page_title: Pari Khan Khanum
section_title: Under Ismail II
hierarchical_section_title: Pari Khan Khanum / Biography / De facto ruler of the Safavid realm / Under Ismail II
caption_attribution_description: English: Artwork of Shah Ismail II.
context_page_description: Pari Khan Khanum was a Safavid princess, the daughter of the Safavid king Tahmasp I and his Circassian consort, Sultan-Agha Khanum. An influential figure in the Safavid state, Pari Khan Khanum was well educated and knowledgeable in traditional Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, and was an accomplished poet.
  She played a crucial role in securing the succession of her brother Ismail II to the Safavid throne. During Ismail's brief reign, her influence lessened, but then increased during the reign of Ismail's successor, Mohammad Khodabanda, even becoming the de facto ruler of the Safavid state for a short period. She was strangled to death on 12 February 1578 at Qazvin because her influence and power were perceived as dangerous by the Qizilbash.
context_section_description: During the dynastic struggle between Haydar Mirza and Ismail Mirza, Pari Khan Khanum became the de facto ruler of the state; it was she who ordered all the princes and top-ranking members of the realm to gather at Qazvin's main mosque on 23 May 1576, where cleric Mir Makhdum Sharifi Shirazi read the khotbeh in the name of Ismail Mirza, confirming him as the new shah of the Safavid dynasty.
  Ismail Mirza, who was still in the Qahqaheh Castle, was soon escorted out of the place with thousands of Qizilbash warriors, reaching the outskirts of Qazvin on 4 June 1576. In the course of the 31 days following the death of Tahmasp, the henchmen and chieftains of the Qizilbash clans had visited the palace of Pari Khan Khanum every day and, according to Iskandar Beg Munshi, "informed her of the urgent business of the realm be it fiscal or financial or to do with politics of the day and nobody had any inclination or dared to disobey her command".
  After entering Qazvin, Ismail Mirza did not advance to the regal palace directly since the astrologists had stated that the time was ominous. He thus stayed for 14 days at the house of Husaynquli Khulafa, the leader of the Rumlu clan and the Khalifat al-Khulafa (administrator of Sufi affairs). Although Ismail Mirza held the title of shah, the majority of the Qizilbash officers and high-ranking statesmen continued to visit Pari Khan Khanum's palace. At the same time, Pari Khan Khanum had managed to organize a remarkable court for herself "where her attendants and ladies-in-waiting acted as if they were serving at a proper royal court".
  Ismail Mirza ascended to the crown under the dynastic name of Ismail II on 22 August 1576. His 19 years of imprisonment in the Qahqaheh castle had greatly affected him, and he was not inclined to allow displays of authority by any other individual. He announced that it was prohibited for Qizilbash chieftains, officers, and high-ranking officials to enter Pari Khan Khanum's palace. He dissolved the duties of her wardens and her court servants and seized an extensive collection of properties belonging to her. Moreover, he displayed a cold and non-approachable behaviour towards her when he allowed her an audience.
  Ismail II's lack of gratitude toward Pari Khan Khanum, who had fought so hard to make him shah of the Safavid dynasty, made her feel hostile towards him, and motivated her to exact vengeance. On 25 November 1577 Ismail II died abruptly and without any initial signs of bad health. The court doctors, who checked the corpse, surmised that he may have died from poison. The general agreement was that Pari Khan Khanum had resolved to have him poisoned with the help of the mistresses of the inner harem in retaliation for his bad behaviour towards her. With Ismail II out of the way, Pari Khan Khanum regained her authority and control. State grandees, clan chieftains, officers, and officials carried out the orders delivered by her deputies and served according to her word.
  Alarmed that the announcement of Ismail II's death would start discontent in the capital, the aristocracy kept the doors of the palace locked until a decision was reached regarding the succession. According to some accounts, after Ismail II's death a group of statesmen asked Pari Khan Khanum to succeed her brother, which offer she apparently declined.
  In order to clear up the succession crisis, the Qizilbash chieftains agreed to appoint the future shah after consulting with each other and then notifying Pari Khan Khanum of their choice. At first they discussed the resolution that Shoja al-Din Mohammad Safavi, the eight-month-old infant son of Ismail II, should be crowned as shah while in reality state affairs would be taken care of by Pari Khan Khanum. This suggestion, however, did not obtain the approval of most of the assembly since it would have swayed the balance of power among many Qizilbash clans. Ultimately the assembly agreed to appoint Mohammad Khodabanda, the elder brother of Ismail II, as shah.
caption: Shah Ismail II holding court
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP Scanjet djf2200", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "2214", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:02 15:44:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:02 15:44:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1688", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1952", "EXIF Saturation": "Soft", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 19, 0, 32, 32, 32, 48, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 55, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 56, ... ]", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}