HAJJI  BABA OF ISPAHAN

The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan; Published by John Murray ; Pages 295; Price US $ 6/76.

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The extraordinary thing about this book is that

its 1895 edition published by Macmillan carries an introduction by Lord George Curzon . Curzon was then a minister in the House of Parliament and was serving as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He later served as Viceroy of India.

James Morier ( 1782 – 1849) was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the Hajji Baba series. He was born in Smyrna and after private education in England he worked in his father's Smyrna business .Through the influence of his uncle, an Admiral,Morier entered the diplomatic service. He first visited Iran in 1808 as secretary to Sir Harford, a special British envoy to the Shah and published an account of his experiences---A Journey through Iran, Armenia and Asia Minor to Constantinople. In 1809 he accompanied the Iranian envoy to Britain, Mirza Hasan, and in 1810 returned to Iran as Secretary of Embassy on the staff of the Ambassador to Iran. He remained there as Chargé d'Affaires.

With his knowledge of Eastern life and manners, he wrote several entertaining novels. The most popular of these was The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan and its sequel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England. There followed Zohrab the Hostage,Ayesha the Maid of Kars, and The Mirza, all full of brilliant description, character-painting, and delicate satire.

Morier is credited with introducing the word “Bosh”, meaning absurd or foolish talk, into the English language.

This book is the first peek into Persia, the best ever capturing of what it was in that time, fact or fiction, and still the most popular Oriental novel in English.

At a pressing point of British colonial power, the Crown established a mission in Persia with an 1809 treaty of alliance. In 1810 they sent James J. Morier as Secretary of Embassy, and from 1814 to 1816 he served as Chargé d’Affaires. The choice was a brilliant one. Sir James made his presence digestible by adopting Qajar Persian customs, stayed quieter than a painting on a wall, and came away with an essential grasp of the culture, and an insight into the regime, not visible even to the natives. He returned home, published reports, and accounts of his travel, and then this novel, which he coyly disconnected from by presenting the picaresque narrative as merely his translation of the coming of age autobiography of one Hajji Baba, a wholly fictional character. In the charade, Hajji Baba tells the tale of his rise from poverty to become the Shah of Persia’s emissary to Britain, but when he is recalled in disgrace, and possibly execution, he entrusts the diary of his life to Morier as his chosen facilitator for publication. It is an adventure , drawing splendid character portraits, and descriptions, but it is rich in satire, ridiculing Persian society as violent, the culture as scandalously dishonest and decadent, and the people as rascals, cowards, fools, and puerile villains.

Morier's novel first published in 1824 remained popular well into the twentieth century. The novel was lauded as an accurate portrayal of Persia by many of Morier’s contemporaries, and came to have a significant afterlife even in Iran.

Hajji Baba begins and ends with fictional letters penned by Europeans which frame the narrative within. The premise is that Hajji Baba was a living individual who gifted his diary to a British traveller, who himself went on to translate and publish it. The narrative follows the eponymous Hajji Baba on his life adventures travelling throughout Persia. After a series of encounters during which he plays different roles, lowborn Hajji Baba eventually becomes the assistant of the Persian ambassador to Britain. The story is partly based on Morier's own experiences and acquaintances during his time in Persia. In particular, the Persian envoy to Britain featured in the novel, Mirza Firouz, reflects the actual Persian envoy to Britain at the time, Mirza Abdul Hasan Khan. The Mirza and Morier were reportedly friends until the publication of Hajji Baba; however, Morier's portrayal of Persia was so unfavorable that Khan reportedly decided to cut ties with him.

Hajji Baba corresponds to the picaresque genre, a type of satirical, episodic fiction that centers on a lovable rascal. The early nineteenth century in Britain ushered in a new kind of picaresque novel, where the main character is a foreign, non-British character who traverses an "exotic" country. This shift coincided with the growing European geo-political interests in the Middle East.Morier’s portrayal of Persia focuses on the country's manners and customs, and ultimately presents Persia as a backward amoral place. In fact, while Hajji Baba “exposes the corruption from the inside,”he eventually triumphs by working within this corrupt system.

Hajji Baba was vital reading for anyone who sought to understand Persian culture. The book was extremely popular in Britain . Curzon’s introduction to Hajji Baba is indicative of the contemporary, educated British understanding of the novel as offering an accurate account of Persia, notwithstanding its fictional nature. Curzon writes:

"Above all, in its delineation of national customs, the book is an invaluable contribution to sociology, and conveys a more truthful and instructive impression […] than any disquisition of which I am aware in the more serious volumes of statements, travellers, and men of affairs."

A perfectly enchanting book by a Wordsmith whose style of writing rivals Oliver Goldsmith and whose recount of adventures is as good as those of Alexander Dumas’s Three Musketeers.

P.P.Ramachandran.

07/06/2020.