Table of Contents

  • BALUCHISTAN i. Geography, History and Ethnography

    Brian Spooner

    Baluchistan is generally understood by the Baluch and their neighbors to comprise an area of over half a million square kilometers in the southeastern part of the Iranian plateau, south of the central deserts and the Helmand river.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BALUCHISTAN i. Geography, History and Ethnography (cont.)

    Brian Spooner

    appears to have been divided throughout history between Iranian (highland) and Indian (lowland) spheres of influence, and since 1870 it has been formally divided among Afghanistan, Iran, and India (later Pakistan). Parts 8-11.

  • BALUCHISTAN ii. Archeology

    J. G. Shaffer

    may have been inhabited first during the Pleistocene as proposed by Hume (1976), based on Paleolithic sites found in the Ladiz valley.

  • BALUCHISTAN iii. Baluchi Language and Literature

    J. Elfenbein

    Baluchi is the principal language of an area extending from the Marv (Mary) oasis in Soviet Turkmenistan southward to the Persian Gulf, from Persian Sīstān eastward along the Helmand valley in Afghanistan, throughout Pakistani Makrān eastward nearly to the Indus river, including in the south the city of Karachi.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BALUCHISTAN iiia. Baluchi Poetry

    Joseph Elfenbein

    divided into 4 periods: (1) classical, from ca. 1550-1700; (2) post-classical, from 1700-1800; (3) 19th century to early 20th century; (4) modern, after ca. 1930.

  • BALUCHISTAN iv. Music of Baluchistan

    M. T. Massoudieh

    usually connected with particular ceremonies (marāsem), religious rites, festivals, or holidays. The relationships between melodies and particular ceremonies are reflected in their names.

  • BALUCHISTAN v. Baluch Carpets

    S. Azadi

    a distinct group of carpets, woven by Baluch tribes in the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan and the Sīstān area. These were not made in Makrān, where the main body of the Baluch tribes live.

  • BALŪHAR O BŪDĀSAF

    cross-reference

    See BARLAAM AND IOSAPH.

  • BALŪṬ

    H. Aʿlam

    common designation in New Persian both for acorn and oak, Quercus L. In west and southwest Iran, where well-defined stands of oak exist, their total surface area has been estimated at 3,448,000 hectares, divided into two main areas: west Kurdistan and the Sardašt region, and on the southwestern slopes of the Zagros.

  • BALYĀNI, AMIN-AL-DIN

    Denise Aigle

    (d. 1345), a famous Sufi who lived at the time of the Inju dynasty in Fars. The principle source for his life is Meftāḥ al-hedāyat va meṣbāḥ al-ʿenāyat, written in 1346 by his disciple Maḥmud b. ʿOṯmān.

  • BALYSA-

    H. W. Bailey

    (Khotan Saka), bārza- (Tumšuq Saka), a word adapted to Buddhist use for the transcendental Buddha, translating Buddhist Sanskrit buddha- and also several epithets of the Buddha.

  • BĀLYŪZĪ, ḤASAN MOWAQQAR

    M. Momen

    (1908-1980), Bahai author and administrator.

  • BAM (1)

    W. Eilers

    (also written bām) “bass,” the lowest-pitched string in music. The etymology is discussed.

  • BAM (2)

    X. De Planhol, M.-E Bāstānī Pārīzī

    (in Arabic, Bamm), a town in southeastern Iran, located on the southwestern rim of the Dašt-e Lūt basin at an altitude of 1,100 m. i. History and modern town. ii. Ruins of the old town.

  • BAM EARTHQUAKE

    Manuel Berberian

    OF DECEMBER 26, 2003  A moderate-magnitude (Mw 6.6) earthquake struck the city of Bam and its surroundings at 05:26 AM local time (01:56 GMT) on Friday, 5 Dey 1382 Š./26 December 2003, resulting in the highest casualty rate and the most profound social impact in the recorded post-1900 history of devastating urban earthquakes in Iran.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BĀMBIŠN

    cross-reference

    See BĀNBIŠN.

  • BĀMDĀD

    N. Parvīn

    a weekly Persian newspaper published in Tehran, 1907.

  • BĀMDĀD, MAHDĪ

    ʿA.-A. Saʿīdī Sīrjānī

    (d. 1973), civil servant, author of the multi-volume dictionary of national biography of Iran.

  • BĀMDĀD-E ḴOMĀR

    Ali Ferdowsi

    The book’s title is taken from a famous line by Saʿdi: Šab-e šarāb nayarzad be bāmdād-e ḵomār (The night of inebriation is not worth the morning of hangover). Encased by a frame story within which the main story is narrated, Bāmdād-e ḵomār, a love story with a moral lesson, is set in Tehran in the 20th century.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • BĀMDĀD-E ROWŠAN

    N. Parvīn

    a Persian journal of news and political comment published in Tehran, 1915-24.