Part 25

The Khonds became notorious, on the British occupation of their district about 1835, from the prevalence and cruelty of the human sacrifices they practised. These "Meriah" sacrifices, as they were called, were intended to further the fertilization of the earth. It was incumbent on the Khonds to purchase their victims. Unless bought with a price they were not deemed acceptable. They seldom sacrificed Khonds, though in hard times Khonds were obliged to sell their children and they could then be purchased as Meriahs. Persons of any race, age or sex, were acceptable if purchased. Numbers were bought and kept and well treated; and Meriah women were encouraged to become mothers. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice the victim's hair was cut off, and the villagers having bathed, went with the priest to the sacred grove to forewarn the goddess. The festival lasted three days, and the wildest orgies were indulged in.

See Major Macpherson, _Religious Doctrines of the Khonds_; his account of their religion in _Jour. R. Asiatic Soc._ xiii. 220-221 and his _Report upon the Khonds of Ganjam and Cuttack_ (Calcutta, 1842); also _District Gazetteer of Angul_ (Calcutta, 1908).

KHORASAN, or KHORASSAN (i.e. "land of the sun"), a geographical term originally applied to the eastern of the four quarters (named from the cardinal points) into which the ancient monarchy of the Sassanians was divided. After the Arab conquest the name was retained both as the designation of a definite province and in a looser sense. Under the new Persian empire the expression has gradually become restricted to the north-eastern portion of Persia which forms one of the five great provinces of that country. The province is conterminous E. with Afghanistan, N. with Russian Transcaspian territory, W. with Astarabad and Shahrud-Bostam, and S. with Kerman and Yezd. It lies mainly within 29° 45´-38° 15´ N. and 56°-61° E., extending about 320 m. east and west and 570 m. north and south, with a total area of about 150,000 sq. m. The surface is mountainous. The ranges generally run in parallel ridges, inclosing extensive valleys, with a normal direction from N.W. to S.E. The whole of the north is occupied by an extensive highland system composed of a part of the Elburz and its continuation extending to the Paropamisus. This system, sometimes spoken of collectively as the Kuren Dagh, or Kopet Dagh from its chief sections, forms in the east three ranges, the Hazar Masjed, Binalud Kuh and Jagatai, enclosing the Meshed-Kuchan valley and the Jovain plain. The former is watered by the Kashaf-rud (Tortoise River), or river of Meshed, flowing east to the Hari-rud, their junction forming the Tejen, which sweeps round the Daman-i-Kuh, or northern skirt of the outer range, towards the Caspian but loses itself in the desert long before reaching it. The Jovain plain is watered by the Kali-i-mura, an unimportant river which flows south to the Great Kavir or central depression. In the west the northern highlands develop two branches: (1) the Kuren Dagh, stretching through the Great and Little Balkans to the Caspian at Krasnovodsk Bay, (2) the Ala Dagh, forming a continuation of the Binalud Kuh and joining the mountains between Bujnurd and Astarabad, which form part of the Elburz system. The Kuren Dagh and Ala Dagh enclose the valley of the Atrek River, which flows west and south-west into the Caspian at Hassan Kuli Bay. The western offshoots of the Ala Dagh in the north and the mountains of Astarabad in the south enclose the valley of the Gurgan River, which also flows westwards and parallel to the Atrek to the south-eastern corner of the Caspian. The outer range has probably a mean altitude of 8000 ft., the highest known summits being the Hazar Masjed (10,500) and the Kara Dagh (9800). The central range seems to be higher, culminating with the Shah-Jehan Kuh (11,000) and the Ala Dagh (11,500). The southern ridges, although generally much lower, have the highest point of the whole system in the Shah Kuh (13,000) between Shahrud and Astarabad. South of this northern highland several parallel ridges run diagonally across the province in a N.W.-S.E. direction as far as Seistan.

Beyond the Atrek and other rivers watering the northern valleys a few brackish and intermittent rivers lose themselves in the Great Kavir, which occupies the central and western parts of the province. The true character of the kavir, which forms the distinctive feature of east Persia, has scarcely been determined, some regarding it as the bed of a dried-up sea, others as developed by the saline streams draining to it from the surrounding highlands. Collecting in the central depressions, which have a mean elevation of scarcely more than 500 ft. above the Caspian, the water of these streams is supposed to form saline deposits with a thin hard crust, beneath which the moisture is retained for a considerable time, thus producing those dangerous and slimy quagmires which in winter are covered with brine, in summer with a treacherous incrustation of salt. Dr Sven Hedin explored the central depressions in 1906.

The surface of Khorasan thus consists mainly of highlands, saline, swampy deserts and upland valleys, some fertile and well-watered. Of the last, occurring mainly in the north, the chief are the longitudinal valley stretching from near the Herat frontier through Meshed, Kuchan and Shirvan to Bujnurd, the Derrehgez district, which lies on the northern skirt of the outer range projecting into the Akhal Tekkeh domain, now Russian territory, and the districts of Nishapur and Sabzevar which lie south of the Binalud and Jagatai ranges. These fertile tracts produce rice and other cereals, cotton, tobacco, opium and fruits in profusion. Other products are manna, suffron, asafoetida and other gums. The chief manufactures are swords, stoneware, carpets and rugs, woollens, cottons, silks and sheepskin pelisses (_pustin_, Afghan _poshtin_).

The administrative divisions of the province are: 1, Nishapur; 2, Sabzevar; 3, Jovain; 4, Asfarain; 5, Bujnurd; 6, Kuchan; 7, Derrehgez; 8, Kelat; 9, Chinaran; 10, Meshed; 11, Jam; 12, Bakharz; 13, Radkan; 14, Serrakhs; 15, Sar-i-jam; 16, Bam and Safiabad; 17, Turbet i Haidari; 18, Turshiz; 19, Khaf; 20, Tun and Tabbas; 21, Kain; 22, Seistan.

The population consists of Iranians (Tajiks, Kurds, Baluchis), Mongols, Tatars and Arabs, and is estimated at about a million. The Persians proper have always represented the settled, industrial and trading elements, and to them the Kurds and the Arabs have become largely assimilated. Even many of the original Tatar, Mongol and other nomad tribes (_ilat_), instead of leading their former roving and unsettled life of the _sahara-nishin_ (dwellers in the desert), are settled and peaceful _shahr-nishin_ (dwellers in towns). In religion all except some Tatars and Mongols and the Baluchis have conformed to the national Shiah faith. The revenues (cash and kind) of the province amount to about £180,000 a year, but very little of this amount reaches the Teheran treasury. The value of the exports and imports from and into the whole province is a little under a million sterling a year. The province produces about 10,000 tons of wool and a third of this quantity, or rather more, valued at £70,000 to £80,000, is exported via Russia to the markets of western Europe, notably to Marseilles, Russia keeping only a small part. Other important articles of export, all to Russia, are cotton, carpets, shawls and turquoises, the last from the mines near Nishapur. (A. H.-S.)

KHORREMABAD, a town of Persia, capital of the province of Luristan, in 33° 32´ N., 48° 15´ E., and at an elevation of 4250 ft. Pop. about 6000. It is situated 138 m. W.N.W. of Isfahan and 117 m. S.E. of Kermanshah, on the right bank of the broad but shallow Khorremabad river, also called Ab-i-istaneh, and, lower down, Kashgan Rud. On an isolated rock between the town and the river stands a ruined castle, the Diz-i-siyah (black castle), the residence of the governor of the district (then called Samha) in the middle ages, and, with some modern additions, one of them consisting of rooms on the summit, called Felek ul aflak (heaven of heavens), the residence of the governors of Luristan in the beginning of the 19th century. At the foot of the castle stands the modern residence of the governor, built c. 1830, with several spacious courts and gardens. On the left bank of the river opposite the town are the ruins of the old city of Samha. There are a minaret 60 ft. high, parts of a mosque, an aqueduct, a number of walls of other buildings and a four-sided monolith, measuring 9½ ft. in height, by 3 ft. long and 2(1/3) broad, with an inscription partly illegible, commemorating Mahmud, a grandson of the Seljuk king Malik Shah, and dated A.H. 517, or 519 (A.D. 1148-1150). There also remain ten arches of a bridge which led over the river from Samha on to the road to Shapurkhast, a city situated some distance west.

KHORSABAD, a Turkish village in the vilayet of Mosul, 12½ m. N.E. of that town, and almost 20 m. N. of ancient Nineveh, on the left bank of the little river Kosar. Here, in 1843, P. E. Botta, then French consul at Mosul, discovered the remains of an Assyrian palace and town, at which excavations were conducted by him and Flandin in 1843-1844, and again by Victor Place in 1851-1855. The ruins proved to be those of the town of Dur-Sharrukin, "Sargon's Castle," built by Sargon, king of Assyria, as a royal residence. The town, in the shape of a rectangular parallelogram, with the corners pointing approximately toward the cardinal points of the compass, covered 741 acres of ground. On the north-west side, half within and half without the circuit of the walls, protruding into the plain like a great bastion, stood the royal palace, on a terrace, 45 ft. in height, covering about 25 acres. The palace proper was divided into three sections, built around three sides of a large court on the south-east or city side, into which opened the great outer gates, guarded by winged stone bulls, each section containing suites of rooms built around several smaller inner courts. In the centre was the _serai_, occupied by the king and his retinue, with an extension towards the north, opening on a large inner court, containing the public reception rooms, elaborately decorated with sculptures and historical inscriptions, representing scenes of hunting, worship, feasts, battles, and the like. The harem, with separate provisions for four wives, occupied the south corner, the domestic quarters, including stables, kitchen, bakery, wine cellar, &c., being at the east corner, to the north-east of the great entrance court. In the west corner stood a temple, with a stage-tower (_ziggurat_) adjoining. The walls of the rooms, which stood only to the height of one storey, were from 9 to 25 ft. in thickness, of clay, faced with brick, in the reception rooms wainscoted with stone slabs or tiles, elsewhere plastered, or, in the harem, adorned with fresco paintings and arabesques. Here and there the floors were formed of tiles or alabaster blocks, but in general they were of stamped clay, on which were spread at the time of occupancy mats and rugs. The exterior of the palace wall exhibited a system of groups of half columns and stepped recesses, an ornament familiar in Babylonian architecture. The palace and city were completed in 707 B.C., and in 706 Sargon took up his residence there. He died the following year, and palace and city seem to have been abandoned shortly thereafter. Up to 1909 this was the only Assyrian palace which had ever been explored systematically, in its entirety, and fortunately it was found on the whole in an admirable state of preservation. An immense number of statues and bas-reliefs, excavated by Botta, were transported to Paris, and formed the first Assyrian museum opened to the world. The objects excavated by Place, together with the objects found by Fresnel's expedition in Babylonia and a part of the results of Rawlinson's excavations at Nineveh, were unfortunately lost in the Tigris, on transport from Bagdad to Basra. Flandin had, however, made careful drawings and copies of all objects of importance from Khorsabad. The whole material was published by the French government in two monumental publications.

See P. E. Botta and E. Flandin, _Monument de Ninive_ (Paris, 1849-1850; 5 vols. 400 plates); Victor Place, _Ninïve et l'Assyrie, avec des essais de restauration par F. Thomas_ (Paris, 1866-1869; 3 vols.). (J. P. Pe.)

KHOTAN (locally ILCHI), a town and oasis of East Turkestan, on the Khotan-darya, between the N. foot of the Kuen-lun and the edge of the Takla-makan desert, nearly 200 m. by caravan road S.E. from Yarkand. Pop., about 5000. The town consists of a labyrinth of narrow, winding, dirty streets, with poor, square, flat-roofed houses, half a dozen _madrasas_ (Mahommedan colleges), a score of mosques, and some _masars_ (tombs of Mahommedan saints). Dotted about the town are open squares, with tanks or ponds overhung by trees. For centuries Khotan was famous for jade or nephrite, a semi-precious stone greatly esteemed by the Chinese for making small fancy boxes, bottles and cups, mouthpieces for pipes, bracelets, &c. The stone is still exported to China. Other local products are carpets (silk and felt), silk goods, hides, grapes, rice and other cereals, fruits, tobacco, opium and cotton. There is an active trade in these goods and in wool with India, West Turkestan and China. The oasis contains two small towns, Kara-kash and Yurun-kash, and over 300 villages, its total population being about 150,000.

Khotan, known in Sanskrit as Kustana and in Chinese as Yu-than, Yu-tien, Kiu-sa-tan-na, and Khio-tan, is mentioned in Chinese chronicles in the 2nd century B.C. In A.D. 73 it was conquered by the Chinese, and ever since has been generally dependent upon the Chinese empire. During the early centuries of the Christian era, and long before that, it was an important and flourishing place, the capital of a kingdom to which the Chinese sent embassies, and famous for its glass-wares, copper tankards and textiles. About the year A.D. 400 it was a city of some magnificence, and the seat of a flourishing cult of Buddha, with temples rich in paintings and ornaments of the precious metals; but from the 5th century it seems to have declined. In the 8th century it was conquered, after a struggle of 25 years, by the Arab chieftain Kotaiba ibn Moslim, from West Turkestan, who imposed Islam upon the people. In 1220 Khotan was destroyed by the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan. Marco Polo, who passed through the town in 1274, says that "Everything is to be had there [at Cotan, i.e. Khotan] in plenty, including abundance of cotton, with flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like. The people have vineyards and gardens and estates. They live by commerce and manufactures, and are no soldiers."[1] The place suffered severely during the Dungan revolt against China in 1864-1875, and again a few years later when Yakub Beg of Kashgar made himself master of East Turkestan.

The KHOTAN-DARYA rises in the Kuen-lun Mountains in two headstreams, the Kara-kash and the Yurun-kash, which unite towards the middle of the desert, some 90 m. N. of the town of Khotan. The conjoint stream then flows 180 m. northwards across the desert of Takla-makan, though it carries water only in the early summer, and empties itself into the Tarim a few miles below the confluence of the Ak-su with the Yarkand-darya (Tarim). In crossing the desert it falls 1250 ft. in a distance of 270 m. Its total length is about 300 m. and the area it drains probably nearly 40,000 sq. m.

See J. P. A. Rémusat, _Histoire de la ville de Khotan_ (Paris, 1820); and Sven Hedin, _Through Asia_ (Eng. trans., London, 1898), chs. lx. and lxii., and _Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia_, 1899-1902, vol. ii. (Stockholm, 1906). (J. T. Be.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Sir H. Yule, _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, bk. i. ch. xxxvi. (3rd ed., London, 1903).

KHOTIN, or KHOTEEN (variously written Khochim, Choczim, and Chocim), a fortified town of South Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, in 48° 30´ N. and 26° 30´ E., on the right bank of the Dniester, near the Austrian (Galician) frontier, and opposite Podolian Kamenets. Pop. (1897), 18,126. It possesses a few manufactures (leather, candles, beer, shoes, bricks), and carries on a considerable trade, but has always been of importance mainly as a military post, defending one of the most frequented passages of the Dniester. In the middle ages it was the seat of a Genoese colony; and it has been in Polish, Turkish and Austrian possession. The chief events in its annals are the defeat of the Turks in 1621 by Ladislaus IV., of Poland, in 1673 by John Sobieski, of Poland, and in 1739 by the Russians under Münnich; the defeat of the Russians by the Turks in 1768; the capture by the Russians in 1769, and by the Austrians in 1788; and the occupation by the Russians in 1806. It finally passed to Russia with Bessarabia in 1812 by the peace of Bucharest.

KHULNA, a town and district of British India, in the Presidency division of Bengal. The town stands on the river Bhairab, and is the terminus of the Bengal Central railway, 109 m. E. of Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 10,426. It is the most important centre of river-borne trade in the delta.

The DISTRICT OF KHULNA lies in the middle of the delta of the Ganges, including a portion of the Sundarbans or seaward fringe of swamps. It was formed out of Jessore in 1882. Area (excluding the Sundarbans), 2077 sq. m. Besides the Sundarbans, the north-east part of the district is swampy; the north-west is more elevated and drier, while the central part, though low-lying, is cultivated. The whole is alluvial. In 1901 the population was 1,253,043, showing an increase of 6% in the decade. Rice is the principal crop; mustard, jute and tobacco are also grown, and the fisheries are important. Sugar is manufactured from the date palm. The district is entered by the Bengal Central railway, but by far the greater part of the traffic is carried by water.

See _District Gazetteer_ (Calcutta, 1908).

KHUNSAR, a town of Persia, sometimes belonging to the province of Isfahan, at others to Irak, 96 m. N.W. of Isfahan, in 33° 9´ N., 50° 23´ E., at an elevation of 7600 ft. Pop., about 10,000. It is picturesquely situated on both sides of a narrow valley through which the Khunsar River, a stream about 12 ft. wide, flows in a north-east direction to Kuom. The town and its fine gardens and orchards straggle some 6 m. along the valley with a mean breadth of scarcely half a mile. There is a great profusion of fruit, the apples yielding a kind of cider which, however, does not keep longer than a month. The climate is cool in summer and cold in winter. There are five caravanserais, three mosques and a post office.

KHURJA, a town of British India, in the Bulandshahr district of the United Provinces, 27 m. N.W. of Aligarh, near the main line of the East Indian railway. Pop. (1901), 29,277. It is an important centre of trade in grain, indigo, sugar and _ghi_, and has cotton gins and presses and a manufacture of pottery. Jain traders form a large and wealthy class; and the principal building in the town is a modern Jain temple, a fine domed structure richly carved and ornamented in gold and colours.

KHYBER PASS, the most important of the passes which lead from Afghanistan into India. It is a narrow defile winding between cliffs of shale and limestone 600 to 1000 ft. high, stretching up to more lofty mountains behind. No other pass in the world has possessed such strategic importance or retains so many historic associations as this gateway to the plains of India. It has probably seen Persian and Greek, Seljuk, Tatar, Mongol and Durani conquerors, with the hosts of Alexander the Great, Mahmud of Ghazni, Jenghiz Khan, Timur, Baber, Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah, and numerous other warrior chiefs pass and repass through its rocky defiles during a period of 2000 years. The mountain barrier which separates the Peshawar plains from the Afghan highlands differs in many respects from the mountain barrier which intervenes between the Indus plains and the plateau farther south. To the south this barrier consists of a series of flexures folded parallel to the river, through which the plateau drainage breaks down in transverse lines forming gorges and clefts as it cuts through successive ridges. West of Peshawar the strike of the mountain systems is roughly from west to east, and this formation is maintained with more or less regularity as far south as the Tochi River and Waziristan. Almost immediately west of Peshawar, and stretching along the same parallel of latitude from the meridian of Kabul to within ten miles of the Peshawar cantonment, is the great central range of the Safed Koh, which forms throughout its long, straight line of rugged peaks the southern wall, or water-divide, of the Kabul River basin. About the meridian of 71 E. it forks, sending off to the north-east what is locally known as a spur to the Kabul River, but which is geographically only part of that stupendous water-divide which hedges in the Kunar and Chitral valleys, and, under the name of the Shandur Range, unites with the Hindu Kush near the head of the Taghdumbash Pamir. The Kabul River breaks through this northern spur of the Safed Koh; and in breaking through it is forced to the northward in a curved channel or trough, deeply sunk in the mountains between terrific cliffs and precipices, where its narrow waterway affords no foothold to man or beast for many miles. To reach the Kabul River within Afghan territory it is necessary to pass over this water-divide; and the Khyber stream, flowing down from the pass at Landi Kotal to a point in the plains opposite Jamrud, 9 m. W. of Peshawar, affords the opportunity.