Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish Art and Culture.
Iraj is Fereydun’s youngest son in the Shahnameh’s legendary history. His refusal to fight his brothers, his murder and the survival of his daughter’s line connect inheritance to the epic’s cycle of vengeance. [1]
Read article →Sam is a champion in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and the father of Zal. His story follows the consequences of abandoning a child, the difficulty of repairing that bond, and decisions that shape the marriage of Zal and Rudaba and the next heroic generation.
Read article →Shah Khoshin is a revered figure in Yarsani sacred history. Traditions connect his Luristan cycle with divine manifestation, communal singing and the sacred tanbur.
Read article →Perdiwar, the holiest sanctuary of the Kurdish Yarsani faith: the place on the Sirwan river in Hawraman where Sultan Sahak founded the Ahl-e Haqq, revered as their Kaaba.
Read article →Baba Tahir is remembered through dialect quatrains, stories of a dervish and religious veneration. Manuscripts and scholarship distinguish the surviving poetry from the uncertain details of his life.
Read article →Sitîya Zîn is a revered female figure in Yazidi tradition, remembered through the genealogy of Sheikh Shems and Fexredîn and through a light dedicated to her at Lalish. Recorded accounts preserve both this relationship and differences in names and chronology.
Read article →Sheikh Hasan, or Şêx Hesen, is remembered as a medieval Yazidi leader and as Melik Şêxsin, associated with the pen. Texts and shrines preserve different aspects of his legacy.
Read article →Êzdîna Mîr is remembered as the father of four holy figures in Yazidi tradition. Recorded narratives explain his place in the Shemsani lineage, while scholarship distinguishes sacred genealogy from a dated medieval biography.
Read article →Sheikh Fakhradin, also called Şêx Fexredîn or Melik Fexredîn, is a holy figure in Yazidi tradition. His significance can be traced through moon symbolism, hymns attributed to him, their transmission by named reciters, and the religious families associated with his name.
Read article →Şakiro, the performing name of Şakir Deniz, was an influential Kurdish dengbêj associated with the Serhad region. His remembered performances, circulating recordings and later pupils show how a sung narrative tradition travelled between villages, cities and generations.
Read article →Meryem Xan’s surviving records provide a firmer starting point than repeated legends. Explore named recordings, her radio career, conflicting biographical accounts and modern commemoration.
Read article →The romance of Cembelî and Binevşa Narîn belongs to Kurdish oral literature and has also entered novels and theatre. Recorded performances show why its characters, opening scenes and endings need to be understood through particular versions.
Read article →The Serhad dengbêj is known through songs, collected recollections and later fiction. Reading those sources separately reveals both his artistic influence and the limits of a precise biography.
Read article →A caravan dispute becomes a changing sung narrative about rivalry, weapons and loss. Comparing named dengbêj performances reveals differences in the journey, the women’s roles and the fatal confrontation.
Read article →Ashi is associated with reward and fortune in Zoroastrian texts. Reading the Gathas alongside Yasht 17 reveals different uses of the name, vivid household imagery and difficult passages about fertility and ritual participation.
Read article →Daena, the Zoroastrian personification of conscience and religion: the maiden every soul meets after death, who is the living image of its own thoughts, words and deeds.
Read article →Apam Napat, the “Son of the Waters”, appears in Avestan hymns and Zoroastrian prayers. Specific passages connect him with water, royal glory and creation, while his relationship to Vedic deities remains a subject of scholarly interpretation.
Read article →Vayu appears in Avestan hymns and later Middle Persian writings. Separate readings clarify petitions, death imagery, calendar associations and comparisons with Oesho.
Read article →Atar names sacred fire and its divinity in Zoroastrian tradition. Avestan prayers, temple consecration and modern explanations illuminate different aspects of its significance.
Read article →Haoma names a Zoroastrian sacred plant and its divinity. Ritual preparations, Avestan stories, botanical debate and the epic Hom belong to related but distinct contexts.
Read article →Zurvan, the Iranic god of infinite time: the Zurvanite myth that made him father of the twins Ohrmazd and Ahriman, a contested heresy known through its enemies.
Read article →Garshasp appears as Keresaspa in the Avesta and as a hero awaiting a final battle in later Zoroastrian texts. His legends change across religious literature and Asadi Tusi’s Garshasp-nama, rather than forming one unvarying biography.
Read article →Rashnu, the Zoroastrian yazata of justice: the incorruptible judge who weighs the soul's deeds on golden scales at the Chinvat Bridge, with Mithra and Sraosha.
Read article →The Shahnameh’s opening reign and Zoroastrian creation accounts tell related but different stories about kingship, mortality and human descent.
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