94 
C. E. Yate —Notes on the City of Hirdt. 
[No. 2, 
The shrine lies some two miles to the west of the city, and the 
pres cnt building was, it is said, erected by Shah Sultan Husain, who 
reigned at Hirat from A. D. 1487 to 1506. It possesses tte usual lofty 
arched portico with a domed enclosure containing the tomb behind and 
other rooms around, but is built of plain brick throughout and unadorn¬ 
ed except by some mosaic work inside. The garden in front has been 
allowed to fall into decay, but some lofty pine-trees still remain. 
There is another large and similar shrine about a couple of hundred 
yards to the south of the city, known as the Ziyarat-i-Sultan Mir Shahid. 
The tomb stands in the centre of the lofty domed enclosure immediately 
behind the arched portico, and is surmounted by flags of many colours, 
the poles of which are mostly topped with the figure of an open hand. 
No meaning appears to be attached to the symbol; it is simply said that 
the standards, presented by the Prophet to his people, were surmounted 
by a hand, and the tradition still remains. 
To show how little is known about the history of these shrines, I 
may mention that I was assured that the saint buried here was Sultan 
Mir ’Abdu-l-Wahid, the ruler of Hirat, when the city was besieged and 
captured by Hulaku Khan, the son of Tuli Khan, son of Jingiz Khan, 
shortly after his capture of Baghdad in A. D. 1253, and that Sultan Mir 
’Abdu-l-Wahid fell in the defence and thus earned the title of Shahid or 
martyr. On having the tombstone cleaned from the lamp oil and dirt 
of ages, it appeared, however, from the Arabic inscription, that the name 
of the saint was ’Abdu-llahu-l-Wahid, the son of Zaid, son of Ilasan, son 
of ’Ali (the son-in-law of the Prophet), son of Abu Talib ; that he was 
born either in A. H. 35 or 37 (A. D. 656-58), and that he died in A. II. 
88 (A. D. 707) in the lifetime of his father; that his grave was found in 
A. H. 320 (A. D. 932) in the time of ’All, son of Hasan (an Innlm of tho 
Zaidi sect) and of Shaikh Hasanu-l-Basrah, and that the present sliriuo 
was erected by Shah Sultan Husain in A. H. 890 or A. D. 1486. 
In the samo building there is another tomb. Tho inscription on tho 
stone gives the name Ja’far Abu Ishaq and date A. II. 289 or A. 1). 902. 
In addition to the Ziyarats at tho city gates, there is a small shrine 
called the Ziyarat-i-Kliaja ’Ali Baqar on the north-east side of the city, 
and another called tho Ziyarat-i-Kliaja Tjiq (?) ad joining a graveyard, 
used as the burial-place for the Kabulis, a little to the east of the city. 
To the north of the city there is a long mound which evidently at. 
Borno time or other formed part of the rampart of the city wall. This 
is confirmed by Ilm-i-Hauqal, as abovo quotod, and it is clear therefore) 
that, tho city extended up to this point ns late jus the 10th century. 
This mound iH now known by the name of Tull-i-llungiyan or the mound 
of tho bhang-eaters; the people given to bhang having, it is said, been 
