This work is the English version, published for the first time, of the second edition of the second edition of the two-volume magnum opus of well-known Soviet Tajik orientalist B.G. Gafurov, brought out in 1989 from Dushanbe in Russian language. The first Russian edition which was published in 1972 from Moscow was followed by Tajik and Persian (in Arabic script) editions as also in the Polish language translated from Russian language. The first Russian edition ...
