Badj

باج

BADJ is the Arabicised form of the Persian bäsh from the Islamic period ¹. The phrase bazh u säw is not infrequent and the expression bazh-i rüm is used in reference to the tribute and indemnity paid to the victorious Persians by the rulers of the Eastern Roman empire ¹. The Chaznawid poet Bahråmi uses bash while the 15th-century poet Babā Fighäni uses bădi ¹. The words bäshbän, bazhkh ah and bäzhdăr are explained as desiring toll or customs-levied ¹. In Burhăn-i Kați, the term is stated to have been applied to money and gifts in addition to the meanings of tithe and customs-dues ¹. The word became a current fiscal technical term among the Turks because several Turkish states were founded in the Persian area starting with the Ghaznawids and Saldjüks and because the Saldiük administration preserved Samänid and Ghaznawid traditions ¹. Persian was the official language of Asia Minor under the Saldjüks and Ilkhänids ¹. Documents show that the word was applied to various forms of tax as well as being used for tax in general ¹. Naşir al-Din Tüsi presented a risăla containing his views on politics and finance to the Ilkhanid Abäkă ¹. Yaltkaya translates the term as customs-dues in an ambiguous passage ¹. Minorsky shows that the bådi referred to in context must be the vandari or traveller's protection tax levied in the Ilkhänid dominions for maintaining peace and security on caravan-routes and lakes ¹. The word is also used to refer to a tax of one-third when discussing Ghazãn's agricultural reforms ¹. Legislative texts are more useful for establishing the sense of such a word, but the oldest relevant ones of the Ak Koyünlü have not come down in their original forms ¹. These laws were first discussed by I. H. ¹.