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Art. X.—The Cities of Kirmān in the time of Ḥamd-Allah Mustawfi and Marco Polo
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
In a later number of this Journal I hope to give a summary account of the Cosmography known as the Nuzhat -al-Ḳulūb or “Heart's Delight” by Ḥamd-Allah Mustawfi, more especially indeed of the geographical part of that compilation, and this will serve as a supplement to the paper recently given us by Mr. E. G. Browne on the historical work written by this same Persian author, called the Tārīkh-i-Guzīdah. My summary, however, not being as yet quite ready for printing, I take this occasion to publish some preliminary notes on the vexed question of the older capitals of Kirmān, with a brief reference to the other chief cities of the province, since the account written by Ḥamd-Allah appears likely to prove useful in understanding the description of Kirmān given in the Travels of Marco Polo.
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References
page 281 note 1 For Māshīz the better reading is probably Narmāshīr, as given in the MSS. and in the corresponding passage of the Turkish text of the Jihān Numā (p. 257); Narmāshīr being the chief town of the district of the same name which lies a short distance to the south-east of Bam.
Page 282 note 1 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1855, p. 47; J.R.A.S., 1898, p. 43; and cf. Houtsma, Recueil de textes relatifs à l'histoire des Seljoucides, i, 48, 49, 83, 153.
page 282 note 2 J.R.A.S., 1881, p. 492 ; Numismatic Chronicle, 1880 (No. Ixxx), p. 324.
page 283 note 1 Balādhuri, 391; Hamzah Ispahāni (edited by Gottwaldt) text, p. 46; Muḳaddasi, 460, 461. Yāḳūt, i, 555; ii, 927; iv, 265. The pronunciation Yazdashīr, sometimes given, is merely a clerīcal error from a mis-setting of the diacritical points of the Arabic writing. I believe General Schindler to be mistaken in deriving Bardasīr from Kūrah-Ardashīr (J.R.A.S., 1881, p. 492); the authority of the Persian dictionary called the Farhang-i-Anjumān Arā is hardly to be trusted in matters of etymology.
page 284 note 1 Guzīdah MS., chapter iv, section x, Reign of Burāḳ Ḥājib; Houtsma, Seljoucides, i, 4, 54, 200, 201; Rawẓat-aṣ-Ṣafā (lithographed in Bombay A.H. 1266), part iv, 104, 105, 128, 129 ; Ibn-al-Athīr, x, 219 ; Yāḳūt, iv, 265.
page 286 note 1 Rawẓat-aṣ-Ṣafā, part iv, 170 ; part vi, 48, 69. Ẓafar Nāmah, by ‘Alī of Yazd (Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta, 1887), i, 618, 667, 784.
page 287 note 1 Muḳaddasi, 461 ; Houtsma, Recueil, i, 28, 34, 177, 187, 189, 190, 194 ; Rawẓat-aṣ-Ṣafā, part iv, 129, 130; Journal of the Society of Arts for 1897, p. 657, Kirman and Persian Baluchistan, by Captain P. Molesworth-Sykes.
page 287 note 2 Six Months in Persia, by Stack, E. (1882), i, 133, 221Google Scholar. General Schindler, H., “ Reise in Persian”: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde, Berlin, 1881, vol. xvi, p. 307Google Scholar.
page 289 note 1 Muḳaddasi, 455, 464, 473; Istakhri, 131, 135, 168, 169; Ibn Hawkal 203, 224, 225 ; Ibn Khurdadbih, 48, 53 ; Kudamah, 195 ; Ibn Fakih, 206, 208 ; Yāḳūt, iv, 106.
page 290 note 1 Stack, i, 213 ; Schindler, p. 361. An alternative site would be Pāriz, but Mr. Stack (i, 185) writes that, this “lies in a dell enclosed by four low hills,” and there do not appear to be any ancient remains in or near the modern town, except the ruin of an insignificant mud fort on a neighbouring hill. Then, again, to the south of Pāriz and a little to the east of Farīdūn lies Siraj, but unfortunately of this place no account is given by Mr. Stack or our other authorities.
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