'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎206] (243/586)

The eight districts round Isfahan, which Mustawfi carefully
enumerates with their villages, still exist, and the same names
appear in Ya'kubi and other early authorities of the 3rd and 4th
(9th and roth) centuries. Four of these districts lie to the north
of the river, while the other four are on its right bank to the
southward. Beginning with the north bank, the home district,
that immediately round the city, was called Jay, the name of the
older town to the eastward. The Marbin district was to the west
of Isfahan, and here stood an ancient fire-temple built by the
mythical king Tahmurath, surnamed Div Band, 'the demon binder.'
To the north-west, at some distance from the city gates, lay the
Burkhwar district, of which Jaz (modern Gaz) was the largest
village; while to the north-east was the district called Kahab,
the fourth on the northern river bank. South of the Zayindah
Rtid, and to the south-east of the old Shahristanah city, was the
district of Baraan, with the Riidasht district beyond it lying
further down the river, of which last the chief centre was Farifan,
a large town in the 8th (r4th) century, though now only a village,
standing near the great Gav-Khanah swamp. The Kararij district
is south of Baraan; and westward of this, higher up the right bank
of the Zayindah Rud, is the great Khanlanjan district, the last of
the four to the south of the river, of which the chief town was
Firfizan. Of this city no trace apparently remains, but it was a
considerable town 'in two parts' in the 8th (14th) century, situated
on the Zayindah Rud, and Ibn Batutah, who passed through it,
says it lay six leagues distant from Isfahan. The Khanlanjan
district was already famous in the 4th (10th) century for its
plentiful fruits and the fertility of its lands. Its name is often
written Khalanjan or Khulanjan, and it was also known as Khan-
al-Abrar, ' the Caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). of the Benefactors.' As the name of
a town Khanlanjan is doubtless identical with Firuzan aforesaid,
and in the Itineraries this is the first stage southward from Isfahan
on the western road to Shiraz. In the 5th (nth) century Nasir-
1. 431- Kaz. ii. 265. The description of Isfahan fills volume vin (see
especially pp. 122, 126, 147, 153, 212, 227, 229, for passages referred to) of
the Voyages duChevalier Char din en Perse (Amsterdam, 1711). For modern
Isfahan see Houtum-Schindler, Eastern 'Irak (1897), pp. 18, 19, 120,