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'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎271r] (558/820)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (396 folios). It was created in 1910. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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purpose, and the banks are planted at irregular intervals with chindrs,
mulberries, elms and poplars. The street is still further embellished by
a row of ricketty lamp-posts, and fringed on either side by shops of every
description. It is thronged during the busy part of the day by a dense
crowd representative of all the classes of inhabitants and pilgrims to be
found in Meshed.
The street is not, however, available for traffic for its entire extent, as, at
about two-thirds of its length from the north-west end, an archway occurs
which marks the bounds of the Bast or sacred precincts of the shrine.
Beyond this, none except Muhammadans, and no animal or vehicle, may
proceed. So strictly is this enforced that any animal straying within the
forbidden area becomes the property of the shrine. All traffic is here
diverted and forced to pass by the narrow lanes which bound the sacred
quarter, to re-enter the Khiaban to the south-east of the Bast.
Before continuing the general account of the city, it is perhaps as well
rvu -o a ■ to 8 ive some description of the sacred quarter
and the Sahn or shrine itself. This latter, a
parallelogram with its greatest length east and westwards, is surrounded on all
sides by the Bast or sanctuary, the whole covering an area of a square £ mile.
Immediately beyond the barrier in the Khiaban, the street continues to
run for a 100 yards or more through a crowded bazar up to the main
entrance of the mosques. Within the precincts of the Bast the pilgrim can
find lodging for himself, and shops to supply his wants. The rent of these
shops, which are much sought after, is higher than that outside this area
and the various commodities sold are consequently dearer. Here the ground
is considered the property of the Imam himself, and the Muhammadan male
factor, so long as he remains within its pale, can find a sanctuary inviolal le
in theory but by no means so in practice. At the end of the bazar of the
Bast, a lofty archway rising high above the adjoining wall, leads into the
Sahn-i-Kuhneh, the principal court of the holy buildings. This is a noble
quadrangle, 150 yards long by 75 wide, flagged with grave-stones of the
wealthy departed, and surrounded by a double storey of recessed alcoves.
In the centre of the court stands a small octagonal kiosque, covering a
fountain which is supplied by the main Khiaban canal, and surrounded by
a stone channel constructed by Shah ’Abbas. Owing to the pollution of this
water on its way through the city, the Naiyir-ud-Dauleh, a recent Governor-
General of Khorasan, constructed an additional channel alongside the
original one, with four basins near the fountain, to supply the faithful with
pure water for their ablutions.
Upon the four sides of the court, the walls between and above the
recesses are faced with enamelled tiles, and in the centre of each rises a
gigantic portal, or aivdn, embellished with collossal tiles, and bearing, in
Kufic, verses from the Koran. By the eastern aivdn, access is obtained to
the tomb-chamber of the Imam, and its special character is indicated bv the
gilding with which the upper half is overlaid.
The Sahn contains two minarets, the older of the two built by Shah
Isma’il or Shah Tahm Asp, springing from the Mausoleum itself. The upper
part of these minarets is in each case overlaid with gilded copper plates,
and is crowned with the cage-like gallery common to the Persian style

About this item

Content

The item is Volume I of the four-volume Gazetteer of Persia (1910 edition).

The volume covers the provinces of Astarabad, Shahrud-Bustam, and Khorasan, or such part of them as lies within the following boundaries: on the north the Russo-Persian boundary; on the east the Perso-Afghan boundary; on the south and south-west, a line drawn from the Afghan boundary west through Gazik to Birjand, and the road from Birjand to Kirman, and from Kirman to Yazd; and on the west the road from Yazd to Damghan and thence to Ashraf.

The gazetteer includes entries on villages, towns, administrative divisions, districts, provinces, tribes, halting-places, religious sects, mountains, hills, streams, rivers, springs, wells, dams, passes, islands and bays. The entries provide details of latitude, longitude, and elevation for some places, and information on history, communications, agriculture, produce, population, health, water supply, topography, military intelligence, coastal features, ethnography, trade, economy, administration and political matters.

Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.

The volume contains an index map (from a later edition of the Gazetteer of Persia ), dated January 1917, on folio 397.

The volume also contains a glossary (folios 393-394); and note on weights and measures (folios 394v-395).

Prepared by the General Staff Headquarters, India.

Printed at the Government Monotype Press, India.

Extent and format
1 volume (396 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 398; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎271r] (558/820), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/2/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037360151.0x00009f> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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