Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/122

 64 THE OIL-FIELDS AND THE FIRE-TEMPLE OF BAKU

Not only this evidence, but also the theory of the Indian origin of the shrine at Baku, was anticipated over a decade ago by Colonel Stewart in an interesting article entitled an * Ac- count of the Hindu Fire Temple at Baku,' which was published, with a reproduction of three of the tablets, in 1897. Stewart had visited the place in 1866 and again in 1881, and he adds convincing evidence to show that the sanctuary is Northern Indian in source. He speaks of * Hindu visitors who came here after visiting the Temple of Jawala Mukhi in the Kangra District of the Punjab. The Kangra Temple of the Flame- faced Goddess is well known in India. '^ He further states (pp. 311-312) that, when he saw it ' in 1866, one Hindu priest alone watched the fire, although previously three Hindu priests had always watched.' One of these had been murdered by the Muhammadans for his pittance of money ; the other had fled. The third, who remained, spoke Panjabi, the language of at least two of the inscriptions, and had piously served at Sura- khany for many years as priest of ' this greater Jawala Ji,' as he called the divinity of flame, a name that appears several times in the inscriptions mentioned above, and that of course is con- nected with the Indian temple at Kangra. Colonel Stewart adds that when he returned to Baku in 1881 and again visited the temple, he found the fire extinguished and no priest in attendance. He furthermore states (p. 314) that near the Afghan border he met two Hindu Fakirs who announced them- selves as 'on a pilgrimage to this Baku Jawala Ji' ; and that in 1882, when he was returning to England, some of the Hindu traders begged to be allowed to accompany him as far as Baku

the array of a mountain, | Who can describes two temples at Kata Kangra,

reach up to its crest ? | " May the a larger and a smaller one, after Cun-

New Year of the abode be blessed" ningham, Archaeological Reports,^.

— he said I The house has become 178 ff., but neither the description nor

radiant (? lit. light-spear) from it.' the woodcut (from a photograph, p.

1 See Stewart, JRAS. 1897, p. 311, 316) are sufficiently comprehensive to

and cf. Cust, ihid. pp. 315-318. Fer- give a fair idea whether there be a

gusson, History of Indian and Eastern resemblance in style between these

Architecture, p. 315-316, London, 1876, two and the Baku temple.

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