Bahman Mirza (; 1810 – 1883/84) was a Qajar prince, literary scholar, and writer who lived in Iran and later the Russian Empire. The fourth son of the former crown prince Abbas Mirza, his career in Iran was marked by several governorships, including the province of Azerbaijan (1841–1847).
In 1845, riots and other disturbances started occurring in Iran as its unstable state and the illness of Bahman Mirza's full brother and sovereign Mohammad Shah Qajar (). In 1846, the Qajar Hasan Khan Salar started a rebellion in Khorasan. He and his father Asef al-Dowleh (Bahman Mirza's uncle) planned to capture the capital of Tehran and install Bahman Mirza on the throne. It is uncertain if Bahman Mirza was part of this scheme or not. He was ultimately granted sanctuary by Mohammad Shah in Tehran, but was treated in a hostile manner by him, and also continued to be worried by the schemes of the grand vizier Haji Mirza Aqasi.
Bahman Mirza thus fled to the Russian Empire in November 1847. He had been granted asylum there, since the Russians considered sheltering a Iranian prince as a crucial component of their foreign policy with Iran. Bahman Mirza spent the rest of his life there, dying in 1883 or 1884. He was survived by over 100 children and grandchildren, with many of them serving in the Russian government and military.
Bahman Mirza was a patron of literature and a man of letters. He commissioned the first Persian translation of the Arabic Alf layla wa layla (One Thousand and One Nights), which was completed in 1835. With the encouragement of Mohammad Shah, he also composed the Tazkera-ye Mohammad Shahi in 1841, a Persian tazkera (anthology of poets). The tazerka is full of poetry, including 4,500 verses from Ferdowsi alone; however it is not very useful for biographical information.
Biography
Life in Iran
Born in 1810, nothing is known about the early years of Bahman Mirza. He was the fourth son of the crown prince Abbas Mirza, and grandson of the Iranian shah (king) Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (). Bahman Mirza's mother was a daughter of Mirza Mohammad Qajar Davalu Beglerbegi. She belonged to the Davalu, which along with the Qovanlu formed the dominant clans of the Qajar dynasty. Bahman Mirza had two full brothers, Qahraman Mirza and Mohammad Mirza (the later Mohammad Shah Qajar).
Bahman Mirza's first administrative position was seemingly as governor of the cities of Ardabil, Meshginshahr and Talesh from 1831 to 1834. On 21 December 1834, the newly crowned Mohammad Shah () appointed him as the governor of the capital of Tehran. In 1835/36, Bahman Mirza briefly served as the governor of Borujerd and Silakhor, and in 1836/37, he was re-appointed as the governor of Tehran. In 1841, he succeeded the recently deceased Qahraman Mirza as the governor of Azerbaijan, and thus went to its provincial capital of Tabriz. At that time, Tabriz was the biggest city in Iran. Because of its European trade, its populations of Greek, Armenian, and European merchants, and its connections to the Ottoman and Russian empires, Tabriz maintained its lively cosmopolitan character.
In 1845, riots and other disturbances started occurring in Iran as its unstable state and the Mohammad Shah's illness. In 1846, the Qajar Hasan Khan Salar started a rebellion in Khorasan. Hasan Khan Salar and his father Asef al-Dowleh (Bahman Mirza's uncle) seemed to have planned that Hasan Khan Salar was to seize Khorasan, then amass a sizable army to capture Tehran and install Bahman Mirza on the throne. The grand vizier Haji Mirza Aqasi learned of this scheme and attempted to prevent it.
Bahman Mirza, who might have been aware of and involved in this scheme, discovered that Khosrow Khan Gorji had been sent to Kurdistan in order to put an end to a revolt led by Fath-Ali Shah's grandson Rezaqoli Khan Ardalan. When Bahman Mirza found out about Khosrow Khan's expedition, he became concerned that he may strike Azerbaijan. Bahman Mirza traveled to Tehran by a side road, well-knowing of Khosrow Khan's cruel reputation. Aqasi, who seemed doubtful about the aim of Bahman Mirza, gave Khosrow Khan the order to go to Zanjan in order to coerce Bahman Mirza into doing something reckless. When Bahman Mirza reached Tehran, he attempted to meet with Aqasi, who was in the Abbasabad fort. He refused to let Bahman Mirza in because as he considered him to be a conspirator.