Novbahar

Novbahar the Arabic name of a famous temple or mosque which the ancestors of the Barnecides, one of the most illustrious families of Persia, founded in the town of Balk, on the model of the Kaaba, or magnificent temple of Mecca. This mosque. was covered with silk, and surrounded with sixty chapels, in which the pilgrims, who resorted thither in great numbers, performed their devotions. Those who had the care of this mosque had the name of

Barmek, from that of the founders. See Broughton, Hist. of Religions, s.v. SEE KAABA.