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ḴĀLKUBI (or ḵāl kubidan, kabud zadan “tattooing”), that is, making a permanent mark on the skin by inserting a pigment, is one of the oldest methods of body ornamentation.  The earliest evidence of tattoos in the Iranian culture area is the almost completely tattooed body of a Scythian chief in…

KALLA-PĀČA (KALLE PĀČE), a traditional dish made of sheep’s head and trotters and cooked over low heat, usually overnight. The combination of one sheep’s head and four trotters is called a set of kalla-pāča. Other edible body parts of the sheep such as the ear-cavity, tongue, eyes, brains, neck, and…

KALLAJUŠ (KĀLJUŠ), an old Iranian dish, also pronounced kālajuš, kālājuš, kaljuš in different parts of Iran. It consists of fried onions, dried herbs, and boiled kašk (dried condensed whey), eaten with bread (crumbled or in pieces). The compound term kāljuš is composed of kāl meaning unripe, connoting cooked rare, and…

ḴĀLU, a small Turkic tribe of Kermān province. According to the Iranian Army files (1957), this tribe once lived in the vicinity of Bardsir and Māšiz, southwest of Kermān. It supported Loṭf-ʿAli Khan Zand (r. 1789-94) in his struggle against Āqā-Moḥammad Khan Qājār (r. 1779-97). When Fatḥ-ʿAli Mirzā, the nephew…

KALURAZ, an archeological site (lat 36°54′ N, long 49°28′ E) situated in the center of the lower Kaluraz valley (Darra Kaluraz) near Jalaliye (Jalāliya) village, 1.1 km west of Rostam Ābād city, 11.7 km northeast of Rudbār in Gilan Province (Figure 5). Marlik, one of the most important Iranian archeological…

KAMĀL ḴOJANDI, known also as Shaikh Kamāl, Persian poet and Sufi (b. Ḵojand, a town in Central Asia, ca. 720/1320; d. Tabriz, 803/1400-01). Nothing is known of Kamāl’s family background or early life. Even his personal name is uncertain; Masʿud is the consensus of most modern scholars (Ṣafā, III, p….

KAMĀL PĀŠĀ-ZĀDA, ŠAMS-AL-DIN AḤMAD, also known as Kamālpāšā-Oḡlu and Ebn-e Kamāl (873-940/1468-1534), prolific Ottoman scholar, author of several works in and on Persian. A native of Edirne, he studied under the local mufti, Mollā Loṭfi, and subsequently taught at the madrasas of Edirne, Uskup (Skoplje) and Istanbul; later he accompanied…

KAMĀL-AL-DIN EṢFAHĀNI, (b. ca. 568/1172-73; d. ca. 635/1237), poet from Isfahan, noted for his mastery of the panegyric. His full name is given by Ebn al-Fowaṭi as Kamāl-al-Din Abu’l-Fażl Esmāʿil b. Abi Moḥammad ʿAbd-Allāh b. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq al-Eṣfahāni (IV, p. 149). Other titles (laqabs) can be found in a letter addressed…

KAMĀL-AL-DIN ḤOSAYN ḤĀFEẒ-E HARAVI, a prominent Safavid calligrapher during the reign of Shah Ṭ ahmāsp I (r. 1524-76, q.v.). He was commonly known by the nickname (laqab) of Wāḥed al-ʿayn (One-eyed; see Minorsky, pp. 30, 152) and was later honored with the title of Eḵ-tiār al-monši. He should not be…

KAMĀL-AL-MOLK, MOḤAMMAD ḠAFFĀRI (b. Tehran, , widely acclaimed Iranian painter of the European academic style during the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods (Figure 1). This entry is divided into the following three sections: i. Life. ii. Style. iii. Works. i. Life Early life. Moḥammad was the second son of…

KAMĀLI BOḴĀRĀʾI, ʿAmid Kamāl-al-Din, a court poet, musician, and calligrapher at the court of Sultan Sanjar, the Saljuqid king, during his rule in Khorasan (r. 490-511/1097-1118). His exact dates and biography are not known, but we know that he was a well-known and respected poet during the early reign of…

KAMĀNČA (کمانچه, lit. “small bow”), the most common term throughout much of the Iranian world for a spike fiddle with a small, often spherical, resonating chamber (Plate I).   Bows used in playing fiddles of various types, including those that do not have a metal spike (Pers. siḵ, siḵča; cf. Ar….

KĀMI AḤMED ÇELEBI (Kāmi Aḥmad Čelebi; b. Edirne; d. Istanbul, 1579), Ottoman scholar, judge, writer, and translator. He was born in Edirne (his birth date is unknown) and known as Mesnevi-hānzāde (Maṯnawi-ḵvānzāda). He inherited the title of shaikh of the Mevlevi-hāne (Mawlawi-ḵvāna) of Muradiye in Edirne from his father, but…

KĀMI MEHMED-I KARAMĀNI (Kāmi Mo-ḥammad Qaramāni; b. Karamān; d. Istanbul, 1545), Ottoman scholar, judge, poet, and translator. He was born in Karaman (Qaramān) in central Anatolia. He was the cousin of the famous Ḵalwati Sheikh Cemāl-i Halveti (Shaikh Jamāl Ḵalwati; d. 1493 or 1506). He was granted a ‘permission’ (ejāza-nāma)…