An Investigation of Understanding Realization of the Ritual landscape of Iranian Baths in Islamic Era Through the Texts, Motifs and StructuresCase Study of Ritual Motifs and Manifestations: Ganjali-Khan Bath in Kerman

The bath and bathing process beyond a place, and consequently an activity related to the individual and public health, has traditionally been a communal activity in Iranian society which, gradually and as a result of the entry of human mentality into an architectural communal space over time, has become subject to the objective-subjective rule. And because of the effects of the social connections, religious beliefs, the influence of classified society and cultural traditions into the framework having the hierarchy of access, privacy, communal and service space, it has become a phenomenon beyond a communal activity, personal practice, or related to a particular social group. Moreover, in addition to surrounding all these groups because of the considerable time spent by the people of traditional society in this framework, and rooting this building in urban plazas, neighborhoods, alleys and lanes over a long period of the history of Iranian human life, the bath has taken an unconscious form, coupled with custom and religious beliefs and, in other words, has become a social ritual. This paper has attempted to prove the claim that bathing is more than an individul health practice, and in fact is a ritual social activity in the traditional society of Iran, through the understanding of the “social behavior of the bath” and related events by using two following study procedures. These two study procedures are 1. examining library resources including the study of historical and literary texts, besides 2. field study of the motifs and structures of Iranian baths based on the Study of Ganjali-khan bath in Kerman, as one of the most excellent baths in urban plazas in Iran.