'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎272r] (548/706)

men. The revenue which the state derives from the district is 19,500
tumdns per annum. The grain, which the district produces, supplies food
for the population, small as it is, for only three months in the year. Water
also is not abundant, and enormous masses of sand coming from the
desert on the south and forming moving hills, frequently bury the water
courses and fields close to Samnan town. The winds blowing from the
desert are often poisonous and cause a failure of the fruit crop, blighting
the blossoms or drying up the fruit, as happened in 1885. The Samnan
sub-districts (buluks) are Sangsar, Shah Mirzad, Darzazin. Deh-i-Sufian in
the hills north of the district, Jam in the Ahuan hills on the east, Mu’min-
abad, Sufiabad, Surkheh and Lasgird on the west and ’Ala and Biabanak
in the south.— {Schindler.)
SAMNAN (town)—L ong. 53° 22' 31" ; Lat. 35° 34' 13" (telegraph office near
north gate) ; Elev. 3,738'.
Chief place and the residence of the Governor of the Samnan district, 13
miles from Tehran and 107 miles from Shahrud, with a population of about
25,000 souls.
The town was plundered in August, 1911, by the ex-Shah’s troops after
t hey had defeated the Government troops at Damghan.
Samnan has 5 quarters inside the town, Nasar, Asfanjan, Chub-i-Masjid
Latibar and Shah Jugh, and a large quarter called Mahallat (pronounced
Malet), comprising the three villages Kushmaghan, Kudivur, and Zavaghan
(pronounced Zoghan) and extending to two miles west of the town, out
side. There are four gates, Darvazeh-i-Nasar on the north, Darvaz-
eh-i-Khorasan on the east, Darvazeh-i-Chub-i-Masjid on the south and Dar-
vazeh-i-Traq on the west. The town is plentifully supplied with water
from four large open reservoirs, called istalkh, outside the town, near the
Nasar gate. There, near the reservoirs, stand six caravansarais, of which
only one is built of bricks ; this is the Karvansarai Shah ’Abbasi, now
very much out of repair. The other caravansarais are the Sipah Salarl
with 29 rooms ; the Karvansarai-i-Agha Baba, with 28 closed (with doors)
and 29 open rooms ; the Karvansa ai-i-Afghan with 48 closed and 50 open
rooms; the Karvansaral-i-Kafshduz ’All Kuli and the Karvansarai-i-
Navab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Saif Ullah Mirza. Inside the town are five caravansara's, none of
any importance. The bazaars are very clean, the shops well filled and
trade is flourishing.
At the western entrance of the Mahallat quarter are the tombs of the
Imamzadeh Alavi and Imamzadeh Ashraf, both with domes. A little fur
ther one passes the tomb of Saiyid M'rza Hasan, also an Imamzadeh, and
a curious ruined tower, called Burj-i-Ch' h'l Dukhtar, where, according to the
legend, forty virgins, who are all buried there, once upon a time lived a holy
life. Near the Nasar gate, outside the town is the tomb of the Imamzadeh
’Ali ibn-Ja’afar. In the Asfanjan quarter and in the centre of the town stands
the old Masjid-i-Jam’a, built in the 13th century, and so many times repaired
that its old foundations have almost disappeared. The last who had it
repaired was Muhammad Shah 50 years ago. Overlooking the small
court of this mosque is a minaret, 60 feet high, with a spiral staircase of
90 steps leading to its top, from which the Mu’azzin calls the faithful to