Farkhar District
Farkhar District is a district of Takhar Province, Afghanistan. It is located southeast of Taloqan. The Khanabad River flows inside this valley. Around 99% of the people in Farkhar speak Persian. Farkhar has about 50,000 people and 75 villages. Etymology. The name Farkhār is generally believed to be the Sogdian (and possibly also Khwarazmian) "βṛγʾr", the equivalent of the Sanskrit word "vihāra" (a Buddhist monastery), which it renders in translations of Buddhist texts. Another view is that it is not etymologically connected with "vihāra" but is a Persian word, originally "*paru-khuvāthra" "full of happiness". Although Buddhism was  eventually replaced by Islam in northern Afghanistan around the 8th century, as late as the 11th-century the Khwarazmian scholar al-Biruni was able to write in a discussion of Buddhists: "their monuments, the "bahārs" of their idols and their "farkhārs", are visible on the borders of Khorasan adjacent to India". Geography. Farkhar has an area of 1214 kilometers, comparatively equivalent to the area of South Andaman Island. The district has no major roadways. The Farkhar River is the main river of Farkhar, with other tributaries flowing into it. Farkhar is surrounded by Kalafgan District to the north, Kishim District  to the northeast, Tagab District to the east, Warsaj District to the south, Namak Ab District to the west, and Taluqan District to the northeast. Kishim is located in Badakhshan Province, with all other districts in Takhar Province. Demographics. Farkhar has a population of 52117, with a sex ratio of 26 males for every 25 females. The district has a large Uzbek majority with a small Hazara minority. The median age is 15.8 and about 42% of the population is working. About 18% of the unemployed are seeking work. There are about 8000 households in the district, with an average  size of 6.5 people. Villages. The villages of this district include and are not limited to: Shaktan, Shingan, Nahr Ab, Dasht e Robat, Abi Dara, Kurani, Pire Farkhar, Shori, Dehak, Jangle Gaza, Dasht e Konj, Chashma e Garmuk, Shahre Farkhar, Kundal, Mazre Shikh, Khanaqa, Khurmab, Ardishan, Kashan, Sare Kham, Singan, Pyani, Dahne Zure, Khafdara, Sang e Atash, Khawaki, Farhangurd, Khusdeh, Darbaho, Huti, Warook, Ghashob, Yookh, Lujdeh and Mashtan. In Persian poetry. In Persian poetry, the phrase "buddha of a temple" or "idol from Farkhar" became proverbial for a beautiful person. One of the earliest poets to use it was Manuchehri , an 11th-century poet at the court of Mas'ud I of Ghazni, who wrote: In another example the poet Khwaju (or Khaju) (d. 1352), praising a handsome Turk, writes: