Day 193: Yazd

Oct 13 - Today is mostly walking through parts of the old city of Yazd. First stop is the Zoroastrian Fire Temple, which is not an archaeological site but a living place of worship. Yazd has perhaps 40,000 Zoroastrians among its population. Speaking of this, there are three religions recognized by the Iranian government other than Islam. They are Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian. The number of worshipers of these three are a tiny minority but have (almost) equal rights. The only point at which they are not equal is that no member of those faiths can become president or some other powerful figure in national politics. They are, however, represented by a small number of seats in parliament. This degree of freedom is only the result of reforms during the Qajar Dynasty. Previously, there were several frankly degrading restrictions on the lives of non-Muslims in Iran. The most random and bizarre was that non-Muslims were not allowed to walk outside when it rained. It was believed that once the water touched them and fell to the street, it could subsequently touch a Muslim. This was considered unclean (for the Muslim).

Front of the Fire Temple. Not really that impressive, and not meant to be, as the only important thing about it is that it houses the original fire of the Zoroastrian faith. However, there is a lilting music that plays in this courtyard, interspersed with quotes from the Zoroastrian holy book (the Avesta), that lends a nice atmosphere.

The fire! At the time of the Arab invasions, most of Iran followed the Zoroastrian faith. The Arabs went about destroying all the fire temples they could find, covering some of them with mosques. The original fire, however, kept in one of these temples, was taken away before the invaders arrived and hidden in a cave. Here, priests kept it going as required by ritual, for years, moving every so often as necessary to remain elusive.

Eventually, the fire was allowed to emerge from hiding, and placed in this temple. Since then, it has been used to create additional fires, now occupying other fire temples around Iran and even as far away as California.

So why fire? Zoroastrians believe in the supremacy of four elements (air, water, earth, and fire). Each is endowed with a purity by nature and should not be contaminated. The fire in this temple is the purest, having been carefully tended for millennia. The attendants who add fuel to it must wear masks to not contaminate it with their breath. Contrary to some popular myth, the fire is not in itself a deity to be worshipped, just a manifestation of the pure element. The three main tenets of Zoroastrianism are simple enough: Be good in thoughts, be good in words, and be good in deeds.

There is a pavilion here, showing many aspects of the Zoroastrian way of living. Interestingly, it is not possible to marry into this faith. For this reason, the number of adherents is slowly dwindling.

The Avesta, the books of the faith. There were originally 21 of them, now condensed in to five.

The leader of the faith, Zarathustra, is thought to have been born in 1767 BCE in eastern Iran. The story is that he despaired of the corrupt way he saw people living and developed a philosophy of a better life. He hit upon Zoroastrianism and spent the remainder of his days gathering like-minded people and building fire temples. He is recorded to have died at age 77 in Balkh.

Go across town to the western outskirts. To complete our tour of Zoroastrianism, we visit a Tower of Silence.

These squat round towers were usually built on the tops of hills. It is where the bodies of deceased members of the Zoroastrian faith were left to the elements.

Zoroastrians believed in maintaining, to the best of their ability, a purity of the elements. The dead were considered contaminated, which left a dilemma, as interring them in the ground spread this contamination to the earth. Burning them contaminated the air, and even leaving them out in the desert led to dismemberment and burial of body parts by carnivores.

The solution was the Tower of Silence. The deceased were carried to the top, where they were laid out on a platform. A door was closed to keep animals out, and the cadavers were left for the vultures. After some days, the remaining bones were either packed into jars and given to the deceased’s family or thrown into a pit in the middle of the tower platform.

Odette looks for bones.

It was the job of the nesasalar, who lived at the base of the hill, to make this all happen. People brought the bodies to him and he performed the rituals, took the body up, and gathered the bones after. Since he was in contact with corpses, he was considered ‘dirty’ and separated from regular society.

The nesasalar lived in one of the mud-brick houses shown. Other houses were, on occasion, inhabited by the family of the deceased temporarily if they wished to be close while their dead relative lay out in the tower.

Though it is agreed that this was a common practice, archaeological evidence shows that there were indeed other death rituals in Parthian and Sassanian times that did not include laying bodies out for vultures.

There happened to be a water reservoir here. It is below the dome. The two towers on the sides are called wind towers and are meant to channel air into the chamber below, to aerate and keep the water from going stale. Yazd is full of these towers.

We go back into town and visit Dowlat Abad Garden. It was first built in AH 1160 by Muhammad Taghi Khan-e Bafghi, the khan of the Yazd district during the Zand Dynasty. The most impressive structure here is the wind tower, which is almost 34 meters high.

Note the stick poking out of the tower. These serve to: (a) provide flexibility during earthquakes, and (b) serve as perches for birds. The birds would leave droppings on the roof, which was later collected and used as fertilizer.

The building below the wind tower houses a fountain, fed by a qanat canal underneath. It has some nice stained-glass windows. In Iran, the colors of stained glass usually represent plants (green), yellow (sun), and fruit (red). Apparently, the colors deter flies and mosquitos.

Some girls were doing sketches of the gardens.

Drive to the Amir Chakhmaq Complex. This plaza was built in the Timurid era in the 1400’s but modified a lot since. The evan and minarets are imposing over the plaza and fountain. It is here that the annual celebration of the third imam Hussain (called Nakhl Gardani), takes place annually.

Plenty of ornate tilework on the facing and minarets. The double story arches on either side of the plaza are later construction but done in the old style.

The fountain by Amir Chakhmaq. Behind are four prominent wind towers above the Water Museum, where we go next. The Water Museum is housed within the estate of a prominent Yazd family, named Kolahduz-ha.

The courtyard of the Water Museum.

Some of the wall artwork remaining in the rooms of this estate.

The museum contained many photos and articles related to the building of the qanat underground canals. Some of these extended for more than 60 km from the source areas in the hills and mountains, down to the city. The canals extended from one end of town to the other, and specific points were chosen for access wells.

One of the qanat access points (now dry). The rectangular basin has a hole in either end, from where the water flowed. People could just dip a bucket in to retrieve it. No washing was done here, as the water continued along the tunnel to the next access point.

Walk through the quiet back alleys of old town. Most structures are made of mudbrick. A few religiously-inspired signs seen along the way:

Is not Allah’s guardianship sufficient for his obedient followers?

and…

Then which of the bounties of our creator and nurturer do you deny?

Then on to Jameh Mosque, built in the 14th Century and one of the most famous mosques in Iran (it is featured on a banknote).

The front entrance of Jameh Mosque. The word ‘Jameh’ implies that this used to be a mosque primarily used for the Friday prayers, that attracted a larger crowd than the normal daily prayers (sometimes this mosque type is referred to as the ‘Friday Mosque’). Also, note that the word Jameh sound a lot like ‘al-jaami’a’ (الجامع), one of the Arabic words for mosque.

The tilework is fantastic on this structure, and the style is specific to the Yazd region. Unlike Shiraz, the predominant colors used are blue and cream/beige. These are the most common colors of the harsh desert regions.

A detail on the wall of Jameh Mosque.

Spending quality time on their cellphones.

More tilework with radial symmetry.

Jameh Mosque seen from a distant alley.

The Bogheh-e Davazdah Emem, built in the 11th Century (specifically AH 429), is one of the oldest structures in Yazd.

An old set of door knockers. For the people inside the house, it was important to know if the person knocking was male or female, so they knew who should answer and in what state of dress. Hence, the left knocker is for men to use, and the right for females.

Time for Odette to see something more interesting for her. We stop by LizardsLand, a small private zoo in the old city that specializes in reptiles but had other animals as well. We are given a tour of the place and sit for a quick interview that they want to post on Instagram.

A gray parrot.

Last stop before we leave the main plaza area is to watch a team practicing a sport known as varzesh-e-zurkhanei. After a lot of warm up, the sport is to flip heavy mace-like objects (called mir). The practice is ancient, originating in the exercises of soldiers before going to battle.

The sports complex is in an old water reservoir that has since been decommissioned.

The sport in action.

Iran