Nader: King of Love or Sword?

Alireza Hassanzadeh, author of 'The Secret of the Love of the Conqueror of India,' said: In folk tales, a knight is a lover, but in historical reality he was a conqueror and warrior. People have re-created him in their stories so that he takes on another face and becomes more complete.

According to the reporter of Ambassador Arjan of Iran (Ambassador Arjan), recently the publication of Turquoise Umbrella "Raz Eshgh Fatih Hind (Nadershah; Love or Sword?)" written by Alireza Hassanzadeh has been made available to historical novel enthusiasts. This work is an imaginative narrative of Nader Shah, which follows him not only on the battlefield, but also in the struggle between love and power, and depicts a historical and familiar victory in an unfamiliar situation; A man who, with all his victories, remains helpless in front of a gypsy girl and the question of love or sword, and this duality has separated the atmosphere of the book from a purely historical narrative and given it a legendary and inner atmosphere.

In the following, you will read our interview with the author of this work:

"Secret of love conquering India; Nader, the king of love or sword? What is it about and what image does it present of Nader Shah?

This novel is a historical and legendary narrative of Nader Shah's life; From his birth and captivity to the kingdom, the conquest of India, his death and his complicated relationship with his son and other milestones in his life. In addition to history, I have also used folk legends about Nader Shah; The legends that have been recreated in the novel and are appended at the end of the book. The face of Nader Shah poses a serious question and problem to Iranians: What is the ideal model of a ruler in the history of Iran? A conqueror like Nader Shah or other rulers like Cyrus the Great who had an approach based on tolerance and peace and founded pre-modern civil institutions. Therefore, for me, Nader Shah is not just a conqueror and warrior; A human is involved in love, power, violence, fear, ideals and desire to live. Could he have chosen love over the sword? Love here is a symbol of life, tolerance and peace. Conventional historiography about Nader Shah deals mainly with his conquests, campaigns, power relations and wars. But I tried to go beyond this level and ask what kind of person was behind this warlike face and what possibilities were denied to his life and his society.

Why did you go to Nadershah again?

I had discussed Nadershah before in the novel "Nadershah and Gypsy Girl", but this time I wanted to expand the scope of the narrative and see different parts of his life side by side. The language and sequences of Nader Shah's life in this novel are completely different from the previous work and are committed to the events of his life. History has usually seen Nadir's sword and paid less attention to his heart and emotions as a human being. My question was, was there still room for love, attachment and desire to live behind such a great power? Could Nader rule in a different way, for example, be a loving and kinder king?

Have you tried to present a different face from Nader Shah?

I don't want to purify or condemn Nader Shah; I want to see him more humane. This requires criticism of Nader Shah. I praise him when he drives the Russian tsar's soldiers out of the Caspian Sea or the Ottoman forces out of western Iran, but I criticize him in the Delhi massacre and his violence. Nader Shah can simultaneously be conqueror, lover, violent, idealistic and full of human contradictions, and I think you should see all of these together. In my opinion, he followed the bloodshed of Timur Gurkani and Mahmoud Ghaznavi in ​​India, which is fundamentally different from the ideal model of Iranian rulership that Cyrus the Great symbolizes. The rare fighting in defending Iran against the forces of the Russian and Ottoman tsars and the Gholjais and liberating Isfahan from the hands of Mahmud and Ashraf Afghan is praiseworthy, but the killing of innocents in India is never. I think that finally the violence of the last part of his life led to his murder and downfall. These contradictions should be shown. For me, understanding these contradictions is more important than passing judgment on him. Military defense of Iran and the killing of civilians in India are two different issues. This distinction allows for an ethical critique of power without falling into the trap of absolute praise or negation. I have compared Nader Shah's legacy to that of Cyrus the Great. Cyrus is an ideal symbol of tolerance in our historical memory and political ethics; Just as Nader Shah presents us with the difficult problem of the relationship between defending the land, military power and violence. My question is, why have we given less importance to the institution building and people's lives and more importance to the power of the sword in the history of Iran in our conception of rulership? If Nader Shah was an institution-building king, wouldn't the history after him be better for Iranians?!

What effect did your anthropological view have on this novel?

I don't see Nader as just a king; I see him in a network of realities such as culture, power, emotion, fear, hope and human relations. My question is, what effect did Nader's legacy have on Iran's history after him, and how did it happen that around half a century after him, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who was a bloodthirsty sultan, appeared? For me, the issue is not only Nader Shah's personal violence; The question is what order was left after him. Can a power that relies more on the person of the ruler, the army and the sword, create a stable order and institutions independent of the will of the sultan? Perhaps one of the important questions of Iran's history is why the military power of some rulers did not necessarily lead to building stable institutions and guaranteeing a better life for the people! After Nader Shah, Iran was faced with one big crisis after another, which deprived the Iranian people of a good life.

What is the position of the conquest of India in this novel?

Conquest of India was a rare test of Shah, tolerance or bloodshed and violence, the way of Cartier's violence or tolerance and tolerance of Cyrus? which one Nader Shah could not follow the path of Mahmoud Ghaznavi and Timur Gurkani and massacre the innocent people of India, turn to institution building and think about Iran after himself. The conquest of India is not just the movement of soldiers and swords; It is also a clash between humans and two cultural worlds. I have tried to see the lives of people who live, fear, fall in love and dream in the context of these events, along with the history narrated by Shamsher. This narrative is not history according to the sword, but history according to love. For this reason, the war in the novel is not only a political and military event; It is also a human experience. The experience of pain and the story of the losers and not just the story of the winners! Anyway, this novel is an anti-war novel. Political history usually asks about the decision of the ruler and the outcome of the war; But the novel can interrogate the human experience of those less visible in official documents: ordinary people, traumatized families, the defeated, the captives, and those who continued to live in the midst of the campaigns.

The title of the book, "Love or Sword?", what relationship does it establish between the two?

This is one of the main questions of the novel. Here love and power are pitted against each other. I still believe in the power of love to resist death and violence. Love for me is not just a romantic feeling between two people; It is a kind of will to live. Love calls us to accept freedom and equality and tolerance and the concept and lived experience of a good life. The question is, could Nader, as much as he has been a rider of epic and death in his warlike face, could he have given a different meaning to the history of Iran by considering life and love? Could he have made him a worthy successor and paid attention to the rights of the people instead of blinding his son? An institution-building ruler would not occur until half a century of wars, i.e. about 47 years after that, until a vampire sultan named Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar did not start the period of chaos after him?! Therefore, I think Nader's life has several chapters and the last chapter is not as glorious as the previous chapters. Of course, those who are infatuated with him may not like my words. But one can ask if Nader Shah, instead of relying on personal and military power, thought about building stable institutions and organizing the power structure, could the course of Iran's history be different after him? Should part of the subsequent chaos be sought in the inability of his political system to create a stable order after his death?

How do you determine the border between history and fiction in a historical novel?

For me, history is the starting point, not the confinement of the novel. I remain faithful to historical events, but where the documents are silent, the novelist's imagination can step in; Especially in the world of emotions, relationships and the inner life of the characters. The German philosopher Jaus considers the preservation of history and its narrative in the transformation of history into drama and narrative imagination. That is, we must enter into a dialogue with history through the creation of a narrative in order to understand it in a deep way. Folk legends also become important for me at this point. I don't consider them just a historical document, but a part of cultural memory and literary raw material, and I have recreated them in the novel.

Is this novel a kind of retelling of Nader Shah's historical memory?

yes Historical memory usually reduces great personalities to a few attributes. Nader Shah has often been seen in the form of conqueror, warrior and ruler. I want to remove this one-dimensional image and provide the possibility to see the person behind the title "Nader Shah Afshar". A human being with his own loves, fears, angers, hopes and contradictions. Did he come to terms with the loving part of his being, the part that invited him to love and tolerance and life, or did he make it a victim of his desire in the conquests of India?!

Why did you write this narrative in the form of a novel, not a historical book?

History can tell what happened; The novel can ask the spirit of the story and how people felt when the important events of their lives happened. The novel is the hidden narrative of history and the language of the unspoken. The novel allows us to enter the world of emotion, imagination, love, fear and loneliness; Worlds that historical documents have never recorded. The language of the novel is not only the language of those in power, it is also the language of the silent and powerless groups.

Finally, is Nadershah the king of love or sword?

In people's legends, Nader is a loving knight, but in historical reality, he is a conqueror and warrior. People have re-created him in their stories to take on another face and become more complete. The more important question for me is this: Can a man who draws a sword to build his world use love to save that world? I prefer the reader to find the answer to this question after finishing the novel.

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Alireza Hassanzadeh, the author of "The Secret of Love of the Conqueror of India", said: In the legends of the people, a knight is a lover, but in the historical reality, he is a conqueror and a warrior; People have re-created him in their stories to take on another face and become more complete.

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