'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎315r] (634/706)

TEHRAN
617
Amongst tlie mosques, which, however, are few in number, may be notic
ed the Masjid-i-Shah, built by Fath ’Ah Shah, the Masjid-i-Madar-i-Shah
and the Madrasseh-i-MervI. But the finest building is the Masjid-i-Sipah
Salar (mosque of the Commander-in-Chief). This mosque was begun
by Mirza Husain Khan, and after his death (in comparative exile as Gov
ernor General of Khorasan) finished, with the endowments bequeathed by
him, by his brother Yahia Khan.
The bazaars of Tehran occupy a considerable space in the old town, the
main entrance is from the street opposite the Shams-el-Tmarat. The ba
zaars are vaulted throughout with a succession of low brick domes, and
open frequently into small squares. They contain a number of well-built
caravansarais, and there are few objects that cannot be procured.
There is a race-course outside the city, and Tehran boasts an annual
race-meeting. Amongst other buildings of interest are the Nigaristan
built by Fateh ’Ali Shah formerly outside the walls, but since the enlarge
ment of the town by the late Shah, within the walls. Outside the city
walls are situated the Qasr-i-Qajar {q.v.), the palaces at Sultanabad and
Sulaimanleh or Kara] {q.v.), and several other country residences mostly
situated on the hill slope known as Shamran, a cultivated belt extending
for about 20 miles along the base of the Elburz range.
History .—Tehran though modern as a capital, is, however, old historically.
Whatever its origin, it must have been for a long time small and insignifi
cant. General Schindler thinks the origin of the name may be from the
plural of iiV, a plain, meaning therefore the plains in contradistinction to
shamran plural of shamr, a mountain in which water is stored up for the
supply of the plains ; every drop of Tehran water comes from the Sham
ran hills, and this has always been the case, hence Tehran may mean the
plains in contradistinction to Shamran the hills. The earliest historical men
tion of Tehran is in the pages of Abu ’Abdullah Yakut, A. D. 1179-80, who
says that some trustworthy men told him that the houses in Tehran are con
structed underground and that no one could enter the place without the
permission of the inhabitants. The people have several times rebelled
against the King, and the inha' itants of the 12 wards into which the place is
divided are continually fighting one another.
It is described by Hamdullah in the 14th century as a town of some size
and importance. Shah Tahmasp, the second of the Safavl dynasty, seems to
have been the first to favour it with royal patronage, but ’Abbas the great
having fallen ill there, vowed he would never enter it again ; by him the
province and city were placed under a Khan.
Uoder the later Safavi monarchs, Tehran was sometimes the residence
of the court ; it was taken and pillaged by the Afghans', but is mentioned
by Hanway in 1744. Nadir Shah convoked a meeting of all the priests
of religion at Tehran, on his return from India, with a view to promulgat
ing a national religion. Karim Khan Zend added to and altered the
existing citadel, but did not often occupy it.
With the rise of the Oajar dynasty at the close of the 18th century the
first epoch of the city’s political ascendancybegan. When Agha Muham
mad began to find his dream of a Pan-Iranian kingdom capable of reali
sation, he selected Tehran as the site of his capital, and its elevation to the
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