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South Persia Kerman, Ravar, Yazd, Shiraz, Abadeh, Afshari, Ghashghaei (or Qashqaei) & Khamseh |
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On the road to the south more than anywhere in this country, one comes into contact with its colorful turbulent history. In Persepolis, the former capital of the Achaelmenid empire, which stretched from Greece and Egypt to India, as at other ancient sites, one finds the well preserved remains of its former glory at every turn. In Persepolis, Iran saw the beginning of the multi-racial Persian empire. Within the large territory of southern Persia, carpets of the various provinces are linked to their respective urban centers: Fars with the city of Shiraz; Kerman with its major town of the same name and Baluchestan with Zahedan as its capital. The Kerman region is dominated by the Lut desert and the Kuhrud mountains. The character of the province of Fars is formed by the foothills of the Zagros chain and the Kuhrud mountains. In the far south east the parched region of Baluchestan shares a border with Pakistan. The economy is dominated in the south west by oil and, in the irrigated areas and oases of the remainder, by agriculture, tobacco growing, stock herding and carpet weaving. For the most part these are primitive economic activities which support the most diverse peoples - Turkic nomads, semi-nomadic Arabs, tribes which once had their home in the Caucasus or in Turkey. Against this, the population of the towns are economically more secure. Yet it would be wrong to visualize a southern racial melting pot: each group has its own language, traditions and customs, developed over the centuries or millennia and have maintained their own ceremonies independent from those of their trading partners. Practically no carpets are woven in Baluchestan, if we exclude the nomadic families who came from Khorasan, and wander through the north of the territory. Thus neither the Baluchestan town of Barn nor the provincial capital of Zahedan have carpets to offer. Baluch carpets are woven in Khorasan as well as regions that extend into Afghanistan and the southern U.S.S.R.
In south Persia we encounter carpet labels - which correspond to the
names of tribes or towns and villages - such as Basseri, Bilverdi, Estahbanat, Faizabad, Fasa, Jarussa, Mahan, Tahrud and Zahedan,
amongst others. From Fars come carpets from Abadeh and Shiraz as well
as work of the Qashqaei nomads. From the Ostan of Kerman come the
Afshar carpets as well as the products of Kerman, Niriz, Ravar and
Sirjad. These are the major provenances of the south and south east to
which hundreds of diverse tribes take their weavings. |
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