The only buildings of which Sabzavar can make any real
boast are a couple of large madrasahs, or Moslem academies —
one of them certainly old — and two good-sized mosques. The
chief mosque is said to go back to the time of the Sarbadari
dynasty of Sabzavar, in the fourteenth century, although its
date is not absolutely fixed. It contains, however, two in-
scribed tablets of a later date, one from the year 1571 A.D.,
with an order of Shah Tahmasp I, granting the people immunity
from certain taxes ; and the other, dated 1723, recording a
firman of Shah Tahmasp II, relieving the city from the obliga-
tion of bestowing gifts upon visiting governors, for the reason
that it had been greatly depleted by Turkoman raids and by
the Afghan inroads two years before.[1]
While we were wandering about the city, I had in mind an old tradition, recorded by Ahmad Razi in the sixteenth century A.D., and locating at Sabzavar the scene of the combat, three thousand years ago, between Rustam and the Div-i Safid, or 'White Demon,' which resulted in a victory for the Persian hero, who slew the monster and thus accomplished the last of his seven labors. According to Ahmad, the scene of the en- gagement was wont to be pointed out in the middle of the city, and was called the Maidān-i Dīv-i Safīd 'Campus of the White Demon.'[2] There are several small maidans, or squares, within
- ↑ See Yate, p. 398. It may be added that Fraser, p. 392, mentions the fact that the oldest madrasah bears an Arabic inscription in colored tiles over the gate, naming Fakr ad-Din as the builder, but giving no date; he furthermore mentions part of an old minar like that of Khosroughird.' Khanikoff, p. 88, also alludes to this dilapidated column, on which he saw traces of Kufic characters; but if it is still in existence, we missed seeing it.
- ↑ So Amin Ahmad-i Razi in the Haft Ikl{{subst:i-}}m, or 'Seven Climes,' written in 1593-1594, as quoted by Barbier de Meynard, Dict. géog. p. 299, n. 1.
Houtum-Schindler (1876-1877), p. 224, about 2000 families. Bassett (1878), p. 213, 'cannot be more than 10,000 inhabitants,' though estimated higher. Valuable, though given a generation ago, are the statistics of the accurate Houtum-Schindler, p. 224, who recorded Sabzavar as having 11 town-quarters, 4 gates, 9 large baths, 2 large mosques and 30 smaller ones, 3 large watercourses and 3 small, 2 madrasahs, or large schools, 7 caravansarais, 460 shops (besides 90 which were empty), and 2000 families. Yate (1897), pp. 396, 398, gives 12 caravansarais and 750 shops.
