Table of Contents

  • KĀŠḠARI, SAʿD-AL-DIN

    Hamid Algar

    (d. 1456), propagator of the Naqšbandi order in Timurid Herat, noteworthy primarily as the initiator ofʿAbd-al-Ramān Jāmi into the path.

  • KASHAN

    Multiple Authors

    historical city and a sub-province of the province of Isfahan on the north-south axial route of central Iran.

  • KASHAN i. GEOGRAPHY

    Habibollah Zanjani and EIr.

    Kashan is poor in flora and fauna. The most typical plants are bushes and shrubs spreading over the steppes, but the landscape becomes richer with increased elevation; Characteristic trees are pine, cypress, black poplar, elm, and ash.

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  • KASHAN ii. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

    Xavier de Planhol

    To the northeast of the well-watered mountain ranges of western and southern Iran, a line of bountiful oases which have given rise to important urban areas stretches along the piedmont bordering the desert basins of central and southeastern Iran.

  • KASHAN iii. History to the Pahlavi Period

    Mehrdad Amanat

    of the city to the Pahlavi period.

  • KASHAN iv. POPULATION

    Habibollah Zanjani

    In line with the general trends in Iran’s demography, the urban population in Kashan has continued to increase, while the rural population has steadily decreased. Such trends have been more significantly felt in Kashan Sub-province than the rest of the country.

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  • KASHAN v. ARCHITECTURE (1) URBAN DESIGN

    Mohammad- Reza Haeri and EIr.

    The city of Kashan, similar to other older Iranian cities, preserved its traditional architectural features and urban design into the early 20th century.

  • KASHAN v. ARCHITECTURE (2) HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

    Mohammad- Reza Haeri and EIr.

    The Zayn-al-Din Minaret is a rare Kashan landmark surviving from the Saljuqid period. Its height, which is recorded at one time to have reached 47 meters, is now only about 22 meters.

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  • KASHAN v. ARCHITECTURE (3) TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE

    Mohammad- Reza Haeri and EIr.

    In line with the trend towards modernization in Iran’s recent history, most residential houses built by the middle classes in Kashan since 1950 comprise all or some of the following units: entrance, courtyard, living room, reception room, kitchen, lavatory, bath, bedroom, storage, staircase, and hall.

  • KASHAN v. ARCHITECTURE (4) HISTORIC MANSIONS

    EIr.

    The design and major components of the historic mansions follow the general pattern of traditional architecture, but with larger spaces and more detailed architectural craftsmanship and luxurious elements.

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  • KASHAN vi. THE ESBANDI FESTIVAL

    Habib Borjian

    An elaborate festival held in the Kashan region on the eve of the month Esfand.

  • KASHAN vii. KASHAN WARE

    Margaret S. Graves

    Kashan, with its high-quality ceramic production in the medieval period, appears to have been a major site for the manufacture of fine wares between the 1170s and 1220s as well as later 13th and early 14th centuries.

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  • KASHAN viii. RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES (1) JEWISH COMMUNITY

    Mehrdad Amanat

    Kashan was home to an important Jewish community and cultural center starting at least in the Safavid period.

  • KASHAN viii. RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES (2) BAHAI COMMUNITY

    Mehrdad Amanat

    Like many Bahai communities in Iran, Kashan Bahais can trace their roots to the early years of the Babi movement.

  • KASHAN ix. THE MEDIAN DIALECTS OF KASHAN

    Habib Borjian

    In the past few decades, rural Kashan has rapidly been shifting to Persian; most villages have already been partly or entirely persianized, and practically all Rāji speakers are bilingual.

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  • KASHAN ix. THE MEDIAN DIALECTS OF KASHAN (2) URBAN JEWISH DIALECT

    Habib Borjian

    Kashan may be characterized as exclusively Persian speaking and Muslim from the time when the city was abandoned by its Jewry, who spoke a variety of Central dialects.

  • KASHGAR

    Pavel Lurje

    (Kāšḡar), town in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, in the westernmost extremity of the Tarim Basin.

  • KASHMIR

    Multiple Authors

    This entry is divided into five articles: i. Introduction. ii. Persian language in Kashmir. iii. Persian language in the state administration. iv. Persian elements in Kashmiri. v. Persian influence on Kashmiri art.

  • KASHMIR i. INTRODUCTION

    Siegfried Weber

    Iranian influence in and beyond the region of Kashmir is a long-term phenomenon. Inscriptions in Sogdian, Parthian, and Middle Persian demonstrate pre-Islamic contacts there with Iranian-speakers.

  • KASHMIR ii. PERSIAN LANGUAGE IN KASHMIR

    Siegfried Weber

    Persian was the basis of administrations all over western Asia and the highly prestigious language at the courts. Hence, Persian learning radiated into Kashmir and found a fertile soil after the initial impulse.

  • KASHMIR iii. PERSIAN LANGUAGE IN THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

    Siegfried Weber

    Officially Persian became the court language in Kashmir during the 14th and 15th centuries.

  • KASHMIR iv. Persian Elements in Kashmiri

    Omkar N. Koul

    Kashmir may have had cultural and trade relations with Persia from ancient times, but the influence of Persian language and culture did not dominate until the introduction of Islam during the 14th century.

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  • KASHMIR v. PERSIAN INFLUENCE ON KASHMIRI ART

    Mehrdad Shokoohy

    The Iranian influence on the art and architecture of Kashmir is indirect, appearing in ancient times via Hellenistic and Kushan culture and later through Muslim India. 

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  • KASHTARITI

    M. Dandamayev

    (kaš-ta-ri-ti, Old Iranian Khshathrita), a city lord of Karkashshi in the Central Zagros mountains. during the reign of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680–669 BCE).

  • KĀŠI

    Cross-Reference

    and Kāšisāzi. See CERAMICS xiv. THE ISLAMIC PERIOD, 11TH-15TH CENTURIES.

  • KĀŠI, ḠIĀṮ-AL-DIN

    George Saliba

    ḠIĀṮ-AL-DIN JAMŠID B. MASʿUD B. MOḤAMMAD (ca. 1386-1429), mathematician, astronomer, and scientific instrument-maker of the highest rank.

  • KĀŠI, MUSĀ KHAN

    Houman Sarshar

    Jewish master of Persian classical music, teacher, and innovative kamānča player also known for his mellow singing voice.

  • ḴAṢIBI

    Yaron Friedman

    (d. 969), founder of Noṣayrism. The mystical Shiʿite sect whose present-day followers in Syria and southern Turkey call themselves ʿAlawis.

  • KAŠK

    Francoise Aubaile-Sallenave

    (Ar. kešk, Turk. keşk), Persian term used primarily for a popular processed dairy food but also applied to various grain products, both in Iran and widely in the Middle East.

  • KAŠKUL

    Pending

    an oval-shaped bowl carried by dervishes. Forthcoming online.

  • KAŠKUL-E ŠAYḴ BAHĀʾI

    Devin J. Stewart

    the title of a large literary anthology compiled by Shaikh Bahāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad ʿĀmeli, commonly known as Shaikh Bahāʾi, the gifted polymath and leading jurist of the Safavid empire during most of the reign of Shah ʿAbbās I (r. 1587-1629).

  • KAŠKULI BOZORG

    Pierre Oberling

    one of the five major tribes of the Qashqāʾi (Qašqāʾi) tribal confederacy of Fārs province.

  • KASMĀʾI, MIRZĀ ḤOSAYN

    Pezhmann Dailami

    (1862-1921), a constitutionalist active in the revolutionary movement in Gilan (1915-20), led by Mirzā Kuček Khan Jangali.

  • KAŠMIRI, BADR-AL-DIN

    Devin Deweese

    a prolific writer active in Central Asia during the second half of the 16th century; he was closely linked with the eminent Juybāri shaikhs of Boḵārā.

  • KASRA’I, HOSAYN SIAVASH

    Hušang Ettehād

    (1939-2003), a prolific, creative artist who produced many original works and never fell under the influence of other painters.

  • KASRA’I, Siavash

    Kāmyār ʿĀbedi

    While still in high school, Kasra’i made friends with such political figures as Moḥsen Pezeškpur and Dāriuš Foruhar, and was influenced by their nationalistic sentiments. As a college student, however, he became enthralled by the ideals of a just and classless society based on Marxist doctrines, and became a loyal member of the Tudeh Party.

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  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD

    Multiple Authors

    influential social thinker, prominent historian, a pioneer of Iran’s linguistic studies, well-known social and religious reformer with a sense of prophetic mission, and prolific author.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD i. LIFE AND WORK

    Ali Reżā Manafzadeh

    born in Ḥokmāvār, a poor rural quarter in the suburbs of Tabriz, to Ḥāji Mir Qāsem, a small merchant in a family of religious functionaries.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD ii. ASSASSINATION

    Moḥammad Amini

    The surge in activities of Islamic groups and the intensification of the rhetoric of mullahs at mosques coincided with the escalation and sharpening of Kasravi’s criticism of the foundation of Shiʿite concepts and values.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD iii. AS HISTORIAN

    Alireza Manafzadeh

    At the time when Kasravi began to write history, most historical research in Iran was carried out within the framework of political historiography with a nationalist purpose.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD iv. AS LINGUIST

    Pending

    Pending online.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD v. AS SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS REFORMER

    Mohammad Amini

    Kasravi founded the “Society of Free Men” (Bāhamād-e āzādegān), announced his call for pākdini (pure faith)—born out of his sense of prophetic mission—and became the most outspoken intellectual against religious superstition and illusion. 

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD vi. ON MYSTICISM AND PERSIAN SUFI POETRY

    Lloyd Ridgeon

    By the turn of the 20th century the Sufi tradition in Iran no longer enjoyed the popularity and following that it attracted in previous centuries.

  • KASRAVI, AḤMAD vii. A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

    EIr. and M. Amini

    Aḥmad Kasravi was a prolific writer. From the age of 25, when he began to write in Tabriz in 1915, until his assassination 30 years later in 1946.

  • ḴĀṢṢ BEG

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    ARSLĀN B. PALANG-ERI, Turkish ḡolām who became the ḥājeb “chamberlain” and court favorite of the Great Saljuq Sultan Masʿud b. Moḥammad b. Malek Šāh (r. 1134-52).

  • ḴĀṢṢ O ʿĀM

    Cross-Reference

    See CLASS SYSTEM iv. MEDIEVAL PERIOD.

  • ḴĀṢṢA

    Willem Floor

    The so-called ḵāleṣa or public crown lands (confiscated or abandoned land) was part of the ḵāṣṣa holdings, and often the dividing line between the two was blurred. Both stood in contrast to amlāk-e divāni or mamālek, which referred to state lands. During the 18th century the term ḵāṣṣa, as well as divāni and mamālek, fell into disuse.

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  • KAŠŠI, ABU ʿAMR MOḤAMMAD

    Liyakat Takim

    an Imami traditionist and an important figure in Shiʿite biographical literature (rejāl).

  • KASSITES

    Ran Zadok

    a people who probably originated in the Zagros and who ruled Babylonia in the 16th-12th centuries BCE.

  • KAŠVĀD

    Mahmoud Omidsalar

    the name of the ancestor of the Gōdarziān clan of heroes in the Šāh-nāma.

  • KĀṮ

    Habib Borjian

    the old capital of Chorasmia, situated by the Oxus/Āmu Daryā river. Kāṯ owes both its glory and demise to the Oxus, an unending source of sustenance as well as destruction in human history.

  • KATA

    Etrat Elahi and EIr

    a simple, everyday rice dish characteristic for the Caspian provinces, Gilan and Mazanderan.

  • KATĀYUN

    Mahnaz Moazami

    a mythological figure in the Šāh-nāma and in the Bundahišn. In the Šāh-nāma, Katāyun is the daughter of the emperor of Rum who marries Goštāsp while he is in exile.

  • KĀTEB

    Cross-Reference

    "secretary, scribe." See DABIR.

  • ḴAṬIB

    Cross-Reference

    See ḴOṬBA, EMĀM-E JOMʿA.

  • ḴAṬIB ROSTAM DEDE

    Osman G. Özgüdenli

    Ottoman Sufi, writer, and poet, author of the Wasila al-maqāṣed elā aḥsan al-marāṣed, a Persian-Turkish dictionary.

  • KATIBA

    Cross-Reference

    "inscription." See CALLIGRAPHY.

  • KAṮĪR DYNASTY

    Cross-Reference

    See ĀL-E KAṮĪR.

  • KATIRĀ

    Amir Kiumarsi and Bahram Grami

    (gum tragacanth), a plant exudate widely used as a natural emulsifier and thickener by the food, drug, and other industries. It is also called ṣamḡ-e qannād.

  • ḴATM AL-ḠARĀʾEB

    Anna Livia Beelaert

    the only maṯnawi written by the poet Ḵāqāni Šervāni; its final version dates from 552/1157. 

  • ḴAṬMI

    Ahmad Aryavand and Bahram Grami

    (or ḵeṭmi), “marshmallow,” Althaea officinalis L. of the family Malvaceae (the mallow family), an important pharmaceutical plant.

  • ḴATNA

    Cross-reference

    See CIRCUMCISION.

  • KATPATUKA

    Cross-reference

    See CAPPADOCIA.

  • ḴAṬṬ-E FĀRSI

    Cross-reference

    See IRAN vi. IRANIAN LANGUAGES AND SCRIPTS. (3) WRITING SYSTEMS.

  • ḴAṬṬ-E MIḴI

    Cross-reference

    See CUNEIFORM SCRIPT.

  • ḴAṬṬĀBIYA

    Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

    an extremist Shiʿite sect named after Abu’l-Ḵaṭṭāb al-Asadi (killed ca. 755) who for some time was an authorized representative of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (d. ca. 765) in Kufa.

  • ḴATTĀʾI, ʿALI-AKBAR

    Cross-reference

    See ḴETTĀʾI, ʿALI-AKBAR (pending).

  • KATTĀN

    Cross-reference

    See LINEN (pending).

  • ḴAṬṬĀTI

    Cross-reference

    See CALLIGRAPHY.

  • ḴĀTUN

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds.

  • ḴĀTUNĀBĀDI, MIR ʿABD-AL-ḤOSAYN

    Kioumars Ghereghlou

    (1630-94), Persian historian and author of the chronicle Waqāyeʿ al-senin wa’l-aʿwām.

  • ḴĀTUNI, ABU ṬĀHER

    cross-reference

    See ABU ṬĀHER ḴĀTUNI.

  • KĀVA

    Mahmud Omidsalar

    the name of a heroic blacksmith in the Šāhnāma who rebels against the tyrant Żaḥḥāk and helps Ferēdun wrest the kingdom from him.

  • KĀVA NEWSPAPER

    Iraj Afšār

    In this period, Germany, with no apparent interests in Iran, was favored by nationalist Iranians, who believed that it was the one that could free Iran from the political and economic domination of Great Britain and Russia.  The name of the paper recalled Kāva, the legendary hero who rose against Żaḥḥāk, the bloodthirsty tyrant.

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  • ḴĀVARĀN-NĀMA

    Multiple Authors

    a Persian religious epic poem composed by Ebn Ḥosām Ḵᵛāfi or Ḵusfi.

  • ḴĀVARĀN-NĀMA i. The Epic Poem

    Julia Rubanovich

    (ḴĀVAR-NĀMA) a Persian religious epic poem composed by Ebn Ḥosām Ḵᵛāfi or Ḵusfi.

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  • ḴĀVARĀN-NĀMA ii. The Illustrated Manuscripts

    Raya Shani

    illustrated manuscripts of Ḵāvarān-nāma from Iran, Turkey, and India

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  • ḴĀVARI KĀŠĀNI

    Mehrdad Amanat

    preacher, poet, journalist, and constitutional activist. Ḵāvari learned the fundamentals of traditional learning from his preacher father, Sayyed Hāšem Wāʿeẓ.

  • KAVI

    cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • ḴĀVIĀR

    Cross-reference

    See CAVIAR.

  • KAVIR

    Cross-Reference

    Persian word meaning "desert." See DESERT.

  • KĀVUS

    Cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • KAWĀD I

    Nikolaus Schindel

    Sasanian king, son of Pērōz I. This entry is divided into two sections:  i. Reign. ii. Coinage.

  • KAWĀD I i. Reign

    Nikolaus Schindel

    The reign of Kawād I, lasting with an interruption of some three years from 488 to 531, is a turning point in Sasanian history.

  • KAWĀD I ii. Coinage

    Nikolaus Schindel

    Since the reign of Jāmāsp interrupts the two regnal periods of Kawād I, and because of marked differences between the two, they should be treated separately. Kawād employs only one obverse and one reverse type during his first reign. The obverse shows the king’s bust to the right wearing a crown consisting of a crescent and two mural elements. 

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  • KAWĀD II

    Cross-Reference

    Sasanian king (r. 628), son of  ḴOSROW II.   See ŠIRUYA (entry pending).

  • ḴAWARNAQ

    Renate Würsch

    a medieval castle built in the vicinity of the ancient city of al-Ḥira by Lamid rulers of Iraq to whose name frequent references has been made in pre-modern Persian literary works.

  • KAY

    Cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • KAY KĀVUS

    Cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • KAY ḴOSROW

    Cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • KAY-ḴOSROW KHAN

    Hirotake Maeda

    (1674-1711), Georgian royal prince of the Kartlian branch, also known as Ḵosrow Khan.

  • KAY QOBĀD

    Cross-reference

    See KAYĀNIĀN.

  • ḴAYĀL, Mir Moḥammad-Taqi

    Mohammad Sohayb Arshad

    (d. 1759), Indian author of a collection of historical and fictitious stories composed in Persian in fifteen volumes over fourteen years and titled Bustān-e ḵayāl.

  • KAYĀNIĀN

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    (Kayanids), in the early Persian epic tradition a dynasty that ruled Iran before the Achaemenids, all of whom bore names prefixed by Kay from Avestan kauui.

  • KAYĀNIĀN i. Kavi: Avestan kauui, Pahlavi kay

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    Kavi is the Indo-Iranian term for “(visionary) poet.”  The term may be older than Indo-Iranian, if Lydian kaveś and the Samothracean title cited by Hesychius as koíēs or kóēs are related.

  • KAYĀNIĀN ii. The Kayanids as a Group

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    References to the kauuis in the Avesta are found in the yašts in the lists of heroes who sacrificed to various deities for certain rewards.

  • KAYĀNIĀN iii. Kauui Kauuāta, Kay Kawād, Kay Kobād (Qobād)

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    Kauui Kauuāta has no epithets in the Avesta to describe him, and the descriptions in the Pahlavi sources are mostly vague. His seed is from the xwarrah; he was the first to establish kingship in Iran; he was godfearing and a good ruler. According to a notice in the Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr, he may have married Wan, daughter of Gulaxš.

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  • KAYĀNIĀN iv. “Minor” Kayanids

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The Avesta contains no information on Aipi.vahu, Aršan, Pisinah, and Biiaršan, but, according to the Pahlavi tradition, Abīweh was the son of Kawād and the father of Arš, Biyarš (spelled <byʾlš>), Pisīn, and Kāyus.

  • KAYĀNIĀN v. Kauui Usan, Kay-Us, Kay Kāvus

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The story of Kay Us’s madness is found in two versions. According to the Bundahišn, his mind was disturbed so that he tried to go up and do battle with the sky, but he fell down and the xwarrah was stolen from him; he devastated the world with his army, until they caught and bound him by deception in the land of Šambarān.

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  • KAYĀNIĀN vi. Siiāuuaršan, Siyāwaxš, Siāvaš

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    Siiāuuaršan, “the one with black stallions,” is listed in the Avesta in Yašt 13.132 as a kauui and the third with a name containing aršan “male.”