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(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…

, 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 …

(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 …

, 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…

, 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…

(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…

, 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)…

, [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…

, 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 …

(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…

, Thoma, an Armenian historian, who lived in the second half of the ninth century and beginning of the tenth. He says he was acquainted with the assassin of Yūsuf b. Abī Saʿīd, who was killed in 851 (p. 105) and the authentic part of his work comes down at least to 906 (p. 210—211) and perhaps even to before 943 (p. 236, 245). Of his private life we know only that he was a monk ( vardapet) and that he travelled in Transcaucasia (p. 236). By birth he must have been connected with the Artsruni noble family who were feudatories of Waspurakan, i. e. of the lands lying east o…

, a Zoroastrian dynasty whom the Arabs found in the region of Dunbāwand (Damāwand) to the north of Raiy. The origins of the Maṣmug̲h̲āns. The dynasty seems to have been an old though not particularly celebrated one as is shown by the legends recorded by Ibn al-Faḳīh, p. 275—277, and in al-Bīrūnī, p. 227. The title of maṣmug̲h̲ān is said to have been conferred by Farīdūn upon Armāʾīl, Bēwarāsp’s former cook (Zohāk), who had been able to save half the young men destined to perish as food for the tyrant’s serpents. A…

, or Abīward [q. v.], a town and district on the northern slopes of the mountains of Ḵh̲orāsān in an area now belonging to the autonomous Turkoman republic which forms part of the U. S. S. R. The whole oasis region including Nasā [q.v.], Bāward etc. (known by the Turkish name of Ätäk “foothills”) ¶ played a great part in ancient times as the first line of defence of Ḵh̲orāsān against the nomads. In the Arsacid period this region was in the ancestral country of the dynasty. Isidore of Charax, § 13 (at the beginning of the Christian era) mentions between Παρθυηνή (with…

, a dynasty of Atābegs which ruled in Northern and Western Luristān between 580 (1184) and 1006 (1597) with Ḵh̲urramābād as their capital. The Atābegs were descended from the Lur tribe of Ḏj̲angrūʾī (Ḏj̲angardī?). The dynasty is also known by the name of Ḵh̲urshīdī from the name of the first Atābeg. (It remains to be seen if this name is connected with that of Muḥammad Ḵh̲urs̲h̲īd, vizier of the former rulers ¶ of Luristān before the rise of the Atābegs of Lur-i Buzurg). After 730 the power passed to another line which later claimed to be of ʿAlid descent; at this time also the title malik succeede…

(or Ṭawārān?), the old name of a district in Balūčistān. According to Ṭabarī, i. 820, the kings of Ṭūrān and of Makurān (Mukrān) submitted to the Sāsānian Ardas̲h̲īr (224—241). The Paikulī inscription only mentions the Makurān-s̲h̲āh. Herzfeld, Paikuli, p. 38, thinks that these princes at first owned the suzerainty of the Sakas and their submission to Ardas̲h̲īr was the result of the conquest of Sakastān (=Sīstān) by this monarch. Balād̲h̲urī does not mention al-Ṭūrān. According to one of his sources, Ḥad̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ [q. v.] appointed Saʿīd b. Aslam to Mukrān and…

(and Ṭassūd̲j̲), 1. Arabicised forms of the Persian word tasū (Phi. *tasūk, cf. Phi. tasum “fourth” <.*čaθruma; cf. Salemann, Manich. Studien, i. 128; Tedesco, Dialectologie der west-iranischen Turfantexte, p. 209) which means the 24th part of certains measures (Vullers, i. 445). According to the Farhang-i S̲h̲uʿūri, two d̲j̲aw = a ḥabba; two ḥabba = a tasūd̲j̲; four tasūd̲j̲ = a dāng; six dāng = a dīnār. In the Dīwān of Ḳāsim al-Anwār (Bib. Nat. de Paris, Sup. Pers. 717, fol. 174) is a verse giving to tasu some mystic sense. The word is found in Arménien thasu and in Aramaic ṭyswga; cf. Hübsc…

1. A town in Gīlan to the east of the Safīd-Rūd and north of the mountain Dulfāk (cf. the ancient name of a people Δέρβικαι) on the river Čom-k̲h̲ala (Purdesar) which 8 miles higher up flows through Langarūd, the present capital of the district of Rān-i Kūh. Lāhīd̲j̲ān although unknown to the early Arab geographers is certainly one of the oldest towns in Gīlān. Its foundation is attributed to the legendary Lāhīd̲j̲ b. Sām b. Nūḥ. The river Safīd-Rūd divides Gīlān into two parts. In ancient times the river formed the frontier between the Amar…

(Mūg̲h̲ān). In the important passage in Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, ii. 5 (omitted in Marquart, Ērānšahr, p. 119), it is distinctly stated that al-Mūḳāniya conquered by the lord of S̲h̲irwān [q. v.] was situated near Ḳabala [cf. s̲h̲ekkī], i. e. to the north of the Kur, and was different from al-Mūḳāniya on the shore of the Caspian Sea (cf. the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, with notes by Minorsky, in G.M.S., 1937, p. 407). In the Georgian Chronicle (Brosset, Hist. de la Georgie, i. 18) we read that Mowakan son of Thargamos received from his father “the north ( sic) of Mtkwar (= Kur) from the junction with the …

, a district in the province of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān in Persia, to the north-west of the Lake of Urmiyah and having an area of 25 miles (N. to S.) by 40 (E. to W.). To the south the chain ¶ of the Awg̲h̲ān (Afg̲h̲ān)-dag̲h̲ with its pass Wer gewīz (6,150 feet high) separates Salmis from the district of Urmiyah (Urūmī); the eastern portion of the Awg̲h̲ān-dag̲h̲ forms the lofty promontory of Ḳara-bāg̲h̲ [q.v.] which runs out into the Lake; at the end of it is the fortress of Güwerčin-Ḳalʿa. In the west the Harāwīl range (in Turkish Araʾu…

, capital of the Persian province of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān [q. v.]. Geographical position. The town lies in the eastern corner of the alluvial plain (measuring about 30 × 20 miles) sloping slightly towards the north-east bank of Lake Urmiya. The plain is watered by several streams, the chief of which is the Ad̲j̲i̊-čai (“bitter river”) which, rising in the south-west face of Mount Sawalān runs along the Ḳarad̲j̲a-dag̲h̲ which forms a barrier on the south and entering the plain runs around on the northwest suburbs of the town. The left bank tributary ¶ of the Ad̲j̲i̊-čai, Mihrān-rūd (now th…

, 1. a dynasty in Kirmān [q. v.] in the viith (xiiith) century, descended from the heathen Ḳara-Ḵh̲itai people [q. v.]. The dynasty, successively vassals of the Ḵh̲wārizms̲h̲āh, the Great Mongol Ḵh̲āns and the dynasty of Hūlāgū Ḵh̲ān (Īlk̲h̲āns), lasted from 619 (620?) to 706 and never had more than local importance. It entertained close relations with the neighbouring dynasties of the Atābegs of’Yazd, the Salg̲h̲urids of Fārs and the Muẓaffarids [q. v.] and came into occasional contact with the Caliph and with India. The…

(Nak̲h̲ičewān), a t own to the north of the Araxes. The town Ναξουάνα is mentioned in Ptolemy, v., ch. 12. The Armenians explain the name of Nak̲h̲čawan (Nak̲h̲čuan) by a popular etymology as nak̲h̲-id̲j̲ewan “(Noah’s) first stopping-place” (although the name is apparently compounded with -awan “place”) and locate the town in the province of Waspurakan (cf. Yāḳūt, i. 122), or in that of Siunikh. According to Moses of Chorene, i. ch. 30, Nak̲h̲ičewan was in the area peopled by Median prisoners ( mar) in whom we should see the ancestors of the Kurds of this region (cf. Balād̲h̲urī, p. 200; nahr …

(S̲h̲ahrazūr, in the S̲h̲eref-nāme:. S̲h̲ahra-zūl), a district in Kurdistān. S̲h̲ehrizūr, strictly speaking, is a beautiful and fertile plain (36 × 25 miles) situated to the west of the chain of Awrāmān (cf. senne). To the south-east it adjoins the Persian district of Awrāmān-i luhūn. On the south the river Sīrwān is the boundary of the district; on the south-west S̲h̲ehrizūr extends as far as the pass of Darband-i Ḵh̲ān by which the Sīrwān (Diyāla) makes its way to the south. On the west S̲h̲ehrizūr is bounded by Arbet which …

(often Nisā), the name of several places in Persia: in Ḵh̲urāsān, Fārs, Kirmān and Hamad̲h̲ān; cf. Yāḳūt, iv. 778. (According to Bartholomae, nisāya means “settlement”). 1. Nasā in Ḵh̲urāsān was situated in the cultivated zone which lies north of the range separating Ḵh̲urāsān from the Turkoman steppes. It corresponds to the Νίσαια, Νίσαιον πεδίον of the classical authors, celebrated for its breed of horses (Herodotos, iii. 106; cf. Strabo, xi., ch. xiv., §7). Alexander the Great is said to have built an Alexandropolis …

(p.), “house of strength”, the Persian gymnasium. There are zūrk̲h̲āna in many Persian towns and often also in several quarters of a large town. From the architectural point of view these gymnasiums recall an eastern bath lit by a skylight in the centre of the little dome. The arena ( go u d) lies below the level of the floor. The superintendent and the spectators take their places in niches cut in the walls; sometimes there is a kind of gallery reserved for the public. Among the members of a zūrk̲h̲āna various degrees are distinguished: a nouče “novice”, nouk̲h̲āste “beginner”, pähläwān “athl…

(Mūg̲h̲ān), a steppe lying to the south of the lower course of the Araxes, one part of which (about 5,000 square kilometres) belongs to Russia (U. S. S. R.) and the other (50—70 × c. 50 kilometres) to Persia. The steppe which covers what was once the bottom of the sea has been formed by the alluvial deposits from the Kur (in Russian Koura) and its tributary the Araxes. (The latter has several times changed its course and one of its arms flows directly into the gulf of Ḳi̊zi̊l-Ag̲h̲ač). In the i…

, a little seaport on the Persian Gulf which lies between Lāristān [q. v.] and the desert. The old port was at Kung, 8 miles east of Linga; the Portuguese had a factory there where they ruled long after the loss of Hormūz (to 1711). In the reign of the Zand dynasty, 1,000 Ḏj̲awāsim Arabs (Banī Ḏj̲ās̲h̲im, Ḏj̲awās̲h̲im, Kowāsim) with their chief S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Ṣāliḥ came from Ras al-Ḵh̲aima (ʿOmān) and took Linga from the kalāntar of the district Ḏj̲ahāngīrī. In 1887 the Persian government took possession of Linga and deported to Ṭeherān the last hereditary s̲h̲aik̲h̲ (Ḳaḍ…

, a Kurdish district in Persia near the Turkish frontier. In Kurdish, sōmāi means “view” (cf. in Persian sūma, “terminus, finis, scopus”, Vullers, ii. 352). To the north Ṣōmāi is separated from the basin of the Zola-čai (S̲h̲epirān, Salmās, q. v.) by the mountains of Bere-dī, Und̲j̲ali̊ḳ and Ag̲h̲wān; on the east the canton of Anzal separates it from Lake Urmia; to the southeast lies the S̲h̲aik̲h̲-Bāzīd range, to the south the canton of Brādōst; to the S.W. the peak of Kotūl; towards the west the ravine of Bāneg…

(Banī Lām), an Arab tribe leading a nomadic life on the lower course of the Tigris (ʿAlī G̲h̲arbī, ʿAlī S̲h̲arḳī, ʿAmāra). According to the statistics of Ḵh̲urs̲h̲īd Efendi (middle of the xixth century) there were over 4,400 families of Banī Lām west of the Tigris (between ʿAmāra and S̲h̲aṭṭ al-Ḥaiy) and 5,070 east of the Tigris, along the Persian frontier from Mandalī to the region of marshes ( k̲h̲ōr) into which the Kark̲h̲a disappears. 17,450 families of the Banī Lām went over to Persian territory between 1788 and 1846 (the southern parts of the Pus̲h̲t-i Kūh…

, “land of the Kurds”. The name can be regarded from two points of view: historical and ethnographical. I. From the historical point of view the term Kurdistān seems to have been invented by the Sald̲j̲ūḳs as a name for the province including the lands between Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān and Luristān (Senna, Dainawar, Hamadān, Kirmāns̲h̲āh etc.) as well as certain a joining areas to the west of Zagros (S̲h̲ahrizūr, Ḵh̲uftiyān = Kōi-sand̲j̲aḳ?). The capital of the province of Kurdistān was at first Bahār (N. E. of Hamadān) a…

, a district in Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān. According to Balād̲h̲urī, p. 328, Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ, sent to conquer Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān, attacked the people of Mūḳān and Gīlān. A number of inhabitants of Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān and Armenians who had gathered in the nāhiya of Urm and at *Balwānkarad̲j̲ were defeated by one of Saʿīd’s captains. The leader of the rebels was hanged on the walls of the fortress of Bād̲j̲arwān ( Nuzhat al-Ḳulūb, G.M.S., p. 181: Bād̲j̲arwān was 20 farsak̲h̲s north of Ardabīl). Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 119, mentions the citadel of Urm between al-Bad̲h̲d̲h̲ (a town of Bābak…

, a town in northern Persia, capital of the province of Ḵh̲amsa which lies between Ḳazwīn, Hamad̲h̲ān, Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān and Gīlān. Geography. The town of Zand̲j̲ān is situated on the river Zangānarūd (the old name of which, according to the Nuzhat al-Ḳulūb, p. 221, was Mād̲j̲-rūd), which runs from east to west and joins the Safīd-rūd [q. v.] on its right bank. Zand̲j̲ān is an important station on the great road from Ād̲h̲arbāid̲j̲ān to Ḳazwīn and thence to Tiḥrān and Ḵh̲urāsān. Zand̲j̲ān is also at the junction of several other roads: to the north, that to Ardabīl [cf. tārom] and Gīlān (via…

(called in Nog̲h̲ai Turkish, Ḳuman, in Čerkes, Phs̲h̲iz), one of the four great rivers of the Caucasus (Rion, Kura, Terek and Ḳuban). It is about 450 miles long. It rises near Elburz at a height of 13,930 feet. Its three constituents (Ḵh̲urzuḳ, Ulu-Ḳam, Uč-Ḳulan) join together before reaching the defile through which the Ḳuban enters the plains (at a height of 1075 feet). The Ḳuban at first runs through the wooded outer spurs of the mountains and then, taking a westerly direction, flows through the pla…

, a little town and district in southern Ād̲h̲arbaid̲j̲ān, on the right bank of the Ḏj̲ag̲h̲ātū. In the south the boundary runs a little over the river Sāruḳ, a tributary on the right bank of the Ḏj̲ag̲h̲ātū. In the north it is bounded by the district of Ād̲j̲arī, in the east by the province of Ḵh̲amse. The name is derived from the Mongol sain = good. Population: The Turkish Afs̲h̲ar tribe, of which a part had to emigrate to Urmia to make room for the Čārdawrī (Čārdowlī) tribe of Lūr origin (the district of Čardawr on the Seimerre) whom Fatḥ ʿAlī S̲h̲āh brough…

, an Ortoḳid, son of Nad̲j̲m al-Dīn Īlg̲h̲āzī of the line of Mārdīn. Al-Malik al-ʿĀlim al-ʿĀdil Ḥisām al-Dīn Tīmūr-Tas̲h̲ was born in 498 (1104) and by the age of 12 (in 512) his father had left him in Aleppo as his temporary deputy. In 515, Tīmūr-Tas̲h̲ was sent to the Sald̲j̲ūḳ Sulṭān Maḥmūd and as a result of this mission Maiyāfāriḳīn [q.v.] was added to the territory of the Ortoḳids. After the death of Īlg̲h̲āzī, his lands were divided up. Tīmūr-Tas̲h̲ received Mārdīn, his brother Sulaimān, …

(Sulēmānī), a town and district in southern Kurdistān. A distinction must be made between the ḳaḍā of Sulaimānīya proper (the canton of Sar-činār) and the territory formerly ruled first by hereditary pās̲h̲ās and later by the Ottoman mutaṣṣarifs of Sulaimānīya. The historical region of Sulaimānīya lies between the Persian frontier, the Diyāla [q.v.], the lands that go with Kirkūk [q. v.] and the little Zāb and occupies the group of mountains from which flow rivers to the east (Sīrwān; cf. s̲h̲ahrizūr), the south (ʿAḍaim, q.v.) and the north and northwest (left bank tributar…

, a ruler of the Turkoman dynasty of the Aḳ-Ḳoyunlu (the founder of the dynasty was Bāyandur), prince of Diyār Bakr from 858, and then (872—882) sovereign of a powerful state comprising Armenia, Mesopotamia and Persia. The stature of Ḥasan Beg b. ʿAlī Beg b. Ḳara ʿOt̲h̲mān (= Ḳara Iläḳ?, reading uncertain), earned him the nickname of Uzun (= “the long”). The reign of Uzun Ḥasan is very important but not well known. Rivalries of the Turkoman tribes. The original fief of the chiefs of the house of Bāyandur and of their Turkoman tribe “of the White Sheep” (Aḳ-Ḳoyunlu) w…

(in Arabie Wak̲h̲k̲h̲ān), a district to the south of the Pāmīr [q. v.]. Wak̲h̲ān is a long and narrow valley which runs from east to west and is watered by the upper course of the Oxus (Pand̲j̲a) and by the river Wak̲h̲ān-daryā, which is the most southern source of the Oxus [cf. amū-daryā]. 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 whic…

, a town in Buk̲h̲āra, also called Nasaf by the Arab geographers (cf. the similar evolution of Nashāwa from Nak̲h̲čawan). The town lay in the valley of the Kas̲h̲ka-Daryā, cf. Ibn Ḥawḳal, p. 376: Kas̲h̲k-rūd̲h̲, which runs southwards parallel to the Zarafs̲h̲ān (river of Samarḳand) and runs towards the Amū-Daryā [q. v.] but before joining it disappears in the sands. Nak̲h̲s̲h̲ab lay on the road joining Buk̲h̲ārā to Balk̲h̲ 4 days’ journey from the former and eight from the latter (cf. Muḳaddasī, p. 344). In the time of Iṣṭak̲h̲rī (p. 325) the town consisted only of one quarter ( rabaḍ) and a …

, a district in Eastern Transcaucasia. In Armenian it is called S̲h̲akhē, in Georgian S̲h̲akha (and S̲h̲akik̲h̲?); the Arabs write S̲h̲akkai = S̲h̲akhē (Ibn Ḵh̲urdād̲h̲bih, p. 123, Iṣṭak̲h̲rī, p 183, Balād̲h̲urī, p. 206), S̲h̲akkī (Yāḳūt, iii. 311), S̲h̲akkan (Ibn al-Faḳīh, p. 293, Balād̲h̲urī, p. 194), S̲h̲akīn (Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, ii. 68). The usual boundaries of S̲h̲ekkī were: on the east, the Gök-čai which separates it from S̲h̲īrwān [q. v.] proper; on the west, the Alazan (Turk. Ḳani̊ḳ?) and its left tributary the Ḳas̲h̲ḳa-čai, which separa…