The famous phrase “If Not That One, Then This One” from the film “O olmasın, bu olsun” is probably known by heart to almost everyone. It is said that the book mentioned there consisted of only a few pages. That is why Məşədi İbad’s reading half of this tiny book seems comical.
However, the discovery of the “Tarixi-Nadir” book in Masalli some time ago proved that the work was written and printed in the year 1272 of the Hijri-Qamari calendar. Written in Persian, “Tarixi-Nadir” does not consist of 3–4 pages, but rather 147 pages. The book is essentially a collection of accounts about events that befell Nadir Shah in his time, the wars he fought, and unusual occurrences in surrounding countries during his reign.
All of the surviving copies of the book share two common features: they were written by Mirza Mehdi Khan, and their language and expressions are complex.
Ruling between 1737 and 1747, Nadir Shah was one of the more controversial figures in history. Nevertheless, as his personal historian, Mirza Mehdi Khan faithfully recorded all of Nadir Shah’s battles, reforms, letters, and other such matters with precision. Still, historical distortion has left its mark: in the work, certain dates have been altered and some events misrepresented. Yet even these distortions did not diminish the intricate literary style of “Tarixi-Nadir.”
AzEns.az/ Jalya Orujeva