MAJD-AL-MOLK II, Mirzā Taqi Khan Monši-e Hożur (b. 1278/1861) a high ranking Qajar official and poet with the pen name…

ʿABDĪ ŠĪRĀZĪ, ḴᵛĀJĀ ZAYN-AL-ʿĀBEDĪN ʿALĪ B. ʿABD-AL-MOʾMEN (921-88/1513-80), also known by his taḵalloṣ Novīdī, a poet from a notable family…

ABU’L-FARAJ SEJZĪ, 4th/10th century poet of Sīstān, author of several lost works on the art of poetry. Only three couplets…

ABU’L-ḤASAN JORJĀNĪ, ʿALĪ B. ʿABD-AL-ʿAZĪZ B. ḤASAN B. ʿALĪ B. ESMĀʿĪL (“Qāżī Jorǰānī”), Shafeʿite jurist, poet, and man of letters,…

ABŪ ṬĀHER ṬAYYEB B. MOḤAMMAD ḴOSRAVĀNĪ, a poet of the Samanid period. He was a contemporary of Rūdakī; according to…

ĀDĀB AL-MAŠQ (“Manual of penmanship”), a short essay on writing the nastaʿlīq hand by the noted Safavid calligrapher Mīr ʿEmād…

ĀṢAF AL-LOḠĀT, title of a Persian dictionary compiled by Aḥmad al-ʿAzīz al-Nāʾeṭī, Šams-al-ʿolamāʾ Nawwāb ʿAzīz Jang Bahādor of Hyderabad in…

ĀṮĀR-E ʿAJAM, a study by Sayyed Mīrzā Moḥammad-Naṣīr Forṣat-al-dawla Šīrāzī, 1271-1339/1854-1920 (q.v.) of the geographical features and historical monuments of…

ĀṮĀR AL-WOZARĀʾ, a biographical work on ministers and other officials, their policies and literary works, by Sayf al-dīn Ḥāǰǰī b….

BADR ČĀČĪ, a Persian poet of the 8th/14th century, born in the town or district of Čāč (also written Šāš)…

BADR JĀJARMĪ, MALEK-AL-ŠOʿARĀʾ BADR-AL-DĪN B. ʿOMAR, a 7th/13th-century poet who enjoyed renown in his own time. Born in Jājarm, Khorasan,…

BAḤR-E ṬAWĪL, a type of Persian verse generally consisting of the repetition of a whole foot (rokn) of the meter…

BAḴTĪĀR, ABŪ ḤARB B. MOḤAMMAD, the patron of the poet Manūčehrī (d. 432/1040-41) who praised his bravery, nobility, magnanimity, learning,…

BĀSMA (also bāṣma, basma,and baṣma), a Turkish word which originally referred to a design applied (with an etching stylus, a…

BAYĀNĪ, MEHDĪ (Mahdī; 1285-1346 Š./1906-68), specialist in Persian manuscripts and calligraphy and pioneer in the field of Persian librarianship. Though…

ʿAJIB MĀZANDARĀNI, MOḤAMMAD ḴALĪL B. MOḤAMMAD ḤOSAYN, poet (d. ca. 1280/1863 or 1289/1872). Born at Bārforuš (now Bābol), he moved…

FOQQĀʿ, aneffervescent drink preserved in heavy and usually rounded clay vessels (FIGURE 1). The beverage was kept cool by placing…

ELĀHĪ QOMŠA’Ī, MAHDĪ b. Abu’l-Ḥasan, poet and professor of Islamic law and philosophy (b. in Qomša, ca 1320/1902; d. in…

FARHANG, MĪRZĀ ABU’L-QĀSEM ŠĪRĀZĪ (b. Shiraz, Ramażān 1242/April 1827, d. Shiraz, 1309/1891), poet, scholar, and calligrapher. In his youth Farhang,…

FARĀHĪ, ABŪ NAṢR BADR-al-DĪN MASʿŪD (or Moḥammad/Maḥmūd) b. Abī Bakr b. Ḥosayn b. Jaʿfar Farāhī, poet and litterateur (fl. 7th/13th…

ḎU’L-FAQĀR ŠĪRVĀNĪ, MALEK-AL-ŠOʿARĀ QEWĀM-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN b. Ṣadr-al-Dīn ʿAlī (d. ca. 691/1291), Persian poet and panegyrist of the Il-khanid period. Through…

DEHESTĀNĪ, ḤOSAYN b. Asʿad b. Ḥosayn Moʾayyadī, Persian translator of the Arabic work al-Faraj baʿd al-šedda by Abū ʿAlī Moḥassen…

CHESS, a board game known in Sanskrit as catur-aṅga- (“having four members,” a common designation for an army of four…

Č(AH)ĀRBĀḠ-E GARRŪS, a park no longer in existence in the south of the town of Bījār, center of Garrūs šahrestān…

ČAḠANĪ, ṬĀHER b. Abi’l-ʿAbbās Fażl b. Abī Bakr Moḥammad b. Abī Saʿd Moẓaffar b. Moḥtāj (d. 381/991), prince and poet…

BORHĀN-E QĀṬEʿ (Conclusive proof), the title of a Persian dictionary compiled in India in the 11th/17th century by Moḥammad-Ḥosayn b….

BORHĀN-E JĀMEʿ (Comprehensive proof), title of a dictionary compiled in the last years of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār’s reign by Moḥammad-Karīm…