Encyclopaedia Iranica Online

Farāh has retained practically the same name since the first millennium B.C.E. At the end of the first century B.C.E, the “very great city” of Phra in Aria was reckoned as a major stage on the overland route between the Levant and India. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 229-233 FARĀH (Farah in early Islamic sources), a town and province in southwestern Afghanistan. City. The city is located at 730 m above sea-level on both banks of the Farāhrūd river (q.v.). The old town, now in ruins, stood on the right bank at a strategic…

common place name throughout Persia, without any cultural or historical significance. The three best-known locales with this name are a city quarter of Tehran, the remains of a palace complext near Isfahan, and an Abbasid pleasure palace on the Caspian sea. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 233-234 FARAḤĀBĀD, common place name throughout Persia, without any cultural or historical significance. The three best-known Faraḥābāds are the following. City quarter of Tehran. This Faraḥābād is located 5 km east of the city wall of Tehran. A…

a district (baḵš) in Tafreš subprovince (šahrestān) of the Central (Markazī) province. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 234-235 FARĀHĀN, a district ( baḵš) in Tafreš subprovince ( šahrestān) of the Central (Markazī) province. The Farmahīn River traverses the district and drains into the Mīqān salt lake. Due to an abundancy of subterranean water, many perennial qanāts operate in the district which, together with its fertile soil, make possible both irrigated and dry farming. The main agricultural produce consists of c…

(1847-1913) Persian diplomat and author of a travelogue ( safar-nāma) intended to show how a Shiʿite pilgrim could successfully undertake the journey to Mecca. In it one learns much about Arabia, the Ottoman empire, and the Sunnis in general. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 235-236 FARĀHĀNĪ, MĪRZĀ MOḤAMMAD-ḤOSAYN, Persian diplomat and author of a Safar-nāma (born in Farāhān in 1264/1847; died 1331/1913; Figure 1). Farāhānī began his education under the supervision of his father, Moḥammad-Mahdī, who was chief secret…

See ADĪB-AL-MAMĀLEK FARĀHĀNĪ.

or Moḥammad, Maḥmūd; b. Abī Bakr b. Ḥosayn b. Jaʿfar Farāhī (fl. 13th century), poet and litterateur. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 236-237 FARĀHĪ, ABŪ NAṢR BADR-al-DĪN MASʿŪD (or Moḥammad/Maḥmūd) b. Abī Bakr b. Ḥosayn b. Jaʿfar Farāhī, poet and litterateur (fl. 7th/13th cent.). He hailed from the city of Farāh (q.v.) in the province of Sīstān in what is now Afghanistan. Next to nothing is known of Farāhī’s life. Reportedly blind from birth, he is said to have been a man of great sagacity, intellectual dexterity, powers …

river in southwestern Afghanistan, rising at about 3,300 meters above sea level in the Band-e Bayān, and, after a course of 712 km in a south-western direction, ending in the Hāmūn-e Ṣāberī (Sīstān) at an altitude of 475 m. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 237 FARĀHRŪD (Nahr Farah, Ar. translation of Farāhrūd, in Eṣṭaḵrī, pp. 244, 247; Ebn Ḥawqal, p. 420, tr. Kramers, p. 410; Moqaddasī, p. 329), river in southwestern Afghanistan, rising at about 3,300 meters above sea level in the Band-e Bayān (ḠÚōr), and, …

Bahrām Farahvaši was born into a family with a long tradition of literary and scholarly pursuits. His father, ʿAli Moḥammad Farahvaši (1875-1968), was one of the pioneers of education reform in the early 20th century and established modern schools in Tehran, Zanjan, and Azerbaijan. FARAHVAŠI, Bahrām (b. Urmia, Iran, 30 March 1925; d. San Jose, U.S.A., 29 May 1992; Figure 1), scholar and professor of ancient Iranian languages at the University of Tehran. Bahrām Farahvaši was born into a family with a long tradition of literary and scholarly pursuits. His father, ʿAli …

See DEHESTĀNI, ḤOSAYN.

the conventional reading of the name of an early Persian poet. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 238 FARĀLĀVĪ, the conventional reading of the name of an early Persian poet. Our sole biographical source is Moḥammad ʿAwfī’s Lobāb al-albāb (II, p. 5), which includes him in the chapter on the poets of the Samanids and quotes two verses by him. According to ʿAwfī, his full name was Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Moḥammad b. Mūsā Farālāvī, and he was a contemporary of Šahīd Balḵī, which would mean that he lived at the en…

son of Iran’s national hero Rostam, and himself a renowned hero of the Iranian national epic whose adventures were very popular, especially during the 10th and 11th centuries. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 238-239 FARĀMARZ, son of Iran’s national hero Rostam (q.v.), and himself a renowned hero of the Iranian national epic. His adventures were very popular, especially during the 4th/10th and 5th/11th centuries (Balʿamī, ed. Bahār, I, p. 133; II, p. 687; Farroḵī, vv. 1027, 7654). According to the Tārīḵ-e Sīstān (p. 7), the exploits of Farāma…

See ABŪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ.

(b. Gačūya, 1897; d. Tehran, 1972), an outspoken journalist, writer, educator, Majles deputy, and poet. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 239-240 FARĀMARZĪ, ʿABD-AL-RAḤMĀN (b.12 Rabīʾ I 1315/11 August 1897 in Gačūya, Farāmarzān, Fārs; d. 20 Tīr 1351 Š./11 July 1972, Tehran; Figure 1), an outspoken journalist, writer, educator, Majles deputy, and poet. Farāmarzī was the youngest son of Shaikh ʿAbd-al-Wāḥed, scholar, teacher, and chief of the Farāmarzī clan, who migrated to Bušehr after …

a Persian epic recounting the adventures of the hero Farāmarz. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 240-241 FARĀMARZ-NĀMA, a Persian epic recounting the adventures of the hero Farāmarz. According to the Tārīḵ-e Sīstān (p. 7) there was an account of Farāmarz ( aḵbār-e Farāmarz) in twelve volumes, but this work, presumably in prose, has been lost. Instead, two Farāmarz-nāmas, both poems composed in the motaqāreb meter (ᴗ--), are extant. One of them, which appears to be older, is by an anonymous poet who introduces himself as a vil…

See FREEMASONRY.

FARĀNAK, according to the Šāh-nāma, the mother of Ferēdūn; also the name of a wife of Bahrām V Gōr (q.v.).

See Supplement.

or FERANGĪ MAḤAL; family of Indian Muslim teachers, Hanafite scholars, and mystics active over the last 300 years. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 241-242 FARANGĪ MAḤALL (FERANGĪ MAḤAL), family of Indian Muslim teachers, Hanafite scholars, and mystics active over the last 300 years. The family claims descent, through the well-known 11th-century Persian Hanbalite scholar and Sufi poet ʿAbd-Allāh Anṣāriī (q.v.) Heravī, from Abū Ayyūb Ḵāled Anṣārī (d. ca. 52/672), host of the Prophet Moḥam…

eldest daughter of Afrāsīāb and wife of Sīāvaḵš. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 242-243 FARANGĪS, eldest daughter of Afrāsīāb and wife of Sīāvaḵš. In the Bundahišn (TD2, 35.21) her name is Vīspān-fryā. In Ṭabarī (I, p. 604) it appears as Vasfāfarīd and Vasfafarah. In Ṯaʿālebī’s Ḡorar (p. 205), however, it is recorded as Kasīfarī. On that basis, one might speculate that the no longer extant Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī (See ABŪ MANṢŪR Moḥammad b. ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ and ABŪ MANṢŪR MAʿMARĪ) also used this form or possibly Gīsfarī. It was …

FARANGI-SĀZI , a term (lit. making in an Occidental manner) referring to the style of a distinct group of Persian paintings from the second half of the 17th century. This new variant first appeared under the reign of Shah ʿAbbās II (q.v.; r. 1642-66) but was established under Shah Solaymān (1666-94). Farangi-sāzi paintings adopt a wide array of subject matter, ranging from traditional Iranian scenes, including portraits of kings and nobles, to European portraits, landscapes, biblical, and mythological scenes. The art does not fully adhere to eit…