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BARIŠ NASK, one of the lost nasksof the Haδamąθra group (see AVESTA), analyzed in Dēnkard 8.9. According to the Persian Rivāyats,this nask contained originally sixty kardas,but only twelve were recovered after the time of Alexander. According to the summary of the Bariš nask in the Dēnkard,it contained matter concerning almost…

BARKĪĀROQ, ROKN-AL-DĪN ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR B. MALEKŠĀH, Great Saljuq sultan (r. 485-98/1092-­1105). Barkīāroq (properly, Berk-yaruq, Tk. “firm, strong brightness,” see Clauson, An Etymological Dic­tionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, pp. 361-62, 761-63) was the eldest of Malekšāh’s sons, but still only thirteen on his father’s death. The fact that Malekšāh left no adult…

BARḴᵛARDĀR TORKMĀN, MĪRZĀ, author of Aḥsan al-sīar,a history of Shah Esmāʿīl Ṣafawī, com­pleted in either 930/1523-24 (Williams, 1916, p. 298) or 937/1530-31 (Williams, 1918, p. viii). The work was apparently compiled in four volumes of which only the fourth is known. It includes: 1. a preface (pp. 1-6) in which…

BARLAAM AND IOSAPH, Persian Belawhar o Būdāsaf, a Greek Christian or Christianized novel of Buddhist origins which throughout the Middle Ages and until quite recently was almost universally at­tributed to St. John of Damascus (ca. 675-ca. 749), e.g., in the Martyrologium of Pope Sixtus the Fifth (1585-­90), s.d. 27 November….

BARLEY, Persian jow (from OIran. *yawa-, cf. Av. yauua- “grain,” Pahl. ǰōrdā “barley”), Pashto wərbəša.  i. In Iran.  ii. In Afghanistan. i. In Iran. ii. In Afghanistan.   i. In Iran The cultivation of barley in Iran, like that of wheat, goes back to the origin of agriculture itself. Both…

BARM-e DELAK, a site with a spring about 10 km southeast of Shiraz, where three panels bearing two Sasanian rock reliefs are carved in the mountain at a height of about 6.5 m above the ground. The place has been visited and described by several European travel­ers since the 17th…

BARMAKIDS or Barāmeka, a well-known fam­ily of secretaries and viziers during the time of the early ʿAbbasids, stemming from the region of Balḵ where Barmak, the ancestor of the family, according to early Muslim authors was the high priest of the Zoroastrian fire temple of Nowbahār (Yāqūt, IV, p. 819;…

BĀRMĀN, the son of Vīsa, one of the Turanian heroes mentioned in the Šāh-nāma as a member of the army that Afrāsīāb led into Iran during the reign of Nowḏar. In hand to hand combat, Bārmān killed the aged Qobād, the son of Kāva. Some time later Bārmān himself died…

BARMĀYA, the name of a cow associated with Ferēdūn and eventually killed by Żaḥḥāk. The form Barmāya is found only in the Šāh-nāma, while an earlier form, Barmāyūn, is found, e.g., in the poetry of Farālāvī and Daqīqī (Lazard, Premiers poètes, pp. 43, 143), in the Loḡat-e fors (ed. M….

BARNĀMA-RĪZĪ “planning.” Among the countries of the Middle East Iran has a relatively long history of economic development planning. By the time of the revolution in 1357 Š./1979, five development plans of various durations had been implemented in Iran over a thirty-year period; and these planning efforts had been preceded…

Search terms:  برنوی، علاء الدین چشتی barnavi ala aldin cheshti banawi alaa al din cheshti banavi allaldin cheshti

BARQ, the modern Persian term for electricity, borrowed from Arabic barq “lightning, flash of lightning.” Pashto uses brēṧna “lightning.” i. In Iran. ii. In Afghanistan.   i. In Iran The history and evolution of production.The almost exclusive use of wood and charcoal as energy sources hampered Iran’s economic development in…

BARQ (lightning), the name of three Persian newspapers. 1. A daily newspaper founded in Tehran in Šawwāl, 1328/October, 1910, by Sayyed Żīāʾ-al-Dīn Ṭabāṭabāʾī (q.v.) as a replacement for his newspaper Šarq, which had been suppressed. Like Šarq it consisted of three pages in Persian and one in French, and its…

BARQĀNĪ, ABŪ BAKR AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. AḤMAD B. ḠĀLEB (b. 336/948, d. 425/1034), a traditionist (moḥaddeṯ),philologist, and lawyer of the Shafeʿite school, highly praised for his industry, erudition, and reliability. Born at Barqān in Ḵᵛārazm, he commenced his studies in his homeland and then left to pursue them in…

BARR, KAJ, Danish orientalist (b. 26 June 1896 in Copenhagen, d. 4 January 1970). Kaj Barr began his studies at the Technical High School of Denmark in 1914, but gradually turned to foreign languages. In order to study the history of the natural sciences and mathematics, he taught himself Greek…