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" The legendary biographies of Nāsir-i Khusraw: Memory and textualization in early modern Persian Ismā'īlism "
Daniel Beben
DeWeese, Devin; Dodson, Michael
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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803507
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| Doc. No
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TL48300
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| Call number
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1702150373; 3716221
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| Main Entry
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McLeod, James D., Jr.
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| Title & Author
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The legendary biographies of Nāsir-i Khusraw: Memory and textualization in early modern Persian Ismā'īlism\ Daniel BebenDeWeese, Devin; Dodson, Michael
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| College
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Indiana University
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| Date
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2015
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| field of study
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History
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| student score
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2015
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| Page No
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532
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| Note
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Committee members: Choksy, Jamsheed; DeWeese, Devin; Dodson, Michael; Losensky, Paul; Sela, Ron
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| Note
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Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-94768-7
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| Abstract
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This dissertation examines the legendary biographical traditions concerning the eleventh-century Ismā'īlī philosopher and missionary Nāsir-i Khusraw and their significance for the history of the Badakhshān region of Central Asia. While scholars have long been aware of the immense body of narratives surrounding this figure, previous studies have examined these texts only as sources for the historical biography of Nāsir-i Khusraw. In contrast, this study instead seeks to place these narratives within their own historical context and to examine the particular agendas behind their creation. This body of literature offers a unique window into the social and religious history of Badakhshān for periods that are otherwise poorly served by documentary evidence. While there is little doubt that Nāsir-i Khusraw came to Badakhshān as an Ismā'īlī missionary, I find that it was first among Sunni constituencies connected with Nāsir’s shrine that a discernible effort was made to perpetuate his legacy, an effort that entailed an effacing of his Ismā'īlī past. It was only in the eighteenth century that a written hagiographical tradition connected with Nāsir-i Khusraw took shape among Ismā'īlī communities in Badakhshān. I argue that this Ismā'īlī hagiographical tradition drew substantially upon the older stratum of Sunni biographical narratives concerning Nāsir-i Khusraw, and sought to capitalize upon his charisma as a popular saint in an effort to extend the Ismā'īlī <i> da'wah</i> in the Badakhshān region. This study explores the textualization of this hagiographical tradition within the context of the broader social and political transformations in the Islamic world in the eighteenth century, an era that witnessed a vigorous expansion of Ismā'īlī activity in Central Asia and elsewhere. I find that hagiographical production served as a medium through which these communities narrated themselves within both the framework of Islamic civilization and of a transnational Ismā'īlī identity, and advanced claims to political and social legitimacy within those frameworks. The ever-evolving biographical image of Nāsir-i Khusraw presents us with a window onto the changing relationship between Badakhshān and the broader Muslim world. This dissertation presents a case study in the process of religious conversion, communal identity formation, and the development and transmission of cultural memory in the Islamic world.
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| Subject
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Middle Eastern history; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern Studies
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| Descriptor
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Social sciences;Afghanistan;Badakhshan;Central asia;Iran;Ismailism;Tajikistan
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| Added Entry
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DeWeese, Devin; Dodson, Michael
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| Added Entry
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HistoryIndiana University
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