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  • Karsh, Yousuf (Canadian photographer)
    Turkish-born Canadian photographer known for his portraits of important personages....
  • Karshi (Uzbekistan)
    city, southern Uzbekistan, in the Karshi oasis, on the Kashka River. At least 1,000 years old, it lay on the caravan route from Samarkand and Bukhara to Afghanistan and India; it was known as Nakhsheb, or Nesef, until the 14th century, when a fort (Turkic karshi, “against”) was built there. Later, as part of the khanate of Bukhara, it served as the residenc...
  • Karshi Steppe (region, Uzbekistan)
    oblast (province), southern Uzbekistan. Created in 1964, it has an area of 10,950 sq mi (28,400 sq km) and consists largely of the Karshi Steppe, an extensive foothill plain intersected by the Kashka River. In the east and southeast are spurs of the Zeravshan, Gissar, and Kugitangtau mountains. The climate is continental and dry, precipitation occurring mainly in winter. Cotton, grown on......
  • Karši (Uzbekistan)
    city, southern Uzbekistan, in the Karshi oasis, on the Kashka River. At least 1,000 years old, it lay on the caravan route from Samarkand and Bukhara to Afghanistan and India; it was known as Nakhsheb, or Nesef, until the 14th century, when a fort (Turkic karshi, “against”) was built there. Later, as part of the khanate of Bukhara, it served as the residenc...
  • Karşiyaka (Turkey)
    former town, west-central Turkey. It is located on the north shore of the Gulf of İzmir, and it constitutes a northwestern district of İzmir city. Karşiyaka is a shipbuilding centre with port facilities. The adjoining area is mostly agricultural; manufactures include cotton and woolen textiles, tobacco, canned fruit and vegetables, chemica...
  • Karski, Jan (Polish hero)
    Polish-born Resistance hero (b. April 24, 1914, Lodz, Pol.—d. July 13, 2000, Washington, D.C.), as a member of the Polish Resistance during World War II, endured considerable hardship to infiltrate the Warsaw Ghetto and Nazi concentration camps and report back to Allied leaders on the persecution of Polish Jews. Few believed his findings, however, and little immediate action was taken. Kars...
  • Karskoe More (sea, Russia)
    marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off western Siberia (Russia), between the Novaya Zemlya islands (west), Franz Josef Land (northwest), and the Severnaya Zemlya islands (east). It is connected with the Arctic Basin (north), the Barents Sea (west), and the Laptev Sea (east). It has an area of 340,000 square miles (880,000 square km). Average depth is 417 feet (127 m), and...
  • Karskoje More (sea, Russia)
    marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off western Siberia (Russia), between the Novaya Zemlya islands (west), Franz Josef Land (northwest), and the Severnaya Zemlya islands (east). It is connected with the Arctic Basin (north), the Barents Sea (west), and the Laptev Sea (east). It has an area of 340,000 square miles (880,000 square km). Average depth is 417 feet (127 m), and...
  • Karskoye More (sea, Russia)
    marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off western Siberia (Russia), between the Novaya Zemlya islands (west), Franz Josef Land (northwest), and the Severnaya Zemlya islands (east). It is connected with the Arctic Basin (north), the Barents Sea (west), and the Laptev Sea (east). It has an area of 340,000 square miles (880,000 square km). Average depth is 417 feet (127 m), and...
  • karst (geology)
    terrain usually characterized by barren, rocky ground, caves, sinkholes, underground rivers, and the absence of surface streams and lakes. It results from the excavating effects of underground water on massive soluble limestone. The term originally applied to the Karst, a limestone area on the Dalmatian coast on the Adriatic Sea, but has been extended to mean ...
  • Karst (region, Europe)
    ...and Raduša, run in a northwest-southeast direction. The highest peak, reaching 7,828 feet (2,386 metres), is Maglič, near the border with Montenegro. In the south and southwest is the Karst, a region of arid limestone plateaus that contain caves, potholes, and underground drainage. The uplands there are often bare and denuded (the result of deforestation and thin soils), but,......
  • Kart-hadasht (ancient city, Tunisia)
    great city of antiquity, traditionally founded on the north coast of Africa by the Phoenicians of Tyre in 814 bc. It is now a residential suburb of the city of Tunis. Its Phoenician name means New Town....
  • Kartalinian Plain (region, Georgia)
    ...watershed between the basins of the Black and Caspian seas. In central Georgia, between the cities of Khashuri and Mtsʿkhetʿa (the ancient capital), lies the inner high plateau known as the Kartli (Kartalinian) Plain. Surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east, and west and covered for the most part by deposits of the loess type, this plateau extends along the Kura (Mtkvari...
  • Kartārpur (India)
    The remaining years of his life were spent in Kartārpur, another village of central Punjab. Tradition holds that the village was actually built by a wealthy admirer to honour Nānak. It was presumably during this final period that the foundations of the new Sikh community were laid. By this time it must be assumed that Nānak was recognized as a Gurū, an inspired teacher....
  • Kartarpur Pothi (Sikh text)
    Arjan updated the scriptures of the Sikhs and prepared the Kartarpur Pothi, the volume upon which the canonical Adi Granth, or Guru Granth Sahib (“The Granth as the Guru”), the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, is based. He was also a prolific poet who created hymns of great lyrical quality....
  • Kartēr (Zoroastrian priest)
    influential high priest of Zoroastrianism, whose aim was to purge Iran of all other religions, especially the eclectic Manichaeism founded by the 3rd-century Persian prophet Mani. What little is known of Kartēr comes from inscriptions on cliff faces, mostly dating from the reign of Shāpūr I (241–272). On more than 700 cliffs he proclaimed the fundamental doctrines of th...
  • Karteria (ship)
    ...shortcomings of the outmoded Greek navy, he obtained the financial backing of Lord Byron and the London Greek Committee to buy six steam-powered warships in 1824; but only one was completed, the Karteria, which was the fastest and most modern ship in the Mediterranean at the time, with two small steam engines and an armament of four 68-pound guns featuring a method of heating and firing....
  • Karthausi, A (work by Eötvös)
    Eötvös proclaimed the social mission of literature and in all his writings fought for alleviation of poverty. His first novel, A karthausi (1839–41; “The Carthusians”), expresses disappointment at the July Revolution in France (1830); Eötvös intended it as a criticism of feudalism in Hungary. His essays and prose works also advocated a modern...
  • karting (motor sport)
    driving and racing miniature, skeleton-frame, rear-engine automobiles called karts, or GoKarts. The sport originated in the United States in the 1950s after the kart had been devised from unwanted lawn-mower engines. The karts usually have no protective bodywork, and the driver sits only a few inches above the ground. Some of the vehicles, nevertheless, are capable of speeds well over 100 miles (...
  • Kartini, Raden Adjeng, Lady (Javanese noble)
    Javanese noblewoman whose letters made her an important symbol for the Indonesian independence movement and for Indonesian feminists....
  • “Kartinki s vystavki” (work by Mussorgsky)
    ...of death—he himself had only seven more years to live. The death of another friend, the painter Victor Hartmann, inspired Mussorgsky to write the piano suite Kartinki s vystavki (Pictures from an Exhibition; orchestrated in 1922 by the French composer Maurice Ravel)....
  • Kartir (Zoroastrian priest)
    influential high priest of Zoroastrianism, whose aim was to purge Iran of all other religions, especially the eclectic Manichaeism founded by the 3rd-century Persian prophet Mani. What little is known of Kartēr comes from inscriptions on cliff faces, mostly dating from the reign of Shāpūr I (241–272). On more than 700 cliffs he proclaimed the fundamental doctrines of th...
  • Kartli (ancient kingdom, Georgia)
    The two greatest and longest-lived of the many semi-independent states of the Caucasus in classical and medieval times were eastern Georgia (called Kartli or Iberia) in the north and Armenia in the south. The culture and ethnic character of both can be traced to the period of the breakup of the Hittite empire in the 12th century bc, and both were converted to Christianity early in th...
  • Kartli Plain (region, Georgia)
    ...watershed between the basins of the Black and Caspian seas. In central Georgia, between the cities of Khashuri and Mtsʿkhetʿa (the ancient capital), lies the inner high plateau known as the Kartli (Kartalinian) Plain. Surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east, and west and covered for the most part by deposits of the loess type, this plateau extends along the Kura (Mtkvari...
  • Kārttikeya (Hindu deity)
    Hindu god of war and the first-born son of Śiva (Shiva). The many legends giving the circumstances of his birth are often at variance with one another. One account is given by Kālidāsa (4th and 5th centuries ad) in his epic poem Kumārasaṃbhava (“The Birth of the War God”). The versions all g...
  • kartuli ena (language)
    official language of the Republic of Georgia, whose spoken form has many dialects, usually divided into East Georgian and West Georgian groups. These, together with the related Mingrelian (Megrelian), Laz (Chan), and Svan languages, make up the Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, language family. Georgian is also spoken in parts of Azerbaijan and northeastern Turkey and in many villages in the region ...
  • Kartveli (people)
    ...are located—the capital, Sokhumi, Ochʾamchʾire, and the resort centres of Gagra and Novy Afon. Prior to a separatist rebellion in the early 1990s led by ethnic Abkhaz, ethnic Georgians had made up almost half of Abkhazia’s population, while ethnic Abkhaz had accounted for less than one-fifth; Armenians and Russians made up the remainder. In 1993, however, most Georgi...
  • Kartvelian languages
    family of languages including Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz that are spoken south of the chief range of the Caucasus. A brief treatment of Kartvelian languages follows. For full treatment, see Caucasian languages....
  • karub (religion)
    in Jewish, Christian, and Islāmic literature, a celestial winged being with human, animal, or birdlike characteristics who functions as a throne bearer of the deity. Derived from ancient Middle Eastern mythology and iconography, these celestial beings serve important liturgical and intercessory functions in the hierarchy of angels. The term most likely derives from the Akkadian kā...
  • karūbiyūn (religion)
    in Jewish, Christian, and Islāmic literature, a celestial winged being with human, animal, or birdlike characteristics who functions as a throne bearer of the deity. Derived from ancient Middle Eastern mythology and iconography, these celestial beings serve important liturgical and intercessory functions in the hierarchy of angels. The term most likely derives from the Akkadian kā...
  • karum (Hittite trading post)
    ...that time, Indo-European Hittites had already settled in Anatolia and assimilated into the indigenous population. From about the 20th to the 18th century bc there existed a number of Assyrian karums (trade outposts, of which Kanesh was probably the most important), which served as end stations for the caravan shipments from and to Assyria and as distribution centres. Assyri...
  • Karume, Abeid Amani, Sheikh (president of Zanzibar)
    ...“field marshal” John Okello, it won considerable support from the African population. Thousands of Arabs were massacred in riots, and thousands more fled the island. Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party, was installed as president of the People’s Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. Sheikh Abdulla Kassim Hanga was appointed prime minister, and Abdul......
  • Kārūn River (river, Iran)
    river in southwestern Iran, a tributary of the Shatt al-Arab, which it joins at Khorramshahr. It rises in the Bakhtīārī Mountains west of Eṣfahān and follows a tortuous course trending basically southwest. The Kārūn’s total length is 515 miles (829 km), though the direct distance from its source to the junction with the Shatt al-Arab is only ...
  • karuna (Buddhist doctrine)
    in Buddhism, the perfect virtue of compassion. See brahmavihāra....
  • Karunmakadu (hill, India)
    ...in the west, consist of rolling hills covered with coarse grasses; dense forests grow in the valleys. Peaks include Vandaravu, 8,376 feet (2,553 m); Vembādi Shola, 8,221 feet (2,505 m); and Karunmakadu, 8,042 feet (2,451 m). The town of Kodaikānal is located in a high basin averaging 7,000 feet (2,150 m) above sea level. Hill villages cultivate vegetables and fruits such as......
  • karupputadi (kathākali character)
    ...the nose is green, black squares frame the eyes, and two red spots decorate the forehead. A feathery gray beard, a large furry coat, and bell-shaped headgear give the illusion of a monkey. (5) Karupputadi (“black beard”) is a hunter or forest dweller. His face is coal black with crisscross lines drawn around the eyes. A white flower sits on his nose, and peacock feathers......
  • Karuzi (Burundi)
    town, central Burundi. The town, located on the Ndurumu River (a tributary to the Ruvubu), is a market centre with a government dispensary and a place of worship for Roman Catholics. A road connects it with the towns of Muyinga to the northeast and Gitega to the southwest....
  • Karvaš, Peter (Slovak playwright)
    ...(1857; “Incognito”) and Zmierenie (1862; “The Reconciliation”). The best-known Slovak playwright of the 20th century was Peter Karvaš, author of The Diplomats, The Midnight Mass, and Antigone and the Others, among many other......
  • Karve, Dhondo Keshav (Indian social reformer)
    Indian social reformer and educator, noted for supporting the education of women and for organizing associations for the remarriage of Hindu widows....
  • Karve, Maharishi Dhondo Keshav (Indian social reformer)
    Indian social reformer and educator, noted for supporting the education of women and for organizing associations for the remarriage of Hindu widows....
  • Karveein (mosque and university, Fès, Morocco)
    mosque and Islāmic university in Fès, Morocco....
  • Karviná (Czech Republic)
    mining city, northeastern Czech Republic. The city is situated east of Ostrava, on the eastern bank of the Olse River, near the Polish frontier. In 1949 its municipal area was enlarged by the absorption of the town of Fryštát. Karviná is one of many mining towns in the Silesian coalfields, producing a high-grade coal. Other industries include the manufacture...
  • Karwar (India)
    ...the northern, or Udipi, region produces rice and pulse (legumes). Industries are mostly located at Mangalore, an important regional centre and major coffee port of India, and at Udipi. The ports of Kārwār, Kumta, Honāvar, and Malpe have lost their importance with the development of railways in the interior. Mangalore and Kārwār have been developed as deepwater...
  • Karwendelgebirge (mountains, Germany)
    river, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. Rising at an elevation of 5,741 feet (1,750 m) in the Karwendelgebirge, just northeast of Innsbruck, Austria, the Isar runs west and then north crossing into Germany at Scharnitz Pass. The river there flows through a deep gorge that was used by the ancient Romans, who called it Porta Claudia. A rail line and road now thread the gorge.......
  • Karwinskia humboldtiana (shrub)
    (Karwinskia humboldtiana), woody shrub of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae) that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It grows about 1–7 m (3–23 feet) tall and has opposite, oval leaves 2.5–7.5 cm (1–3 inches) long. The small, greenish flowers, which grow in clusters, are followed by brownish black oval berries about 1 cm in diameter....
  • Karyenda (musical instrument)
    The leading traditional symbol of Burundi was an ancient drum, Karyenda, which had a semidivine status. The mwami (“ruler”) alone could interpret the messages of Karyenda and transform them into rules governing society. Karyenda was thus chosen as a symbol for the national flag when Burundi emerged from Belgian colonial rule. A sorghum plant, representing a chief......
  • karyogamy (reproduction)
    ...of two protoplasts (the contents of the two cells), brings together two compatible haploid nuclei. At this point, two nuclear types are present in the same cell, but the nuclei have not yet fused. Karyogamy results in the fusion of these haploid nuclei and the formation of a diploid nucleus (i.e., a nucleus containing two sets of chromosomes, one from each parent). The cell formed by karyogamy....
  • karyokinesis (biology)
    a process of cell duplication, or reproduction, during which one cell gives rise to two genetically identical daughter cells. Strictly applied, the term mitosis is used to describe the duplication and distribution of chromosomes, the structures that carry the genetic information....
  • Karyorelictea (protozoan class)
    ...2 cells; more than 7,000 described species, of which the majority are free-living.Subphylum PostciliodesmatophoraClass KaryorelicteaLong, wormlike ciliates that may be extremely contractile; in some, 1 of the surfaces may be devoid of cilia; 2 to many macronuclei; includes 4 orders;......
  • Karyotákis, Kóstas (Greek poet)
    Greek poet influenced by the 19th-century French Symbolist poets....
  • Karyotis River (river, Cyprus)
    The major rivers in Cyprus originate in the Troodos Mountains. The Pedieos, which is the largest, flows eastward toward Famagusta Bay; the Serakhis flows northwestward and the Karyotis northward to Morphou Bay; and the Kouris flows southward to Episkopi Bay. The rivers are fed entirely from the runoff of winter precipitation; in summer they become dry courses. The island’s major soil types....
  • karyotype (chromosome)
    Chemical, radiological, histopathologic, and electrodiagnostic procedures can diagnose basic defects in patients suspected of genetic disease. These include chromosome karyotyping (in which chromosomes are arranged according to a standard classification scheme), enzyme or hormone assays, amino acid chromatography of blood and urine, gene and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probes, blood and Rh......
  • “Karyū shunwa” (novel by Lytton)
    ...it became a kind of bible for ambitious young Japanese eager to emulate Western examples of success. The first important translation of a European novel was Ernest Maltravers, by the British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, which appeared in 1879 under the title Karyū shunwa (“A Spring Tale of Blossoms and......
  • Karzai, Hamid (president of Afghanistan)
    Afghan politician who was the first elected president of Afghanistan (2004– )....
  • kasa (Korean verse form)
    The kasa developed at about the same time as the sijo. In its formative stage, kasa borrowed the form of the Chinese tz’u (lyric poetry) or fu (rhymed prose). The kasa tends to be much longer than other forms of Korean poetry and is usually written in balanced couplets. Either line of a couplet is divided into two groups, the first having three or f...
  • Kašadarja (oblast, Uzbekistan)
    oblast (province), southern Uzbekistan. Created in 1964, it has an area of 10,950 sq mi (28,400 sq km) and consists largely of the Karshi Steppe, an extensive foothill plain intersected by the Kashka River. In the east and southeast are spurs of the Zeravshan, Gissar, and Kugitangtau mountains. The climate is continental and dry, precipitation occurring mainly in winter. Cotton, grown on ir...
  • Kasai River (river, Africa)
    river in central Africa. It is the chief southern tributary of the Congo River, into which, at Kwamouth, Congo (Kinshasa), 125 miles (200 km) above Malebo (Stanley) Pool, it empties a volume approaching one-fifth that of the main stream. The longest river in the southern Congo River basin system, it measures 1,338 miles (2,153 km) from its source on the eastern slope of the Bíe Plateau of A...
  • Kāśakṛtsna (Indian philosopher)
    ...philosopher, is said to have held the view that the finite individual becomes identical with Brahman after going through a process of purification. Another interpreter, Kāśakṛtsna, holds that the two are identical—a view that anticipates the later “unqualified monism” of Śaṅkara. Bādarāyaṇa’s own......
  • Kasanje (historical kingdom, Africa)
    historical kingdom founded by the Imbangala about 1630 along the upper Cuango River (in present-day Angola). By the mid-17th century the kingdom of Kasanje had risen to become a dominant power along the Cuango, as it allied with the Portuguese in the area and often fought against the neighbouring kingdom of Matamba. By the end of the 17th ce...
  • Kasaoka (Japan)
    city, southwestern Okayama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. It was an old temple town until its port flourished during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). The opening of a major railway line and a textile plant made the city the commercial centre of the Kobi plateau by the early 20th century. Flowers and fruit are grown in the area. Since 1965 l...
  • kasar (language style)
    ...well as marriage, birth, and death ceremonies, conform closely to the Javanese pattern, though often mixed with elements of Hindu origin. The Sundanese language, like Javanese, has status styles: kasar (informal), halus (deferential), and panengah (a middle style)....
  • Kasatkin, Ivan Dmitrovich (Russian Orthodox bishop)
    Russian Orthodox missionary and first Orthodox bishop of Japan....
  • Kasavubu, Joseph (president of Congo)
    statesman and first president of the independent Congo republic from 1960 to 1965, who shortly after independence in 1960 ousted the Congo’s first premier, Patrice Lumumba, after the breakdown of order in the country....
  • Kasayaprabhrta (work by Gunadhara)
    ...the Karmaprabhrita (“Chapters on Karman”), also called Shatkhandagama (“Scripture of Six Sections”), and the Kashayaprabhrita (“Chapters on the Kashayas”). The Karmaprabhrita, allegedly based on the lost Drishtivada text, deals with the......
  • kasb (Islam)
    (Arabic: “acquisition”), a doctrine in Islām adopted by the theologian al-Ashʿarī (d. 935) as a mean between predestination and free will. According to al-Ashʿarī, all actions, good and evil, are originated by God, but they are “acquired” (maksūb, whence kasb) by men. As for the criticism that his kasb theo...
  • Kasbah (fort, Algiers, Algeria)
    ...the upper slopes of the hills and has preserved much of its architectural character of high, blank-walled houses and narrow, winding streets. The Muslim section is dominated by the fortress of the Kasbah (Qaṣbah), designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992; it was the residence of the last two Turkish deys, or governors, of Algiers. A prominent building in the Muslim section is......
  • Kaschau (Slovakia)
    city, eastern Slovakia. It lies on the Hornád River, south of Prešov....
  • Kaschnitz, Marie Luise (German author)
    German poet and novelist noted for the hopeful and compassionate viewpoint in her numerous writings....
  • Kaschnitz-Weinberg, Marie Luise von (German author)
    German poet and novelist noted for the hopeful and compassionate viewpoint in her numerous writings....
  • Kasddim (ancient state, Middle East)
    land in southern Babylonia (modern southern Iraq) frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. Strictly speaking, the name should be applied to the land bordering the head of the Persian Gulf between the Arabian desert and the Euphrates delta....
  • Kasdu (ancient state, Middle East)
    land in southern Babylonia (modern southern Iraq) frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. Strictly speaking, the name should be applied to the land bordering the head of the Persian Gulf between the Arabian desert and the Euphrates delta....
  • Kase Toshikazu (Japanese diplomat)
    Japanese diplomat (b. Jan. 12, 1903, Chiba, Japan—d. May 21, 2004, Kamakura, Japan), in 1955 became Japan’s first ambassador to the United Nations. A career diplomat, he was on the embassy staff in Washington D.C., at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and was a member of the Japanese delegation that formally surrendered to the United States aboard the USS Missouri...
  • Käsebier, Gertrude (American photographer)
    American portrait photographer who was one of the founders of the influential Photo-Secession group and who is best known for her evocative images of women and domestic scenes....
  • Kāsganj (India)
    ...by both the Upper and Lower Ganges canals, this region contains a fertile area between the river’s present channel and its ancient bed to the southwest. Wheat, cotton, and sugarcane are grown. Kāsganj, north of Etah, is also an agricultural market and is a centre of cotton and sugar processing. Soron, farther north, is a Hindu pilgrimage centre. Pop. (1981) town, 53,784....
  • kasha (food)
    ...percent protein, 2 percent fat, and small amounts of vitamins B1 and B2. In eastern European cookery the hulled kernels, or groats, cooked and served much like rice, are called kasha, and in France they are called sayraisin. Buckwheat flour is unsatisfactory for bread, but it is used in the United States and Canada, alone or mixed with wheat flour, to make griddle.....
  • Kasha, Al (American songwriter and composer)
    ...and Original Song Score: Ralph Burns for CabaretSong Original for the Picture: “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure; music and lyrics by Joel Hirschhorn and Al KashaHonorary Award: Charles S. Boren and Edward G. Robinson (presented posthumously)...
  • Kāshān (Iran)
    city, west-central Iran. It lies in a desert at the eastern foot of the Central Iranian Range, on a once-important caravan route. It is also on the southeastern branch of the Trans-Iranian Railway. Kāshān is an ancient city; 2 miles (3 km) southwest is the site of prehistoric Tepe Sialk, which yielded the most ancient remains of settled life so far found on the Ira...
  • Kāshān carpet
    floor covering of wool or silk handwoven in or near the Iranian city of Kāshān, long known for its excellent textiles....
  • Kāshān tile
    Kāshān is chiefly famous for its tiles, in fact the words kāshī or kāshānī (“of Kashan”), are commonly used as synonyms for tile (and have been incorrectly applied to tilework from India). Lustre-painted tiles had been made since at least the 9th century and were used mostly on the walls of mosques and public buildings. T...
  • kāshān ware (pottery)
    in Islāmic ceramics, a style of pottery associated with Kāshān, Persia (Iran), from about the middle of the 11th century until the end of the 14th century. The name (lakabi, “painted”) is a misnomer, actually referring to an incised design decorated with different coloured glazes separated by clay threads. Colours used were blue, yellow,...
  • Kāshefī, Ḥoseyn Wāʿeẓ-e (Muslim mystic)
    ...several times in Persian. The most famous version, though a rather turgid one, is called Anvār-e soheylī (“Lights of Canopus”) and was composed by a famous mystic, Ḥoseyn Wāʿeẓ-e Kāshefī of Herāt (died 1504). The “cyclic story” form (in which several unconnected tales are held together by a common....
  • kāshēr (Judaism)
    (“fit,” or “proper”), in Judaism, the fitness of an object for ritual purposes. Though generally applied to foods that meet the requirements of the dietary laws (kashruth), kosher is also used to describe, for instance, such objects as a Torah scroll, water for ritual bathing (mikvah), and the ritual ram’s horn (shofar). When applied to food, kosher is the oppos...
  • kashf (Ṣūfism)
    (Arabic: “uncovering,” “revelation”), in Sufism (i.e., Islamic mysticism), the privileged inner knowledge that mystics acquire through personal experience and direct vision of God. The truths revealed through kashf cannot be transmitted to those who have not shared with them the same experience. The Sufis regard kashf as the alternative to ...
  • Kashf al-ẓunūnʿan asāmi al-kutub wa al-funūn (work by Kâtip Çelebi)
    He was an avid bibliophile, an industrious scholar, and a prolific and straightforward writer. Among his chief works is: Kashf al-ẓunūnʿan asāmi al-kutub wa al-funūn (“The Removal of Doubt from the Names of Books and the Sciences”). This work is his masterpiece; it is a bibliographical encyclopaedia in Arabic giving information ...
  • Kashgai rug (Persian carpet)
    floor covering handwoven by the Qashqāʾī people, who have the reputation of making the best rugs from the Shīrāz district of Iran. They are the brightest in colouring, with rich blues and reds and some use of golden yellow. Usually their designs are geometric, perhaps with a row of three diamond medallions against a background replete with tiny forms of all kinds...
  • Kashgar (China)
    oasis city, western Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, far western China. Kashgar lies at the western end of the Tarim Basin, in a fertile oasis of loess (silt deposited by the wind) and alluvial soils watered by the Kaxgar (Kashgar) River and by a series of wells. The climate of the area is extremely arid, with variable precipitation averaging about 3 inches (75 mm) per year ...
  • Kashgar Range (mountains, China)
    mountain range in the westernmost part of the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, northwestern China. As a far western part of the Kunlun Mountains, it extends some 200 miles (320 km) along a north-northwest and south-southeast axis parallel to the eastern edge of the Pamirs range and rises to 25,325 feet (7,719 metres) a...
  • Kashgar River (river, Asia)
    The Tarim is formed by the confluence of the Kaxgar (Kashgar) and Yarkand (Yarkant) rivers in the far west; flowing northeastward from this confluence, the river is then joined some 230 miles (370 km) downstream by the Aksu and the Hotan (Khotan) rivers. Only the Aksu River flows for the entire year. It is the Tarim’s most important......
  • Kashgar rug
    floor covering handwoven at Kashgar (Kashi) in Chinese Turkistan (now the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang). The Kashgar rugs are difficult to distinguish from the similar ones of Khotan (Hotan) and Yarkand (Yarkant)....
  • Kashgaria (historical region and kingdom, China)
    ...Desert, is bounded on the north by the Tien Shan, on the west by the Pamirs, on the south by the Kunlun Mountains, and on the northeast by the Dzungarian (Jungarian) Basin. Often referred to as Kashgaria, from its principal urban centre, Kashgar (K’a-shih), the region is characterized by small oasis settlements lying between the desert and the surrounding ranges, such as Khotan (Ho-t...
  • Kashi (China)
    oasis city, western Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, far western China. Kashgar lies at the western end of the Tarim Basin, in a fertile oasis of loess (silt deposited by the wind) and alluvial soils watered by the Kaxgar (Kashgar) River and by a series of wells. The climate of the area is extremely arid, with variable precipitation averaging about 3 inches (75 mm) per year ...
  • Kāshī, al- (Muslim astronomer and mathematician)
    ranks among the greatest mathematicians and astronomers in the Islamic world....
  • Kāshī, Jamshīd al- (Islamic mathematician)
    ranks among the greatest mathematicians and astronomers in the Islamic world.......
  • kashif (Egyptian official)
    ...comprising both Ottoman and local corps. The collection of taxes and the administration of the four provinces into which Egypt was divided were assigned to inspectors (kashifs). Although the Egyptian government was headed by bureaucratic officials sent from Constantinople, and supported by Ottoman troops, the Mamlūks were able to penetrate both......
  • Kashihara (Japan)
    city, Nara ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the southern corner of Nara-bonchi (Nara Basin). Of cultural importance since prehistoric times, the city is important to Japanese archaeology. The Kashihara palace is believed to have been the place where the emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan, ascended the throne. The palace site is now o...
  • kashim (dwelling)
    ...for a fairly large group were complemented by seasonal fishing and hunting camps that sheltered a few families each. The centre of village life was a large semisubterranean lodge called a kashim. The kashim served many functions, mostly for men, providing a venue for sweat baths, council meetings, entertainment, funerals, and shamanic rituals.......
  • Kashiwa (Japan)
    city, Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the Jōban Line (railway), northeast of Tokyo city. It was formed in 1954 by the merger of the towns of Kashiwa and Kogane and two smaller hamlets. A small post town on the Mito road during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), Kashiwa was a railway hub and local commercial centre until World War II. With electrificatio...
  • Kashiwazaki (Japan)
    city, Niigata ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the Kashiwazaki plain, facing the Sea of Japan. During the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), it was a post town on the Hokuriku-kaidō (Hokuriku Highway), which was known as the transportation route of gold from Sado Island to Edo (now Tokyo). Oil refineries were established in the city in the early 20th century, foll...
  • Kashka River (river, Central Asia)
    ...miles (1 to 5 cubic kilometres) of water annually, compared with 9.6 cubic miles in 1959. The southern rivers tributary to the Amu Darya—the Surkhan and Sherabad, followed by the Zeravshan and Kashka—contribute little flow, for the last two trickle into nothing in the desert. The Syr Darya, the second largest river in Uzbekistan, forms there by the confluence of the Naryn and......
  • Kashkadaria (oblast, Uzbekistan)
    oblast (province), southern Uzbekistan. Created in 1964, it has an area of 10,950 sq mi (28,400 sq km) and consists largely of the Karshi Steppe, an extensive foothill plain intersected by the Kashka River. In the east and southeast are spurs of the Zeravshan, Gissar, and Kugitangtau mountains. The climate is continental and dry, precipitation occurring mainly in winter. Cotton, grown on ir...
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