Truths and lies: Irony and intrigue in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi.

Abstract

This is a study of irony in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi/ (450/1058-1059), a history of the Perso-Islamic dynasty, the Ghaznavids (388-582/994-1186). The Ghaznavids ruled in an area now comprising eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and northern India. With the loss of the greater Khurasan to the nomadic Saljuqs in 431/1040, the empire became reduced to Afghanistan and northern India, chiefly the Panjab. The Khurasanian scribe Abu al-Fazl Muhammad b. al-Husayn Bayhaqi witnessed this loss in the reign of the third ruler Mas'ud (421-431/1030-1040). Bayhaqi was a scribe in the court of five Ghaznavid rulers, and wrote a detailed history of the reigns of these amirs. But only the volumes on the court of Mas'ud, and thus, the loss of Khurasan have survived. One of the reasons for this loss was intrigues against military leaders in Mas'ud's court. Having been a scribe and a close observer in the court of Mas'ud, Bayhaqi narrates the stories of these intrigues at length. He disapproves of these intrigues at Mas-'ud's court, but demonstrates his disapproval only indirectly, through his use of irony. In this dissertation, I analyze these stories in Tarikh-i Bayhaqi/, using a rhetorical perspective, specifically, the trope of irony. I study these stories within the framework of the loss of Khurasan. This loss was devastating to men like Bayhaqi who belonged to its scribal class, and were preserving some of its age old traditions. Tarikh-i Bayhaqi/ is a record of the Ghaznavid defeat in Khurasan by one of its scribes who mourned the loss of his homeland.