'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.' [‎176v] (357/652)

344
KIR—KIR
Its first mention is found in the pages of Herodotus, who refers to it as
forming one of the twelve tribes of Persia. Strabo gives a general account
of its dimensions, fertility, and mineral wealth, in terms which would be
fairly applicable even now. In the great epic poem the “ Shah Nameh,” the
king of Kirman is mentioned as fighting on the side of Kai Khusru against
the forces of Turan. Alexander the Great traversed the province from east
to west on his return journey from India, while Krateros entered it from
Sistan.
No reference to Kirman is found during the period of the Parthian
dynasty, but after enduring a foreign yoke for five centuries., Ardashir, son
of Papak, defeated Artabanus in a desperate battle near Ram Plurmuz
(A.D. 218), and established a national dynasty which lasted till the
’Arab conquest and under which it enjoyed a state of general peace and
prosperity.
When the Nestorian sect spread over Persia, Kirman became a See
under the Metropolitan of Pars (vide Khabis). During the Arab invasion,
after the battle of Nahavand (A.D. 642), Kirman offered little opposition,
and, though rebellions and risings were of frequent occurrence, the Muham
madan rulers became the more firmly established, till gradually the majority
of the population themselves embraced the tenets of Islam. For the next
400 years Kirman was the scene of battle and murder, where one king
succeeded another, only to be ousted in his turn by a stronger than he.
In A.D. 1013 Mahmud of Ghazni seized Kirman, but eight years after his
death, which occurred in A.H. 421 (A.D. 1030), a mighty wave of conquest
rolled westwards across Asia, when the Seljuks captured Merv and
Nishapur, and Malik Kaward, son of Chakar Beg, hewed out a kingdom
for himself in Kirman, which was held by his descendants for a century
and a half, and included, till the reign of Arslan Shah, the province
of’Oman, which Kaward annexed by an oversea e pedition.
Kirman under the Seljuka was at the zenith of its prosperity about the
year A.D. 1100, after which a fearful condition of rapine and anarchy
succeeded, when the Ghaz, expelled from Sarakhs, invaded the province,
marched to Baghin, defeated the forces sent against them and raided Jiruft,
killing, harrying and destroying. Kirman was practically deserted and the
province laid waste. Malik Dinar of the Ghaz tribe, about A.H. 581 (A.D.
1185), established himself on the throne, upon which followed as usual,
intrigues and counter-intrigues of rival and succeeding claimants, till the
great Mongol irruption under Changiz Khan indirectly changed the course
of its history, when a certain Borak Hajib managed to assume supreme con
trol, under the overlordship of Changiz Khan. One of his successors, the
widow of Kutb-ud-Din, was on the throne when Marco Polo passed through
on his outward journey. She appears to have ruled wisely and well, to have
founded villages, which are still flourishing, and many qandt pipes stamped
with her name are even yet extant in the province. She died about
A.H. 681 (A.D. 1282).
It is interesting to note that Arghun Khan, reigning about A.D. 1290,
i sent embassies to the Pope and the kings of France and England, while
Edward I accredited Geoffrey de Langely to the Court of the Mongol, with
a return embassy and presents. .-