Persianate Society - Safavids and The Resurrection of Iranianhood

Safavids and The Resurrection of Iranianhood

The Safavid dynasty ascended to predominance in Iran in the 16th century—the first native Iranian dynasty since the Buyyids. The Safavids, whom according to the consensus of scholars were originally from Persian Kurdistan moved to the Ardabil region in the 11th century. They re-asserted the Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state and patronized Iranian culture. They made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shi’ism against the onslaughts of orthodox Sunni Islam, and the repository of Persian cultural traditions and self-awareness of Iranianhood.

The founder of the dynasty, Shah Isma'il, adopted the title of Persian Emperor Pādišah-ī Īrān, with its implicit notion of an Iranian state stretching from Afghanistan as far as the Euphrates, and from the Oxus to the southern Territories of the Persian Gulf. Shah Isma'il's successors went further and adopted the title of "Shāhanshāh" (king of the kings). The Safavid kings considered themselves, like the Sasanian Emperors, the khudāygān (the shadow of God on earth), revived the Sasanian architecture, erected grand mosques, revived and built elegant "Charbagh" gardens, collected books (one Safavid ruler had a library of 3,000 volumes), and patronized whole "Men of Pen" The Safavids introduced Shiism into Persia to distinguish Persia society from the Ottomans, their Sunni rivals to the west. The Mughals dominated India from 1526 until the 18th century, when Muslim successor states and non-Muslim powers of the Sikh, Maratha, and British replaced them.