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‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎174v] (353/686)

The record is made up of 1 volume (336 folios). It was created in 1885. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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KAR—KAR
326
especially before going to war, the 'AH Ilahis invoke bAH in the name
of Daoud, saying “ Oh Daoud, we are going to war, grant us aid
that we may overcome our enemies/' They then sacrifice some beast,
usually a sheep ; the blood and the offal are buried, and the rest of
the animal is roasted whole. When it is cooked the carcase is carried
to the priest, who separates the bones and kneads the flesh into a paste,
muttering prayers over it as he proceeds. When he has finished this
consecration a table-cloth is spread on the ground, and every one
present partakes of the sacramental food which the priest distributes.
After this ceremony the undertaking, whatever it may be, is entered
upon with perfect confidence of ultimate success.
The marriages of the 'All Ilahis are supposed to require the sanction
of Saiad Rustain, the chief priest, but resort is not unfrequently had
to Shiah Mullas. The dead are buried without prayer, but the head
of the corpse faces the kibla, as amongst Muhammadans. On the
birth of a child the father or mother give it its name, but if the
family is well-to-do, a Saiad is invited to a feast on the seventh day
after the birth, and is called upon to name the child.
Occasionally, if the demand is good, and the supply at Karmanshah
has been plentiful, grain and gin are sent to Isfahan, Hamadan,
Yazd, Karman, and Baghdad. The price of wheat in cheap years
ranges from 7 kirans to 1 tuman for a kliarwar of 100 mans* Tabrizi.
People have known the price as low as and 5 kirans. This year
(1881) the harvest was excellent, and, except that, owing to the
scarcity of seed, the area sown was comparatively small, the yield
would have been very large. Mr. Plowden watched a party of rayats
harvesting their crop ; they told me the return had been sixteen-fold
at least. Then they began to grumble about the exactions of the
“ malik," who took from them 6 measures out of every 100 measures
of grain, in addition to his legitimate share of one-third, and they also
had to pay from 1 tuman to 5 kirans.
KARMANSHAH (TOWN)—
T , j -r „ (46° 37' 0 " (Rosario) / 5,140 feet,
Lat * 1 34° 19' 14" / LoDg * | 46° 59' 24' (Flayer) j EIev ’ [ (Rosario).
A town, the capital of the district of the same name in Persia, about
2.50 miles south-west of Tihran, 262 miles west-north-west of Isfahan,
220 miles north-east of Baghdad, 303 miles south-south-east of Tabriz
by Silma, and 380 by Zanjan. The town is built on the rising ground,
which is connected with hills to the south, and its situation is most
picturesque and imposing from being surrounded with gardens. The
walls of the city are 3 miles in circumference and are in ruins, and the
moat much encumbered with their debris, so that it is now an open
town. It has five gates and numerous loop-holed towers flanking the
wall. Formerly Karmaushah boasted some handsome edifices, but
these for the most part have gone to decay. Plowden (1881) gives
the following list of public works completed by Muhammad 'AH Mirza
and his son Imam-ud*Daulat, both of these being men of strong
individual character, whose family influence enabled them to retain
* The tuman is equal to about 10 shillings English.

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Content

The third of four volumes comprising a Gazetteer of Persia. The volume, which is marked Confidential, covers Fārs, Lūristān [Lorestān], Arabistān, Khūzistān [Khūzestān], Yazd, Karmānshāh [Kermānshāh], Ardalān, and Kurdistān. The frontispiece states that the volume was revised and updated in April 1885 in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster General’s Department in India, under the orders of Major General Sir Charles Metcalfe Macgregor, Quartermaster-General in India. Publication took place in Calcutta [Kolkata] by the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, in 1885.

The following items precede the main body of the gazetteer:

The gazetteer includes entries for human settlements (villages, towns and cities), geographic regions, tribes, significant geographic features (such as rivers, canals, mountains, valleys, passes), and halting places on established routes. Figures for latitude, longitude and elevation are indicated where known.

Entries for human settlements provide population figures, water sources, location relative to other landmarks, climate. Entries for larger towns and cities can also include tabulated meteorological statistics (maximum and minimum temperatures, wind direction, remarks on cloud cover and precipitation), topographical descriptions of fortifications, towers, and other significant constructions, historical summaries, agricultural, industrial and trade activities, government.

Entries for tribes indicate the size of the tribe (for example, numbers of men, or horsemen), and the places they inhabit. Entries for larger tribes give tabulated data indicating tribal subdivisions, numbers of families, encampments, summer and winter residences, and other remarks.

Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.

Extent and format
1 volume (336 folios)
Arrangement

The gazetteer’s entries are arranged in alphabetically ascending order.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 341; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the volume has two printed pagination systems, the first of which uses Roman numerals and runs from I to XIII (ff 3-10), while the second uses Arabic numerals and runs from 1 to 653 (ff 12-338).

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎174v] (353/686), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033249832.0x00009a> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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