Difference between revisions of "Shahdom of Daytanistan"
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Naturally the khans of the Great Council agreed that the Shah should be one of them, and equally naturally they disagreed as to which of them it should be. A system of compensation was devised whereby all of the khans but the one who became Shah would be rewarded by the one of their number who became Shah. The Great Council agreed that this compensation couldn't be in the form of land or power over tribes, for fear of inducing future civil wars - in short, the compensation would have to be material. Each khan who wished to become Shah would make a bid to the Great Council. The most generous bidder was then afforded six months to deliver on his promises, at which the Great Council would move on to the next most generous bid if the promised goods had not been delivered in full. | Naturally the khans of the Great Council agreed that the Shah should be one of them, and equally naturally they disagreed as to which of them it should be. A system of compensation was devised whereby all of the khans but the one who became Shah would be rewarded by the one of their number who became Shah. The Great Council agreed that this compensation couldn't be in the form of land or power over tribes, for fear of inducing future civil wars - in short, the compensation would have to be material. Each khan who wished to become Shah would make a bid to the Great Council. The most generous bidder was then afforded six months to deliver on his promises, at which the Great Council would move on to the next most generous bid if the promised goods had not been delivered in full. | ||
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| + | The most generous bidder was, as it happened, also successful in delivering his promises in full in the six months allowed. [[Amad Ali Sha|Amad Ali Khan]], a powerful [[Ashoon]] tribal chief from the province of [[Ashta]] promised each khan three hundred and sixty five gold pieces (one for every day of the year), forty camels, one hundred and forty four goats, eighty cattle, ninety yards of silk, seven mares, seven stallions, one hundred and twenty one yards of samite, seventy two virgins, six eunuchs, two scribes, and fifteen great carpets. After five months and twenty six days, Amad Ali Khan delivered on his promises to every khan, and the Great Council reconvened and proclaimed him Shah of Daytanistan, before dissolving itself after nearly two years of meetings. The new ruler took the name [[Amad Ali Sha]]. | ||
| + | {{Image|http://www.alternatenationstates.net/images/Daytanistan-Amad-Ali-Sha.jpg|left|left|[[Amad Ali Sha]], first Shah of Daytanistan, purchased his position from the Great Council of Tribes with the wealth he had amassed during the Troubles.}} | ||
== Life under the Shahs of Daytanistan == | == Life under the Shahs of Daytanistan == | ||
With the Troubles over, life for the ordinary people of Daytanistan started improving dramatically under Amad Ali Sha, whose reign is remembered as a golden age of peace. | With the Troubles over, life for the ordinary people of Daytanistan started improving dramatically under Amad Ali Sha, whose reign is remembered as a golden age of peace. | ||
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Amad Ali Sha instituted a system of taxation of agriculture, whereby the Shah was entitled to a seventh portion of all produce, which remained constant throughout the reigns of all his successors. Overall, this yielded more revenue than had been collected by the khans, but it did so in a much more consistent and even fashion. Some farmers had provided up to half their produce in taxation to their khan during the Troubles and thus welcomed the new regime as a form of tax relief. Other farmers had been taxed much less (except in times of trouble) but accepted the "Shah's Portion" over time, eventually regarding the invariant nature of the tax as preferable to not knowing how much the khan's tax collector would demand from harvest to harvest. | Amad Ali Sha instituted a system of taxation of agriculture, whereby the Shah was entitled to a seventh portion of all produce, which remained constant throughout the reigns of all his successors. Overall, this yielded more revenue than had been collected by the khans, but it did so in a much more consistent and even fashion. Some farmers had provided up to half their produce in taxation to their khan during the Troubles and thus welcomed the new regime as a form of tax relief. Other farmers had been taxed much less (except in times of trouble) but accepted the "Shah's Portion" over time, eventually regarding the invariant nature of the tax as preferable to not knowing how much the khan's tax collector would demand from harvest to harvest. | ||
| − | Initially the Shah's Portion extended beyond merely taxation of agriculture. Throughout the 18th Century, the Shah's Portion was extended to children. Every seventh child born to each woman became the property of the Shah. This was only an innovation in the sense that it was, like the agricultural tax, invariant and predictable. During the Troubles the khans had often taken children as slaves as a form of taxation, and indeed, children were regarded as the property of their parents, if their parents were free, or the property of their tribal chief if not. It is perhaps for this reason that the "taxation of children" was accepted by the Daytan people largely without comment. It is also worth noting the high rates of infant mortality in Daytanistan during this period, which may have meant that parents were less attached to small children. The seventh child born was removed a year and a day after its birthday. Boys in the Shah's Portion of children | + | Initially the Shah's Portion extended beyond merely taxation of agriculture. Throughout the 18th Century, the Shah's Portion was extended to children. Every seventh child born to each woman became the property of the Shah. This was only an innovation in the sense that it was, like the agricultural tax, invariant and predictable. During the Troubles the khans had often taken children as slaves as a form of taxation, and indeed, children were regarded as the property of their parents, if their parents were free, or the property of their tribal chief if not. It is perhaps for this reason that the "taxation of children" was accepted by the Daytan people largely without comment. It is also worth noting the high rates of infant mortality in Daytanistan during this period, which may have meant that parents were less attached to small children. The seventh child born was removed a year and a day after its birthday. Boys in the Shah's Portion of children either became soldiers in the Shah's army (which was almost entirely composed of the Shah's slaves), or eunuchs to serve in the Shah's harems or as scribes and bureaucrats. Girls in the Shah's Portion were usually destined for the [[wikipedia:harem|harem]], although not necessarily the Shah's harem, as female slaves were the most common form of royal largesse, being given as rewards for particularly meritorious service to the Shah or the country, as gifts to ambassadors and foreign princes, and so on. By the mid-19th Century, however, the practice of bribing tax collectors to not collect the Shah's Portion of children had become so widespread that it was abolished. |
Amad Ali Sha was also a great lover of learning and books in particular, and was one of the very few non-eunuchs in Daytanistan who could read and write. The Shah's Portion therefore extended to books copied by scribes, with every seventh copy being collected for the Shah's library. Once the Shah's library became overwhelmed with duplicates, the Shah founded Daytanistan's first formal schools and universities, and duplicates were sent there to be used to teach students. | Amad Ali Sha was also a great lover of learning and books in particular, and was one of the very few non-eunuchs in Daytanistan who could read and write. The Shah's Portion therefore extended to books copied by scribes, with every seventh copy being collected for the Shah's library. Once the Shah's library became overwhelmed with duplicates, the Shah founded Daytanistan's first formal schools and universities, and duplicates were sent there to be used to teach students. | ||
Revision as of 22:40, 24 January 2007
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| Capital | Yerbel | ||
| Suffrage | None | ||
| Official Language(s) | Dushtoo | ||
| Government Shah of Daytanistan
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Monarchy Amad Ali Sha (1712 to 1739) to Mamood Amad Sha (1879 to 1892) | ||
| Established Great Council of the Tribes | |||
The Shahdom of Daytanistan (Dushtoo: o Shayastan al Daytanistan) was a predecessor state of the modern day Democratic Republic of Daytanistan which endured throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries. It came to an end via the 1812 Revolution and was supplanted by the Islamic Republic of Daytanistan.
The Troubles and The First Shah
Daytanistan throughout the 17th Century had been a country ruled by dozens of powerful tribes which had subjected less powerful tribes in the preceding centuries. These great tribes spent most of the 17th Century involved in on-going petty wars with each other, which by the end of that century escalated to the point that agricultural activities throughout every province were disrupted sufficiently to induce a famine across the whole country. This whole period of internecine warfare followed by famine is referred to by Daytans as the Troubles (Dushtoo: ta Katafai). The famine brought an end to the dozens of minor conflicts to the extent that by 1710 all the major tribal leaders, or khans, were able to agree to meet in an effort to find a lasting settlement. This meeting was called the Great Council of the Tribes, and it lasted for two years.
The Great Council resolved fairly quickly that a new period of civil war was inevitable once the horrors of the famine were forgotten while great tribes still harboured grudges against each other and ambitions for hegemony. It was decided that the great tribes needed to be broken up, freeing the subjected tribes from their loyalty to the khan who had conquered them. The newly free tribes would then need to migrate to another province so as to ensure that the khan of the great tribe could not call on them again easily. The Great Council also believed that the best guard against widespread civil strife was a powerful monarch, a Shah, whose authority was unquestioned over all Daytanistan. It was reasoned that such a monarch would simply be too powerful for any realistic alliance of tribes to form against him.
Naturally the khans of the Great Council agreed that the Shah should be one of them, and equally naturally they disagreed as to which of them it should be. A system of compensation was devised whereby all of the khans but the one who became Shah would be rewarded by the one of their number who became Shah. The Great Council agreed that this compensation couldn't be in the form of land or power over tribes, for fear of inducing future civil wars - in short, the compensation would have to be material. Each khan who wished to become Shah would make a bid to the Great Council. The most generous bidder was then afforded six months to deliver on his promises, at which the Great Council would move on to the next most generous bid if the promised goods had not been delivered in full.
The most generous bidder was, as it happened, also successful in delivering his promises in full in the six months allowed. Amad Ali Khan, a powerful Ashoon tribal chief from the province of Ashta promised each khan three hundred and sixty five gold pieces (one for every day of the year), forty camels, one hundred and forty four goats, eighty cattle, ninety yards of silk, seven mares, seven stallions, one hundred and twenty one yards of samite, seventy two virgins, six eunuchs, two scribes, and fifteen great carpets. After five months and twenty six days, Amad Ali Khan delivered on his promises to every khan, and the Great Council reconvened and proclaimed him Shah of Daytanistan, before dissolving itself after nearly two years of meetings. The new ruler took the name Amad Ali Sha.
Life under the Shahs of Daytanistan
With the Troubles over, life for the ordinary people of Daytanistan started improving dramatically under Amad Ali Sha, whose reign is remembered as a golden age of peace.
The Shah's Portion
Amad Ali Sha instituted a system of taxation of agriculture, whereby the Shah was entitled to a seventh portion of all produce, which remained constant throughout the reigns of all his successors. Overall, this yielded more revenue than had been collected by the khans, but it did so in a much more consistent and even fashion. Some farmers had provided up to half their produce in taxation to their khan during the Troubles and thus welcomed the new regime as a form of tax relief. Other farmers had been taxed much less (except in times of trouble) but accepted the "Shah's Portion" over time, eventually regarding the invariant nature of the tax as preferable to not knowing how much the khan's tax collector would demand from harvest to harvest.
Initially the Shah's Portion extended beyond merely taxation of agriculture. Throughout the 18th Century, the Shah's Portion was extended to children. Every seventh child born to each woman became the property of the Shah. This was only an innovation in the sense that it was, like the agricultural tax, invariant and predictable. During the Troubles the khans had often taken children as slaves as a form of taxation, and indeed, children were regarded as the property of their parents, if their parents were free, or the property of their tribal chief if not. It is perhaps for this reason that the "taxation of children" was accepted by the Daytan people largely without comment. It is also worth noting the high rates of infant mortality in Daytanistan during this period, which may have meant that parents were less attached to small children. The seventh child born was removed a year and a day after its birthday. Boys in the Shah's Portion of children either became soldiers in the Shah's army (which was almost entirely composed of the Shah's slaves), or eunuchs to serve in the Shah's harems or as scribes and bureaucrats. Girls in the Shah's Portion were usually destined for the harem, although not necessarily the Shah's harem, as female slaves were the most common form of royal largesse, being given as rewards for particularly meritorious service to the Shah or the country, as gifts to ambassadors and foreign princes, and so on. By the mid-19th Century, however, the practice of bribing tax collectors to not collect the Shah's Portion of children had become so widespread that it was abolished.
Amad Ali Sha was also a great lover of learning and books in particular, and was one of the very few non-eunuchs in Daytanistan who could read and write. The Shah's Portion therefore extended to books copied by scribes, with every seventh copy being collected for the Shah's library. Once the Shah's library became overwhelmed with duplicates, the Shah founded Daytanistan's first formal schools and universities, and duplicates were sent there to be used to teach students.
| Daytan Nations | ||
| Preceded by: ta Katafai (The Troubles) |
1712-1892 Shahdom of Daytanistan |
Succeeded by: Islamic Republic of Daytanistan |
