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ḴOJANDIS OF ISFAHAN, a prominent family of Šāfeʿi ulema, who were settled in Isfahan by the Saljuq grand vizier Neẓām-al-Molk.  They turned into the most important family and political actor in that city during the Saljuq period and continued to play a significant role up to the Mongol invasion.  From…

ḴOJESTĀNI, Aḥmad b. ʿAbd-Allāh, Abu Šojāʿ (d. 882) commander of the Taherids in Khorasan, and after the Ṣaffarid occupation of Nishapur in 873, a contender for power. His nesba Ḵojestāni establishes a connection with Ḵojestān, a district of Bāḏāgis, lying to the northeast of Herat. In the 9th century, the…

KOJUR, historical district in the central Alborz, northwestern Māzandarān. i. Historical geography ii. Language and culture

KOJUR i. Historical Geography Topography. The historical district of Kojur covers roughly a quadrangle (about 55 km by 40 km) bounded by the Caspian Sea on the north, the Čālus River on the west, Nur valley on the south, and Suledeh valley on the east. Its exact contours have always…

KOJUR ii. Language Two major languages are spoken in Kojur: the native Caspian dialect and a Kurdish dialect spoken by the Kurdish immigrants (see KOJUR i, above).  The Kurdish dialect of Kojur remains unstudied; a glossary compiled by Jacques de Morgan (pp. 200-43) seems to be the only study published…

KOJUR iii. The Calendar The Ṭabari or Deylami year observed in Kojur consists of twelve months, thirty days each, plus five intercalary days called petak, concluding the year.  This calendar is in line with the composition of the Jalāli calendar (fixed under the Saljuqs; see CALENDARS ii), except for the…

KOLAYNI (or Kolini, erroneously Kalini), Abu Jaʿfar Moḥammad b. Yaʿqub b. Esḥāq Rāzi, prominent Imami traditionist. He was born (at an unknown date) in the village of Kolēn (Arabicized as Kolayn or Kolin), situated 38 km southwest of Ray in the district of Pašāpuya. He must have lived for a…

KOLUKJĀNLU, a Kurdish tribe in the Ḵalḵāl region of eastern Azerbaijan. According to Ḥosayn-ʿAli Razmārā, this tribe, as well as the neighboring Šāṭrānlu tribe, were offshoots of the Turkicized Kurdish tribe of Šeqāqi and moved from western Azerbaijan some 300 years ago (Razmārā, I, pp. 110-11). The Kolukjānlu’s tendency toward…

KONDORI, Moḥammad b. Manṣur, ʿAmid al-Molk Abu Naṣr (b. ca. 1024; d. 29 November 1064), vizier to Ṭoḡrel Beg (r. 1040-63), the first sultan of the Great Saljuqs, and, briefly, to Ṭoḡrel’s successor Alp Arslān (r. 1063-72). The nesba may refer to the profession of selling frankincense (Pers. kondor frankincense)…

KONOW, STEN (17 April 1867 – 29 June 1948), Norwegian orientalist (FIGURE 1). His father was a clergyman, belonging to a family of Bergen merchants descended from Schwerin, Germany. After his matriculation in 1884 Konow studied Classical and Germanic philology at the University of Oslo (then Christiana), where he got…

KORA-SONNI, a tribe in western Persian Azerbaijan. Basile Nikitine, who spells the tribe’s name “Kuresinli,” describes it as an only recently Kurdicized Turkic tribe (p. 116). This seems indeed to be the case, for when Lieut. –Col. Charles Stuart visited the Kora-sonni in October 1835, they were still regarded as…

Ḵorasan – Dekr Hāji Majnun Šāh title Ḵorasan – Dekr Hāji Majnun Šāh genre/topic  Dekr language   performer Ğolām ‘Ali Pur‘atāi, dotār and voice instrument Voice; Dotār composer   author/poet   first line of poem Yā mo’men agar ḵāhi ke yābi dolat-e šāhi recorded by   place of recording  …

ḴORĀSĀNI, MOLLĀ ṢĀDEQ (ملا صادق خراسانی), teacher, defender and promulgator of the Babi-Bahai faiths (b. Mashhad; d. Hamadan, 1291/1874). Mollā Ṣādeq, known as Esm-Allāh Aṣdaq in Bahai literature, was the son of Mirzā Esmāʿil Ḵorāsāni, a cleric from a noble family in Mashhad.  He received his traditional elementary education and continued…

KORK, soft wool, also called Kermān wool. Goat’s wool from Kermān has long been known as a valuable product for the manufacture of fine clothing and felt hats. Kork is produced by Rayen goats, a local variety of the Central Asian mountain species (capra ibex) whose fleece was used to…