GĪLĀN ix. Monuments

 

GĪLĀN

ix. MONUMENTS

Gīlān is an area with high precipitation, where the annual rainfall may reach as high as 120 cm. Building materials, except for hard rocks, rapidly wear out, turning aging structures into mounds of rubble. Trees, weeds, and grass grow on these mounds, changing old buildings into hills covered with vegetation. Many such hillocks, locally called kūl, kūtī, dīn, and devīn, stud the Caspian shoreline, each one presenting a site worthy of archeological excavation and research. None of them, however, have so far been scientifically excavated and studied except for Čerāḡ-ʿAlī Tappa at the mouth of the Gowharrūd River, which was excavated by Ezzat-Allah Negahban and is better known as Marlik Tepe (see Van den Berghe, pp. 17-18).

There are also buildings of historical interest, most of which have been repeatedly repaired and rebuilt throughout their history. Some have clear records of their history, but most of them lack reliable, primary documents, and one has to rely on a variety of indirect evidence such as the dates engraved on entrance doors, on tombstones, on transenna (żarīhá), and/or on sepulchers in order to reconstruct part of the past of a given edifice and hazard a guess about its origin.

Shrines found on mountain tops most probably are built on pre-Islamic sites (nos. 1-11). The major monuments of Gīlān, described in detail in the present writer’s Az Āstārā tā Estārbād, are listed below in chronological order.

1. Čerāḡ-ʿAlī Tappa (Tappa-ye Mārlīk), situated on the Gowharrūd River near the village Nesfī/Neṣfī in the district of Rūdbār; it dates from the Median period.

2. The Assatāšān shrine between the villages Bonān and Rāhsarān, to the east of a mountain on the top of which is the shrine of Mollā Ḵorūša. It is apparently built on the site of an ancient temple (Sotūda, II, p. 391).

3. Sūrī, on a mountain top behind Marvesen village, built on the site of an ancient temple (Sotūda, II, pp. 390-91).

4. Sām o Lām on the top of Savāta Mountain, regarded as one of the most ancient temples in Gīlān (Sotūda, II, p. 400, pl. 269).

5. Gerda Kūl, also known as the shrine of Āqā Sayyed Abu’l-Ḥasan b. al-Mūsa al-Kāẓem, on the peak of Gerda Kūl Mountain near Komonī village in the Somām district of Rūdsar. The date of the building, 1048/1638-39, is recorded on a marble slab on the wall of the antechamber. It seems to have been built on the site of an ancient temple (Sotūda, II, p. 369-72, pls. 353-54; Jaktājī, p. 564).

6. Mollā Ḵorūša/Hūreša on the top of a ridge between the villages Šūʾīl and Talābonak in the Rūdsar area of Lower Eškevar.

7. Šāh Safīd Kūh, on the top of Bolūr Mountain, built on the site of an ancient temple (Sotūda, II, p. 414).

8. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed Ebrāhīm b. al-Mūsā al-Kāẓem, also known as Emāmzāda Tūrār, on the top of the Tūrār Mountain, at about 4 miles southeast of Kelīšem in the Rūdbār district. The trunk of an old, large ash-tree in front of this shrine has a few stag horns nailed onto it, which has gradually been covered by tree barks in such a way that the horns look like natural branches of the tree. This is an indication of the esteem in which the stag, locally called ganj-e gāv, is held by the local population. The same feature was noticed by the present author also in the village Langarkaš at the springhead of Amu Darya (q.v.). The oldest gravestone in the cemetery surrounding the shrine is dated 1220/1805-6 (Sotūda, II, pp. 36-43, pl. 35; Jaktājī, p. 558; Rabino, p. 282, tr., p. 328).

9. Qalʿa-ye Govar Mīrzā, also called Qalʿa-ye Ṭāher Mīrzā, in the middle of the Safīdrūd River, facing the village of Lūya in the Rostamābād district of Rūdbār. H. L. Rabino, who refers to it as Qez Qalʿa, describes it as a fortress built upon a rock in the middle of Safīdrūd River at a distance of 6 km from the Manjīl bridge. Ruins of a bridge can be seen at a short distance to the south of the fortress. This bridge dates from the pre-Islamic era, and, according to Adam Olearius, it was destroyed by Alexander the Great (Rabino, pp. 210 n. 2, 212, tr., pp. 245, 247; Sotūda, I, pp. 471-72, pl. 240).

10. Qalʿa-ye Šīndān, clearly visible from the top of the mountain pass of Ḥayrān/Ḥājī Amīr, is a large stone fortress located at a short distance from the border separating Persian Azerbaijan from the Republic of Azerbaijan. It was the stronghold of Amīr Ḥamza, the governor of Āstārā, who revolted against Shah ʿAbbās in 1001/1593. Šīndān seems to date from the pre-Islamic period (Fūmanī, pp. 140-41; Eskandar Beg, pp. 441-43, tr. Savory, pp. 615-16; Sotūda, I, pp. 14-15; Bazin, I, p. 36, II, p. 67).

11. Qalʿa-ye Kūl, near Kīšḵānī Māsāl in the Šānderman district of Ṭavāleš, a pre-Islamic structure at an elevation of about 200 m above the surrounding rice fields (Sotūda, I, p. 120).

12. Āstāna-ye Haft Emām, a shrine in the village Rūdbārak of Eškevar, dating from the Zaydid period, i.e., the 8th-9th centuries. It must be identified as the Rūdbārak Mosque mentioned by Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Marʿašī, who credits its building to Imam Nāṣer al-Ḥaqq (Marʿašī, 1968, p. 472; Rabino, p. 382, tr., p. 445; Sotūda, II, pp. 391-92).

13. Espīa Mazgat in the village Kīšḵāla of Denyāčāl in the Ṭavāleš district; it dates from the 9th century (Sotūda, I, pp. 70-72, pls. 31-37).

14. The brick minaret of the village Azbar in Fūman district (Sotūda, I, p. 166).

15. Qalʿa-ye Garmāvar, or Garmāvarī Borj, in the village Garmāvar, the Somām district of Rūdsar; it probably dates from pre-Islamic times. The mud-brick tower to the southeast of the fortress was built in the 19th century (Sotūda, II, pp. 362-63, pls. 246-48; Rabino, p. 369, tr., p. 434).

16. The tomb of Sayyed Abū Jaʿfar, apparently dating from the 11th-12th century. According to Rabino, an inscription carved on a board and dated 1009/1600-1601 identified the tomb as belonging to Jaʿfar, the cousin of the Prophet. The tomb was located in an old cemetery situated in the Ostād-sarāy district of Rašt. The entire cemetery was destroyed when the area was undergoing modernization under Reżā Shah (Rabino, pp. 76-77, tr., pp. 82-83; tr. Sotūda, I, pp. 262-63).

17. Qalʿa-ye Līsār, a fortress built of rocks and gypsum in the village of Nūmandān, apparently dating from the 12th or 13th century (Rabino, pp. 97-98, tr., pp. 109-10; Sotūda, I, p. 43, pls. 20-24).

18. The brick dome at the village of Pīr Maḥalla in Rānekūh at a distance of 10 km from Rūdsar. This octagonal dome, is the only historical monument in Gīlan that is made of composition plaster. It apparently dates from the latter part of the 13th century (Sotūda, II, p. 313-14, pl. 204).

19. Čahār Pādšāhān in Lāhījān, Bīa-pīš, where four Kīāʾī leaders are buried. It originally was the tomb of Sayyed Ḵor/Ḵorram Kīā, killed in 647/1249, whose sarcophagus, bearing the date, is still in situ. The main part of the tomb was built by Sayyed Hādī Kīā, the ruler of Tonokābon, who had his brothers buried there in 791/1389. The second oldest sarcophagus belongs to Sayyed Rażī Kīā, the ruler of Gīlān, who died in 829/1426 (Marʿašī, 1968, pp. 93, 95-96; Rabino, pp. 294-96, tr., pp. 342-44; Nafīsī, pp. 266-83; Sotūda, II, pp. 98-113, pls. 74-85; Jaktājī, pp. 551-52; PLATE XII, PLATE XIII).

20. Mīl-e Omām, a pole made of unhewn stone and plaster on a hilltop near the village Omām in the Rūdsar district of Lāhījān; it dates from the period of Marʿashid rulers of Gīlān (Sotūda, II, p. 357, pl. 235; Razmārā, Farhang II, p. 23).

21. The tomb of a 13th-century Gīlakī poet, Pīr Šarafšāh, on the edge of Haft Daḡanān forest, at the border of Kasgar and Gīl Dūlāb regions. The old wooden structure was replaced by th present-day building in 1946 (Sotūda, I, pp. 85-88, pls. 41-44).

22. The tomb of Tāj-al-Dīn Maḥmūd Ḵīvī in Lamīr Maḥalla of Āstārā in Bīa-pas, a square building of brick and stone covered by a dome; the gravestone bears the date 11 Jomādā 732/9 March 1332 (Sotūda, I, pp. 12-17, pls. 1-4).

23. The shrine of Sayyed Moḥammad, believed to be a son of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq, in the village Pīnīčā of the Āstāna district. An elaborately wrought, wooden transenna with a pyramidal top surrounds the grave. The walls are decorated with paintings of religious scenes (PLATE XIV). The date 780/1378 is inscribed on the south ayvān (Sotūda, II, pp. 188-91, pls. 146-49; Jaktājī, p. 561).

24. The tomb popularly known as that of Amīr Kīā in the village Valam in Lašt-e Nešā, which is, according to the inscription engraved on the entrance door, the tomb of Jānbāz b. Šaraf-al-Dawla who died in 827 (Sotūda, I, pp. 435-36, pl. 228).

25. The tomb of Sayyed Abū Jaʿfar Ṯāyerī Ḥasanī in the village Mīānda of Ūšīān in Rūdsar district. It must be identical with the tomb of Abū Jaʿfar Hūsamī, referred to by Marʿašī. The inscription on the portal bears the date 842/1438-39, but the wooden sarcophagus (ṣandūq) is dated 855/1451; the gravestones of Mīr Morād b. Mīr Salīm and of Esmaʿīl b. Āqā Qorbān, both in the mausoleum, bear the dates 1045/1635-36 and 1275/1858-59 respectively (Marʿašī, 1976, p. 279; Sotūda, II, pp. 330-33, pls. 216-20).

26. Zanjīr Āstāna, also known as Āstāna-ye Emāmzāda Sayyed ʿAlī Ḡaznavī b. Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq, in the village Tajen Gūka in Lāhījān. According to Rabino, Ḡaznavī was an ancestor of Amīr Kīā, the ruler of Bīa-pīš. The wooden, beautifully wrought sarcophagus bears the date 871/1466-67; another grave, belonging to a certain Moḥammad-ʿAlī Khan, has the date 1216/1801-2 (Rabino, p. 331, tr., pp. 382-83; Sotūda, II, pp. 170-73, pls. 132-38; Jaktājī, p. 572; PLATE XV).

27. Sar-e Torbat-e Omām, the family mausoleum of the Kiaʾī amirs, built by Mīrzā ʿAlī in the fields of Kašāčāk, where Solṭān Moḥammad (d. 883/1478) and his son Mīrzā ʿAlī (k. 912/1507), the rulers of Bīa-pīš, and two Kīāʾī women are buried. The mausoleum had pious endowments made by Mīrzā ʿAlī, the document of which, dated 883, is inscribed on a slab of marble in the wall of Dār-al-Ḥoffāẓ. The gravestone of a certain Āqā Moḥammadqolī b. Āqā Qorbān-ʿAlī, situated near the entrance threshold, bears the date 1258 (Sotūda, II, pp. 343-54, pls. 225-34; Jaktājī, pp. 569-70).

28. The tomb of Pīr Qoṭb-al-Dīn, a brick building near Bāḡča-sarā village. The surrounding graves do not seem to date from earlier than the 10th/15th century (Sotūda, I, p. 21, pls. 6-11; Jaktājī, p. 567).

29. The Sīmrūd bridge on Lāhījān River near the city of Lāhījān. It was built in 892/1486 and repaired in 1271 by the merchant Ḥājī Qorbān Lāhījī (Marʿašī, p. 442; Rabino, p. 304, tr. pp. 355-56; Sotūda, II, pp. 146-48, pl. 122).

30. The tomb of Solṭān Sayyed Ḥājī Maḥmūd Marandī in Ḥarzavīl in the Rūdbār district. The dome was built in 998/1590 by Amīra Tītī, the daughter of Solṭān Moḥammad, the governor of Kūhdam. The gravestones in the precinct of the tomb are dated as follows: 908/1502, of Parī Solṭān, the daughter of Solṭān Moḥammad; 989/1581, an unidentified grave; 995/1587, of Malek Abu’l-Qāsem; 1057/1647, of ʿAlī b. Moḥammad -Amīn Zāwīa (Sotūda, I, pp. 473-77, pls. 243-46; Jaktājī, p. 562).

31. Qalʿa-ye Rūdḵān (also called Qalʿa-ye Qalāḡū and Qalʿa-ye Ḥosām), a huge mountain fortress south of Fūman; it was rebuilt in 918/1512 by the order of Amīr Ḥosām-al-Dīn b. Amīra Dobbāj Fūmanī (Rabino, pp. 166-67, tr. pp. 187; Sotūda, I, pp. 157-61, pls. 73-85).

32. The tomb of Shaykh ʿAlī b. Ākāšāh in Rūdborda, a village in the Sangar dehestan of Rašt, apparently built in 920/1514; it was repaired in 1319/1902. An imprecation text (laʿnat-nāma) dated 1228/1813 is inscribed on the portal (Sotūda, I, pp. 310-12).

33. Jām-ḵāna of Deylamān palace, built in 930 as engraved on a door currently at a shrine of Emāmzāda Qāsem and Emāmzāda Ḥamza in the village Kūmes of Deylamān (Sotūda, II, p. 30).

34. The tomb of Shaikh Abu’l-Wajīh in Kohlabar in Zāklabar of Lāhījān; the tomb is surrounded by a lattice transenna; writing engraved on a piece of board originally belonging to the wooden sarcophagus bears the date 948/1541 (Sotūda, II, pp. 161-63, pl. 128).

35. Pīr Solaymān Tomb at Solaymān Dārāb near Rašt; the wooden sarcophagus was made in 953/1546 by the order of Sarfarāz Solṭān, a military leader of Bīa-pīš. Mīrzā Kūček Khan, the leader of the Jangalī movement (q.v.), is buried here (Fūmanī, pp. 28-29; Sotūda, I, pp. 300-302) .

36. The shrine of Awn b. Moḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb in Māsūla, built in 969/1561-62 by Malek Ḵalīl b. Malek Ḵebr Beyg; the lattice transenna was built in 1015/1608. The gravestones found in the tomb precinct bear the following dates: 955/1548, of Tork Ḵānom; 997/1589, Hāšem Beyg; 1004/1595-96, Maryam, daughter of Mīr Ḵalīl the custodian of the tomb; 1052/1642-43, of Moḥammad-badiʿ; 1060/1650, a grave near the entrance door; 1167/1753-54, of Moḥammad-Zakī; 1195/1781, of Moḥammad-Ḥasan; 1262/1846, the grave in front of the entrance door; 1262, the grave in front of the entrance door (Sotūda, I, pp 133-38, pls. 61-68; PLATE XVI).

37. The shrine of Abu’l-Ḥasan and Abu’l-Fażl, the sons of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, at the village Fīldeh in Rūdbār district; the dates of gravestones in the tomb precinct are as follows: 986/1578, Badīʿ-al-Zamān Mīrzā; 1029/1620, of Šāh Manṣūr b. Šāh Malek Āqā; 1080/1669-70, of Mīrzā Raḥīm b. Mīrzā Kabīr; 1250/1834-35, of Kolṯūm, the daughter of Mīr Qāsem. The document of the endowment of a Koran by Mīr Qāsem Fīldehī for this tomb is dated 1194. During the reign of Reżā Shah, the old portal was removed and taken to the Iran Bastan Museum (Sotūda, I, pp. 464-69, pls/. 238-39; Jaktājī, p. 564).

38. The shrine on the top of Fīrūzkūh Mountain, believed to be the burial place of emāmzādas Kanʿān, ʿOmrān, and Borhān. It seems to be the site of an ancient temple. There are two wells near the place, one of which, according to Rabino, had the date 994/1586 on its opening (tanūra/tandūr); this date could not be found by the present author. The banner (ʿalam ) of the shrine is dated 1047/1637-38; there is also a gravestone dated 1038/1628-29 that belongs to a certain Bāz-ʿAlī, son of Panja ʿAlī (Rabino, pp. 370-71, tr. p. 435; Sotūda, II, pp. 374-75, pls. 258-59; Jaktājī, p. 565).

39. Bābā Walī shrine or the burying grounds of the prophet Qāder at the village Bābā Walī in Deylamān. Murals depicting religious scenes decorate the walls (PLATE XVII). The remaining frame of the entrance door that was stolen in 1969 is dated 1042/1632-33. Gravestones found here bear the following dates: 995/1548, of Pīrī Beyg; 998/1580, of Mahdī Beyg; 999/1581, of an unidentified grave; 1004/1595-96, of Nad-ʿAlī Beyg Ḵalīfa, 1014/1606-6, of Emāmverdī Beyg, 1040/1630-31, of Naqd-ʿAlī Jaʿfar (Rabino, p. 287, tr. 332; Sotūda, II, pp. 25-29, pls. 19-28).

40. Tītī carvansery, a Safavid monument, on the Šīmrūd River on the road from Sīāhkal to Deylamān; it is now used as a cattle pen (Sotūda, II, p. 50-52, pl. 41).

41. Pordesar, also called Ḵašta Pol-e Bozorg, a large bridge near the Menāra Bāzār in Gaskar, at the village Pordasar of Ṣawmaʿa-sarā in Fūman district. It was damaged in the flood of 1957; a Safavid monument (Sotūda, I, pp. 195-96, pls. 104-5).

42. The brick minaret in the Menāra Bāzār of Gaskar, at a distance of about 500 m from the tomb of Sayyed Zakī; apparently dating from the Safavid period.

43. The old brick bridge on the Šafārūd River in Ṭāleš-Dūlab, also seemingly a Safavid monument (Sotūda, I, p. 85, pls. 38-39).

44. Ṣafī Mosque, also called Šahīdīya Mosque, at a quarter of the same name in Rašt (PLATE XVIII). Ḥasan Rūmlū (ed. Navāʾī, II, p. 18) refers to it as Safīd Mosque, which seems to be its original name (II, p. 18). Here is buried Ṣafī Mīrzā the son of Shah ʿAbbās I of a Circassian mother, who was killed in Moḥarram 1024 by the order of his father. The mosque is now named after Shaikh Ṣafī-al-Dīn Ardabīlī, the eponym of the Safavids, who is believed to have had a hospice here (Sotūda, I, pp. 283-86, pls. 172-75).

45. The watch tower of Qalʿa-ye Bandabon at the Bālā Qāsemābād village in Rānekūh, apparently dating from the Safavid period.

46. Golšan Mosque at the square of Kūček Maḥalla of the bāzār in Rašt. Building of mosques and public baths by the name golšan in large cities was a common feature under the Safavids. There was a public bath of this name in Lāhījān, but it was destroyed to expand the square where it was standing (Sotūda, I, pp. 256-57).

47. The shrine of Sayyed Aḥmad, believed to be the son of Imam Mūsā al-Kāżem, in Deylamān; the gravestone of a certain ʿAlī Beyg buried here bears the date 1007/1598 (Sotūda, II, pp. 20-21).

48. The tomb of Āqā Mīr Šams-al-Dīn in the Ordūbāzār quarter of Lāhījān; the sarcophagus was made in 1017 (Rabino, p. 294, tr. p. 342; Sotūda, II, pp. 82-85, pls. 59-63).

49. The tomb of Sayyed Reżā Dāvar Kīā at Bījār Bona in Lāhījān; the wooden sarcophagus bears the date 1018/1609 (Sotūda, II, pp. 127-29, pl. 99).

50. The old cemetery of Ḵašt Masjed village in Kūčeṣfahān. The oldest gravestone here is dated 1023/1614 and belongs to Bībī Raḥmat (Sotūda, I, p, 321, pl. 215).

51. Gerda Kūl shrine, believed to be the burial ground of Sayyed Abu’l-Ḥasan b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, upon a mountain of the same name, which seems to have been originally a very ancient temple. A marble slab on the wall of the antechamber is dated 1048/1638-39. The shrine contains the following gravestones with dates: 1171/1757-58, of Bībī Ḵānom; 1220/1805-6, of Walī Khan; 1221/1806, of Malek-Moḥammad; 1241/1825-26, of Golestān Ḵānom, daughter of Āqā Mīrzā; 1254/1838, Šahrbānū, daughter of Shaikh Ḵalīl b. Jalāl-al-Dīn; 1257/1841, of Āqā Shaikh Rafīʿ, son of Shaikh ʿAbd-Allāh; 1266/1849-50, of Nāzī Ḵānom, daughter of Shaikh Ḥosayn; 1266/1849-50, of Bemānī, daughter of Malek Moḥammad; 1271/1854-55, of Shaikh Jaʿfar, son of Shaikh Kāẓem; 1284/1867-68, of Borj-ʿAlī, son of Ostan Qorbān-ʿAlī; 1284/1867-68, of Ganj-ʿAlī, son of Naẓar-ʿAlī; 1301/1883-84, of Amīr ʿAlī, son of ʿAmū Ḥasan Gāleš (Sotūda, II, pp. 369-73, pl. 254-55; Jaktājī, p. 564).

52. Sāqī Mazār, now known as the shrine of Āqā Sayyed Moḥammad-Reżā b. Mūsā al-Kāẓem, at Jūršar of Lašt-e Nešā. A lattice transenna surrounds the wooden sarcophagus in the middle of the shrine. Rabino mentions an inscription on the portal that bore the date 1055/1645; this portal has been replaced now; no trace of the inscription was noticed (Rabino, p. 251, tr., p. 295; Sotūda, I, pp. 425-27, pls. 218-20).

53. The old cemetery at the Bāzār Maḥalla quarter of Sīā Rostāq village in Lāhījān. The gravestone of Ḥosām-al-Dīn Ḥosayn buried here bears the date 1058/1745 (Sotūda, II, p. 402).

54. Emāmzāda Šafīʿ shrine at a village of the same name in Šānderman; the lattice parapet was finished in 1073/1662-63 (Sotūda, I, p. 108-9, pls. 51-53; Jaktājī, p. 564).

55. The shrine at Laspū village, where Qāsem and Ebrāhīm, the sons of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, are believed to be buried. Gravestones in the shrine bear the following dates: 1074/1663-64, of Ḵᵛāršāh b. Moḥammad Khan Laspūʾī; 1262/1846, of Ādīna, son of Moḥammad-ʿAlī Khan; 1269/1852-53 of M oḥammad-Ḥasan, son of Āqā ʿAlī (Sotūda, II, pp. 397-99).

56. The congregational mosque of Tamījān in Rūdsar; the pool small water tank (lāka) were built in 1075/1664-65 (Sotūda, II, pp. 310-11).

57. The shrine of Shaikh Zāhed at the village Šayḵ Zāhed Maḥalla at Čāboksar in the Ūšīān district of Rūdsar; the portal was made in 1086/1675 (Sotūda, II, p, 334).

58. The Ḥarzavīl gate, wrongly believed to have belonged to the fortress of Ḥarzavīl. As indicated by the inscription, it was built to provide a sanctuary for the local population (see BAST); the cornerstone is dated 1090/1679 (Sotūda, I, pp. 473-74, pl. 241).

59. The congregational mosque of the village Omša in Sangar district; it dates from the 12th/19th century (Sotūda, I, p. p. 313-14, pls. 204-5).

60. The old congregational mosque of Lāhījān, locally believed to stand on the site of a fire temple. A royal decree, inscribed on stone in this mosque, is dated 1106/1694-95; another inscription, dated 1107 /1695-96, is placed on a wall here. The gravestone of Ḥalīma, daughter of Āqā Shafīʿ, buried in the ayvān has the date 1217/1802-3 (Sotūda, II, pp. 114-18, pl. 86-88).

61. Ṣāḥeb-al-Zamān Mosque in Māsūla, built in 1117/1705-6 (Sotūda, I, pp. 139-40, pl. 69).

62. The shrine Āqā Sayyed Esmaʿīl and Āqā Sayyed Ebrāhīm, locally believed to be the sons of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, at Sīāhkal Maḥalla of the village Sīāhkal. The dated gravestones in this shrine are: of Moḥammad-Ḥasan Beyg, dated 1137/1724-25, and of Moḥammad-Ḥosayn b. Aḥmad, dated 1213/1798-99 (Sotūda, II, pp. 54-57, pls. 42-46; Jaktājī, p. 559).

63. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed Moʿīn and Āqā Sayyed Mobīn near Tamījān in Rūdsar, locally believed to be the sons of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem; a gravestone here is dated 1145/1732-33 (Sotūda, I, pp. 293-944, pl. 199; Jaktānī, pp. 562-63).

64. The shrine at the village Šayḵānavar in Lāhījān; one of the most unusual buildings in Gīlān; the four-sided pyramidal dome is unique (PLATE XIX; the tile-work dates from the Safavid period. It is known as the tomb of Shaikh Tāj-al-Dīn Zāhed Gīlānī (d. 711/1311), whose grave one expects to be the one directly under the dome; but the inscription on this grave’s transenna identifies it as the grave of Sayyed Rażī b. Mahdī al-Ḥosaynī who died in 834/1431. There is a grave in a room adjacent to the dome area that is now believed to be that of Shaikh Zāhed, but Rabino ascribed it to a Timurid prince (Rabino, pp. 309-10, tr., pp. 364-66; Sotūda, II, pp. 148-57, pl. 123; Jaktājī, p. 573; Mūsawī, pp. 548-49).

65. The shrine (torbat) at Qūš-e Jad at the mountain pass of Dītūl at Haštpar, believed to be the burial ground of Sayyed Maḥmūd and Sayyed Zayn-al-ʿAbedīn, descendants of Iman Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq ; the custodianship document of this shrine bears the date 1171/1757-58 (Sotūda, I, p. 47; Jaktājī, pp. 573-74).

66. The shrine of Āqā Šīr Sotūn-al-Dīn at Šalmān village in the Langarūd district of Lāhījān; religious scenes are painted on the walls; the gravestone of a certain Ṣādeq at the shrine is dated 1172/1758-59 (Sotūda, II, p. 274).

67. The shrine of Mīr Jamāl-al-Dīn Ašraf, believed to be a son of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, at Pordesar quarter of Lāhījān. The gravestone of Karbalāʾī Maʿṣūm buried here has the date 1189/1775 (Sotūda, II, pp. 88-89).

68. Emāmzāda Hādī b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at Mīkāl village in Deylamān; the following dates were noticed on gravestones: 1197/1783, of Moṣṭafā Beyg b. Allāhverdī Solṭān Anbārlū; 1260/1844 of Jawāher, daughter of Sabz-ʿAlī (Sotūda, II, pp. 32-35, pl. 33; Jaktājī, p. 566).

69. The shrine known as Āstāna-ye Haft Emām at Rūdbārak, a village on the Kākrūd River in the Eškevar district. It must be identical with the mosque of Rūdbārak that, according to Marʿašī, was built by the order of the Zaydid Nāṣer al-Ḥaqq. The following dates were noticed on gravestones: 1199/1784-85, of Āqā Amīn b. Āqā Mīr Savār; 1255/1839, of Āqā Mīrzā, son of Mīrzā ʿAlī (Marʿašī, p. 472; Rabino, p. 382, tr., 9. 445; Sotūda, II, p. 391-92, pls. 267-68; Jaktājī, p. 574).

70. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed Ḥosayn and Āqā Sayyed Ebrāhīm, descendants of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, at Foškālī Maḥalla in Langarūd (PLATE XX). It was once burned by fire in 1268 as described in a poem inscribed on the western wall. The following dates recorded in the shrine were noticed: the eastern entrance door was built in 1200/1785-86; the decree entrusting the custodianship (tawlīat) of the shrine to Ḥosayn is dated 1207/1792; the directive assigning the custodianship to Mollā Moḥammad-Ḥasan is dated 1240/1824; the building of Ḥosaynīya, ʿAbbāsīya, and the hostel (ḡarīb-ḵāna) were completed in 1320/1902-3 (Sotūda, II, pp. 233-46, pls. 163-71; Jaktājī, p. 560).

71. The shrine of Bābū Jān Darra in Somām, where Sayyed Kāẓem b. Āqā Sayyed Ebrāhīm, a descendant of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, is believed to be buried; three dates were noticed on the gravestones found in the shrine: 1202/1787-88, of Naqd-ʿAlī b. Moḥammad-ʿAlī; 1223/1788-89, of Karam-ʿAlī b. Āqā Qanbar; 1245/1829-30, of Āqā ʿAlī, son of Moḥammad (Rabino, p. 368, tr., pp. 432-33; Sotūda, II, pp. 355-57).

72. Sāḡarīsāzān Mosque at the Sāḡarīsāzān quarter of Rašt, built in Rabīʿ II 1204/1789 by Ḥājj ʿAlī, a merchant from Šīrvān (Rabino, p.75, tr., pp. 81-82; Sotūda, I, pp. 291-92, pls. 187-88).

73. The shrine of Sayyed Naṣr-al-Dīn b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at the village Kūlka-sarāy in Rānekūh; these dates were noticed on gravestones: 1207/1792-93, of Rabīʿ b. Mūsā; 1209/1794-95, of Moḥammad-ʿAlī b. Moḥammad-Ṣafī; 1212/1797-98, of Nāzdār Ḵānom, daughter of ʿAlīmardān Khan. Paintings of religious scenes cover the walls (Sotūda, II, pp. 315-16, pl. 205-6).

74. Emāmzāda Hādī at Mīkāl village in Deylamān; murals illustrate religious scenes such as the Prophet’s ascention to heaven (meʿrāj), Abraham sacrificing his son, etc. The dates noticed on gravestones are: 1210/1785-96, of Parīzād Ḵānom, daughter of Ṣafī Khan Solṭān; 1215/1800-1801, of Allahverdī Solṭān b. Ḵodāverdī Beyg; 1243/1827-28, Allāh-Bedāšt, son of Karbalāʾī Naqd-ʿAlī; 1256/1840, of Ḏu’l-faqār, son of Mīrzā ʿAlī (Sotūda, II, pp. 32-35, pl. 33; Jaktājī, p. 566).

75. The shrine of Šāh-e Šahīdān near Šāh-e Šahīdān village in Deylamān, a tomb-tower with circular interior; Moḥammad and Hādī, sons of Imam Zayn-al-ʿĀbedīn are believed to be buried here; murals depict the battle of Karbalāʾ and the Prophet’s ascension to heaven; a gravestone here, belonging to ʿAlī b. Mīrzā ʿAlī, is dated 1218/1803-4 (Sotūda, II, pp. 24-25, pls. 15-18; Jaktājī, pp. 565-66).

76. The lighthouse minaret in Anzalī (q.v.), apparently built during the Qajar period (Sotūda, I, p. 236, pl. 113).

77. Emāmzāda Tūrār, a domed shrine on the peak of Tūrār Mountain to the southwest of Fīrūzkūh, probably built on the site of an ancient temple; it is also known as the shrine of Āqā Sayyed Ebrāhīm b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem. The following dates were noted on gravestones: 1220/1805-6, of Moḥammad-Qāsem, son of Moḥammad-Yūsof; 1221/1807, of Ḵodāverdī Solṭān, son of Allāhverdī Solṭān; 1222/1807-8, of Omm Kolṯūm, daughter of Allāhverdī Solṭān; 1222/1807-8, of Danīāl b. ʿAlī Khan; 1233/1817-18, of Allāh-Badāšt; 1238/1822-23, of ʿAlī-Akbar Beyg, son of ʿAbd-Allāh Beyg; 1240/1825-26, of Mollā ʿAlī Khan, son of Karbalāʾī Ḥājī; 1243/1827-28, of Rayḥān Ḵānom, daughter of Allāhverdī Solṭān; 1248/1832-33, of Āqā Beyg, son of Ḥasan Khan Beyg; 1253/1837-38, of ʿAlī-Akbar Beyg, son of Sohrāb Khan; 1260/1844, of Mīrzā Khan, son of Moḥammad; 1271/1854-55, of Ḡolām-ʿAlī, son of Allāhverdī; 1273/1856-57, of Mollā Qāsem, son of Mollā Kāẓem; 1281, of Faṭema, daughter of Āqā ʿĀšūr-ʿAlī; 1289/1872-73, of Qorbān Ḥaddād, son of Šāh Walad; 1295/1878, of Ḥosayn, son of Mūsā Khan Tonokābonī (Sotūda, II, pp. 36-43, pls. 35-36; Jaktājī, p. 558).

78. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed ʿAlī b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at Mūtar Maḥalla village in Now Bījār, Lāhījān. The north entrance door is dated 1224/1809; the mural of the outside wall is signed dated 1353 /1934-35 (Sotūda, II, pp. 203-4).

79. The shrine of Āqā Mīr Sahīd at Ordūbāzār quarter of Lāhījān. Āqā Sayyed Aḥmad b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem is believed to be buried here (PLATE XXI). The gravestone of Aḥmad b. Moʾmen buried here bears the date 1224/1809 (Rabino, p. 294, tr. p. 342; Sotūda, II, pp. 80-82, pl. 53-57; Jaktājī, p. 563).

80. Mollā Ḵorūša, one of the ancient temples of Gīlā built on the sharp peak of a mountain in Eškevar on the border dividing Šūʾīl, Talābonak, and Sūtakaš; dates found on gravestones in the shrine are: 1224/1809, of Māh-Šaraf, daughter of Āqā Kāẓem; 1229/1813-14, of Zarrīn Jān Ḵānom; 1246/1830-31; Ḥājī Ḵānom (Sotūda, II, p. 390).

81. The shrine of Sayyed Naṣr-al-Dīn b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at Gūka village in Lāhījān; the dates 1235/1819-20 and 1242/1826-27 were noticed on the gravestones of Fīrūza Ḵānom, daghterr of Mo ḥammad-Qāsem, and of Karbalāʾī Mīrzā, son of Mortażāqolī, respectively (Sotūda, II, pp. 199-200).

82. Akbarīya Mosque in Lāhījān, built in 1239/1823-24 by the order of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār (Sotūda, II, pp. 96-97, pls. 70-72; PLATE XXII).

83. The shrine of Šāh Maḥmūd at the village Šayḵān Kafša in Lašt-e Nešā; the wooden sarcophagus is dated 1240/1824-25 (Sotūda, I, pp. 433-34, pl. 226).

84. Ḥājī ʿAlī Mosque at the Bāzār quarter of Langarūd. The portal was built in 1241/1825-26 (Sotūda, II, pp. 267-69, pl. 186).

85. The shrine of Āqā Mīr Ṣādeq in Lāhījān. The shrine banner is dated 1242/1826-27 (Sotūda, II, p. 86, pl. 65).

86. The shrine of Adham and Rūḥ-Allāh at Sīā Rostāq in Eškavar. The dates 1242/1826-27 and 1310/1892-93 were noticed on the gravestones of Mollā Ḡolām-ʿAlī, son of Āqā Akbar and of Shaikh ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn, son of Āqā Mīrzā Yūsof (Sotūda, II, pp. 401-2, pl. 273).

87. Mostawfī Mosque in Rašt; the inscription of the prayer niche bears the date 1242/1826-27 (Sotūda, I, pp. 264-66, pls. 147-51).

88. The shrine of Sayyed ʿAbbās and Sayyed Esmāʿīl at Sāḡarsāzān quarter of Rašt. The door bears the date 1243/1827-28 (Rabino, p. 75, tr. p. 82; Sotūda, I, pp. 289-91, pls. 181-85).

89. The shrine of Sayyed Aḥmad b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem on a hilltop in Ḡozdārebon fields of the village Deylamān; the dates noted on gravestones are: 1244/1828-29, of Qorbān-ʿAlī Beyg; and 1267/1850-51, of Ramażān-ʿAlī, son of Jaʿfar (Sotūda, II, pp. 19-20, pl. 14).

90. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed Amīr Kīā b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at the village of Šīrjū-pošt of Rūdbona district in Lāhījān; the gravestone of Ḵᵛāja Moḥammad, son of Ḥājī ʿAlī-Akbar, buried in the shrine area, bears the date 1246/1830-31 (Sotūda, II, pp. 205-6, pls. 156-59).

91. The shrine of Āqā Sayyed Abu’l-Qāsem at Šekarkaš, a square building surrounded by ayvāns in the district of Bijār-pas in Rānekūh. The wooden lattice sarcophagus bears the date 1290/1873. The dates noticed on gravestones are: 1248/1832-33, of Qorban-ʿAlī, son of Moḥammad Gāleš; 1259/1843, of ʿĀšūr, son of Allāhverdī; and 1290/1873, of Borj-ʿAlī, son of Āqā ʿAlī (Sotūda, II, pp. 288-89, pls. 197-98).

92. Āqā Ebrāhīm shrine at the Gābona quarter of Lāhījān, facing the Akbarīya Mosque. A transenna surounds the wooden sarcophagus that was made in 1253/1838 (Sotūda, II, p. 94).

93. Safīd Āstāna, the tomb of Āqā Sayyed Moḥammad, at Kīā Kalāya in Langarūd, on the right side of the road linking Langarūd with Rūdsar; a gravestone belonging to Šahrbānū, daughter of Qorbān-ʿAlī, is dated 1255/1839 (Rabino, p. 343, tr. p. 399; Sotūda, II, p. 272).

94. The shrine at Kūmes village in Deylamān, where Emāmzāda Qāsem and Emāmzāda Ḥamza, sons of Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem are believed to be buried.; 1255/1839-40 is the date of the grave of Ḥosaynqoli, son of Ḥasan Ṭāleš Kulī, buried in the shrine (Sotūda, II, pp. 29-31, pl. 29-32).

95. The shrine of Aḥmad b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at Gīlavā in Kūčeṣfahān; 1240/1824-25 is the date on the grave of Moḥammad-Beyg Gīlavāʾī, buried in the shrine. An imprecation (laʿnat-nāma) inscribed on stone bears the date 1255/1839-40 (Sotūda, I, pp. 318-20, pls. 219-11).

96. Morād-dahanda shrine at the village with the same name in Lāhījān; 1260/1844 is the date of the grave of Gol Ḵātūn, daughter of Āqā Kāẓem Dīlmaqānī, buried here (Sotūda, II, pp. 175-76).

97. Āqā Sayyed Ḵalīl shrine at the village of Kīā Zanik in Rānekūh district; the gravestone of Rostam Khan buried here, the son of Moḥammad Khan, has the date 1264/1847-48 (Sotūda, II, p. 297).

98. The shrine known as Āstāna-ye Čahār Tan at the village of Sayf Dārbon in Rānekūh; 1264/1838-39 is the date of the gravestone of Mahdī Khan Beyg buried here (Sotūda, II, pp. 291-92).

99. The shrine of Sayyed Abū Jaʿfar b. Imam ʿAlī al-Reżā, also known as Fūšā shrine, at the Sādāt quarter of Bārgū Sarāy in Lāhījān; the entrance door was made in 1265/1848-49 (Sotūda, II, pp. 208-9).

100. Āqā Shaikh Ḥabīb-Allāh Mosque at the Rāh-pošta quarter of Langarūd; 1270/1853-54 is the date of the entrance door (Sotūda, II, pp. 265-66).

101. Mollā Mīr Šams-al-Dīn shrine at the village of Lāšīdān in Lāhījān. The shrine was repaired in 12751858-59. A memorial by Mollā ʿAlī Lāšīdānī written on a tile brick is dated 1279/1862-63 (Sotūda, II, p. 139).

102. The shrine of Sayyed Ḥasan b. Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem at Lafmajān village in Lāhījān; the gravestone of Belqīs buried here, daughter of Jaʿfar, bears the date 1278/1861-62 (Sotūda, II, pp. 177-78).

103. Sayyed Qāsem shrine at the village of Čūlāb in Kūčeṣfahān, built in 1284/1867-68 (Sotūda, I, pp. 317-18, pls. 207-9).

 

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(Manouchehr Sotoudeh)

Originally Published: December 15, 2001

Last Updated: February 9, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. X, Fasc. 6, pp. 650-659