Explore Iranica

BARḎAʿA or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt; see Marquart, Ērānšahr, pp. 117-18), the chief town until the 4th/10th century of the Islamic province of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania, situated two or three farsaḵs (i.e., 8­12 miles) south of the Kor river on its affluent the Ṯarṯūr…

BARDESANES (Syr. Bar Dayṣān, Ar. Ebn Dayṣān), gnostic thinker (154-222) who occupies a position between the Syriac gnostic systems of the first two centuries a.d. and the Iranian gnostic system of Mani of the third century. 1. Sources. Bardesanes’ own works are now known only through second-hand accounts by primarily…

BARDIYA, the younger son of Cyrus the Great. The name is derived from proto-Iranian *bardz-“be high.” In the Elamite version of the Behistun (Bīsotūn) inscription he is called Pirtiya, but the Akkadian version and private documents from Babylonia have the Median form Barziya. He is called Smerdis by Herodotus (3.30),…

BAṚĒC(Ī), a Pashtun tribe in southern Afghani­stan. Like neighboring Tarīn and Dorrānī, the Baṛēc are part of the Šarḵbūn branch of the Saṛbanī Pashtun. Genealogists divide the tribe into two distinct sections, Dāʾūdzī and Ḥosaynzī, which are further subdivided respectively into five and six senior lineages, although only three are…

BARĒLVĪ, SAYYED AḤMAD ŠAHĪD, Indo­-Muslim saint, author of Persian works, known for his reformist ideas, military ventures, and eventual martyr­dom (1201-46/1786-1831). He was born into a pious Muslim family at Rae Bareli; after elementary edu­cation at home, he went to Lucknow in search of employment and then proceeded to Delhi,…

Search terms:  بارزانی barezani baarezany barezanee baarezaani barezaany    

BARF “snow” (from OIr. *vafra- “snow,” root vap- “to toss in the air, to pile up”; cf. OInd. vápati “to disperse, to scatter,” vapra- “heap, mound”; Pokorny, I, p. 1149; Mayrhofer, Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary III, pp. 144-45). This word and forms derived from it designate the snow in all western…

BĀRFORŪŠĪ, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD-ʿALĪ, important figure in early Babism (1239-65/1823-­49). He is generally referred to in Babi sources as Ḥażrat-e Qoddūs or Esm-Allāh al-Āḵer and in Bahai works as Noqṭa-ye Oḵrā (in contrast to Noqṭa-ye Ūlā, a title of the Bāb). Born the son of a fanner in Bārforūš (Bābol), he…

BARG-e BŪ (or deraḵt-e ḡār; Eng. laurel and sweet bay), Laurus nobilis, the most popular species of the family Lauraceae, the one used for laurel wreaths. The tree is common in Persian gardens. It has stiff, dull green leaves, which, when dry, are used to flavor food, and edible purple,…

BARḠAŠI, ABU’L MOẒAFFAR MOḤAMMAD b. EBRAHIM, vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. Neither his birth nor death date is known, nor is the origin of his nesba clear, but it seems that he began what was presumably a secretarial career in the time of…

BARGOSTVĀN, armor, specifically horse armor, a distinctive feature of Iranian warfare from very early times on. The earliest known chamfron has been excavated at Ḥasanlū from a 9th-century B.C. stratum (M. A. Littauer and J. H. Crouvel, “Ancient Iranian Horse Helmets?” Iranica Antiqua 19, 1984, pp. 41-52 pl. VIII, esp….

BĀRHANG (also bārtang),plantain, is a general, imprecise name for about 27 species of Plantago L.(family Plantaginaceae; see Parsa, IV, pp. 240-67) in Iran, particularly P. major L., the greater plantain, P. lanceolata L. (= P. minor L.), the lesser plantain, P. ovata Forsk., and P. psyllium L., fleawort. Unmistakably, the…

BARĪD, the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by means of couriers mounted on mules or horses or camels or traveling on foot. In this way, official letters and dispatches were delivered to the central dīvān in Damascus or…

BARĪDŠĀHĪ, a dynasty of Indo-Muslim kings of the Deccan plateau that ruled from 897/1491-92 to 1028/1619 in one of the five successor states to the Bahmanid kingdom (748-944/1347-1538, see bahmanids). Tough their state was small compared to their successor states, especially the ʿĀdelšāhī dynasty of Bijapur, the Neẓāmšāhī dynasty of Ahmadnagar,…

BARIKĀNU, a town in Media, which was conquered and forced to pay a tribute by the Assyrian king Sargon II ca. 716 b.c. During his eighth campaign in 714 b.c. Sargon II marched against Media, among other countries, and accepted the tribute of horses, mules, oxen, and sheep from Satarpanu,…