When the Persian
shahs conquered their empire and established their supremacy over the western
Kurdish principalities the Zarrinnaal family began to reach local prominence in
Kurdistan. Its members were installed in military and administrative posts and aided the
Ardalan rulers (r. 1187 to 1867) in governing their province.
Mohammad Ali Beyg Zarrinnaal Mohammad Ali Beyg called
Zarrinnaal (lit. "Golden Horseshoe"), whose family belonged to the
clan of
Zarrin Kafsh, had been settled in
Kurdistan minimum since the year 1448 A.D. and possessed the area of
Sanandaj as their hereditary fief, was ordered by
Shah Abbas I the Great to make war on the
Ottomans; and on August 24, 1605, with the aid of his troops from the Mokri tribes could reconquer the Turkish occupied
Kurdistan Province for Persia. After that he was made vicegerent (Persian
vali) of that area and reigned probably from 1609 to 1615 as governor and was head of the administration and army, chief judge and legislator. There, he himself and his entire tribal confederacy (Persian
il) were known and henceforth called by the name of "
Zarrinnaal". In 1631 Mohammad ‘Ali Beyg was the ambassador sent to the Mughal court by Shah Abbas of Iran, arriving in time for the New Year festival in March 1631. Iran and Mughal India went in negotiations about the province of Kandahar, once part of the Mughal empire, then given by Humayoun to Shah Tahmasp and annexed by Humayoun's successor Akbar. In 1622 Shah Abbas had reconquered Kandahar as his rightly possession and a treaty with Jahangir should secure this status quo. Mohammad Ali Beyg remained in the Mughal empire until October 1632, during which time his portrait was painted by the royal artist, Hashim. The painting is inscribed in Persian ‘Likeness of Mohammad ‘Ali Beyg, ambassador, the work of Hashim’.
Mohammad Zaman Beyg Mohammad Ali Beyg's son Mohammad Zaman Beyg was a merchant and traveller. After
Shah Abbas I's death in 1629 the
Ottoman vizier Khusrew Pasha attacked the
Kurdistan Province in 1634 and destroyed its capital city of Hassanabad. But next to it Sehna or Senneh, the modern city of
Sanandaj was built as new residence and capital for the
Ardalan emirs by Vali
Soleyman Khan Ardalan (r. 1636 to 1657). Thus, the entire Kurdish tribal elite moved to the new capital of
Sanandaj, which became a prosperous city. Thereby the name of
Sanandaj comes from the Kurdish terms
Sena meaning "soltan" or "ruler" and
Daj (or
Dezh) meaning "fortress", and thus means "The Ruler's Fortress", which refers to the Vali's stony fort on top of the city peak
Teppeh-ye Painshahr (
Teppeh-ye Tous-Nowzar). In 1638 the common modern Turkish-Persian border was established at the foot of the
Zagros Mountains between
Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau.
Mahmoud Beyg Soltan Mohammad Zaman Beyg's son Mahmoud Beyg Soltan was army captain and provincial sub-governor (
soltan). In
Safavid time the military aristocracy of the emirs was divided in the three ranks of
khan (i.e. "magnate", title of military commander),
beyg (i.e. "lord", title of tribal chief) and
soltan (i.e. "ruler", title of provincial sub-governor).
Mohammad Beyg Mahmoud Beyg Soltan's son Mohammad Beyg was vicegerent (
vali) of the Afghans (i.e.
Pashtuns) after he was deputy governor (
nayeb-e vali) in today's
Afghanistan. The province of Afghan with its capital of
Kandahar belonged to the
Safavid Empire until 1709.
Hajji Eskandar Beyg-e Afghan Mohammad Beyg's son Hajji Eskandar Beyg-e Afghan was a leader of the Afghans (Persian
beyg-e afghan) and after his arrival in the
Kurdistan Province from a pilgrimage to the Holy City of
Mecca he settled there again at
Sanandaj. In 1709
Ghilzai-Afghan rebels under their chief
Mirwais Khan Hotak rose against the Persians, killed the
Safavid governor of
Kandahar, the Georgin Gurgin Khan (King
George XI of Kartli), they declared their independence and finally caused the downfall of the
Safavids when they seized and at last sacked the
Safavid capital city of
Isfahan in 1722.
Abbas Beyg Vazir Hajji Eskandar Beyg's son Abbas Beyg was vizier of Persia (
vazir-e Iran), had issued 18 children and was the head of his tribe (Persian ''ra'is-e il''). He served under
Nader Shah Afshar (r. 1736–1747), who reinstated the Persian monarchy but was a brutal tyrant too, and was murdered by his own emirs in 1747. The
Afshar and
Qajar emirs allied with one of the shah's envoy and minister, Hossein Ali Beyg Bastami, while on a campaign entered the ruler's tent and cut off his head and also killed his two other ministers, Bader Khan and Abbas Beyg
Vazir.
Oghli Beyg I. Abbas Beyg's son Oghli Beyg I. was landlord (Persian
mallak) of a big estate in the
Kurdistan Province under the Valis of
Ardalan.
Ali Beyg Monshi-bashi Oghli Beyg's son Ali Beyg
Monshi-bashi was in the year 1799
chancellor and chief secretary (Persian
monshi-bashi) of Vali Amanollah Khan Ardalan I (r. 1797–1825), one of the most powerful and popular rulers of
Kordestān. Responsible for the army's administration and Amanollah Khan's military power he was one of the chief ministers of the Ardalans, and his family was described by Malcom as "one of the first principal families at the Ardalan court." Finally Ali Beyg was killed 1826 at the battle of
Mossul by
Ottoman troops.
Oghli Beyg II. Monshi Ali Beyg's son Oghli Beyg II.
Monshi was landlord and, like his father, ministerial (
monshi) of the Valis of
Ardalan in army service. After he quit service for the
Ardalans (Khosrau Khan, r. 1825–1834; Reza Qoli Khan, r. 1834–1860, and Amanollah Khan II., r. 1860–1867) in the last years of his life he only looked after his estates in Kurdistan. Khosrau Khan followed his father Amanollah Khan I. but died young when poisoned by the orders of his father-in-law
Fath Ali Shah Qajar. His two sons struggled for power over their father's domains, fought against each other and a civil war broke out until
Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar deposed Reza Qoli Khan and terminated the
Ardalan rule after Amanollah Khan's II. death. Like most of all Kurds Oghli Beyg II. was a
Sunni Muslim but for political reasons converted to the
Shiite faith of
Islam, the main religion in the Persian Empire. Oghli Beyg wanted to join his own family with the new established
Qajar dynasty by marriage, and asked for the hand of Princess Noor-Jahan Khanom, the 9th daughter of Crown Prince
Abbas Mirza Nayeb as-Saltaneh. When the young bride died Oghli Beyg married Noor-Jahan Khanom II. ("Noorjan Khanom") Ardalan, a daughter of Vali Amanollah Khan Ardalan, sister to Khosrau Khan and aunt to Reza Qoli and Amanollah II.
Agha Mirza Zaman Khan Kordestani Lashkar-nevis (1842–1906) Oghli Beyg's son Agha Mirza Zaman Khan Kordestani
Lashkar-nevis was
muster-master (
lashkar-nevis) of the Persian troops. Mirza Zaman Khan was born in
Sanandaj by Noor Jahan Khanom at the Khosrau-Abad residential palace in 1842 and died at
Tehran 1906. Himself from a family of Ardalan court grandees, responsible for army supplies, he got an extensive education in Arabic, literature, calligraphy and arithmetic. On July 1, 1859, young Master Zaman joined the Shah's camp when
Nasser al-Din Shah visited with his entourage the
Kurdistan Province on a royal tour and stayed in its capital town of
Sanandaj for three days. He entered the royal tent, paid obedience to the Shah and offered his service. Because the Vali of Kurdistan was not able to satisfied the wishes of the Shah's retinue and several of them were getting angry, the court departed from Kurdestan taking young Zaman with it. Via Tabriz and Maragheh he then moved to Tehran and reached the capital on October 19, 1859. In 1867
Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar finally terminated the
Ardalan rule in
Kurdistan by deposing the last Vali and removing him with his own uncle Prince Farhad Mirza ''Mo'tamad ad-Dowleh
as governor of the Kurdistan Province. Zaman settled then permanently in Tehran, moving from the Ark
district to that of Oudlajan'' in the city's north-eastern part where the nobility had its residences and founded in 1868 a family. Some samples of his handwriting convinced his superiors at court to give him an employment at the imperial court offices and so he became a bureaucrat in the governmental administration. His career started there as a clerk (Persian
Mirza) and he was in charge of fiscal duties of the government, administration and military, responsible for the
Kurdistan Province in special. In 1872 with the improvements of Prime Minister Mirza Hossein Khan
Moshir ad-Dowleh Mirza Zaman worked for the Ministry of War, and finally got the post of
lashkar-nevis (lit. "army scribe", i.e.
muster-master), who was chief paymaster of the troops and head of military administration. Until 1904 he worked in this office which became the hereditary post in his family for three generations and documented all costs and vouchers of payment of the entire soldiery of 200,000 men of that time. Mirza Zaman was honorary called
Agha (lit. "Sir") by
Nasser al-Din Shah and the former tribal title of
Beyg, used in the family's past, changed in that of a superior
Khan ("magnate"), according to common Persian customs of calling landowners of old provenance with this not only hereditary but also adoptive sobriquet. He then also became vizier of Kurdistan and finally governor of that Persian province. Furthermore, Agha Mirza Zaman Khan became military adviser to the Shah, and wrote books about military history and astronomy, also. In 1867 Agha Mirza Zaman Khan Kordestani married Pari Soltan Khanom Pir-Bastami
Zarrin Khanom ("Golden Lady"), daughter of Mohammad Hossein Khan Bastami (
Moayyeri)
Mir Panj and by Effat ad-Dowleh Khanom Qajar, and hence granddaughter in paternal line of Doust Ali Khan
Moayyer al-Mamalek and in maternal line related to the
Qajar dynasty. They had three children: • Agha Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Zarrinnaal
Lashkar-nevis Nasr-e Lashkar, the father of the future Zarrinnaal family • Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Zarrinkafsh, the father of the future Zarrinkafsh family • Banou Fatemeh Soltan Khanom Afshartous, the mother of the Afshartous family and General
Mahmoud Afshartous in particular
Agha Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Nasr-e Lashkar (1868–1930) Agha Mirza Zaman Khan Kordestani's eldest was Agha Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Zarrinnaal, entitled for his merits in military sector with the aristocratic title
Nasr-e Lashkar (lit. "Defender of the Army") by the Shah. He was born in 1868 at Tehran and died there 1930 on his estates at
Doshan-Teppeh in eastern
Tehran. He got a private education in writing, arithmetic and reading and in fencing, poetry, hunting, horsing and calligraphy and then he started military service. At the Tehran military academy (
madresseh-ye nezam-e dowlati) he studied weapons technology and martial law. After his studies he entered service at court and became, like his father, military adviser to
Nasser al-Din Shah and was also honorarily called
Agha. Firstly he became
lashkar-nevis and chief secretary of the army 1904 to 1906. Until the end of the
Qajar rule 1925 he held several posts as head of the military administration, especially in the Army Law Court Department (
majles-e mohakemat-e vezarat-e askari) of the Ministry of War (
vezarat-e jang). Under
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1896–1906) and
Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1906–1909) he was military instructor to the Persian troops 1906 to 1909 and after that host inspector with the military rank of a
nazem 1909 to 1915. As well, at the time of Mohammad Ali Shah he became conservative member of parliament (
majles). With the nickname "Kordi" he was a delegate for Kurdistan and one leader of the royalist conservative wing (
etedahiyun), supporting Mohammad Ali Shah's efforts to return to absolutism, because both men feared that the British dominated parliament could strengthen more English influence in Persia during the
Great Game. In the reign of
Ahmad Shah Qajar (r. 1909–1925) he was senior public prosecutor at martial court (
moddai ol-omum koll-e nezam), which was instituted 1915 by Prince
Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma as minister of justice and war 1915 to 1925. For his loyal service to the
Qajars he got parts of
Nasser al-Din Shah's imperial hunting area east of
Tehran, called
Doshan-Teppeh. This sandy area became the base for the family, when it was cultivated in the days of
Reza Shah Pahlavi by Nasr-e Lashkar's sons and villas and summer residences of Tehran's court elite were built there, naming it "Zarrinnaal-District" (
mahalleh-ye zarrinnaal). It was situated next to
Meydan-e Baharestan (Baharestan-Square) with the Parliament Building (called
Baharestan lit. "Place of Springtime") directly behind the old
Shemiran-Gate, at a quarter between the
Khiyaban-e Baharestan and
Khiyaban-e Mazanderan,
Khiyaban-e Vahid Dastgerdi and
Khiyaban-e Jaleh (today
Khiyaban-e Mojaheddin-e Eslam). The two main streets were the
Khiyaban-e Zarrinnaal ("Avenue Zarrinnaal" today
Khiyaban-e Shahid Homayoun Nateqi) and
Khiyaban-e Khorshid ("Avenue Khorshid" today
Khiyaban-e Shahid Meshki). Agha Mirza Ali Akbar Khan
Nasr-e Lashkar was married four times and had ten children, seven sons and three daughters: • a. 1883, Marziyeh Khanom, called "Massoumeh" (d. 1893), mother of • Mohammad Ali Khan Zarrinnaal
Lashkar-nevis III Nasir on-Nezam (b. 1884) • b. 1893 Roghiyeh Khanom Vali (1876–1910), his chief wife, elder daughter of Mohammad Khan Vali of Yazd by Mehr-e Jahan Khanom (Bibi Hajjar), his second cousin and mother of • (Ali) Javad Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1894) • (Ali) Kazem Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1896), who named himself Zarrinkafsch after his uncle, 1944. • (Ali) Davood Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1899) • (Ali) Jafar Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1900) • (Ali) Mehdi Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1902) • (Ali) Ahmad Khan Zarrinnaal (b. 1904) • Talat al-Molouk Khanom Zarrinnaal (b. 1898) • c. 1910, Ameneh Khanom Vali (1880–1913), Roghieyeh's younger full sister and mother of • Zarrin-Malek Khanom Zarrinnaal, called "Malek-Taj" (b. 1911) • d. 1913, Nayereh Khanom Zarrinnaal, mother of • Sakineh Zarrin-Homa Khanom Zarrinnaal (b. 1913) ==Relations of the Zarrinnaals to the Ardalan family==