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(Pahlavi, Frēdun; ancient Iranian, Thraētaona), the son of Abtiyān or Abtīn, one of the early kings of Īrān. The most complete text on the subject is the account of his reign by Firdawsī, in verse; some of the sources for it will be found in pre-Islamic texts. §§ 130-8 of the Yasht s of the Avesta reveal the names of the first kings of Īrān in their original order (the first being Yima [see d̲j̲ams̲h̲īd ]), whose conqueror and murderer, Azhī-Dahāka, was overthrown in his turn and put to death by Thraētaona; the latter was rewarded by a share of the aureole of glory ( hvareno ) …

This poetical name ( tak̲h̲alluṣ ) is probably that of two poets born at Ṭūs (Ḵh̲urāsān): abū naṣr aḥmad b. manṣūr al-ṭūsī and his son ʿali b. aḥmad . According to the extremely doubtful statement of Dawlats̲h̲āh, the father was the pupil of Firdūsī (born ca. 320-2/932-4), while the epic composed by ʿAlī b. Aḥmad is precisely dated 458/1066; H. Ethé concludes from this that it is impossible to attribute to the same author the works placed under the name of Asadī. Thus Abū Naṣr, about whom it is only known that he died during the rule of Masʿūd al-G̲h̲aznawī. becomes the author of the Munāẓarāt …

, Arabic form of the surname of Chosroës I (al-Ṭabarī, I, 862) [see kisrā], in Pahlawi anos̲h̲ag̲h̲-ruvān , in Pazand anos̲h̲-ruān “possessed of an immortal soul”, then in Persian Nūs̲h̲īravān (Nūs̲h̲īrvān), which is popularly explained as nūs̲h̲īn-ravān “possessed of sweet soul” ( Burhān-i Ḳāṭiʿ ). Several persons in Islam bore this name (Zambaur mentions four), particularly a son of Manūčihr and of a daughter of Maḥmūd al-G̲h̲aznawī, who was amīr of Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān from 420/1029 to 434/1042 (Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, IX, 262), and Anūs̲h̲arwān b. Ḵh̲āli…

, s̲h̲ams al-dīn muḥammad , Persian poet, born in Tabrīz, died in 779 or in 784/1382-3; he was one of the panegyrists of the prince Uways [ q.v.] and is chiefly known for his poem Mihr u Mus̲h̲tarī , at the end of which he gives the date of its completion (10 S̲h̲awwāl 778/1377); this poem consists of 5,120 distichs and was later translated into Turkish. In the words of Ethé ( Gr. I. Phil.), it is "the story of a love, free from every frailty and pure from every sensual lust, between Mihr, the son of S̲h̲ābūrs̲h̲āh, and the comely stripling Mus̲h̲tarī". (H. Massé) Bibliography Von Hammer. Gesch. d. sch…

, Fakhr al-Dīn Asʿad , author of the first known courtly romance in Persian: Wīs and Rāmīn . In the opinion of Z. Safa (ii, 361) his achievement is to have introduced a literary genre which is now represented by a series of works, several of which are worthy of note. What is known of his life is limited to the little that he reveals in his poem. The accounts given by his biographers are negligible but agree in attributing to him the authorship of the poem (with the exception of Dawlat S̲h̲āh, who erroneously att…

, Aḥmad b. ʿUmar b. ʿAlī , took the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Niẓāmī and the honorific Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn (or Niẓām al-Dīn); he was usually called ʿArūḍī (the “prosodist”) to distinguish him from other Niẓāmīs (particularly the great Niẓāmī of Gand̲j̲a [ q.v.], cf. the anecdote quoted by E.G. Browne, Lit . hist . ofPers., ii, 339). According to Browne, Niẓāmī is one of the most interesting and remarkable Persian writers of prose: “one of those who throw most light on the intimate life of Persian and Central Asian Courts in the twelfth century of our era”. He was a court poet who served faithfully the G̲h̲ūrid [ q.…

, Iranian author of a geography written in Arabic, who lived in the 3rd/9th century. Nothing is known of his life and only one of his works survives, in an abridged form. De Goeje introduced his edition of this work with an authoritative preface in which he reproduced the information, of varying reliability, which Ibn al-Nadīm and the geographer al-Muḳaddasī provide on Ibn al-Faḳīh. According to the Fihrist of the former (154), “he produced a Kitāb al-Buldān of a thousand folios, a compilation from various works, in particular that of al-D̲j̲ayhānī…

(Pahlawī: čūbikān ; other forms: čūygān (attested in Ibn Yamīn); čūlgān (cf. čūl , in Vullers, Lexicon persico-latinum ; compare Arabic sawlad̲j̲an ); Greek: τξυκάνιον, French: chicane ), stick used in polo ( bolo : Tibetan‘ ball ’, introduced into England around 1871); used in a wider sense for the game itself, ( gūy-u ) čawgān bāzī , "game of (ball and) čawgān "; also used for any stick with the end bent back, particularly those for beating drums. The čawgān is not the same as the mall ( malleum ), which is a hardwood sledge-hammer. According to Quatremère ( Mamluks , i, 123), the sawlad̲j̲ān …

, the tak̲h̲alluṣ of several Indian poets. The Riyāḍ al-wifāḳ of D̲h̲u ’l-Fiḳār ʿAlī, biographies of Indian poets who wrote in Persian, and the Tad̲h̲kira of Yūsuf ʿAlī K̲h̲ān (analysed by Sprenger, A catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustan mss… of the King of Oudh , i, 168, 280) mention five of them. The first, a native of Kas̲h̲mīr, lived in Dihlī in the reign of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh (1719-48): his g̲h̲azal s were sung by the dancing-girls.—The most celebrated, however, was Saʿādat Yār K̲h̲ān of Dihlī. His father, Ṭahmāsp Beg K̲h̲ān Tūrānī,…

, zayn al-dīn abū bakr b. ismāʿīl al-warrāḳ , Persian poet who, according to Ethé, died in 527/1132-33 or in 524/1130; but Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḳazwīnī has shown ( Čahār Maḳāla , 175 ff.) that he died certainly before 465/1072-3. He wrote a Dīwān which, among other poems, contains panegyrics on Ṭug̲h̲āns̲h̲āh b. Alp Arslan, the governor of Harāt (not, as is often stated, of Nīs̲h̲āpūr), and on Amīrāns̲h̲āh, the son of Ḳāwurd [ q.v.], the first Sald̲j̲ūḳid sultan of Kirmān. His verses comprise outstanding ḳaṣīdas and ḳiṭʿas ; he excels in descriptive poetry but is s…

b. Muḥammad Hādī b. Ismāʿīl Kamāl, Persian scholar and man of letters, “l’un des hommes les plus spirituels et les plus aimables que j’aie rencontrés dans aucune partie du monde” (Gobineau). A descendant of the poet Kamāl Ḵh̲ud̲j̲andī [q. v.], the grandfather of Riḍā Ḳulī, chief of the notables of Čardeh Kelateh (district of Dāmg̲h̲ān), was put to death by the partisans of Karīm Ḵh̲ān Zand against whom he supported the Ḳād̲j̲ārs (cf. Relation de l’ambassade au Kharezm, transl. Schefer, p. 203). His father became one of the dignitaries of the court of the Ḳād̲j̲ārs; in 12…

( Ṭarṭūsī , Ṭūsī ) Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Mūsā , a person otherwise unknown, said to be the author of several novels in prose, prolix in style and of great length, a confused mixture of Arab and Persian legendary traditions, written in Persian and afterwards translated into Turkish. These include Ḳahramān-nāma (about Ḳahramān, a hero from the epoch of Hūs̲h̲ang, semi-mythical king of Īrān), Ḳirān-i Ḥabas̲h̲ī (the story of a hero from the time of the Kayānid king Kay Ḳubād), Dārāb-nāma (history of Darius and Alexander). (H. Massé) Bibliography Firdawsī, Livre des des rois, ed. and tra…

Muḥammad b. ʿUbayd Allāh , Persian writer. His sixth ancestor was Ḥusayn al-Aṣg̲h̲ar, traditionist and son of the Imām Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. His family lived for a long time in Balk̲h̲. He was a contemporary of Nāṣir-i Ḵh̲usraw, whom he may have known and about whom he gives us the earliest information available. ¶ From two passages of his only work Ch. Schefer assumed that he was at the court of the G̲h̲aznawid Sultan Masʿūd III when he composed his Bayān al-Adyān , dated 485/1092, the earliest known work on religions in the Persian language. The first two …

(or Āb-i Ruknī: the water of Rukn al-Dawla), a canal ( ḳanāt) which runs from a mountain (called Ḳulaiʿa: P. Schwarz, Iran im Mittelalter, ii. 48, N°. 7) about six miles from S̲h̲īrāz. Enlarged by a secondary canal, it follows for a part of the way the road from Iṣfahān to S̲h̲īrāz. Its waters reach as far as the vicinity of the town towards the cemetery in which Ḥāfiẓ is buried, when they are not entirely absorbed for irrigation purposes. According to Ḥasan Fasāʾī ( Fārs-nāme-i Nāṣirī, part ii., p. 20), “all the waters of the plain of S̲h̲īrāz come by subterranean channels excep…

Several Indian poets have used this tak̲h̲alluṣ. The Riyāḍ al-wifāḳ of Ḏh̲u ’l-Fiḳār ʿAlī, biographies of Indian poets who wrote in Persian, and the Tad̲h̲kira of Yūsuf ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān (analysed by Sprenger, A Catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustan Mss… of the King of Oudh, i. 168 and 280) mention five of them. The first, a native of Kas̲h̲mīr, lived in Dihlī in the reign of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh (1719-1748); his g̲h̲azels were sung by the dancing-girls. — The most celebrated, however, was Saʿādat Yār Ḵh̲ān of Dihlī. His father, Ṭahmāsp Beg Ḵ…

Aḥmad b. ʿUmar b. ʿAlī took the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Niẓāmī and the honorific Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn (or Niẓām al-Dīn); he was usually called ʿArūḍī (the “prosodist”) to distinguish him from other Niẓāmīs (particularly the great Niẓāmī; cf. the anecdote quoted by E. G. Browne, Lit. Hist. of Pers., ii. 339) According to Browne, Niẓāmī is one of the most interesting and remarkable Persian writers of prose: “one of those who throw most light on the intimate life of Persian and Central Asian Courts in the xiith century of our era”. He was a court poet who served faithfully the G̲h̲ōrid [q. v.] p…

, daughter of al-Ḥusain b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and of Rabab bint Imrʾ al-Ḳais b. ʿAdī b. ʿAws the poetess, who gave her daughter the name of Sukaina (sometimes called: Sakina, but the Ḳāmūs has: Sukaina). Her real name was Umaima (according to Ibn al-Kalbī quoted by Ibn Saʿd and the Ag̲h̲ānī) or Umaina but more probably Āmina or Amīna (according to the Ag̲h̲ānī). The date of her birth is not known; but she was a little girl at the time of her father’s death (definitely stated by Ṭabarī, ii. 232, 10, and by Ibn al-At̲h̲īr in telling of the death of Ḥusain, Kāmil, iv. 73; the same writer says that Yaz…

, Mīrzā Muḥammad Mahdī Astarābādī b. Muḥammad, historian of Nādir S̲h̲āh of Persia, whose deeds he recorded in the Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Ḏj̲ahān Gus̲h̲āy-i Nādirī; this work written in Persian is an excellent complement to those by James Fraser and Jonas Hanway on the conqueror. In it Mahdī Ḵh̲ān details the life of Nādir from his birth to his death while other Persian writers only deal with periods of it (e. g. Muḥsin b. Ḥanīf records only the expedition to India in his Ḏj̲awhar-i Ṣamṣam; ʿAbd al-Karīm Kas̲h̲mīrī in his Bayān-i Wāḳiʿ confines himself to the period from this expedition to 178…

, Ḥamīd al-Dīn Abū Bakr ʿUmar b. Maḥmūd , born in Balk̲h̲, died in 559/1164, a ḳāḍī who in 551/1156 began to compile his collection of twenty-three Ḥamīdian sessions (or scenes) ( maḳāmāt-i Ḥamīdī ) to serve as a pendant in the Persian language to the celebrated Arabic Maḳāmāt of al-Hamad̲h̲ānī and al-Ḥarīrī, as he states in his preface. Like these authors, he subordinated matter to form, above all endeavouring in his writings to show himself as a consummate stylist. For the most part, his maḳāmāt describe some episode in his adventures or travels; others d…

, mythical king of Iran who appears in several of the Yas̲h̲t of the Avesta; the first lawful king and the protégé of the gods, he reigned over the seven climes of the world, over the demons and the sorcerers; according to these texts, he resided in the countries situated to the south of the Caspian Sea. His place in the series of the mythical kings (Pīs̲h̲dādiyān) is vague: sometimes he is the contemporary of Ṭahmūrat̲h̲ [ q.v.], sometimes his successor; sometimes Gayumard comes before both of them. The Pahlavi texts add little to the Avestan texts. The Arabic texts, wh…

, S̲h̲ams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn Saʿīd Iṣfāhānī, an Iranian philologist, author of the Miʿyār-i D̲j̲amālī va-miftāḥ-i Bū Isḥāḳī (“The bird-trap offered to D̲j̲amāl and the key entrusted to Abu Isḥāḳ”), written in Iṣfahān, after residing in S̲h̲īrāz, and dedicated in 745/1344 to D̲j̲amāl al-Dīn Abū Isḥāḳ Muḥammad, the last prince of the Ind̲j̲ū dynasty [ q.v.]. The work consists of four sections: prosody ( ʿarūḍ ), knowledge of rhyme ( ḳawāfī ), rhetorical devices ( badāʾiʿ al-sanāʾiʿ ), a lexicon intermingled with verses in praise of the pr…

Aḥmad , sayyid of the line of Ḥusayn; his family, natives of Urdubād (Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān), in the time of the Ṣafawids settled in Iṣfahān, where he was born. He was the most notable poet under the dynasties of the Afs̲h̲arīs and the Zand. He divided his time between his native town, Ḳumm and Kās̲h̲ān. He was a man of erudition and a physician, and had a knowledge of Arabic, in which language he wrote some poems; in Persian he was the author of an important collection consisting of ḳaṣidas , g̲h̲azals , rubāʿīs and other short works, in which the influence of Saʿdī …

, Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ʿIrāḳī Hamadānī , eminent Iranian poet and mystic. In spite of its lack of precision, the best source of information on this author, who gives very few autobiographical details in his own works, is an anonymous muḳaddima (introduction), composed in the manner and style of ʿIrāḳī’s own period (the end of the 7th/13th century) or the beginning of the following period. D̲j̲āmī ( Nafaḥāt al-uns ) and Mir K̲h̲wānd ( Ḥabīb al-siyar ) have obtained their information on ʿIrāḳī from this introduction. According to Ḥamd Allāh Mustawfī Kazwini, who wrote his Tārīk̲h̲-i guzīd…

b. muḥammad hādī b. ismāʿīl kamāl , Persian scholar and man of letters, “l’un des hommes les plus spirituels et les plus aimables que j’aie rencontrés dans aucune partie du monde” (Gobineau). A descendant of the poet Kamāl K̲h̲ud̲j̲andī [ q.v.], the grandfather of Riḍā Ḳulī, chief of the notables of Čarda Kilāta (district of Dāmg̲h̲ān), was put to death by the partisans of Karīm K̲h̲ān Zand against whom he supported the Ḳād̲j̲ārs (cf. Relation de l’ambassade au Kharezm , tr. Schefer, 203). His father became one of the dignitaries of the court of the Ḳ…

, book of divination. In the Muslim East (especially in Iranian and Turkish countries), in order to know if not the future, at least the signs or circumstances that are auspicious for some decision, recourse is still sometimes made to certain procedures (cf. Massé, Croyances , ch. XI: divination), among others to two kinds of books: 1. collections of poems ( dīwān of Ḥāfiẓ); 2. special works ( fāl-nāma). Consulting the dīwān, an act within the reach of everyone, consists in opening the book at random and interpreting the text which first strikes the eye (for details, see Massé, op. cit., 244-5…

, Iranian personal name (arabicised form Buzurd̲j̲mihr) which according to a tradition transmitted by Iranian and Arab writers, was given to a man endowed with every ability and virtue who was the minister of Ḵh̲usraw I Anūs̲h̲arawān ¶ (6th century A.D.). The earliest authorities who were acquainted with the Pahlawī Ḵh̲vad̲h̲āynāmāg̲h̲ (“Book of Sovereigns”), written towards the end of the Sāsānid period (7th century), the source of the oldest accounts of pre-Islamic Iranian history penned by Arab writers (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Ḳ…

, a village in Afg̲h̲ānistān (orchards, particularly of apricots) in the region of G̲h̲ūr [ q.v.] on the Tagao Gunbaz, tributary on the left bank of the Harī Rūd, above Čis̲h̲t; an hour’s march away, by the confluence of the tributary and the main stream, stands a cylindrical minaret of harmonious proportions, with an octagonal base which carries three superposed stages of truncated conical form, with an interior staircase (over 180 steps); the height of This minaret (about 60 m.) puts it between the Ḳuṭb mīnār of Dihlī [ q.v.] and the minaret of Buk̲h̲ārā [ q.v.]. One of the inscriptions …

; Persian commentator of the Ḳurʾān. He lived between 480/1087 and 525/1131, fixed by conjecture. Among his disciples are the famous S̲h̲iʾte theologians Ibn S̲h̲ahrāsūb and Ibn Bābūya [ q.v.], who describes him as a scholar, preacher, commentator of the Ḳurʾān and a pious man. According to al-S̲h̲us̲h̲tarī ( Mad̲j̲ālis al-Muʾminīn ) he was a contemporary of al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī, whom he quoted as his master—which would explain the Muʿtazilism of his commentary. Muḥ. Ḳazwīnī has proved that his commentary could not date from …

Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-Kātib al-Iṣfahānī , famous stylist and historian, born at Iṣfahān in 519/1125 of a distinguished family to which belonged also the famous kātib al-ʿAzīz, whose biography is given in Ibn K̲h̲allikān. Wafayāt , ed. Wüstenfeld no. 77 (cf., concerning him, Houtsma. Recueil , ii, preface, XIX ff.). He spent his youth in his native town and at Ḳas̲h̲ān, but studied in Bag̲h̲dād, in particular fiḳh , and made a journey to Mosul and other places. When the Sald̲j̲ūḳid sultan Muḥammad II laid siege unsuccessfully to Bag̲h̲dād …

, commentateur persan du Coran. Les dates extrêmes de sa vie sont placées par conjecture entre 480/1087 et 525/ 1131; il compta parmi ses disciples les célèbres théologiens s̲h̲īʿites Ibn Shahrās̲h̲ūb et Ibn Bābūya [ q.v.], qui le qualifie de docteur, de prédicateur, de commentaLeur du Coran et d’homme pieux. Selon S̲h̲ustarī ( Mad̲j̲alis al-muʾminin), il aurait été contemporain de Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī, qu’il cite en le déclarant son maître — ce qui expliquerait le muʿtazilisme de son commentaire. D’après les arguments établis par Muḥammad Ḳazwīnī, son …

, roi mythique de l’Iran qui apparaît dans plusieurs des Yas̲h̲t de l’Avesta; premier roi légitime et protégé des dieux, il règne sur les sept climats du monde, sur les démons et les sorciers; selon ces textes, il réside dans les pays situés au Sud de la mer Caspienne. Sa place dans la série des rois mythiques (Pis̲h̲dādiyān) reste imprécise: tantôt il est contemporain de Ṭahmūrat̲h̲ [ q.v.], tantôt son prédécesseur, tantôt son successeur; tantôt Gayumard les précède l’un et l’autre. Les textes pehlvis ajoutent peu de chose aux textes avestiques. Quant aux text…

, forme arabe du surnom de Chosroès Ier (al-Ṭabarī, I, 862) [voir Kisrā], pehlvi anos̲h̲ag̲h̲-ruvān, pazend anos̲h̲-ruān «à l’âme immortelle», devenu en persan Nūs̲h̲ῑravān (Nūs̲h̲ῑrvān), expliqué populairement par nūs̲h̲ῑn-ravān «à l’âme douce» ( Burhān-i Ḳāṭiʿ). Ce nom fut porté sous l’Islam par plusieurs personnages (Zambaur en enregistre quatre), notamment un fils de Manūčihr et d’une fille de Maḥmūd al-G̲h̲aznawῑ, qui fut amῑr du Ḏj̲urd̲j̲ān de 420 à 434/1029-42 (Ibn al-At̲h̲ῑr, IX, 262) et Anūs̲h̲irwān b. Ḵh̲ālid b. Muḥammad al-Kās̲h̲ānῑ (voir l’art, suivant). (H. Massé…

(ou Āb-i Ruknī: l’eau de Rukn al-Dawla), canal ( ḳanāt) souterrain qui sort d’une montagne (dite Ḳulayʿa: P. Schwarz, Iran im Mittelalter, II, 48, n. 7), à neuf kilomètres environ de S̲h̲īrāz. Grossi d’un canal secondaire, il suit partiellement la route d’Iṣfahān à S̲h̲īrāz. Ses eaux parviennent aux abords de la ville, vers le cimetière où repose le poète Ḥāfiz [ q.v.], quand elles ne sont pas entièrement absorbées par l’irrigation des terres. Selon Ḥasan Fasāʾī ( Fārs-nāma-yi Nāṣirī, part. II, p. 20, u. 1.), «toutes les eaux de la plaine de S̲h̲īrāz arrivent par canaux s…

, village d’Afg̲h̲ānistān (vergers, surtout d’abricotiers), dans la région du G̲h̲ūr [ q.v.], sur le Tagao Gumbaz, affluent gauche du Héri-Rūd, en amont de Ts̲h̲is̲h̲t; à une heure de marche, au confluent de la rivière et du fleuve, se trouve un minaret cylindrique, de proportions harmonieuses, sur base octogonale supportant trois fûts superposés en forme de cône tronqué, avec escalier intérieur (plus de 180 marches) — minaret dont la hauteur (env. 60 m.) le range à la suite du Ḳuṭb-Mīnār de Dihlī et du min…

b. Muḥammad Hādi b. ¶ Ismāʿīl Kamāl, érudit et littérateur persan, «l’un des hommes les plus spirituels et les plus aimables que j’aie rencontrés dans aucune partie du monde» (Gobineau). Descendant du poète Kamāl Ḵh̲ud̲j̲andī (cf. supra, II, 898). Le grand-père de Riḍā Ḳulī, chef des notables de Čarda Kilāta (région de Dāmg̲h̲ān), fut mis à mort par les partisans de Karīm Ḵh̲an Zend contre lequel il soutenait les Ḳād̲j̲ārs (cf. Relation de l’ambassade au Kharezm, trad. Schefer, 203). Son père devint un des dignitaires de la cour de ces princes: en 1215/1800, au cours d…

, Zayn al-dīn Abu Bakr b. Ismāʿīl al-Warrāḳ, poète persan qui, d’après Éthé, serait mort en 527/1132-33 ou 524/1130; mais Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḳazwīnī a démontré ( Čahār Maḳāla, 175 sqq.) qu’il mourut sans doute avant 465/1072-3. Il composa un Dīwān qui contient, entre autres, des pièces de vers à la louange de Tug̲h̲āns̲h̲āh b. Alp Arslan, gouverneur de Harāt (et non de Nīs̲h̲āpūr, comme on l’écrit souvent) et d’Amīrāns̲h̲āh, fils de Ḳāwurd [ q.v.], le premier sultan sald̲j̲ūḳide du Kirmān. Parmi ses vers, on trouve des ḳaṣīdas et des ḳiṭʿas remarquables; il excelle dans la description, …

(pehlvi: čūbikān; autres formes: čūygān (attesté dans Ibn Yamīn); čūlgān (cf. čūl, dans Vullers, Lexicon persico-latinutn; et rapprocher l’arabe ṣawlad̲j̲ān); grec τξυχάνιον, français chicane), crosse pour le jeu de polo ( polo = «balle» en thibétain, mot introduit en Angleterre vers 1871). Par extension: le jeu même, ( gūy-o) čowgān bāzī, «jeu de (balle et) čawgān »; ou encore: tout bâton recourbé. spécialement celui au moyen duquel on bat tambour ou timbale. Le čawgān diffère du mail ( malleum), masse en bois dur. Selon Quatremère ( Mamluks, I, 123), le ṣawlad̲j̲ān, bâton à crosse,…

, nom propre iranien (forme arabisée: Buzurd̲j̲mihr) qu’une tradition transmise par des auteurs iraniens et arabes donne à un personnage doué de toutes capacités et qualités, ministre du roi Ḵh̲osrow Ier Anūs̲h̲irwān (VIe s. de J.-C). On doit tout d’abord constater que les plus anciens auteurs, qui ont eu connaissance du livre pehlvi Ḵh̲vadhāynāmāgh (« Livre des souverains») composé vers la fin de la période sāsānide (VIIe s.), source des plus anciens exposés de l’histoire antéislamique de l’Iran dus à des auteurs arabes (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Ḳutayba), ne parlent po…

, célèbre styliste et historien, né à Iṣfahān en 519/1125, d’une famille distinguée à laquelle appartenait aussi le fameux kātib al-ʿAzīz dont la biographie se trouve chez Ibn Ḵh̲allikān. Wafayāt, éd. Wüstenfeld n° 77 (cf. sur lui, Recueil de textes relatifs à l’hist. des Seldj., II, préface, xix sqq.). Il passa sa jeunesse dans sa ville natale et à Ḳas̲h̲ān, mais étudia à Bag̲h̲dād, en particulier le fiḳh, et entreprit un voyage à Mossoul et autres lieux. Lorsque le sultan sald̲j̲ūḳide Muḥammad II assiégea vainement Bag̲h̲dād en 551/1156, il se trouvait dans c…

, livre augurai. Dans l’Orient musulman (particulièrement en pays iranien et turc), pour connaître sinon l’avenir, du moins les signes ou circonstances favorables à une décision, l’on recourt parfois encore à certains procédés (cf. Massé, Croyances, chap. XI: divination), entre autres à deux catégories de livres: recueil de poésies ( dīwān de Ḥāfiẓ) et ouvrages spéciaux ( fāl-nāma). La consultation du dīwān, à la portée de tous, consiste à ouvrir au hasard le livre et à interpréter le texte qui tombe sous le regard (pour les détails, voir Massé, op. cit., 244-5; et surtout E.-G. Brow…

, Aḥmad b. ʿUmar b. ʿAlī, écrivain et poète persan, qui prit le nom de plume ( tak̲h̲alluṣ) de Niẓāmī et le titre honorifique de Nad̲j̲m al-din (ou Niẓām al-dīn); on l’appela communément ʿArūḍī «le prosodiste» afin de le distinguer d’autres Niẓāmī (particulièrement du grand poète de Gand̲j̲a [ q.v.]; voir à ce sujet l’anecdote citée par E. G. Browne, Lit. hist. of Persia, II, 339). Pour Browne, Niẓāmī est un des plus intéressants et des plus remarquables prosateurs persans, «un de ceux qui jettent le plus de lumière sur la vie de cour en Perse et en Asie Centrale au XIIe siècle de notre ère». E…

S̲h̲ams al-dīn Muḥammad b. Fak̲h̲r al-dīn Saʿīd IṢfahānī, philologue iranien, auteur du Miʿyār-i Ḏj̲amālī wa-miftāh-i Bū Isḥāḳī («Le trébuchet offert à Ḏj̲amāl et la clef remise à Abū Isḥāḳ»), composé à Iṣfahān, après résidence à S̲h̲īrāz. et dédié en 745/1344 à Ḏj̲amāl al-dīn Abū Isḥāḳ Muḥammad, dernier prince de la dynastie Ind̲j̲ū [ q.v.]. L’ouvrage comprend quatre parties: prosodie ( ʿarūḍ), connaissance des rimes ( ḳawāfī), artifices de rhétorique ( badāʾiʿ al-ṣanāʾiʿ), lexique mêlé de vers à la louange du prince (mots persans rangés d’après leur lettre finale…

, tak̲h̲alluṣ de plusieurs poètes indiens. Les Riyāḍ al-wifāḳ de Ḏh̲ū l-Fiḳār ʿAlī, biographies des poètes de l’Inde qui ont écrit en vers persans, et la Tad̲h̲kira de Yūsuf ʿAlī Ḵh̲ān (analysés par Sprenger, A catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustany mss... of the King of Oudh, I, 168, 280) en citent cinq. Le premier, originaire du Kas̲h̲mīr, vécut à Dihlī sous le règne de Muḥammad-S̲h̲āh (1719-48); ses g̲h̲azals ont été chantés par les danseuses. — Mais le plus notable est Saʿādat Yār Ḵh̲ān de Dihlī; son père, Ṭahmāsp Beg Ḵh̲ān Tūrānī, venu dans l’Inde a…

, en vieux persan Artak̲h̲s̲h̲at̲h̲ra, en grec ‘Aρταξέρξης, nom bien connu de rois de Perse. La tradition musulmane n’est renseignée d’une façon exacte que sur les rois de la dynastie tardive des Sāsānides qui portèrent ce nom: Ardas̲h̲īr Ier (226-41), Ardas̲h̲īr II (379-83), Ardas̲h̲īr III (628-29). [Voir Sāsānides]. (H. Massé) Bibliography A. Christensen, L’ Empire des Sassanides (Introd., II, 2: littératures arabe et persane, et index s.v. Ardashēr).

, S̲h̲ams al-dīn Muḥammad, poète persan, né à Tabrīz, mort en 779 ou 784/1382-3; un des panégyristes du prince Uways [ q.v.], il est surtout connu par son poème Mihr u Mus̲h̲tarī à la fin duquel il a noté la date d’achèvement (10 s̲h̲awwāl 778/20 fév. 1377); ce poème, qui compte 5 120 distiques, fut ensuite traduit en turc. Selon Éthé ( Gr. I. Phil.), «c’est l’histoire de l’amour, dégagé de toute faiblesse et pur de tout désir charnel, qui unit Mihr, fils de S̲h̲ābūrs̲h̲āh, au jeune Mus̲h̲tarī». (H. Massé) Bibliography Von Hammer, Gesch. d. schönen Redekünste Persiens, 254 (analyse et extra…

Ce nom poétique ( tak̲h̲alluṣ) est probablement celui de deux poètes originaires de Ṭūs (Ḵh̲urāsān): Abū Naṣr AḤmad b. Manṣūr al-Ṭūsī, puis son fils ʿAlī b. Aḥmad. Selon l’assertion, très discutable, de Dawlat-s̲h̲āh, le père aurait été l’élève de Firdūsī (né vers 320-22/932-34), alors que l’épopée composée par ʿAli b. Aḥmad est exactement datée de 458/1066; H. Ethé en conclut qu’il est impossible d’attribuer à un même auteur les œuvres mises sous le nom d’Asad!. Donc Abū Naṣr, dont on sait seulement qu’il serait mort sous le gouvernement de Masʿūd al-G̲h̲aznawī, serait l’auteur des Munā…

Aḥmad, sayyid de la lignée de Ḥusayn; sa famille, originaire d’Urdubād (Ād̲h̲arbayd̲j̲ān), s’établit sous les Ṣafawides à Ispahan, où il naquit. Il fut le plus remarquable poète sous les dynasties des Afs̲h̲aris et des Zand. Il partagea son existence entre sa ville natale, Ḳumm et Kās̲h̲ān. Érudit, médecin, possédant la langue arabe en laquelle il composa des poésies, il est en persan l’auteur d’un important recueil comprenant ḳaṣīdas, g̲h̲azals, rubāʿīs et autres courtes pièces; on y sent l’influence de Saʿdī et de Ḵh̲ād̲j̲ū. Il doit sa renommée surtout à un tard̲j̲iband (poème stro…

, d’origine iranienne, auteur d’une Description des pays en langue arabe, vécut au IIIe/IXe siècle. Sa vie est ignorée; un seul de ses ouvrages subsiste, sous forme abrégée. De Goeje a mis en tête de son édition de cet ouvrage une magistrale préface; il y donne les renseignements plus ou moins discutables qu’Ibn al-Nadīm et le géographe al-Muḳaddasī fournissent sur Ibn al-Faḳih. ¶ Selon le Fihrist du premier (154), «il produisit un Kitāb al-Buldān d’un millier de feuillets, compilation de divers ouvrages, surtout de celui d’al-Ḏj̲ayhānī, et un autre ouvrage sur les m…

(Ṭarṭūsī, Ṭūsī) Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʿalī b. Mūsā, personnage autrement inconnu, considéré comme auteur de quelques romans en prose, de style prolixe et de grande étendue, mélange confus de traditions légendaires, arabes et persanes, écrits en persan puis traduits en turc: Ḳahramān-nāmeh (roman de Ḳahramān, héros de l’époque de Hūs̲h̲ang, roi demi-mythique de l’Iran), Kirān-i Ḥabas̲h̲ī (histoire d’un héros, sous le règne du roi kayanide Kay-Ḳubād), Dārāb-nāmeh (histoire de Darius et Alexandre). (H. Massé) Bibliography Firdousi, Livre des rois (éd.- trad. J. Mohl, I, préf. …

, Fak̲h̲r al-dīn Asʿad, auteur du premier roman courtois connu en langue persane: Wīs u-Rāmīn. Selon Z. Safa (II, 361), il a fait preuve de maîtrise en inaugurant un genre littéraire représenté par une série d’ouvrages dont plusieurs sont remarquables. Ce qu’on sait de sa vie se réduit au peu qu’il en a fait connaître au cours de son poème. Les notices rédigées par ses biographes sont négligeables, mais s’accordent à lui reconnaître la paternité de son poème (à l’exception de Dawlat S̲h̲āh qui l’attribue par …