Balkh

“ The Oxus fords have seen men in millions making south for the valleys of Badakshan and the Golden Gates of Central Asiatic ideal which lay yet farther south beyond the grim line of Hindu Kush. Balkh (the city) must have stood like a rock in the human tide which flowed from north to south. ”

“ Fifty miles to the west of Khulm there is the beginning of what once was the territory of Balkh, which draws its [Pg 256] water from 18 canals fed from the Balkh river. To-day the scene of the Mother of Cities reflects nothing but decay. The bazaar, simply a covered street with a few shops in it, runs through the village. The combined population of the district does not exceed 2000, including a small colony of Hindus and about 70 Jews. ”

“ Balkh stands on a plain, about six miles from the hills, and not upon them, as is erroneously represented. There are many inequalities in the surrounding fields, which may arise from ruins and rubbish. The city itself, like Babylon, has become a perfect mine of bricks for the surrounding country. These are of an oblong shape, rather square. Most of the old gardens are now neglected and overgrown with weeds; the aqueducts are dried up; but there are clumps of trees in many directions. The people have a great veneration for the city ”

“ Balkh hardly responds to his description of it. There is no mosque to the north of Balkh, nor is the citadel square.
The road from Khulm to Bamian passes through Tashkurghan (which is due east of Mazar—not south) and Haibak, and changes very much in character before reaching Haibak. From Haibak to Kuram the description of the road is fairly correct, but no amount of research on the part of later surveyors has revealed the position of "Kartchoo" (which apparently means locally a market) ; nor could Ferrier possibly have encountered snow in July on any part of this route, even if he saw any. ”

“ It calls up mirage after mirage of wearied camel caravans toiling through deserts of sand to cities that were old when Balkh and Damascus were young; where the blue and glittering domes of porcelain rise against intenser skies in sunsets sonorous as a gong with deep light and colour. It is the merchants always who carry romance and adventure in their corded bales. In robe and turban they yearn for the caravanserais and the men coming by many ways to the meeting place. ”

“ The ancient Khulm (50 miles east of Balkh) was included in Badakshan. In Idrisi's day it was a place "of which the productions and resources 271 were very abundant: there is running water, cultivated fields, and all sorts of vegetable productions." From thence to Semenjan "a pretty town, in every way comparable to Khulm, commercial, populated, and encircled with mud walls," two days' journey. Then we have "from Balkh to Warwalin" (a town agreeable and commercial with others dependent on it) , two days. From Warwalin to Talekan, two days. ”

“ The soil is of a greyish colour, like pipe-clay, and very rich; when wet, it is slimy. The crops are good; the wheat stalks grow as high as in England, and do not present the stunted stubble of India. In Balkh, the water has been distributed, with great labour, by aqueducts from a river. Of these there are said to be no less than eighteen; but many are not now discoverable. They frequently overflow, and leave marshes, which are rapidly dried up under the sun’s rays. This seems to account for the diseases of the place. All old cities and ruins are, perhaps, more or less unhealthy. ”

“ The road from Balkh to Kabul and from Kabul to the Punjab was pre-eminently a Buddhist route. Balkh, Haibak, and Bamian all testify, as does the neighbourhood of Kabul itself, to the existence of a lively Buddhist history before the Mahomedan Conquest, and between Kabul and India there are Buddhist remains near Jalalabad which rival in splendour those of the Swat valley and the Upper Punjab. All these places were objects of devout attention undoubtedly, but to reach Kabul via Balkh from Khotan it would be necessary to cross the Pamirs and Badakshan. ”

“ No modern traveller has crossed Badakshan from the Pamirs to Balkh, but the general conformation of the country is fairly well ascertained, and there can be no doubt that the journey would occupy any pilgrim, no matter how devout and enthusiastic, at least two and a half months, and another month would be required to traverse the road from Balkh via Hiabak, or Baiman, over the Hindu Kush to Kabul. ”

“ From his conquest of the region beyond the Oxus, Jingis Khan moved southward with his vast horde of Mongols, in pursuit of the fugitive Khahrezmian prince, in 1220 or 1221, and invested the great city of Balkh,--which is thought in the east to be the oldest city of the world, and which may not impossibly have been one of the capitals of the primitive Aryan race. ”

“ Quitting Persia, they proceeded through a rich and picturesque country to Balkh, a celebrated city, which they found in ruins and nearly deserted, its lofty walls and marble palaces having been levelled with the ground by the devastating armies of the Mongols. The country in the neighbourhood had likewise been depopulated, the inhabitants having taken refuge in the mountains from the rapacious33 cruelty of the predatory hordes, who roamed over the vast fields which greater robbers had reaped, gleaning the scanty plunder which had escaped their powerful predecessors. ”

“ But no such human tide ever flowed into Badakshan from the east nor yet from the south. To the east are the barrier heights of the Pamirs. No crowd of fugitives or captives ever faced those bleak, inhospitable, wind-torn valleys that we know of. Nor can we find any trace of emigration from India. Yet routes were known across the Pamirs, and in due time, as we have seen, small parties of pilgrims from China made use of these routes, seeking for religious truth in Balkh when, as a Buddhist centre, Balkh was in direct connection with the Buddhist cities of Eastern Turkistan. ”

“ In the meantime the news of the confinement of Isfendiyár, and the absence of Gushtásp at Sístán, and the unprotected state of Balkh, stimulated Arjásp to a further effort, and he despatched his son Kahram with a large army towards the capital of the enemy, to carry into effect his purpose of revenge. Lohurásp was still in religious retirement at Balkh. ”

“ Whether or no the science of irrigation drifted eastwards from the west it seems more than probable that the ruined and decayed water-ways which intersect the Balkh plain were primarily due to the introduction of Syrian labour, and account for the presence in that historic region of a people amongst others who claim descent from captive Israelites. ”

“ Under pretext of making a census he directed the people in Balkh to assemble outside near the suburbs. They went forth and were slaughtered most brutally; the city was pillaged, then burned, and all its defenses demolished.
The time of terror came next to Nusrat i kuh in the Talekan district. This place, strong by position, by its works, and its garrison, defended itself for six months with immense strength, and successfully. Prisoners in large numbers were forced to fight in the front lines of investment. Those who turned back were cut down without mercy by the Mongols behind them. ”

“ Though the evidence falls short of proof there seems fair reason to suggest that the present Rájput and Káthi Válas or Bálas of Gujarát and Rájputána, through a Sanskritised Váhlika, may be traced to some section of the Yuechi, who, as they passed south from Baktria, between the first century before and the fourth century after Christ, assumed or received the title of men of Balkh.
One collateral point seems to deserve notice. ”

“ This quatrain is taken mainly from O. 47 (C. 123) . It does not occur in the first edition, and FitzGerald was evidently «reminded of it» by Nicolas, in whose reading of the text, alone, the town of Naishapur is mentioned instead of Balkh. Balkh and Babylon are constantly interchanged in Persian belles lettres.
Since life passes; what is Baghdad and what is Balkh?
When the cup is full, what matter if it be sweet or bitter? [29]
Drink wine, for often, after thee and me, this moon
Will pass on from the last day of the month to the first, and from the first to the last. ”

“ The Khan of Orgunje or Khiva waged a continual war with him. The Khan of Kokan was also his declared enemy. The chiefs of Shuhr Subz and Hissar acknowledged no allegiance, and the Meer of Koondooz plundered and even seized Balkh. The affairs of the kingdom are at present more prosperous, and the designs and power of the reigning King bid fair to keep pace with one another. He has this year chastised the chief of Shuhr Subz, and seized upon six of his villages. ”

“ The population, which is mostly agricultural, settled in and around its towns and villages, is estimated at 750,000. The province includes the khanates of Kunduz, Tashkurgan, Balkh with Akcha; the western khanates of Saripul, Shibarghan, Andkhui and Maimana, sometimes classed together as the Chahar Vidayet, or ``Four Domains''; and such parts of the Hazara tribes as lie north of the Hindu Kush and its prolongation. The principal town is Mazar-i-Sharif, which in modern times has supplanted the ancient city of Balkh ”

“ The bulk of the people of the cities are of Persian and Uzbeg stock, but interspersed with them are Mongol Hazaras and Hindus with Turkoman tribes in the Oxus plains. Over these races the Afghans rule as conquerors and there is no bond of racial unity between them. Ancient Balkh or Bactriana was a province of the Achaemenian empire, and probably was occupied in great measure by a race of Iranian blood. ”

“ On the 13th of June we commenced our ramble, intending to proceed to Balkh by the road through Bameeān, as we should then have to traverse the principal passes of the Hindoo Khosh, and our route would be that most likely to be selected by an army either advancing from Bokhārā on Cabul or moving in the opposite direction. The plundering propensities of the peasantry rendered an escort absolutely necessary, and ours consisted of thirty Affghans belonging to one of Shah Soojah's regiments, under the command of Captain Hopkins. ”

“ Balkh, anciently called Bactria, a district of Afghan Turkestan lying between the Oxus and the Hindu-Kush, 250 m. long and 120 m. broad, with a capital of the same name, reduced now to a village; birthplace of Zoroaster.
Ball, John, a priest who had been excommunicated for denouncing the abuses of the Church; a ringleader in the Wat Tyler rebellion; captured and executed.
Ball, Sir R. S., mathematician and astronomer, born in Dublin; Astronomer-Royal for Ireland; author of works on astronomy and mechanics, the best known of a popular kind on the former science being “The Story of the Heavens” ”

“ He died in 1712. ↑ Provinces in Persia and Afghanistan conquered by Timur and Babar. Balkh was the cradle of the Zoroastrian religion and a great capital of some of the ancient Persian kings. Badakhshan is known for its ruby mines. Hirat is the gate of India and was many times besieged by the Persians. ”

“ On the other side Gersíwaz, the ruler of Balghar, joined the Tartar legions at Balkh, commanded by Bármán, who both sallied forth to oppose the Persian host, and after a conflict of three days were defeated, and obliged to abandon the fort. When the accounts of this calamity reached Afrásiyáb, he was seized with the utmost terror, which was increased by a dreadful dream. He thought he was in a forest abounding with serpents, and that the air was darkened by the appearance of countless eagles. The ground was parched up with heat, and a whirlwind hurled down his tent and overthrew his banners. ”

“ A son or grandson of Abū-Bekr is said to have been among the Arabian conquerors of Khurāsān during the caliphate of ‘Uthmān (Osmān) , about A.H. 25 (A.D. 647) , and to have settled at Balkh (the capital of the ancient Bactria) , where his family flourished until after the birth of Jelālu-’d-Dīn.35
133
At an uncertain period subsequent to A.H. 491 (A.D. 1097) , a daughter of one of the Kh’ārezmian kings of Central Asia was given in marriage to Jelālu-’d-Dīn’s great-great-grandfather, whose name is either not mentioned by Eflākī, or I have missed it. ”

“ Badakhshan and Balkh, 83—their peoples, 85—Uzbaks and Tartars, 86—Nazar Muhammad, king of Balkh, 89—Shah Jahan wishes to conquer Central Asia, 90—folly of the attempt, 91—Badakhshan invaded, 92—Balkh occupied, 93—arrangements for holding them, 95—Aurangzib appointed viceroy, 97—the opposed forces, 97—his march on Balkh, 99—advance to Aqcha, 101—incessant fighting 102—retreat to Balkh, 104—hardships on the way, 105—his cool courage, 106—peace negotiations, 107—Mughal army evacuates Balkh, 110—sufferings during retreat, 111—losses, 112. ”

“ Balak was heartily glad to see Balaam. The prophet had been a long time coming, but better late than never. The next day they went "up into the high places of Baal," from which they could see the utmost part of the people of Israel. "There they are," said Balak, "confound them! leprous slaves out of Egypt, bent on stealing other people's lands, and sticking to all they can lay hands on; bloodthirsty vagabonds, who fight people with whom they have no quarrel, and kill men, women, and children when they are victorious. Now, Balaam, do your duty. Curse them, and lay it on thick." ”

“ The smoking mountains are angry; the dreamers see only bad signs; there are black things before Multnomah, and he cannot see what they are. Tell me,—the dead are wise and know that which comes,—what is this unknown evil which threatens me and mine?”
He looked down at her with intense craving, intense desire, as if his imperious will could reanimate that silent clay and force to the mute lips the words he so desired. But the still lips moved not, and the face lay cold under his burning and commanding gaze. The chief leaned closer over her ”