Bakhtiari

Bakhtiari, a numerous highland people of Luristan, West Persia, who give their name to the Bakhtiari mountains; are a branch of the Lur (West Kurd) family, mixed with Persian elements, speech intermediate between Persian and Kurdish; type, West Persian; middle size, brown colour, long black wavy hair, prominent and even aquiline nose, robust frame; two main divisions: Chahar-lang, with six branches (Kiyunurzi, Suhuni, Mahmud Salik, Moguwi, Memiwand, Samali), and Haft-lang, with three branches (Durkai, Beidarwand, Ulaki). Subject to and classed with the Bakhtiari are also the Dinaruni, Janika-Garmsars, Binduni, and Gunduzlu, the latter originally of Turkoman stock. There is also a Bakhtiari tribe on north-west frontier of India, said to have migrated thither from Luristan, but now mostly fused with the Mian-Khel Afghans. The Bakhtiari are all Mohammedans, but fierce and lawless nomads, who scarcely yield more than nominal obedience to the Persian authorities.