KHANSĀ (Tumāḍir bint ‘Amr, known as al-Khansā) (d. c. 645), Arabian poetess of the tribe Sulaim, a branch of Qais, was born in the later years of the 6th century and brought up in such wealth and luxury as the desert could give. Refusing the offer of Duraid ibn uṣ-Ṣimma, a poet and prince, she married Mirdās and had by him three sons. Afterwards she married again. Before the time of Islam she lost her brothers Ṣakhr and Moawiya in battle. Her elegies written on these brothers and on her father made her the most famous poetess of her time. At the fair of ‘Ukāz Nābigha Dhubyāni is said to have placed A‘sha first among the poets then present and Khansā second above Hassān ibn Thābit. Khansā with her tribe accepted Islam somewhat late, but persisted in wearing the heathen sign of mourning, against the precepts of Islam. Her four sons fought in the armies of Islam and were slain in the battle of Kadisīya. Omar wrote her a letter congratulating her on their heroic end and assigned her a pension. She died in her tent c. 645. Her daughter ‘Amra also wrote poetry. Opinion was divided among later critics as to whether Khansā or Laila (see [Arabic Literature]: § Poetry) was the greater.
Her diwan has been edited by L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1895) and translated into French by De Coppier (Beirut, 1889). Cf. T. Nöldeke’s Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber (Hanover, 1864). Stories of her life are contained in the Kitāb ul-Aghāni, xiii. 136-147.
(G. W. T.)
KHAR, a small but very fertile province of Persia, known by the ancients as Choara and Choarene; pop. about 10,000. The governor of the province resides at Kishlak Khar, a large village situated 62 m. S.E. of Teheran, or at Aradān, a village 10 m. farther E. The province has an abundant water-supply from the Hableh-rūd, and produces great quantities of wheat, barley and rice. Of the £6000 which it pays to the state, more than £4000 is paid in kind—wheat, barley, straw and rice.
KHARAGHODA, a village of British India, in the Ahmedabad district of Bombay, situated on the Little Runn of Cutch, and the terminus of a branch railway; pop. (1901), 2108. Here is the government factory of salt, known as Baragra salt, producing nearly 2,000,000 cwt. a year, most of which is exported to other provinces in Central and Northern India.
KHARGA (Wah el-Kharga, the outer oasis), the largest of the Egyptian oases, and hence frequently called the Great Oasis. It lies in the Libyan desert between 24° and 26° N. and 30° and 31° E., the chief town, also called Kharga, being 435 m. by rail S. by W. of Cairo. It is reached by a narrow-gauge line (opened in 1908) from Kharga junction, a station on the Nile valley line near Farshut. The oasis consists of a depression in the desert some 1200 sq. m. in extent, and is about 100 m. long N. to S. and from 12 to 50 broad E. to W. Formerly, and into historic times, a lake occupied a considerable part of the depression, and the thick deposits of clay and sand then laid down now form the bulk of the cultivated lands of the oasis. It includes, however, a good deal of desert land. The inhabitants numbered (1907 census) 8348. They are of Berber stock. Administratively the oasis forms part of the mudiria of Assiut. It is practically rainless, and there is not now a single natural flowing spring. There are, however, numerous wells, water being obtained freely from the porous sandstone which underlies a great part of the Libyan desert. Some very ancient wells are 400 ft. deep. In water-bearing sandstones near the surface there are underground aqueducts dating from Roman times. The oasis contains many groves of date palms, there being over 60,000 adult trees in 1907. The dom palm, tamarisk, acacia and wild senna are also found. Rice, barley and wheat are the chief cereals cultivated, and lucerne for fodder. Besides agriculture the only industry is basket and mat making—from palm leaves and fibre. Since 1906 extensive boring and land reclamation works have been undertaken in the oasis.