The Ateshgyakh(18th century), which means "home of fire", is in the district of Surakhany, 15 km from Baku. They say these ancient fires gave Azerbaijan its name,which means " a land of fires". Arab invaders destroyed all the cult temples of fire-worshippers on the territory of Azerbaijan. Centuries passed and Islam became the country's official religion. Azerbaijan exchanged cultural values with many countries. One of them was India,where fire is still sacred today. The Indians paid to the local ruler for the right to build cells,a prayer room and a guestroom at the temple. The inscriptions on stones set in the walls,made in Sanskrit and Hindi,testify to the Indian origin of the fire-worshippers temple at Surakhany. Today the temple is a unique monument of world culture.
