"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٨] (٧٢٢/٤٤٣)

390
1d 6 said to imply confidoncs on ono part and aitachmsnt on tb.6 otbsr. Tht*y
are mostly Georgians or Africans ; and being obtained or purchased when
young, they are usually brought up in the Muhammadan religion. Their
master, who takes the merit of their conversion, appropriates the females to
his own harem, or to the service of his wives ; and when the males are
at a proper age, he marries them to a female slave in the family, or to a
free woman. ° Their children are brought up in the house, and have, as has
been before noticed, a rank only below relations. In almost every family
of consequence, the person in whom the greatest trust is reposed js a house-
born slave ; and instances of their betraying their charge, or abusing the
confidence that is placed in them, are very rare.
“ The Persians have no ceremony that corresponds entirely to our chris
tening, because their children become Muhammadans as soon as the kalimah-
i-Islam* has been whispered into their ear; but they have one, called the
‘ shab-i-Vkhair/ or ‘ be the night propitious/ which is for the purpose of
giving the child a name. If the father of the child be in good circum
stances, he collects his friends together and makes a feast. He also requires
the attendance of several mullas ; and when the ‘majlis/ or assembly, is com
plete, sweetmeats are brought in and eaten. Ihe infant is also brought
into the c majlis ' and placed near one of the mullas. The father of the child
then gives out certain names—live m number each of which is written
separately on separate slips of paper. These slips of paper are placed either
within the Kuran, or under the edge of the nammad, or carpet. The
f fatihah, ; which is the first ‘surah" or chapter of the Kuran, is read.
One of the slips of paper is then taken out at random by the hand of the
father, and the child is called after the name which is there inscribed.
A mulla takes up the babe, pronounces the name in its ear, and places the
paper on its swaddling cloths. The relations of the child then each give it
other presents; and this custom they call the c ru-numa/ or showing the
face. |
‘•'They have still another custom, which they call the ‘ aklkah/ The
father of the child kills a sheep, of the flesh of which he makes broth, but
cautiously preserves all the bones. He invites his friends, relations, and tie
poor in the highways to partake of this food, from which he and his wife
are excluded ; but when the entertainment is over, he carefully collects the
bones, and having selected a clean place near some running water, he there
buries them. During the ‘ majlis" the name of the child is given
“They adopt also ceremonies about shaving the child’s head. It
frequently happens after the birth of a son that, if the parent be in distress
or the child be sick, or that there be any other cause of grief, the mother
makes a vow that no razor shall come upon the child’s head for a certain
portion of time, and sometimes for all his life. If the child recovers and
the cause of grief be removed, and if the vow be but for a time, so that the
mother’s vow be fulfilled, then she shaves his head at the end of the time
prescribed, makes a small entertainment, collects money and other things
from her relations and friends, which are sent as ‘ nazars’ (offerings) to the
mosque at Karbala, and are there consecrated.
“ The manners and customs of the tribes of Persia are, in great measure,
different from those of the residents of cities and towns. The chiefs of these
tribes, during peace, usually reside at court or at provincial capitals, and
* Kalimah-i-Islam = creed of Islam ; and consists in the words —“ There is no
God except God; and Muhammad is the apostle of God.”