THE SHAH’S WIVES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 745, 11 June 1886, Page 4

THE SHAH’S WIVES.

The number of the Shah's wives have been greatly exaggerated. The Shah's great-grandfather, Fath Ali, never had fewer than some hundreds of wives at a time. Altogether he had over a thousand ; his progeny numbered 260 ; 110 of his children survived him. But the present Shah has now only forty-two wives ; three of these are Akdees—regular wives of whom according to Mussulman law a man may have only four—and the remainder are Seeghehs, or temporary wives. The Shah, of coarse, has had altogether many more wives; some Akdees have died, many Seeghehs have been sent or given away. A Seegeh sometimes remains only a few hours in harem, and may be sent away for various reasons. She may not please the Shah ; for instance, her eyebrows may be too thin, or she may have arrived at an inauspicious moment; sometimes, too, she is given to a faithful servant as a reward for his services. The three regular wives are the following : —Shukoo-us-Sultena —' the Glory of the Empire'—daughter of the late Prince Fath Ullah, a grandson of Fath Ali Shah ; she is thus a cousin of the Shah. She is the mother of the Crown Prince, and, as such, first lady of the harem. The next regular wife is a daughter of the late Prince Ahmed Ali, a son of Fath Ali Shah ; she is thus an aunt of the Shah. The Shah has no children by her. The third wife is the former favorite Seegheh Anees-ed dowleh—' the Companion of the King.' She is the daughter of a poor miller of Imamah, a village near Demavend, and one day as the Shah was riding through the village she came and offered him some fruit. She evidently knew what would happen. The Shah, who has the right of seeing any of his female subjects unveiled, told her to uncover. She was very beautiful then, and her features made a great impression on the Shah's inflammable heart. Next day she was taken into the harem as a Seegeh, and soon after became the favorite. Nine years ago, on the death of one of the four Akdees, the daughter of

the Prince Imad-el-dowleh, Anees-el-dowleh 1 became a regular wife, and she is still one of the Shah's favorite wives, although she has not borne him any children. Anees-ed-dowleh is the type of Persian beauty, very fat, and shaped like a melon. All the members of her. family have benefited by her being .the favorite ; her two uncles and two of her half-brothers are chamberlains at Court, with good incomes and much influence ; another brother is marshal of her extensive household; a fourth brother refused a position at Court, and earns a living as muleteer. Thanks to the munificence of the Shah, Anees ed-dowleh has a large private income, which she employs for acts of' charity. One of the Shah’s first wives, and one he loved very much, was Jeiran Khanum, a girl of Tajreech, a village near Teheran. When she bore him a son he made her an Akdee, gave her the title of Furoogh us-Sultana—■* the, Splendor of the Empire ’ — and appointed her son his successor. Unfortunately the son, as well as the mother, died soon after.