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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1874.
having made me more cautious, and shall hence- ostensibly, on all occasions, for orthodox Musalforth be on my guard and require estampages in mâns. lieu of the scrawls, which are often carelessly made The sect of the Yezidis believe that Satan, after by Kåtebs, and palmed off as correct transcripts having, by a long pilgrimage through the world, upon gentlemen unacquainted with Persian. atoned for his pride and revolt against Cod, has
E. RELATSEK. been pardoned, and resumed his place before the
Supreme Being, of whom he is the lieutenant and With the profoundest respect for the immea. the Word. Though equally scorned by the Mu. Surable and unquestionable superiority of Dr. Wil- salmans and Christians, this sect, to the number son's knowledge, I would venture to ask whether of 30,000 souls, continues to maintain itself in a it is correct to speak of the caste corresponding part of Kurdistån. in Gujarat to the Marathå Kunabis as "Kulam. The Bâbis inhabit certain villages of the Hakkari bis," as he does in his most interesting account between Bak-kalli' and Katur, near the Turkoof the Tribes and Languages of the Bombay Presi. | Persian frontier. These sectaries dispute, in the dency, copied into the August number of the Indian first place, the authenticity of the Qorån, and naturAntiquary. My small knowledge of Marathi teach- ally reject all the commentaries on it; they have es me that Kulambi means peasant in that written a new Qorân, which they pretend is alone language. But in Gujarat the caste are always valid, and they do not in any way recognize the called, and call themselves, Kan bis. Since I power or authority of the Mullas in matters saw "Kula mbi" in the Administration Report, religious. Not that they doubt the mission of I have asked several authorities, native as well as Muhammad-at least overtly--but they pretend European, who all agree that they know not the that the tradition has been altered and corrupted, word as the common term for this caste.
and that the Mullâhs are as it were, usurpers in Would it not also be well to avoid calling the the domain of faith.-They are accused of commu. Kolis (as they undoubtedly call themselves, with nism, and even of preaching community of wives. the broadest possible o) "Kulis"? The practice They believe in the transmigration of souls: such tends to confound the name of this race with the a Babi dies to-day for the cause of God; in turn word Kult (Hindustani) from which comes the after a few days his soul passes into the body of common word 'coolie. Many Kolis are Kulis, but another Babi, who is forth with identified with all Kulís are not Kolis.
the departed. Thanks to this system, they are What is the origin of Kuli?
immortal; also death is for them only an ab. C. E. G. C.
sence of short duration, of which they are the The Marathi word for a cultivator is Kunabi, pronounced
sport. It also results from this that transmigraby the people as a dissyllable. The word Kulainbi is found in the works of the Educational Series, but not in ordinary tion goes far back, -the soul of each chief is conversation. "Kali" is from the Persian Kulina slave ? and the hill.
the soul of an Imam or of one of the heroes of tribes are " Kolis."--ED.
Shiïte legend. The number of Babi refugees in
Kurdistan is estimated at about 5000. The chiefs KIZILBASHES, YEZIDIS, AND BABIS, OF
require of the disciples the most absolute obedience KURDISTAN.
and the most inviolable secrecy: they are obeyed The Kizilbashes (red-heads'--the origin of the as faithfully as was, in his time, the Old Man of the name is unknown)"number more than 45,000. They Mountain. worship a great black dog as the image of the Lastly, there are in the mountains of Kurdistan divinity. Their doctrines and religious practices entire tribes who worship secular trees of their are otherwise almost unknown. We only know forests, and who have altars formed of great blocks that once a year they assemble at night, in a of stone like dolmens or menhirs.-(Translated house apart, to celebrate a ceremony which leaves from the Journal Asiatique, Oct. 1873.) far behind the orgies of the Bona Dea. There, It does not appear upon what evidence these charges are after prayers of a revolting cynicism, after an
brought against the Kizilbashes-probably mere report of
surrounding and hostile religionists. They are probably the invocation to the god of fecundity, the lights are same as the Kazilbashes of Kábul, a colony of Persian extinguished and the sexes commerce without
extraction.-ED. regard to age or family relations. The Kizilbashes have no existence in law; their scandalous mys
Note. teries only exist under protection of an absolute It may perhaps be useful to state, that the first secrecy. They do not avow their beliefs, and pass half of the line from the Rdmdyana which is cited
• The name is said to be traceable to a red cap, imposed by one of the early Safavide monarchs of Persia on his followers.-ED.
