'A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations' [‎47r] (98/1826)

PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Ixxvii
a general summons of nobles to take the field with their military
vassals.
See Dictionary jli Kuzo^ Fandun^ Rustam,
Afrdsijj d b , j h As fan diy dr, j Sikandar. See
also Khondemtr, Tdrlkh muntakhab, Shdh-numah, &c.
See Pocock Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 65, 66 , 74. Novairi’s Hist,
of the Ilimyarit Kings, &c.
'Idrtkhu'l muslimln, or the History of the Sa
racens, p. 135. D’llerbelot, p. 1017.
P. xliv. 82 See Khondemir, Sharfu’d’din AIT YazdT’s Life of
Tamerlane ; Ahu’l Pharaje Dyn. 10 . D’llerbelot passim, &c.
I’, xlv. 8,5 The number nine has been long in great venera
tion among the Tartars. All presents made to their princes con
sist, in general, of nine of each article. At all their feasts this
number and its combinations are always attended to in their
dishes of meat, and in their skins of wine or other liquors. At
one entertainment, mentioned by the Tartar king, Abu’l ghazT
Khan, there were nine thousand sheep, nine hundred horses,
and ninety-nine vessels of brandy, &c. Even the roving Tar
tars rob the caravans by this rule ; and will rather take nine of
any thing than a greater number. Abu’l ghazT Khan, in the pre
face to his history, says, “ I have divided it into nine parts,
“ to conform myself to the custom of other writers, who all
“ have this number in particular esteem.” It appears tp have
been likewise a favourite mysterious number amongst the Goths.
We are told, that every nine years there was.a solemn festival, i
when nine animals of every species were sacrificed to their
gods. Oden, they say, resolving to die as a warrior before
the approach of age and infirmity, called a general assembly
of the Goths, and w ounded himself in nine mortal places. See
Adam of Bremen in Grotii Prolegomenis, p. 104. Mallet, In
troduction a 1’IIistoire de Dannemaro.
P. xlv. 81 The resemblance of the Tartar and European diets
seems, indeed, to have struck Voltaire : “ II parait que les Kans
“ Tartares etaient en usage d’assembier des Dletes vers le prin-
“ terns: ces Dietes s’appelaient Couriltc. Eh! qui sait si ces
“ assemblies et nos Cours Plenieres, au mois de Mars et de INI ai, |
“ n’ont pas une origine commune !” Essai sur I’Histoire Gene-
rale, ch. xlviii.—Abu’l Pharaje, p. 466, calls this Great Council !
J Kurlltay or jxi Kuz-r’iltay. All YazdT, in his j
••v ••
Life of Tamerlane, writes it y kurultdy. See a magnifi
cent description of one, chap. 3. In th.e Kharasmian dialect it is
y kuriltdn.
P. xlvi. 85 Blackstone’s Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 83.
P. xlvi. 86 P. xlvii. 88 Sadi, a Persian moral writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. of
the first class, in the preface to his Bostan, making an eulogium.
on Providence, says, with much seriousness, that Omnipotence
had provided so liberally for the nourishment of all his crea
tures, that even the STmurgh finds on the mountain of Kaf
sufficient for her sustenance, notwithstanding her immeasurable
size. See Dictionary Shnurgh, ^ankd, and <—ili
Kaf.
In many parts of the East they strongly perfume the bodies of
the dead, that the demons may not approach them.
P. xlvii. See Diet. Parti Ptzci L-j Sulay-
mun i Shddukdm ; d«?ljyb b a diy dtu > l jinn i
j Jdn bin Jan. Angelo says, that the Sabians make a
creation 370, 340 years before the Christian era. See Gazophy-
lacium Linguae Persarum, p. 361.— Haris, signifies a
guardian, governor, or protector ; but on his fall his name was
changed to W Ibd, the refractory; Iblis, the desperate ;
and Shaytdn, the proud.—Many of the ideas relative to
7G7/are even adopted in the Kur’an: they were the general
belief in the days of Muhammad ; and it was not till geography
became better understood in the East, that they discovered the
several divisions of Kdf io be Caucasus, Imam, Atlas, and other
mountains in Asia and Africa.—The Paris are by some writers
supposed to be all females, and the Dixzs males: but without
having any communication; each having the separate power of
continuing their species : yet, in the Tahmuras-numah, w r e find
the brothers of the Pari-marjdn; and the Kaharmdn-ndmah
mentions often the kings of Shddukdm.
P. xlviii. 89 The most famous talismans, which rendered them
proof againt the arms and magic of the Dims, were the ji.*
muhr-i Sulaymdn, or the seal of Sulaymdn Jarud, the fifth mo
narch of the world ; which gave ta its possessor the command of
elements, demons, and of every created thing. The^-j-j Sipar,
or buckler of Jdn bin Jdn, more famous in the East than
the shield of Achilles among the Greeks. The Jabah, or
the impenetrable cuirass; and the 1 tegh-i dtish, or
the flaminnr sword. Among the dreadful creatures of the ima-
gination, which winged the heroes of Persia from region to
region, were the Rakshah, whose ordinary food w r as serpents
and dragons, lie had long rendered the Dry Island inacces
sible, till subdued by Ilbshang, king of Persia, or by his
father Sayamak Shah, who tamed, and mounted him in all their
wars with the DTws. The Suham had the head of a horse
with four eyes, and the body of a flame-coloured dragon; he
was conquered by a famous Persian warrior called Sam Na
riman. The Azerdndbdd is described as a fierce flying hydra.
The Ajdar, ajdar, or ajdahd, are dragons of different kinds.
The 57 / appears to be the basilisk, having a face somewhat
human, the sight of which makes every creature to fly; the
near approach being certain death. See Dictionary suhdm,
awrdndbdd, rakshah, ajdar,jJj\ ajdar,
ajdahd, sil.
The present made by the Simurgh of her feathers to I ah-
muras, according to Eastern writers, gave rise to the fashion