Diwan-khane

The Arabic/Persian word Dewan or Divan (دیوان), with a range of meanings: diwan, a collection of poetry; Khan, from Arabic and Persian, is a house, an inn, hotel, a chamber, a caravansary. Diwan-Khane is often used to describe the guest house, usually of prominent people in the Middle Eastern society.

Guest house of the tribal chieftain, used mostly for discussing the affairs of the tribe. In the tribal Middle Eastern, Arab, Persian, or Kurdish society, this was an institution dedicated to the political and social affairs of the tribe. A diwan or diwan-khane, was a special room, or house, dedicated to the "agha" and his male guests, for sitting and drinking tea, discussing the political and social affairs of the tribe and other mundane subjects. The agha and his guests would listen at times for local or visiting singers and story tellers (usually Jewish merchants or peddlers), who would entertain them. The common agha was in fact one person who was in charge of several major tasks of the tribal society under his jurisdiction: He was the head of the political unit, the main judge and arbitrator, the main military leader of his armed tribesmen, the main finance minister responsible mainly for receiving dues from his subjects for their harvest and commercial transactions committed under his jurisdiction. One of the best studies on "aghas" in the Kurdish society is the important book of Mordechai Zaken, Jewish Subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan.^[1]

1. ^ Mordechai Zaken, Jewish Subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan: A Study in Survival, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2007. For a review of this book see the following review in Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Subjects-Chieftains-Kurdistan-Identities-Changing/product-reviews/9004161902/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1