Foundation of ´Amul*.

There were two brothers from the country of Daylam, one named Ashtád (f. 30a), the other Yazdán, who, because they had slain one of the nobles of Daylam with an arrow (<Arabic>), were obliged, with their families, to flee from their country. They settled near Amul, where the one founded the village of Yazdánábád and the other the hamlet of Ashtád, both of which exist to this day. Ashtád had a very beautiful daughter. The great king of that time was named Fírúz, and had his capital at Balkh. One night he dreamed of this maiden, and on awaking cried*:

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In vain did the king strive to expel her image from his mind:

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Love so wasted his frame that:

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He then reflected within himself that the concealment of this secret was injuring his health (f. 30b):

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and finally submits a very rhetorical statement of his condition to the chief Múbad (f. 31a)*, who is greatly vexed and perturbed, declaring the king to be the victim of demoniacal possession, reproaching him for his unreasonable passion, and advising him to have recourse to a physician (f. 31b). The king endeavoured for a few days longer to get the better of his passion, and then, in accordance with the proverb, “Man eagerly desires that which is forbidden him,” and the verses:

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he summoned his ministers and issued orders to all the Wardens of his Marches (marzubáns) to seek for the original of that vision. For some time their efforts met with no success, and the king’s melancholy increased, until at length he entreated one of his relatives named Mihr Fírúz to undertake the quest, promising him a rich reward* if he should be successful (f. 32a). Mihr Fírúz declared that he would leave no stone unturned in his endeavour to find the king’s desire:

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He then questioned the soldiers as to what regions they had left unexplored, and they replied that they had tra­versed the East and the West, all Persia and Arabia, save only Ṭabaristán. So on that very day Mihr Fírúz set out from Balkh for Ṭabaristán, followed by a caravan of provi­sions for the journey and costly presents, until he came to Ṭúsán (<Arabic>), whence, aided by the governor, he pursued his search, grudging no expenditure, for rather more than a year, but met with no success. At length, accompanied by a few followers, he set off to explore the country lying towards the sea-coast. One day, near Ahlam (<Arabic>), his horse was drowned while he was fording a stream, and he himself with difficulty reached the further shore. Unable to return, he plunged into the forest, when at length he came upon a clear and beautiful stream, which he followed up till he reached the fountain which was its source.* There, to his amazement, he saw a girl whose appearance exactly corresponded with her whom the king had seen in his vision. He said to himself, “If she be a jinniyya, I will kill her (f. 32b), but if she be a human being, it is she whom I seek.” So he drew his sword and advanced towards the fountain. The girl looked up at him and said, “O youth, who art thou, and what is thy name, and what dost thou here? For I wonder to see such an one as thyself in this place.” Mihr Fírúz replied, “I am a human being. Tell me, now, of thy condition and family.” “I too,” replied the girl, “am of the human race; my home is in this place; and I have two fathers, to wit my father and his brother, and likewise a mother and many brothers.” The girl, on Mihr, Fírúz’s request, consented to take him to her home, and, on reaching it, informed her mother of his arrival. Her mother received him with the utmost respect and courtesy, and sent her youngest son to summon her hus­band and his brothers, who came with all speed, and, after the fashion of Daylam, entertained him for three days without questioning him as to his business or condition. When, after this period, they enquired as to who he was and what had brought him to the country, he informed them that he was one of the nobles of the King, and had come thither for solitude and the chase, and described his separation from his companions, the loss of his horse, and his meeting with the girl. “Know,” he concluded, “that I am not one of whom you need be ashamed, or who has need of your wealth or possessions. If you see fit, then give me this girl in marriage.” “Thine appearance,” said the father and mother,” sufficiently indicates thy nobility*, and thy courtesy thy virtue (f. 33a); how then should we not desire thee as a son-in-law?” Then they related to him their history, and how they had been compelled to flee from their country, and added that they could promise nothing till they had consulted their elder brother. To him, accordingly, they went in company, and he received them with every honour, saying:

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On hearing the propose of Mihr-Fírúz he readily agreed to it, and Mihr Fírúz at once sent off a messenger for the presents and supplies which he had left at Ṭúsán, informing the governor that he had fulfilled his quest, and bidding him notify the fact to the King. While one of the girl’s brothers took this message, another sought out Mihr Fírúz’s missing retainers. The King rejoiced greatly at the news, despatched valuable gifts, and ordered general illuminations and festivities (f. 33b). When the actual greatness of Mihr-Fírúz became apparent to Ashtád and Yazdán, they were overwhelmed with confusion, especially when he related to them the dream, and declared to them that it was not to himself, but to his master the king, that the girl was to be given in marriage. Then they sent off the girl in all haste to the Court, and when the king saw her, he at once recognized in her the original of his vision, and his love for her increased day by day. One day he asked her*, “Why is it that the women of your country have such beautiful eyes, such fragrant mouths, and such soft skins?” She replied in her own language [of Ṭabaristán]*:

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The King applauded her answer and bade her crave a boon. She asked that a city might be built at Páy-i-Dasht, her native place, situated above the river Hirhiz (<Arabic>), and called after her name. Engineers and surveyors were at once sent thither to prosecute the work, and that same year a son was born to her named Khusraw. She desired the king to send her thither for change of air, because the climate of Balkh did not agree with her. They told her that the engineers had been unable to bring the water of the river Hirhiz to the spot which she had indicated as the site of the city, so she ordered that its name should still remain Páy-i-Dasht*; and there the signs of these buildings are apparent to this day (f. 34a). They called the place which the girl had chosen Sharistána-marz. The projected city was then transferred to the present site, called Ástána-saráy, but at first named Máta (<Arabic>), now the site of the Great Mosque [of ´Amul], wherein was formerly a fountain which drew its water from the Mountain of Wandá-ummíd, and which was still running in the time of al-Yazdádí (see p. 3 supra). And when they had brought the water thither, they built the city-wall of baked bricks, so thick that three horseman could ride abreast along the top of it, and dug round about it a moat 33 cubits (<Arabic>) in depth, and a bow­shot across; and in the wall they made four Gates, called respectively “of Jurján”, “of Gílán”, “of the Mountain”, and “of the Sea”. The area of the city was 400 jaríbs of land. The Palace of the king’s wife, ´Amula, stood where the “Street of the Washermen” (<Arabic>) now is, and behind the “Cloth-sellers’ Market”; and her Tomb (<Arabic>) was in the same place. In the reign of Ardashír excavations were made here to a depth of two spears’ lengths, and the sepulchre and surrounding buildings were disclosed. When the King’s son Khusraw succeeded to the throne, he greatly enlarged ´Amul, and made it his capital and residence, sur­rounding the original wall with another of clay. The space between the two walls they called <Arabic>, and what lay beyond the outer wall <Arabic>, “which terms,” says the author, “occur frequently in old title-deeds”. The meaning of the name ´Amul in their tongue is <Arabic>, both of these words meaning (f. 34b) “death”, the sense here being “May death never touch thee!” (<Arabic>). It is related that when the Ispahbad Mázyár b. Qárin destroyed the walls of ´Amul*, they found on the top of the Gate of Gurgán a green casket (<Arabic>; Dhahír, p. 28, <Arabic>, explained by Vüllers as a cervical vertebra) sealed with tin (<Arabic>). The super­intendent ordered it to be broken open, whereupon a small copper tablet bearing an inscription in the kustaj character* fell out. One who had skill in this character was summoned to read it, which, having mastered its contents, he could scarcerly be induced to do. On it was written, “The good construct and the wicked destroy; whosoever destroys this shall not survive the year.” And it was even so; for ere the end of the year Mázyár was taken captive and executed at Surra-man-ra`a (A. H. 224 = A. D. 839). The Great Mosque of ´Amul was built in the time of Hárúnu`r-Rashíd, in A. H. 177 (= A. D. 793—4), by Ibráhím b. 'Uthmán [b.] Nahík*. He could not at first buy the whole site required, until the grandfather of Abu`l-Hasan b. Hárún al-Faqíh, who was named Anbárak, was converted to Islám and changed his name to Mubárak, whereupon he sold his house for this pùrpose, and others who possessed land in this quarter fol­lowed his example. When the Mosque was finished, they desired to ascertain the direction of the qibla, but it rained unceasingly for forty nights and days, and they were obliged to have recourse to conjecture. The cost of the land occupied by the Mosque was 8032 dínárs, its length was 93 yards (<Arabic>), its dome or roof (<Arabic>), ten yards in length, contained 300,640 tiles (<Arabic>), and the cost of construction was 47,340 dínárs. In the time of Fírúz-Sháh, the original founder of the city, a ditch or moat was made from the frontier of Gurgán and Múqán, on the seashore, and traces of this moat, called “Fírúz-kanda” (“the Moat of Fírúz”) are still visible in many places in Ṭabaristán, a fact on which al-Yazdádí has greatly insisted in his book. At the time of the foundation of ´Amul (f. 35a), a certain man possessed one jaríb of land, which he refused to sell, lest his sons should forfeit the position of land-owners and sink to that of serfs. He appealed to the King, who admitted that he was right, and ordered him to receive an abundant payment for his little property.

Turícha (<Arabic>). The name of the place was originally Túrán-char (<Arabic>). In the time of Farrukhán the Great a treaty was concluded with the Turks whereby it was agreed that, in consideration of the payment of a tribute, they should abstain from invading Ṭabaristán. Two years later, having fortified the passes, the Persians refused to pay the tribute, and King Farrukhán retired to Fírúz-ábád, near Lafúr, and there entrenched himself. The Turks invaded Ṭabaristán, but Farrukhán fell upon them suddenly at night and slew them all. Túrán-char marks the site of this massacre.

Mámṭír (<Arabic>). This place was visited by the Imám Hasan b. 'Alí in the Caliphate of 'Umar, he being accom­panied by an army of Arabs under Málik Ashtar an-Nakha'í*, and because of the excellence of the site and its natural advantages, especially its good water and sweet-voiced birds, he said: <Arabic>, and the last words of this sen­tence, Má wa tír, became corrupted into Mamṭír*. When Muḥammad b. Khálid was governor of the province (f. 35b) he constructed there a market and other buildings, to which, in A. H. 160 (= A. D. 776—7) Mázyár b. Qárin added a Mosque.