NOUSHERWAN, surnamed Adil or the Just, is the Chosroes of the Greeks. He was the son of Kubad, king of Persia, at whose death, A.D. 531, he ascended the throne of that kingdom. The accounts given by eastern and western authors of the successes of this king in his inva sions of the Roman empire, differ but very little. Some eastern historians have asserted that he took an emperor of the Romans prisoner ; and they have all passed over the few reverses which his arms sustained. But the disgraceful peace which the emperor Justinian purchased at the commencement of the reign of Nousherwan, the subsequent war, the reduction of all Syria, the capture of Antioch, the unopposed progress of the Persian monarch to the shoresof the Mediterranean, his conquest of Iberia, Calchos, and the temporary establishment of his power on the banks of the Phasis, and on the shores of the Euxine, are facts not questioned by his opponents.. They, how ever, assert that his success as a military leader, even when his fortune was at the highest, was checked by Belisarius, who was twice sent to oppose his progress, and whose success, consider ing his want of means, and the character of the court he served, was certainly wonderful. In all the negotiations which took place between the emperor Justinian and Noushcrwan, the latter assumed the tone of a superior. His lowest Servants were treated, at the imperial court, in a manner calculated to inflame the pride of an arrogant nation, and the agreement of the Roman emperor to pay 30,000 pieces of gold showed the monarch of the western world in the rank of one of Nousherwan's tributaries. In a second war with the Roman emperors Justin and Tiberius, Nousherwan, who, though 80 years of age, still led his armies, experienced some reverses of fortune ; but the perseverance of the aged sovereign were ultimately rewarded by the conquest of Dam and the plunder of Syria, A.D. 572. Ile died, after a. prosperous reign of 48
years, about the year 579 A.D., and was succeeded by his son, Ilurmuz iv.
Mahomed, who was born during the reign of Nousherwan, A.D. 571, used to boast of his fortune in being born when so just a king reigned. This is great praise, and from it source that cannot be suspected of flattery. Various Persian authors, quoted by Sir John Malcolm, assert that this monarch carried his arms into Ferghana on the north, and Sind and India on the east ; and as they are supported in the first assertion by Chinese records, there seems no reason to distrust them in the second. Sir Henry Pottinger (though with out stating his authority) gives a minute and probable account of Nousherwan's march along the sea-coast of Mekran to Sind, and, as Vallabi was close to Sind, we may easily believe him to have destroyed that city.
The Vallabhi prince Goha was married to the daughter of Nousherwan. She was grand daughter of Maurice, emperor of Constantinople, and from her are descended the present maha ranas of Udaipur, capital of Mewar, who thus represent Rama of the Solar race, the Sassanian kings of Persia, and the Cmsars of Rome. The maharanas of Udaipur are always represented in their portraits with an aureole round their heads. Perhaps the current story of the descent claimed for the maharanas of Mewar from Nousher wan may have some connection with their being driven into their present seats by that monarch. Nousherwan was surnamed the Just,' and was distinguished for equity, wisdom, and munific ence. He erected many colleges, caravansaries, and other buildings of public benefit, and gave great encouragement to learning and philosophy. In his time the fables of Bidpai were trans lated into Pehlavi. — Pottinger 's Beluchistan, p. 386 ; Elphinstone's Hist. of India, i. p. 401 ; Beale's Biographical Dictionary.