In Qajar-era Iran, there were no established institutions for health and hygiene. Only the Municipality, which had existed since the Constitutional Revolution, had a department called “Health Preservation” that was responsible for the city’s health and medical affairs.
This department defined regulations for many “sensitive” professions in the city. In Isfahan, in 1311, regulations for the city’s public baths were announced through local newspapers. According to these regulations, every public bath had to have at least one shower. This was the beginning of Isfahan Municipality’s involvement in the matter of showers in the city’s hammams (traditional public bathhouses). After a while, the city administration turned its attention to the hammams in the surrounding districts; in those areas, the district governors were responsible for implementing the regulations.
In this article, we examine the process of improving sanitation in Rehnan’s hammams, with a focus on the “Mashadeh neighborhood.” First and foremost, it is important to note that at the time, Rehnan was administratively under the jurisdiction of the “Sedeh District” (present-day Khomeini Shahr).
Washing the Deceased in Public Baths
It may seem strange today, but in those days, the deceased were also washed in public baths. Therefore, health officials felt compelled to combat this harmful tradition. The municipalities were the executive arm of this endeavor. In 1314, municipalities began taking steps to prevent this practice.
In Bahman 1314, the principal of the government school in Rehnan sent a letter to the governor of Isfahan. They wrote to the governor: “The water in the baths is polluted, and since no measures are taken to prevent individuals afflicted with diseases such as ringworm and others from entering the baths, these waters are contaminated with all kinds of contagious disease germs, affecting even healthy children. Moreover, since there is no mortuary in this village and the dead are washed in the bathwater, as a result, people are generally susceptible to various diseases.” The governor ordered the relevant departments, including the Sedeh district office (of which Rahnan was a village), to follow up on the matter. The managers of the Sedeh district first gathered five bathhouse masters from Rehnan and obtained their commitment: “Firstly, they should change the water in the tanks every 25 days; secondly, they should strictly prohibit individuals with ringworm from entering the baths; thirdly, they should not allow clothes to be washed in the baths; fourthly, they should Prevent the washing of corpses in the bathhouses.”
Shortly thereafter, the Sedeh district’s municipal physician visited the village of Rehnan and sent a report on its sanitary conditions to higher authorities. Regarding the baths, he stated: “The waters of all the baths were immediately drained and replenished. All the bath attendants in the aforementioned village were obliged to stop washing the deceased in the baths and to renew the bathwater every twenty-five days. They were also required to prevent people with ringworm and other contagious diseases from entering the baths. If anyone objected, they were to report it to the Sedeh Municipality. Two cesspools in the middle of the village had been cut off, which were the cause and breeding ground for various diseases and, moreover, contaminated their drinking water wells. This was the main request of the residents regarding these two bathhouse cesspools.”
However, where were they supposed to wash the deceased? They had been washing their dead in those places for years, if not centuries. This faced considerable opposition. In any case, washing the deceased in public baths became considered an unsanitary and prohibited practice.
Documents reveal that public baths were a hotbed for contagious diseases, particularly ringworm. People, often unaware of the risks, would even attempt to treat their skin conditions in these very same baths. Additionally, baths were commonly used for washing clothes, a practice that also needed to be prohibited.
The issue of preventing the washing of the deceased in baths persisted for a decade, until 1328, when the Sedeh municipality was forced to gather the city’s bath attendants and undertakers and obtain their commitment to cease washing the dead in the baths. The practice of shaving and grooming in baths was another topic of discussion during that era and is a fascinating aspect of social history. The reluctance of the common people to use showers and their preference for traditional baths is also a noteworthy point.
