"دليل بلاد فارس، الجزء III، وهو يتضمن محافظة فارس، لورستان، عربستان، خوزستان، يزد، كرمانشاه، أردلان، كردستان" [ظ‎‎١‎٧‎٤] (٦٨٦/٣٥٣)

KAR—KAR
326
especially before going to war, the 'AH Ilahis invoke bAH in the name
of Daoud, saying “ Oh Daoud, we are going to war, grant us aid
that we may overcome our enemies/' They then sacrifice some beast,
usually a sheep ; the blood and the offal are buried, and the rest of
the animal is roasted whole. When it is cooked the carcase is carried
to the priest, who separates the bones and kneads the flesh into a paste,
muttering prayers over it as he proceeds. When he has finished this
consecration a table-cloth is spread on the ground, and every one
present partakes of the sacramental food which the priest distributes.
After this ceremony the undertaking, whatever it may be, is entered
upon with perfect confidence of ultimate success.
The marriages of the 'All Ilahis are supposed to require the sanction
of Saiad Rustain, the chief priest, but resort is not unfrequently had
to Shiah Mullas. The dead are buried without prayer, but the head
of the corpse faces the kibla, as amongst Muhammadans. On the
birth of a child the father or mother give it its name, but if the
family is well-to-do, a Saiad is invited to a feast on the seventh day
after the birth, and is called upon to name the child.
Occasionally, if the demand is good, and the supply at Karmanshah
has been plentiful, grain and gin are sent to Isfahan, Hamadan,
Yazd, Karman, and Baghdad. The price of wheat in cheap years
ranges from 7 kirans to 1 tuman for a kliarwar of 100 mans* Tabrizi.
People have known the price as low as and 5 kirans. This year
(1881) the harvest was excellent, and, except that, owing to the
scarcity of seed, the area sown was comparatively small, the yield
would have been very large. Mr. Plowden watched a party of rayats
harvesting their crop ; they told me the return had been sixteen-fold
at least. Then they began to grumble about the exactions of the
“ malik," who took from them 6 measures out of every 100 measures
of grain, in addition to his legitimate share of one-third, and they also
had to pay from 1 tuman to 5 kirans.
KARMANSHAH (TOWN)—
T , j -r „ (46° 37' 0 " (Rosario) / 5,140 feet,
Lat * 1 34° 19' 14" / LoDg * | 46° 59' 24' (Flayer) j EIev ’ [ (Rosario).
A town, the capital of the district of the same name in Persia, about
2.50 miles south-west of Tihran, 262 miles west-north-west of Isfahan,
220 miles north-east of Baghdad, 303 miles south-south-east of Tabriz
by Silma, and 380 by Zanjan. The town is built on the rising ground,
which is connected with hills to the south, and its situation is most
picturesque and imposing from being surrounded with gardens. The
walls of the city are 3 miles in circumference and are in ruins, and the
moat much encumbered with their debris, so that it is now an open
town. It has five gates and numerous loop-holed towers flanking the
wall. Formerly Karmaushah boasted some handsome edifices, but
these for the most part have gone to decay. Plowden (1881) gives
the following list of public works completed by Muhammad 'AH Mirza
and his son Imam-ud*Daulat, both of these being men of strong
individual character, whose family influence enabled them to retain
* The tuman is equal to about 10 shillings English.