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Azerbaijan Dakhmas
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| East Caucasus region map with locations of some old Atashgahs & historic sites. Image credit: Base map - Encarta. Modifications - K. E. Eduljee |
Sohub-Budug Dakhma
In addition to the Atashgahs at Surakhani and Khinalig, Azerbaijan's Zoroastrian sites include at least two known dakhmas, towers of silence, where orthodox Zoroastrians laid the bodies of the deceased. We profile the dakhmas below.
Nestled in the Greater Caucasus Mountains of Azerbaijan and some twenty kilometres east of the village of Khinalig as the bird flies, the villages of Sohub and Budug* sit separated by a ridge that is likely the location of a dakhma that was once shared by them. Our sources (including the captions of the photographers whose images we profile below), assign the dakhma to either Sohrub or Budug. They are, however, otherwise bereft of any further explanation. [*Sohub is also spelt Sehub, Syukhub, Sukhyub and Syuhyub; Budug is also spelt Buduh, Buduq and Budukh.]
If we are correct in suggestion that the dakhma lies between the two village, then it is some three (or more) kilometers from each village and no small climb.
We read that locally, the structure is called the Sukut ( meaning 'Silence') Tower. Farroukh Jorat in his paper 'Zoroastrianism in Northern Shirvan' states, "The height of this dakhma is 8.0 m. The flat top floor of the two cylinders has a frame in the form of a parapet with a height of 1 m. Jorat states that the dakhma is called "Dev Gala" (meaning Devil Tower) and suggests that this may be because of the Zoroastrian association of devs with dead flesh. We are grateful to Farroukh Jorat for bringing this tower to our attention. [Source: Jorat, Farroukh - 'Zoroastrianism in Northern Shirvan']
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| Sohub-Budug Dakhma. Image credit: Lyokin at Panoramio. |
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| Perhaps the Sohub-Budug Dakhma (red circle) as seen from Sohub village - no short walk or easy climb. Image credit: Ibrahimov at Flickr. |
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| Perhaps Sohub village as seen from the other side of the dakhma. Image credit: Ibrahimov at Flickr. |
Nakhchivan/Nakhichevan Dakhma
Nakhchivan/Nakhichevan is an autonomous republic in the south-west corner of Azerbaijan. It is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by an wedge of Armenian land. Nakhchivan is adjacent to the Iranian province of West Azarbaijan.
The caption to the image at Flickr states the name or either the dakhma or the locality as 'Kharaba Gilan'. When I informed Farroukh Jorat of the image and caption, he replied that 'Kharaba Gilan' means 'Destroyed Gilan'. Gilan is the name of a province of Iran on the south-west Caspian coast - not too far from
Nakhchivan. The image below is the only image of the The Nakhichevan Dakhma we have been able to find on the internet.
Farroukh Jorat who led the construction of the world's highest Atashgah, informs us that there are ruins of a Fire Temple in extreme southern Nakhchivan/Nakhichevan's Kotam/Ketam village. The Kotami spoke an Iranian language which 17th cent. CE Ottoman-Turkish writer Chelebi called "Pahlavi". As well, in nearby Ordubad village [the name's etymology and resemblance with 'urdu' bears investigation] there is a segregated market for Kotam Bazaris since the Moslem overlords did not allow the Kotami to trade in the main market because they were not Muslims.
Jorat further informs us that in Azerbaijan, corpses are not buried directly in ground, but are entombed in stoned lined and covered graves. This is done to prevent pollution of underground waters.
Wikipedia: "In the 8th century CE, Nakhchivan was one of the scenes of an uprising against the Arabs led by Persian revolutionary
Babak Khorramdin of the Iranian Khorram-Dinan ("those of the joyous religion" in Persian)." M. Whittow in The Making of Byzantium: 600-1025 at pp. 195, 203, 215 states, "[Iranian] Azerbaijan was the scene of frequent anti-Califhate and anti-Arab revolts during the 8th and 9th centuries (CE), and Byzantine sources talk of Persian warriors seeking refuge in the 830s from the caliph's armies by taking service under the Byzantine emperor Theophilos. ...Azerbaijan had a Persian population and was a traditional centre of the Zoroastrian religion. ...The Khurramites were a ...Persian sect, influenced by Shiite doctrines, but with their roots in a pre-Islamic Persian [Zoroastrian-based] religious movement.
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