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BRĀHMĪ, Indian script used for a variety of languages in Chinese Turkestan, including Iranian languages. From the Tarim Basin (Xinjiang, China) we have first-millennium documents in Brāhmī script in several Iranian languages. There are substantial quantities of Khotanese (q.v.), at least fifteen Tumshuqese (q.v.) manuscripts, and there exists one small…

BRAHUI (Brāhūī, Brāhōī), the name of a tribal group living principally in Pakistani Baluchistan and of a Dravidian language spoken mainly by Brahui tribesmen. 1. Ethnography and history of the Brahuis Habitat. The map in the Linguistic Survey of India showing distribution of Brahui tribesmen (X, facing p. 327) is…

BRAZIER (Pers. ātašdān “receptacle for fire,” Ar. Pers. manqal, lit. “means of carrying or transporting”), a “pan or stand for holding lighted coals” (The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 6th ed., London, 1976, s.v.). i. In Early Iran ii. In Modern Times   i. In Early Iran The term “brazier” covers two…

BREAD, Persian nān (for etymology, see Bailey, Dictionary, p. 179, s.v. nāṃji). In the Iranian languages the words for “bread” inherited from old Iranian seem to reflect two different early methods of baking (Harmatta). Harmatta suggests that the practice of baking bread “covered,” that is, in ashes, is reflected in…

  Search terms: بریلوی   brelvey breelvee breelvy brilvi brilvy brelvee    

BREST-LITOVSK TREATY, a treaty signed by the Central Powers and Soviet Russia on 3 March 1918 that was consequential in the history of modern Iran. Article 10 of the Brest-Litovsk Armistice Agreement of 15 December 1917, “upon the basis of the principle of the freedom, independence, and territorial inviolability of…

Search terms:  برتون، لی le breton    

BRICK, blocks of tempered mud, either sun-dried (ḵešt) or baked in a kiln (ājor), the traditional building material in most of Iran. It has customarily been made from a mixture of water-soaked earth (gel-čāl), straw, and chaff (kāh) and formed in wooden molds, which in the 20th century are standardized…

BRICKS AND CERAMICS INDUSTRY IN IRAN. Iran is rich in clay, marl, feldspar, silicate, limestone, gypsum, bentonite, talc, kaolin, quartz, and many other minerals, including a large variety of mineral oxides. It further has major gypsum deposits and other outer lining materials such as glaze. This has made it possible…

BRIDGES (Pers. pol, Mid. Pers. pohl, Av. pərətu-) i. Pre-Islamic bridges. ii. Bridges in the Islamic period.   i. Pre-Islamic Bridges Bridges may have existed in the Iranian highlands as monuments of vernacular architecture since prehistoric times; they were probably constructed, as they still are today, of timber girders or…

  Search terms:  بریتانیا britania    

BRITISH COUNCIL: activities in Iran 1942-79. The first British Council representative was appointed to Iran in 1942. The priority was English language teaching, and by 1944 the Council was teaching over 4,000 students. By 1948 the Council had opened six provincial institutes with libraries in which the teaching could be…