Khorasan

“ On the east his youngest son, ʽAbbas, held possession of Khorasan, on the west the sultan’s troops again entered Azerbaijan and took Tabriz. His eldest son, Hamza Mirza, upheld his fortunes to the utmost of his power, reduced the rebel chieftains, and forced the Turks to make peace and retire; but he was stabbed to death by an assassin. On the news of his death reaching Khorasan, Murshid Kuli Khan, leader of the Ustujulu Kizil-bash, who had made good in fight his claims to the guardianship of ʽAbbas, at once conducted the young prince from that province to Kazvin, and occupied the royal city. ”

“ THE TOWER OF SILENCE Hundreds of years ago, when the Persian race first issued from unknown Bactria and the grim Hyrcanian forests, passing through the Caspian Gates, they came upon a fertile land lying to the north-east of the country, which was subsequently named Media. There on the edge of the province known to-day as Khorasan they founded a city, which with the rolling centuries gathered greatness and riches and power ”

“ KAIN, the name of a sub-province and of a town of Khorasan, Persia. The sub-province extends about 300 m. N. to S., from Khāf to Seīstān, and about 150 m. W. to E., from the hills of Tūn to the Afghan frontier, comprising the whole of south-western Khorasan. It is very hilly, but contains many wide plains and fertile villages at a mean elevation of 4000 ft. It has a population of about 150,000, rears great numbers of camels and produces much grain, saffron, wool, silk and opium. ”

“ When it was eventide, the king caused clear his sitting chamber and summoned the Wazir, who presented himself and making his obeisance to the king, kissed ground before him and related to him
THE TALE OF THE MAN OF KHORASAN, HIS SON AND HIS TUTOR. There was once a man of Khorasan and he had a son, whose moral weal he ardently wished; but the young man sought to be alone and far from the eye of his father, so he might give himself up to pleasuring and pleasance. ”

“ Moslim, the Arabic governor of Khorasan. Omar II., however, extended to non-Arabic Moslems immunity from all taxes except the zakat (poor-rate) , with the result that a large number of Persians, who still smarted under their defeat under Mokhtar, embraced Islam and drifted into the towns to form a nucleus of sedition under the Shiʽite preachers. In the reign of Yazid II. (720–724) serious risings took place in Khorasan, and in spite of the wise administration of his successor Hisham (d. 743) , the disorder continued to spread, fanned by the Abbasids and the Shiʽite preachers. ”

“ Khorasan played a vital part in the development of the modern Persian literature and especially its chief department, poetry. The entire early period of the history of modern Persian poetry, from Abbas welcoming with an ode Khalif Mamun into Merv down to Firdausi, may be labelled Khorasanian. There flourished the activity of Rudaki, Kisai, Dakiki, and other less notable representatives of the early period of modern Persian bards. [2] The culture of poetry was favoured not only by the geographical position of the province of Khorasan but by its political conditions. ”

“ Hitherto they have parried [393] off such attacks, by giving tribute, and promising future allegiance; but no sooner have the troops retired, than they have relapsed into the old state of rebellion and defiance. Nor is it likely that the present expedition of the Prince Royal into Khorasan, though much more formidable than any that has preceded it, will effect any permanent settlement of that part of Persia. Khorasan is a province which requires the presence of a foreign force to maintain its tranquillity ”

“ It was once one of the four great cities of Khorasan, rivalling Rai (Rhages) , “the mother of cities,” in importance and population, but is now a small and comparatively unimportant place with a population of barely 15,000. ”

“ THE TALE OF THE MERCHANT, THE CRONE, AND THE KING.” There was once a family of affluence and distinction, in a city of Khorasan, and the townsfolk used to envy them for that which Allah had vouchsafed them. As time went on, their fortune ceased from them and they passed away, till there remained of them but one old woman. When she grew feeble and decrepit, the townsfolk succoured her not with aught, but thrust her forth of the city, saying, “This old woman shall not neighbour with us, for that we do good to her and she requiteth us with evil.” ”

“ In Khorasan also there were very serious disturbances. The Sogdians, though subdued by Sa‘īd al Ḥarashī, were not appeased, but implored the assistance of the Turks, who had long been contending earnestly against the Arabs for the dominion of Transoxiana. They found besides a most valuable ally in Ḥārith b. Soraij, a distinguished captain of the Arabic tribe of Tamīm, who, with many pious Moslems, was scandalized by the government’s perfidy in regard to the new converts. ”

“ Travellers and students of climate seem to be agreed that the country offers unmistakable evidence of desiccation. Ruins of cities and villages are incredibly numerous and point to a larger population and better climate and irrigation in the days past. It would not be just to attribute the decay of Persia entirely to the devastations of war and the misrule of Islam.
“A comparison of the four provinces of Khorasan, Azerbaijan, Kirman, and Seyistan is instructive,” says Ellsworth Huntington. [17] Khorasan “has suffered from war more severely than has any other province of Persia. ”

“ His death, A.H. 207 (A.D. 822) , prevented its realization; but as his descendants succeeded him one after the other in the post of governor, he may be said in reality to have founded a dynasty in Khorasan. His son Abdallah b. Tāhir was a special favourite of Mamun, He brought Naṣr b. Shabath to subjection in Mesopotamia, and overcame by great ability a very dangerous rebellion in Egypt. When he returned thence, the caliph gave him the choice between the government of Khorasan and that of the northern provinces, where he would have to combat Babak the Khorramite. ”

“ Since Feth Ali Shah has filled the throne, he has had no opportunity for the display of military qualities: the Persians would probably hold him in higher estimation, had he spilled more blood. His expeditions have been confined to a few excursions into Khorasan, rather with a view to keep up the good opinion of his subjects respecting his bravery, and to inure his troops to the fatigues of war, than to subdue that province. ”

“ In fact his book reminds us sometimes of his own description of Khorasan:—“On chevauche par beaus plains et belles costieres, là où il a moult beaus herbages et bonne pasture et fruis assez.... Et aucune fois y treuve l’en un desert de soixante milles ou de mains, esquels desers ne treuve l’en point d’eaue; mais la convient porter o lui!”
Still, some shadowy image of the man may be seen in the Book; a practical man, brave, shrewd, prudent, keen in affairs, and never losing his interest in mercantile details, very fond of the chase, sparing of speech ”

“ The important city of Jundai-Sabur, with surrounding country, was also reduced by An-No'man, and an advance 171
threatened on Ispahan. But events were now transpiring in Khorasan, which at length opened the way to an advance upon the heart of Persia, and called that leader to more stirring work. ”

“ In 1510, when Shaibani had invaded Khorasan the second time, and had ravaged the Persian province of Kermān, Shah Ismaʽil asked for redress, referring to the land encroached on as “hereditary”; and Shaibani replied that he did not understand on what was founded the claim “to inherit.” Eventually the Persian troops were put in movement, and the Uzbegs, having been divided into small detachments scattered over the country, fell back and retreated to Herat. Their leader repaired to Merv, but Ismaʽil quickly followed him and enticed him out to battle by taunt and reproach. ”

“ In 1729 Ashraf became alarmed, and led an Afghan army into Khorasan, where he was defeated by Nadir at Damghan, and forced to retreat. The Persian general followed close in his rear and again defeated him outside Isfahan in November of the same year. The Afghans fled through the town; and Ashraf, murdering the poor old shah Ḥosain on his way, hurried with the wreck of his army towards Shiraz. On the 16th of November the victorious Nadir entered Isfahan, and was soon followed by the young shah Ṭahmasp II., who burst into tears when he beheld the ruined palace of his ancestors. ”

“ Though the Gur Khan himself is not described as having extended his conquests into Persia, the shah of Kharezm followed up the victory by invading Khorasan and plundering the cities and treasuries of Sanjar. ”

“ In this way they proceeded until, having escaped from the deserts of Khorasan, they entered the mountainous, woody, and more thickly-peopled province of Mazenderan, the inhabitants of which Forster found more civilized and humane than the Khorasans. On the night of the 24th of January, while pushing on through the forests, most of the passengers beheld a star with an illuminated tail, which, from its form and quick motion, our traveller supposed to be a comet. ”

“ KUCHĀN, a fertile and populous district of the province Khorasan in Persia, bounded N. by the Russian Transcaspian territory, W. by Bujnurd, S. by Isfaraïn, and extending in the E. to near Radkan. Its area is about 3000 sq. m. and its 937 population, principally composed of Zafaranlu Kurds, descendants of tribes settled there by Shah Abbas I. in the 17th century, is estimated at 100,000. About 3000 families are nomads and live in tents. The district produces much grain, 25,000 to 30,000 tons yearly, and contains two towns, Kuchan and Shirvan (pop. 6000) , and many villages. ”

“ One province of Khorasan, which once was very fertile, is in consequence now a desert It may be questioned, too, whether the sands of the adjacent deserts, which are subject to violent agitation from the action of the wind, may not have encroached upon Sogdiana. Nor should it be overlooked that this rich country has been subjected to the same calamities which have been the desolation of Asia Minor; for, as the Turcomans have devastated the latter, so, as I have already had occasion to mention, Zingis swept round the sea of Aral, and destroyed the fruits of a long civilization. ”

“ Their short dominion in Kufa under Mokhtār had been suppressed, but the discontent continued. In North Africa particularly, and in Khorasan the effect of Omar’s proclamation was that a great multitude embraced Islam. When it became necessary to impose a tribute upon the new converts, great discontent arose, which largely increased the number of those who followed the Shi‘ite preachers of revolt. Conversion to Islam was promoted by the severe regulations which Omar introduced for the non-believers, such as Christians and Jews. ”

“ Next in importance to the chief of Koochan is he of Toor [391] but, Mahommed Khan Kuraee [38] , who occupies a portion of the country between Meshid and Herat. He can raise about 6000 men, and is the most notorious freebooter in Khorasan.
About eighty miles eastward of Meshid lies the town of Shurukhs, a Toorkmun settlement, already mentioned as at present owing allegiance to Khiva. It submits to Persia, when the Prince at Meshid is able to enforce his commands. There are 2000 families at Shurukhs of the Salore tribe. This completes the enumeration of the chiefs on the boundaries of Persia. ”

“ A new Turkish power was founded by the khans of Khiva, who are known as the Khwarizm-shahs. They were originally vassals of the Seljuks, with the title of tasdar or ewer-bearer, but became independent and conquered Khorasan and Irak. They had, however, to contend with yet another new arrival from the east, the Kara-Kitais. These also were probably Turks, and were pushed westwards from China by the Kins. They conquered Kashgar, Khotan, Yarkand and later Transoxiana, pushing the Ghuzz tribes before them into Persia and Afghanistan. ”

“ But troubles continued throughout his reign. Abū Muslim’s attempts to put all the Umayyad faction to the sword led to a serious rising in Khorāsān. The partisans of the fallen dynasty, in Bokhārā, Soghdiana, and Farghāna, aided by the emperor of China, took the field in force, but were soon dispersed with great slaughter by Ziyād, governor of Samarkand. “It is plain,” says Vambéry,181 “from the historical sources before us that the original Iranian population of the land, namely, the Tājiks, fought under the banner of Nasr, and long remained true to the cause of the Ommayades.” ”

“ The merchants from Khorasan travel to India at all seasons, taking the route by Dera Ismael Khan, Mankere, and the Sandy Desert, crossing at Trimo, on the road to Toolumba. The country between these last two places differs from the right bank of the Hydaspes: destitute of sand hills, it is almost as barren and desert. A sheet of hard clay, with clumps of tamarisk, khair, lan, kejra, and such other shrubs as are to be found in the Thurr, or Desert of India, extends from the Chenab to the Ravee. There is not a blade of grass but on the banks of the rivers. ”

“ Arsaces was proclaimed king at Asaak in the district of Astauene, now Kuchan in the upper Atrek (Attruck) valley (Isidor. Charac.) , and built his residence Dara on a rock in a fertile valley in Apavarktikene (Justin xli. 5; Plin. vi. 46) , now Kelat still farther eastward; the centre of his power evidently lay on the borders of eastern Khorasan and the Turanian desert. The principal institutions of the Parthian kingdom were created by him (cf. Justin xli. 2) . The Scythian nomads became the ruling race ”