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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XV. THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA
85
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media val times, extends south beyond Kermanshah to the immediate border of Polo's next kingdom, viz. :
LÚR or Lúristán. [On Lúristán, see Curzon, Persia, II. pp. 273-303, with the pedigree of the Ruling Familyof the Feili Lurs (Pusht-i-Kuh), p. 278.—II. C.] This was divided into two principalities, Great Lúr and Little Lúr, distinctions still existing. The former was ruled by a Dynasty called the Tashiyah Atabegs, which endured from about 1155 to 1424, [when it was destroyed by the Timurids ; it was a Kurd Dynasty, founded by Emad. ed-din Abu Thaher (1160-1228), and the last prince of which was Ghiyas ed-din (1424). In 1258 the general Kitubuka (Ilulagu's Exp. to Persia, Bretschneider, died. Res. I. p. 121) is reported to have reduced the country of Lúr or Lúristán and its Atabeg Teghele.—H. C.]. Their territory lay in the mountainous district immediately west of Ispahan, and extended to the River of Dizfi 1, which parted it from Little Lúr. The stronghold of the Atabegs was the extraordinary hill fort of Mungasht, and they had a residence also at Aidhej or Mal-Amir in the mountains south of Shushan, where Ibn Batuta visited the reigning Prince in 1327. Sir H. Rawlinson has described Mungasht, and Mr Layard and Baron de Bode have visited other parts, but the country is still very imperfectly known. Little Lúristán lay west of the R. Dizfúl, extending nearly to the Plain of Babylonia. Its Dynasty, called Kurshid, [was founded in 1184 by the Kurd Shodja ed-din Khurshid, and existed till Shah-`Nerdy lost his throne in 1593.—H. C.].
The Lúrs are akin to the Kurds, and speak a Kurd dialect, as do all those Ilyáts, or nomads of Persia, who are not cf Turkish race. They were noted in the Middle Ages for their agility and their dexterity in thieving. The tribes of Little Lúr " do not affect the slightest veneration for Mahomed or the Koran ; their only general object of worship is their great Saint Baba Buzurg," and particular disciples regard with reverence little short of adoration holy men looked on as living representatives of the Divinity. (licitait. I. 7o seqq. ; Rawlinson in J. R. G. S. IX. ; Layard in Do. XVI. 75, 94; Ld. Stranfford in J. R. A. S. XX.. 64 ; N. et E. XIII. i. 33o, I. B. II. 31; D'Oltsson, IV. 171-172.)
SHÚLISTÁN, best represented by Ramusio's Suolstarz, whilst the old French texts have Cielstan (i. e. Shelstán) ; the name applied to the country of the Shúls, or Shards, a people who long occupied a part of Lúristán, but were expelled by the Lúrs in the 12th century, and settled in the country between Shíráz and Khuzistán (now that of the Mamaseni, whom Colonel Pelly's information identifies with the Shúls), their central points being Naobanján and the fortress called Kala' Safed or " White Castle." Ibn Batuta, going from Shiraz to Kazerun, encamped the first day in the country of the Shúls, " a Persian desert tribe which includes some pious persons."
(Q. R. p. 385; N. et E. XIII. i. 332-333; Ilch. I. 71 ; J. R. G. S. XIII. Map ; I. B. II. 88.) [ " Adjoining the Kuhgelus on the East are the tents of the Mamasenni (qy. Mohammed I-Iuseini) Lúrs, occupying the country still known as Shúlistán, and extending as far east and south-east as Fars and the Plain of Kazerun. This tribe prides itself on its origin, claiming to have come from Seistán, and to be directly descended from Rustam, whose name is still borne by one of the Mamasenni clans."
(Curzon, Persia, II. p. 3i8.)—H. C. ]
ISPAHAN ? The name is in Ramusio Spaan, showing at least that he or some one before him had made this identification. The unusual combination fir, i.e. sf, in manuscript would be so like the frequent one ft. i.e. st, that the change from Isfan to
Istan would be easy. But why Istanit ?
SHÌRÁz [ (Shir=milk, or Shir=lion)—H. C.] representing the province of Fars or Persia Proper, of which it has been for ages the chief city. [It was founded after the Arab conquest in 694 A.D., by Mohammed, son of Yusuf Kekfi. (Curzon, Persia, II. pp. 93-i io.)—H. C.] The last Dynasty that had reigned in Fars was that of the Salghur Atabegs, founded about the middle of the 12th century. Under Abubakr (1226-1260) this kingdom attained considerable power, embracing Fars, Kermán, the islands of the Gulf and its Arabian shores ; and Shíráz then flourished in arts and
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