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ČELOW-KABĀB, a popular Persian dish which consists of cooked rice (čelow; see berenj) and a variety of broiled (kabāb, see below) mutton or veal (though less popular) and is served with butter, egg yolk, powdered sumac, raw onions, broiled tomatoes, and fresh sweet basil. It is served in the form…

CEMETERIES (qabrestān, gūrestān) in Persian folklore. Cemeteries are found both inside and outside cities and villages, usually close to a holy shrine, or emāmzāda, in order to partake of its blessing. Through­out Persian history we are told that the bodies of the dead are brought to their home towns (see,…

ČENĀR, the “Oriental plane (tree),” Platanus orientalis L. (fam. Platanaceae). This species of plane is indigenous from southeastern Europe to the Iranian plateau. In Persia proper, spontaneous planes have been observed by botanists in Azerbaijan (Ḵᵛoy), Kermānšāhān (Harsīn), Hama­dān, Luristan (Ḵorramābād, Šahbāzān, etc.), Baḵtīārī (Safīddašt, mountains up to Sardašt), Ḵūzestān…

ČENGĪZ (Mong. Chinggis) KHAN, probably born in 562-63/1167 in northeastern Mongolia, the founder of the Mongol empire, the most extensive land empire known to history. For our knowledge of his early life we are dependent on a single Mongolian work, the Secret History of the Mongols, most of which was…

CENSORING AN IRANIAN LOVE STORY (New York, 2009), the first novel published in English by noted modernist writer Shahriar Mandanipour (Šahryār Mandanīpūr, b. Shiraz, 1957). The novel, translated by Sara Khalili (Sārā Ḵalili), has not been published in its original Persian. Mandanipour came to the United States in 2006 as…

CENSORSHIP (sānsūr) in Persia. Censorship has been exercised in most societies, including Persia, by the religious establishment, by the political authority, and by unofficial groups (see, e.g., Abraham, pp. 634-­41; Anastaplo, pp. 634-41; and McKeon, pp. 1082-90). In the Islamic countries good conduct as a manifestation of individual morality was…

CENSUS (Pers. sar-šomārī). No census for the purpose of ascertaining the population and acquiring statistical data was taken in Persia until the present century. i. In Iran. ii. In Afghanistan.

CENSUS i. In Iran In medieval Persian the etymologically related nouns šomār and šomāra, āmār and hamār, āmāra and amāra, and āvāra and āvāṛča (arabicized as awāraj, awāreja; see Ḵᵛārazmī, pp. 54-55, 78) were accountancy terms used in government offices (dīvāns) with reference to tax collection and to receipt and…

CENSUS ii. In Afghanistan The first national census of Afghanistan was not conducted until 1358 Š./1979. Before that Afghanistan was among the few countries in the world that had never undertaken such a survey, and, as a result, it suffered all the socioeconomic uncertainties that might be expected from such…

CENTRAL ASIA i. Geographical survey. ii. Demography. iii. In pre-Islamic times. iv. In the Islamic period up to the Mongols. v. In the Mongol and Timurid periods. vi. In the 16th-18th centuries. vii. In the 19th century. viii. Relations with Persia in the 19th century. ix. In the 20th century….

CENTRAL ASIA  i. Geographical Survey The central expanse of the Asian continent, the land mass situated approximately between 55° and 115° E and 25° and 50° N, comprises two geographically distinct areas. The western part includes the Trans­caspian plains and the low tablelands between the Aral Sea and the Tien…

CENTRAL ASIA ii. Demography The combined population of the Uzbek, Kirgiz, Tajik, and Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republics totals more than 30 million people, one tenth of the population of the Soviet Union. Owing to a relatively high birth rate and a low death rate, it is also the most rapidly…

CENTRAL ASIA iii. In Pre-Islamic Times The sources. The main evidence for the history of Central Asia before the coming of Islam comes from archeological excavations, while written sources con­tain little information. Historical texts include the Old Persian inscriptions by Darius I and Xerxes I (6th-5th cents. b.c.e.), the Chinese…