"Exotic Animals at the Sultan’s Court" lecture by Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 29th March 2012
Time : 3:00 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Event Details : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to The Seminar on 'Exotic Animals at the Sultan’s Court' by Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi, Department of History, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul.
Abstract : Throughout the Eurasian continent, power over wild animals since ancient times has been considered a significant attribute of the ruler. This issue has been well studied for many cultures, including ancient Mesopotamia, or, closer to the Ottomans in time, Moghul India. However while in the Ottoman case, palace architecture, pious foundations or the display of precious cloths and furs have been intensively studied so as to elucidate their respective roles in sultanic legitimization, the power of the ruler to control wild animals has not attracted much attention.
Ottoman official sources do not say anything much about the meaning that the sultans and their servitors attached to the display of wild and/or exotic animals. However the 17th-century Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi does offer some clues. When describing a parade apparently held in honor of the campaign of Sultan Murad IV against Iran, he claims that attendants marched ten lions, five leopards and twelve tigers in addition to other wild animals. Particularly the lions were loaded with chains; but just in case one of them broke loose, their keepers carried gazelle meat treated with opium and other somniferous drugs. In case of an accident, the lion, so it was hoped, could be pacified by this food.
The lions were not kept in cages mounted on carts, as seems to have been the case in later periods; this manner of display may indicate that officials intended to strike terror in the hearts of the populace. Thus viewers were not meant to feel a moderate and vicarious titillation, but rather the grip of real fear. Moreover even if Evliya had invented his description, the story would still be of interest, for he was a well-informed observer familiar with Ottoman court practices, and should have known very well what effects the designers of the procession had intended with their display.
But in the end this was a time of festivity; and the feeling of terror was not to get out of hand. Thus Evliya also told us that participants in the parade dressed up as wild animals, and scared the spectators ‘for the mere fun of it.’ Thus the spectators experienced a transition between the ‘real’ and the ‘theatrical’, as the real fear aroused by the chained lions was dissipated by the tame bears and other creatures which amused the spectators at this and other sultanic processions. Apparently it was an essential feature of Ottoman festivals to highlight people on the point of coming to grievous bodily harm, but to stop just short of this eventuality. If a bit of speculation is permitted: this mixture of fear of a wild beast, and of trust in the joyous outcome of the festive encounter may well have enhanced popular trust in the protective powers of the padişah-ı alempenah, ‘the refuge of the world’ to whom even wild beasts did obeisance.
Matters are somewhat different in the case of the elephants also often displayed in sultanic processions. If their depiction in eighteenth-century miniatures is any guide, they appeared not as wild beasts, denizens of the jungle, but as animals specially trained to serve their owners. While the Ottomans never took elephants along to war, they emulated this widespread Indian practice, often depicted in Moghul miniatures, by the accoutrements that (artificial) elephants were made to pull in festive processions. In artwork depicting a famous celebration that took place in 1720, we see these animals carrying turrets equipped with mock cannons. At least in the make-believe world of the festival, the Ottoman sultan had thus augmented his army by the formidable force of a few war elephants.
Moreover India with its numerous wonders both man-made and natural enjoyed a certain prestige in the Ottoman world while on the other hand at least around 1600 there was a more or less explicit competition between the Moghul rulers and the Ottoman sultans. Therefore we can surmise that elephants were paraded in the streets of Istanbul to show that the sultans could rival their Indian counterparts in every conceivable way. If we carry speculation yet a step further, we can also surmise that the Ottoman officials who designed the 1720 procession were out to show that the sultan was not merely the equal of any Indian ruler but in fact the most powerful figure in the Islamic world. This question, and others like it, will need further investigation.
Speaker : Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi was professor of Ottoman Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany (1988-2007). After retirement from LMU she now works as a professor at the Department of History, Istanbul Bilgi University in Istanbul.
In 2001-02 she was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg/Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. As a visiting scholar, she has lectured at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, Dartmouth College, Moscow State University, Al al-Bayt University (Jordan), and Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. From this latter institution she holds an honorary doctorate. Some of Prof. Faroqhi’s publications are Towns and Townsmen of Ottoman Anatolia, Trade, Crafts and Food Production in an Urban Setting; Pilgrims and Sultans; Kultur und Alltag im Osmanischen Reich (1995, English translation Subjects of the Sultans by Martin Bott, 2000); Approaching Ottoman History: an Introduction to the Sources ( 1999); The Ottoman Empire and the World Around it, 1540s to 1774 (2004); Another Mirror for Princes: The Public Image of the Sultans and its Reception (collected articles) (2008), Artisans of Empire. Crafts and Craftspeople under the Ottomans (2009).
More or less recently she has edited The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 3, The Later Ottoman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Animals and People in the Ottoman Empire (2010). Together with Kate Fleet she also has co-edited The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 2, which hopefully will appear in the summer or autumn of this year.
Related Events : Talks | History
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Details : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to The Seminar on 'Exotic Animals at the Sultan’s Court' by Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi, Department of History, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul.
Abstract : Throughout the Eurasian continent, power over wild animals since ancient times has been considered a significant attribute of the ruler. This issue has been well studied for many cultures, including ancient Mesopotamia, or, closer to the Ottomans in time, Moghul India. However while in the Ottoman case, palace architecture, pious foundations or the display of precious cloths and furs have been intensively studied so as to elucidate their respective roles in sultanic legitimization, the power of the ruler to control wild animals has not attracted much attention.
Ottoman official sources do not say anything much about the meaning that the sultans and their servitors attached to the display of wild and/or exotic animals. However the 17th-century Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi does offer some clues. When describing a parade apparently held in honor of the campaign of Sultan Murad IV against Iran, he claims that attendants marched ten lions, five leopards and twelve tigers in addition to other wild animals. Particularly the lions were loaded with chains; but just in case one of them broke loose, their keepers carried gazelle meat treated with opium and other somniferous drugs. In case of an accident, the lion, so it was hoped, could be pacified by this food.
The lions were not kept in cages mounted on carts, as seems to have been the case in later periods; this manner of display may indicate that officials intended to strike terror in the hearts of the populace. Thus viewers were not meant to feel a moderate and vicarious titillation, but rather the grip of real fear. Moreover even if Evliya had invented his description, the story would still be of interest, for he was a well-informed observer familiar with Ottoman court practices, and should have known very well what effects the designers of the procession had intended with their display.
But in the end this was a time of festivity; and the feeling of terror was not to get out of hand. Thus Evliya also told us that participants in the parade dressed up as wild animals, and scared the spectators ‘for the mere fun of it.’ Thus the spectators experienced a transition between the ‘real’ and the ‘theatrical’, as the real fear aroused by the chained lions was dissipated by the tame bears and other creatures which amused the spectators at this and other sultanic processions. Apparently it was an essential feature of Ottoman festivals to highlight people on the point of coming to grievous bodily harm, but to stop just short of this eventuality. If a bit of speculation is permitted: this mixture of fear of a wild beast, and of trust in the joyous outcome of the festive encounter may well have enhanced popular trust in the protective powers of the padişah-ı alempenah, ‘the refuge of the world’ to whom even wild beasts did obeisance.
Matters are somewhat different in the case of the elephants also often displayed in sultanic processions. If their depiction in eighteenth-century miniatures is any guide, they appeared not as wild beasts, denizens of the jungle, but as animals specially trained to serve their owners. While the Ottomans never took elephants along to war, they emulated this widespread Indian practice, often depicted in Moghul miniatures, by the accoutrements that (artificial) elephants were made to pull in festive processions. In artwork depicting a famous celebration that took place in 1720, we see these animals carrying turrets equipped with mock cannons. At least in the make-believe world of the festival, the Ottoman sultan had thus augmented his army by the formidable force of a few war elephants.
Moreover India with its numerous wonders both man-made and natural enjoyed a certain prestige in the Ottoman world while on the other hand at least around 1600 there was a more or less explicit competition between the Moghul rulers and the Ottoman sultans. Therefore we can surmise that elephants were paraded in the streets of Istanbul to show that the sultans could rival their Indian counterparts in every conceivable way. If we carry speculation yet a step further, we can also surmise that the Ottoman officials who designed the 1720 procession were out to show that the sultan was not merely the equal of any Indian ruler but in fact the most powerful figure in the Islamic world. This question, and others like it, will need further investigation.
Speaker : Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi was professor of Ottoman Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, Federal Republic of Germany (1988-2007). After retirement from LMU she now works as a professor at the Department of History, Istanbul Bilgi University in Istanbul.
In 2001-02 she was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg/Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. As a visiting scholar, she has lectured at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, Dartmouth College, Moscow State University, Al al-Bayt University (Jordan), and Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. From this latter institution she holds an honorary doctorate. Some of Prof. Faroqhi’s publications are Towns and Townsmen of Ottoman Anatolia, Trade, Crafts and Food Production in an Urban Setting; Pilgrims and Sultans; Kultur und Alltag im Osmanischen Reich (1995, English translation Subjects of the Sultans by Martin Bott, 2000); Approaching Ottoman History: an Introduction to the Sources ( 1999); The Ottoman Empire and the World Around it, 1540s to 1774 (2004); Another Mirror for Princes: The Public Image of the Sultans and its Reception (collected articles) (2008), Artisans of Empire. Crafts and Craftspeople under the Ottomans (2009).
More or less recently she has edited The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 3, The Later Ottoman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Animals and People in the Ottoman Empire (2010). Together with Kate Fleet she also has co-edited The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 2, which hopefully will appear in the summer or autumn of this year.
Related Events : Talks | History
"Exotic Animals at the Sultan’s Court" lecture by Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 29th March 2012
!["Exotic Animals at the Sultan’s Court" lecture by Prof. Suraiya Faroqhi at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 29th March 2012]()
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