"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد II" [و‎‎٧‎٤] (٧٠٦/١٥٢)

DAM—DAM
135
The Chashmeh ’All stream passes the town on the western side and is
crossed by a five-arched bridge at the Iraq gate. Canals, which intersect
the town in all directions are led off from the stream some distance north
of the town. The town has five quarters [Mahalleh-i-Shah, M-i-Chub-i-
Masjid, M-i-Dabbehghan, M-i-Saravarl (commonly pronounced Sar6h)l
and Zar Jub inside the walls, and one, Mahalleh-i-Ab outside. There are
five gates, Darwazeh-i-Traq, Sara van, Zarjub, Khorasan and Shahman.
The Chashmeh ’All hills contain a summer residence of the Shah, and a
Buildings of interest. f )lace P%™ a ge, where ’All’s charger left
an indent of his hoof. Near here also is
the Chashmeh-i-Bad, a spring which, if disturbed at certain times causes
a destructive hurricane.
The town is recognised at a distance of 2 or 3 miles by two minarets
the shrines of Imamzadehs, Ja’afar and Qasim, each with a minaret and
domed mosque standing out conspicuously to the view.
With reference to these monuments and the tomb of a saint named
Imamzadeh Pir-i-’Alamdar, Khanikoff says that they all belong to the
same period, to judge from the architecture, i.e., to ”the fifth century of
the Hijreh. J
He failed to discover the date of the construction of the great mosque of
Imamzadeh Qasim. The mosque called after Pir-i-’Alamdar is adorned
with two inscriptions in Cufic character—and was finished in the year of
the Hijreh 417. The Imamzadeh Ja’afar is at the north-west gate of the
city. The remains of the saint are placed in the mosque, under a wooden
sarcophagus ornamented with richly-carved arabesques, but without date.
To the right of the entrance a slab has been fixed in the wall on which is
engraved a “ firman ” of Shah Bukhfson of Tamerlane, of the year 825 of the
Hijreh. This “ firman ” proclaims a reduction from 7 to 5 per cent, of the duty
hitherto levied on the soap manufactures in the town and district of
Damghan.
In a vegetable garden, near the mosque, is a small tower simply but
tastefully designed, and the mscription above the pointed arch which
forms its entrance states that it was.finished in the year 446. Damghan
has several remains of more modern consequence in some well-built
domes and cupolas, one of which is at present used as a mosque.
History. Damghan was once a large city. Its foundation, like that
?>* °S er 0 l d r ^ erslan towns 18 Popularly ascribed to the mythical
Pishdadian King, Hushang.
b/^r ranSacked by Jen 8 lliz K]l ' dn and thoroughly destroyed
Here on the 2nd of October 1729 Nadir won his first great victory—
nnn ta y def T e T ated tlie Afghan leader Mir Ashraf Ghilzai, with his army of
30,000 men Here, too, Zaki Khan Zand planted a garden with Persian
heads and Agha Muhammad destroyed Shah Rukh, the grands on of Nadir
The site of Hecatonepylos (q. v.), the capital of the Parthians, was south
of Damghan, extending to Prat (q. v.).
On August the 7th, 1911, the royalist troops of the ez-Shah Muhammad
All, under Sardar Arshad, defeated the Government troops at this place
and many of the latter then joined the royalists.