ḤARĪRĪ [Abū Maḥommed ul-Qāsim ibn ’Ali ibn Maḥommed al-Ḥarīrī,] i.e. “the manufacturer or seller of silk”] (1054-1122), Arabian writer, was born at Baṣra. He owned a large estate with 18,000 date-palms at Mashān, a village near Baṣra. He is said to have occupied a government position, but devoted his life to the study of the niceties of the Arabic language. On this subject he wrote a grammatical poem the Mulḥat ul-‘Irāb (French trans. Les Récréations grammaticales with notes by L. Pinto, Paris 1885-1889; extracts in S. de Sacy’s Anthologie arabe, pp. 145-151, Paris, 1829); a work on the faults of the educated called Ḍurrat ul-Ghawwās (ed. H. Thorbecke, Leipzig, 1871), and some smaller treatises such as the two letters on words containing the letters sin and shin (ed. in Arnold’s Chrestomathy, pp. 202-9). But his fame rests chiefly on his fifty maqāmas (see [Arabia]: Literature, section “Belles Lettres”). These were written in rhymed prose like those of Hamadhānī, and are full of allusions to Arabian history, poetry and tradition, and discussions of difficult points of Arabic grammar and rhetoric.
The Maqāmas have been edited with Arabic commentary by S. de Sacy (Paris, 1822, 2nd ed. with French notes by Reinaud and J. Derenbourg, Paris, 1853); with English notes by F. Steingass (London, 1896). An English translation with notes was made by T. Preston (London, 1850), and another by T. Chenery and F. Steingass (London, 1867 and 1898). Many editions have been published in the East with commentaries, especially with that of Sharīshī (d. 1222).
(G. W. T.)
HARI-RUD, a river of Afghanistan. It rises in the northern slopes of the Koh-i-Baba to the west of Kabul, and finally loses itself in the Tejend oasis north of the Trans-Caspian railway and west of Merv. It runs a remarkably straight course westward through a narrow trough from Daolatyar to Obeh, amidst the bleak wind-swept uplands of the highest central elevations in Afghanistan. From Obeh to Kuhsan 50 m. west of Herat, it forms a valley of great fertility, densely populated and highly cultivated; practically all its waters being drawn off for purposes of irrigation. It is the contrast between the cultivated aspect of the valley of Herat and the surrounding desert that has given Herat its great reputation for fertility. Three miles to the south of Herat the Kandahar road crosses the river by a masonry bridge of 26 arches now in ruins. A few miles below Herat the river begins to turn north-west, and after passing through a rich country to Kuhsan, it turns due north and breaks through the Paropamisan hills. Below Kuhsan it receives fresh tributaries from the west. Between Kuhsan and Zulfikar it forms the boundary between Afghanistan and Persia, and from Zulfikar to Sarakhs between Russia and Persia. North of Sarakhs it diminishes rapidly in volume till it is lost in the sands of the Turkman desert. The Hari-Rud marks the only important break existing in the continuity of the great central water-parting of Asia. It is the ancient Arius.
(T. H. H.*)
HARISCHANDRA, in Hindu mythology, the 28th king of the Solar race. He was renowned for his piety and justice. He is the central figure of legends in the Aitareyabrahmana, Mahabharata and the Markandeyapurana. In the first he is represented as so desirous of a son that he vows to Varuna that if his prayer is granted the boy shall be eventually sacrificed to the latter. The child is born, but Harischandra, after many delays, arranges to purchase another’s son and make a vicarious sacrifice. According to the Mahabharata he is at last promoted to Paradise as the reward for his munificent charity.