Farkhar District is a district in

Takhar Province Takhar (Dari , Farsi/Pashto: ) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeast of the country next to Tajikistan. It is surrounded by Badakhshan in the east, Panjshir in the south, and Baghlan and Kunduz in the we ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. It is located southeast of

Taloqan Taloqan (Persian, also transcribed Taleqan or Taluqan) is the capital of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. It is located in the Taluqan District. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006. In 2021, the Taliban gained control ...

. The

Khanabad River The Khānabād River ( ps, د خان اباد سیند; fa, رود خان‌آباد) flows in the provinces of Takhar and Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. The Khanabad River is a tributary of the Kunduz River, which is in turn a tributary of the ...

flows inside this valley. Around 99% of the people in Farkhar speak

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

. Farkhar has about 50,000 people and 75 villages.

Etymology

The name Farkhār is generally believed to be the

Sogdia Sogdia (Sogdian language, Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also ...

n (and possibly also

Khwarazm Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...

ian) ''βṛγʾr'', the equivalent of the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word ''

vihāra Vihāra generally refers to a Buddhist monastery for Buddhist renunciates, mostly in the Indian subcontinent. The concept is ancient and in early Sanskrit and Pali texts, it meant any arrangement of space or facilities for dwellings . The term ev ...

'' (a Buddhist monastery), which it renders in translations of Buddhist texts. Another view is that it is not etymologically connected with ''vihāra'' but is a Persian word, originally ''*paru-khuvāthra'' "full of happiness". Although

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

was eventually replaced by Islam in northern Afghanistan around the 8th century, as late as the 11th-century the

ian scholar

al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...

was able to write in a discussion of Buddhists: "their monuments, the ''bahārs'' of their idols and their ''farkhārs'', are visible on the borders of Khorasan adjacent to India".

Geography and climate

Farkhar has an area of , comparatively equivalent to the area of

South Andaman Island South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and ...

. The district has no major roadways. The Farkhar River is the main river of Farkhar, with other tributaries flowing into it. Farkhar is surrounded by

Kalafgan District Kalafgan District is a district of Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The district is well governed, with self-governance in parts of Kalafgan because of how remote they are. 42 villages are located in the district. In 2017, Kalafgan was considered to b ...

to the north, Kishim District to the northeast, Tagab District to the east,

Warsaj District Warsaj District is a district of Takhar Province, northern Afghanistan. Geography Warsaj has an area of 2705.3 square kilometers, comparatively equivalent to the area of Unalaska Island. Warsaj District is located at the end of the Farkhar Ri ...

to the south,

Namak Ab District Namak Ab District is a district of Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The district was split-off from Taluqan District. In late 2018, Namak Ab was considered to be government influenced, as opposed to the Taliban. Geography Namak Ab has an area of ...

to the west, and

Taluqan District Taluqan, ( prs, تالقان), is a district of Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. The city has a total population of 258,219 (2015) and has 6 Police districts (nahias). The total land area of the city is 10,744 Hectares while there a ...

to the northeast. Kishim is located in

Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Persian/ Uzbek: , ''Badaxšān'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower ...

, with all other districts in Takhar Province.

Climate

Fakhar has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dsb'').

Demographics

Farkhar has a population of 52,117, with a sex ratio of 26 males for every 25 females. Ethnic

Tajiks Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...

are the majority. The median age is 15.8 and about 42% of the population is working. About 18% of the unemployed are seeking work. There are about 8,000 households in the district, with an average size of 6.5 people.

Villages

The villages of this district include and are not limited to: Shaktan, Shingan, Nahr Ab, Dasht e Robat, Abi Dara, Kurani, Pire Farkhar, Shori, Dehak, Jangle Gaza, Dasht e Konj, Chashma e Garmuk, Shahre Farkhar, Kundal, Mazre Shikh, Khanaqa, Khurmab, Ardishan, Kashan, Sare Kham, Singan, Pyani, Dahne Zure, Khafdara, Sang e Atash, Khawaki, Farhangurd, Khusdeh, Darbaho, Huti, Warook, Ghashob, Yookh, Lujdeh and Mashtan.

In Persian poetry

In Persian poetry, the phrase "buddha of a temple" or "idol from Farkhar" became proverbial for a beautiful person. One of the earliest poets to use it was

Manuchehri Abu Najm Aḥmad ibn Qauṣ ibn Aḥmad Manūčihrī ( fa, ابونجم احمد ابن قوص ابن احمد منوچهری دامغانی), a.k.a. Manuchehri Dāmghānī (fl. 1031–1040), was an eleventh-century court poet in Persia and in the ...

, an 11th-century poet at the court of

Mas'ud I of Ghazni Masoud (; ) is a given name and surname, with origins in Persian and Arabic. The name is found in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and China. Masoud has spelling varia ...

, who wrote: : : :"It is springtime and the world is like a buddha of Farkhar" In another example the poet Khwaju (or Khaju) (d. 1352), praising a handsome Turk, writes:See further Domenico Ingenito (2018)
"Hafez’s "Shirāzi Turk": A Geopoetical Approach"
(als

, ''Iranian Studies'', p. 17. : : :"Shiraz has become Afghan Turkestan, Turkistan since that "buddha" came from Farkhar"

References

External links

* (

TOLO TV TOLO ( fa, طلوع, , sunrise) is a commercial television station operated by MOBY Group in Afghanistan. Launched in 2004, it became one of the first commercial stations in the country and laid the foundation for an accessible media outlet by of ...

, Sept. 7, 2023) {{Authority control Districts of Takhar Province