Architecture II: Fire, Wind, and Silence

Asia is the cradle of the great world religions—Buddhism and Brahmanism, Islam, Christianity, and Confucianism. Other, less widespread faiths have also left their mark, burning brightly for a specific historical moment before fading, or continuing to linger in the margins of custom, art, and memory.

Among these are the Iranian religions, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, as well as the Shamanism practiced by the nomadic peoples of Northern Eurasia, which survives in certain pockets to this day.

In the context of Central Asia, we are primarily concerned with three: Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam.

Buddhism and Islam were both external arrivals that entered the Iranian "mothership" and developed local expressions. Zoroastrianism, by contrast, is a native Iranian dualism—a faith that distinguishes between the universal forces of good and evil, embodied by the benevolent god Ahura Mazda and the malevolent Ahriman. I used to be quite fond of the Zoroastrians, perhaps due to the fire worship (representing light and goodness) at the heart of their ritual, or perhaps because they were the underdogs in an Iran that eventually became Islamic. However, since learning more about them, I find myself liking the religion of Zarathustra less and less. In its final incarnation as the state religion of the Sassanid Empire—the last non-Muslim Iranian dynasty—it became a kind of "Catholic Church" that was not only alien to most residents of the empire but actively persecuted other beliefs. Among its victims was Buddhism, which was pushed out of eastern Iran until its final elimination through the total conversion of the population to Islam by the tenth century.

Furthermore, Zoroastrianism contributed significantly to the monotheistic faiths, influencing Judaism and, by extension, Christianity and Islam. It is highly probable that concepts of prophecy, revelation, and the strictures of purity and impurity—including menstrual laws—stem largely from Zoroastrian theology. Other ideas that migrated to the Abrahamic religions include the end of days, universal redemption, and the figure of the Messiah. I am fairly certain Ahriman sits somewhere laughing at the sheer number of lives sacrificed on the altar of ideas generated by his eternal chess match with Ahura Mazda.

But our focus here is architecture, not theological grievances. To that end:

The Zoroastrians contributed two unique structures to Central Asia and Iran: the Fire Temple and the Tower of Silence.

The Fire Temple, or Atashkadeh (آتشکده), is a sanctuary where worship is dedicated to a sacred flame. As noted, fire represents the world's luminous and good elements; prayers and hymns from the sacred Gathas were directed toward the altar. The structure is typically characterized by a dome and four arches facing the cardinal directions—a hallmark of Iranian architecture known as the Chahar-taq (چهارطاق).

A fire altar (inactive) at Niasar, central Iran.

"Tower of Silence" is a purely Western term for a structure called a Dakhma (دخمة). The dakhma is a circular, flat-roofed building with a central pit, used for exposing the dead to birds of prey. The purpose is to ensure the corpse does not pollute the sacred elements of water and earth.

Today, the custom persists primarily among the Parsi community in India—Zoroastrians of Iranian descent—and only in areas with a viable vulture population, as most were wiped out by poisoning in recent decades.

If you are a child aged 14 or under viewing the following images: this is what the human body looks like in its inevitable decay. Deal with it.

A Tower of Silence in Iran.

A Tower of Silence in India.

A Tower of Silence near Mumbai, India.

Exposed bodies.

Source: http://www.wonders-world.com/

The Parsi Farrokh Bulsara, as far as I know, was not placed in a dakhma.

From roughly the first century CE until the consolidation of Islam in eastern Iran in the eighth century, Buddhism maintained a strong presence in the region, particularly in Bactria (modern Tajikistan and Afghanistan) and the Tarim Basin of present-day Xinjiang. It flourished under the Kushan Empire, an Iranian nomadic people whose kings were great patrons of the faith. Due to the region's characteristic syncretism, Buddhism was influenced by local Iranian and even Greek elements. Contact with the Greeks—descendants of the conquerors who accompanied Alexander the Great—gave rise to Greco-Bactrian art, perhaps one of the most beautiful genres of religious art in history.

With the arrival of Islam, a process of conversion began, and the financial support necessary to maintain monastic communities and institutions dried up. Consequently, Buddhism vanished from the area, first from Bactria and later from the Tarim. Iranian Buddhism left its mark primarily as the conduit through which Buddhist teachings reached China; many of the first translators and missionaries active in China were of Iranian origin—Sogdians, Parthians, and Bactrians.

Today, the only remains are crumbling manuscripts in Indian or Iranian languages occasionally discovered in the Tarim and Afghanistan, along with numerous Buddhist sites preserved in varying degrees across Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—perhaps even as far west as the modern Turkmenistan-Iran border. It should be noted that destruction and a lack of sufficient material findings make it difficult to draw a precise picture of Iranian Buddhism; one hopes that future research will provide a clearer view.

The two main structures that remain, though usually in a state of ruin, are the Stupa and the Vihara.

The Stupa is a rounded structure used to house sacred relics, usually associated with the Buddha, his disciples, or other important figures, as well as Sutras (canonical texts). Rituals such as circumambulation, chanting, and meditation take place around it. The stupa originated in India as a perfectly round form; in Iranian architecture, it sometimes acquired a square base or a stepped platform. Later, it evolved into the East Asian pagoda.

The Takht-e Rostam stupa in Afghanistan survived largely because it is carved into solid rock. Source: www.wadsam.com

A stupa base, Mes Aynak, Afghanistan.

The Vihara is a monastery, the hub of the Buddhist community and scholarship. Here, sutras were copied, memorized, and translated, and monks debated and practiced meditation. Remains of viharas are scattered across Central Asia in various states of preservation.

A Buddhist monastery (partially restored), Fayaz Tepe, Uzbekistan. Source: www.wadsam.com

Mes Aynak monastery, Afghanistan.

Two additional elements are Buddha statues—such as those in the Bamiyan Valley, destroyed in a barbaric act by the Taliban in 2001—and meditation caves scattered throughout the eastern Iranian world, and perhaps even in western Iran itself.

One of the two Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban; meditation caves to the left.

Reclining Buddha, Tajikistan.

Buddhist caves (?). Haidari, Fars, Iran. Source: http://www.transoxiana.org/12/compareti-iranian_buddhism.php

Iranian Buddhism disappeared, but it left its mark on the cultures of Tibet and China, and in a certain way, even on Islam.

A further section on the Islamic religious architecture of Central Asia will be published soon.