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ḴĀQĀNI ŠERVĀNI (or Šarvāni), AFŻAL-AL-DIN BADIL B. ʿALI B. ʿOṮMĀN, a major Persian poet and prose writer (b. Šervān, ca. 521/1127; d. Tabriz, between 582/1186-87 and 595/1199). He composed a voluminous divan (divān), which also contains a few Arabic poems (ed. Sajjādi, pp. 939-67; all references to Ḵāqāni’s Divān are…

ḴĀQĀNI ŠERVĀNI i. Life The date of Ḵāqāni’s birth can be deduced from a chronogram (Divān, p. 64, v. 13) and is corroborated by other references in his Divān (Reinert, 1964-65, pp. 126-28). Born to a Muslim father and an initially Nestorian mother who had converted from Christianity to Islam (Toḥfat…

ḴĀQĀNI ŠERVĀNI ii. Works Qaṣidas and tarjiʿāt. Ḵāqāni’s fame rests on his qaṣidas, of which, in Żiāʾ-al-Din Sajjādi’s edition, there are one hundred and thirty-two (Divān, pp. 1-444). One should add to these his sixteen tarjiʿāt (pp. 446-546). The tarjiʿband was, at the time, considered as a specific kind of…

KĀR KIĀ, or Kiā, a Zaydi family from the eastern flank (Bia-piš) of Gilān, as well as the local dynasty founded by this family.  The dynasty came to power in the 770s/1370s, a time when the worship of sayyeds and saints was becoming increasingly popular, and was dominant over East…

KĀR-NĀMA-YE BALḴ, a short maṯnavi by Sanāʾi of Ghazna (d. 1131), containing panegyric as well as satirical verses addressed to, or describing, people from various layers of Ghaznavid society. As in his other maṯnavis, Sanāʾi uses the meter ḵafif-e mosaddas-e maḥḏuf in the Kār-nāma. The presence of a strong element…

KĀR-NĀMAG Ī ARDAŠĪR Ī PĀBAGĀN, a short prose work written in Middle Persian. It narrates the Sasanian king Ardašīr I’s own life story—his rise to the throne, battle against the Parthian king Ardawān (see ARTABANUS), and conquest of the empire by the scion of the House of Sāsān, as well…

Kara Bašimuna Nana title Kara Bašimuna Nana genre/topic Work song of rice farmers language Ṭālešī performer  Group of instrument Voices composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by Ārmin Faridi-Haftkhāni place of recording   date of recording   duration 3:00 source Regional Music of Iran, Music of…

KARABALGASUN, or Khar Balgas “Black ruined city” in Mongolian, archeological site of a capital of the Uighur Khaghanate (second half of the 8th century to first half of the 9th century). i. The site. ii. The inscription.

KARABALGASUN i. The Site Karabalgasun is located in the Orkhon valley, 320 km west of Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), 30 km north of Karakorum. This capital was named variously in the Chinese sources: Huihu cheng “Uighur city” (Jiu Tangshu, chap. 145, p. 5213); Woluduo cheng “Ordu city” (Liaoshi, chap. 93, p. 1378); Buguhan cheng “Bögü…

KARABALGASUN ii. The Inscription The trilingual inscription at Karabalgasun, in Old Turkic, Sogdian, and Chinese, of the eighth Uighur qaghan (r. 808-21 CE) in Mongolia commemorates the qaghan’s (Old Turkic ḵaḡan, qaḡan) own military achievements and those of his predecessors, as well as their adoption and support of the Manichean…

KARAFTO CAVES, an ensemble of artificially cut rock chambers with a Greek inscription, dated to the 4th or 3rd century BCE, in Kordestān Province. History of Discovery. The chambers were carved into a rock ridge, 20 km west of Takab (see AZERBAIJAN), and are only accessible through a common entrance…

KARAJ (کرج)(also spelled Kerej or Karadj), a town in Tehran province, located 36 km west of the city of Tehran on the western bank of the Karaj River (lat 35° 46ʹ N, long 50° 49ʹ E; elev., 1,360 m). It has an average yearly rainfall of 188 m., average temperature maximum 21.3°C and…

KARAJ i. Modern City In the present day, Karaj is a major suburb of Tehran. But until the second half of the 20th century, it was only known as a summer resort of the sub-district (dehestān) of Sāvoj Bolāq, along the road between Tehran and Qazvin, in the foothills of…

KARAJ ii. Population This sub-entry is divided into two sections: Karaj Sub-province and Karaj City. KARAJ SUB-PROVINCE Since the 1976 census, when Tehran was no longer counted within the boundaries of Central (Markazi) province and formed its own province, Karaj has been one of its sub-provinces. Originally a relatively large…