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south of it, constituted Ghor. The name as now used does not include the valley of the Herat river; on the south the limit seems to be the declivity of the higher mountains dominating the descent to the See also:

LOWER

lower Helmund, and the road from See also:

FARAH

Farah to See also:

KANDAHAR

Kandahar. It is in Ghor that rise all those affluents of the 'closed basin of See also:

SEISTAN, or SISTAN (SEJISTAN)

Seistan, the Hari-rud, the Farah-rud, the Khashrud, besides other considerable streams joining the Helmund above See also:

GIRISHK

Girishk. Ghor is mentioned in the Shahnama of Firdousi (A.D. 1010), and in the Arab geographers of that See also:

time, though these latter fail in details almost as much as we moderns, thus indicating how little accessible the country has been through all ages. See also:

Ibn Haullal's See also:

map of See also:

KHORASAN, or KHORASSAN (i.e. " land of the sun ")

Khorasan (c. 976) shows Jibal-al-Ghur, " the See also:

hill-country of Ghor," as a circle See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring-fenced with mountains. His brief description speaks of it as a See also:

LAND

land fruitful in crops, See also:

CATTLE (Norman Fr. catel, from Late Lat. capitale, wealth or property, a word applied in the feudal system to movable property and particularly to live stock, and surviving in its wider meaning as " chattel " or " chattle ")

cattle and flocks, inhabited by infidels, except a few who passed for Mahommedans, and indicates that, like other See also:

pagan countries surrounded by Moslem populations, it was regarded as a See also:

STORE (from O. Fr. estor or estoire, Late Lat. staurum or instaurum, stock, provisions, supply, from the late use of instaurare, to provide, properly to construct, renew, restore)

store of slaves for the faithful. The boundary of Ghor in ascending the valley of the Hari-rud was six and a See also:

HALF

half easy See also:

MARCHES, THE (It. Le Marche)

marches from Herat, at Chist, two marches above Obeh.

The See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief part of the See also:

PRESENT

present See also:

POPULATION (Lat. populus, people; populare, to populate)

population of Ghor are Taimanis, belonging to the class of See also:

NOMAD (Gr. voµas, voµabes, wandering)

nomad or semi-nomad clans called See also:

AIMAK

Aimak, intermingled with Zuris and Tajiks. The See also:

PEOPLE

people and princes of Ghor first become known to us in connexion with the Ghaznevid See also:

DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty, and the See also:

early See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval histories of Ghor and See also:

GHAZNI

Ghazni are so intertwined that little need he added on that subject to what will be found under GHAZNI (q.v.). What we read of Ghor shows it as a country of lofty mountains and fruitful valleys, and of numerous strongholds held by a variety of hill-chieftains ruling warlike clans whose habits were rife with feuds and turbulence, indeed, in See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character strongly resembling the tribes of modern Afghanistan, though there seems no See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason to believe that they were of Afghan See also:

RACE

race. It is probable that they were of old See also:

Persian See also:

BLOOD

blood, like the older of those tribes which still occupy the country. It is possibly a corroboration of this that, in the 14th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, when one of the Ghori See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings, of the Kurt dynasty reigning in Herat, had taken to himself some of the insignia of See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent See also:

SOVEREIGNTY

sovereignty, an incensed Mongol See also:

prince is said to have reviled him as " an insolent See also:

TAJIK, or PARSIWAN

Tajik." Sabuktagin of Ghazni, and his famous son Mahmud, repeatedly invaded the mountain country which so nearly adjoined their See also:

capital, subduing its chiefs for the moment, and exacting See also:

TRIBUTE (Lat. tributurn, a stated payment, contribution)

tribute; but when the immediate pressure was withdrawn, the yoke was thrown off and the tribute withheld. In 1020 Masa'ud, the son of Mahmud, being then See also:

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

governor of Khorasan, made a systematic invasion of Ghor from the See also:

side of Herat, laying See also:

SIEGE (0. Fr. sege, siege, mod. siege, seat, ultimately from sedere, to sit, cf. Class. Lat. obsidium, a siege)

siege to its strongholds one after the other, and subduing the country more effectually than ever before. About a century later one of the princely families of Ghor, deriving the appellation of Shansabi, or Shansabaniah, from a certain ancestor Shansab, of See also:

LOCAL

local fame, and of alleged descent from Zohak, acquired predominance in all the country, and at the time mentioned Malik 'Izzuddin al Hosain of this See also:

FAMILY

family came to be recognized as See also:

lord of Ghor. He was known afterwards as " the See also:

FATHER

Father of Kings," from the further See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour to which several of his seven sons See also:

rose. Three of these were—(1) See also:

AMIR, or AMEER (an Arabic word meaning " commander," from the root amr, " commanding ")

Amir Kutbuddin Mahommed, called the lord of the Jibal or mountains; (2) See also:

SULTAN (an Arabic word meaning " victorious " or " a ruler," sultat, dominion)

Sultan Saifuddin Suri, for a brief See also:

period See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master of Ghazni,—both of whom were put to See also:

DEATH

death by Bahram the Ghaznevid; and (3) Sultan Alauddin Jahansoz, who wreaked such terrible vengeance upon Ghazni. Alauddin began the See also:

con-quests which were afterwards immensely extended both in See also:

India and in the west by his nephews Ghiyasuddin Mahommed b. Sam and Mahommed Ghori (Muizuddin b. Sam or Shahabuddin b.

Sam), and for a brief period during their See also:

RULE

rule it was boasted, with no great exaggeration, that the public See also:

prayer was read in the name of the Ghori from the extremity of India to the See also:

BORDERS, THE

borders of Babylonia, and from the See also:

OXUS

Oxus to the Straits of Ormus. After the death of Mahommed Ghori, Mahmud the son of Ghiyasuddin was proclaimed See also:

SOVEREIGN

sovereign (1200) throughout the territories of Ghor, Ghazni and Hindustan. But the See also:

INDIAN

Indian dominion, from his See also:

UNCLE

uncle's death, became entirely independent, and his actual authority was confined to Ghor, Seistan and Herat. The whole kingdom See also:

fell to pieces before the See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power of Mahommed Shah of Khwarizm and his son Jelaluddin (c. 1214-1215), a power in its turn to be speedily shattered by the Mongol See also:

flood. Besides the thrones of Ghor and Ghazni, the Shansabaniah family, in the See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person of Fakhruddin, the eldest of the seven sons of Malik 'Izzuddin, founded a kingdom in the Oxus basin, having its seat at See also:

BAMIAN

BAMIAN (q.v.), which endured for two or three generations, till extinguished by the power of .Khwarizm (1214). And the great Mussulman See also:

EMPIRE

empire of See also:

DELHI, DEHLI

Delhi was based on the conquests of Muizuddin the Ghorian, carried out and consolidated by his See also:

TURKI

Turki freedmen, Kutbuddin Aibak and his successors. Theprinces of Ghor experienced, about the middle of the r3th century, a revival of power, which endured for 140 years. This later dynasty See also:

BORE

bore the name of Kurt or Kart. The first of See also:

HISTORICAL

historical prominence was Malik Shamsuddin Kurt, descended by his See also:

MOTHER

mother from the great See also:

king Ghiyasuddin Ghori, whilst his other grandfather was that prince's favourite See also:

MINISTER (Lat. minister, servant)

minister. In 1245 Shamsuddin held the lordship of Ghor in some See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance with, or subordination to, the See also:

MONGOLS

Mongols, who had not yet definitively established themselves in See also:

PERSIA

Persia; and in 1248 he received from the Great See also:

KHAN (from the Turki, hence Persian and Arabic Khan)

Khan Mangu an See also:

INVESTITURE (Late Lat. investitura)

investiture of all the provinces from Mery to the See also:

INDUS

Indus, including by name Sijistan (or Seistan), See also:

KABUL

Kabul, See also:

TIRAH

Tirah (adjoining the Khyber pass), and Afghanistan (a very early occurrence of this name), which he ruled from Herat. He stood well with Hulagu, and for a See also:

long time with his son Abaka, but at last incurred the latter's See also:

JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy, and was poisoned when on a visit to the See also:

court at See also:

TABRIZ

Tabriz (1276), His son Ruknuddin Kurt was, however, invested with the See also:

government of Khorasan (1278), but after some years, mistrusting his Tatar suzerains, he withdrew into Ghor, anal See also:

ABODE (from " abide," to dwell, properly " to wait for ," to bide)

abode in his strong fortress of Kaissar till his death there in 1305.

The family held on through a See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of eight kings in all, sometimes submissive to the Mongol, sometimes aiming at See also:

independence, sometimes for a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of prosperous years adding to the strength and splendour of Herat, and sometimes sorely buffeted by the hosts of masterless Tatar brigands that tore Khorasan and Persia in the decline of the dynasties of Hulagu and Jagatai. It is possible that the Kurts might have established a lasting Tajik kingdom at Herat, but in the time of the last of the dynasty, Ghiyasuddin Pir-'See also:

Ali, Tatardom, reorganized and re-embodied in the person of Timur, came against Herat, and carried away the king and the treasures of his dynasty (1380). A revolt and See also:

MASSACRE

massacre of his See also:

garrison provoked Timur's vengeance; he put the See also:

CAPTIVE (from Lat. capere, to take)

captive king to death, came against the See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city a second time, and showed it no See also:

mercy (1383). Ghor has since been obscure in See also:

HISTORY

history. The capital of the kingdom of Ghor, when its princes were rising to dominion in the 12th century, was Firoz Koh, where a city and fortress were founded by Saifuddin Suri. The exact position of Firoz Koh is difficult to determine, unless it be represented by the ruins of one or other of the ancient cities in the upper See also:

MURGHAB

Murghab valley, the See also:

HABITAT (a French word derived from habiter, Lat. habitare, to dwell)

habitat of the Firoz Kohi See also:

section of the Chahar Aimak, which were visited by the surveyors of the Russo-Afghan boundary delimitation of 1884-1885. Extensive ruins were also found at Taiwara on one of the See also:

main affiuents of the Farah Rud, where walls and terraces still existing supported the local tradition that this See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place was the ancient capital of Ghor. The valleys of the Taimani tribes though narrow are fertile and well cultivated, and there are many walled villages and forts about Parjuman and Zarni in the south-eastern districts. The See also:

PEAK, THE

peak of " Chalap Dalan " (described by See also:

Ferrier as " one of the highest in the See also:

WORLD

world ") is the Koh-i-Kaisar, which is a trifle over 13,000 ft. in height. All the country now known as Ghor was mapped during the progress of the Russo-Afghan boundary delimitation. See the "Tabakat-i-Nasiri," in the Bibl. Indica, trans]. by Raverty ; See also:

Journal asiatique, See also:

ser. v. torn. xvii.

; " Ibn Haukal," in J. As. See also:

Soc. Beng. vol. xxii. ; Ferrier's See also:

CARAVAN (more correctly Karwan)

Caravan Journeys ; See also:

HAMMER, FRIEDRICH JULIUS (1810-1862)

Hammer's Ilkhans, &c.

End of Article: GHOR, or GHUR

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