Encyclopaedia Iranica Online

term for a people and their language, derived from the name of the Yaghnob valley and the Yaghnob river in Tajikistan. YAGHNOBI, term used as a noun to refer to a people and as an adjective to designate their language ( yaγnobīˊ zivók “Yaghnobi language”). It is derived from the name of the Yaghnob valley and the Yaghnob river, which, according to Khromov (1987, p. 644), is a Tajik adaption of the Yaghnobi phrase ix-i nou “ice valley or ravine.” The more traditional interpretation is “ice river” (Benveniste, 1955, p. 139, note 1; Andreev and Peshchereva, 1957, p. 365).…

(1903-1968) renowned composer and performer of the violin and the kamānča (spiked fiddle) and instructor of music. YĀḤAQQI, ḤOSAYN (b. Tehran, 1282 Š./1903, d. Tehran, 1347 Š./1968) renowned composer and performer of the violin and the kamānča (spiked fiddle) and instructor of music. His last name ‘Yāhaggi‘ is derived from his catch phrase “Yā Ḥaaq,” a phrase frequently used by dervishes meaning ‘God Almighty’. Ḥosayn was deeply interested in music from his childhood, and because he had a melodious and high-pitched voice, he participated in ta‘zia (the Shi‘i…

archeological site in the Soḡun valley, Kerman province, ca. 220 km south of Kerman and 130 km north of the Straits of Hormuz. See TEPE YAHYA.

Iranian ice-houses were facilities for the storage of solid ice, ensuring that ice was available for local distribution during the summer; they were not used for refrigerating foodstuff. In its simplest form, the yaḵčāl was a storage pit dug in the ground, and covered with straw, rush, and earth for protection and insulation. YAḴČĀL (lit. “ice pit”) and YAḴDĀN (lit. “ice container”), a building for storing blocks of ice or, very rarely, compressed snow, which are collected in the winter for use in the summer. Until the early 20th century, yaḵdān was mo…

b. MOʿADDAL (r. 247-65/861-79), founder of what may be distinguished as the Laythids, or the “first line” within the Saffarid dynasty, who built up a powerful military empire in the eastern regions of the Islamic world centered on Sistān, The rise to power of Yaʿqub and his brother ʿAmr effected a substantial breach in the fabric of the ʿAbbasid caliphate, aggravating a process which began with the autonomous stances of the caliphs’ governors in Khorasan, the Tahirids and the Samanids, who were local potentates in the upper Oxus region and Transoxiana. YAʿQUB b. LAYṮ b. MOʿADDAL (r. 247-6…

a town in Chinese Turkestan, at the southwestern end of the Tarim Basin (38°27' N, 77°16' E; alt. 1,190 m). YARKAND (Yarkend; Modern Uighur Yärkänd; Chinese Shache, the same characters can also be read as Suoche), a town in Chinese Turkestan, at the southwestern end of the Tarim Basin (38°27' N, 77°16' E; alt. 1,190 m). Yārkand is located in a fertile oasis on the banks of the river of the same name; it is accessible from Khotan via Karghalik by the road going along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert and from Kāšḡar situa…

A term used of individual edicts issued by Čengiz Khan and his successors and sometimes of the entire body of such edicts. YĀSĀ (Turkish yasaq; Mongolian jasagh “law, decree, order”), a term used of individual edicts issued by Čengiz Khan and his successors and sometimes of the entire body of such edicts; it is frequently used in the secondary literature to designate a supposed written code, the “Great Yāsā.” Such a code was long believed to date from Čengiz Khan’s acclamation in 1206 as “ruler of all who dwell within walls of felt,” in the wording of the Secret History of the Mongols, and attem…

(d. 1320), a Mongol prince of the Chaghatayid dynasty. YĀSĀWUR (YASA’UR), a Mongol prince belonging to the Chaghatayid dynasty. He was a grandson of Buqa Timur (Buqa Temür) ( Tāriḵ-e Waṣṣāf, pp. 509, 613; Kāšāni, p. 36; Moʿezz al-ansāb, fol. 31a), who had briefly reigned as khan of Čaḡatai’s ulus in the 1270s. His mother was a daughter of a leading Chaghatayid amir of the same name, known as Yāsāwur -e bozorg (Rašid-al-Din, I, pp. 72, 606, and II, p. 1226), and the sister of Čangši (Kāšāni, p. 36), who frequently appears as his nephew’s close ally. Prince Yāsāwur i…

the name for the central ritual in Zoroastrianism and for the long liturgical text recited during the daily performance of the ritual. YASNA, the name for the central ritual in Zoroastrianism and for the long liturgical text recited during the daily performance of the ritual. In this article, Yasna (abbrev. Y.) will designate the text, yasna the ritual itself. As described elsewhere (see SACRIFICE. IN ZOROASTRIANISM), the yasna-ritual is rooted in ancient Indo-Iranian cultic practices. More specifically, it derives from common rituals concerned with the daily p…

Sasanian King of kings (r. 399-420) called “the Sinner.” Sasanian-based sources judge Yazdegerd as a tyrant. YAZDEGERD I, Sasanian king of kings (r. 399-420) called “the Sinner.” The name “Yazdegerd” was borne by three Sasanian kings of kings and a number of notables of the Sasanian and later periods. It is a compound of Yazad Yazata- ‘divine being’ and - karta ‘made’, and signifies ‘God-made’, similar to Iranian Bagkart and Greek Theokistos. The attested forms include: Pahlavi Yazdekert, Syriac Yazdegerd, Izdegerd, and Yazdeger, Greek Isdigerdes (with v…

Sasanian king, whose reign is marked by wars with Byzantium in the west and the Hephthalites in the east. He stayed in the east for some years fighting the nomadic tribes and is known for imposing Zoroastrianism in Armenia. YAZDEGERD II (r. 439-57 CE), Sasanian king, whose reign is marked by wars with Byzantium in the west and the Hephthalites in the east. He stayed in the east for some years fighting the nomadic tribes and is known for imposing Zoroastrianism in Armenia. Yazdgerd II was the son and successor to his father Bahrām V (r. 421-39 CE), known as Bahrām Gōr. He is re…

The name “Judeo-Yazdi” is applied to a Central dialect spoken by some Jews of Yazd. The Jewish community of Yazd is one of the oldest in Persia. Although it had never been large, it was divided into two neighborhoods, referred to as ma:le (NPers. maḥalla). YAZD iv. THE JEWISH DIALECT OF YAZD The name “Judeo-Yazdi” is applied to a Central dialect spoken by some Jews of Yazd. The Jewish community of Yazd is one of the oldest in Persia. Although it had never been large, it was divided into two neighborhoods, referred to as ma:le (NPers. maḥalla). These neighborhoods, separated by a road, are …

(1922-2002), Turkish scholar of Persian language, literature, and culture. During fifty-five years of scholarship, Yazıcı wrote, translated, and edited many books and articles. His translations from Persian into Turkish include Aflāki’s Manāqeb al-ʿārefin, the Persian version of Abu’l-Qāsem Qošayri’s Resāla, and the Aḥwāl-e Mawlānā of Faridun b. Aḥmad Sepahsālār. YAZICI, Tahsin (b. Hoğas, 1338/1922; d. Istanbul, 20 November 2002), Turkish scholar of Persian language, literature, and culture (FIGURE 1). He was born in Hoğas, a village near the t…

The Yazidis are a heterodox Kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey, with well-established communities in the Caucasus and a growing European diaspora. YAZIDIS, a heterodox Kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey, with well-established communities in the Caucasus and a growing European diaspora. Anecdotal evidence of the existence of Yazidi groups in northwestern Persia has not yet been proven. There are probably some 200,000-300,000 Yazidis worldwide. Origins. The…

Three different rites can mark the initiation of a Yazidi child as a member of the community.Three different rites can mark the initiation of a Yazidi child as a member of the community: (1) the cutting of a baby boy’s first locks ( bisk); (2) mor kirin, lit. “to stamp, seal,” and (3) for boys, circumcision (see also Wensinck ; in Kurdish sunnet, Pers. sonnat, Turk. sünnet). The relative importance attached to each of these ceremonies varies to some extent from region to region.(1) The bisk ceremony takes place in babyhood: according to the older literature it should be done on …

the first collection of modern Persian short stories, and, arguably the foremost work by the eminent fiction writer Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh (1892-1997). YEKI BUD, YEKI NABUD (Berlin, 1921, tr. by Mansur Heshmat Moyyad and Paul Sprachman as Once Upon a Time, New York, 1985), the first collection of modern Persian short stories, and, arguably the foremost work by the eminent fiction writer Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh (Moḥammad ʿAli Jamālzāda, also Djamalzadeh, 1892-1997) The title of the collection, generally regarded as representing a departure from the classic genre of…

one of the four major Zoroastrian ritual prayers or mantras. YEŊ́HĒ HĀTĄM, Yasna 27.15 of the Avesta, one of the four major Zoroastrian ritual prayers or mantras (Av. mąΘra). In the extant Avesta, the commentary on Yeŋhē hātąm (hereafter: YH) survives in Yasna 21, which immediately precedes the Gāthās. Y. 21 follows the lengthier exposition of the YaΘā ahū vairiiō ( YAV) mantra in Y. 19 and that of Aṣ̌əm vohū ( AV) in Y. 20. These three prayers are listed (with two other Yasna formulae) as an anti-daevic remedy in Videvdad 18.43; the three are worshipped in Visperad 1.4 and 2.6, and AV and YH are r…