The Forgotten Minaret

The sound of galloping horses still haunt the gorges that once stood proudly on the banks of the still Hari Rud river. What was once upon a time regarded as the greatest city of the middle ages, The City of the Turqoise Mountain - Firuzkuh (Western Afghanistan), became lost to history in the year of 1222 when Genghis Khan’s son came charging with his Mongol army and marauded everything in sight. The only building left untouched was the Minaret of Djam that lay dusty and forgotten by the outside world for centuries, till it was rediscovered by Sir Thomas Holdich in 1866.

Standing tall in the middle of nowhere, the 65 metres high minaret does not seem to be ruffled by the fact that there is no one in the vicinity to appreciate its beauty. As it catches sight of itself in the virgin river that is its only faithful companion, it knows that it never got the acclaim received by the devious Qutub Minar. For it knows, as do others now, that the Qutub Minar was modelled on it, and built specifically to surpass it in height. It is now second only to the Qutub in the list of the world’s tallest brick minarets.

Habituated to long spells of loneliness, it does not take sides in the battle of supremacy between the Taliban and the world. Daily, it watches pillagers come in the dark of the night and dig up the surrounding land to steal lost gold. Intricate carvings remind us of its splendour and as the historian Dan Cruickshank explains, “It’s a text that emphasises what Judaism, Christianity and Islam have in common, rather than their differences. It seems the Ghorids placed the text here to appeal for harmony and tolerance in the land, a message that is more relevant now than ever.”

The UNESCO listed the minaret as a World Heritage Site in 2002. As night falls upon the valley, it wonders if it might have got a fraction of the warmth accorded to the Qutub, had history not decided to play its own hand.

 

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