Owrazan Jalal Al Ahmad
Although our villages
form the core of our social organization as well as the foundation or our
civilization.
They are taken into
account neither in our present Policies nor in our educational schemes. No
village attracts the curiosity of our scholars or the attention of our
Government authorities or any sympathy on the part of our politicians. The few
Orientalists and Dialectologists who have visited some of our villages, have
published nothing concerning the way of life and customs’ of the people in
those villages.
No one is to be
blamed for this state of affairs, because the village is only one of the
innumerable Persian subjects which call for study.
The present brochure
has been compiled with regard to such a minor subject as a village situated in
North Persia. The author can claim no authority in dialectology or anthropology
or economics. An attempt has been made to describe a village as minutely as
possible and to show bow its le for their occupants struggle for their
existence.
I have dealt with
this village merely because it is the birth place of my forefathers. Otherwise
it is one of several thousand Persian villages where plugging is done in a
primitive way, and the villagers often fight over water supply and are deprived
of public baths and a sufficient supply of sugar for their tea. The ensuing
notes have been taken almost all random during my six visits to the village and
stay of not less than 12 months there. They form, therefore, neither a travel
book nor any study of dialectology or folklore.
Owrazan, as the
village is called, is situated at the foot of the mountains on the East of
Taleqan (as being situated in Khorasan) where no school or Gendarmerie is to be
seen and men light their pipes with the flint. Its population has often been
estimated at 700. According to the headman, about one hundred families lived
there in 1947, amounting to 500 people. There are 80 villages in Taleqan,
including Owrazan in the upper part, scattered on both sides of Shahrood River
which flows at the foot of a large valley and joins Qezel-Owzan on its Northern
way to the Caspian Sea. The Upper Taleqan is mountainous and colder, while the
Lower Taleqan is closer to the plains. Tonokabon is on its Northern and Alamout
on its western sides. Its Southern neighbor is Savojbulaq. Once during the past
decade influential men planned to construct a main road to Taleqan. Little
progress, however, was made; and the present routes are passable by mules
Shahrood River carries all the timber cut during autumn.
The people of Taleqan
call their own dialect “Tati”.
In their economic
life as well as their education and language they have affinities with
Mazanderan. I include in the present brochure certain phrases and words from
the local dialect, and have shown the pronunciation in Roman characters.
Simin
Daneshwar (Translation)
Tehran / September 1954 J. A.
