Table of Contents

  • KHAYYAM, OMAR ix. Translations into Italian

    Mario Casari

    The reception of Khayyam’s poetic work in Italy, as in the rest of Europe, was the result of the translation and rewriting of the English poet Edward FitzGerald (d. 1883) in the years 1859-79.  In Italy the more scholarly approach to Khayyam’s work by a few dedicated Iranists proceeded at a fitful pace over many decades.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KHAYYAM, OMAR xiii. Musical Works Based On The Rubaiyat

    William H. Martin and Sandra Mason

    The enduring popularity of the verses in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is reflected in the large number of musical works they have inspired.

  • KHAYYAM, OMAR xiv. Impact On Literature And Society In The West

    Jos Biegstraaten

    The first scholar outside Persia to study Omar Khayyam was the English orientalist, Thomas Hyde (1636-1703).

  • KHAYYAM, OMAR xv. As Mathematician

    Bijan Vahabzadeh

    Three mathematical treatises of Omar Khayyam have come down to us: (1) a commentary on Euclid’s Elements; (2) an essay on the division of the quadrant of a circle; (3) a treatise on algebra; he also wrote (4) the treatise on the extraction of the nth root of the numbers, which is not extant.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KHORASAN i. ETHNIC GROUPS

    Pierre Oberling

    The population of Khorasan is extremely varied, consisting principally of Persians, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Mongols, Baluch, and smaller groups of Jews, Gypsies, and Lors.

  • KHORDEH AVESTĀ

    William W. Malandra

    “The Little Avesta,” the name given to a collection of texts used primarily by the laity for everyday devotions.

  • KHORRAMABAD

    Multiple Authors

    sub-province and capital city of Lorestan Province.

  • KHORRAMABAD ii. Population, 1956-2011

    Mohammad Hossein Nejatian

    This article deals with the following population characteristics of Khorramabad: population growth from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KHORRAMSHAHR

    Multiple Authors

    (ḴORRAMŠAHR), a port city at the confluence of the Karun river and the Shatt al-Arab.

  • KHORRAMSHAHR i. PHYSICAL AND HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

    Eckart Ehlers

    (ḴORRAMŠAHR), a port city at the confluence of the Karun river and the Shatt al-Arab.

  • KHORRAMSHAHR ii. POPULATION, 1956-2011

    Mohammad Hossein Nejatian

    This article deals with the population growth of Khorramshahr from 1956 to 2011, age structure, average household size, literacy rate, and economic activity status.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KHOTAN

    Multiple Authors

    town (lat 37°06′ N, long 79°56′ E) and major oasis of the southern Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, historically an important kingdom with an Iranian-speaking population. 

  • KHOTAN i. Geography

    Alain Cariou

    Located between the Kunlun mountains and the edge of the Taklamakan desert, the city of Khotan is today a major administrative center of the Khotan Prefecture, a vast area mostly concentrated in the piedmont oasis.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KHOTAN ii. HISTORY IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD

    Hiroshi Kumamoto

    ancient Buddhist oasis/kingdom on the branch of the Silk Road along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China.

  • KHOTAN iv. KHOTANESE LITERATURE

    Mauro Maggi

    the body of writings contained in a large number of manuscripts and manuscript folios and fragments written from the 5th to the 10th century in the Khotanese language, the Eastern Middle Iranian language of the Buddhist Saka kingdom of Khotan on the southern branch of the Silk Route (in the present-day Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China).

  • KHUJAND

    Keith Hitchins

    (Ḵojand), city in northwestern Tajikistan on the middle course of the Syr Daryā River, about 150 km south of Tashkent and near the entrance to the Farḡāna valley.

  • KHUZESTAN viii. Dialects

    Colin MacKinnon

    The dialects spoken by the Iranian folk of the province appear to be of two basic types: Dezfuli-Šuštari, spoken in those two cities, and Baḵtiāri.

  • KHWARAZMSHAHS i. Descendants of the line of Anuštigin

    Clifford Edmund Bosworth

    After the Saljuq takeover in Khwarazm in the early 1040s, the Saljuq Sultans appointed various governors in the province, including several Turkish ḡolām commanders.

  • KIĀ, ṢĀDEQ

    Habib Borjian

    Kiā’s primary achievement was promotion and publicizing of a Persian national identity that embraced the pre-Islamic heritage—not atypical of his contemporaries who had received their formal education during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi.  He taught and published, winning him reputation in society and eventually an appointment as the language academy’s president.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KIĀNI, Sayyed NĀDERŠĀH

    S. J. Badakhchani

    (d. 1970), 20th century Ismaʿili poet and writer of Afghanistan, born in Kulāb, southwestern Tajikistan. 

  • KIDARITES

    Frantz Grenet

    a dynasty which ruled Tukharistan and later Gandhāra, probably also part of Sogdiana; the initial date is disputed (ca 390 CE for some modern authors, ca. 420-430 for others).

  • KIEFFER, CHARLES MARTIN

    Daniel Septfonds

    (1923-2015), French linguist and ethnographer of Afghanistan.

  • KILIZU

    Antonio Invernizzi

    capital of the Assyrian province of the same name, near the mound Qaṣr Šemāmok in northern Mesopotamia, where a Parthian necropolis was brought to light.

  • KIMIĀ

    Pierre Lory

    “Alchemy.” Externally, the purpose of alchemy was the conversion of base metals like lead into silver or gold by means of long and complicated operations leading to the production of a mysterious substance, the ‘philosopher’s stone,’ able to operate the transmutation. 

  • KING OF THE BENIGHTED

    NASRIN RAHIMIEH & DANIEL RAFINEJAD

    As Milani describes in his afterword to the English translation, Golshiri incrementally sent handwritten pages of the manuscript to Milani in California in the guise of personal letters, “to avoid the ever-watchful gaze of the Islamic censors.”

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • Kingship ii. Parthian Period

    Edward Dąbrowa

    Parthian kingship started with the Arsacids monarchy and was an original form of Oriental kingship. The royal ideology was created by combining elements of different provenance; Greek elements were systematically removed or relegated to be replaced by Iranian traditions.

  • ḴIRI

    Ahmad Aryavand and Bahram Grami

    wallflower, a widely cultivated, sweet-smelling, ornamental plant of the mustard family, which often grows on old walls, rocks, and quarries, particularly limestone.

  • KIRSTE, Johann Ferdinand Otto

    Michaela Zinko

    Johann Kirste received his primary and secondary education in Graz, and after graduating from high school (Gymnasium) in 1870, he enrolled at the University of Graz to study Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit with Karl Schenkl. From 1872 until 1874, in the traditional manner of the time, Kirste studied at several German universities to broaden his training.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KISH ISLAND

    D. T. Potts

    (Ar. Qeys), small island in the lower Persian Gulf, noted for its palm gardens.

  • KOBRAWIYA i. THE EPONYM

    Hamid Algar

    Abu’l-Jannāb Aḥmad b.ʿOmar Najm-al-Din Kobrā, eponym of the Kobrawiya, was born in Ḵᵛārazm in 1145 or possibly a decade later.

  • KOBRAWIYA ii. THE ORDER

    Hamid Algar

    The crystallization of a given line of Sufi tradition as an “order” should not be understood as imposing on all the spiritual descendants of the eponym a definitive and permanently binding choice of methods and emphases.

  • ḴODĀYDĀDZĀDA, BĀBĀ-YUNOS

    Habib Borjian

    (b. ca. 1870-75, d. 1945), Tajik folk poet and singer. His exceptional skill in singing the Guruḡli stories on the dotār (a long-neck lute) won him great reputation throughout Tajikistan. According to his biographer, his performance would take hours from evening to dawn, with only short breaks to relax and eat, for several nights in a row. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KOFRI

    Aḥmad Golčin Maʿāni

    pen name of the poet-calligrapher MAWLĀNĀ AMIR-ḤOSAYN TORBATI (d. 1607).

  • KOFRI, Moḥammad Kermānšāhi

    Shireen Mahdavi

    (1829-1908), physician and surgeon, the son of Pir Moḥammad Zāreʿ, a merchant.

  • KOH-I-NOOR

    Iradj Amini

    (Kuh-e Nur; lit. “Mountain of Light”), the most celebrated diamond in the world, with rich legendary and historical associations.

  • ḴOʾI, MIRZĀ ʿALIQOLI

    Ulrich Marzolph

    (1815-ca. 1856), the most prolific illustrator of Persian lithographed books in the Qajar period. Educated in Tabriz, he published an edition of the Ḵamsa‑ye Neẓāmi.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • ḴOJANDIS OF ISFAHAN

    David Durand-Guédy

    a prominent family of Šāfeʿi ulema, who were settled in Isfahan by the Saljuq grand vizier Neẓām-al-Molk.  They turned into the most important family and political actor in that city during the Saljuq period and continued to play a significant role up to the Mongol invasion.

  • ḴOJESTĀNI, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd-Allāh

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    (d. 882), commander of the Taherids in Khorasan, and after the Ṣaffarid occupation of Nishapur in 873, a contender for power.

  • KOJUR

    Multiple Authors

    historical district in the central Alborz, northwestern Māzandarān.  i. Historical geography.  ii. Language and culture.

  • KOJUR i. Historical Geography

    Habib Borjian

    The historical district of Kojur covers roughly a quadrangle bounded by the Caspian Sea on the north, the Čālus River on the west, Nur valley on the south, and Suledeh valley on the east. 

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KOJUR ii. Language

    Habib Borjian

    Two major languages of native Caspian and Kurdish dialects are spoken in Kojur. The Caspian dialect is structurally Mazandarani with some divergence. The Kurdish dialect is spoken by the Kurdish immigrants and remains unstudied.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KOJUR iii. The Calendar

    Habib Borjian

    The Ṭabari or Deylami year observed in Kojur consists of twelve months, thirty days each, plus five intercalary days called petak, concluding the year.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KOLAYNI

    Etan Kohlberg

    (d. 941), Abu Jaʿfar Moḥammad b. Yaʿqub b. Esḥāq Rāzi,  prominent Imami traditionist.

  • KOLUKJĀNLU

    Pierre Oberling

    a Kurdish tribe in the Ḵalḵāl region of eastern Azerbaijan.

  • KONDORI, MOḤAMMAD B. MANṢUR

    C. Edmund Bosworth

    (b. ca. 1024, d. 1064), vizier to Ṭoḡrel Beg (r. 1040-63), the first sultan of the Great Saljuqs, and, briefly, to Ṭoḡrel’s successor Alp Arslān (r. 1063-72).

  • KONOW, STEN

    Fridrik Thordarson

    Konow was an all-around Indologist, whose extensive scholarly work covers most branches of Indian studies. His occupation with Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India, where he edited half a dozen of volumes on various languages, resulted in a long series of studies of Tibeto-Burman, Munda and Dravidian languages.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.
  • KORA-SONNI

    Pierre Oberling

    a tribe in western Persian Azerbaijan.

  • ḴORĀSĀNI, ĀḴUND

    Cross-Reference

    See AḴŪND MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD-KĀẒEM ḴORĀSĀNĪ.

  • ḴORĀSĀNI, MOLLĀ ṢĀDEQ

    Vahid Rafati

    (d. 1874), teacher, defender and promulgator of the Babi-Bahai faiths.

  • KORK

    Rudi Matthee

    soft wool, also called Kermān wool, used for the manufacture of fine clothing and felt hats.