Ateshgyakh Fire-Worshippers' Temple

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The Ateshgyakh Fire-Worshippers' Temple

"The inscriptions on stones set in the walls, made in Sanskrit and

Hindi, testify to the Indian origin of the fire-worshippers' temple

at Surakhany."

 

http://www.bakupages.com/pages/monuments/worshippers_en.php

The Ateshgyakh Fire-Worshippers' Temple (18th century) is located

within Greater Baku in the village of Surakhany (15 km from Baku).

The historical roots of the monument go back to the hoary past, to

the days when Azerbaijan statehood was only taking shape and

establishing itself and Zoroastrianism, the central part in whose

ritual is played by fire, was the dominant religion in the country.

The flaming torches of gas escaping from under the ground and burning

in many places all over the Apsheron Peninsula were believed to have

miraculous divine power.

People worshipped fire, seeking its protection against adversity and

oppression and begging it for happiness and well being. These ancient

fires are believed to have given Azerbaijan its name, which is

thought by some researchers to mean "a land of fires".

 

Centuries passed. Islam was adopted as the country's official

religion. Medieval Azerbaijan carried on trade and exchanged cultural

values with many countries. One of them was India. Indian trades-

people brought to their home- land, where fire today is still

regarded sacred, the news about the ever-burning Apsheron fires. From

then on the merchant caravans were followed by pilgrims flocking to

the "sacred flames". Merchants, busy about their trade, did not stay

long here.

They paid money to the local ruler for the right to build cells,

prayer rooms, stables, and a guestroom (balakhane) at the temple.

Thus it happened that these structures were built one after another

for a century and a half, from the late 17th to the mid-19th century.

That is why the Ateshgyakh Temple looks not unlike a regular town

caravanserai - a kind of inn with a large central court, where

caravans stopped for the night.

As distinct from caravanserais, 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.

The inscriptions on stones set in the walls, made in Sanskrit and

Hindi, testify to the Indian origin of the fire-worshippers' temple

at Surakhany. In the course of time, the "eternal fires" of Apsheron

ceased to be viewed as divine. The heat they give has been placed at

the service of the people, and today gas serves people economic and

every day needs. And only the place where the fires used to burn

still remains in the memory of the people under the name of

Ateshgyakh (home of fire). Today the temple is a unique monument of

world culture