Hindu-Zoroastrian temple at Baku in Azerbaijan.
Monday, September 20, 2021 IST
The fire temple where the the fire burns constantly, and Gayatri mantra is played as background music.
An inscription from the Baku Atashgah reads: I salute Lord Ganesha (श्री गणेशाय नमः) venerating Hindu God Ganesha, the second venerates the holy fire (जवालाजी, Jwala Ji) and dates the inscription to Samvat 1802 (संवत १८०२, or 1745-46 CE).
The Persian quatrain below is the sole Persian inscription on the temple and, though ungrammatical, also refers to the fire and dates it to 1158 Hijri, which is also 1745 CE.
An inscribed invocation to Lord Shiva in Sanskrit is also present at the Ateshgah. There is also an inscribed invocation to the Adi Granth in Punjabi at the Ateshgah, carved by the traders and travelllers who would visit this temple.
The sacredness of the site however goes way back into ancient history, and is much older than the dated inscriptions and the later rebuilt temples.
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