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.