Surakhany

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Surakhany (Azerbaijani: Suraxanı) is a township of Baku, Azerbaijan.

The township is best known for the Fire Temple of Baku, a castle-like Hindu[1] temple and monastery complex known locally as the Ateşgah or Ateshgyakh. The complex was built on a pocket of natural gas that once produced a natural eternal flame.

The name of the township is said to derive from "the Persian words 'Surakh' (hole) and 'khani' (source or fountain). According to historical sources, before the construction of the Indian Temple Of Fire (Atashgah) in Surakhani at the end of the 17th [century], the local people also worshipped at this site because of the 'seven holes with burning flame'. And thus the name 'Surakhani' - holes with burning fountains."[2]

The township itself is poor and surrounded by the decaying petrochemical industry facilities that are endemic to the Abşeron Peninsula and the lasting legacy of the Soviet era.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Modi, Jivanji Jamshedji (1926), “Baku”, My Travels Outside Bombay: Iran, Azerbaijan, Baku, Bombay: Royal Asiatic Society  (extract includes present-day photographs.)
  2. ^ Alakbarov, Farid (2003). Azerbaijan - Land of Fire. azeri.org.

[edit] See also

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