In Search of an Ancient Hindu Temple in Azerbaijan
Posted on May 20, 2007
By way of Coming Anarchy, I happened upon this very interesting account of a Zoroastrian (Parsee) account of the search for a fire temple that leads to the remains of an ancient Hindu temple in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Turns out the search for a Parsee fire temple led to a Hindu temple, where they worshipped the fire. The fire was kept lit by the natural gas emanating from the ground. How the Hindus got there is a different story – back in the past, in the days of silk-route trade, a lot of Indians used to travel far and wide, and some of them must have ended up in Baku, and set up the temple there. The “Jwalaajee” in Baku is supplemented by another, minor, jwala:
When I visited the Kangra Valley in the Himalaya Mountains some 25 years ago (1900 A. D.), I was told that the current Aatash Kadeh was considered as a Hindu Temple by the Hindu friends I met there. In the year 1900 A. D., I was not well from the after effects of the Cholera I contracted years ago. Hence, I traveled with my relative, Jamshedjee Eruchjee Modi, to the hill town of Dharamshalla in Punjab as guests of his relatives Faraamroj and his brother Naadirshaw Khajooree, for rest and change of climate. After a few days of rest and relaxation, we visited the valleys of Kangra and Kulu by the way of Paalanpoor and Baeznaath. That time I heard that there is a village called Jwaalaajee where at one place natural gas emits from earth, night and day, and the Hindu worshippers throw clarified butter (Ghee) on it so that the fire lights up like a huge fire ball. I went there after hearing about it and saw the place of this burning substance (Jwaalaajee). Talking to the Hindus there, they call this Small Jwaalaajee and stated that their Big Jwaalaajee is in Baku, Aazerbaizaan.
Also, from the story we learn that the name Azerbaijan might have derived from Parsee words:
The origin of this country’s name, Azerbaijan, is from our own word “Aazar†or “Aatar†meaning fire, because in ancient times, there were a number of Aatash Kadehs in this country similar to the natural gas fire in Baku and in other places.
It saddens me greatly that the Parsee religion and way of life is slowly being lost to the world, they are fascinating.
Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on Baku calls the same temple structure the “Maiden Tower“, and has no mention of it having been a Hindu temple, or a Fire temple in the past. How could it be lost on everyone, especially seeing as the inscriptions in Sankrit/Devanagiri over the entrance? However, the Maiden Tower is widely known in Azerbaijan as a national symbol – found on Currency Notes and other official papers.
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Namaste.
Congratulations on your excellent web site! A lot of knowledge on the greatest civilization in the world. I did, however, notice one flaw. No yoga section. Keep up the good work!
Om Shanti
Shahalad
Nice website, i noticed your last update is from may, will we get more?
Actually the Maiden Tower represents a structure as that of a Shiva Lingam whereby the center which has a fire pit burning is the Lingam representing the god Shiva. This very much represents that the religion of Hinduism was present and prevalent in the Central Asian regions including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Thus it is such so that still there is time for people to realize that the religion of Hinduism is very strong and its influence had more effect than that of any other religion.
Of course, there is a Hindu-Parsee fire temple found in Baku. That is located in Surakhani area and called Atesh Kade or Atesh Gah, which was visited by the hindu piligrims up to 20 century.
However the Baku Maiden Tower notwithstanding the nonsense speculations, has nothing to do with nor Hinduism neither with other religions.
The Tower,s real name was Khansar Tower and served as the main Watch Tower in order to control routine life activities in the city.
After the invasion of Baku in 1812 the russians reconstructed and renamed the tower into the “Maiden Tower”.
From my research I found out the Vedas was the basis of Hinduism. The four Vedas are full of knowledge presented, Hindus believe, by the Divinity for human race for its progression.
Worshipping fire and water is one of the Vedic rituals, fundamental for life sustenance. In ancient times even Jews worshipped fire and water. One research shows the Zoroastrians (Parsees) is a misspelling of King Dhrutarashtra who was A Hindu King from India whose kingdom spread right up to Iraq.
Greatings,
Who are you and why do you consider the so called Maiden Tower to be a hindu tower. It was designed, built and used by Azeries all over the history. Are you sure in what you have written in your article. If not, please give it a published correction.
Kind regards,
Elchin
P.S. I do respect Hindus and their history. Indeed we have certain cultural connections, but we do have many things done by ourselves and under the influence of Persian, Arab and Turkish worlds, even if some facts are lost over the course of time, mainly due to the adverse events like the division of Azerbaijan into North and South (currently in Iran). E.g. many persons mentioned in differet sources as being Penrisan or Iranian, are certainly Azerbaijan, but just leave in Southern Azerbaijan.
Greetings,
1)
of course the word ‘Azarbaijan’ is a Persian word. it is Arabicized of Azarbaygan or Azarpadgan. one theory is that the name ‘Azarbaijan’ is derived from ‘Azar’+pad+gan= place of protecting fire. the other theory is that it’s derived from an Iranian governor called Aturpatakan. again ‘Atur’ being the same as Azar or fire.
HOWEVER, you should notice that the real Azarbaijan is in Iran and south of the Aras (Araxes) River. The northern part was known as Albania or Arran until Russian invaded and occupied it and renamed it to Azarbaijan after they separated that area from Iran in 19th century to later make claim on the real Azarbaijan.
2)
I think since that area was part of Iran from the ancient time and during the time that Iranians were Zoroastrian, the script you mention must be in Avestan (Din-Dabiri = religious script) not Sanskri. Of course these two languages are related and from the same family.
Insofar as Hinduism is concerned, it is the oldest surviving religion with the oldest cultural facts of human being. The remnants and ruins from Khmer kingdoms to Indonesia to Tibet to Central Asia suggests the fact that hinduism is the mother religion of all other. Atehsagh, no doubt represents the same spirit, and further enquiries into distant past and civilizations will further elucidate how strong hinduism was in the past.
Hinduism is the oldest religon in the world and i truly belive that the whole world was once big hindu family.Just turn the pages of history and we will find ancient civilizations from peru to bali hinduism is every were ,forms may be different
Om Namah shivia