboli, Maaser-e Saltānie, 209, 216; Qājār, Tārikh-e Nou, 19.

⁷⁴ Waring, A Tour to Sheeraz, 84.

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ Porter, Robert Ker, Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia during the years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820 (London, 1822), 2: 585Google Scholar.

⁷⁷ Dowleh, Al-maasir ua al -asār, 36.

⁷⁸ Joushan is a chain mail, and push is a suffix that means dressed; that is chain mail-dressed

⁷⁹ Domboli, Maaser-e Saltāniie, 65.

⁸⁰ Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 103–04Google Scholar.

⁸¹ Morier, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople, 585.

⁸² Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 105Google Scholar.

⁸³ Porter, , Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, 2: 585Google Scholar.

⁸⁴ Morier, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople, 242.

⁸⁵ See Arunova and Ashrafian, Gosudarstvo Nadir-shakha Afshara, 132.

⁸⁶ Morier, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, And Asia Minor to Constantinople, 242.

⁸⁷ Ouseley, William, Travels in Various Countries of the East, more particularly Persia (London, 1819), 2: 118Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ Hedāyat, Reza Qoli Khān, Tārikh-e rouzāt os-safā-ie nāseri (Tehran, 1339), 9: 2451Google Scholar.

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ It should be mentioned that the term Tupkhāneh at the same time meant the arsenal, where the guns were preserved.

⁹¹ Sardādvar, Sarlashgyar Abutarāb, Tārikh-e nezāmi va siāsi-ie dourān-e Nāder Shāh-e Afshār (Tehran, 1354), 79Google Scholar.

⁹² Franklin, William, Observation made on a Tour from Bengal to Persia in the Years 1786–7 (London, 1790), 53, 57Google Scholar.

⁹³ Gardane, Alfred, Mission du général Gardane en Perse sous le premier Empire. Documents historiques (Paris, 1865), 124Google Scholar.

⁹⁴ Tadhkirat al-Muluk (Tehran, 1332), 13.

⁹⁵ Gardane, Mission, 121.

⁹⁶ Nafisi, Said, Tārikh-e ejtemāi va siāsi-ie Irān dar doure-ie moāser (Tehran, 1335), 1: 211Google Scholar.

⁹⁷ Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 134Google Scholar.

⁹⁸ Mehmāndār (host) was an official who was usually appointed by the authorities to accompany guests of high rank, including ambassadors.

⁹⁹ The author is referring to the members of General Gardane's mission. See Domboli, Maaser-e Saltānie, 197.

¹⁰⁰ In the Safavid period, referring to the “Tadhkirāt al-Muluk,” Jabakhāneh was guided by the Jabadār-bāshi, who was considered “one of the highest muqarrabs and dignitaries of the court.” See Minorsky, V., trans. and ed., Tadhkirāt al-Muluk: a Manual of Safavid Administration (circa 1137/1725) (Cambridge, 1980), 65Google Scholar.

¹⁰¹ Drouville, , Puteshestvie v Persiu v 1812–1813 godakh, 2: 144Google Scholar.

¹⁰² Ouseley, William, Travels in Various Countries of the East, more particularly Persia (London, 1823), 3: 119Google Scholar.

¹⁰³ Dowleh, , Mirāt al-buldān-e nāseri, 2: 67, 105Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁴ Malcolm, , The History of Persia, 2: 309Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁵ Ibid., 310.

¹⁰⁶ Migdal, J., Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton, NJ, 1988), 11Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁷ Fraser, Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces, 256.

¹⁰⁸ Bagrationi, Davit Bagrationis Istoria, 34–35.

¹⁰⁹ Malcolm, , The History of Persia, 2: 498.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ Fraser, Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces, 256.

¹¹¹ Malcolm, , The History of Persia, 2: 482Google Scholar.