'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎446] (505/714)

PERSIA
received amounted to two-fifths of the entire fixed revenue (which
he estimated at 3,000,000^.), or to 1,200,000L Madame Serena'
makes a great mistake in calculating the receipts of the present
Shah at No Ruz from these sources as 60,000,000 francs or
double the sum ascribed to Fath Ali Shah by Malcolm. As a
matter of fact the presents received by the reigning Shah have
never been more than a third, or at most a half, of those extorted
by his great-grandfather, and the total is said to have dwindled in
recent years to only a few thousand pounds. This reduction does
not by any means imply that the receipts of the government have
fallen, but only that there has been a redistribution of incidence,
the greatly increased results from the assessed revenue prodncino-
a corresponding diminution in the cash money-presents of the
governor and officials.
A device, more delicate in its regard for the scruples of the
donor, but equally certain in its productiveness, is the gift of the
The Royal Royal khelat. Once in each year every provincial
governor receives from the sovereign the gift of a hhelat,
or robe of honour (as a sign of his continuance in office), to the
beaier of which he must present a khelat-heha, or equivalent price,
the gift of which is in reality a relief to the pocket of the Shah, 2
The cost of the khelat is reckoned as a normal item of expenditure
by every provincial governor in the calculation of his budget. Out
side every Persian city of any size is a pavilion, or place, known as
the Khelat Pushan, whither the governor rides out at the head of a
brilliant cavalcade to receive the royal present, and whence, having
donned the garb or mantle, he returns to the town, the remainder
of the day being given up to public rejoicing. The happy
recipient knows that he is safe for another year. Extraordinary
khelats are frequently solicited and paid for on a larger scale, in
order to insure the continued favour of the sovereign. The same
system is repeated in a descending scale among the lower grades
# of the official hierarchy, the provincial governor also sending a
yearly khelat to his subordinate, and being equally gratified by the
petition for an extraordinary khelat.
These aie the more familiar and recognised resources of royal
1 Hommes et Glioses en Perse, p. 240.
Ihn^ the function, of transmitting the klielat is intrusted to some minister
or member of the household whom it is intended to favour, and who not un
commonly himself sells the honour to another party. The khelat-heha of Khora-
san is not less than 1,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , in addition to other perquisites.