Where's the Fire?: Suraxani
There is so much oil and gas in the ground around Baku that it comes out of the earth in several places of its own accord. One of these sites is at Suraxani, which has for close to 3,000 years been a holy place for various fire-worshipping people. Natural gas coming out of the ground burned in a constant flame. This was apparently an important site for Zoroastrians: Zarathrustra, the founder of Zoroastrianism, apparently lived a long time in this area and his followers worshipped the fire here.
Indians who traded here in the Middle Ages heard about this place and made it their own, and in the 18th century built a temple around it that is still there today. However, the gas didn’t last forever. It ran out more than a century ago, apparently, but then the temple was fitted with pipes to be connected to the city gas main, and the flames were turned on when visitors came and turned off when they left. Here it is in all its glory (not my photo):
When I went yesterday, however, I was surprised to find that there was no fire. Apparently – and I am not making this up – the gas bill was not paid. So four days ago it was cut off, and it won’t be restored until some time this week. So here is the forlorn non-flaming fire temple:
My guide told me that the people who visited before me were actual fire worshippers who had come all the way from Iran to pray at the temple, and were understandably upset to find that their sacred fire wasn’t there.
These few remaining fire worshippers (both the guide and my guidebooks are frustratingly vague on who it is exactly who worships fire these days) must be hardcore true believers. First your holy fire goes out, then is replaced by the so-much-less-mystical Baku Gas Authority-fed fire, and then some corrupt museum administrator uses the money for the gas bill to line his own pockets* so that even the fake holy fire goes out.
Outside the temple walls:
There is a large community of fire worshippers in India, they are originally Persian in origin. These folks are called Parsis. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsi
Your posts are fun to read, must have been a heck of a trip :)
Posted by: owais | March 05, 2008 at 03:35 AM