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Mānd

(1,858 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(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.…

Nādir S̲h̲āh

(5,130 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, 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…

S̲h̲abak

(756 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
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…

Nars̲h̲ak̲h̲ī

(298 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
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…

Sāwd̲j̲-Bulāḳ

(5,926 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, 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…

Rām-Hormuz

(724 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(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 …

Muḥammad Ḥasan K̲h̲ān

(709 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, 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…

Ṭufailī

(267 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, “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…

Nirīz

(325 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, 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…

Uwais I

(1,565 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(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…

Raiy

(2,942 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, 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…

Maʿmūret al-ʿAzīz

(339 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, the name given to the new town of Mezre, built beside Ḵh̲arpūt [q. v.] in honour of Sulṭān ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. In time the name became applied to the new wilāyet formed in 1879 around Ḵh̲arpūt-Mezre; this consisted of three sand̲j̲aḳs: al-ʿAzīz, Ḵh̲ozāt and Malaṭiya. As a result of the administrative reforms of 1340 (1921) each of these sand̲j̲aḳs became an independent wilāyet but later modifications were made. According to the official annual of 1925—1926, the wilāyet of Maʿmūret al-ʿAzīz has an area of 11,299 sq. km. or 12,428,900 dönüms, of which 3,124,596 are arable. It contains 6 …

Niẓām-s̲h̲āhī

(310 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(i. e. Ilčī-yi Niẓām-s̲h̲āhī “ambassador of Niẓām-S̲h̲āh” of the Dakhan), a Persian historian whose real name was Ḵh̲ūrs̲h̲āh b. Ḳubād al-Ḥusainī. Born in the Persian ʿIrāḳ, he entered the service of Sulṭān Burhān [cf. nihẓāms̲h̲āh]. The latter being converted to the S̲h̲īʿa sent Ḵh̲ūrs̲h̲āh as ambassador to Ṭahmāsp-S̲h̲āh Safawi. Reaching Raiy in Rad̲j̲ab 952 (Sept. 1545), he accompanied the S̲h̲āh to Georgia and S̲h̲īrwān during the campaign of 953 (1546) against Alḳāṣ-Mīrzā. He stayed in Persia till 971 (1563), perhaps with occasional breaks. He died at Golconda on the 15th Ḏh̲u …

Kurds

(24,870 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, an Iranian people of Nearer Asia, living in Persia, Transcaucasia, Turkey and al-ʿIrāḳ (cf. kurdistān). Before 1914 the number of Kurds living in compact bodies or isolated colonies (Ḵh̲orāsān, Asia Minor, Cilicia, southern Syria) was estimated at two to three millions. Although many, travellers have passed through Kurdistān and there are a large number of important works dealing with the Kurds from the linguistic, historical, ethnographical and political point of view, we still lack a general study devoted to this people. Its prepara…

Mes̲h̲hed-i Miṣriyān

(1,051 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, a ruined site in Transcaspiana (Türkmenistan), N. W. of the confluence of the Atrak and its right bank tributary the Sumbar, or more exactly, on the road which runs from Čat at right angles to the road connecting Čikis̲h̲lär with the railway station of Aydi̊n. The ruins are surrounded by a wall of brick and a ditch and have an area of 320 acres. The old town, situated in the steppes which are now peopled by Turkomans, received its water from a canal led from the Atrak about 40 miles ¶ above Čat. Near the latter place the canal diverged northwards from the river, crossed the Sumbar b…

Ḳubba

(1,052 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(now Ḳuba), a district in the eastern Caucasus, between Bākū and Derbend [q. v.]. The district of Ḳubba with an area of 2,800 square miles is bounded on the north by a large river, the Samūr, which flows into the Caspian, on the west by the “district” of Samūr which belongs to Dāg̲h̲istān [q. v.], on the south by the southern slopes of the Caucasian range (peaks: S̲h̲āh-Dag̲h̲, 13,951 feet high, Bābā Dag̲h̲ 11,900) which separate Ḳubba from S̲h̲amāk̲h̲a (cf. the article s̲h̲īrwān), on the S. E. by the district of Bākū and on the east by the Caspian. The area between the mount…

Nihāwand

(735 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, a town in the old province of Hamad̲h̲ān, with, at the present day, 5,000-6,000 inhabitants (de Morgan), at a height of 5,860 feet on the branch of the Gāmāsāb which comes from the S. E. from the vicinity of Burūd̲j̲ird; the Gāmāsāb then runs W. to Bisūtūn. Nihāwand lies on the southern road which, coming from Kirmāns̲h̲āh (Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 198), leads into Central Persia (Iṣfahān) avoiding the massif of Alwand (ʾΟρόντηΣ) which rises W. of Hamad̲h̲ān. Hence the importance of the town in the wars of Persia with her western neighbours. The French excavations of 1931 (Dr. Contenau)…

Māzyār

(1,925 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, [Balād̲h̲urī gives the form Māyazdiyār < *Māh-yazd-yār], the last of the Ḳārinid rulers of Ṭabarīstān, leader of the rising against the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim. Origins. The Ḳarīn-wand dynasty claimed descent from Ḳarīn b. Sūk̲h̲rā, whom Ḵh̲usraw Anus̲h̲irwān had established in Ṭabarīstān and who was descended from the legendary smith Kāwa, who saved Farīdūn. The hereditary fief of the dynasty was the “mountain of Ḳarīn” [or of Windād Hurmuz], Ṭabarī, iii. 1295. The capital of this region was probably Lapūra (cf. Lafūr on…

Ṣaḥna

(195 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
, a little township in the Persian province of Kermāns̲h̲āh on the great road between Kangāwar and Bīsutūn. The district of Ṣaḥna contains about 28 villages inhabited by settled Turks belonging to the tribe of Ḵh̲odābandelū (of Hamadān). At Ṣaḥna there are a few Ahl-i-Ḥaḳḳ (see the article ʿalī ilāhī), who are in touch with their spiritual superiors in Dīnawar (see dīnawar), a frontier district in the north. Ṣaḥna must not be confused with Senne, the capital of the Persian province of Kurdistān, the former residence of the Wālīs of Ardilān [q. v.]. Quite …

Musāfirids

(2,298 words)

Author(s): Minorsky, V.
(Kangarī or Sallārī), a d y n as t y of Dailamī origin which came from Tārom [q. v.] and reigned in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Hid̲j̲ra in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān, Arrān and Armenia. Its coming to power was one of the manifestations of the great movement of Īrānian liberation which formed a kind of interlude between the end of Arab domination and the first Turkish invasions. While in Ḵh̲urāsān and Transoxania this movement culminated in the rule of the Sāmānids [q. v.], in western Persia and Mesopotamia its standardbearers were the Dailamīs and to a smaller extent the Kurds (cf. V. Minorsky, L…
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