The Ritual Washing of the Corpse of the Assassinated King of
From Journals and Documents of Zahir-o-Dowleh
Ttanslated by M.R. Esnaashari
We came into the presence of the prime minister. Around half past midnight, the means for the ritual washing of the corpse was prepared …
The Shah's body, that was put on a small carpet and surrounded by all the princes and the ministers, was carried out of the room and set above the stairs, between two marble columns and then everybody left. Nobody stayed for the disrobement except: Mohammad Ali Khan Amin-o-Saltaneh , Shah's habilitator; Gholam Ali Amin-Homayun, the head servant; Ja'far Gholi Khan e Qajar, Hajeb-o-Dowleh, the Shah's doorman; Prince Haaj Fereydun Mirza who was brought there by the prime minister due to his being the eldest of the Qajars, as well as the fact that Qajars should wash the corpse of Shahs of Qajar; a cleric; Haaj Heydar, Shah's personal beard shaver; and some royal water carriers with Bulgar buckets in their hands. Then I said, "God be praised. O Viewers! Do contemplate" [from the Holy Qoran]. Dear brother! Beware of the beginning and the end of the world! Beware what I say. What I have written and will write is what I myself have seen. It is not some rumor that may or may not be true. There are no lies in this.
At first, the water carriers poured some pails of water on the terrazzo between the crystal pool and the stairs, where common people took off their shoes, and washed it. Then Haaj Amin-o-Saltaneh took the royal black uniform with diamond embroidery off the king's body. The king had wishfully had it made for feasts and banquets and it had recently been finished. "There is no god but God" [from the Holy Qoran, used as exclamation meaning, O My Great God!] He took off all the king's clothes. Half of the king's shirt was covered in blood so that its whiteness has fully disappeared. I saw the Shah's scar accurately. It was as if Fate's own hand had had sealed it so that if someone had wanted to point his gun in the most precise manner and carefully shoot at the king's heart, surely he could not have been able to do so. The king's naked body was brought down the stairs and put on that terrazzo the water carriers washed. It was very very white and fat and proportionate. His beard was also shaved on this same day in this same place by Haaj Heydar, the king's personal beard shaver, before going to visit the shrine of Hazrat e Abdol-Azim. The sight of the king's red and bloodshod scar against that pure white spotless body was immeasurably painful.
That cleric who once wished to let him stand by the king's path was now standing with his shoes very near the king's head. He had stuck his robe under his arm to prevent defilement and desecration of his clothes by the splashes and was ordering the water carriers to pour while he himself was saying in a loud voice, "For the right side." Haaj Heydar the shaver rolled the king's body from right to left and one of the water carriers poured another Bulgar bucket of water.
In short, they washed the Commanding King of Protected Provinces of
