Kalat is a district of the Dareh Gaz town where still its indigenous
architecture is preserved. This ancient district which borders the roaring
Jarfrud river and a verdant and pleasant plain is a combination of Khorassan's
wonderful and rare landscape bedecked with an azure, clean and pure sky and red
and white flowers and a beautiful panorama. Kalat is linked to Turkmenistan
Republic from north and to Mashhad from south. In the west it borders Dareh Gaz
and in the east Sarakhs. In order to reach the mountainous region whose
residents are brimful of kindness and hospitality one can use two routes. One
route is an asphalted road, 140 km in length, starting from Khajeh Rabi district
in Mashhad and continuing on a winding route (passing Khor, Zoo, Taherabad and
Qaleh Now villages) and ends up at Gonbad Kabood (the blue dome). Another very
inconvenient road, 120 m in length, with repeated bumpy pits, starts from Dareh
Gaz and after crossing the Layn district, reaches Gonbad Kabood.
This gay and delightful region whose majority of residents are shepherds or
engaged in animal husbandry or hold orchards, became famous after eight century
A.H. (14th century A.D.). Because of falling in the Hezar Masjed mountainous
range, after conquering India and Turkestan, Nadir used the region to build his
mausoleum and his enormous Indian booty in Khesht village which he called Kalat-e
Naderi (Nadir's Kalat).
Economic conditions
The agricultural farms in Kalat are irrigated by Jarfrud river which originates
from Hezar Masjed mountain. Rice, barley, wheat, popcorn, sesame, beans and peas
are major plantations in Kalat and the natives are dexterous in carpet and
tapestry weaving, and fabricating scarves, chadors (head to toe covering) and
sackcloth.
Historical monuments
A stone tablet from Nadir, a watchtower, Qasr-e Khorshid (the sun palace) and
Nadir's Dam are the historical monuments which invite the eager visitors and
seekers of antiquity to visit Kalat.
Stone tablet and watchtower
On the peak of sharp swelling of the mountain in Darband or Arghoon shah's Pass
which once allowed the arrival and departure of people to the region, one can
see the remains of a lofty watchtower, known as Arghoon shah's Watchtower. Two
big holes are dug on the barrel shaped tower which has been built of mud, stone
and bricks. These holes allowed sentinels to watch and control the traffic
underneath or defend the tower if necessary by shooting arrows. Its general
shape, brick ornaments and surrounding towers resemble Karim Khan's Arg (palace)
in Shiraz.
Meanwhile on the right side of the passage there are a number of tablets
containing verses inscribed on the mountain rock 15 m above the ground. The
tablet praises Nadir Shah and contains 24 couplets in Turkish and Persian. The
following are two Persian couplets of that engraving:
First we must praise Almighty and ancient God, the everlasting omnipotent, and
wise; Mustafa as creator, Jesus in breath and Joseph in luck; sage as Bu Ali,
generous as Hatem and wise like Loqman.
Qasr-e Khorshid
Qasr-e Khorshid is located in the center of Kabood Gonbad and north of Imam
Khomeini Street. This is a three story building which is known as Qasr-e
Khorshid (the sun palace). A view of the ruined building teaches good lessons to
the visitor about the flight of time. In the past that building was encircled by
a green and large orchard. It is said that Nadir Shah constructed the building
as his eternal home, but death intercepted and his mausoleum remained
incomplete. History says that Qasr-e Khorshid was completed during the 12th
century A.H. (18th century A.D.) by Shahrokh Mirza, Nadir's grandson, who was
the governor of Khorassan.
The facing imitates Indian architecture. Part of the structure is barrel shaped,
sitting on an irregular octagonal base. The building is 25 m high and is
equipped with forked arches, four porticos, ornamented false arches and five
stone stairs pyramid in shape circling the structure. Each of the eight lines of
the irregular octagonal base is identical with its opposite line and all these
lines are connected with each other with a single gate 2 m in length and 1.40 m
in width.
Inside the building
The inside of the building is really wonderful and interesting to watch. It is
an irregular octagonal base and each of the four corners is equipped with an
alcove. Four porticos are built at each corner of the palace and from each
porticos a door opens to the outer portico. On top of the alcoves and porticos
there are eight shallow booths or false arches similar in size decorated by
plaster work. However, very little of these decorations has survived. At the
upper elevation of the floor a circular tablet carries the Quranic verse Al-Niba
inscribed in 12th century A.H. The distance between the dome and the ground
floor is 17m and under the domed octagonal base there is a dark underground
supported by four stone piers and light is supplied through four apertures set
at the ground floor to allow air circulation and keep the underground cool and
free from moisture. Several air ventilation ducts are installed in the piers
rising from the underground floor which allows fresh air to enter the
underground and keep it refreshed.
Third floor
The third floor is barrel shaped with 63 embossed and small barrels known as
cucumber columns. Most probably the architect had too objectives in view: (a) by
installing vertical columns, he wanted to inculcate a feeling of loftiness and
strength of the building to the visitor; (b) he covers the ceiling and the dome
to distinguish the structure from mosques and seminary schools. The diameter of
the 15 cucumber like columns is about 1 meter and the distance between them is
25 cm. Meanwhile narrow and circular stairs have been built southeast of the
building which allow the visitor to climb to the roof from the third floor.
Ornaments and building materials
The materials used in the mausoleum include bricks, plaster and a red stone and
stone pipes and all the facing is decorated by images including flower pots full
of branches, leaves, flowers and bushes, tropical Indian birds such as parrots
and peacocks and different fruits including banana and pineapple.
Nadir's Dam
Adjacent to the congregation mosque north of Qershomal District a dirt road is
crossing the Tappeh Sangi towards Kalat which ends up to the Iran-Turkmenistan
border.
At the right side of this dirt road there is a wide and verdant valley with the
Jarfrud river running into it. The valley is abounding with rice and wheat
plantation and mulberry, walnut and wild olive trees which renders a rare and
exquisite view that cannot be described unless one seas it personally.
Following the dirt road and before arriving at Nadir's Dam we hit a side road
which is all bumpy with dangerous pitfalls that ends up to the village of Khesht.
The reason for calling the village Khesht is that in the past houses were built
by unbaked brick (Khesht) or baked bricks in Khorassan and this name is well
known in Kalat. Before Nadir's time due to lack of drinking water nobody lived
in Khesht village. However Nadir used this summer resort to hide his jewelry and
stationed a military garrison to guard his treasures. He also built many water
reservoirs made of bricks and plaster of lime on neighboring villages to supply
water to Kalat through canals. Of all these facilities a few water reservoirs
and four wind mills have survived.
Now in order to reach Nadir's Dam, one must march from the section of the dirt
road alongside the river to where the river bed narrows to its smallest size.
Opinion varies about the history of this dam which has been made of broken
stones and plaster lime mortar and bricks on Jarfrud river. Some natives believe
that the dam was contemporary with Nadir but other researchers attribute the dam
to Ologhbeig, son of Shahrokh Mirza, the Gourkani (Timurid). But in all
probability the dam dates backs to the 9th century A.H. or as early as the
Sassanid era.
The height of the dam is 70 m and the more we ascend from the riverbed the more
it widens so that at the upper layers its wall is 50 m in length. The eastern
wall, at the back of which water was accumulated, is all made of red bricks and
the length of the dam which is semi-circular in shape and resembles crescent
shaped dams with many cavities opened to the other side by three outlets with
different distances. The two lower outlets were designed to reduce the pressure
of water and the third outlet was used as spillway to distribute the water to
the surrounding areas.
