KOWALSKI, TADEUSZ (b. Châteauroux, France, 22 June 1889; d. Cracow, Poland, 5 May 1948), scholar and founder of modern Oriental…

POLAND iii. Iranian Studies in Poland The development of Iranian studies in Poland was preceded by some nonscholarly interest in…

PIR-E ZAN, a calendar-related legend about an Old Woman who personifies winter.  Besides Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, the legend…

SADA (Arabicized Sadaq or Saḏaq), the most important Iranian winter festival, celebrated by kindling fires. While the other seasonal festivals…

ḴEŻR (Ar. Ḵeżr, Ḵażer “green,” “green herbs,” “verdure”; Ḵeżr nabi, Ḵᵛāja Ḵeżr), a prophet known to Islamic written tradition and…

BĀBĀ-YE DEHQĀN (Boboi Dehqon “Forefather Farmer”), also known as Ḵᵛāja Dehqān, Bābā-ye Ādam, Ḵᵛāja ʿAbd-Allāh Dehqān, Šāh ʿAbd-Allāh, Ḵᵛāja Ḵeżr,…

ŠĀH-NĀMA TRANSLATIONS xiii. INTO POLISH The first brief mention of Ferdowsi in Polish was made by Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801) in…

MACHALSKI, FRANCISZEK, Polish Iranist (b. Braddock, Pennsylvania, 1904; d. Krakow, Poland, 1979). Machalski was born to a Polish peasant family…

KUSA (MPers. *kōsag, Arabicized kusaj “a man with little or no beard, beardless”), a carnival character known to the medieval…