A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now

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Rahbar Ilnaz

Title

A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now

Author(s)

Rahbar Ilnaz | Issue Writer Certificate

Keywords

Gravestone

Women’s picture

Gender Signs

Semiotic

Peirce

Abstract

In this essay, an effort has been made to investigate female signs and their changes on Gravestones by Peirce's Semiotic classification of a sign in three forms: icon, index and symbol. The main subject is to obtain changes of the signs and the reason why women’ s pictures were prohibited to use in this respect. In fact, not using female pictures as icon but substituting symbol and index instead of iconic pictures on women’ s Gravestones is a big challenge. Generally, the usage of shapes in the form of a sign had been common on Gravestones. These signs include plant motives, animal motives, decorative motives and human motives. Some of these signs had been an indication of the occupation of the dead person in the time she/he was alive. The reason why these were used was probably due to the illiteracy of ordinary people and lack of ability in reading inscriptions of Gravestones. Another striking sign in Gravestones was gender segregation. How to show masculine and feminine based on non-linguistic signs on Gravestones was a matter. Maybe, one of the biggest obsessions in the author’ s mind from childhood was lack of using women’ s pictures in obituaries or on Gravestones; However, men were not faced with such limitations. After some time, when passing Beheshte-Zahra (the most famous and biggest cemetery in Tehran), I noticed lots of changes in the pictures of Gravestones. Moreover, women’ s pictures were used on Gravestones. This happens in a period of time when women’ s pictures in obituaries is not prevalent in contemporary Iran, or at least they are rare. Additionally, women’ s pictures on Gravestones are less than those of men. The main question of the research is: what have been the shape of the signs related to feminine gender on Gravestones and what have been the changes in using these signs and what was the reason of these changes in the course of time? In order to obtain a better result, in each era, a comparison with men is done, as well. The conclusion indicates that index sign was used initially on Gravestones which were attributed to Muslim women. The reason for using these signs was the approximate equal ubiquitous illiteracy among both women and men in retrospect. Thereafter, female icons and pictures were virtually used in a number of cities. If we decide to study women’ s pictures on Gravestones, it is necessary to make a separation between Muslims and other religious minorities such as Christians. Most of Armenian Gravestones are kept in Jolfa Museum in Isfahan. In fact, all of these are drawings of Gravestones done by Abraham Goorgenian before they were destroyed. Iranian Armenian women’ s pictures were used on Gravestones after Safavid period when they entered Iran. The remarkable point is that the ancient village of Armenians in Armenia lacked pictures. They began drawing pictures on Gravestones just after entering Iran in Safavid period which is a noticeable point. Based on a document, there were Iranian women’ s picture as an indication of an icon in some rural areas; however, they were few in number and this was not a general issue. In Qajar period, the time when using pictures and icons were prevalent on grandees’ Gravestones, Mahd-i Olia’ s iconic sign was not used on her Gravestone while her name was written beside poems and Quranic verses; however, she was deemed as a powerful woman; which is conceivably an indication of religious prohibition. In Pahlavi period, based on the Gravestones of some iconic figures, it seems that using iconic pictures was not prevalent for both genders. Among prominent women in Pahlavi period with high ranking cultural status, we can refer to Parvin E'tesami (1285-1320 HS), Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri (1284-1338 HS) and Forugh Farrokhzad (1313-1345 HS). These three renowned faces are chosen as samples in the first and second Pahlavi period. Parvin E'tesami was a great poet, Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri was a singer and a musician; and Forugh Farrokhzad was a great poet in her time. The first one belongs to the first Pahlavi period (demised in Farvardin 1320) and the other two individuals belong to the second Pahlavi period. Parvin E'tesami was buried in Qom, in one of the aprons of the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh. Qamar and Forugh were both buried in Ẓ ahī r al-Dawlah tomb in Shemiran district. There are no women’ s pictures on none of these Gravestones. It is conceivable that Parvin could not have had any pictures on her Gravestone because of her proximity to the holy shrine. However, by having a look at Qamar’ s grave stone and that of Forugh, this surmise can be reinforced that using these kinds of pictures was no prevalent at that period of time. This guess comes true when looking at renowned faces in Ẓ ahī r al-Dawlah tomb. The interesting point is that on none of famous men’ s Gravestones, no picture is depicted as well. Then, it can be concluded that using picture on Gravestones was not something common for the two genders at that period of time and one reason is due to absence of technology. If using picture had been common, at least one of the referred individuals should have had a picture on her/his Gravestone. In today Iran using iconic pictures is becoming common once again though the number of men’ s pictures are more than women’ s and the prohibition does exist in some cities. The prevalence of pictures in the last decade has been so vast that it has become common even in religious cities, but it is not common in some regions, yet. It is worth noting that there are not any official rules or circulars in cemeteries about using or not using women’ s pictures. In other words, each cemetery decides in such situations based on its board of directors’ view. So not in all cities this matter is permitted and it depends on the laws of each cemetery. In some regions, there were some cases in which after creating picture, the family of the demised person demanded for changing the Gravestone or eliminating the picture. In other cases, pictures were distorted by extremists; but today these actions have become rare. Apart from individual interest in having a writing or picture, individual beliefs and cultural bigotries of families, do not permit the usage of women’ s pictures on Gravestones. Actually, based on Shiate’ s sharia and most Grand Clergy’ s judgment, using women’ s pictures is not forbidden provided that she is covered with hijab, her picture is not sin-provoking and there is no sign of disrespect to the dead person in it. Although using women’ s pictures is not banned by most Grand Clergies, instead of women’ s iconic pictures, many symbols of flowers, candles and candlesticks are used. Also, some people don’ t use any pictures and signs at all. So, it should be noted that using picture is arbitrary these days. So, everybody does not use it necessarily. In Tehran, using picture is more common. Pictures of the dead are kept as a commemoration tool in each house when they are not present. So, it can be concluded that their usage is merely commemoration and not something sin-provoking or so. All in all, it is something personal. One is fond of that but others may abhor it exactly like social media in which some put their pictures on their profiles; however, others use iconic pictures or other signs for some reason. It seems that the advancement of technology has been effective in this field. Additionally, as this period of time is the technology era, the necessity of creating pictures in each second of life is palpable and Gravestone is not a part separated from other seconds of life. This research is fundamental in purpose research, descriptive-analytical and historical comparative in method and entity, and collection of information was based on library form and field studies.

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APA: Copy

Rahbar, Ilnaz. (2021). A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now. GLORY OF ART ( JELVE-Y-HONAR), 13(2 (31) ), 21-33. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/963520/en

Vancouver: Copy

Rahbar Ilnaz. A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now. GLORY OF ART ( JELVE-Y-HONAR)[Internet]. 2021;13(2 (31) ):21-33. Available from: https://sid.ir/paper/963520/en

IEEE: Copy

Ilnaz Rahbar, “A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now,” GLORY OF ART ( JELVE-Y-HONAR), vol. 13, no. 2 (31) , pp. 21–33, 2021, [Online]. Available: https://sid.ir/paper/963520/en

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Scientific Information Database

ISSN: 2588-4824

Journal Paper

A Historical Study of the Gender Signs related to Females on Gravestones from Qajar Period till Now