Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-23
THE SHAH'S HAREM,
Some Account of the Ladies Who Cheer
the Persian POtentate's Hours.

From London Modern Society,
Without indiscretion, it may be noted that
the dentzens Of the royal seragio belonging to
his interesting majesty. who are under the care
OF the Koji Bashi. or chief eunuch and his fell
lows, are about three hundred; that of these
three hundred many are children. and two hun
dred at least, are simply servants. a large num-
Der being negresses. Each Office of the Per-
sian court has its corresponding dignity in the
anderun- Few additions have been made Of
late years to the number of inmates of the royal
seraglio and it contains absolutely no European
or male persons over the age Of eleven. Each
royal favorite has her separate pavilion and her
staff OF servants, her equipage. her jewels and
her revenue. The principal favorite generally
has some high-sounding title conferred upon
her sucn as The del ght of the state"
The ladies are never seen abroad unveiled.
save one or two of the handsomer or more
Eighty Of the number. who sometimes, when
driving in their glass coaches" purposely
give rather liberal display Of ford charms
to passers-by in carriages or on horseback
The legends of tattooed Greek princes notwith-
standing, ii is quite certain that, rs a rule. no
man save the king enters the royal harem, or,
having done so. leaves 1t alive. Some years
ago an unfortunate workman, while engaged in
excavating watercourse, suddenly found him
fright accordingly (by the way. the indoor
dress worn by Persian ladies has been de-
scribed az precisely resembling the costume of
II ballet girl, minus the maiilot). but the king
seeing how the matter stood. pardoned him.
The means of getting rid of those who have
ceased to please Is simple and yet ingenious
There Is no sewing up in sacks. no casting from
towers, no bowstring. no poisoning. Some pro-
ylncial general Is informed that he will be
favored With wife from the royal harem. To
refuse IS impossible; the Disguised lady arrives
and is placed at the head of her new husbands
household. She usually insists on his divorce
ing hs other wives, and in any case treats them
as servants and interiors. One old general,
who had become the recipient Of one OF these
royal favors (the lady led him a sad life) never
alluded to her but-ir whisper, Of course-as
the old camel" Beauty and youth ale the
few and simple qualifications for entering the
royal harem. Various accomplishments such
as singing, playing on the hand drum or tum-
bak. the tambOurlne or the harmonica are often
acquired after the lady has been received into
the seraglio.
Only the fresh arrivals and those who have
failed to please live together in a sort of bar
rack under the supervision of the Anin-i Ak das,
an Old fayorlte, who acts as q sort Of Mother
Of the Maids" Every Thursday there is kind
OF review, the shah personally inspecting the
whole establishment other than the recognized
wives and favorites. The throwing Of the
handkerchief is no invention. and has not gone
out of practice. The number Of legitimate
wives Cor akd) for every Mussulman is four.
The head wife OF the present shah (who il his
cousin also) and who bears the title of Shuko-
es-Sutana, is the great granddaughter of
Futteh Ali Shah. a monarch whose family was
SO large that ITO of h,s descendants were alive
at his death. This lady is the mother of the
crown prince, or yalliad. Her marriage with
the shah was one of policy. The next wife in
seniority is the daughter of a son of Futteh Ali
Shah. She is only known to rumor as having a
somewhat sharp temper.
The third wife, and the actual favorite, Ia
Anys-u-Dowlet. She has been O legitimate
wife nearly thirteen years, is very fat, fairly
good looking. and is said to be very good tenn
pered and attractive. She actually aocompa-
MED the shah as far as Moscow ON his first Jour
ney to Europe, but the attempts to see her
made by the Russians of all classes we're SO
pertihacious that, to her great disappointment.
she was sent back to Teheran. The Anys.u-
Dowiet has immense influence, and vet she
never takes bride, but her own family is well
cared Tor, three of her relatives filling i'm
portant positions at the court, where their
reputation is not that of her royal kinswoman
The whole family were the children of village
miller who lived near Dimarvend, nearly ex-
tinct volcano, which, capped with eternal SHOWS,
towers over Teheran, and may be seen, il Il
said, at a distance of 200 miles.