The Ideological Function Of Khavarannameh Of Shiraz School Based On Louis Althusser'Theory Of Ideology

Khavarannameh by Ibn Hussam is one of the illustrated works of the ninth century AH of Shiraz Turkmen School. This epic and religious book is ornamented with various drawings of the description of the heroism of Imam Ali (AS). The aim of this research is to study the ideological function of Khavarannameh paintings. Due to the government's religious tolerance regarding Shia tendencies in Iranian society, the main issue of the research is to identify the manner of dealing and political and ideological exploitation of the illustrated topics in this book by Turkmen rulers. Therefore, the research questions are: 1- What are the ideological mechanisms of Khavarannameh paintings? 2- How has the ideology illustrated in the paintings of Khavarannameh been able to serve the goals of the government? The theoretical and analytical framework of the research is based on Louis Althusser theory of ideology. The research method is qualitative, which has been conducted in a descriptive-analytical way using library resources. The selection of paintings for analysis was purposeful and based on the theoretical approach of the research. The results showed that the paintings of Khavarannameh were effective in reproducing the dominant ideology including being the king as the shadow of God and turning people into ideological subjects, so that these subjects subconsciously served the ideology of the rulers and helped to reproduce it according to Althusser theory.