Neknam Khan

Neknam Khan (Persian: نک‌نام خان; born Reza Qoli Beg, died 29 March 1672^[1]) was the Iranian-born sipahsalar (commander-in-chief) of the Sultanate of Golconda. A native of Gilan or Mazandaran, he initially served in the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605–1627) before moving to Golconda in 1634/35.^[2] There he worked under its ruler Abdullah Qutb Shah (r. 1626–1672), as well as briefly Mir Jumla II.^[3] He supported the Iranian theologian and historian Ali ibn Tayfur Bistami, who dedicated the Ganjnama dar hall-i-lughat-i-shahnama ("Treasure Book to Solve Words in the Book of Kings") to him. It was a dictionary for the outdated words used in the Persian epic Shahnameh ("Book of Kings").^[4]