The world of hidden waters(Ferdows and Gonabad, South Khorasan and Razavi provinces)

The world of hidden waters(Ferdows and Gonabad, Khorasan Provinces South and Razavi)

Under the pretext of visiting the two aqueducts registered in UNESCO in Khorasan, ie the aqueducts in Baghistan and Froos and the Qasbeh aqueduct in Gonabad, I tried to find out more by using well-known sources in this regard and to reflect this content in the blog..

A well collapsed well in Qasbeh Gonabad aqueduct

Our trip to South Khorasan Province, after leaving Birjand and Qaen, reached the land of Ferdows. Intention to visit the old town “You” We had a few spots in Ferdows and Baghistan for a night's rest. I had already researched Baghistan, and the possibility of staying at Mr. Sharifi's residence in Baghistan was coordinated with him.. We have built a residence with the utmost taste as our own home and we were surprised to see it.
Garden distance(Olya) It is 13 km from Ferdows and is located at an altitude of 1530 meters above sea level. The garden was named after him, which is full of gardens. What appears at the beginning of the entrance to Baghistan is a main street that is thick on both sides of willow and sycamore trees.. There are two streams of water on either side of the street, with sycamores and willows at their roots. Later, we found out that these streams transmit the water of Baladeh aqueduct, which has been irrigating Baghistan for centuries and is going to irrigate Ferdows..
Ironically, Mr. Sharifi, the owner of the residence, also knew Mirab Qanat Baladeh, which became an opportunity to learn more about this important and old aqueduct of the country..

Sharifi Residence- Upper Garden
Upper Baghistan of Ferdows functions
Pomegranate is one of the key products of Ferdows city

Seeing this abundant water flowing in this arid and desert region has all been the preoccupation of the forefathers in the proper use of groundwater..
Due to the arid and desert climate of most parts of central Iran and the lack of running water such as rivers and springs, the basic use of groundwater has been common in Iran for centuries, making life possible in areas where it was not possible for decades. Recently, diesel pumps came and destroyed the tables.

After Baladeh aqueduct, we went to Gonabad to visit Qasbeh aqueduct and saw parts of the aqueduct that they had prepared to visit.. The fame of the Qasbeh aqueduct to the depth of the mother well is that it is more than 300 meters deep, and it is impossible to imagine how Muqni worked in that depth and dug the aqueduct furnace..

A beautiful mountain road between Ferdows and Gonabad
Due to the global registration of Qasbeh and Gonabad aqueducts, traffic signs can be seen everywhere..
Cultural Heritage Sign in Explaining Gonabad Qasbeh Aqueduct
Entrance to Qasbeh aqueduct furnace
Part of the butcher's aqueduct in Gonabad. Its high altitude is the result of years of purification and clearing of aqueducts.
Strange atmosphere near Gonabad aqueduct

  Registration of Iranian aqueducts in the UNESCO World Heritage List:

Iranian aqueducts in 2016 as the twentieth work of Iran in World heritage was registered.
The names of the registered aqueducts "Qasbeh Gonabad, Baladeh Ferdows, Zarch Hassan Abad, Mirza Nasrollah Mehriz Water Mill, Jopar Kerman, Akbarabad and Qasem Abad Barvat Bam, Moon in Ardestan, Vazvan and Mazdabad of Isfahan and Ebrahimabad of Arak "in six provinces Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, Yazd, Kerman, Markazi and Isfahan are included.(National Commission UNESCO- Iran)

Seven Heads in 1905 / 1284 Shamsi, while crossing the shepherds in the area of ​​Khor and Bibanak, is surprised by this precise and difficult work.:

The water of the village aqueduct, which is a condition of life and the artery of the village, comes from two wells. Aqueducts branch from each well, and these aqueducts begin in the old shepherds. Two years ago, after six months of work, they were gone.. Someone explained to me how to build an aqueduct, which was just like Karim Khan's aqueducts. He also said that the test wells will be dug first and the water will be diverted to some extent, which they like.. So that the wells are dug one after the other, and then the bottom of these wells are connected to each other by an underground road.. The arch of this communication channel is made of clay in some places to prevent spillage. The aqueduct is about one meter high and the same size, and of course it takes a lot of effort and precision to build.. A foreigner is amazed to see such a good and hard work from the lazy and indifferent people of Iran.
But the need is separate from these issues, and if people want to live, they have to deal with the problems that come with nature.. In the struggle for existence, their consciousness and insight also evolve in exactly the direction they need to. And whether there is water in the area where the well should be dug, or not. Once they are fully convinced that all the conditions are in place, they start building a village like shepherds.. Unlike other villages, shepherds do not need rain. Whether it rains or not, the aqueduct does not take water. Because the water of the aqueduct is related to the flow of groundwater, and as a result, water is always present in the aqueduct.

(Deserts of Iran, Seven Heads, translated by Parviz Rajabi, Publications of the Association of Cultural Works and Honors, page 290)

The contractors and contractors for the construction of the aqueduct showed signs on the ground They realized the existence of water and after repeated trials and errors and drilling wells, they speculated They provided water. Karaji is an Iranian scientist and mathematician in this regard This is how the extraction of hidden waters is expressed:

Define mountains and rocks that testify to the existence of water:

After what has been said, we say: The black and damp mountains, which have bridges mixed with bridges, testify to the presence of inland waters, and according to the ancients, after the black mountains, in the green, golden, red and red mountains that have soft and floating stones, and If they are wide and flat, they are more watery than other mountains.

The harder and harder the rock is than its soil, the less water it has. There is no water in the small, solitary mountains, especially if the rocks are very hard, because there is no snow left over them.. Most of the interconnected mountain ranges, which cover a large distance from the earth's surface and include valleys that keep the snow from melting until spring and summer, are water-filled in any color, and if they are wide and Flat are more watery. Whenever the deserts and mountains are covered with scorched black stone, it is a sign of hidden water, and it is also the presence of abundant and varied stones and the presence of white and scattered stones on the surface of the earth.. Whenever there are rocky outcrops on the ground, it is a sign of hidden water.

(Extraction of Hidden Waters, Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Al-Hassan Al-Karaji, 5th Century AH, translated by Hossein Khadio Jam, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Second Edition, 1994, Page 41)

Knowing the lands within which water is:

A person who does not recognize the signs of hidden water on the surface of the earth is imperfect in his work. I talked about objects that testify to the existence of groundwater, and because the viewer pays attention to them, it is enough to know the water.. Then we discuss: All the lands connected to the roots of the described mountains have hidden water.

(Extractive Water Extraction, p. 42)

Plants that testify to the presence of water:

It belongs to this category: Portulaca and Loch, Tajrizi, Pooneh Abi, Tarshak, Celery Blue, and a plant similar to violet, which is fragrant and tasty, and the wolf, the thin razor, the upper right branch, and the thin straw between the borage, borage, artichoke, and fennel.(Snake medicine) And Persiavshan, Gozneh, Shirin Bayan, Eklil Al-Molk, and Alfaq. The plant's date on the ground also testifies to the presence of water, provided that the plant is not killed or irrigated.

(Extractive Water Extraction, page 44)

Identify how to build a karez:

Karaji wrote the following about the location of the aqueduct:

If you know what you've been through and want to build a karez, and look for a suitable location, you should know that the best place to dig a karez is in the foothills of mountains with permanent moisture and snow, or in the fields between the valleys. These mountains are located. After these two places, the deserts that are related to the long and wet mountain range are suitable and useful for the construction of Kariz..

If you find such a place to dig a canal, close your eyes and if you find a desert that is far from the mentioned mountains but has a lot of fresh plants and there are many vegetables that testify to the existence of groundwater, dig because the amount of water The concealment under these lands is always uniform, and a little snow and rain is not effective in reducing them.

(Extraction of hidden waters, page 139)

Karaji also made some remarks about the delivery of the new aqueduct That is not without grace:

However, the newly constructed aqueduct must be dug along a straight line and its bed must be uniform, and the height of the water must be the same everywhere, because the excess of water at one point in the charisma is due to its turbulence.. Whenever an aqueduct is drilled incorrectly, the water stagnates at one point and flows rapidly at another point.. Especially if the soil is loose, it will eventually fall off and the aqueduct will be destroyed.

In Karaji, he also writes about the maintenance of the aqueduct:

But dredging and enlightenment is considered the life of the aqueduct, and an expert who wants to estimate the dredging wage must enter the aqueduct before starting work and visit the site..
After Moghani finishes the dredging, the expert goes down and checks his work from the beginning to the end and makes a calendar..

(Extractive Water Extraction, p. 162)

In the past, it was sometimes customary to pay a fee based on the flowers collected from the aqueduct and weigh it, but Karaji did not consider it correct, saying that an employer who did not go down the well to closely examine the legislature's work was deceived. He is careless and careless.

Ancient Paris writes in the book from Paris to Paris:

But Iranians and Orientals spent all their genius and intelligence over a thousand years on how to get a drop of water out of the soil and from the heart of the earth.. To say that our work is underground and their work(غربی­ها) On earth, it is never an exaggeration. We have dug about 35,000 kilometers of aqueducts on the ground, and perhaps excavated more than the Paris and London subways.. Think about how much work has been done. All the names of these canals are so old and ancient that they date back to ancient and Achaemenid times.. Ganjali Khan aqueduct and its mother well are 145 meters deep. In Gonabad, there is a headless aqueduct that was said to have been ridden by a horse in the past.. Do you know what that means? This was not to dig enough soil for the rider to pass, such digging is not necessary to pass a stream of water.. The point is that the aqueduct has been eroded and purified hundreds of times over thousands of years, and every time the sediment has settled down, a new layer of soil and mud has been removed from it and rubbed, and of course the mummy and its path gradually become so wide. And it has been rumored that one day he was able to cross it with his water.

(From Paris to Paris, 1984, New Tehran)
The taboo of cultural heritage was active in explaining the mill of Qanat Baladeh.
Periodic repairs in Haji Khan mill that are still active.
The short dirt road leads to the foothills of the hot aqueduct
A signpost near Baghistan
The bottom of the hot carousel knows the aqueduct
These buildings were called manholes. It is built next to the Kariz foothills. The windows are made of aqueducts. I did not understand the purpose of building the manger.
Parts of the Baladeh aqueduct are made of cement. Mr. Sharifi was not satisfied with this construction and considered soil atmospheres more useful for the ecosystem. In order not to waste water, the aqueduct is deliberately muddy upstream so that the mud settles in the holes in the soil and leaks less.. Also, planting a tree next to the river strengthens the soil atmosphere and its roots protect the atmosphere.. According to Mr. Sharifi, muddying also reduces the evaporation of running water.

Aqueduct water distribution method:

In Iran, since ancient times, especially in the Sassanid era, the registration of real estate and water in the government offices of the Court of Taxation and the Court of Irrigation was common and well-known. “Customs”They are mine. As far as the sources are known, it seems that in the Sassanid period; At least in the text, the legal rights of farmers were taken into account. About the types of aqueducts and tables (Streams) There have been rulings on the water and style of dams and inspections of canals and the maintenance and conditions of their use.

(An Introduction to the Historical Course of the Aqueduct Phenomenon and Its Civilizing Role in Najd, Iran, Dr. Gholamreza Farahmand)

Different units have been used in the past to weigh and divide the aqueduct water in each region Is. In Baladeh aqueduct, the unit was divided according to the cup standard.

The cup is a hemispherical vessel that is usually made of copper with a hole in the middle. To measure with a cup, a relatively deep container, which is made of copper and has a capacity of about 10 to 20 liters, is filled with water and the cup is placed on it.. The water enters through the hole in the cup and falls as soon as the cup is full of water. The time required to fill the cup depends on the tightness and width of the hole, ie if the hole is wide, the cup will be full of water in less time, and vice versa, if the hole is narrow, it will take longer.. The duration of one cup varies for different canals and different areas of South Khorasan. In Birjand city, the duration of one cup for Birjand fans 12 Minutes, for the flower aqueduct( From the functions of Birjand) 24 minutes for ten masks(From the functions of Birjand) It's 12 minutes. In Qaen, the duration of a cup of Jafarabad aqueduct is 10 minutes. In Ferdows city, the duration of one cup for Baladeh aqueduct is 3 minutes. In Bashravieh city, the duration of one cup for Abu Jafari aqueduct is 6 minutes.

(Eternal Heritage Aqueduct, Basij Sazandeghi South Khorasan, Fekr Bakr Publishing House, Tehran, 2012)

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