Table of Contents

  • KUHPĀYA

    Multiple Authors

    piedmont district east of Isfahan province, historically known as Vir.

  • KUHPĀYA i. The District

    Habib Borjian

    Kuhpāya is a large piedmont boluk (3,000 km2) separated from Ardestān on the north and Nāʾin on the east respectively by the Fešārk and Kuhestān chains, extensions of the Karkas range.

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  • KUHPĀYA ii. The Dialect

    Habib Borjian

    The dialects spoken in the Kuhpāya district belong to the Central Dialects, but in a narrower sense they are grouped together with the welāyati “provincial” idioms around the city of Isfahan.

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  • KUKADARU, JAMSHEDJI SORAB

    Michael Stausberg and Ramiyar P. Karanjia

    (1831-1900), Parsi Zoroastrian priest. He was renowned for his spiritual powers, in particular with respect to healing and divination.

  • KULĀB

    Habib Borjian

    or Kōlāb, city and former province (the greater part of medieval Ḵottal[ān]) of Tajikistan.

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  • KULĀBI DIALECT

    Habib Borjian

    a distinct variant of Tajik spoken in Kulāb and adjoining districts.

  • KUNDA(G)

    Mahnaz Moazami

    a demon in Zoroastrian literature;  in the Avesta, Sraoša or Ātar is implored to cast it into hell; in Middle Persian books, it is the steed of the sorcerers.  

  • ḴUR

    Habib Borjian

    oasis on the southern border of the Great Desert in central Persia; the administrative center of the sub-province of Ḵur and Biābānak.

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  • KURDISH LANGUAGE i. HISTORY OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE

    Ludwig Paul

    from Old and Middle Iranian times, no predecessors of the Kurdish language are yet known; the extant Kurdish texts may be traced back to no earlier than the 16th century CE.

  • KURDISH LANGUAGE ii. HISTORY OF KURDISH STUDIES

    Joyce Blau

    The article provides a brief account of Kurdish studies, which is a relatively recent academic field. The earliest studies of the Kurdish language and civilization were carried out by missionaries.

  • KURDISH TRIBES

    Pierre Oberling

    Kurdish tribes are found throughout Persia, eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq, but very few comprehensive lists of them have been published.

  • KURDISH WRITTEN LITERATURE

    Philip G. Kreyenbroek

    Written, “elevated” poetry traditionally played a less prominent role in Kurdish society than folk poetry (q.v.) did. The number of written literary works in Kurdish is far smaller than in the surrounding cultures.

  • KURDOEV, QENĀTĒ

    Joyce Blau

    (1909-1985), Kurdish philologist and university professor.

  • KURGAN TEPE

    Habib Borjian

    (Qūrḡonteppa in Tajik orthography; Kurgan-Tyube in Russian), provincial capital and former province of Tajikistan.

  • KURUNI

    Pierre Oberling

    a Kurdish tribe of Kurdistan and Fārs. Most of the tribe was transplanted from Kurdistan to Fārs by Karim Khan Zand during the 1760s.

  • KUŠ-NĀMA

    Jalal Matini

    part of a mythical history of Iran written between 1108 and 1111, dealing with the eventful life of Kuš the Tusked.

  • KUSA

    Anna Krasnowolska

    a carnival character known to the medieval and modern folklore of central and western Persia.

  • KUSHAN DYNASTY

    Multiple Authors

    the line of rulers in Bactria, Central Asia and northern India from the first century CE.

  • KUSHAN DYNASTY i. Dynastic History

    A. D. H. Bivar

    During the first to mid-third centuries CE, the empire of the Kushans (Mid. Pers. Kušān-šahr) represented a major world power in Central Asia and northern India.

  • KUSHAN DYNASTY ii. Inscriptions of the Kushans

    N. Sims-Williams and H. Falk

    The inscriptions issued by the Kushan rulers or in areas under their rule include texts in Bactrian, written in Greek script, and in Prakrit written in Brāhmī or Kharoṣṭhī script. Naturally enough, the Bactrian inscriptions are mostly found in Bactria and the Indian inscriptions in the Kushan territories to the south and east of the Hindu Kush.