'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎198] (235/586)

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JIBAL.
[CHAR
beyond what was known as 'the great plain.' Baths were
numerous and the houses were well built, mostly of clay bricks;
the gardens were few, but those round the town limits were very
fertile. Abu Dulaf, from whom the place took its distinguishing
name, had been a celebrated general, also a poet at the court of
Hartin-ar-Rashid and his son Mamtin. Abu Dulaf together with
his descendants settled in this district, which with that lying round
Burj, 12 leagues distant towards Isfahan, had been granted to
them as Ighars—that is ' fiefs in perpetuity,' paying a fixed yearly
tribute to the Caliph, but free of all other taxes. Yakut states
that the Persians pronounced the name of Karaj Karah, and
Farrazin was the name of a castle not far from the gate of Karaj.
Mustawfi, who refers to the river as the River of Karah—the Karah
RM—says that the Rasmand mountain here rose above the plain
to the north. At the foot of the mountain was an abundant
spring of water, called the fountain of King Kay-Khusraw, which
irrigated the neighbouring pasture lands, six leagues long by
three wide, known as the Margzar of Kith, which lay under the
protection of the Parrazin castle. The Rasmand mountain is
described as a black rock towering up like the hill of Bisutiln,
with glens at its base, and it was ten leagues in circuit. The
site of Burj, the second city of the Igharayn, has not yet been
identified. Its position, however, is approximately known. Ibn
Hawkal speaks of it as a fine well-conditioned town, and tells us
that it lay on the high road towards Isfahan, some 12 leagues
distant from Karaj 1 .
Lower down the Karaj river, and to the north of Karaj of Abu
Dulaf, is the town of Sanik of the Farahan district, noticed by
Yakut and Mustawfi, being counted by them as belonging to
Hamadan. Dawlatabad, which still exists, is mentioned as a
prominent place of the neighbourhood; and there was a salt
marsh near here, formed by a lake, measuring four leagues square,
which when dried up by the summer heats produced excellent salt
for export. This lake, according to Mustawfi, the Mongols
named Jaghan Nailr, meaning 'Salt Lake.' It is doubtless
I. H. 258, 262. Muk. 394. Yak. i. 420, 548; iii. 873; iv. 250, 270.
Mst. [51, 204.