Gurgāb melon, (Kharbuze-ye Gurgāb)

Gurgāb melon, (Kharbuze-ye Gurgāb) one of the fruit varieties of the Burkhār region, including Sīn and Gurgāb, located in the north of Isfahan.

In the early sources,¹ and in the Isfahani dialect* and the surrounding areas, kharbuze also appears in the forms kharbūze and kharbīze. ²It was among the fruits characterized by remarkable diversity and abundance, and it was available to the population during summer, early autumn, and occasionally even in winter.³ In the historical sources, the Arabic term beṭṭīkh (including melon and cucumber) and dār al-beṭṭīkh*⁴(a marketplace for selling melons, cucumbers, and squash) are frequently attested.⁵

The first element of the word kharbuze (khar), meaning “large” or “big,” appears in the names of fruits such as khar-tut (a large mulberry) and khar-amburūd (a large pear), as well as in the names of animals such as khar-magas (horsefly), khar-chang (crab), and khar-gūsh (rabbit). The second element (buze/būze), meaning “fruit,” occurs in names such as tarbuze/tarbūze (watermelon) and kumbuze/kumbūze (an unripe fruit of the melon family, including cantaloupe, and melon). In Dehkhudā’s Dictionary, khar is defined as “large” or “great,” and buze as a “sweet and fragrant fruit,” and the Gurgāb melon of Isfahan is described as the finest variety of melon.⁶ It has also been noted that in ancient Iran the cucumber was referred to as būze, and that kharbuze in fact originally meant “large cucumber”.⁷ The Etymological Dictionary of the Persian Language likewise alludes to this interpretation under kharbūze/kharbuze: “Abaev considers it probable that the word derives from the Sanskrit trapusa [meaning cucumber], which, under the influence of the Persian word khar, was transformed into kharbūze/kharbuze [‘large cucumber’]”.⁸

Little information is available regarding the origin, history, and diversity of the melon. It has been related that, upon first encountering a melon, a person—seeking to ensure that it was safe to eat—cut the fruit in half, gave one half to his donkey [ Khar in Persian [ and the other to his goat] buz in Persian]. When both animals ate it and remained unharmed, the fruit came to be called khar-buze (“donkey–goat”).⁹ According to a popular folk etymology, since the shape of the melon was likened to the snout ]pūze[ of a donkey, it was called khar-puze/khar-buze. In traditional medical literature, the temperament of the melon is described as warm and moist, and numerous medicinal properties are attributed to it. Given the high mineral content of Isfahan’s water, physicians in the past treated patients suffering from kidney and bladder stones by prescribing melon and its juice.¹⁰ The belief that melon and honey should not be consumed together is among the proverbs commonly current among the general population.¹¹

The Gurgāb melon is regarded as one of the most delicious varieties of melon. According to Eqbāl Āshtīyānī, among the various melons cultivated in Isfahan, the finest and most superior type was that produced in the small villages, Sīn and Gurgāb, where it was known as laṭīfī melon. This melon was exceptionally fragrant, tender and brittle in texture, white in color, and unrivaled in sweetness and pleasant flavor.¹²

It appears that the earliest description of the melon of Isfahan is found in ṣūrat al-arḍ* by Ebn Ḥawqal (ca. 961–962/350). In his account of the fruits of Isfahan, he writes: “The fruits of that place [Isfahan] are so sweet, wholesome, and good that what is left over is as fresh and lively as what has just been picked, such as pears and ṣīnī …”.¹³ In explaining the term ṣīnī, derived from Ṣīn/Sīn, Hunarfar identifies it as a type of melon that was cultivated in the village of Sīn*, to the north of Isfahan.¹⁴ Ebn Baṭṭūṭa*, the Moroccan traveler, in the section on Iran in his safar-name (1326–1327/727), mentions a variety of melon in Isfahan that was extremely sweet, with a green rind and a red interior, and states that no comparable example could be found anywhere in the world except in Kh^wārazm and Bukhārā.¹⁵ Chardin*, the French traveler, likewise compares the melons of Isfahan, in terms of sweetness, with those of Kh^wārazm and Bukhārā.¹⁶

The most precise description of the melons of Sīn and Gurgāb is provided by Arbāb Eṣfahānī in his nesf-e jahān fī taʿrīf al-Isfahan* (1882–1883/1300).¹⁷ He describes Gurgāb as a small and recently established village, and Sīn as one of the large and important villages of Isfahan, noting that both were well known for their distinctive melons.¹⁸ He further states that their principal cultivation fields were located in the Burkhār* region.¹⁹ Arbāb Eṣfahānī then lists the varieties of Gurgāb melons as laṭīfī, sabz-e musammā,²⁰ and ebrāhīmī. These melons could be stored and preserved until Nawrūz.²¹ It thus appears that until the mid-Qajar period the melons of Sīn enjoyed greater renown, but with the growth and development of Gurgāb, the fame of Gurgāb melons gradually surpassed that of Sīn.

Historical sources also explicitly emphasize the brittleness and sweetness of the Gurgāb melon. By way of example, Furṣat Shīrāzī, who stayed in Isfahan for two months, while considering the Gurgāb melon to be in no need of praise or eulogy, wrote about it: “It is well known—and was indeed observed—that whenever a rider gallops past its melon fields, the melons crack and burst open,” and “more remarkable still, whenever a needle is inserted into a Gurgāb melon, it immediately splits apart and separates”.²²

Taḥvīldār*, writing in the same period, also refers to the autumn melons of Isfahan, which he considers to be exclusive to the “two villages of Gurgāb and Sīn” in the Burkhār region.²³ He writes: “The superior Gorgāb melon cannot make its way intact from the garden to its fortress and village … As for its delicacy and brittleness, it suffices to say that from the prick of a single needle it splits from top to navel, and—without exaggeration—at the sound of a galloping steed’s hooves from two hundred paces away, it bursts open”.²⁴ Among further corroborating evidence are similar remarks repeated by Mīrzā Ghulām-Hussein Afḍal al-Mulk* (d. 1890/1308), in his safar-name-ye Isfahan, based on the two aforementioned sources.²⁵ Muhammad-Ali Jamālzāde* likewise mentions the cultivation of the Gurgāb melon—referring to it as the tung-e ṭalāʾī (“golden jug” melon)—in the hard and compact soils of Isfahan.²⁶

In his Jughrāfīyā-ye Isfahan, Jalāl al-Dīn Humāyī* regards the various kinds of melons—especially those of Sīn and Gurgāb—as among the finest fruits of Isfahan, enjoying worldwide renown, and lists their varieties as laṭīfī, ḥusaynī, sabz-e musammā, and ebrāhīmī.²⁷ The ebrāhīmī melon, with a yellow rind and red flesh, was the finest variety cultivated in the village of Sīn, and was considered equal in quality to the Gurgāb melon. Among the most important characteristics of the melons of Sīn and Gurgāb, and the basis of their superiority over other varieties, was their remarkable keeping quality: they did not spoil at all and could be preserved from one year to the next.²⁸ According to some sources, farmers harvested melons at the beginning of autumn and sometimes stored them on clay soil, covered with straw, keeping them until the eve of Navrūz.²⁹

With regard to the methods of planting and harvesting this melon, it should be noted that the market gardener first levels the field or melon patch with sandy loam soil (a mixture of sand and clay with good drainage), and then forms it into furrows and ridges. Water is then let into the furrows until the soil is thoroughly moistened. One or two days later, at the points where the irrigation water is warmest, small pits are made by hand or with a small hoe on both sides along the ridges, and several seeds are placed together in each pit. After adding a small amount of ash or plant refuse, once the seeds have germinated the seedlings are thinned, leaving only the strongest plants, while the rest are gently crushed with the fingernails. After some time, surplus shoots of the new plant are again reduced by hand and fingernail; in agricultural terms, this process is known as thinning and earthing up, so that a green, cucumber-like melon begins to emerge. Thereafter, the melon is carefully and skillfully turned by hand on the soil every day, so that all sides receive sunlight and its curvature becomes uniform. During this period, it is supplied with water and a special fertilizer.³⁰ From earlier sources—especially Safavid*- and Qajar-period travelogues—it appears that this fertilizer was largely obtained from collected animal manure, in particular pigeon droppings, which are richer in nitrogen and were harvested from pigeon towers.³¹

The author of burj-hā-ye kabūtar-e Isfahan (The Pigeon Towers of Isfahan) considers the principal reason for the emergence and construction of pigeon towers to have been the use of pigeon droppings as fertilizer for melon patches, especially for melons, and maintains that the worldwide fame of Isfahan’s melons was due to the application of this very manure.³² In the travel accounts of numerous European travelers—including Engelbert Kaempfer, Arthur de Gobineau, Jean Chardin, George Curzon, Charles James Wills, Jane Dieulafoy, Ernst Holster, and Frederick Richards—in addition to remarks on the remarkable architecture of the pigeon towers, explicit reference is also made to this practice.³³

The traditional knowledge of planting, tending, and harvesting the Gurgāb melon was registered as part of Iran’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage on 25 June 2010/12 Rajab 1431. Today, this variety of melon is cultivated far less frequently, and it may be that little more than its name has survived.

/Hossein Masjedi & Ḥeshmatullāh Entekhabi/

Bibliography

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1. For example, see: Bayhaqī, p. 280; tawḥīd al-mufaḍḍal, p. 201.[↩]
2. In the dialects surrounding Isfahan, kharbuze is also pronounced kharbīze, just as kumbūze is pronounced kumbīze (Eḥteshāmī Hūnegānī, p. 214).[↩]
3. See, for example, Della Valle (p. 49), who in his memoirs of March 1617/995, while describing the delicious taste of the excellent melons of Isfahan, states: “This kind of melon is available throughout the entire winter.”[↩]
4. Dār al-beṭṭīkh, or dālbatī, was the name of a quarter dating from the Seljuk period, located to the east of Emāmzāde Esmā‛īl in Isfahan, where the tombs of Sultan Malek-shah and Neẓām al-Mulk were situated. It is said that this area was devoted to the market of melon sellers. Jean Chardin, in the late Safavid period, refers to the guild of melon sellers and to a market bearing the same name, noting: “There are melon sellers who sell a slice of melon for as much as one dīnār” (2000/1379, p. 35).[↩]
5. For example, see: Ṭabarī, vol. 8, p. 151.[↩]
6. Dehkhudā, 1998/1377, vol. 7, p. 9647.[↩]
7. Mīr-‛Aẓīmī, p. 88.[↩]
8. Ḥasan-Dūst, vol. 2, p. 1118.[↩]
9. Brugsch, p. 272.[↩]
10. For example, see: Rāzī, p. 156; Ḥakīm Maysarī, pp. 247–248; and in the contemporary period, see also: Mīr-‛Aẓīmī, p. 88.For example, see: Rāzī, p. 156; Ḥakīm Maysarī, pp. 247–248; and in the contemporary period, see also: Mīr-‛Aẓīmī, p. 88.[↩]
11. Dehkhudā, 2004/1383, vol. 2, p. 687. See also the belief that “honey and melon do not go together” (Anvarī et al., vol. 1, p. 393).[↩]
12. Eqbāl Āshtīyānī, p. 294.[↩]
13. Ebn Ḥawqal, p. 107.[↩]
14. Hunarfar, p. 25.[↩]
15. Ebn Baṭṭūṭa, vol. 1, p. 246.[↩]
16. Chardin, 1993–1996/1372–1375, vol. 5, p. 1772.[↩]
17. Arbāb Eṣfahānī, p. 117.[↩]
18. Ibid., p. 300.[↩]
19. Ibid., p. 118.[↩]
20. Its meaning is unclear. In some sources it is recorded as sabz-e mesī (coppery green). However, both Arbāb Eṣfahānī (p. 117) and Humāyī (p. 540) record it as sabz-e musammā, meaning a fruit whose color and name are both green.[↩]
21. The claim that the Gorgāb melon could be preserved until Nowruz is significant in light of the proverb: “A melon does not remain unblemished until winter” (Anvarī et al., vol. 1, p. 392).[↩]
22. Furṣat Shīrāzī, vol. 1, pp. 63–64.[↩]
23. Taḥvīldār, p. 62.[↩]
24. Ibid., pp. 62–63.[↩]
25. Afḍal al-Mulk, pp. 78–79, 95.[↩]
26. Jamālzāde, p. 14.[↩]
27. Humāyī, p. 540.[↩]
28. Ibid., p. 564.[↩]
29. Mīr-‛Aẓīmī, p. 34.[↩]
30. Shāh-Manṣūrī, interview dated 27 October 2025/5 Ābān 1404.[↩]
31. Chardin, 1993–1996/1372–1375, vol. 2, pp. 748, 865, 868; Polak, p. 363.[↩]
32. Maḥmūdīyān and Chītsāz, pp. 34, 58.[↩]
33. Ibid., pp. 39–65.[↩]