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AFŠĀR, ḤĀJJĪ BĀBĀ, court physician under Moḥammad Shah Qāǰār. His real name is unknown, since Ḥāǰǰī Bābā is a name usually given to a child in memory and honor of his grandfather or great-grandfather. Son of an officer in ʿAbbās Mīrzā’s army, he was sent in 1226/1811 together with a…

AFŠĀRĪ, one of the twelve dastgāhs or modal systems of classical Iranian music. In the contemporary tradition, Afšārī is customarily classified as a derivative of the dastgāh Šūr. In fact, however, Afšārī is quite independent and possesses its own modal characteristics as well as its own forūd (cadence) pattern. In…

Afšāri title Afšāri genre/topic Āvāz-e Afšāri language   performer Mortezā Ney-Dāwud, tār instrument tār composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 3:53 source Tār: Ostād Mortezā Neydāvud. Mahoor Institute of Culture and Art, 2008 (MCD-247), track…

AFSHARIDS, a dynasty (1148-1210/1736-96; Table 16) founded by Nāder Shah Afšār upon the abolition of the Safavid dynasty in 1148/1736. What follows is an outline history of the state founded by Nāder Shah until 1210, when it was annexed by the Qajars. Nominally a continuation of the Iranian empire as reestablished…

AFŠĪN, princely title of the rulers of Ošrūsana at the time of the Muslim conquest, the most famous of whom was Ḵeyḏār (arabicized Ḥaydar) b. Kāvūs, d. Šaʿbān, 226/May-June, 841. The term is an arabicized form of middle Persian Pišīn, Avestan Pisinah-, a proper name of uncertain etymology (AirWb., col….

AFŠĪN B. DĪVDĀD, ABU’L-MOSĀFER or ABŪ ʿOBAYDALLĀH MOḤAMMAD, founder of the semi-independent Sajid dynasty in Azerbaijan (r. 276/889-90-317/929). He and his brother Yūsof, who seized power after him, are prominent in Armenian history. In Arabic sources he is named Moḥammad b. Abī Sāǰ, in Armenian sources Afšīn, which was the…

AFSŪS (AFSŌS), the taḵalloṣ of MĪR ŠĪR-ʿALĪ, late 18th century poet and translator of India. He was born at Nayā Šahr. His ancestors, originally from Ḵᵛāf in Iran, came to India and settled in the town of Narnawl near Agra; hence the family was known as Narnawl. His grandfather and…

ĀFTĀB (“Sun”), name of several Persian periodicals. 1. A scientific and literary monthly magazine published in Isfahan by Mīrzā Maḥmūd Khan Sanǰarī Tehrānī, a clerk with Zieglers and later with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The first issue appeared at Nowrūz, 1329/21 March 1911. Its real backer, who contributed most of…

AFTARĪ, the dialect of Aftar (population about 1,200), located at lat 35°39′ N, long 53°07′ E in the mountains one kilometer west of the Semnān-Fīrūzkūh road to Māzandarān. Historical phonology shows Aftarī as a Northwest (i.e. non-Perside) dialect of Iranian, e.g., *v > v: varg “wolf;” *dv > b: bar…

AFTĪMŪN, a medicinal herb. Aftīmūn or dodder is a genus of parasitic plants (Cuscuta) of the family Cuscutaceae. Of about 120 species of dodder, widely distributed, 25 are found in Iran. The common Persian names for aftīmūn include the following: kāšūṯ (Ḵorramšahr), rešā-ye kešvar (Hamadān, Isfahan, Tehran), gešūz (Hamadān), kūkūl-e…

ĀFURIŠN (Manichean Middle Persian ʾpwryšn) “blessing, praise,” a technical, literary term for a category of Manichean hymns. The parallel term in Parthian, āfrīwan (spelled (ʾ)ʾfrywn, ʾʾfṛʿywn, [ʾfr]yywn), is also used in a general, non-technical sense. Sometimes Middle Persian ʿstʾyšn and Parthian ʿstʾwyšn (“praising”) are substituted for these terms. An āfurišn-hymn…

AFUŠTAʾI NAṬANZI, MAḤMUD b. Hedāyat-Allāh (b. ca. 1539; d. after 1599), Persian poet and historian whose chronicle, Noqāwat al-āṯār fi ḏekr al-aḵyār (or al-aḵbār; Bayżāʾi, p. 62; Storey-Bregel, II, p. 866) deals with Safavid history from the death of Shah Ṭahmāsp I in 984/1576 up until the early years of…

AFYŪN, opium, its production and commerce in Iran. The word afyūn is derived from the Greek opion and Latin opium (concerning this term and other words used in Persian for opium, see Dehḵodā, afyūn, taryāq, taryāq-e akbar, taryāq-e fārūqˊ, taryāk, ḵašḵāš, kūknār). The Persian name most in use today, taryāk,…

AFŻAL AL-ḤOSAYNĪ, painter active during the reign of Shah ʿAbbās II (1052-77/1642-66). The principal evidence of him comes from an extensively illustrated Šāh-nāma of Ferdowsī now in the Leningrad Public Library (G.P.B. MS Dorn 333). According to the preface, it was prepared as a gift for Shah ʿAbbās II by…

AFŻAL AL-TAWĀRIḴ, title of a chronicle of the Safavid dynasty, composed by Fażli b. Zayn-al-ʿĀbedin b. Ḵᵛāja Ruḥ-Allāh Ḵuzāni Eṣfahāni (Storey, I, pp. 308-9, 1278; Storey-Bregel, II, pp. 869-70). The author was from a distinguished family with a long record of service in the Safavid bureaucracy, starting with the celebrated…