Editing Bahram V (section)

== Early life and rise to power ==
[[File:Yadkar al-Katib - Bahram Gur Seizes the Crown After Having Killed Two Lions - Walters W607134B - Full Page.jpg|thumb|Bahram V seizes the crown after having killed two lions.]]

Bahram V was born around 400;{{sfn|Al-Tabari|1985–2007|loc=v. 5: p. 82 (see also note 221)}} according to folklore, he was born in Rusan, close to the city of [[Spahan]].{{sfn|Christensen|1993|p=146}} He was the son of [[shah]] [[Yazdegerd I]] ({{reign|399|420}}) and [[Shushandukht]], a daughter of the [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[exilarch]]. [[Richard Frye]] believes that Yazdegerd I's marriage to a daughter of the patriarch of the Jews is "probably folk tales",{{sfn|Frye|1984|p=319}} while [[Touraj Daryaee]] supports this story, stating that the Jews would see Bahram as a Jewish king due to his Jewish mother.{{sfn|Daryaee|2009|p=78}} Bahram, during his youth, was sent to the [[Lakhmids|Lakhmid]] court in [[al-Hira]], where he was raised under the tutelage of the Lakhmid king [[al-Nu'man I ibn Imru' al-Qays]] (r. 390–418).{{sfn|Klíma|1988|pp=514–522}} According to the modern historian O. Klíma, Bahram was probably sent there due to a disagreement with his father,{{sfn|Klíma|1988|pp=514–522}} while Giusto Traina suggests he was possibly sent there to avoid court intrigues.{{sfn|Traina|2011|p=118}}

At al-Hira, al-Nu'man provided Bahram with teachers from the Sasanian court, where the latter was taught law, archery, and equestrian arts.{{sfn|Al-Tabari|1985–2007|loc=v. 5: p. 84}} Since the death of the powerful Sasanian shah [[Shapur II]] (r. 309–379), the aristocrats and priests had expanded their influence and authority at the cost of the Sasanian government, nominating, dethroning, and murdering shahs, which included Yazdegerd I, who was murdered in 420. They now sought to stop the sons of Yazdegerd I from ascending the throne—[[Shapur IV]], who was the eldest son of Yazdegerd I and governor of [[Sasanian Armenia|Armenia]], quickly rushed to the Sasanian capital of [[Ctesiphon]], and ascended the throne. He was, however, shortly after, murdered by the nobles and priests, who elected a son of [[Bahram IV]], [[Khosrow (son of Bahram IV)|Khosrow]], as shah.{{sfn|Klíma|1988|pp=514–522}}

Bahram was informed about the news of Yazdegerd I's death when he was in the [[Arabian Desert]]—he opposed the decision of the nobles, and asked [[al-Mundhir I ibn al-Nu'man]] (who had succeeded his father al-Nu'man I) for military assistance, who agreed to help him.{{sfn|Al-Tabari|1985–2007|loc=v. 5: p. 87}} Bahram and al-Mundhir, at the head of an army of numerous soldiers, marched towards Ctesiphon, where Bahram promised that he would not reign like his father Yazdegerd I did. According to a long-existing popular legend written in the ''[[Shahnameh]]'' ("Book of Kings"), Bahram suggested that the royal crown and attire should be placed between two lions, and the person who retrieved them by killing the wild animals should be recognized as the shah of Iran.{{sfn|Klíma|1988|pp=514–522}}

Khosrow chose to pull out, whilst Bahram withstood the trial and won the throne.{{sfn|Klíma|1988|pp=514–522}} Bahram distrusted the nobles, who had been unreliable to the earlier Sasanian shahs, and thus chose instead to seek support from the Zoroastrian priesthood. He was the first Sasanian shah to not be crowned by a noble, but by a chief priest (''[[mowbed]]'').{{sfn|Traina|2011|p=121}}

{{anchor | India }}
Bahram married an Indian princess and received the port of [[Debal]] in [[Sindh|Sind]] as a dowry, together with the adjacent territories.{{sfn|André Wink|2002|pp=48}} The [[Indus]] delta and the coast of [[Sindh|Sind]] were of great commercial and strategic value at that time as well. Bahram also systematically pursued a policy of tribal resettlement in these coastal regions. For instance, a large group of nomadic pastrolists known as [[Zutt]] (Jats) from Sind were settled in the marshes of southern [[Iraq]] by the emperor.{{sfn|André Wink|2002|pp=48}}