Continuing our story of the small village of Abbasabad, which has been already mention in the writing of James Baillie Fraser's Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan (1821) and Joseph Philippe Ferrier, Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, Afghanistan... (1856). A different decade, still the same story...
The caravan going east left the manzil at the rising of the moon. We had before us a march of six farasangs to Abasabad. The country has a continuous descent, and Abasabad is three thousand two hundred feet above the ocean. At dawn we came to springs of water. Near these a battle was once fought between Persians and Turkmans. There is a small village midway the stage. The asafoetida plant and a few thorny tufts and a few flowers were the only plants growing by the way. The road follows the winding course of a deep ravine for a distance of two farasangs, and to within four miles of Abasabad. The chasm has been, in time past, a famous place for attacks of the Turkmans on caravans. From the southeastern extremity of the pass there is an extended view of the desert to the south and east. The next station may be seen at the foot of the descent, and close to a line of low hills which are connected by higher ridges with the main range of the Elburz.
The name Abasabad means the abode of Abas. It is here given to a village in which captive Georgians were placed by Shah Abas the Great. The remnants of the colony now living in the walled enclosure are seventy families, or two hundred to three hundred souls. The account they give of themselves is that the Shah Abas brought from Tiflis sixty Georgian men and women, and put them in this citadel, having performed the farce of designating them kolams or guards. They were to be guards on the Turkman frontier. These people have the firman of the Shah in which he ordered an annual stipend to be given them of one hundred and thirty tomans, and one hundred and thirty kharwar of wheat. It is claimed that thepayments are not now made according to the firman. A connaught for irrigating lands was constructed, and the king ordered that a portion of the water and of the wheat should belong to the head of every household.The colony were forbidden the use of the Georgian tongue. By this restriction they were virtually prohibited the use of the ritual and service of the Georgian Church. In the third generation, through the influence of persecution, and owing to the demoralizing effect of association with Mohammedans, the captives became Mohammedans in profession. The colony has suffered much from the raids of the Turkmans. Their village has often been besieged by these nomads. The situation has brought them all the dangers of the border, and many of the people have been carried into captivity, and some have perished from famine. About fifteen families removed to Sadrabad, three farasangs distant, where they all died of hunger.
The only supply of water for the village is the connaught constructed by the order of the Shah. The terms of the firman have given rise to the custom as a part of the marriage rite, of giving the bridegroom a cup of water from the connaught. The Georgian tongue has been in great part lost to the colony. In place of it they have a jargon composed of Georgian and Persian words, and they speak the Persian fluently. The condition of these captives appears deplorable when considered from the standpoint of Christian civilization. It is much more so, if that were possible, in their own estimation. Many of this people having lost all hope of redemption, have fully identified themselves with Mohammedans. Their masters and allies have not permitted them, however, to be successful in this purpose, but perpetuate the stigma of their origin with the last trace of Georgian blood.
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