Mir Seyyed Abd al-Latif Shushtari
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Shushtar, Iran
India
Mir Seyyed Abd al-Latif Shushtari | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1759 Shushtar, Iran |
| Died | 1806 (aged 46–47) India |
| Notable works | Tohfat al-Alam |
| Relatives | Abd al-Qasim Mir Alam (cousin) |
Mir Seyyed Abd al-Latif Shushtari (Persian: میر سید عبداللطیف شوشتری) was an Iranian traveller from Shushtar, who is principally known for his travelogue Tohfat al-Alam.
Mir Seyyed Abd al-Latif Shushtari was born in the city of Shushtar in 1759. He belonged to a family of Musavi sayyid stock (descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Musa al-Kazim).[1] He was also descended from Nematollah Jazayeri, a distinguished jurist in 16th-century Safavid Iran.[2] Before moving to Hindustan (India), Shushtari completed his education in Shushtar and Shiraz.[1] Once there, he made extensive travels. When Shushtari arrived in Calcutta in 1788, he met Mirza Abu Taleb Khan and made money from lucrative trading with his brother, who lived in Basra. A few years later, Shushtari moved to Asaf Jahi-ruled Hyderabad, where he was under the patronage of his cousin, Abd al-Qasim Mir Alam, a powerful figure in the city. Shushtari's family later became embroiled in a scandal involving Mir Alam and the East India Company. This led to Shushtari getting a house arrest, where he wrote his travelogue Tohfat al-Alam, a tribute to Mir Alam that recounts Shushtari's life and knowledge. He added more material at the end of the travelogue once his family's fortunes improved, in which he describes meeting a young Agha Ahmad Behbahani, who had just arrived in Hyderabad in 1805. Shushtari died the following year.[1]