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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2008
With the exception of a minor mention, which Sharaf Khān (b.1543) made in the Sharafnāma, the first information about the most southern group of Kurdish tribes in Iranian Kurdistan, the Lek, first became available to modern readers in Bustān al-Sīyāḥa, a geographical and historical Persian text by Shīrwānī (1773–1832). These hitherto unknown Lek communities, were probably settled in north-western and northern Luristan, known as Lekistan, by order of Shāh ‘Abbās, who wished in this way to create some support for Ḥusayn Khān, the wālī of Luristan. Many of the centres of Lekî intellectual life in the late Afshārīd and early Zand period, which is also of much importance in that the Zand dynasty arose from it, are located in this geographical area. One has only to call to mind the names of such places as Alishtar (Silsila), Kūhdasht, Khāwa, Nūr Ābād, Uthmānwand and Jalālwand in the most southern districts of Kirmānshāh, and also the Lek tribes of eastern Īlām. The very mention of these cities and villages already sets in motion in one's imagination the parade of Twelver Shiites, Ahl-i Haqq heretics, and non-religious oral literary councils which constitutes the history of Lekî new era. But unfortunately little of this is known in the West and Lekî literature remains one of the neglected subjects of literary and linguistic Kurdish studies. This important oral literature and also some written manuscripts are unpublished and untranslated into western languages. The subject of this article is the translation of Zîn-ə Hördemîr, as an example of a genre of Lekî written literature which also provides linguistic data for the Lekî dialect of southern Kurdish.
1 For the appearance of this Kurdish tribe in Sharafnāma, alongside the Zand, and as subjects of Persia cf. Sharaf Khān b. Shams al-Dīn Bidlīsī, Scheref-Nameh ou histoire des kourdes I–II, ed. V. Vélïaminof-Zernof (St Petersbourg, 1860-62), i, p. 323.
2 On the paragraphs that discuss the Leks cf. Zayn al-‘Ābidīn b. Iskandar, Shīrwānī, Bustān al-Sīyāḥa, ed. Mustūfī, S. ‘A. (Tehran, 1894), p. 522Google Scholar. The Leks and their Kurdishness is also told in Ṭawāyif wa Qabāyil-i Buzurg-i Akrād, a Persian Qājārīd text regarding the Kurdish tribes of Iranian Kurdistan. Cf. Ṣamadī, S. M., “Risāla-yi Asāmī-yi ‘Ashāyir-i Kurd az ‘Aṣr-i Nāṣirī”, Pazhūhish-hā-yi Īrānshināsī, Jild-i Dawāzdahum, eds. Afshār, Ī. and Iṣfahānīyān, K. (Tehran, 2000), pp. 535, 558Google Scholar.
3 A discussion of this theme is in Tārīkh-i ‘Ālam-Ārā, cited in V. Minorsky, “Lak”, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition (Leiden, 1986), v, p. 617.
4 Cf., for example, the relationship between Karīm Khān Zand and the tribe of Ba[y]rānwand, and the activity of Lek tribes in support of Muḥammad Khān Zand in his attempt to seize power from the Qājārīd dynasty: Brydges, S. H. J., A History of Persia (London, 1833), p. 46ff.Google Scholar; Watson, R. G., A History of Persia (London, 1866), p. 116Google Scholar; Beer, E., Das Tarikh-i Zendije (Leiden, 1888), pp. xviii–xxviGoogle Scholar.
5 For the natural geography of these districts cf. Morgan, J. de, Mission scientifique, etudes géographique (Paris, 1895), pp. 157–213Google Scholar; Herzfeld, E., Eine Reise durch Luristan, Arabistan und Fars (Berlin, 1907), pp. 6–15Google Scholar; Grothe, H., Wanderungen in Persien (Berlin, 1910), pp. 5–7Google Scholar.
6 There is little published information about the Leks of Uthmānwand and Jalālwand. The best work known to me is Markaz-i Āmār-i Īrān, Farhang-i Jughrāfīyā'ī-yi Dihāt-i Īrān: Ustān-i Kirmānshāhān (Tehran, 1963). Compare also the scattered and sometimes false notes which are placed in a chapter entitled “Kermanchah” in F. Bémont, Les villes de l'Iran, des cites d'autrefois a l'urbanisme contemporain I–II (Paris, 1969–73), ii, pp. 171–190.
7 For a discussion of Lek community of eastern Īlām cohered to Lekistan cf. Āmār-nāma-yi Ustān-i Īlām (1377), Sāzmān-i Barnāma wa Būdja-yi Ustān-i Īlām (Tehran, 1998).
8 Lekî dialects have been little studied. Cf. in particular A. Hovelacque, Grammaire de la langue zende (Paris, 1878); Mirchivāghī, S. F., Barrasī-yi Sākhtimān-i Dastūrī-yi Gūyish-i Lakī (Xavājavandī)-Kilārdasht (Tehran, 1990)Google Scholar; Lazard, G., “Le dialecte laki d'Aleshtar (kurde meridional)”, Studia Iranica, XXI (1992), pp. 215–245Google Scholar; and an excellent work on the southern Kurdish dialects (including Lekî) by Fattah, I. Kamandâr, Les dialectes kurde méridionaux, étude linguistique et dialectologique, Acta Iranica 37 (Louvain, 2000)Google Scholar.
9 The feature of the Gôranî koinē and its influence in Kurdistan was first pointed out by Rieu, Ch., “Gorani Koine”, in Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, II (London, 1881), pp. 728–734Google Scholar.
10 For the manuscript, its contents and its date, cf. al-As'ala wa al-Ajwiba Rashīdīya (MSS, The Central Library of the Tehran University, No. 856 and No. 860).
11 For the presenting of the manuscript of Jang-i Hamāwan and its complete text, see Ḥ. Īzadpanāh and ‘A. Rouhbakhshan, “Une version laki d'un épisode du Shahnama”, Luqman, VI (1990), pp. 65–74; Ḥ. Īzadpanāh, Shāhnāma-yi Lakī (Tehran, 2005).
12 For details of this ruler, see Ghīyāth, al-Dīn Khāndmīr, Ḥabīb al-Siyar, ed. Dabīrsīyāqī, M. (Tehran, 1983), iv, pp. 497–499Google Scholar; ‘Abdī Bayk Shīrāzī, Takmila al-Akhbār, ed. ‘A. Ḥ. Nawā'ī (Tehran, 1990), p. 143.
13 A version of this manẓūma was edited in Shāhū, A. Gujrī, Az Bīstūn tā Dālāhū (Sanandadj, 1999), pp. 106–113Google Scholar.
14 Ibid., p. 113, where the poet's dating is given.
15 On the Serencam and its original Gôranî and Persian texts cf., for example, Minorsky, V., Materiali dl'a Izučeniya Persidskoy Sekti “L'udi Istini” ili “Ali Ilahi” (Moskva, 1911)Google Scholar; idem, “Notes sur la secte des Ahle Haqq”, Revue du Monde Musulman, 40–41 (1920), pp. 19–97; S. K. Nīknizhād, Ganjīna-yi Yārī (MS Facsimile, The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, No. 118574); idem, Guftār-i Khān Almās (MS Facsimile, The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, No. 149173).
16 On the Lekî versions of Gôranî Serencam cf. Ī. Kāẓimī, Dilfān dar Guḍar-i Tārīkh (Mashāhīr-i Ahl-i Ḥaqq) (Khurramābād, 2001), pp. 63–75.
17 There are some noteworthy kuļe bad examples, but yet it is important to understand the difference between kuļe bad and keļe bad or bahārīya. Keļe bads only explain the spring and its beauties. See Gujrī Shāhū, op.cit., pp. 86–93.
18 For the complete text of their munāẓarāt cf. Ṣāliḥī, M. M., Surūd-i Bādīya, dar Aḥwāl wa Āthār-i Shu'arā-yi Kurd wa Lak wa Lur (Sanandadj, 2001), pp. 55–64Google Scholar.
19 Some fragments of abyāt ‘ashara are produced ibid., p. 78.
20 See Milā, Manūchihr Kulīwand, Dīwān, ed. Muḥammadī, M. Nūr (Khurramābād, 2002)Google Scholar.
21 On the all Lek tribes of Lekistan, in general, see Mann, O., Mundarten der Lur-Stämme in südwestlichen Persien (Berlin, 1910), pp. xxii–xivCrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rabino, H. L., “Les tribus du Louristan”, Revue du Monde Musulman (1916), pp. 1–46Google Scholar; and for a recent study on the Kulīwand tribe, in particular, see Yūsufī, M., Īl-i Kulīwand: Shāmil-i Tawāyif-i Karam'alī, Falak al-Dīn, Kulīwand-i Duwwum wa Tāyifa-yi Qalā'ī (Khurramābād, 2003)Google Scholar.
22 Gujrī Shāhū, op.cit., p. 124, takes the name of his father as Milā Gurg'alī, but there is no evidence about this claim.
23 See Milā, Ḥaqq ‘Alī Sīyāhpūsh, Dīwān, ed. ‘Muqaddam, A. S. Ḥaqīqī (Khurramābād, 2000)Google Scholar.
24 For the Arab minority and the Arabic domination of Kurdish province of Īlām cf. Jughrāfīyā-yi Kāmil-i Īrān (Tehran, 1987), i, p. 370; Farhang-i Jughrāfīyā'ī-yi Ābādī-hā-yi Kishwar (Īlām) vol. 56 (Tehran, 1993).
25 The Turkish elements in Lekistan can be seen, for example, in the historical sources and in the Turkish manuscripts of the Ahl-i Haqq of the region. Cf. the notes cited in Howorth, H., History of the Mongols (London, 1888), iii, p. 140Google Scholar; Mu'īn, al-Dīn Naṭanzī, Muntakhab al-Tawārīkh, ed. Aubin, J. (Tehran, 1957), pp. 42–43Google Scholar; and S. K. Nīknizhād, Kalāmāt-i Turkī (MS Facsimile, The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, No. 119032).
26 This subject, and its implications for the oral literature of Ahl-i Haqq of northern Luristan, has been somewhat studied by Ḥ. Īzadpanāh, “Gāhshumārī-yi Ahl-i Ḥaqq-i Luristān”, in Arj-nāma-yi Īraj, Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh-‘Abbās Zaryāb Khu'ī I–II, ed. M. Bāqirzāda (Tehran, 1998), ii, pp. 7–10.
27 To my knowledge, the unique published source regarding the oral religious literature of the Leks is R. Ḥasanwand, Dīwān-i Mīrzā Shafī‘ Muṣaddiq (Qumm, 2004), where some Lekî Shiite hymns are published. There are also some Ahl-i Haqq and Shiite oral hymns, gathered by me in Lekistan. I owe a fundamental debt for these hymns to Mr Hesenmirö and Mr Sîyawexş, whom I interviewed in March 2001, in Ceļaļewen.
28 See, for example, Akbarī, H., Girdbād-i Sar bi Hawā: Bāzsarā'ī-yi Tak-bayt-hā-yi Lakī (Tehran, 2005)Google Scholar.
29 For this genre, see ‘Rizā'ī, A. and Yūsufī, M., Fāl-i Chihil Surūd (Khurramābād, 2003)Google Scholar.
30 The Sôranî hore/hôre is almost the exactly equivalent to hüre, but its oral literature, like hüre literature, has not received any scientific attention. For the same meaning of hôre, see Wahby, T. and Edmonds, C. J., A Kurdish-English Dictionary (London, 1966), p. 67Google Scholar.
31 A semi-skilled deal of the relevant material relating to hüre and hürexwens is already collected in Z. Muẓaffarī, Sūgwārī wa Izdiwāj dar Īl-i Kalhur, Unpublished MA Thesis (Tehran Central Department of Azad University, 1997).
32 This term and the same ritual of women's lament is also used in some Sôranî districts of the province of Kirmaşan and among the Yezidis of Badinan. Cf. Allison, C., The Yezidi Oral Tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan (London, 2001), p. 75Google Scholar. I am indebted to Mr Azad for Sôranî accounts of şîn.
33 I am grateful to Mrs ‘Alemtac for this information and performing some Lekî şîns.
34 For the Lekî proverbs, see ‘A. ‘Askarī ‘Ālam, Zabānzad-hā-yi Lakī (Khurramābād, 2004) and 'Ālīpūr, K., Dastūr-i Zabān-i Lakī, Ḍarb al-Mathal-hā wa Wāzha-nāma (Khurramābād, 2005)Google Scholar. For oral accounts of Lekî local heroes I am indebted to Mr Şîralî Nezerî, a knowledgeable Lek of Gurge tribe of Kenever.
35 I heard these folktales and historical accounts from many people in Lekistan and Tehran in 2006. Among them are Mr Selman, Mrs Zeke, and Mr Nüridîn.
36 Cf. Gujrī Shāhū, op.cit., p. 90.
37 Ibid., pp. 98–100.
38 As noted in Bedir Khan, J. and Lescot, R., Grammaire kurde (dialecte kurmandji) (Paris, 1970), pp. 3–7Google Scholar.
39 The proper noun Hördemîr means literary ‘little Amīr’ which is a word of derivation from hörd/hürd ‘little, small, tiny’ and emîr ‘emir, ruler, chief’.
40 Zo2 çüy; ZaG çün.
41 qeltan ‘saddle tree’ and teqeltuq ‘saddle leather’ occur in Ḥ. Īzadpanāh, Farhang-i Lakī (Tehran, 1988), p. 26, p. 95; and probably correspond to Turkish language. Cf. Kāshgharī, Maḥmūd b. Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad, Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, ed. S. M. Dabīrsīyāqī (Tehran, 1996), p. 487.
42 Zo1 çekuş.
43 ZaG ey deskar pîşey. The reading is doubtful.
44 ZaG kwəļ.
45 ZaG möyne. Reading doubtful; spelled māynh
46 Zo1 and Zo2 çəman xerî bî hüsya ve qoma.
47 This rarely word is quoted in Īzadpanāh, ibid; p. 60.
48 A different version of 15 is in ZaG. The complete form is as follows: tifəm bü e ŗüy deskar-ə ûsat • Heqq ûsat bəkəy ve rusvay besat.
49 Zo2 ve meseļ.
50 The other Leki equivalent of this word, i.e. gen, is in ZaG.
51 An alternative possible reading: lölö.
52 ZaG yek; Zo1 ej yek.
53 ZaG şayet; Zo2 şatîş.
54 ZaG îsge hem.
55 For the truly Lekî sazyame ‘I have passed’.
56 For the expected present perfect verb tazyane ‘they have attacked’.
57 The reading bəkerîn is also possible.
58 The opening formula of describing someone or something, such as zîn-ə Hördemîr, zîn-ə Hördemîr, beyan kem etc., recurs also in exactly the same form at the beginning of many Kurdish fragments of central and southern Kurdistan.
59 The translation adopted here for heftsed pəşt kebîr follows the established meaning of the phrase ejdad in Lekî, although it seems somewhat strained here. One might think of a possible meaning such as ‘to turn backwards’ in the present contexts.
60 The passage is not entirely clear and other translations are also possible.
61 The most notable usage of the phrase Dör-ə Celî in the idiomatic meaning is in satirical contexts. It is in daily usage among the Lek nomads of Īlām.
62 The translation offered here constitutes an attempt to accept the hemistich as it stands, but the result is rather strenuous.
63 On the Darrashahr or Badra and its situation see Pāyān, L. Mufkham, Farhang-i Ābādī-hā-yi Īrān (Tehran, 1960), p. 194Google Scholar.