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, the name given by the Arabs to the ancient Pand̲j̲ābī city of Mulasthana (B.C. Law, Historical geography of ancient India, Paris 1954, 112), thought to be Malli of Alexander’s historians (Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander , Cambridge, Mass. 1946, ii, 433).…

(p.), literally, “the arch in front”, hence the portal of an important building, the term being appropriate to the advancing of the structure, at least in its developed form, forward from the plane of the façade: it is formally typified by this projection, and the articulation of receding planes to the entrance within. Though initially used throughout the Middle East and Hindūstān, the portal came to be most typical of Perso-Indian architecture. The Persian concept appears to be connected with the Arabic dihlīz …

(p.), a technique of inlaywork used in the architecture of the Indo-Pākistān subcontinent, in Urdu paččī-kārī . It is usually set in marble in a technique which reached its fullest development in Hindustan under D̲j̲ahāngīr and S̲h̲āh-D̲j̲ahān in the 11th/17th century, by then as an essential element in imperial symbolism. The craft of using semi-precious stones in floral or foliate compositions in the equivalent of the Florentine co…

¶ I. History. 1. The pre-Islamic period: the first Turks in history and their languages. Towards 540, on the northern fringes of China, the nomadic empire of the Z̲h̲ouan-z̲h̲ouan (proto-Mongols?) dominated the lands of Mongolia and some neighbouring zones. Its Ḳag̲h̲an or ruler had as his vassals notably the chiefs of two important tribal confederations, those of the Türks, in the northern Altai, and the equally Turkish-speaking one of the “High Waggons” (Chinese Kao-kiu) in the Selenga basin (the northern part of central Mongolia).…

( Lahore ), the principal city of the Pand̲j̲āb [ q.v.], situated on the left bank of the Rāwī about 700 feet above sea level, at lat. 31° 35′ N. and long. 74° 20′ E. Its strategic location in the ¶ fertile alluvial region of the upper Indus plain has guaranteed it an important rôle in Indian history, very often as a frontier stronghold and more recently as the capital of the Sikh [ q.v.] empire. Since 1947 it has been included in the republic of Pākistān, of which it is the second largest city. 1. History. Popular etymology connec…

, conventional English spelling Lucknow , the capital city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (the United Provinces of British India). It is situated on the south bank of the winding Gumti river at lat. 26° 52′ N. and long. 80° 52′ E. It is the eleventh largest city in the country (population, 1971 census: 750, 512) and the second largest town of the State. Besides being the seat of the State government, the city also serves as the administrative headquarters of Lak̲h̲naw district and division. 1. History. Though legend connects the origin of Lak̲h̲naw to a mythical local mound …

(a., lit. “place of alighting, settling, abode”), in the context of Islamic India, widely used in the sense of “palace pavilion” or “hall”, and more particularly of private apartments in the palace, the maḥall-sarā —hence also a queen or consort. It seems not to have achieved the same currency in Iran. Here it appears as equivalent to Hindī mandir , mandar or mandal , sometimes replacing these in areas under strong Muslim influence such as Rād̲j̲ast̲h̲ān. Much palace terminology is Persian, though specialised Hindī terms like …

(a., pl. manāzil ), noun of place and time from the root n - z - l, which expresses the idea of halting, a temporary stay, thence stage of a journey. 1. In the central and western Islamic lands. In the Ḳurʾān (X,5; XXXVII, 39), it appears only in the plural, designating the lunar mansions ( manāzil [ q.v.]). Manzil…

(t.) (from yurt “tribal territory, camp site, tent site”, a general term in the Turkic languages, ¶ cf. Türkmen yūrt ~ yuvi̊rt , Ḳaraḳalpaḳ, Ḳazaḳ and Ḳi̊rg̲h̲i̊z žurt ; see k̲h̲ayma . iv, to whose Bibl . should be added G. Doerfer, Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen , Wiesbaden 1965-70, iv, 212-16 no. 1914), Pers. yūrtd̲j̲ī , the salaried officer responsible for choosing camp sites for the army or court, organising them, and supervising their use. Ḏj̲uwaynī’s use of …

(a.), more usually in its Persian form mafras̲h̲ , or the Ottoman mifres̲h̲ , denotes a travelling pack for bedding. Derived from the Arabic verb faras̲h̲a “to spread out or furnish a house or tent”, it is thus cognate with mafrūs̲h̲āt [ q.v.] in the sense of “bedding”. Two early examples made from waxed canvas, reinforced with patterns of brass studs, are preserved in the harem of the Topkapı Sarayı, Istanbul (8/460 and 8/465 k̲h̲urd̲j̲ ). These are flat-bottomed, 90 × 55 cm, with D-shaped ends 30 cm high around which the long sides curve inward…

(a.), the measurement of plane surfaces, also in mode…

(a.), literally, “one who migrates”, has been applied to various groups in the course of Islamic history. 1. In earliest Islam. See for this hid̲j̲ra and muhād̲j̲irūn . 2. In Turkey and the Ottoman lands. The function of the Turkish heartlands of Anatolia and Thrace as the refuge of Islam, Islām-penāh , became significant as Ottoman power declined and the Muslim populations of outlying…

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, the elongated, flat hilltop, running north and south some 2 miles/3 km. to the northwest of the city of T́hat́t́hā (Tatta or Thatta) [ q.v.] in lower Sind [ q.v.] on the road to Karāčī and now in Pakistan, which served as a necropolis for the local Sammā, Arg̲h̲ūn, and Tark̲h̲ān dynasties, besides being the burial ground for countless thousands of ordinary Muslims. The etymology is obscure, though possibly derived from mukallaʾ “a river bank”, as it lies along the old bed of the Indus. Within its irre…

, conventional spelling Mysore , a former princely state of British India, now the core of a component state of the Indian Union called Karnataka, with its capital at Bangalore, and also the name of the town which was the dynastic capital of the state. …

(a.), mosque, the noun of place from sad̲j̲ada “to prostrate oneself, hence “place where one prostrates oneself [in worship]”. The modern Western European words (Eng. mosque , Fr. mosquée , Ger. Moschee , Ital. moschea ) come ultimately from the Arabic via Spanish mezquita . I. In the central Islamic lands A. The origins of the mosque up to the Prophet’s death. The word msgdʾ is found in Aramaic as early as th…