<Articles>The Modification of the Twelve-animal Cycle in the Cultural Sphere of Literary Persian : A Consideration of the Twelve-animal Cycle of the Timurid Period

The Mongol invasion of early thirteenth century had an enormous impact on the cultural sphere of literary Persian. This impact ranged over various realms, from the political to the cultural However, the Turko-Mongolian invaders were also influenced by Iranian elements characteristic of this sphere. Therefore, the interaction between Turko-Mongols and Iranians has been regarded as a crucial factor in the consideration of the history of this sphere after the Mongol invasion. This paper examines the conflation of Turko-Mongolian and Iranian elements from the standpoint of time measurements, and the focus of this paper is the twelve-animal cycle. Due to the conflation of Turko-Mongolian and Iranian elements, time measurements in this sphere were modified. This fact is embodied most clearly in the twelve-animal cycle. The twelve-animal cycle had first been used to represent years in the Mongol imperial calendar, which was based on the Chinese calendrical system (animal years). Therefore, the beginning of each animal year fell on Li-chun (立春), which marks the start of the year in the Chinese calendar. However, the start of animal years was moved to align with Nawruz, the beginning of the Iranian year, which was fixed to the Vernal Equinox at that time. By tracing the process of this modification and examining this factor, we can elucidate one aspect of the interaction between Turko-Mongols and Iranians. From previous studies, we know that the animal years of the Timurid period (1370-1507), during which the conflation of Turko-Mongolian and Iranian elements is found in its most characteristic form, are important for exploring this modification. Surveying animal years in Timurid sources, we can conclude that the nature of the animal years of the reign of Timer (1370-1405), the founder of the dynasty, differs from that during and after the reign of Sahrux (1409-1507), his de facto successor. By taking animal years usually written alongside Hijri dates from narrative histories of the reign of Timur and converting both into the equivalent Christian dates, we can investigate whether the start of the animal years of the reign of Timur fell on Li-chun or the Vernal Equinox; as a result we see that in nearly every source the Hijri dates and animal years do not correspond perfectly, but only in the Zafar-nama, compiled by Saraf al-Din 'Ali Yazdi, are there no mistakes if the conversion to animal years is assumed to have begun on Li-chun. The dates of Yazdi's Zafar-nama, in which animal years began on Li-chun, are accurate, and animal years beginning on the Vernal Equinox do not appear in other sources from this period. From these facts, it can be seen that animal years in narrative histories during the reign of Timur began on Li-chun. A consideration of the animal years from the reign of Sahrux onward makes clear that the nature of animal years of this period differs from that of the previous period and provides valuable information on this modification. In the animal years of this period, there are two points that can help us understand the reason behind this modification. First of all Ibn Sihab, the author of Jami' al-Tawarix-i Hasani , which was written after the death of Sahrux, and in which the animal year is used more frequently than in the other sources of the period, clearly mentioned that the animal year began on the Vernal Equinox. Secondly, the animal years of this period sometimes appeared as the financial year in connection with the word mal, or the land tax. Taking into account these two points, we can infer that there was a change and the animal years of this period began on the Vernal Equinox and financial matters influenced this modification. The connection of animal years with financial matters is found in documents; concretely in decrees issued in the name of the rulers of the Timurid period. The Turko-Mongolian rulers used animal years in decrees concerning taxation, while Iranian bureaucrats collected taxes according to t