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( Kangarids or Sallārids ), a dynasty of Daylamī origin which came from Ṭārum [ q.v.] and reigned in the 4th-5th/10th-11th centuries of the Hid̲j̲ra in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, Arrān and Armenia. Its coming to power was one of the manifestations of the great movement of Iranian liberation which formed a kind of interlude between the end of Arab domination and the first Turkish invasions. While in K̲h̲urāsān and Transoxania this movement culminated in the rule of the Sāmānids [ q.v.], in western Persia and Mesopotamia its standard-bearers were the Daylamīs and to a smaller extent…

, a region in the heart of Inner Asia, to the south of the Pamir [ q.v.] range, essentially a long and narrow valley running east-west and watered by the upper Oxus or Pand̲j̲a and the Wak̲h̲ān Daryā, its southernmost source. The length of Wak̲h̲ān along the Oxus is 67 miles and of the Wak̲h̲ān Daryā (from Langar-kis̲h̲ to the Wak̲h̲d̲j̲īr pass) 113 miles. Afg̲h̲an sources put the distance from Is̲h̲kās̲h̲im to Sarḥadd at 66 kurōh (=22 farsak̲h̲s ). ¶ To the south of Wak̲h̲ān rises the wall of the Hindū Kus̲h̲, through which several passes lead to the lands of the upper In…

, Nak̲h̲čuwān , the name of a town in Transcaucasia which is also the chief town of a region of the same name, until the early 19th century a largely independent khanate and in former Soviet Russian administrative geography part of the Azerbaijan SSR but an enclave within the Armenian Republic. Both town and region lie to the northwest of the great southern bend of the Araxes river, since 1834 here the frontier between Persia and Russian territory. The town of Nak̲h̲čiwān is …

, a former fortress on the Black Sea, situated on the Bugur river 40 km. S. W. of the Kuban estuary. Built by French engineers for Sultan ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd I in 1781, it was unsuccessfully attacked by the Russians in 1787 and 1790, but stormed by Gen. Gudovich in 1791. Returned to Turkey by the treaty of Yassy (1791), it was in 1808 taken by the Russians but returned to Turkey in 1812. In 1828 it was blockaded by Admiral Greig and Prince Menshikov and ceded to Russia by the treaty of Adrianople of 1…

1. The most southern group of Kurd tribes in Persia. According to Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, their name (Läk, often Läkk) is explained by the Persian word läk (100,000), which is said to have been the original number of families of Lak. The group is of importance in that the Zand dynasty arose from it. The Lak now living in northern Luristān [ q.v.] are sometimes confused with the Lur (Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn), whom they resemble from the somatic and ethnic point of view. The facts of history, however, show that the Lak have immigrated to their present settlements from lan…

(or Ṭuwārān?), the mediaeval Islamic name for the district around Ḳuṣdār [ q.v.] or Ḳuzdār in the east-central part of what is now Balūčistān, the territory in British Indian times of the Ḵh̲ānate of Kalāt [see kilat ]. According to al-Ṭabarī, i, 820, the kings of Ṭūrān and of Makurān (Makrān) submitted to the Sāsānid Ardas̲h̲īr (224-41). The Paikuli inscription only mentions the Makurān-S̲h̲āh. Herzfeld, Paikuli, 38, thought that these princes at first owned the suzerainty of the Sakas, and their submission to Ardas̲h̲īr was the result of the conquest of Sak…

, a small town belonging to Yazd and lying on the road from S̲h̲īrāz to Yazd (at 39 farsak̲h̲s from the former and at 28 fars. from the latter) and also connected by a road with Ābādah [ q.v.]. It lies in a plain, and according to Mustawfī, Nuzha , 121, its name ("on a mountain") refers to its earlier site. In 443/1051 Ṭug̲h̲ri̊lbeg gave Yazd and Abarḳūh to the Kākūyid Farāmarz (Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, ix, 384) as a compensation for the loss of Iṣfahān. His successors continued to rule these towns as atābeks . In the 8th/14th century Abarḳūh is frequently mentioned in the …

, “those of the White Sheep”, rederation of Turkmen tribes, which rose in the region of Diyār Bakr in post-Mongol times (in the 14th century) and lasted till c. 908/1502. The name (cf. Chalcocondyles, ch. ix: Λευκοὶ ᾿Ασπρο<προ>βατάντες) is unknown in earlier times. There is some uncertainty about the origin of the name, whether it refers to the breed of sheep, or to some kind of totem; the tumular stones of the Turkmens have often the form of rams, but such a symbol is absent in Uzun Ḥasan’s ban…

(?), a people whom the Arabs found in Sind. Only the outline of the name is certain = *myd (Mīd, Maid), *mnd (Mand, Mund). In the reign of Muʿāwiya (41-60), Ras̲h̲īd b. ʿAmr lost his life on an expedition against the Mand (Balād̲h̲urī, p. 433). During the governorship of al-Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲, some Mand from Daibul [q. v.] seized on the high seas the Muslim women who were being repatriated by the king of the Rubis islands (Ḏj̲azīrat al-Yāḳūt); this act of piracy served the Arabs as a pretext to send an expedition against Daibul ( ibid., p. 435). After 95 (714) Muḥammad b. Ḳāsim concluded a …

(Mūnd, Mund), the longest river in Fārs ( Nuzhat al-Ḳulūb: 50 farsak̲h̲s; E. C. Ross: over 300 miles in length). The name. As a rule in Persia, sections of a river are called after the districts through which they flow. Mānd is the name of the last stretch near its mouth. The name seems to appear for the first time in the Fārs-nāma (before 510 = 1116) but only in the composite Māndistān (cf. below). ¶ The old name of the river is usually transcribed in Arabic characters Sakkān (Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, p. 120; Ibn Ḥawḳal, p. 191; Idrīsī, tr. Jaubert, i. 401) but the orthography varies: T̲h̲akān, Fārs-nāma, G. M. S.…

, king of Persia (1147—1160 = 1736—1747). Origins. Nādir b. Imām-ḳuli b. Nad̲h̲r-ḳuli belonged to the Ḳi̊ri̊ḳlu clan of the Turkoman tribe of the Afs̲h̲ārs, of which a section had settled in northern Ḵh̲urāsān, and was born on the 28th Muḥarram 1100 (Oct. 22, 1688) at Kūbkān. Entering the service of Tahmāsp II, he was called Tahmāsp-ḳuli Ḵh̲ān but after his coronation his original name was improved to Nādir, “the rare one”. At an early date Nādir distinguished himself in the incessant fighting with the Turkomans of Nasā, the Čamis̲h̲…

a religious community of Kurdish origin in the wilāyet of Mawṣil. English statistics estimate the number of S̲h̲abaks at 10,000; the Muslims give them the nickname aʿwad̲j̲ (“turbulent”, “disloyal”). The S̲h̲abak live in the villages in the Sind̲j̲ār district (ʿ Alt-rash, Yangid̲j̲a, Ḵh̲azna, Talllra etc.). They are related to their neighbours, the Yazīdīs, most of whose assemblies and places ¶ of pilgrimage they attend. On the other hand, if we may rely on Father Anastase, they show a particular devotion to ʿAlī whom they call ʿAlīras̲h̲ ( ras̲h̲ in Kurdish = “black”). Another st…

Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Ḏj̲aʿfar (d. 348 = 1959), author of the “History of Buk̲h̲ārā”, the original Arabic version of which he presented to the Sāmānid Nūḥ b. Naṣr in 332 (943—944). In 522 (1128—1129) the book was translated into Persian by Abū Naṣr Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Ḳubāwī who omitted several “tedious” passages. Then in 574 (1178—1179) Muḥammad b. Ẓufar prepared a new abbreviated edition of the book which he presented to Ṣadr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Burhān al-Dīn, governor of Buk̲h̲ārā. Finally an unknow…

, a Persian corruption of the Turkish soʾuḳ-bulaḳ “cold spring”; the form sāwd̲j̲ (pronunciation sāʾud̲j̲) is found as early as the ¶ Nuzhat al-Kulūb (740 = 1340). There are two places of this name: 1. The fertile district beginning at Ṭeherān and stretching to the west of the river Karad̲j̲ along both sides of the great Ṭeherān-Ḳazwīn road. To the north a range of hills separates it from Ṭalaḳān. On the southern slopes of these hills are the pits of Fes̲h̲and which supply the capital with coal. The district is watered by the Ko…

(the contracted form Rāmiz, Rāmuz is found as early as the tenth century), a town and district in Ḵh̲ūzistān [q. v.]. Rām-Hormuz lies about 55 miles southeast of Ahwāz, 65 miles S.S.E. of S̲h̲ūs̲h̲tar, and 60 miles N. E. of Behbehān. Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 43, reckons it 17 farsak̲h̲s from Ahwāz to Rām-Hormuz and 22 farsak̲h̲s from Rām-Hormuz to Arrad̲j̲ān. Ḳudāma, p. 194, who gives a more detailed list of stages, counts it 50 farsak̲h̲s from Wāsiṭ to Baṣra, thence 35 farsak̲h̲s to Ahwāz, thence 20 …

, a Persian man of letters, who died on 19th S̲h̲awwāl 1313 (April 3, 1896). His honorific titles were Sanīʿ al-Dawla and later Iʿtimād al-Salṭana. Through his mother he was related to the Ḳād̲j̲ārs [q. v.] and through his father he claimed descent from the Mongol rulers. His father, Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān of Marāg̲h̲a, was a faithful servant of Nāṣir al-Dīn S̲h̲āh (in 1852 he discovered the conspiracy of Sulaimān Ḵh̲ān) and the son from his youth upwards was in the service of the court. Muḥammad Ḥasan Ḵh̲ān was one of the first students at the Dār al-Funūn founded in 1268 (1851…

, “parasite, sponger”. This is the meaning given to the word in the majority of the European dictionaries of Arabic, Persian and Turkish, e.g. Bélot, G̲h̲affārow, Sāmī-bey, etc. But this does not render the exact shade of meaning of the word, which was first of all applied to an individual who goes to a feast without being invited or accompanies a person invited. A little lower class of parasite is called in everyday Persian ḳufailī ¶ the term applied to hangers on of the ṭufaili. According to the Arabic dictionaries, Lisān al-ʿArab, xiii., p. 429, Tād̲j̲ al-Arūs, vii., p. 418 the word ṭufailī c…

, a place in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān on the road from Marāg̲h̲a [q. v.] to Urmiya [q. v.] south of the Lake of Urmiya. The stages on this route are still obscure. At about 15 farsak̲h̲s south of Marāg̲h̲a was the station of Barza where the road bifurcated; the main road continued southward to Dīnawar while the northwest went from Barza to Tiflīs (2 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Ḏj̲ābarwān (6 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Nirīz (4 farsak̲h̲s), thence to Urmiya (14 farsak̲h̲s); cf. Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 121 (repeated by Ḳudāma with some variations); Muḳaddasī, p. 383. The distance from Urmiya indicates that…

(Sulṭān Uwais), second king of the dynasty of Ḏj̲alāʾir [q. v.] or Īlakān (Īlkān <*Ilg’än?) who reigned 756—776 (1355—1374). Uwais, born about 742 (1341), was the son of Ḥasan Buzurg [q. v.], son of Ḥusain Gurgān ( Küräkän, “son-in-law of the Ḵh̲ān”), son of Aḳ-bug̲h̲a Noyon, son of Īlakān (*Īlkān) Noyon (Ras̲h̲īd al-Dīn: Īlkāy, *Ilg’äy). Ḥasan Buzurg’s mother was a Mongol princess, daughter of Arg̲h̲un-Ḵh̲ān. Ḥasan himself married the famous Dils̲h̲ād-Ḵh̲ātūn, daughter of Dimis̲h̲ḳ-Ḵh̲wād̲j̲a, son of Čopan [cf. suldūz], who had previously married Abū Saʿīd Ḵh̲ān and on h…

, the ancient Ragha, a town in Media. Its ruins may be seen about 5 miles S. S. E. of Teheran [q. v.] to the south of a spur projecting from Elburz into the plain. The village and sanctuary of S̲h̲āh ʿAbd al-ʿAẓīm lie immediately south of the ruins. The geographical importance of the town lies in the fact that it was situated in the fertile zone which lies between the mountains and the desert, by which from time immemorial communication has taken place between the west and east of Īrān. Several roads from Māzandarān [q. v.] converge on Raiy on the north side. In the Avesta, Wīdēwdāt, i. 15, Raghā is men…