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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
The study of southern Kurdish literature is largely dominated by a bipolar perspective. Literature in southern Kurdistan is mostly, if not exclusively viewed in the context of relations between Iran on the one hand and, on the other, Iraq, the local states of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To be sure, Iran acquired a dominant role in southern Kurdistan, yet it is also considered to have been the only dynamic factor in southern Kurdish dialect, while the Iraqi regions are supposed to have fulfilled an essentially passive one. This article presents the most well-known poem of Arkawāzī, a southern Kurdish poet from Piştiku, an Iranian region of southern Kurdistan. It transcribes, translates, and glosses a Feylî elegiac text in which the poet describes the death of his son. Notwithstanding my dialectological purpose, the article may also provide some raw material for the historians.
This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation of Iran.
1 For details of this ruler, see Sul
ān A
mad Mīrzā ‘A
ud al-Dawla, Tārīkh-i ‘A 
udī, ed.‘A. 
. Nawā’ī (Tehran, 2000): 127ff.; Ri
ā Qulī Khān Hadāyat, Tārīkh-i Ru 
a al- 
afā-yi Nā 
irī, ed. J. Kīyānfar (Tehran, 2001), 9: 7457ff.; J. Khītāl, Majmū‘a-yi Ārā’ dar Mawrid-i Sarzamīn-i Pusht-i Kūh-i Īlām (Īlām, 1991): 143ff.
2 A discussion of this important change of capital is in ‘A. M. Sākī, Jughrāfīyā-yi Tārīkhī wa Tārīkh-i Luristān (Khurramābād, 1964): 306.
3 For Pîşiku and its influence in Piştiku, see Houtum-Schindler, A., “Reisen im südwestlichen Persien”, Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin 14 (1879): 81–124Google Scholar; Edmonds, C. J., “Luristan: Pish-i-Kuh and Bala Gariveh,” The Geographical Journal, 59 (1922): 335–356CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 On the Feylî dynasty, in general, see Muqaddam, M. Murādī, Tārīkh-i Sīyāsī-Ijtimā‘ī-yi Kurd-hā-yi Faylī dar ‘A 
r-i Wālīyān-i Pusht-i Kūh (Īlām) (Tehran, 2006)Google Scholar.
5 For the natural geography and the history of Feylî Kurds of these districts, see Curzon, G. N., Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892), 2: 275–277Google Scholar; de Morgan, J., Mission scientifique, études géographique (Paris, 1895): 214–248Google Scholar; Grothe, H., Wanderungen in Persien (Berlin, 1910): 31–75Google Scholar; Hubbard, G. E., From the Gulf to Ararat, an Expedition through Mesopotamia and Kurdistan (Edinburgh and London, 1916): 76–103Google Scholar.
6 Feylî dialect has been very little studied. See, in particular, Fattah, I. K., Problèmes de transcription, de phonologie et de morpho-syntaxe du kurde faïlî (MA thesis, University of Paris III, 1978)Google Scholar; idem, Étude linguistique du dialecte kurde faïlî (Mémoire de DEA, University of Paris VII, 1979)Google Scholar; idem, Dialectes kurdes du sud: étude linguistique du dialecte kırmânshâhî-faylî (PhD diss., University of Paris VII, 1988)Google Scholar; Karīmī Dūstān, Gh., Kurdī-yi Īlāmī: Barrasī-yi Gūyish-i Badra (Sanandadj, 2001)Google Scholar; Germîanî, A., Şwênî Cugrafîy Kurdî Feylî (Uppsala, 2003)Google Scholar. Cf. also Mann, O., Die Mundarten der Lur-Stämme in Südwestlichen Persien (Berlin, 1910): 111–170CrossRefGoogle Scholar, where the late Oskar Mann cited Lurî materials as the “Feylî texts” by mistake.
7 See Blau, J., “Kurdish Written Literature,” in Kurdish Culture and Identity, ed. Kreyenbroek, P. G. and Allison, C. (London, 1996): 20–28Google Scholar.
8 Personal Interview, Sheikh Musa, Bedre, June 2004.
9 Personal Interview, Piyman Karamed and Xusrew Hesenwend, Īlām, February 2004. Cf. also F. A
adī, Shafāhīyāt-i Kurdī (no place, 1980): 52–55.
10 Arkawāzī discussed his essential views against “oral literature” in his maktūb to 
adrī al-Dīn [sic], a Feylî unknown poet. See Maktūbāt-i Shu‘arā, Pers. MS, No.42, fols.18r.–20r., Berat Library, Īlām. My thanks go to Berat Şamemiy who has so patiently guided his personal collection here.
11 On this subject, see Khātūnābādī, Mīrzā Ghīyāth al-Dīn, Safar-i Khānaqīn, Pers. MS, No. 9, fols. 23r.–20v., Darî Library, Īlām. The author would like to thank Daryûş Kemalî for his permission to use the present MS and the other MSS of his personal library.
12 For a detailed account of the various secular and fundamental views and challenges, see Guzārish-i Sāzmān-i Farhang wa Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, Kitābkhāna-hā-yi Firqi’ī dar Īlām (Tehran, 1993): 11–13Google Scholar.
13 Maysam is the most important family among the other families of Arkawāzī: Mīr, Mūrtī, Mūmī, Qaytūl, Bagbag, Rīzawan, Hadād, Kārashwan, etc. A fragmentary commentary on the Kurdish tribes of Piştiku, Jughrāfīyā-yi Luristān, by Anonymous is found in Mar‘ashī Library, Qumm, MS. Ar.-Pr. 7187, f.151–152. Cf. also the unpublished document of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Guzārish-i Kunsūl-i Mandalī az Wa 
‘īyat-i Muhājirīn-i Pusht-i Kūhī dar ‘Arāq, No.92-72-29-1304.
14 The district of Banwîze consists of several villages with some 3,500 inhabitants. It lies in the Kurdish province of Īlām on the road connecting this area with Iraqi Kurdistan. See Pāyān, L. Mufkham, Farhang-i Ābādī-hā-yi Īrān (Tehran, 1960): 58Google Scholar.
15 See 
ukm-i 
asan Khān, Doc.Pr.No.34960014, dated 1804, Ilam Cultural Ministry Museum Library.
16 Ibid.: 9.
17 For the mystical trends of Arkawāzī, see Munacatname, Sārā’ī MS, lines 317ff. and 525.
18 It is well known that Arkawāzī studied at Kirind and was in personal contact with Ahl-i Haqq. According to some uncertain local doctrines, he was himself a fellow of the Ahl-i Haqq sect: brochures for 1995 and 1996 issued by the local informants. The first has no indication of the publishers or date. The second was printed by Intishārāt-i Mardumshinās [sic] Īlām. The Ahl-i Haqq creed of Arkawāzī reproduces pages 2–3 of this second brochure.
19 On Arkawāzī's style cf. 
. Sārā’ī, Ghulām Ri
ā Arkawāzī, Shā‘ir-i Shahīr-i Īlām (Tehran, 2000): 104–106Google Scholar.
20 The question of the Gôranî koinē and its influence in different parts of Kurdistan was first discussed by Rieu, Ch., “Gorani Koine,” in Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, II (London, 1881): 728–734Google Scholar.
21 As noted in Bedir Khan, J. and Lescot, R., Grammaire kurde (dialecte kurmandji) (Paris, 1970): 3–7Google Scholar.
22 Sārā’ī: 150–153. There are many ilhāqī or additional verses in this edition.
23 The first hemistich is incomplete. It contains only the first half of the hemistich, as if to announce the rhyme and subject. This opening formula of describing someone or something recurs also in exactly the same form at the beginning of many poems of southern and central Kurdistan.
24 A different version of 4 is in NiN. The complete form is as follows: kepû beddemax, buļbuļ meyhûş bû ▪ daran, dirextan, kuļ sîapûş bû.
25 ZaS kerden.
26 ZaS merden.
27 mexwas which is mentioned here is of course not a Feylî verb, and one must consider it as a Gôranî inflected form. The Feylî expected equivalent is xwazîa.
28 ShX Kelwelay.
29 NiN awelîjawe.
30 ZaS yexe; NiN sîne; ShX sîne.
31 NiN qirmuqaļ.
32 The reading mekinzî is also possible.
33 NiN hamseran.
34 ShX zamî.
35 NiN meļ. The reading is doubtful.
36 ZaS bayequş; NiN badequş; ShX bayequş. A commentary on this word and its different variants in Kurdish dialects is provided by Mokri, M., Nām-hā-yi Parandagān dar Lahja-hā-yi Gharb-i Īrān (Lahja-hā-yi Kurdī) (Tehran, 1982): 29–33Google Scholar.
37 The reading zewx is also possible.
38 NiN wew [=we+ew]; ShX je î.
39 ShX we ser.
40 An alternative possible reading: wepîm.
41 NiN qewrsan.
42 NiN yuwaş.
43 ShX cagey.
44 ShX guzergay.
45 Mount Bāwayāl which is significant in the folklore of the Banwîze region extends from east to west, near the border of Iraqi Kurdistan. On the role of mountains in the culture of Piştiku and Īlām's Kurdish community, in general, see Khurramābādī, M., et al., Bāwar-hā wa Dānista-hā dar Luristān wa Īlām (Tehran, 1979): 138Google Scholar.
46 The reading seems more likely than Persian kalāghī, which is graphically also possible. Cf. Mihrābādī, M., Zan-i Īrānī (Tehran, 2000): 471Google Scholar, where a passage for kalākhī, a kind of kerchief, is given.
47 The word kapū, a very little kind of owl, could also be read kapaw which is current in some western districts of present-day Īlām. The two words kapū and kapaw are not much different from each other in the Perso-Arabic script of the text.
48 I should like to acknowledge the help of Remî Qelxanbaz in improving the translation of this ambiguous passage.
49 makanzī (=Mackenzie) is a kind of Qājārīd gun; the original is British gun. Quoted in 
usayn Qulī Khān Ni
ām al-Salt,ana Māfī, Khātirāt wa Asnād-i 
usayn Qulī Khān Ni
ām al-Sal
ana Māfī, ed. Māfī, M., et al. (Tehran, 1983), 1: 127Google Scholar; and discussed in Mudarrisī, Y., et al., Farhang-i I
ilā
āt-i Dawra-yi Qājār, Qushūn wa Na
mīya (Tehran, 2000): 568Google Scholar.
50 This sentence is somewhat puzzling.
51 All these persons are unknown. They probably were the friends of A
mad Khān.
52 The word pilās “rug” seems puzzling. By an easy emendation one can make it to read palās “mourning,” which may be more satisfactory. The same use of palās occurs sometimes in Persian allegorical literature too. Cf. Mo‘īn, M., Farhang-i Fārsī (Tehran, 1992), 1: 805Google Scholar.
53 Nadjaf, the central Shiite city in southern Iraq, is very important in the doctrines of Feylî Kurds.