Chahār Bāgh? A Study of the Origin of the Chahār Bāgh Concept as a Model for Iranian Gardens

One of the reasons man has created gardens is to rebuild heaven on earth. So far, a lot has been written about how Iranian gardens are meant to exemplify heaven and represent an attempt to realize the dream of life in paradise on earth. The idea of four heavenly streams has had a great influence on the structure and geometric design of Iranian gardens. This article adopts a critical approach toward the idea that the structure of gardens has been influenced by man’s beliefs about heaven with an emphasis on the influence of heaven as a concept rather than a form. Iranians built gardens based on a geometric four-part design. The general idea is that this design was based on the pre-Islamic belief in a four-part world and remained intact in the Islamic era as a result of the Islamic belief in four heavenly streams mentioned in the Qur’an. This article does not intend to analyze or rule out the idea that the structure of Iranian gardens was influenced by heaven as a concept rather it argues against the influence of heaven as any exact form. The idea of a world divided into four parts is based either on legend or on the Torah which considers the Garden of Aden as man’s first dwelling place. However, there is no written document to prove that Iranians believed in a four-part world in the pre-Islamic era. In fact, Zoroastrian religious teachings reveal completely different ideas.