Study of the Historical Roots of Calenders’ Chahārḍarb (The Four-fold Shaving of the Head)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mahdī Ḥasanzāda
• Paymān Abulbasharī

10.22067/history.v0i0.16889

Abstract

Study of the works left behind from the pre-Islamic culture of Iran and the periods after that indicate the fact that growing the hair of one’s head and beard has not been regarded as a negative point. The faces of noble and the common people, the Akaemenid kings, and the Sasanid clerics indicate that shaving the head and face in the pre-Islamic era had been almost unknown, except in some rare instances. In the early centuries after Islam, too, with respect to the report on the Prophet’s (S.A.W.) appearance as well the impressionability of the Iranians of chahārḍarb, accepting the prevalence of this practice among the newly converted Iranians is not possible. However, with the appearance of qalandars (calenders), we encounter individuals, who would shave their heads, faces, and eyebrows, practicing what were termed as chahārḍarb. Various reasons, such as the presence of the Buddhists in the East of Iran during early Islamic period and their abiding by chahārḍarb, the knowledge of the Muslim Iranians and Qalandars about them, the similar intention of both groups in practicing chahārḍarb and carrying stones and razors (ustura) by both groups indicates that the Qalandariyya’s chahārḍarb has been influenced by Buddhism and its monks.

Keywords

• Malamatiyya
• Qalandariyya
• Buddhism
• Chahārḍarb

---