Table of Contents

• YAGHNOBI

  Roland Bielmeier

  term for a people and their language, derived from the name of the Yaghnob valley and the Yaghnob river in Tajikistan.

• YĀḤAQQI, Ḥosayn

  Morteżā Ḥoseyni Dehkordi

  (1903-1968) renowned composer and performer of the violin and the kamānča (spiked fiddle) and instructor of music.

• YAHYA TEPE

  Cross-Reference

  archeological site in the Soḡun valley, Kerman province, ca. 220 km south of Kerman and 130 km north of the Straits of Hormuz. See TEPE YAHYA.

• YAḴČĀL

  Hemming Jørgensen

  Iranian ice-houses were facilities for the storage of solid ice, ensuring that ice was available for local distribution during the summer; they were not used for refrigerating foodstuff.  In its simplest form, the yaḵčāl was a storage pit dug in the ground, and covered with straw, rush, and earth for protection and insulation.

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• YAʿQUB b. LAYṮ b. MOʿADDAL

  C. Edmund Bosworth

  (r. 247-65/861-79), founder of what may be distinguished as the Laythids, or the “first line” within the Saffarid dynasty.

• YARKAND

  Pavel Lurje

  a town in Chinese Turkestan, at the southwestern end of the Tarim Basin (38°27' N, 77°16' E; alt. 1,190 m).

• YĀSĀ

  P. Jackson

  A term used of individual edicts issued by Čengiz Khan and his successors and sometimes of the entire body of such edicts.

• YĀSĀWUR

  Peter Jackson

  (d. 1320), a Mongol prince of the Chaghatayid dynasty.

• YASNA

  William W. Malandra

  the name for the central ritual in Zoroastrianism and for the long liturgical text recited during the daily performance of the ritual.

• YAŠTS

  Almut Hintze

  the group of 21 Avestan hymns in praise of various deities of the Zoroastrian pantheon. In principle, each is entirely devoted to the praise of one particular deity and can be recited by any member of the community, priest or layperson, male or female

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• YAZD iv. THE JEWISH DIALECT OF YAZD

  Thamar E. Gindin

   The name “Judeo-Yazdi” is applied to a Central dialect spoken by some Jews of Yazd. The Jewish community of Yazd is one of the oldest in Persia. Although it had never been large, it was divided into two neighborhoods, referred to as ma:le (NPers. maḥalla).

• YAZDEGERD I

  A. Shapur Shahbazi

  Sasanian King of kings (r. 399-420) called “the Sinner.” Sasanian-based sources judge Yazdegerd as a tyrant.

• YAZDEGERD II

  Touraj Daryaee

  Sasanian king, whose reign is marked by wars with Byzantium in the west and the Hephthalites in the east.  He stayed in the east for some years fighting the nomadic tribes and is known for imposing Zoroastrianism in Armenia.

• YAZICI, Tahsin

  Osman G. Özgüdenlı

  (1922-2002), Turkish scholar of Persian language, literature, and culture. During fifty-five years of scholarship, Yazıcı wrote, translated, and edited many books and articles. His translations from Persian into Turkish include Aflāki’s Manāqeb al-ʿārefin, the Persian version of Abu’l-Qāsem Qošayri’s Resāla, and the Aḥwāl-e Mawlānā of Faridun b. Aḥmad Sepahsālār.

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• YAZIDIS i. GENERAL

  Christine Allison

  The Yazidis are  a heterodox Kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey, with well-established communities in the Caucasus and a growing European diaspora.

• YAZIDIS ii. INITIATION IN YAZIDISM

  Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  Three different rites can mark the initiation of a Yazidi child as a member of the community.

• YEKI BUD, YEKI NABUD

  EIr

  the first collection of modern Persian short stories, and, arguably the foremost work by the eminent fiction writer Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh (1892-1997).

• YEŊ́HĒ HĀTĄM

  Christopher J. Brunner

  one of the four major Zoroastrian ritual prayers or mantras.

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• YIMA

  Cross-Reference

  Avestan name of Jamšid, a mythical king of Iran. See JAMŠID.

• YOHANNAN, ABRAHAM

  Eden Naby & EIr

  (1853-1925), Assyrian scholar, philologist, historian, and humanitarian.

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• YUSOF

  Cross-Reference

  son of the biblical patriarch Jacob. The story of Joseph has always been a source of attractive subject matters for the exegetists of the Qurʾān, poets, miniaturists, and popular tales. See JOSEPH.

• YUSOF O ZOLAYḴĀ

  Cross-Reference

  A love story with religious overtones, the romance of Yusof and Zolayḵā has always been among the very favorite themes of Persian poets who, with direct or oblique references to its various episodes, created a desired imagery, expanded on a particular point in the poem, conveyed a poetic meassage or reinforced it. See JOSEPH i. IN PERSIAN LITERATURE.

• YUSOFI, GHOLAM-HOSAYN

  Farhad Atai

  prominent scholar of Persian literature and history, literary critic, and outstanding university professor.

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• Yom le’yom

  music sample

• Y~ CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Cross-Reference

  list of all the figure and plate images in the Y entries