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THE
PERSIAN GARDEN
REJUVENATION
OF THE
SPIRIT
The pairidaeza gardens are ideal places to rejuvenate the spirit. They are a meeting place for all elements of the spiritual and
material creation. They are a place for personal reflection as well as strengthening family, friendship and community bonds. They
are places, if a person so chooses, to reconnect with one's spiritual self and to take a hiatus from active life to continue a spiritual
quest. Even the Achaemenian kings are reported to have personally and physically worked in building and taking care of their
gardens (see below).
The pools or channels of water that are invariably an integral part of the garden's design, are places for self-reflection. The entire
setting is tranquil and serene, a manifestation of the amesha spentaarmaiti. Complimenting self-reflection is meditation,
especially when accompanied with the recitation of a mantra (manthra). The very act of tending to the garden and nurturing the
plants is a religious act.
The pairidaeza is a sacred space where an inner voice can be heard. They are places for sacred contemplation and spiritual
nourishment.
FORMAL
AND INFORMAL
GARDENS
The style or Persian gardens can be both formal and informal. The formal gardens are the type found in front of palaces, and are
geometric in their layout. Cyrus' garden, the chahar bagh (see below, also spelt chahr bagh), meaning four gardens, consisted
of four squares within a square - a quadripartite ground-plan. In addition to the various formal gardens in Iran, the gardens of
the Taj Mahal in India are also an example of a formal garden. A example of informal gardens are the family baghs found on the
outskirts of major Iranian cities such as Tehran.
DESCRIPTION
OF
ACHAEMENIAN GARDENS
The gardens of the Persian monarchs and their satraps (governor-generals) became legendary. Hellenic authors such as Quintus
Curtius (7.2.22), Xenophon (Oec. 4.20-25) and Plutarch (Alc. 24.7) give consistent accounts of the satrapical paradise gardens,
the paradeisos / paradeisoi (from pairidaeza).
Plutarch describes the paradeisos of the Achaemenian satrap at Sardis as follows: "One of them was the handsomest because its
lawns and refreshing waters, its retreats and its manicured lawns displayed and unimaginable royal luxury."
Xenophon describes the paradise-gardens at Celaenae (Anab.1.2.7) and Dascylium (Hell. 4.1.15-16). In Celaenae, Xenophon and
his companions saw "a great park filled with wild animals... and watered by the Meander. Xenophon notes that in Dascylium,
"That is where Pharnabazus maintained his residence, with handsome large villages all around, abundantly provided with all the
resources, and with game both in enclosed paradises and in open spaces - magnificent game! Through the whole length flowed a
river stocked with every kind of fish. Wildfowl were there in abundance as well, for those who might hunt for birds."
ACHAEMENIAN KINGS
AS
GARDENERS
"Know then, Lysander, it is I who measured and arranged it all. Some of the trees," he added, "I planted with my own hands."
Then Lysander, regarding earnestly the speaker, when he saw the beauty of his apparel and perceived its fragrance, the splendour
also of the necklaces and armlets, and other ornaments which he wore, exclaimed: "What say you, Cyrus? did you with your own
hands plant some of these trees?" whereat the other: "Does that surprise you, Lysander? I swear to you by Mithres, when in
ordinary health I never dream of sitting down to supper without first practising some exercise of war or husbandry in the sweat of
my brow, or venturing some strife of honour, as suits my mood." "On hearing this," said Lysander to his friend, "I could not help
seizing him by the hand and exclaiming, 'Cyrus, you have indeed good right to be a happy man, since you are happy in being a
good man.'"."
Oeconomicus/Economist 5: "All this I relate to you (continued Socrates) to show you that quite high and mighty people find it
hard to hold aloof from agriculture, devotion to which art would seem to be thrice blest, combining as it does a certain sense of
luxury with the satisfaction of an improved estate, and such a training of physical energies as shall fit a man to play a free man's
part. Earth, in the first place, freely offers to those that labour all things necessary to the life of man; and, as if that were not
enough, makes further contribution of a thousand luxuries. It is she who supplies with sweetest scent and fairest show all things
wherewith to adorn the altars and statues of the gods, or deck man's person. It is to her we owe our many delicacies of flesh or
fowl or vegetable growth; since with the tillage of the soil is closely linked the art of breeding sheep and cattle, whereby we
mortals may offer sacrifices well pleasing to the gods, and satisfy our personal needs withal."
Earlier in 4.17, "'Cyrus therefore, Socrates' said Critobulus, '...prided himself no less in keeping his province fertile than he did in
keeping it in order and on his ability in war.'"
Taj Mahal photograph in the National Geographic 1921. View down the central channel that bisects the bagh
GARDENS
OF
ANCIENT TABRIZ
Liqvan Valley (south of Tabriz, Iran) with Mt. Sahand in the background
HANGING GARDEN'S
OF
BABYLON
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