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DĒW (demon) in the Pahlavi books. The concept of the dēw (invariably written with the Aram. ideogram ŠDYA, more often in the pl. ŠDYA’nˈ, often to be translated “demons” even in the sg.) was central to the theology and ritual of Zoroastrianism; as Émile Benveniste (p. 41) first observed, the term…

DĒWĀŠTĪČ (Ar. Dēwāšanj, Dēwāšenī), ruler of Sogdia (87?-104/706?-22), referred to as “prince of Panč” (Panjīkant) and as “king of Sogdia, ruler of Samarkand” in the portion of his archives discovered at the castle on Mount Mug (Mōḡ), east of Samarkand, on the upper course of the Zarafšān river. The latest…

DEYLAM, BANDAR-E, a port on the Persian Gulf (30° 3’ N, 50° 9’ E) in the province of Būšehr at an elevation a little above 1 m. The town is situated in a coastal plain, 10 km north of the cape of Tonūb, 72 km south of Behbahān and 217 km…

DEYLAMJOHN OF (Yoḥannān Daylomāyā, d. 120/738), Eastern Syrian saint and founder of monasteries in Fārs. In addition to the brief details of his life given by the 9th-century Syriac writers Thomas of Margā and Īšōʿdnaḥ of Baṣra, there are two complete biographies in Syriac, one in prose (edited and translated…

Deylamān title Deylamān genre/topic Āvāz-e Dašti, guše Deylamān language Persian performer Ḥossein Omumi, ney and voice Kiyā Tabassiān, setār instrument Voice; Ney; Setār composer  Abuʿl-Ḥasan Ṣabā author/poet Saʿdi first line of poem Čenān dar qeyde mehrat pāy bandam recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration…

DEYLAMĀN (Daylamān), district and town in Gīlān. The district is about 37 km north-south by 23 km and is located at an elevation of about 2,000 m on the northern slope of the western Alborz east of the Safīdrūd. It is bordered on the north by Lāhījān, on the east by…

DEYLAMĀN, melody (gūša) incorporated into the radīf of Āvāz-e Daštī by Abu’l-Ḥasan Ṣabā (d. 1336 Š./1957), who borrowed it from the regional repertoire of northern Persia. It thus does not occur in the early radīfs of Mīrzā ʿAbd-Allāh, Mūsā Maʿrūfī, and Āqā Ḥosaynqolī but is included in that of ʿAbd-Allāh…

DEYLAMĪ, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD ḤASAN b. Abi’l-Ḥasan (b.) Moḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd-Allāh (or Moḥammad), Shiʿite author and traditionist. He is described in the biographical sources as a contemporary of ʿAllāma Ḥellī (d. 726/1325), of ʿAllāma’s son Faḵr al-Moḥaqqeqīn (d. 771/1369-70), and of Šahīd-e Awwal Šams-al-Dīn Moḥammad (d. 786/1384), yet all…

DEYLAMĪ,ABUʾL-ḤASAN ʿALĪ b. Moḥammad (fl. 10th century), an obscure yet important author on the early Persian Sufism prevalent in Fārs. A contemporary of Abū ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān Moḥammad b. Ḥosayn Solamī (325-412/936-1021), he was a disciple and transmitter (rāwī) of Abū ʿAbd-Allāh Moḥammad Ebn Ḵafīf Šīrāzī (d. 371/982). Later he may have…

DEYLAMĪ,ABU’L-FATḤ NĀṢER b. Ḥosayn b. Moḥammad b. ʿĪsā b. Moḥammad b. ʿAbd-Allāh b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd-Allāh b. ʿAlī b. Ḥasan b. Zayd b. Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb, Zaydī imam with the title Nāṣer le-Dīn Allāh (d. 444/1052-53). According to Yemenite sources, he first sought support for his imamate…

DEYLAMĪ, ŠAMS-AL-DĪN ABŪ ṮĀBET MOḤAMMAD b. ʿAbd-al-Malek ṬŪSĪ (d. ca. 593/1197), original though obscure Sufi author of the 12th century. Jāmī (Nafaḥāt, p. 355) cited him as a teacher of the 13th-century Sufi Maḥmūd Ošnohī (Landolt, p. 210) and “a great master and scholar whose teachings on the true reality…

DEYLAMITES, people inhabiting a shifting region in northern Persia and adjacent territories, including the Deylamān uplands. i. In the Pre-Islamic period. ii. In the Islamic period.     i. IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD In antiquity the Deylamites (Gk. Dolomîtai and variants) were mountain tribes, usually identified by 10th-century Arab geographers…