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‘Gazetteer of Persia, Part III, including Fārs, Lūristān, Arabistān, Khūzistān, Yazd, Karmānshāh, Ardalān, Kurdistān’ [‎175r] (354/686)

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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327
KAR-KAR
office for a long series of years, and gave the province the advantage of
a settled policy and continuous administration :—
By Muhammad "’All Mxrza—
(1) The Chahar Bagh in imitation of that of Isfahan.
(£) A wall flanked with towers to protect the city.
(3) The present sarai with adjoining barracks.
(4) The viila and garden of Dil-kusha.
(5) The old bazar and the shoe bazar.
By Imam-ud-Daulat—
(1) The Arsenal in the city.
(2) The Post-house.
(3) The Telegraph Office.
(4) The new bazar.
(5) The Masjid at the Najaf gate.
(6) The villa and garden of Imadiah.
(7) The villa and reservoirs at Tak-i-Bustan.
(8) Three caravansarais.
(9) The artillery parade ground.
Another public work which deserves mention is the bridge over the
Kara-Su. It was built by Shaikh 7 Ali Khan, who ruled Karmanshah
in the days of Shah Abbas. It has six arches, and is in excellent
condition. The water of the Kara-Su is not used for irrigation; the
banks are high, and the levels are not suitable. The Persians explain
the matter differently; once, they say, the Kara-Su fertilised the
whole country, but its waters were horror-stricken and shrunk from
their banks when the madman Yazd-i-gird cast the Prophet's letter
contemptuously into the stream, which, has ever since remained
accursed and useless.
The city of Karmanshah contains about 60,000 inhabitants,* all of
them, with the exception of about 300 Jews, Muhammadans of the
Shiah faith. The plain on which the city stands extends 6 miles in
breadth from north to south and 30 miles from east to west, and is
studded with small villages containing from 30 to 50 houses. To the
north the plain is shut in by the Parau range of mountains, which
terminates abruptly at the village of Bihistan*, distant about 20 miles
from Karmanshah. The situation of the city is picturesque and well
chosen. There is an ample supply of water, which however has the
defect of hardness; the soil is fertile, and supplies of all kinds are
plentiful and cheap. The province of Karmanshah counts some of
the leading Kajar Princes among its former rulers. They remitted
very little, if any, money to Tihran, but spent the whole revenue
of the province on themselves, on the provincial forces, and on local
public improvements. These last were many of them—like the Ima
diah palace and gardens—for purely selfish objects, but it was something
that the money collected in the province should be also expended in it.
Now-a-days every tuman that can be spared after provision for the barest
necessaries has been made is remitted to the Imperial Treasury at Tihran.
Expenditure on local improvements has entirely ceased. No Governor
* 30,000, Parliamentary Report, Dickson, 1885.

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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’ [‎175r] (354/686), 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_100033249832.0x00009b> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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