'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎207] (244/586)

XIV]
JIBAL.
i-Khusraw passed through Khanlanjan on his way to Isfahan, and
noticed on the city gate an inscription bearing the name of
Tughril Beg the Saljuk 1 .
The main stream of the Isfahan river, at the present time
generally called the Zandah Rud, is known as the Zayindah
Rud or the Zarin-Rudh to our various authorities, though this
last name is now generally given to a tributary river. The main
stream, in its upper reach, was named the Jiiy-Sard, 'the Cold
River,' and this rose in the Zardah-Kub, ' the Yellow Mountains'
—still so called from their yellow limestone cliffs—30 leagues
west of Isfahan, not far from the head-waters of the Dujayl or
Karun river of Khuzistan ; and here, according to Mustawfi, were
also the Ashkahran mountains, which marked the frontiers of
Great Lur. Below the town of Firuzan in Khanlanjan, the
Zandah RM receives an affluent, almost equal to its main
stream in volume, which comes down from near Gulpaygan
(Jurbadhakan); then after passing Isfahan, and irrigating its
eight districts, the Zandah Rud somewhat to the eastward of
Rudasht flows finally into the swamp of Gav-Khanah on the
borders of the Great Desert. According to popular belief, which
is mentioned already by Ibn Khurdadbih in the 3rd (9th) century,
the river, after sinking into this swamp, rose again to the ground
surface 90 leagues away in Kirman, thence reaching the sea;
but Mustawfi not unnaturally discredits the story, because of the
high mountains lying between Isfahan and Kirman, and though
he states that it was said that bits of reeds thrown into the Gav-
Khanah marsh reappeared in Kirman, he adds ' but this account
is incredible 2 .'
Nayin, which lay to the north of the Gav-Khanah swamp on
the border of the Great Desert, and the towns to the south-east
' 1 I. K. 20, 58. I. R. 152.. Kud. 197. I. H. 201. Ykb. 275. Muk.
389, 458. Yak. i. 294; ii. 394; "i- 839- Mst I 43' fo1 " the most P art repro
duced in J. N. 291. I- B. ii. 42. N. K. 92. KMnlanjan is famous also as
the place of refuge of Firdust, when lie fled from the wrath of Sultan Mahmud
of Ghaznah. An account of his reception by the governor of Khanlanjan is
given in a copy of the ShAh Ndmah preserved in the British Museum (Or. 1403,
f. 518 a), of which the text and translation are given by C. Schefer in his edition
of Nasir-i-Khusraw (Appendix iv. p. 298).
2 I. R. 152. I. K. 20. Mst. 201, 202, 214.