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ČĀH-BAHĀR (in Western sources written Chahbar, Charbar, Chobar), name of a town and bay on the Makrān coast of Persian Baluchistan facing the coast of Oman. The bay is a shallow (6-9 fathoms) semicircular inlet eleven by ten miles in area and accessible only to moderate-sized vessels. It is surrounded…

ČAHĀR DOWLĪ (Davālī), or ČĀR DOWLĪ, a tribe of western Iran. According to tribal legend the Čahār Dowlīs acquired their name by defeating a force consisting of four other tribes (Bent, p. 92). They are Turkicized Lurs who were transplanted to Fārs in pre-­Qajar times. Āqā Moḥammad Shah Qājār (r….

ČAHĀR MAḤĀ(L) WA BAḴTĪĀRĪ, second smallest province (ostān) of Persia in area (Farajī et al., II, p. 533; after Kūhgīlūya wa Boir Aḥmad with 14,261 km2, ibid., p. 967), located in the Zagros mountains of southwestern Persia. It covers an area of 14,870 km2 (14,820 km2 acc. to Farajī et…

ČAHĀR MAQĀLA, Persian prose work written in the 6th/12th century by Abu’l-Ḥasan Neẓām-al-­Dīn (or Najm-al-Dīn) Aḥmad b. ʿOmar b. ʿAlī Neẓāmī ʿArūżī Samarqandī, originally entitled Majmaʿ al-nawāder. The authors of Haft eqlīm (III, p. 352) and Kašf al-ẓonūn (ed. Yaltkaya and Bilge, pp. 621, 1604) are evidently wrong in considering…

ČAHĀR ONṢOR (Four elements), an autobiographical work in prose by the poet and Sufi Abu’l-Maʿānī Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Qāder Bīdel (1054-1138/1644-1720), who probably began work on it in 1094/1682 and completed it, according to the conclud­ing chronogram, in 1116/1704 (Kollīyāt, pp. 301, 588). The book consists of a short preface and four…

Čahār pāra  title Čahār pāra genre/topic Āvāz-e Abu ‘atā, guše-he Čahār pāra language   performer Mahmud Karimi instrument Voice  composer   author/poet Sayyed Ahmad Esfahāni Hātef first line of poem če šavad be čehreh-e zard-e man recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 2:30 source…

ČAHĀRBĀḠ, lit. “four gardens,” a rectangular garden divided by paths or waterways into four symmetrical sections. [This article deals with the origins of the čahārbāḡ in the Achaemenid period. For the Sasanian and Islamic periods see bāḡ and čahārbāḡ in the Supplement. See also on individual čahārbāḡs below.] Recent excavations…

Č(AH)ĀRBĀḠ-E EṢFAHĀN, the name of a broad avenue (maximum width 48 m/52 yards) which was a key feature of the city of Isfahan as replanned by Shah ʿAbbās I after he had designated the city the new capital of the Safavid state in 1006/1597-98. The name Čahārbāḡ (lit. four gardens)…

Č(AH)ĀRBĀḠ-E GARRŪS, a park no longer in existence in the south of the town of Bījār, center of Garrūs šahrestān in Persian Kurdistan. Two intersect­ing avenues divided the park into four sections, hence the name. A row of large poplar trees circled the park, which boasted sturdy fruit trees, particularly…

Č(AH)ĀRBĀḠ-E MAŠHAD. The term čahārbāḡ (commonly contracted to čārbāḡ, lit. “four gardens”) must originally have denoted a garden made up of four parts or areas and is evidently due to the Timurid princes who, in the 9th/15th century, created parks or gardens and garden palaces with the name Čahārbāḡ, laid…

ČAHĀRDAH MAʿṢŪM, the fourteen inerrant or immaculate personages venerated by Twelver Shiʿites, i.e., the Prophet Moḥammad, his daughter Fāṭema, and the twelve imams. The ascription of inerrancy (ʿeṣma) to the imams is encountered as early as the first half of the 2nd/18th century, and it was soon extended to the…