- The Alburz mountain range is situated in the North-east of modern day Iran, stretching from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan. It is the most prominent range of mountains in West Asia. Its highest peak is Mount Demavand which is located in Amol city in the province of Mazandaran. The word Alborz means “the tall guard.”
- Alburz is known as Hara-berez in the Avesta and Harburz in Pahlavi. It is referred in cosmological as well as historical writings. In Zamyad Yasht it is mentioned as the first mountain to appear on the earth. Ahura Mazda created it for Meher Yazad, so that the heavenly bodies could go around it. It is considered so high that poetically it is said that the Ameshaspands oversee the entire material world from there and its peak reaches the stars, moon and the sun. The Alborz was considered the source of the Aredvi Sura Anahita, from the peak of which it, poured down into the sea Vourukasha. The place from where the river Aredvi emerges is referred to as Hukairya.
- The Shahnameh describes it as an enormous mountain. It mentions that Faranak left her infant son Faridun on Mt. Alburz in the care of a holy man, where he was trained. At the age of sixteen he came down from there along with Kaveh to defeat the evil Zohak. Saam, the king of Zabulistan, cast away his son Zaal on the Alburz mountain, where Simurgh the saintly man looked after him and brought him up till he was found later and brought back to the city. Later, Zaal sent his son Rustam to Alburz mountains to look for Kae Kobad and bring him to take over the reigns of Iran, thus starting the Kayanian dynasty. King Kae Kaus, the second king, ordered the foot of Mt. Alburz to be excavated and two cellars dug under it to serve as stables for horses and mules.
- Kings Hoshang and Jamshed went to the Alburz mountain to worship Yazads like Avan, Gosh and Ram.
- Mt. Alburz is also considered to be the dwelling place of Peshotan, brother of king Kae Vishtasp, who was blessed with an immortal body by prophet Zarathushtra.
Ramiyar Karanjia 