b. ʿAbd al-G̲h̲anī al-S̲h̲āhīd , Mawlānā , religious leader of Muslim India, was born on 28 S̲h̲awwāl 1196/6 October 1782, of a Dihlī family that traced its origin to the caliph ʿUmar. He was a nephew of the famous Mawlānā S̲h̲āh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 1239/1823-4). Having lost his father early, he was brought up by his uncle Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Ḳādir (d. 1242/1826-7). In childhood he was inattentive to his studies and fond of swimming in the D̲j̲amnā, but thanks to a retentive memory and a keen intellect he later on became a learned man. Being shocked at the s̲h̲irk or idolatro…

, a fortress situated on a lime-stone rock in the middle of the river Indus (27° 43′ N and 68° 56′ E), which is identified with the Sogdi of Alexander. The island is connected with Rōhrī and Sukkur by a cantilever bridge. With the decline of Arōr, the ancient Hindū capital of Sind, about the middle of 2nd/8th century, when the river Indus changed its course, Bhakkar soon attained the highest strategie importance. The island must have been fortified and…

, meaning in Ottoman Turkish "a tree", "wood", in Eastern Turkish (in which the forms yi̊g̲h̲ač , yi̊g̲h̲āč are the more frequent) means also "the male member" and "parasang"; cf. al-Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī, Dīwān Lug̲h̲āt al-Turk , Istanbul 1933, iii, 6, and Brockelmann, Mitteltürkische Wortschatz , Budapest-Leipzig 1928, 87. Al-Kās̲h̲g̲h̲arī shows only the forms yi̊g̲h̲āč and yi̊g̲h̲ač, but W. Radloff, Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Türk-Dialekte , 1893, i, 150, shows also ag̲h̲ač and other forms of the word such as ag̲h̲atz , ag̲h̲as and yag̲h̲ač , as signifying…

, a Persian prosodist and minor poet at the Tīmūrid court in Harāt during the second half of the 9th/15th century. He is remembered for his text-book of Persian prosody ʿArūḍ-i Sayfī , which he completed in 896/1491; this has been published several times in India, notably with an English translation and extensive commentary in H. Blochmann’s The prosody of the Persians according to Saifi , Jami , and other writers, Calcutta 1872, a work which played an important role in making Persian poetical theory accessible to European students. But now that older and more det…

, the name of a Rād̲j̲pūt tribe in Sind. At the time of the Muslim advent into Sind (93/711-12) the Sammās were ostensibly already a well-formed tribe, with distinctive customs and with a recognised habitat, according to the much later Čač-nāma , which mentions the Sammā tribal leader as a Buddhist. The same source mentions the Sammās and their allied tribes, the Lākhos and the Suhtas, as living in the territory from Lohāna (modern Sanghar, Ḥaydarābād District) down to the Arabian Sea coast. The rival tribe of the Sumerās [ q.v.] first find mention in the account of the G̲h̲aznawid S…

, a Kurdish district of Persia lying between the Turkish frontier (modern il or province of Hakkâri) and the western shore of Lake Urmiya, hence falling within the modern Persian ustān or province of West Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān. In Kurdish, sōmāy means “view” (cf. in Persian sūma “terminus, finis, scopus”, Vullers, ii, 352). To the north, Ṣōmāy is separated from the basin of the Zola Čay (S̲h̲epirān, Salmās [ q.v.]) by the mountains of Bere-dī, Und̲j̲ali̊ḳ and Ag̲h̲wān; on the east the canton of Anzal separates it from Lake Urmiya; to the south-east lies the S̲h̲ayk̲…

(1019-54/1610-44), the pen name of Abu ’l-Barakāt, a prominent Indo-Muslim poet of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s period (1628-58). He was born on 12 Ramaḍān 1019/28 November 1610 at Lāhawr. His father, ʿAbd al-D̲j̲alīl b. Ḥāfiẓ Abū Isḥāḳ, was an expert calligraphier attached to Emperor Akbar’s court. Munīr received his education in Lāhawr, and started composing poetry at an early age. In 1045/1635-6 he took up service with Mīrzā Ṣafī Sayf K̲h̲ān, who was a son-in-law of Āṣaf K̲h̲ān (d. 1051/1641), father of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān’s wife, Mumtāz Maḥall [ q.v.]. Sayf K̲h̲ān held important administrat…

(late 9th century-988/late 15th century-1580), the tak̲h̲alluṣ [ q.v.] or pen-name of an Indo-Muslim poet, Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Muḥammad, who wrote at the courts of the Mug̲h̲al emperors Humāyūn and Akbar [ q.vv.]. According to most writers he was born in Transoxania at Miyānkāl, a district situated between Samarḳand and Buk̲h̲ārā, but stayed a long time in Kābul, whence he is also known as Kābulī. When fifteen years old he is said to have visited D̲j̲āmī (d. 898/1492 [ q.v.]) at Harāt, and spent some seven years in the poet’s company. Subsequently he went to India o…

, Ismāʿīl b. Muḥammad Amīn b. Mīr Salīm al-Bābānī al-Bag̲h̲dādī , in modern Turkish orthography, Baǧdatlı İsmail Paşa (1839-1920), Ottoman army officer and author of two important bio-bibliographical reference works. He was born in Bag̲h̲dād, in a family originating from Bābān, near Sulaymāniyya ʿIrāḳ, hence his other nisba (variant: Bābān-zāde). In 1908, after the Young Turk Revolution, he became a general ( mīr liwā ) in the gendarmerie ( d̲j̲andarma dāʾiresi ). On his death in 1920 he was buried in Bakırköy near Istanbul. The most extensive…

, town of modern Afghanistan, headquarters of Paktiya Province (originally called ‘The Southern Province’), situated 65 km. east of G̲h̲aznī in the direct line, though further by road, in 69° 6′ E. 33° 36′ N. Gardīz stands on the route from G̲h̲aznī towards the Kurram Valley, which there joins the route passing south-eastwards from Kābul through the Logar Vaĺley. The town stands at an altitude of 2289 metres amid extensive orchards in the Zurmatt plain…

(d. 1069/1659), Ottoman general, was probably born at Yeñis̲h̲ehir (near Bursa). While serving in the Palace as a balṭad̲j̲i̊ [ q.v.], he attracted the attention of Murād IV by a display of physical strength (Naʿīmā, vi, 399 f.); he became an intimate ( muḳarreb ) of the Sultan and rose to be first Küčük and then Büyük Mīr-ak̲h̲ōr (Grand Master of the Horse, see mīr-ak̲h̲ōr ). On 4 Muḥarram 1044/30 June 1634 he was appointed Grand Admiral (Ḳapudān Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.]), with the rank of vizier, and as such was present on the Erivan (Rewān [ q.v.]) campaign of 1045/1635. On the way back, at Diyā…

b. Ḍābiṭa Ḵh̲ān b. Amīr al-Umarāʾ Nad̲j̲īb al-Dawla [ q.v.], founder of the town of Nad̲j̲ībābād, remembered chiefly for his cruel treatment of the Mug̲h̲al emperor S̲h̲āh ʿĀlam ( reg . 1173-1221/1759-1806), and his family. While still young G̲h̲ulām Ḳādir Ḵh̲ān was left at the Imperial court as his father’s representative, most probably as a hostage. He escaped from custody, however, in 1190/1776 on the defeat of the imperial forces by Ḍābiṭa Ḵh̲ān, and joined his father at the fort of G̲h̲awt̲h̲gaŕh, the family head-quarters near Thāna Bhawan, the birth place of As̲h̲raf ʿAlī Thānawī [ q…

, popularly known as Mullā S̲h̲āh, a distinguished saint of the Ḳādirī silsila in India (992-1072/1584-1661). According to D̲j̲ahān Ārā, the name of his father was Mawlānā ʿAbdī, but Mullā S̲h̲āh refers to him in his mat̲h̲nawī Risāla-yi nisbat as ʿAbd Aḥmad. Born in 992/1584, in Arkasa, a village of Badak̲h̲s̲h̲ān, he lived there for about 21 years. Later he visited Balk̲h̲, Kābul and other places in search of a spiritual teacher. He reached Lahore in 1023/1614-15 and felt attracted towards Miyān Mīr [ q.v.], remaining in this latter’s service for about thirty years. At the di…

(t. < a. ziʿāma ), a term of Ottoman Turkish military and land tenure organisation. While at home, ziʿāmet holders might be ordered to pursue robbers after consultation with the local ḳāḍī ( 3 numarali mühimme defteri 966-968/ 1558-1560, özet ve transkripsiyon, Ankara, DAGM 1993, 132). A zaʿīm with a reputation for local knowledge concerning the remote province of Mentes̲h̲e might be charged with police duties in lieu of military service ( 5 numarali mühimme defteri ( 973/ 1565-66), özet ve indeks, Ankara, DAGM 1994, 224, no. 1386). In other instances, we find zaʿīms along with other so…

, a district and town of mediaeval i northern India, now a town. It arose as a metropolitan centre after the accession of Sultan G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ al-Dīn Balban to the throne of Dihlī in 664/1266. Since the Rād̲j̲pūt Rād̲j̲ā of Kētehr or Katahr [ q.v.] (modern Bareilly district in the U.P.) rose in rebellion and carried his depredations as far as the iḳṭāʿ of Badāʾūn, Balban attacked him in his own region, and having cleared the vast district, carved out the iḳṭāʿ of Amrōhā that comprised the area of the modern districts of Bareilly, Murādābād, Rāmpūr and Bī…

, a native of T́hat́t́a [ q.v.], the old capital of lower Sind, belonged to the Arg̲h̲ūn tribe of Turkomans (cf. ʿAlī S̲h̲ēr Ḳāniʿ, Maḳālāt al-s̲h̲uʿarāʾ , Karachi 1958, 80). No biographical details about him are available beyond the fact that ‘Idrākī’ was his poetical name. As to his nisba Bēglārī, it is not clear whether it was a surname or whether he adopted it on account of his close association with the Bēglār family of lower Sind. His patron, S̲h̲āh Abu ’l-Ḳāsim Sulṭān (d. 1039/1621) b. S̲h̲ah Ḳāsim K̲h̲ān-i Zamān, was well-known for his valour and literary accomplishments. A ¶ nobleman …

, Muḥammad b. Ṣalāḥ b. D̲j̲alāl b. Kamāl al-Anṣārī (or al-Nāṣirī), known as Muṣliḥ al-Dīn al-Lārī, Persian scholar and historian, was born ca. 1510 in Lār, to the south of S̲h̲īrāz. Following his family’s tradition, he entered upon a scholarly career and studied under Mullā Ṣadrā’s son Mīr G̲h̲iyāt̲h̲ b. Ṣadr al-Dīn S̲h̲īrāzī and Mīr Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn, a pupil of D̲j̲alāl al-Dīn [see al-dawānī ]. It is transmitted that Lārī’s father proceeded openly against the S̲h̲īʿī heretics ( rawāfiḍ ). During his later journeys, al-Lārī was at first received honourably by the Mug̲h̲al…

, a Hindi word, ultimately from a Sanskrit root “to compute, reckon up”, a term in Indo-Muslim administrative usage denoting an aggregate of villages, a subdivision of a district or sarkār [see mug̲h̲als. 3. Administrative and social organisation]. In later Anglo-Indian usage, the term was often rendered as pergunnah , see Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jobson , a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases, 698-9. The first reference to this term in the chronicles of the Sultanate of Dihlī appears to be in the Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Fīrūz S̲h̲āhī of S̲h̲ams-i Sirād̲j̲ ʿAfīf ( Bibliotheca Ind…

, ( Fyzabad ), a town in the district of the same name in India, situated in 26° 47′ N. and 82° 10′ E., 4 miles from the ancient town of Ayōdhyā, which gave its name to the province of Awadh (Oudh) and the S̲h̲īʿī kingdom founded by Saʿādat K̲h̲ān Burhān al-Mulk [ q.v.]. The town grew up around a wooden lodge ( bangla ), surrounded by a large and expansive compound, which Burhān al-Mulk had built for himself on his appointment in 1132/1719-20 as the Nāʾib Nāẓim of Awadh. Other buildings, mostly of mud, for the) ḥarem and barracks for the troops sprang up all around con…

, a former native state of western Balūčistān, now incorporated in Pakistan. Geographically, it comprises a wide basin, that of the Mas̲h̲kel river in the west and the Baddo in the east, between high ranges of mountains, the Raʾs Kūh rising to 9,900 feet; the valley terrain includes an extensive rīgistān or sand desert. The population is largely Balūč, with some Brahūīs in the eastern part. The early history of K̲h̲ārān is very obscure. Local tradition says that the Naws̲h̲īrwānī chiefs entered K̲h̲ārān in the 8th/14th century. Over the ensuing centuries, thes…