Kalat Claimed

“Let women bring into this world children filled with loathing for war. The world is ruined by heroes. It is for us to reclaim it.”

The play written by Bahram Beyzaie was published in Tehran in 1984 first by Damavand Publishing and later by Roshangaran. The same publisher printed the English translation by Manuchehr Anvar in 2016. This edition is the first English translation outside of Iran.

It is a story of two generals in the Mongol conquest of Khwarazm (Chorasmia) and their dispute over the accession of Kalat (located in the Northwest of modern Iran). The City is ruled by Tui Khan who holds a grudge against his fellow general Togai Khan over the number of slain enemies. Tui Khan invites Togai Khan to a feast to reconcile, but each plots to kill the other. Togai attempts to capture Tui, but he manages to flee. Tui Khan’s wife, Ay Banou, gathers an army with her husband’s remaining soldiers and conquers the City with both of the generals dead.

The publication of this book was made possible in part by the Hamid & Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University.