Bakhtiari

Bakhtiari (bäkh'tēä`rē, –ärē`, băkh'–), tribal group, numbering around 850,000, living in SW Iran, in a mountainous region (c.25,000 sq mi/64,750 sq km) in Khuzestan and Esfahan provs. They are mostly nomadic, migrating seasonally with their livestock. The Bakhtiari are Shiite Muslims and are famed for their courage and independence. Women enjoy a high position in the patrilineal society. The group can be divided into two large branches, the Haftlang, with about 55 tribes, and the Charlang, with about 25. The Bakhtiari originally migrated (10th cent.) from Syria to Iran, and until the 15th cent. were known as the Great Lurs. In the early 20th cent., after the discovery of oil in the region they inhabit, their chiefs were courted by the British and were paid to protect oil pipelines. The Bakhtiari played a decisive part in the deposition of Muhammad Ali Shah in 1908–9. Reza Shah Pahlevi forced many of them to abandon their nomadic ways and to settle in permanent communities; after his deposition in 1941, however, many Bakhtiari returned to nomadism. Muhammad Reza Shah was married (1951–58) to Soraya, the daughter of a Bakhtiari chieftain.

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Bakhtyari

 or Bakhtiyari or Bakhtiari

Any member of a community of nomadic pastoral tent dwellers of western Iran. They speak a dialect of Luri (a language related to Modern Persian) and are mostly Shi'ite Muslims. Their two tribal groups are the Chahar Lang and Haft Lang; the position of leader of all the Bakhtyari alternates every two years between the chiefs of the two tribal groups. Many chiefs have been influential in national public affairs and have held office. Bakhtyari women are normally better-educated and freer than other Muslim women in Iran.

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Bakhtiari 

a group of tribes in southwestern Iran, living for the most part in eastern Luristan in Bakhtiari district. They are considered to be an ancient population of Iran that settled the southwestern regions before the Arab conquests. In 1967 the Bakhtiari numbered approximately 450,000 persons. The Bakhtiari language belongs to the northwestern branch of Iranian languages. The religion is Shia Islam. The Bakhtiari are divided into two groups: the Haft Lang in the north and the Chahar Lang in the south. They retain vestiges of patriarchal-tribal culture. Their chief occupation is herding (sheep, goats, and asses); part of the male population works in petroleum enterprises.

REFERENCES

Narody Perednei Azii. Moscow, 1957.
Trubetskoi, V. V. Bakhtiary. Moscow, 1966.