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ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЕ

ETHNIC CULTURE OF GUILAN AND ROLE OF THE CASPIAN SEA IN IT – BASED ON VIEWS OF RUSSIAN TRAVELERS

H. Kohansal, A. Panahi, A. Golandam

In this paper, based on a descriptive-analytical method, the research-ers attempt to explore this matter with the help of Russian authors’ works. The purpose of this study is to examine the role and the degree of importance of Guilan in the travel accounts of Russian travelers who were concerned by the Russian government. Among the results of the study, we can suggest that not only were the reports of Russian travel-ers handed to the Russian government as some political, geographical and economic analyses from Safavid to Qajar era, but today they are regarded as some treasures representing the culture and geography of this territory.

Keywords: Guilan, Iran, Russia, Russian travelers, the Caspian Sea.

Travel accounts are among the most important research resources of history. Their authors have recorded their observations of their journeys as some written reports or in the form of some political reports or corre-spondences. They have provided some pieces of invaluable information surrounding about any social aspect the people of a given area. With regard to the importance of Guilan from the standpoint of Russian poli-ticians and intellectuals as well as the contiguity of Guilan to Russia, the presence of Russian travelers was noticeable in Guilan.

In this paper, the researchers have tried to provide the views of Rus-sian travelers regarding the Guilan’s circumstances between 17th to 20th centuries. The topics for discussion include the geographical posi-tion as well as the social, cultural, and political circumstances of the Caspian Sea. In this study, the researchers try to explore the geographi-cal and human circumstances of Guilan in the mentioned period with reference to the reports of Russian travelers.

A. Geographical Location of Guilan. Among Russian travelers, only Chodzko and Melgunov have briefly pointed to Guilan’s appellation. Chodzko writes:“The name of this state, which is called occasionally

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Gil, Guilan, and Guilanat by its inhabitants, in fact presents a marshy land. By their local accent, the people refer to “mud” by Gil. Both Guilan and Guilanat are the plural form of this noun.” [3. P. 7].

Melgunov have only mentioned that “The flat abundant with water in this region is called Guilan.” [10.p.155]. It is apparent that a precise theory has not yet been proposed regarding Guilan’s appellation. Some linguists like Andreas regard Guilan as the transformation of Verena, an area cited it the first Fargard of Vendidad of Avesta. Some other linguists like Benveniste, nevertheless, have rejected such a statement. He argues that va and vi in the ancient languages would convert to go and gu rather than gi and go. However, orientalists disagree even on the determination of the location and overlap of Verena and Guilan [12. P. 57]. After examining the differences and various challenges, espe-cially those existing among linguists, it seems that Chodzko’s statement is more accurate.

With respect to Guilan’s climate and weather, the Russian trav-elers have written that it is warm, humid, and unhealthy. Based on the reports of Chodzko, “Sometimes the air is so saturated of mois-ture that in Tir and Mordad the Dhol which is played on the gate of Rasht’s government house is broken down, so its skin should be dried on fire…” [12. P. 70–71].

Some of the notes of Katof about Iran’s climate and its relationship with agriculture are noticeable. He writes, “Ardabil has a cold weather in winters and some areas are even colder in summers.” He continues, “However, winter does not last too long in Iran. He states that Guilan is warmer than other regions, but it does not have a good weather. He points that Guilan is the only place throughout Iran in which rain falls, and it is the only place in Iran covered with forest areas. [6. P. 27].

Like Katoff and Chodzko, Nikitine complains about the unfavorable weather conditions [11. P. 54].

The Caspian Sea. This expanse of water has had different names in various historical and geographical resources. The author of Hodud al-Alam calls it Daryaye Khazar (Khazar Sea).

The Greek and Roman authors have widely pointed to the Caspian Sea in their works. However, they had no comprehensible information regarding its geographical location. Herodotus (460 B.C.) and Aristotle (348 B.C.) referred to the sea as Caspi, and the European languages now use the Caspian Sea. In the Islamic Era, historians and geographers used

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many titles like Khazar, Jorjan (Gorgan), Abaskun, Tabarestan, Kho-rasani, Guilan, Dilam, Sari, and Ghazvin [8.p.11-12]. The British Rich-ard Holmes sufficed it to the verbal accounts about the name of the sea. In his reports, it is called “Astarakhan” and “Khazar”. He continues to mention that the Caspian Sea was abundant with Russian ships [5. P.26].

Buhler considerably focuses on the economic role of the Sea in the relationships between Iran and Russia, but he also considers its effects on the climate and weather of Guilan. He writes that it is a determining factor for the marine paths between Guilan’s cities as well as for the economic relationships between Iran and Russia. Besides, he believes that the prosperity of Guilan is because of the existence of the Caspian Sea [2. P. 41, 60, 66, 82].

Before Safavid era, Guilan was divided into two areas of Bieh Pish and Bieh Pas. The reason for such a segmentation was Sefidrud River (Amardus, Qizil Uzun). However, Chodzko assumes that “Bieh” was the name of a tribe of which one division was called Bieh Pish-ha and lived in the territory of Lahijan and the other division was called Bieh Pasi-ha and inhabited in the territory of Rasht [3. P. 41]. During Naser Al-din Shah’s kingdom, Guilan was divided into four blocks and sev-eral governing districts [10. P. 155]. Chodzko divides Guilan into sev-en provinces and each province into several blocks. Starting from the northern borders, we can distinguish these provinces respectively as Karganrud, Asalam, Gaskar, Fuman, Rasht, Lahijan, Rankuh.

Chodzko relates the names of the historical people who lived by the Caspian Sea semantically to Roman languages, esp. Greek. In order to prove his claim, he refers to the accounts of Greek and Roman geog-raphers. In addition, he believes, due to the lack of reliable resources, the study of places’ etymology would be of significant help in order to gain information about the bygone people. The people mentioned by Chodzko are Gols, Kadusis, Derbiks, Otis, Anaris, Dokozinis, Amards, and Caspians. He is of the opinion that the similarity aspects of names can be retrieved by people’s colloquial languages even in their Greek forms. For example, he writes: the Greek name Gols is used in the form of Gil and Guilan, or Kadusis is similar to the name of a village – Kadu-sara – adjacent to Sefidrud in Rasht, or Kadukia, which is another village in Rasht next to Kahdam, and finally, Kadeh and Gude Kadeh, which are two villages in Fuman. He names the highest peak of Guilan Davak or Darfak, which is located at the left side of Sefidrud, and he believes it

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is of the Greek origin – Derbik. Herodotus points out that Derbiks and Darvaks were strong people who lived autonomously in this territory.

Based on Herodotus’s reports, Cyrus granted Derbiks’ rulership to Spitases. Chodzko, citing from Strabo, points with much accuracy that Tapirs (Tapurs) inhabited in Mazandaran between the territories of Der-biks and Hirkanids. In fact, the current Tabarestan is a land located between a mountain chain and a land that fill Gorgan Rvier with water.

Even, he believes the word Bieh is a distorted or transformed form of the Greek word Outlol, meaning Village or vieh, and maybe the name of the village Vieh located in Deylaman or the name Bieh, which is referred to in the History of Conquests of Mir Abdolfattah Fumani, have their origins in the mentioned Greek word. He assumes Bieh is the name of a tribe of which a division – Bieh Pish’ha – were in Lahijan and another division – Bieh Pas’a – lived in Rasht.

Chodzko refers the word Anar Kul – or Hill of Pomegranate – lo-cated in the block of Rahmat Abad to a Greek root. He also believes that Ammarlous were a tribe of Kurd people whoe were spread throughout the right side of Sefid Rud, from Manjil Bridge to Deylaman. Pishvand Kurds, who replaced them in the 17th century A.D., may had chosen the main name of the original inhabitants of this area and added the suffix Lou to the title. Garars or Qazars are a very old tribe, who had nominated the Caspian Sea and Qazvin city based on their own tribe’s name long before the conquest of their land by Ancient Macedonians [3. P. 41–42]. Unfortunately, there is no reference in the travel accounts of Melgunov, Katoff, Nikitine, Khanikoff about the ancient Guilanian people.

The common accent of Guilani people is originated from the lo-cal title of the indigenous inhabitants of the area; it is called Guilaki. Although there are some distinctions among the speech of different re-gions of Guilan, all of them are the descendants of the current Persian language [3. P. 81]. Other Russian travelers did not pointed, even very brief, to the language and speech of Guilani people.

Chodzko reports that Islam – and majorly its Shia branch – domi-nates Guilan; The people of Talesh follow Sunni branch. One of the common traditions of Huilan is called Buffalo fight. Nikitine describes his observations of this ceremony with many details [3. P. 128–129]. Whereas he takes a glance at wrestling in Iran, he does not provide any information about traditional wrestling in Guilan. Among others, a kind of jump-roping is common in Guilan, in which players play on

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ropes with noticeable skill. Catching fish has also many fans, which is performed by some professional fishermen [3. P. 128–129].

The early spring ceremony of Noruz has its origins from ancient Iranian rituals and does not any relationship to Islam. These formali-ties had gradually emerged based on the principles of the divinity of natural powers as well as the act of worshiping the life-giving ray of sun. The contemporary ceremony is a remaining of these by-gone beliefs. One of the reasons to prove such a claim is a ceremony called Chahar-Shanbeh Sorkhi (Red Wednesday). This title may be due to the color of fire. Another reason that proves the long history of Noruz can be a tablecloth spread the night before Noruz. In this tablecloth, which is called 7-sin, or literary seven Ss, apart from vari-ous types of sweeties and diets, there are seven objects starting with Sin – S in English orthography. These S-beginning objects are put on the tablecloth in the memory of seven Archangels of Ormazd, called Amesha Spenta. On this tablecloth, there should also be a tray filled with burgeoned grain [3. P. 128–129].Mourning rituals are also com-mon among Guilani people, which are often based on their religious beliefs and majorly Ashura incident. Nikitine has a detailed account regarding such rituals.

The public annual shows of the mourning months of Muharram and Safar surround the catastrophic massacre of Hassan and Hussein – the Sons of Ali and Shia Imams. In these two months, noticeable number of religious speeches called Rowzah throughout Iran and Guilan as well. In such speeches, the adroit citers of the history of Ali-In Abi-Taleb de-scribe them in prose or poetry on public or private tribunes. Rowzah is regarded as a kind of pray. Another religious ceremony is called Taziye (theatre-like shows of the mentioned incidents) for which some specific buildings are made that are called Tekieh or Husseineh. These construc-tions are often square-like surrounded with arcades that are decorated in these days and filled with the audience [3. P. 126].

Guilan’s Architecture. In fact, Guilan is an occupied forest. In such a territory, there is no village based on its conventional meaning. What is called here as a block is actually a number of scattered residences without any mapping, which are distanced by farms and dense areas of tree as though they are separate buildings. In each of these blocks, the following sections can be distinguished: house, katam (gazebo), Talam-bar, Kanduj (types of warehouse), roost [3. P. 41–42].

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The peasant communities of Guilan are gathered in a specific place. Houses constitute the living place for peasants. Such houses are often built on some tall wooden legs, and are sometimes established on thick lumbers laid on the ground. In such a way, the rain water would freely flow under the building. The Guilani houses have neither a window nor a hole for chimneys. The doors serve both functions as – the entrance of light and elimination of smoke [3. P. 41–42].

The houses in Guilan often have clay walls. The roofs are covered with dried rice stems. The roof is typically laid on wooden lumbers. The space between the wooden lumbers and the external wall is allo-cated for a kind of porch called talar in which family members spend their days in [3. P. 48]. The roof of prosperous class of Naser Al-din Shah’s era, and other inhabitants, were typically covered by thatching [9. P. 29–30]. The rich owners live in two story houses – completely commodious houses with pleasant air. It is never seen that the external walls of these houses be covered with plaster. They are painted gray so that they will not irritate eyes. A type of house equipped with large windows with colorful glasses can be found. The corridors and bal-conies established on the four facets of the houses are very enticing. Many houses in Rasht, Fuman, Lahijan, and Langroud are built on this pattern. The villages located in the treeless mountains of Guilan mostly follow Iran Plateau regarding their architectural styles; they are constructed with baked bricks and have flat roofs [3. P. 52–81]. Nikitine reports that the rural houses of Manjil are completely differ-ent from those of Guilan [11. P. 138].

Katam is a thatching-covered roof, which is built on long legs of lumber. Between the lumbers are other lumbers laid horizontally on which the floor of katam is built. The floor is often accessed with the help of a ladder. This building is open from all of its four sides and is exposed completely to the air currents. With the start of the hot season, the Guilani families move to katams in order to escape from mosquitos and flea [3. P. 48–49]. Talambar used as a place to grow silkworm, Talambar is a structure similar to a katam, with a difference that it is smaller (ibid.). Melgunov has confirmed the existence of structure called Talambar in his account [10. P. 185]. Kanduj it is a type of ware-house in which peasants keep grain. Being the tallest construction in the rural residences of Guilan, it has a cone-like dome which is built on a wooden structure [3. P .50]. Roost tthe roof of this construction is also

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covered with dried rice stems of dried grass, which is established on four lumbers so that it is far from wild predators [3. P. 50].

Travelers have not pointed anywhere to stable (Gacheh in local ac-cent). This building which is different from other buildings regarding its form is used to keep animals like horses, cows, etc. Does such an absence implies that there were no stables then? With respect to the importance of these animals for the life of Guilani farmers, it seems that such buildings did exist in Guilan of older ages. It was, neverthe-less, hidden from the eyes of Russian travelers.Chodzko and Nicotine believe that climatic factors were the main cause of the destruction and disappearance of historical buildings. They claim that Guilan do not hold excellent or enticing constructions.

Guilan is populated by two distinct ethnic groups: 1) indigenous people and 2) Those inhabitants who were expelled from their home-lands on rulers’ whims and based on political stimuli and have immi-grated to this land. The indigenous people of the base land of Guilan name themselves Guilaks. The inhabitants of the mountainous areas are referred to with regard to the name of their regions, such as Deilami, Taleshi, and so on. In fact, the people who are located in base lands and mountains belong to a unitary ethnic string. The people located in Guilan’s highlands, Galeshs or shepherds, and those who live in moun-tainous areas belong to two different tribes:

1. Taleshs, who are originally Turk people and lived in Central Asia; 2. Guilani Kurds, whose first arrival to Guilan dates back to Shah Ab-

bas and Nader Shah’s eras. They belong to Rishvand family [3. P. 79–80].Chodzko mentions cocoon, fishery, and olive as the main produc-

tions of Guilan. After silk, the business of white fish is among the prof-itable occupations of Guilan that includes the greatest number of work force [3. P. 80–89]. The natural and agricultural productions of Guilan are typically rice, wheat, honey, olive, types of citrus, and breeding of silkworm, cows, and sheep. The natural products of the territory of Karganrud include rice, oil, wool, silk, and cotton [10. P. 211] among which its honey and wax are famous among Guilan’s territories [3.P .8]. Growing rice and wheat, breeding silkworm, hunting sea birds, breeding cows and sheep, and sailing are among the occupations of the people of Gaskar and its five dependent districts [3. P. 10], [10. P. 207]. Rudbar is a city abandoned with gardens of olive tree, and the olive pro-duced in this city is called Rudbar’s olive. They are used to produce oil

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and soap [10. P. 196]. Khanikoff has taken a glance at silk in his travel account to Guilan. He writes: “The silk industry that I had the opportu-nity to study it in the Orient from Samarqand to the Caucasus, has en-tered Sogdiana and the regions between the Amu Darya, some parts of Afghanistan, Khorasan, Guilan etc.” [7. P. 98]. Further, Chodzko points out that many types of citrus from sour orange to Lemon, citron, and other races of this family can grow in Guilani gardens and the Caspian Sea shores. Regarding diversity, the citrus of Guilan cannot compete with Mazandaran’s. Eleven typesof citrus can be identified in Guilan. He also points to many other fruits like pear, pomegranate, walnut, ha-zelnut, apple, types of plum etc. [3. P. 58–59].

Blessed by its rich nature, Guilan is undoubtedly among the most pros-perous parts of the Caspian Sea. Guilanis believe that the products of their golden land are not only sufficient to meet their needs, but they also can make the merchants of other nations wealthy. Chodzko claims they are honest with such statements and, actually, because of such limitless pros-perity they succeeded to live in this land autonomously . [3.P. 91]. The richness of a land, nevertheless, does not justify its high technology and production facilities. With respect to the circumstances of those times, it seems that Guilan was undeveloped in the areas of industrial elements.

Chodzko identifies the industrial production as well as the hand-crafts of Guilani people. Before the appearance of the foreign goods, the people of this territory wore a type of cloth made in their own local workshops. However, such products are no more able to compete with cheaper imports from European nations to the extent that they are in-creasingly declining and going to disappear.

The rural women of the highlands of Gaskar, Shaft, and other moun-tainous districts of Guilan involve in the weaving of a thick woolen cloth; it is very durable, impenetrable, and congruence to the climatic necessities of Guilan. The rural women of base lands weave a type of cotton cloth which is more solid than the European calicoes, but they cannot reach their impressiveness. The silk produced in the domestic workshops of Guilan seem to be woven with more delicacy and careful-ness than their European counterparts.

No large-scale equipped factory can be seen in Guilan. Everyone of-ten works at their own house following their own accounts. The major silk productions are: 1) Qasab, 2) Long, 3) Pardeh Darayee, 4) Boghche, 5) Elijeh, 6) Tuy Dooshak, 7) Darayee, 8) Kurshaq, and 9) Ganjineh.

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According to Chodzko’s standpoint, the productions of embroi-dery have many demands in Rasht, and they are sold with good prices throughout Iran [3. P. 91–93].

Vegetable oil extraction industry was prevalent in Rudbar. The meth-ods for the extraction of oil from olive are very easy. When olives start to crease, they are poured into the copper pots and are sautéed with light fire. The resulting softened olives are poured into thick cotton bags and are pressed between two grindstones so that oil is extracted [3. P. 89–90].

Contrary to money, weight units are not regulated in Guilan and are different in various locations: every Tabrizi Mann equals 1000 Mes-ghal, and every Shahi Mann equals two or 100 Tabrizi Mann. The Rus-sian weight units, especially Gravankeh being a little less than half ki-los, are common throughout Northern states of Iran. There is no unit for the measurement of volume in Guilan. Liquids and crops are measured by – unit. In order to measure valuable metals, Mesghal is used, which is divided into four Nokhods (peas). Like foreign conventions, in order to determine the weight of valuable stones, Carat is common. Every carat equals four nokhods. Length is measured by Shahi Zar, which equals 96 French centimeters [4. P. 188], [7. P. 178], [10. P. 184].

The territory of Guilan and the Caspian Sea together has made a sig-nificant role regarding ecologic, political, and economic ties. On the oth-er hand, in addition to the strong economic potential of Guilan created by the Caspian Sea, the existence of this water has provided noticeable cultural and political relationships between Guilan and Russia. In the Safavid era, such relations entered a new stage in the history of the two nations. In turn, after the expansion of the relationships between Iran and Russia, the Russian travelers arrived at Guilan and, after observing its geographical conditions, wrote some comprehensive accounts about this land. This trend continued until the Qajar era. It should be noted that some travelers whose accounts on Guilan were explored were actu-ally Russian authorities. Thus, the Russian governments have notice-ably gained from these reports. The attention of Russian travelers to the non-political issues, nevertheless, proves the attraction of this territory and the biological diversity of Guilan in comparison with other Iranian territories. In addition to this point, today an exceptional treasure of Guilan’s geography referring to the time between 17th and 19th century A.D. have been remained, which is the result of the reports and accounts of these travelers. Russian travelers’ accounts are not solely limited to

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their eye-witnesses; rather, some of them, like Chodzko, have noticeable studies about the history and ethnography of Guilan and explored its ancient inhabitants and tribes. Overall, the Russian travelers have pro-vided us with an encyclopedia of the typical conditions of Guilan – na-ture, geography, anthropological affairs, culture, economy, architecture etc. Through this encyclopedia, we can scientifically investigate Guilani communities from Safavid era to Qajar.

References1. Abdollaoff. F. Translated by Gh. Matin. Tehran: Setareh, 1987.2. Bohler. Travel account, translated by Jaktaji, P.. Rasht: Gilakan, 2010.3. Chodzko A. Guilan Territory, translated by Dr. Sirus Sahami. Tehran: Payam, No Date.4.Fidorokoff, ibid, pp.118-, Khanikoff, ibid, pp.178. Melgunof, ibid, 1845. Holmse, W.R. Travel accounts of the Caspian shores, translated by Shabnam Hojati Saeidi. Rasht: Ilia, 2011.6. Katof. Kafot’s travel account, translated by M.S. Homayunfar. Teh-ran: Iran’s National Library Publications, 1977.7. Khanikoff, N. Account (Reports of travel to the southern parts of the Central Asia), translated by Dr. A. Yaghmayi, A. Bigah. Mashad: Ghodse Razavi, 1st impression, 1996.8. Mahjouri E. History of Mazandaran. Sari: Farhang va Honar, 1963.9. McKenzie, C.F. Travel to the North, translated by M. Etehadieh (Ne-zam Mafi). Tehran: Gostareh, 1980.10. Melgunov. Accounts of Melgunov in his travel to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, translated by Golzari, M. Tehran: Dadjou, 1st impression, 1985.11. Nikitine. Diaries and travel accounts of Mosiveb Nikitine, translat-ed by Ali Farahvashi. Tehran: Kanoone Marefat, 2nd impression, 197711. Pur Davud, E. Vol. 1. Tehran: Asatir, 1st impression, 1998.12. Rabino H.L. Guilan Border Patrol, translated by J. Khamami Zadeh. Tehran: Iran Cultural Institute, 1978.13. Taheri, A. Guilan, Mazandaran, Azerbaijan based on the view of travelers. Tehran: Shoraye Markazi, 1975.14. Unknown. Limits of the world from the orient to the Occident, with attempts of Manuchehr Sotoodeh. Tehran: University of Tehran, 1961.