BALKH  , a

city of Afghanistan, about Too m . E. of Andkhui and some 46 m . S. of the Oxus . The city. which is identical with the ancient Bactra or Zainaspa, is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated on the right bank of the Balkh river, 1200 ft. above the sea . It comprises about 500 houses of Afghan settlers, a colony of Jews and a small bazaar, set in the midst of a waste of ruins and many acres of debris . Entering by the west (or Akcha) gate, one passes under three arches, which are probably the remnants of a former Jama Masjid . The outer walls (mostly in utter disrepair) are about 62 to 7 M. in perimeter, and on the south-eastern borders are set high on a mound or rampart, indicating a Mongol origin . The fort and citadel to the north-east are built well above the town on a barren mound and are walled and moated . There is, however, little left but the remains of a few pillars . The Masjid Sabz, with its green-tiled dome, is said to be the tomb of a Khwaja, Abul Narsi Parsar . Nothing but the arched entrance remains of the Madrasa, which is traditionally not very old . The earlier Buddhist constructions have proved more durable than the Mahommedan buildings .

The

Top-i-Rustam is 5o yds. in diameter at the base and 30 yds. at the top, circular and about 50 ft. high . Four circular vaults are sunk in the interior and four passages have been pierced below from the outside, which probably lead to them . The base of the building is constructed of sun-dried bricks about 2 ft. square and 4 or 5 in. thick . The Takht-i-Rustam is wedge-shaped in plan, with uneven sides . It is apparently built of pise mud (i.e. mud mixed with straw and puddled) . It is possible that in these ruins we may recognize the Nan Vihara of the Chinese traveller Hsiian Tsang . There are the remains of many other topes (or stupas) in the neigh-. bourhood . The mounds of ruins on the road to 1\/Iazar-i-Sharif probably represent the site of a city yet older than those on which stands the modern Balkh . The town is garrisoned by a few hundred kasidars, the regular troops of Afghan Turkestan being cantoned at Takhtapul, near Mazari-Sharif . The gardens to the north-east contain a caravanserai, which is fairly well kept and comfortable . It forms one side of a courtyard, which is shaded by a group of magnificent chenar trees . The antiquity and greatness of the place are recognized by the native populations, who speak of it as the Mother of Cities .

Its

foundation is mythically ascribed to Kaiomurs, the Persian Romulus; and it is at least certain that, at a very early date, it was the rival of Ecbatana, Nineveh and Babylon . For a long time the city and country was the central seat of the Zoroastrian religion, the founder of which is said to have died within the walls . From the Memoirs of Hsuan Tsang, we learn that, at the time of his visit in the 7th century, there were in the city, or its vicinity, about a hundred Buddhist convents, with 3000 devotees, and that there was a large number of stupas, and other religious monuments . The most remarkable was the Nau Behar, Nava Bihara or New Convent, which possessed a very costly statue of Buddha . A curious notice of this building is found in the Arabian geographer Yaqut . Ibn-Haukal, an Arabian traveller of the loth century, describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending half a parasang . He also mentions a castle and a mosque . Idrisi, in the 12th century, speaks of its possessing a variety of educational establishments, and carrying on an active trade . There were several important commercial routes from the city, stretching as far east as India and China . In 1220 Jenghiz Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defence,—treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur . Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo can still, in the following century, describe it as " a noble city and a great . Balkh formed the government of Aurangzeb in his youth .

In 1736 it was conquered by

Nadir Shah . Under the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans; it was conquered by Shah Murad of Kunduz in 1820, and for some time was subject to the khan of Bokhara . In 185o Mahommed Akram Khan, Barakzai, captured Balkh, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule . See Hsuan Tsang, tr. by Julien, vol. i. pp . 29-32; Burnes's Travels in Bokhara (1831—1833); Ferrier's Travels; Vambery's Bokhara (1873) ; Report of the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884-1885 . (T . H . ,H .