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Fire Temple in Surakhany, Baku, Azerbaijan
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The Ateshgah of Baku (Persian: آتشگاه, romanized: Atashgah, Middle Persian/ Pahlavi: Ātaš-kadag, "place or house of fire"), Azerbaijani: Atəşgah), often called the "Fire Temple of Baku", is a syncretic temple in Surakhany town (in Surakhany raion). Sarah Ashurbeyli notes that the Atsh is distorted Atesh (“fire”) and Atshi-Baguan means “Fires of Baguan”, referring to Baku. The word Baguan comes from the word Baga, which means “God” in Old Persian, and Bhaga. Baku gets its name from Bagavan/Bagawan/Baguan/Bhagawan. It was called Bagavan during the Sassanian rule (224-651 CE).
"Interestingly, the Avesta does not mention fire temples. In fact, the temple-cult of fire appears to have come into origin only in the latter part of the Achaemenian period i.e., around the fourth century BCE. In Zoroastrianism, the temples of sacred fires were established on hills or high places. It is noteworthy, as commanded by their spiritual leader, the Zoroastrians do not consider themselves as fire worshippers. They simply believe the fire to be an instrument of purity and a symbol of truth and righteousness that helps them in focusing their thoughts Ahura, their supreme God. It was most probably for this reason that cremation came to be rejected in Zoroastrianism whereas in Hinduism it became a universal phenomenon."
"Ātash" (آتش/Atəş) is the Persian and Azerbaijani word for fire. Zoroastrians do not worship fire, but see it as connection to God. The pentagonal complex, which has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a tetrapillar-altar in the middle, was built during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was abandoned in the late 19th century, probably due to the decline of the Indian population in the area and the establishment of petroleum plants in Surakhany. The natural eternal flame was extinguished in 1969, after nearly a century of petroleum and gas extraction in the area, and is now maintained using a piped gas supply.
The Baku Ateshgah also became a pilgrimage and philosophical centre of Zoroastrians from the northwestern Indian subcontinent, who were involved in trade with the Caspian area via the famous "Grand Trunk Road". The four holy elements of their belief were: ateshi (fire), badi (air), abi (water), and heki (earth). The complex was converted into a museum in 1975. The annual number of visitors to the museum is about 15,000.
The Temple of Fire "Ateshgah" was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage Sites, UNESCO in 1998 by Gulnara Mehmandarova. On December 19, 2007, it was declared a state historical-architectural reserve by decree of the President of Azerbaijan.
The Persian word Atashgah (with Russian/Azerbaijani pronunciation: Atashgyakh/Ateshgah) literally means "home of fire." The Persian-origin term atesh (آتش) means "fire", and is a loanword in Azerbaijani. Gah (گاہ) derives from Middle Persian and means "place", "throne" or "bed". The name refers to the fact that the site is situated atop a now-exhausted natural gas field, which once caused natural fires to spontaneously burn there as the gas emerged from seven natural surface vents. A historical alternative name for Azerbaijan is Odlar Yurdu, which means "land of fires" in Azerbaijani.
The name Surakhani, the town where the Ateshgah is situated, is likely derived from the Persian word suraakh (سراخ), meaning "hole," and may thus be interpreted as "a region of holes". Alternatively, it could also allude to the fiery glow of the area, stemming from the Persian term sorkh or surkh (سرخ), meaning "red". The Sanskrit etymology of Surakhany conveys the meaning "mine of the gods", derived from sura, meaning "gods", who are opposed to the asuras, or demons. Surakhany in Caucasian Tat (the language of Surakhany, close to Persian) means “hole with the fountain”.
Surakhany is located on the Absheron Peninsula, which is famous for being a locality where oil oozes naturally from the ground and flames burn perpetually — as at Yanar Dagh — fed by natural hydrocarbon vapours issuing from the rock.
Sarah Ashurbeyli notes that the Atsh is distorted Atesh (“fire”) and Atshi-Baguan means “Fires of Baguan”, referring to Baku. The word Baguan comes from the word Baga, which means “God” in Old Persian, and Bhaga.
"Seven holes with eternal fires" were mentioned by German traveler Engelbert Kaempfer, who visited Surakhany in 1683.
Writing in the 10th century, Estakhri mentioned that fire worshippers lived near Baku, presumably on the Apsheron Peninsula. This was confirmed by 10th century Armenian historian Movses Daskhurantsi in his reference of the province of Bhagavan (“Fields of the Gods” i.e., “Fire Gods”).
In the 18th century, Atashgah was visited by Zoroastrians. The Persian handwriting Naskh inscription over the entrance aperture of one of the cells, which speaks about the visit of Zoroastrians from Isfahan:
آتشی صف کشیده همچون دک
جیی بِوانی رسیده تا بادک
سال نو نُزل مبارک باد گفت
خانۀ شد رو سنامد (؟) سنة ۱۱۵٨
The 1158 year corresponds to 1745 AD. Bovan (modern Bovanat) is the village near Esfahan. The word Badak is a diminutive of Bad-Kubeh. (The name of Baku in the sources of the 17th and 18th centuries was Bad-e Kube.) At the end of the reference is the constellation of Sombole /Virgo (August–September). In the name of the month the master mistakenly shifted the “l” and “h” at the end of the word. According to Zoroastrian calendar Qadimi New Year in 1745 AD was in August.
Interesting information about Zoroastrianism in Baku is given by D. Shapiro in A Karaite from Wolhynia meets a Zoroastrian from Baku. Avraham Firkowicz, a Karaite collector of ancient manuscripts, wrote about his meeting in Darband in 1840 with a fire-worshipper from Baku. Firkowicz asked him “Why do you worship fire?” The fire-worshipper replied that he worshipped not fire, but the Creator symbolised by fire - a “matter” or abstraction (and hence not a person) called Q’rţ’. Pahlavi Q’rţ’ (from Avestan kirdar or Sanskrit kṛt and कर्ता) signifies “one who does” or “creator”.
Some scholars have speculated that the Ateshgah may have been an ancient Zoroastrian shrine that was decimated by invading Islamic armies during the Muslim conquest of Persia and its neighbouring regions. It has also been asserted that, "according to historical sources, before the construction of the Indian Temple of Fire (Atashgah) in Surakhany at the end of the 17th century, the local people also worshipped at this site because of the 'seven holes with burning flame'."
The present shrine is of Northern Indian rather than of a Persian foundation, especially not of ancient Sasanian origins, but the site itself may have been used by Zoroastrians ages ago.
Fire is considered sacred in Hinduism and Zoroastrianism (as Agni and Atar, respectively), and there has been debate on whether the Atashgah was originally a Hindu structure, or a Zoroastrian one. The trident mounted atop the structure is usually a distinctly Hindu sacred symbol (as the Trishula, which is commonly mounted on temples) and has been cited by Zoroastrian scholars as a specific reason for considering the Atashgah as a Hindu site. However, an Azerbaijani presentation on the history of Baku, which calls the shrine a "Hindu temple", identifies the trident as a Zoroastrian symbol of "good thoughts, good words and good deeds". The trident symbol is not associated with Zoroastrianism.
One early European commentator, Jonas Hanway, grouped Zoroastrians, Sikhs, and Hindus together in terms of their religious beliefs: "These opinions, with a few alterations, are still maintained by some of the posterity of the ancient Indians and Persians, who are called Gebers or Gaurs, and are very zealous in preserving the religion of their ancestors; particularly in regard to their veneration for the element of fire." Geber is a Persian term for Zoroastrians, while Gaurs are a priestly Hindu caste. A later scholar, A. V. Williams Jackson, drew a distinction between the two groups. While stating that "the typical features which Hanway mentions are distinctly Indian, not Zoroastrian" based on the worshipers' attires and tilakas, their strictly vegetarian diets and open veneration for cows, he left open the possibility that a few "actual Gabrs (i.e. Zoroastrians, or Parsis)" may also have been present at the shrine alongside larger Hindu and Sikh groups.
In the late Middle Ages, there were significant Indian communities throughout Central Asia. By the Caspian sea, Indian merchants from the Multan region of Punjab, alongside the Armenians, controlled much of the commercial economy (see also Multani Caravanserai). Much of the woodwork for ships on the Caspian was also done by Indian craftsmen. Some commentators have theorized that the Indian community may have been responsible for the construction or renovation of the Ateshgah.
As European scholars and explorers began to arrive in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, they documented their encounters with numerous Hindus at the shrine, as well as Sikh pilgrims traveling through the regions between North India and Baku.
Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin's Reise durch Russland (1771) is cited in Karl Eduard von Eichwald's Reise in den Caucasus (Stuttgart, 1834) where the naturalist Gmelin is said to have observed Yogi austerities being performed by devotees. Geologist Eichwald restricts himself to a mention of the worship of Rama, Krishna, Hanuman and Agni. In the 1784 account of George Forster of the Bengal Civil Service, the square structure was about 30 yards across, surrounded by a low wall and containing many apartments. Each of these had a small jet of sulphurous fire issuing from a funnel "constructed in the shape of a Hindu altar." The fire was used for worship, cooking and warmth, and would be regularly extinguished.
"The Ateshgyakh Temple looks not unlike a regular town caravansary - a kind of inn with a large central court, where caravans stopped for the night. As distinct from caravansaries, however, the temple has the altar in its center with tiny cells for the temple's attendants - Indian ascetics who devoted themselves to the cult of fire - and for pilgrims lining the walls."
There is evidence that, in addition to Hindus, the temple was also attended by Zoroastrians, including both Parsis and Guebres, as well as Sikhs. In the 17th century, Jean Chardin reported on Persian Guebres who worshipped an eternally burning fire located on the Absheron Peninsula, two days' journey from Shamakhi.
Engelbert Kaempfer, who visited Surakhany in 1683, wrote that among the people who worshipped fire, two men were descendants of Persians who had migrated to India.
French Jesuit missionary Jacques Villotte, who travelled throughout Persia and Armenia in the 17th century, reports that Ateshgah revered by Hindus, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians, the descendants of the ancient Persians.
In 1733, German traveler Johannes Lerch visited the temple and recorded that twelve Guebres, or ancient Persian fire worshippers, were living there.
J. Hanway visited the region near the Caspian in 1747 and left a few records concerning the Ateshgah. He referred to the fire worshippers there as "Indians," "Persians," and "Guebres".
S. Gmelin, who visited the Ateshgah in 1770, wrote that it was inhabited by Indians and descendants of the ancient Guebres.
In 1820, French consul Gamba visited the temple and reported that it was home to Hindus, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians.
French novelist Alexandre Dumas visited the Ateshgah in 1858 and noted that the only remaining worshippers were an elderly man and two younger men, approximately 30 to 35 years old, one of whom had arrived from India just six months prior.
On September 19, 1863, the Englishman Ussher visited Ateshgah, which he referred to as "Atash Jah." He observed that the site was frequented by pilgrims from India and Persia. In October 1872, German Baron Max von Thielmann visited the temple and noted in his memoirs that the Parsi community of Bombay had sent a priest to the site, who would be replaced after a few years. He emphasized the necessity of the priest's presence, as pilgrims from the outskirts of Persia, such as Yazd and Kerman, as well as from India, would come to this sacred place and remain there for several months or even years.
Pierre Ponafidine visited the temple and noted meeting two priests from Bombay. E. Orsolle, who also visited, stated that after the death of the Parsi priest in 1864, the Parsi Panchayat of Bombay sent another priest a few years later. However, by 1880, the pilgrims from India and Iran had largely forgotten the sanctuary, and there was no one left to attend to it. O'Donovan visited the temple in 1879 and described the worship of the Guebres.
In 1898, the magazine Men and Women of India published an article titled "The Ancient Zoroastrian Temple in Baku". The author referred to the Ateshgah as a "Parsi temple" and noted that the last Zoroastrian priest had been sent there approximately 30 years earlier, around the 1860s. In his 1905 book, J. Henry also noted that the last Parsi priest in Surakhani had died approximately 25 years earlier, around 1880.
There are a total of 17 inscriptions on the Ateshgah, of which fourteen are Hindu, two are Sikh, and one is Persian. They are all in either Sanskrit or Punjabi, with the exception of one Persian inscription that occurs below an accompanying Sanskrit invocation to Lord Ganesha and Jwala Ji. Although the Persian inscription contains grammatical errors, both the inscriptions contain the same year date of 1745 Common Era (Samvat/संवत 1802/१८०२ and Hijri 1158/١١٥٨). Taken as a set, the dates on the inscriptions range from Samvat 1725 to Samvat 1873, which corresponds to the period from 1668 CE to 1816 CE. This, coupled with the assessment that the structure looks relatively new, has led some scholars to postulate the 17th century as its likely period of construction. One press report asserts that local records exist that state that the structure was built by the Baku Hindu traders community around the time of the fall of the Shirvanshah dynasty and annexation by the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ateshgah of Baku”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.