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BOMBAY, Persian communities of. i. The Zoroastrian community. ii. Persian Muslim communities.   i. The Zoroastrian Community The Bombay Zoroastrian community is of considerable importance for many reasons. Bombay has the largest Zoroastrian population of any city in the world, estimated by Karkal in 1984 to be 62,478 (though the…

BOMBAY PARSI PANCHAYAT, the largest Zoroastrian institution in modern history. Originally founded in the 17th century in order to maintain Zoroastrian family and social values at a time of dramatic change, when Parsis were migrating from rural Gujarat to cosmopolitan Bombay, in the 20th century it has become essentially an…

BONDĀR (or Pendār) RĀZĪ, poet in the 4th/10th century and early years of the 5th/11th century, named as the author of a small number of surviving poems, some in literary (Darī) Persian, others in his local dialect. Neẓāmī ʿArūżÎʷī (text, p. 45), writing in the 6th/12th century, mentions Bondār as…

Search terms: بنداری، فتح بن علی bondari,fath ibn ali bondaari fath ebn ali bundari fath ebn ali

BONGĀH-E ḤEMĀYAT-E MĀDARĀN O KŪDAKĀN (Institute for the protection of mothers and infants), founded 25 Āḏar 1319 Š./16 December 1940 on the order of Reżā Shah, originally funded by charitable contributions. During World War II the institute distributed clothing and hot meals among the poor. In 1320 Š./1941 it commissioned…

BONGĀH-E MOSTAQELL-E ĀBYĀRĪ (Inde­pendent irrigation agency), established by the Majles on 29 Ordībehešt 1322 Š./19 May 1943, during the admin­istration of ʿAlī Sohaylī, to improve irrigation in Iran by building dams, managing distribution of river re­sources, digging deep wells, resolving water distribution disputes, assisting agricultural projects, and cleaning the qanāts…

BONGĀH-E TARJOMA (Tarjama) WA NAŠR­-E KETĀB (B.T.N.K.). “The [Royal] Institute for Translation and Publication” was founded in 1953 on the initiative of Ehsan Yarshater (Eḥsān Yār-e Šāṭer) through the good offices of Asad-Allāh ʿAlam, then Superintendent of the Crown Properties (Amlāk wa mostaḡellāt-e Pahlavī), under the auspices of Moḥammad Reżā…

BONĪČA, a tax assessed on a group as a single unit and particularly the base on which the tax was calculated. There were three different forms of bonīča in Iranian history: a tax on guilds, an agricultural tax levied on villages and tribes, and a military tax also levied on…

BONYĀD-E FARHANG-E ĪRĀN (Iranian Cul­ture Foundation) was established 16 September 1964. The Foundation was funded with an initial grant of one million tomans (ca. $133,000) from Queen Faraḥ’s office; later its funds became a regular appropri­ation in the national budget. In 1357 Š./1978 this subsidy reached 10 million tomans (ca….

BONYĀD-E ŠĀH-NĀMA-YE FERDOWSĪ, a research institute founded in 1350 Š./1971 and attached to the former Ministry of Culture and Art of Iran, with M. Mīnovī as its first director. Its purpose, as described in its constitution, was to prepare a new critical edition of the Šāh-nāma and to study it…

BONYĀD-E ŠAHĪD (Martyrs’ Foundation), a non-profit organization established on 22 Esfand 1358 Š./12 March 1980 on the orders of Imam Ḵomeynī, in order to care for the veterans of the revolution and the dependents of those who had died in it. After the beginning of the war with Iraq in…

BOOK OF ZAMBASTA, a Khotanese poem on Buddhism. It is the longest indigenous literary compo­sition in the Khotanese language and played a crucial role in the decipherment of the Khotanese language. Since the original name of the work is not attested, Harold W. Bailey proposed calling it the Book of…