Explore Iranica

MIRDREKVANDI, ʿALI, nicknamed “Gunga Din,” author of “Irradiant,” a popular epic written in broken English in the mid-20th century. Little is known about ʿAli Mirdrekvandi, except that he was a poorly educated native of Luristan who had, incredibly, taught himself enough English to write “Irradiant.” He attached himself to British…

MIRJALĀLI, MAḤMUD (b. Tehran, 14 Šaʿbān 1316/28 January 1898; d. Tehran, 20 Rajab 1403/3 May 1983, FIGURE 1), Major General, a leading military figure who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, vice minister of defense, a senator for five sessions of parliament from 1960 to 1975, and…

Mirqambar title Mirqambar genre/topic Epic language Baluchi performer La’lbakš Peyk, voice and tamburak ‘Ali Mohammad Baluč, sorud Mohammad Eshāq Baluč, tamburak Kodādād Šakelzehi, tamburak instruments Sorud; Tamburak; Voice composer   author/poet   first line of poem   recorded by   place of recording   date of recording   duration 5:10…

MIRŠAKAR, MIRSAID (Mir-sayyed; b. Sindev, 5 May 1912; d. Dushanbe, 1993). Tajik poet, dramatist, and children’s author; People’s Poet of Tajikistan, 1962. Miršakar was born into a modest peasant family in Badaḵšan (Pamir), one of the more remote regions of Tajikistan, where he absorbed the stories and songs of the mountain people that…

MIRʿALĀʾI, Aḥmad (b. Isfahan, 21 Farvardin 1321 Š./10 April 1942; d. 2 Ābān 1374 Š./24 October 1995, FIGURE 1), editor of three literary magazines and translator of works of Western literature. Mirʿalāʾi was born into an educated, cultured family marked by the tension between the advocates of modernity and the…

Mithra i. Mitra in Old Indian and Mithra in Old Iranian. ii. Iconography in Iran and Central Asia. iii. in Manicheism.  

MITHRA i. MITRA IN OLD INDIAN AND MITHRA IN OLD IRANIAN The name of the Indo-Iranian god Mitra (Vedic Mitra, Avestan Miθra, Old Persian Mitra, Miθra instead of the genuine OP form *Miça) is based on the common noun mitrá “contract” with the connotations of “covenant, agreement, treaty, alliance, promise.”…

MITHRA ii. ICONOGRAPHY IN IRAN AND CENTRAL ASIA There is no known iconography of Mithra in the Achaemenid period. On coins of the Arsacids the seated archer dressed as a Parthian horseman, which is often depicted on the reverse, has been interpreted as Mithra holding Apollo’s favorite attribute, a bow,…

MITHRA iii. IN MANICHEISM The Iranian Manicheans adopted the name of the Zoroastrian god Mithra (Av. Miθra; Mid. Pers. Mihr) and used it to designate one of their own deities. Unfortunately, the representation of Mithra as a different god in languages has, for a long time, obscured the relation between…

MITHRAISM, the cult of Mithra as it developed in the West, its origins, its features, and its probable connection with Mithra worship in Iran. For most of the twentieth century the major problem addressed by scholarship on both Roman Mithraism and the Iranian god Mithra was the question of continuity….

MITHRIDATES VI Eupator Dionysos (r. 120-63 BCE), last king of Pontus, the Hellenistic kingdom that emerged in northern Asia Minor in the early years of the 3rd century BCE (Figure 1). He is noted primarily for his opposition to Rome. Of the three wars he fought against Rome, the first…

MOBĀRAK, HĀJI (حاجی‌مبارک)(b. Africa, 1823; d. Karbala, ca. 1863), African slave of Sayyed ʿAli-Moḥammad Širāzi, the Bāb, and participant in the founding events of the Babi movement. Mobārak, born in Africa, was transported to Iran, purchased by the Bāb’s brother-in-law, Ḥāji Mirzā Abu’l-Qāsem at the age of five, and educated within…

MOCKLER, EDWARD (1842-1927), British army officer and diplomat who contributed to the study of Baluchi and Baluchistan (Figure 1). Life. Edward Mockler was born on 18 September 1842 at Belgaum (present-day Belagavi in Karnataka) in India. His father, Edward Mockler Sr. (1810-1887), was a surgeon major in the East India Company Army. His mother, Ann Sarah Pritchard,…