Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/126

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

Zoroastrian temple he had seen in Persia. I think we may readily share his opinion, even if the architecture of the Persian chdpdr-khdnah^ or caravansarai, may possibly have exercised some slight influence on the style of the enclosure, and even though one might be inclined to see remote affinities with the ruined shrine near Isfahan and that near Abarkuh.^

From all this I believe that, even against our will, we must reach the conclusion that, whatever the site may possibly have been originally, the Baku fire-temple, as we now have it, is a Hindu product, and that it is, more particularly, of Northern Indian origin, where fire-worship was cultivated from the ancient time of the Vedas. In age the sanctuary can hardly be more than two centuries old, if we may judge from the half dozen inscriptions that are dated, as they belong mostly to the eighteenth century.^ We may account for its presence at Baku more easily from the fact that * formerly many merchants lived here, especially Indians,' as is stated by Hanway (or rather by Cooke's diary) in 1747 ; and Eichwald (1825-1826) states that in his time the special patron of the temple was a rich Hindu, named ' Otumdshen ' (perhaps Skt. Atmajanma), who farmed the Caspian fisheries and lived mostly at Astrakhan. ^ I have already (p. 31) mentioned the fact that caravans from India were common in the region from early times.

Thus, to our regret, vanishes the legend of the ' Zoroastrian ' Atashgah at Baku, at least in the form in which we have it. The sacred flame that was its source has likewise vanished, for in 1879 the temple passed over into Russian hands by a con- cession of the government, when the last priest sold out his interests to the Baku Oil Company near the old Kokorev re- finery, and the fire was extinguished forever.* It is true that

1 Jackson, Persia, pp. 254, 342. 3 ed. 1. 260 ; Eichwald, Beise, 1. 183, For a memorandum of the style of the 217.

Indian temple at Kangra, see above, * See Cust in the article by Stewart,

p. 54, n. 1. JBAS. 1879, p. 315, and compare

2 So also Abbott, JAGS. 20. 303. Henry,, Baku, p. 25. 8 Hanway, Caspian Sea, 1. 377 =

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