Table of Contents

  • ḴĀQĀNI ŠERVĀNI ii. Works

    Anna Livia Beelaert

    a major Persian poet and prose writer (b. Šervān, ca. 521/1127; d. Tabriz, between 582/1186-87 and 595/1199). Ḵāqāni’s fame rests on his qaṣidas, of which, in Żiāʾ-al-Din Sajjādi’s edition, there are one hundred and thirty-two.

  • KĀR KIĀ

    Yukako Goto

    or Kiā, a Zaydi family from the eastern flank (Bia-piš) of Gilān, as well as the local dynasty founded by this family that dominated East Gilān and Deylamestān from the 770s/1370s to 1000/1592.

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  • KĀR-NĀMA-YE BALḴ

    J. T . P. de Bruijn

    a short maṯnavi by Sanāʾi of Ghazna (d. 1131), containing panegyric as well as satirical verses addressed to, or describing, people from various layers of Ghaznavid society.

  • KĀR-NĀMAG Ī ARDAŠĪR Ī PĀBAGĀN

    C. G. CERETI

    short prose work written in Middle Persian. It narrates the Sasanian king Ardašīr I’s life story—his rise to the throne, battle against the Parthian king Ardawān, and conquest of the empire. 

  • KARABALGASUN

    Toshio Hayashi, Y. Yoshida

    or Khar Balgas “Black ruined city” in Mongolian. This entry consists of two sections: i. The site  ii. The inscription.

  • KARABALGASUN i. The Site

    Toshio Hayashi

    archeological site of a capital of the Uighur Khaghanate (second half of the 8th century to first half of the 9th century). Karabalgasun is located in the Orkhon valley, 320 km west of Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), 30 km north of Karakorum.

  • KARABALGASUN ii. The Inscription

    Y. Yoshida

    The trilingual inscription at Karabalgasun, in Old Turkic, Sogdian, and Chinese, of the eighth Uighur qaghan in Mongolia commemorates the qaghan’s (Old Turkic ḵaḡan, qaḡan) own military achievements and those of his predecessors.

  • KARAFTO CAVES

    Hubertus von Gall

    an ensemble of artificially cut rock chambers dated to the 4th or 3rd century BCE, in Kordestān Province, 20 km west of Takab. The site is of considerable importance because of its Greek inscription, one of the very few examples preserved in situ in Persia.

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  • KARĀʾI

    P. Oberling

    a Turkic-speaking tribe of Azerbaijan, Khorasan, Kermān and Fārs.

  • KARAJ

    Multiple Authors

    a town in Tehran province, located 36 km west of the city of Tehran on the western bank of the Karaj River (lat 35° 46ʹ N, long 50° 49ʹ E; elev., 1,360 m).

  • KARAJ i. Modern City

    Bernard Hourcade

    The area of Karaj has been inhabited since the Bronze Age at Tepe Khurvin, and the Iron Age at Kalāk on the left bank of the Karaj River.

  • KARAJ ii. Population

    Habibollah Zanjani

    Since the 1976 census, when Tehran was no longer counted within the boundaries of Central (Markazi) province and formed its own province, Karaj has been one of its sub-provinces. 

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  • KARAJ DAM

    Cross-reference

    See AMIR KABIR DAM (forthcoming online).

  • KARAJ RIVER

    Bernard Hourade

    the second major permanent river of the central Iranian plateau after the Zāyandarud river.

  • KARAKI

    Rula Jurdi Abisaab

    Nur-al-Din Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAli b. Ḥosayn b. ʿAbd-al-ʿĀli, known as Moḥaqqeq al-Ṯāni or Moḥaqqeq ʿAli (1464-1533), a major Imamite jurist.

  • KARĀMA

    Erik S. Ohlander

    “(saintly) marvel, wonder, or miracle” in Arabic (pl. karāmāt).

  • KARAPAN

    William Malandra

    (or Karpan), designation of members of a class of daivic priests opposed to the religion of Zarathustra.

  • ḴᵛĀRAZMŠĀH

    Cross-Reference

    title assumed by various rulers of Ḵᵛārazm (Chorasmia). See CHORASMIA ii. In Islamic times and ĀL-E AFRĪḠ.

  • KARBALA

    Meir Litvak

    a city in Iraq, situated about 90 km southwest of Baghdad. It is one of the four Shiʿite shrine cities (with Najaf, Kāẓemayn, and Sāmarrāʾ) in Iraq known in Shʿite Islam as ʿatabāt-e ʿaliāt or ʿatabāt-e moqaddasa.

  • KÁRDAKES

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    the name of a Persian military unit mentioned several times by Greek and Roman authors, nearly always in relation to the Achaemenid period (cf. Huyse, p. 199, n. 6).