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‘Gazetteer of Kermanshah.’ [‎97v] (199/504)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1907. 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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104
The Iliyats break up tbeir winter encampments one month after the
festival or the Nanruz, ^ one month after the sun has entered the sio*n
^Aries’, and travel by easy journeys of 2 to 3 miles each day to what they call
the 4 Sardiadd % or the boundary between the cold and hot regions ; there
they stay for about a month, and then travel on again to their Ilak, where
they encamp during the heat of summer, and where they remain about seventy
days; they then return to the f sar-haddwhere they remain another
month, and at length reach their old haunts in the Kishlak for the winter.
Many direct their motions by the rising of the stars, and many by the
appearance of the snowy mountains. They are unmolested in their passage,
and, perhaps, may give a sheep or so to the lords of the villages near which
they travel* The ground upon which they encamp is improved by their
presence, since it is strengthened by the manure they leave.
“ Their mode of calculating property is by sbeep; they pay their shepherds
in sheep. In their own dealings, in their purchase of oxen,etc., they pay in
sheep. A man killing one of their dogs is liable to be fined 4 sheep.
Among the villages, too, in their smaller dealings, the Persian Rayah deals
with his neighbour, not in money but in kind—corn, wool, straw, etc.
Three months after the Nauruz they separate the rams from the ewes, and
feed them till they are‘ must \ At the beginning of the sign Mizan, or
Libra, they turn them into the flock, by which the ewes bear at about the
Nauruz, and some of the Iliyats celebrate this event by music, son^s,
and merry-making. Shearing takes place twice in tbe year; the first
time after the Nauruz, about the 20th of May; and the second at the
Mizan.^ They give, of their wool and other produce of their flocks,
which is called by the general name of ‘kashf/ to the poor in alms.
At the time of the new lambs they take portions of their milk, which
they make into curds, cream, haimak, and fresh cheese ; and send it to their
friends as a complimentary gift, marking the return of the season. A
shepherd has care of three hundred sheep, and is paid in kind, both in wool
and lambs.
“From what has been said, it is evident that the Iliyats, as raw
material for the formation of troops, must be of considerable consequence
to the state of which they are the subjects. They are soldiers by nature,
as far as the mere habit of the man goes, but it must be added, they are
difficult of discipline owing to their clan-like propensities. Those on the
frontier frequently give rise to feuds and war.
“ One of the great sources of bickering, between the Turks and Persians,
are the Kurds on the frontier, who migrate from the one State to the
other as best suits their humour and interest. Good legislation would,
no doubt, soon turn tbem into peaceable and industrious communities;
but as tbe eastern G overnments are at present constituted the vast regions
inhabited by these wanderers must continue mere tracts of waste, adapted
solely to the uses of armed shepherds and lawless freebooters. (Morier).
“ Tbe system of Government, pursued in these tribes, is the same
throughout the whole of the tribes of Persia. Each tribe has its chief, who
exercises an unlimited authority over its members.
c( The tushmal are merely chiefs of families or of subdivisions, who are
employed in collecting the tribute, and are considered responsible to the
chief for the good order and allegiance of those placed under their care.

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Content

Gazetteer of the province of Kermanshah, Persia [Iran], compiled by Hyacinth Louis Rabino, Vice-Consul at Resht [Rasht] at the time of the gazetteer’s publication in 1907, and who had been Acting Consul at Kermanshah during 1904 and 1905. The gazetteer, which is marked for official use only, was issued by the Division of the Chief of the Staff of the Government of India, and published at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla [Shimla]. At the front of the volume is an introduction by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilfrid Malleson, Acting Quartermaster General for Intelligence, dated 22 March 1907, and a preface by the author, dated 24 June 1904, with notes on the transliteration system used (folios 4-5).

The gazetteer includes five appendices, numbered I to V, as follows:

  • appendix I, a translation from the French original of a description of the road from Kermanshah to Mendali [Mandalī], via Harunabad [Eslāmābād-e Gharb] and Gilan [Sarāb-e Gīlān], as recorded in a journal by Leon Leleux, Inspector General of Customs at Kermanshah;
  • II, a translation from the Persian original of a description of the villages in the immediate vicinity of the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). of Mahidasht, written by the Mirza of Customs at Mahidasht;
  • III, a vocabulary of terms;
  • IV, a list of the principal roads from Baghdad to Teheran via Kermanshah, with distances given in miles and farsakhs;
  • V, a list of the notables of Kermanshah.

The gazetteer contains extensive extracts from a range of sources, including: an earlier, unspecified gazetteer, published in 1885; various works on Persia by British Government officials (including Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, the Viceroy of India George Nathaniel Curzon, Captain George Campbell Napier); published works by a number of scholars and explorers of Persia (notably Trevor Chichele Plowden, Jacques De Morgan, Henry James Whigham, and James Baillie Fraser); reports from other sources, including Leleux, and the Mirza of Customs at Mahidasht.

Some of the appendices’ pages appear to have been mixed up. Included among them are: a genealogical table of the princes of Kermanshah (f 239); and hierarchical tables listing the chiefs of the principal tribes of the province of Kermanshah (ff 244-245).

Extent and format
1 volume (249 folios)
Arrangement

The gazetteer’s entries are arranged alphabetically. An index at the front of the volume (folios 6-45) lists entries alphabetically, taking into account variations in the spelling of names. This index refers to the volume’s original pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 250; 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 file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Gazetteer of Kermanshah.’ [‎97v] (199/504), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/19, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049855656.0x0000c8> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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