Table of Contents

• BAḴTĪĀR-NĀMA

  W. L. Hanaway, Jr.

  an example of early New Persian prose fiction in the form of a frame story and nine included tales, the earliest version of which seems to be from the late 12th-early 13th centuries.

• BAḴTĪĀRĪ (1)

  ʿA.-A. Saʿīdī Sīrjānī, J.-P. Digard, ʿA.-Ḥ. Navāʾī

  the nesba of a number of Baḵtīārī chiefs.

• BAḴTĪĀRĪ (2)

  cross-reference

  in music, a gūša. See HOMĀYŪN.

• BAḴTĪĀRĪ MOUNTAINS

  E. Ehlers

  central part of the Zagros mountain range, more or less identical to the settlement area of the Baḵtīārī nomads.

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• BAḴTĪĀRĪ TRIBE

  J.-P. Digard, G. L. Windfuhr, A. Ittig

  The Baḵtīārī tribe (īl) is one of the two biggest in Iran, the other being the Qašqāʾī. In the 1970s, the Baḵtīārīs numbered in all approximately 600,000, and about one third of them were nomadic.

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• BAḴTĪĀRĪS of AFGHANISTAN

  D. Balland

  two small Paṧtō-speaking groups in the eastern part of the Irano-Afghan area bearing the name Baḵtīārī or Baḵtīār.

• BAKTOḠDĪ

  cross-reference

  See BEKTOḠDĪ.

• BAKU

  S. Soucek, R. G. Suny

  (Pers. Bādkūba), capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan and one of the chief ports on the Caspian sea.

• BAKWĀ, DAŠT-E

  D. Balland

  an extensive piedmont alluvial plain in the southwest of Afghanistan, drained by one of the Sīstān rivers, the Ḵospāsrūd. In past times it enjoyed a measure of prosperity based on qanāt irrigation.

• BĀLĀBĀN

  Ch. Albright

  a cylindrical-bore, double-reed wind instrument about 35 cm long with seven finger holes and one thumb hole, played in eastern Azerbaijan in Iran and in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

• BALADĪYA

  N. Parvīn

  (Municipality), the name or part of the name of several newspapers and journals published in Iran and Afghanistan ca. 1907-39.

• BALĀḎORĪ

  C. E. Bosworth

  , ABU’L-ḤASAN or ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. YAḤYĀ B. JĀBER, leading Arab historian of the 9th century, whose Ketāb fotūḥ al-boldān, in particular, contains much original information on the Arab conquests of Iran.

• BALĀḠAT

  J. T. P. de Bruijn

  (Ar. balāḡa), one of the most general terms to denote eloquence in speech and writing. The branches of literary criticism which developed within Muslim civilization became known collectively as the science (ʿelm) or art (ṣenāʿa) of balāḡat.

• BALĀḠĪ, MOḤAMMAD-JAWĀD

  E. Kohlberg

  B. ḤASAN B. ṬĀLEB B. ʿABBĀS RABAʿĪ NAJAFĪ (d. 1933), Imami author, poet, and polemicist.

• BALʿAMĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD

  cross-reference

  B. MOḤAMMAD. See AMĪRAK BALʿAMĪ.

• BALʿAMĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL MOḤAMMAD

  C. E. Bosworth

  B. ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD BALʿAMĪ TAMĪMĪ, vizier to the Samanid amir Naṣr b. Aḥmad (r. 913-42), father of the vizier and historian Amirak Baḷʿamī.

• BĀLANG

  W. Eilers

  citron, the fruit of a species of citrus tree (Citrus medica cedrata). This article discusses the history of the word.

• BALĀŠ

  M. L. Chaumont, K. Schippmann

  the name of a number of kings and several dignitaries and notables during the Parthian and Sasanian periods. The Parthian form of the name, the oldest, is Walagaš. In Middle Persian it is Wardāxš, in Pahlavi Walāxš.

• BALĀSAGĀN

  M. L. Chaumont, C. E. Bosworth

   “country of the Balās,” designating a region located for the most part south of the lower course of the rivers Kor (Kura) and the Aras (Araxes), bordered on the south by Atropatene and on the east by the Caspian Sea.  i. In pre-Islamic times.  ii. In Islamic times.

• BALĀSĀḠŪN

  C. E. Bosworth

  a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

• BALĀSĀNĪ, MAJD-AL-MOLK ABU’L-FAŻL ASʿAD

  C. E. Bosworth

  B. MOḤAMMAD QOMĪ (d. 1099), mostawfī or financial intendant to the Saljuq sultan Berk-yaruq (Barkīāroq) b. Malekšāh and then vizier.

• BĀLĀSARĪ

  D. M. MacEoin

  term used by the Shaikhis to distinguish ordinary Shiʿites from members of their own sect. The history of conflicts between the Shaikhi and Shiʿite communities is reviewed.

• BĀLAVĪ

  cross-reference

  See BĀLAWĪ FAMILY.

• BALAWASTE

  G. Gropp

  a ruin site in the eastern part of the Khotan oasis, near the village of Domoko. Fragments of manuscripts, pottery, and plaster were found at this site by Sir Mark Aurel Stein on his first and second expeditions in 1900.

• BĀLAWĪ FAMILY

  R. W. Bulliet

  prominent scholars in Nīšāpūr in the 10th-11th centuries.

• BALDARČĪN

  cross-reference

  See BELDERČĪN.

• BĀLEḠ

  S. H. Amin

  Ar. “of full age, adult, mature,” in contrast to the term ṣaḡīr (minor): coming of age in Islamic law.

• BALḴ

  X. de Planhol, C. E. Bosworth, V. Fourniau, D. Balland, F. Grenet

  city and province in northern Afghanistan. i. Geography. ii. From the Arab conquest to the Mongols. iii. From the Mongols to modern times. iv. Modern town. v. Modern province. vi. Monuments.

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• BALḴĀB

  D. Balland

  (Bactros of the classical authors), the river of Balḵ. This perennial river is a major feature of the geography of northern Afghanistan.

• BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ ABD-ALLĀH

  H. Schützinger

  B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿALĪ (d. 907-08), a traditionist (moḥaddeṯ) and author.

• BALḴĪ, ABŪ ʿALĪ-MOḤAMMAD

  cross-reference

  B. AḤMAD. See ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ.

• BALḴI, ABU’L-MOʾAYYAD

  Cross-Reference

  See ABU’l-MOʾAYYAD BALḴI.

• BALḴĪ, ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿABD-ALLĀH AḤMAD

  cross-reference

  B. AḤMAD. See ABU’L-QĀSEM KAʿBĪ.

• BALUCHISTAN

  Multiple Authors

  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, and in the arid coastal lowlands between the Iranian plateau and the Gulf of Oman.

• BALUCHISTAN i. Geography, History and Ethnography

  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 1-7.

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• 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 (Balōčī), a member of the Western Iranian group of languages, bearing affinities to both main representatives of Western Middle Iranian: Middle Persian and Parthian; it differs from both of these languages in important respects.

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• BALUCHISTAN iiia. Balochi 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), usually 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.

• 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.

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• BĀMBIŠN

  cross-reference

  See BĀNBIŠN.

• BĀMDĀD

  N. Parvīn

  a weekly Persian newspaper published in Tehran, 1907.