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CORNELIAN CHERRY, the male cornel tree, a dogwood shrub with edible berries. Three species of cornel (genus Cornus L., fam. Cornaceae) are native to Persia: C. australis C.A.M., the female cornel tree (sīāh-al, etc.); C. sanguinea L., the “red dogwood” (šaft; čapčapī; and C. mas L., the male cornel tree,…

CORONATION (Pers. tāj-goḏārī) in ancient Iran, the ceremonial act of investing a ruler with a crown, is mainly known from a few references by Western classical and Armenian authors, statements by Ferdowsī and other early Islamic writers, and iconographic im­plications of monuments (e.g., rock reliefs) and arti­facts (especially coins and…

CORPSE, disposal of, in Zoroastrianism. In Zoroastrianism the corpse (Av. nasu-, Pahl. nasā) of a righteous believer was held to be the greatest source of pollution in the world, as the death of such a one represented a triumph for evil, whose forces were thought to be gathered there in…

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM IRANI­CARUM (C.I.I.), an association devoted to the col­lection and publication of Iranian inscriptions and documents. The C.I.I. was founded in 1955, in response to a resolution of the 22nd International Con­gress of Orientalists at Cambridge, with W. B. Henning as its first chairman and Sayyed Ḥasan Taqīzāda (Taqizadeh)…

CORRESPONDENCE i. In pre-Islamic Persia. ii. In Islamic Persia. iii. Forms of opening and closing, address, and signature. iv. On the subcontinent of India.

CORRESPONDENCE i. In pre-Islamic Persia There is no information about correspondence in Median times, except for a fictitiously paraphrased letter from Cyrus to Cyaxares that began “Cyrus to Cyaxares, greeting!” (Xenophon, Cyropœdia 4.5.27). All surviving evidence for pre-Islamic Iran is from the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods up to the…

CORRESPONDENCE ii. In Islamic Persia In Islamic Persia letter writing (Ar.-Pers. tarassol < Ar. r-s-l “to send”) developed into a genre of great literary, historical, and social importance. With the establishment of Omayyad rule in 41/661 tarassol began to develop as an integral part of the administra­tive system. As in...

CORRESPONDENCE iii. Forms of opening and closing, address, and signature   In this article the parts of the Persian letter are surveyed section by section, with comments on the general features, style, and stock formulas characteris­tic of each from early Islamic times to the present. The material is drawn from…

CORRESPONDENCE iv. On the subcontinent of India The chancellery of official and diplomatic correspondence was an organ of Indian Muslim political organization. At various times it was known as dīvān-­e resālat, dīvānal-enšāʾ, dīvānal-rasāʾel, or dār al-­enšāʾ. Under the Turkish Ghaznavids (366-582/979-­1186), who ruled much of northern India, the chief secretary…

ČORTKA (or čortaka, čotka < Russ. schëty “abacus”), an ancient calculation device, a rectangle strung with parallel metal wires along which clay, metal, or wooden beads can be moved. It is still used in the Middle East. There appears to be no reference to such abacuses in surviving early Persian...

COSMETICS (Pers. bazak “makeup” < Azeri bäzäk “ornamentation”; Doerfer, II, p. 291), prepara­tions for personal beautification, in Persian tradition used mainly by women on special occasions. A Per­sian girl brought up in a traditional home was not allowed to wear most cosmetics, but before her wed­ding she underwent a long...

COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY i. In Zoroastrianism/Mazdaism. ii. In Mithraism. iii. In Manicheism. iv. In the Mazdakite religion. v. In Twelver Shiʿism. vi. In Ismaʿilism. vii. In Shaikhism. viii. In the Bahai faith.