𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗝𝗔𝗠, 𝗔𝗙𝗚𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡, Info Blog.

 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗝𝗔𝗠, 𝗔𝗙𝗚𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡 Info Blog In English. History Of Jaam Minar Of Afghanistan.

History Of Jam Minaret In Afghanistan. Afghan history Blog

Built at 1,900 m above sea level and far from any modern town, this minaret rises 65 meters into the air within a rugged and tight valley near the confluence of the Hari and Jam rivers in central Afghanistan. Built in 1194, it is the second tallest minaret in the world after the Qutb Minar in Delhi – which is seven meters taller and was built a mere two years before. 

The landscape looks barren, but it was once the thriving summer capital of the semi-nomadic Ghurid dynasty, Firuzkuh, reputedly one of the greatest cities of its age, competing with Herat as a center of art, literature, and theology. It was built using the ruins of Ghazna, 600 Km away, the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty whom the Ghurids conquered in 1151. The troops killed 60,000 inhabitants, then forced the rest to transport what remained to Firuzkuh, where their blood was combined with mud in order to form additional bricks. 

The Ghurid dynasty was established sometimes before 879 CE, and at its peak ruled over all the territories from eastern Iran across northern India to the Bay of Bengal. The city of Firuzkuh was a late addition, founded a few years before the massacre at Ghazna, but it became so rich that at one point the treasury contained 400 camel loads of gold in 800 chests.

The Ghurids fell to the  Khwarazmians in 1215, another rapidly expanding and short-lived dynasty which at its own peak included all the territories between the Gulf of Oman, the Zagros Mountains in eastern Iran, the Syr Darya river in present-day Kazakhstan, and the Hindu Kush. This dynasty fell to the Mongols of Ghenghis Khan, who razed Firuzkuh to the ground in 1223.

Nobody knows for sure why the minaret was spared, but scholars think it was either due of its value as a watchtower, or to its staggering height, which must have seemed astonishing at the time. More astonishing still is the resilience of the minaret, which, due to its proximity to the Hari Rud fault, must have survived multiple earthquakes as well as the  flash floods that eventually buried the ruins of Firuzkuh in rubble and mud.

Within this rubble archaeologists have found a bazaar area, a hilltop fortress overlooking Jam, and, near the minaret, a few large grave stones with Hebrew inscriptions. Scholars link them to other Jewish communities in early Medieval Afghanistan, who seem to have coexisted somewhat peacefully with their Muslim rulers. 

Something else found by the archaeologists is food scraps. These show that people ate meat regularly – sheep and goats but also horses, deer, hares, cattle, chickens, and gazelles – but didn’t possess any pigs. They also ate cereals like barley and wheat, which is surprising considering the ruggedness of the region, as well as chickpeas, lentils, apples, pears, figs, and pistachios. Most people must have been killed by the Mongol forces, because geological and archaeological evidence suggests their houses were abandoned much before the flash floods buried them. 

Simonetta Gatto

Maiwand Surya.

Photo courtesy of  Kaushik Patowary @amusingplanet.com