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AMA, a minor Zoroastrian divinity, the hypostasis of strength, who appears in the Avestan hymn to Vərəθraγna (Yt. 14). In vv. 7, 9, he is represented as hovering above the yazata of Victory, and here he has his standing epithets hutašta-, hurao’a- “well-shaped, well-grown.” In a later verse (45) the…

AMAL AL-ĀMEL FĪ ʿOLAMĀʾ JABAL ʿĀMEL, biographical dictionary of Shiʿite (Etnāʿašarī) scholars originating from the Jabal ʿĀmel in south Lebanon, composed by Moḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʿAlī Mašḡarī, known as Ḥorr-e ʿĀmelī (1033-1104/1624-1693). The author was born at Mašḡar in the Jabal ʿĀmel, where he studied with his father and…

AMĀMA (also ʿAmāma), a village in the Lavāsān district at a distance of 39 km north of Tehran, located in a mountainous area 2,230 m above sea level. Heavy snowfalls in winter nearly isolate the village for more than three months of the year. The village population fluctuates, receding to a…

AMĀN-E AFḠĀN, newspaper of Afghanistan during the reign of King Amānallāh (1337-48/1919-29). In 1919 Maḥmūd Ṭarzī turned over the publication of Serāǰ al-aḵbār to ʿAbd-al-Hādī Dāvī (for the latter’s political career up to 1973, see L. W. Adamec, Who’s Who of Afghanistan, Graz, 1975, pp. 95-96). Following Amānallāh’s accession Dāvī…

AMĀNALLĀH (1892-1961), ruler of Afghanistan (1919-29), first with the title of amir and from 1926 on with that of shah. He was the third son of Amir Ḥabīballāh, who was assassinated on 20 February 1919 when Amānallāh was serving as governor of Kabul with control over the army and the…

AMĀNAT (MONŠĪ AMĀNAT RĀY AMĀNAT), 12th/18th century poet in Persian who imitated the style of his teacher, Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-Qāder Bīdel. A khatri from Laʿlpūr, he was employed as monšī by Nawwāb Amǰad Khan, foster brother of the emperor Moḥammad Shah (1131-61/1719-48). Among works that he translated from Sanskrit into Persian…

AMĀNAT KHAN ŠĪRĀZĪ, ʿABD-AL-ḤAQQ (d. 1054-55/ 1644-45), designer of the calligraphy on the Tāǰ Maḥall. He and his elder brother Afżal Khan (q.v.) immigrated from Iran to India around 1017/1608; the tomb of Akbar (d. 1014/1605) was then under construction at Sikandra near Agra, and ʿAbd-al-Ḥaqq was appointed to design…

AMĀNI, pen name of Amān-Allāh Khan, Ḵān-e Zamān (d. 14 Ḏu’lḥejja 1046/29 April 1637), an Indo-Muslim physician and author of works on medicine. He was the son of Mahābat Khan Ḥosayni (d. 1634), the well-known commander of the Mughal’s army, whose connections and support led Amān-Allāh to a prominent career in the Mughal…

AMAR NĀTH AKBARĪ, DEWĀN (1822-67), Persian writer and poet of the Punjab under the Sikhs. His father, Dīnā Nāth, was the revenue minister of Ranjīt Singh (1780-1839), while his grandfather, Pandit Baḵt Mal, was the author of Singh-nāma or Ḵāleṣa-nāma, probably the first history of the Sikhs. Amar Nāth studied…

ĀMĀRGAR, a Middle and New Persian word designating a person holding a particular administrative post. i. Etymology. ii. The post.   i. Etymology The term which yielded Middle Persian āmārgar is first attested in the 5th century B.C. as a loanword in two Semitic languages: [ḫ]a-am-ma-ra-(a-)ka-a-r[u?], am-mar-kar-ra, am-ma-ri/ru-a-kal in Late…

AMASYA, PEACE OF (8 Raǰab 962/29 May 1555), treaty signed between Iran and the Ottomans and observed for some twenty years. After their great defeat by the Ottomans at Čālderān in 920/1514, the Safavids avoided open battle and employed tactics of delay and scorched earth. The Ottomans made drives into…

AMATUNI, Armenian dynastic house, known historically after the 4th century A.D. (Pʿawstos Buzand, Patmuṭʿiwm Hayocʿ, 3.8, 14; 4.4) in the region of Artaz, between lakes Van and Urmia, with its center at Šawaršan, modern Mākū, and subsequently also at Aragacotn, west of lake Sevan, with the castle of Ōšakan. Of…