Persian Heritage Magazine:

I want to thank you Dr. Ahkami and Persian Heritage magazine for giving me the honor to be interviewed.

No, Dr. Yarshater, it is our honor. You have done such wonderful things to preserve Persian culture and history. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born in Hamadan, Iran April 3, 1920. My father Hashem Yarshater and my mother Rowhaniyeh were born in Kashan, Iran. He and his brothers were in the trade business and were stationed in different cities. My mother was tall and well shaped and had a beautiful voice, played ney, and was a good speaker. She was often invited to speak at Baha’i gatherings. My family name means an agile friend and is taken from a phrase by Sa’adi in his Golestan, where someone is quoted as saying: “I have the power to be yar-e shater, not a bar-e khater.”

Tell us about your education.

I began schooling at the Alliance elementary School, in Hamadan, a school founded by the French Jews. My second year was completed at the Tayid School, run by the Baha’is. In 1305-1306 because of the requirement of my father’s business we moved to Kermanshah and after some 13 months then to Tehran, where all my relatives gradually came to take residence. We were not very well off financially and therefore rented a house with another family. My father was a man of profound religious faith, with little interest in worldly matters.

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