'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎271v] (559/820)

520
MES—MES
The chief glory of the enclosure is, however, the sepulchre of the Imam.
The tomb itself is preceded by a spacious chamber whose marble floor is
overlaid with rich carpets. Above it to a height of 77 feet swells the main
cupola, whose gilded exterior marks the spot to the advancing pilgrim.
The walls are adorned with kashi, or enamelled tiles, above which are broad
bands of the same material in Arabic writing, and are hung with rare and
precious jewels of immense value.
The tomb itself in a corner of the chamber—the centre space being occupi
ed by that of the renowned Harun-ar-Rashid—is surrounded by three rail
ings of steel, silver and gold, respectively. Three doors lead to the shrine,
one of silver, the second—the gift of Fath ’AH Shah—of gold plates studded
with precious stones, and the third, a carpet sewn with pearls. Nothing
remains to distinguish the tomb of the great Khalif which was levelled soon
after the accession of the Safavi dynasty.
At the south-west corner of the Sahn-i-Kuhneh lies the Sahn-i-Nau, or new
court, built in 1818 by Fath ’AH Shah.
To the south of the tomb of Imam Riza, and situated obliquelv to it, is
the mosque built by Gauhar Shad. Like the other, it has a large court
with two storeys of recessed apartments afl'round, with soaring, tile-covered
aivdns, and with two great ungilt, but tile-encircled, minarets. The dome,
which is larger and loftier than that of Imam Riza, is covered with tiles
of blue, green and orange patterns.
Entrance is found in the Sahn-i-Kuhneh to a madraseh, or religious college
erected by Haji Mi rza Ja’afar, a wealthy Persian merchant, which resembles
the mosque and the mausoleum in structural features and decoration.
Also included in the parallelogram are other madrasehs, courts, caravan
serais, and baths, as well as kitchens, a prison under the jurisdiction
of the Mutavalll BashI, a hospital, and a great refectory where the pilgrims are
fed at the expense of the Imam, each new-comer being entitled to three
days’ gratuitous board. From all accounts peculation is rife in this latter
department.
The library of the shrine, dating from the time of Shah Rukh, contains
some 3,000 works, a third of which are Kordns, chiefly manuscripts of great
beauty of execution.
The whole of the shrine is now lighted by electricity, the installation
dating from 1893.
A curious system of dual control prevails in Meshed, the temporal power
A . . . . . C11 . being represented by the Governor-General,
ministration o t e nne. re p resen t a tive of the Shah, and the spiritual by
the MutavalH Bashi, the head of the shrine and mouthpiece of the Imam.
The jurisdiction of the latter is absolute within the Bast or sacred precincts
with certain reservations, for the system of dual control extends to within
even the Shrine itself, a descendant of the Imam and the head of the
Razavi Saiyids, permanently holding the hereditary office of Qdimmaqdm,
and acting as a check on the actions of the MutavalH Bashi, who is in reality
in the position of an executive head, or president, of a committee.
The word mouthpiece is used advisedly, as the Imam is in theory still
alive. This strange fiction is maintained in divers ways, the telegram des
patched by the Shah to the Imam to inaugurate the telegraph line being