What is Alburz /Alborz?
The Alburz mountain range is situated in the North-east of modern day Iran, stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the west to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It is the highest mountain in West Asia. It is 60–130 km wide and consists mainly of sedimentary rocks over a granite core. Its highest peak is Mount Demavand which is located in the city of Amol in the province of Mazandaran.
Alburz is known in the Avesta by the name Hara with the adjective berez. In Pahlavi it is known as Harburz, a compound of Hara and Berez. The mountain is referred in cosmological, historical as well as mythological writings. In cosmology it is described as one of the ends of the world.
In the Avesta it is regarded as the first mountain to appear on the earth (Zamyad Yasht, 1). Ahura Mazda created it for Meher Yazad, so that the heavenly bodies could go around it. At its peak there is no darkness, no night, no cold or hot wind, no pestilence bringing disease, no diseases created by evil, and clouds cannot reach there. It also helps the Ameshaspands to oversee the entire material world (Meher Yasht, 50-51). The stars, moon and the sun moves around its peak (Rashne Yasht 25, Bnd. 9,6).
According to Pahlavi sources, Mount Alburz goes around the whole world. There is a lake on the top and thousands of rivulets flow into the lake from the South to get purified (Bundahishn Ch.5). Also rivers flow down from the Alburz to Khvaniras (Selections of Zadsparam, 20).
The Shahnameh too has several references to Mount Alburz and has been used as a simile to indicate something gargantuan.
Infant Faridun’s mother Faranak left him on Mt. Alburz in the care of a holy man. There he was trained and at the age of sixteen he came down along with Kaveh to defeat the evil Zohak.
Saam, the king of Zabulistan, cast away his albino son Zaal on the Elburz mountain, where Seemurgh the saintly man, who could metamorphose himself into a bird, looked after him and brought him up till he was found sixteen years later and brought back to the city. Much later, the same Zaal sends his own son Rustam to Alburz mountain to look for Kae Kobad and bring him to take over the reigns of Iran, thus starting the Kayanian dynasty. King Kae Kaus, the second king, the foot of Mt. Alburz to be excavated and two cellars dug under it to serve as stables for war steeds and sturdy mules.
It is also considered to be the dwelling place of Peshotan, brother or king Kae Vishtasp, who was given the blessing by prophet Zarathushtra to have an immortal body till the end of material world.
The Alburz mountain range is situated in the North-east of modern day Iran, stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the west to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It is the highest mountain in West Asia. It is 60–130 km wide and consists mainly of sedimentary rocks over a granite core. Its highest peak is Mount Demavand which is located in the city of Amol in the province of Mazandaran.
Alburz is known in the Avesta by the name Hara with the adjective berez. In Pahlavi it is known as Harburz, a compound of Hara and Berez. The mountain is referred in cosmological, historical as well as mythological writings. In cosmology it is described as one of the ends of the world.
In the Avesta it is regarded as the first mountain to appear on the earth (Zamyad Yasht, 1). Ahura Mazda created it for Meher Yazad, so that the heavenly bodies could go around it. At its peak there is no darkness, no night, no cold or hot wind, no pestilence bringing disease, no diseases created by evil, and clouds cannot reach there. It also helps the Ameshaspands to oversee the entire material world (Meher Yasht, 50-51). The stars, moon and the sun moves around its peak (Rashne Yasht 25, Bnd. 9,6).
According to Pahlavi sources, Mount Alburz goes around the whole world. There is a lake on the top and thousands of rivulets flow into the lake from the South to get purified (Bundahishn Ch.5). Also rivers flow down from the Alburz to Khvaniras (Selections of Zadsparam, 20).
The Shahnameh too has several references to Mount Alburz and has been used as a simile to indicate something gargantuan.
Infant Faridun’s mother Faranak left him on Mt. Alburz in the care of a holy man. There he was trained and at the age of sixteen he came down along with Kaveh to defeat the evil Zohak.
Saam, the king of Zabulistan, cast away his albino son Zaal on the Elburz mountain, where Seemurgh the saintly man, who could metamorphose himself into a bird, looked after him and brought him up till he was found sixteen years later and brought back to the city. Much later, the same Zaal sends his own son Rustam to Alburz mountain to look for Kae Kobad and bring him to take over the reigns of Iran, thus starting the Kayanian dynasty. King Kae Kaus, the second king, the foot of Mt. Alburz to be excavated and two cellars dug under it to serve as stables for war steeds and sturdy mules.
It is also considered to be the dwelling place of Peshotan, brother or king Kae Vishtasp, who was given the blessing by prophet Zarathushtra to have an immortal body till the end of material world.
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