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MESHED (properly Mash-had, " the plac...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 178 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MESHED (properly Mash-had, " the place of martyrdom ")  , capital of the province of Khorasan in
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Persia, situated in a plain watered by the Kashaf-rud (
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Tortoise
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river), a tributary of the Hari-rud (river from
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Herat, which after its junction with the Kashaf is called Tejen), 46o m . E. of Teheran (55o by road) and 200 M . N.W. of Herat, in 36° 17' N., 590 36' E., at an
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elevation of 3800 ft . Its population is about 70,000 fixed and 1o,000 floating, the latter consisting of pilgrims to the shrine of
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Imam Reza.l The
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town is of irregular shape, about 6 m. in circumference and surrounded by a mud wall flanked with towers . In the south-western corner of the enclosure stands the citadel (ark), within a wall 25 ft. high and a broad dry ditch which is 40 ft. deep in parts and can be flooded from neighbouring
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water-courses . The city has five gates, and from one of them, called
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Bala Khiaban
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gate (upper Khiaban), the main street (Khiaban), 25 yds. broad, runs in a north-west–south-east direction, forming a
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fine avenue planted with
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plane and mulberry trees and with a stream of water
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running down its
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middle . The shrine of Imam Reza is the most venerated spot in Persia, and yearly visited by more than 100,000 pilgrims . Eastwick thus describes it (Journal of a Diplomat's Three Years' Residence in Persia,
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London, 1864) : " The quadrangle of the shrine seemed to be about 150 paces square . It was paved with large flagstones and in the centre was a beautiful kiosk or
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pavilion, covered with gold and raised over the
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reservoir of water for ablutions . This pavilion was built by Nadir Shah . All round the
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northern, western and
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southern sides of the quadrangle ran, at some 10 ft. from the ground, a row of alcoves, similar to that in which I was sitting, and filled with mullas in white turbans and dresses . In each of the sides was a gigantic archway, the wall being raised in a square from above the entrance .

The height to the

top of this square wall must have been 90 or 100 ft . The alcoves were white, seemingly of stone or
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plaster; but the archways were covered with blue
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varnish or blue tiles, with beautiful inscriptions in white and gold . Over the western arch-way was a white cage for the muazzin, and outside it was a gigantic minaret 120 ft. high, and as thick as the Duke of York's column in London . The beauty of this minaret cannot be exaggerated . It had an exquisitely carved capital, and above that a
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light pillar, seemingly to ft. high; and this and the shaft below the capital, or about 20 ft., were covered with gold . All this
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part of the mosque (shrine) was built by Shah Abbas . In the centre of the eastern side of the quadrangle two gigantic doors were thrown open to admit the
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people into the
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adytum or inner mosque (shrine) where is the marble tomb of Imam Reza, surrounded by a
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silver railing with knobs of gold . There was a
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flight of steps ascending to these doors, and beyond were two smaller doors encrusted with jewels—the rubies were particularly fine . The inner mosque would contain 3000 persons . Over it rose a dome entirely covered with gold, with two minarets at the sides, likewise gilt all over . On the right of the Imam's tomb is that of Abbas Mirza, grandfather of the reigning Shah.' Near him several other princes and chiefs of note are buried . Beyond the
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golden dome, in striking and beautiful contrast with it, was a smaller dome of bright blue .

Here begins the mosque of Gauhar

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Shad.' The quadrangle is larger than that of Shah Abbas; and at the eastern side is an immense blue dome, out of which quantities of grass were growing, the place being too sacred to be disturbed . In front of the dome rose two lofty minarets covered with blue tiles . In the boulevard of the Bala Khiaban is a kitchen supported by the revenues of the shrine, where 800 persons are fed daily." The buildings of the shrine together with a space extending to about one
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hundred yards beyond the gates of the shrine on each side is sanctuary (bast) . Within it are many shops and lodgings, and criminals, even murderers, may live there in safety . The only other notable buildings in the place are some colleges (medresseh), the
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oldest being the M . Do-
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dar, i.e . " college of two doors," built in 1439 by Shah Rukh, and some fine caravanserais, two dating from 1680 . 1 Abut
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Hassan
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Ali, al Reza, commonly known as Imam Reza, the eighth imam of the Shiites, a son of Musa al Kazim, the seventh imam, was the leader from whom the party of the Alids (Shiites) had such hopes under the
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caliphate of Mamun . Gold coins (dinars) of this
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caliph are extant on which al Reza's name appears with the title of heir-apparent . The imam died in March 819 in the
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village Sanabad near Tus, some miles north-west of Meshed . To the Shiites he is a martyr, being believed to have been poisoned by Mamun . ' This refers to Nasr-ud-din (d .

1896), grandfather of Shah Mahommed Ali (1907) . Gauhar Shad was the wife of Shah Rukh (1404–1447), and was murdered ,by that monarch's successor

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Abu Said, August 1, 1457 . Her mosque was built in 1418 . Without the pilgrims who come to visit it, Meshed would be a poor place, but lying on the eastern confines of Persia, close to
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Afghanistan,
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Russian Central
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Asia and Transcaspia, at the point where a number of trade routes converge, it is very important politically, and the
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British and Russian governments have maintained consulates-general there since 1889 . Meshed had formerly a
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great transit trade to Central Asia, of
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European manufactures, mostly Manchester goods, which came by way of Trebizond,
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Tabriz and Teheran; and of
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Indian goods and
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pro-duce, mostly muslin and Indian and green teas, which came by way of Bander Abbasi . With the opening of the Russian railway from the
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Caspian to
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Merv, Bokhara and
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Samarkand in 1886–1887, Russian manufacturers were enabled to compete in Central Asia with their western rivals, and the value of European manufactures passing Meshed in transit was much reduced . In 1894 the Russian government enforced new customs regulations, by which a heavy duty is levied on Anglo-Indian manufactures and produce, excepting pepper, ginger and drugs, imported into Russian Asia by way of Persia; and the importation of green teas is altogether prohibited except by way of
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Batum,
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Baku, Uzunada and the Transcaspian railway . Since then the transit trade has been practically nil . In 1890 General Maclean, the British consul-general, reported that there were 65o
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silk, 40
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carpet and 320
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shawl looms at
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work . The carpet-looms at work now number several hundreds, while looms of silk and shawl number less than
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half what they did in 189o . Meshed has telegraph (since 1876) and
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post (since 1879) offices, and the Imperial
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Bank of Persia opened a branch here in 1891 . The
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climate is temperate and healthy .

The coldest

month is
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January, with a mean temperature of about 32° F., while the hottest month is
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July, with a mean of 78° . The highest temperature. recorded in a period of six years was 91°, the lowest 15° . The mean
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annual rainfall during nine years (1899–1907) was nearly 91 in., about one-eighth of it being represented by snow . (A .

End of Article: MESHED (properly Mash-had, " the place of martyrdom ")
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