No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The shrine of Imām-i Kalān in Sar-i Pul, Afghanistan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
When in 1857 Ferrier reported a rock relief, apparently Sasanian, in the region of Sar-i Pul in North Afghanistan, he left us with an enigma which is still unsolved and which has for over a century remained a subject of intense discussion for specialists. The intrepid scholars who searched around the remote and often inaccessible rocky mountains of the area found no trace of the rock relief, but A. D. H. Bivar, while searching for the relief in 1964, was the first to notice some important and yet previously little known Islamic shrines near the village of Sar-i Pul. The two most interesting monuments were the shrines (ziyārat) of Imām-i Khurd and Imām-i Kalān. The first, a small squaredomed chamber, with several inscriptions, one commemorating the martyrdom ofYahya b. Zayā (d. 125/742–3), was described in detail by Professor Bivar who suggested a mid eleventh century date for the building, and it is not discussed again here. The other shrine was briefly mentioned, and two photographs showing details of the cut stucco work of the building were given.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 306 - 314
- Copyright
- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1989
References
1 Joseph Pierre, Ferrier, Caravan journeys and wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan and Baloochislan, 2nd ed., London, 1857, 229Google Scholar.
2 Jonathan L., Lee, ‘Ferrier's journey from Sar-i Pul to Daulatyār’, East and West, XXXII, 1982, 99–113Google Scholar.
3 Bivar, A. D. H., ‘Seljūqid ziyārats of Sar-i Pul (Afghanistan)’, BSOAS, XXIX, 1, 1966, 57–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 The historical inscription of Imām-i Khurd has also been noticed by Afghan, scholars and a reading of it was first published in Nāma-yi Žūndun, no. 15, Saratān, 1341 (1962)Google Scholar, and was reexamined by Habibi, A. H., Tārīkh-i Afghānistān ba'd az Islām, Kabul, I, 1345 (1966), 187Google Scholar.
5 Bivar, op. cit., plates X and XI.
6 Imām-i Khurd measures about 4–80 m. square on the outside, and has a hemispherical dome, with the walls decorated with a small engaged column at each corner. The dome and the columns are comparable to those in the tomb of Ismā‘īl the Samanid, but no ornamentation can be seen on the exterior of the tomb of Imām-i Khurd.
7 Janine, Sourdel-Thomine, ‘Deux minarets seljoukides en Afghanistan’, Syria, XXX. 1953. 122–30Google Scholar.
8 Pope, A. U., A survey of Persian art, Tokyo-London, 1964–1965, VIII, 265–9Google Scholar.
9 Melikian-Chirvani, A. S., ‘Baba Hatem, un chef d'oeuvre inconnu d'époque ghaznévide en Afghanistan’, 5th International Congress of Iranian An and Archaeology, 1968, Tehran, 1972, n, 110–12, figs. 2 and 3Google Scholar.
10 Pougachenkova, G. A., ‘Découvertes et études des monuments architecturaux de Mawara'al- Nahr et de Khurasan (1957–67)’, 5th International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology, 1968, Tehran, 1972, n, 374–5Google Scholar.
11 For studies of this type of square-domed chamber, apart from the publications mentioned below see: Pribitkova, A. M., Stroitel'naya kultura Srednei Azii, ix-xn veka, Moscow, 1973, 50–5, 59–74, 119–86;Google ScholarPribitkova, A. M., ‘Arkhitekturnie shkoly Srednei Azii’, Arkhitekturnoe Nasledstro, XXX, 1982, 103–19;Google ScholarPougachenkova, G. A., ‘Khurasanskie Mavzolei, Khudozhestvennaya Kultura Srednei Azii IX-XIII veka. Tashkent, 1983, 14–29;Google ScholarVoronina, V. L., ‘Mavzolei Samanidov i evo Zarubezhnie Analogi’, Arkhitekturnoe Nasledstvo, XXXIII, 1985, 191–7Google Scholar.
12 Eric, Schroeder, ‘Standing monuments of the first period’, in A survey of Persian art, ed. A. U., Pope, Tokyo-London, 1964–1965, III, 945–9Google Scholar.
13 Kutaichik, B. A. and Balakaev, A., Pamiatniki architektury Turkmanistana, Leningrad, 1974, 145–50Google Scholar.
14 ibid., 91–7.
15 G. A. Pougachenkova, art. cit. at n. 10 above, 370 and 373–4.
16 Kurt, Erdmann. ‘A contribution to the problem of the Sasanian fire temple, in A survey of Persian art, ed. A. U., Pope, Tokyo, London and New York, XIV, 1967, 3045–8Google Scholar.
17 G. A. Pougachenkova, art. cit., 371–2, building no. 2.
18 Kutaichik, B. A. and Balakaev, A., Pamiatniki architektury Turkmanistana, op. cit., 124–6Google Scholar.
19 Oskar von, Niedermayer and Ernst, Diez, Afganistan, Leipzig, 1924, 62, pis. 182–4;Google ScholarDerek, Hill and Oleg, Grabar, Islamic architecture and its decoration, London, 1967, pis. 143–4;Google ScholarRafi, Samizay. Islamic architecture in Herat: a study towards conservation, Kabul, 1981, 16–19Google Scholar.
20 Michael J., Casimir and Bernt, Glatzer, ‘Sāh-i Mashad: a recently discovered Madrasah of the Ghurid period in Ġarǧistān (Afghanistan)’, East and West, XXI, 1971, 53–68;Google ScholarHabibi, A. H., ‘Nukāt-i nau dar tārīkh-i hunar wa dānish-i Khurāsān, Māh Malik, shāhdukht-i Ghūr wa banā-yi madrasa-yi Shāh-i Mashhad, Gharjistān, takmīl wa taṣhīh-i katībā-hā'ī ki nakhwānda-and’, Hunar wa Mardum, CLXXII, Isfand 2535, 1977, 26–36Google Scholar.
21 Kutaichik, B. A. and Balakaev, A., Pamiatniki architektury Turkmanistana, op. cit., 173–91Google Scholar.
22 Page, J. A., An historical memoir on the Qutb: Delhi, Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India, XXII, Calcutta, 1926, 13–14, pis. 1, 6, 11–12;Google ScholarFriedrich, Wetzel, Islamische Grobbauten in Indien, Ausgabe, 1918, repr. Osnabruck, 1970, 106;Google ScholarTatsuro, Yamamoto et al. , Delhi, architectural remains of the Delhi sultanate period, Tokyo, I, 1967, 71, pl. 75 (T. 2); II, 1968, 116–19Google Scholar.
23 F. Wetzel, op. cit., 27–32; T. Yamamoto, op. cit., I, 1967, 72 (T. 7); II, 1968, 34–56.
24 Shokoohy, M. and Shokoohy, N. H., Ḥiṣār-i Fīrūza: Sultanate and Early Mughal architecture in the District of Hisar, India, London, 1988, 53–5Google Scholar.
25 ibid., 103–6.