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BHAGVĀN DĀS HENDĪ, son of Dalpat Dās, grandson of Harbans Rāy, Indian poet and author writing in Persian. He belonged to the Hindu Srīvāstava Kāyastha community, which is known for its deep interest in Persian. According to Bhagvān Dās (Safīna, p. 241), his ancestors, originally from Kālpī in Uttar Pradesh,…

BHAIṢAJYAGURUVAIḌŪRYAPRABHARĀJASŪTRA, the name of a Buddhist Mahayanist text of which a number of fragments in Old Khotanese and Sogdian are extant. It is one of the earliest Mahayanist texts, dating perhaps from the third century a.d. It may have originated in Central Asia, but only fragments of versions in Central…

BHANDĀRĪ, SOJĀN RĀY, putative author of Ḵolāṣat al-tawārīḵ, a general history of India written in Persian during the reign of Awrangzēb, with special emphasis on the rulers of Delhi. The author’s name has been determined from colophons in various manu­scripts of the work, which are not always in agreement (for…

BHARUCHA, SHERIARJI DADABHAI, Parsi scholar, born at Broach in 1843. His father, Dadabhai Furdoonji, the Panthaki of the Hamavara Dar-e Mihr at Broach, was well versed in Persian and religious matters and was a major influence on his son’s career. As a youth Sheriarji studied Persian and Arabic. His Persian…

BHARUCHAS, the name of a group (panth) of Parsi Zoroastrian priests who had their headquarters at the ancient port of Bharuch (Broach) in Gujarat. Their ancestral founder was Bahrām Mōbed, brother of Zarthošt Mōbed, who founded the Bhagarias. Their territory stretched between the rivers Narmada and Māhī. They produced learned…

BHAVĀṄGA, the name assigned by H. W. Bailey to ten fragmentary Khotanese folios, a transcription of which he published in his Khotanese Texts V, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 284-88. The name was inspired by the occurrence in folio 8v3 of the word bhavāṃgyau, a form of Sanskrit bhavāṅga. The fragmentary context…

BHOWNAGGREE, Sir MANCHERJEE MERWANJEE, Parsi statesman (b. Bombay 1851; d. London 1933). His ancestors were from the principality of Bhāvnagar in Gujarat, whence his surname originates (Bhāvnagri). His father Merwanjee (1824-72) was a newspaper proprietor, industrialist, banker, merchant, and the Bombay representative of the thākōr (prince) of Bhāvnagar. Bhownaggree attended…

  Search terms:  بیه پس،بیه پیش biyeh pas biya pish biye pas bie pish    

BĪĀBĀN, name of the coastal plain that extends south from the mouth of the Mīnāb river for 88 miles to the cape Raʾs al-Kūh, which is 30 miles west of the Jask promontory. It is 10 to 15 miles wide and borders on the districts of Jāsk to the southeast,…

Search terms:  بیابان  biaban biyaban biaabaan

BĪĀBĀNAK, a group of oasis settlements in central Iran. Located approximately between 54° 15’ and 55° 15’ E and 35° 10’ N, these isolated desert settlements stretch over an area of 70 by 90 miles of what is mostly desert. The administrative district of Ḵūr (Ḵᵛor)-Bīābānak is one of three…

BĪĀR (from Arabic beʾār, plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand, described by the medieval geographers as being three days’ journey from Besṭām and as being comprised administratively within the province of Qūmes (q.v.), although in…

BĪBĪ KHANOM MOSQUE, named after Bībī Khanom, otherwise known as Sarāy-Molk Khanom, chief wife of Tīmūr (r. 771-807/1370-1405). She was the daughter of Qazān Solṭān Khan and the niece of Amir Mūsā and was taken by Tīmūr from the harem of Amir Ḥosayn after his defeat of the latter in…

BĪBĪ ŠAHRBĀNŪ, the dedication of a Moslem shrine on a hillside by Ray to the south of Tehran. The legend attached to it is that Šahrbānū, a daughter of the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III (632-51), was cap­tured by Arabs and taken to Medina, where she became the wife of…

BĪBĪ ZAYNAB, MAUSOLEUM OF, named after Bībī Zaynab, its legendary occupant, together with her mother Oljā Aīm, the wet nurse of Tīmūr (r. 771-807/1370-1405). This twin-domed mausoleum stands just inside the southern entrance to the Šāh-e Zenda necropolis in Samarkand (Cohn-Wiener, p. 38). Neither Bībī Zaynab nor her mother is…