Bozorgmehr-e Bokhtagan (Middle Persian: Wuzurgmihr ī Bōkhtagān), also known as Burzmihr, Dadmihr and Dadburzmihr,[1] was an Iranian sage and dignitary from the Karen family, who served as minister (wuzurg framadār) of the Sasanian king (shah) Kavad I (r. 498–531), and the latter's son and successor Khosrow I (r. 531–579).
[2] The historian Arthur Christensen has suggested that Bozorgmehr was the same person as Borzuya, but historiographical studies of post-Sasanian Persian literature, as well as linguistic analysis shows otherwise.
[9][10] He was eventually defeated and executed by Kavad I, which resulted in the Karen family being heavily weakened, with many of its members being exiled to the regions of Tabaristan and Zabulistan, which was away from the Sasanian court in Ctesiphon.
[12][13] After Kavad I had reclaimed the Sasanian throne from his younger brother Jamasp in 498, he appointed Bozorgmehr as his minister (wuzurg framadār).
[5] An early reference to Bozorgmehr is found in the Aydāgār ī Wuzurgmihr, in which he is called an argbed—a high-ranking title in the Sasanian and Parthian periods.
He further rose to prominence after being appointed as a military commander (spahbed) of the kust (frontier region) of Khorasan (Khwarasan) by Khosrow I, who reportedly regretted Kavad I's approach to the family.
[2] Bozorgmehrs descendants continued to remain active in Iran, with one of them, Adhar Valash, ruling Tabaristan and Gurgan under the last Sasanian shah, Yazdegerd III (r. 632–651).