Kal-e Jeni Canyon, a Natural Attraction in Iran
Kal-e Jeni Canyon in Tabas is one of the most beautiful natural wonders that you can see on your tour to Iran. This canyon is located in South-Khorasan province and has shaped by water movement and erosion throughout centuries.
The water of Kal-e Jeni is being transferred by a canal to a village called Tashkuni that historians believe is the village that Cyrus the Great spent first 16 years of his life in there. Kal-e Jeni means the canal of Jinn and is known as a mysterious place among the locals of the area.
Historians believe there are three reasons for naming this canyon the canal of Jinn. The first is because of its mysterious looking columns, arcs, and walls that people believe it was the house of jinn and alien creatures.
Another reason is that if on a windy day you stand in the valley, the jinn will throw pebbles at you! The real reason for the pebbles hitting you is when the wind blows, it can easily remove the soft conglomerate of the canyon so the sand and pebbles from the walls will hit your body, but the locals think the Jinn are doing it.
The third reason is that there are rooms carved in the walls of the valley which their real function is not found yet, but the historians believe the followers of Mithraism used these rooms to hold their Chelehs in them. There is a narrow and short hall where at its end there is a vertical tunnel that goes up to a set of ten rooms. Cheleh was a religious ritual in which some people would isolate themselves for forty nights in one place. So in order to protect this ceremony, followers of Mithra chose the name Kal-e Jeni for this canyon to scare people and avoid any interruption by them.
When you visit this gorgeous canyon you will understand the name is absolutely suitable, it is an overpowering mysterious and atmospheric place.
Because the local residents saw Kal-e Jenni as a cryptic place it did not gain the attention it deserved from Iranians or those who are on a tour to Iran. But today more Iranians are starting to know this gorgeous phenomenon made by hands of the Mother Nature. On holidays many people spend long distances to go to the city of Tabas to visit this stunning canyon.
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