iterion of kinship.

The inconsistency in the spelling of Arabic words has not altogether
been avoidable being due partly to a desire to adhere to the orthography
adopted by authors whom I have consulted.

SIMLA, G.K. NARIMAN.

September, 1917.

CHAPTER I

Iranian literary tradition in the opening centuries of Islam 1

The character of the Persian history during the Sasanian epoch 6

Importance of this epoch according to the Arab writers of the first
centuries of Islam 10

The position of the Parsi community and the centres of the preservation
of Persian tradition during the period of the Khalifat in Tabaristan,
Khorasan and Fars 15

The castle of Shiz in the district of Arrajan in the province of Fars
described by Istakhri, p. 118, 2-4; 150, 14-7; Ibn Hauqal, p. 189, 1-2;
cf. the translator of the _Khoday Nameh_, Behram, son of Mardanshah of
the city of Shapur in the province of Fars 19

This castle was the residence of those acquainted with the Iranian
tradition (the _badhgozar_) and here their archives were lodged 20

_ARABIC WRITERS AS SOURCES OF SASANIAN CULTURE_.

To the Iranian element belongs a very rich role in the external as well
as the internal history of Islam. Its influence is obvious and constant
in the history of the Moslem nations' spread over centuries. Whenever
the circumstances have been favourable it has been clearly manifest;
when the conditions have been hostile it is not noticeable at the first
glance but in reality has been of great consequence. The causes of this
are very complicated. And it is necessary on account of its universal
value to examine a wide concatenation of facts. But from a general point
of view there is no doubt that it has its roots principally in the
continuity of the historical and cultural traditions. Particular
significance attaches to the circumstance that just in the epoch
preceding the Arab conquest Persia had experienced a period of national
revival after the horrors that its sovereignty had undergone, at the
hands, for instance, of Alexander the Great.[1] Therefore for the study
of Iranian tradition in Islam the period of the Sasanian dynasty
preceding the Arab conquest has a special significance.

[Footnote 1: This is explained by the hatred given expression to in the
Parsi tradition regarding Alexander. Comp. J. Darmesteter _La Legende de
Alexandre chez les Parses. Essais Orientaux_, Paris 1883, pp. 227-251.]

The Sasanian dynasty issuing fr