Oct
19
2011
I visited Tajikistan from October 4 through 9 for business and took the opportunity to discover a country I had not visited before. I managed to visit a broad cross section of the country except for the Pamir Mountains region. Which will be for the next time … This was a perfect time of the year to visit as the autumn was starting and the leaves were starting to change color. The beauty of the country lies in the ruggedness of the terrain and the genuine hospitality of the people.
The Tajiks like all the other people of Central Asia are very welcoming. They great you with nothing but kindness and make you their guest of honor. They will offer you a very rich table of food. With their Persian roots they do stand out from the rest of Turkic and Mongolic origin Central Asia. They can rely on a long history and rich cultural heritage. .
Istaravshan in the north near Khudjand is a small town with a rich history. Alexander the Great stormed its Sogdian fortress, killed all the men forresisting, and abducted all the women back to Khudjand. It also features a beautiful small blue domed maddrassah named after Abdullatif Sultan, son of Ulugbek who built the Observatory in Samarkand, himself son of Tamerlane, and who is claimed to have killed his father Ulgubek whom he considered too “liberal” by throwing him off the roof of the observatory.
Khojand, the second largest city of Tajikistan, is situated in the north of the country in the fertile Fergana valley. It distinctly feels more Uzbek than Tajik. It was founded by Alexander the Great and is more than 2’500 years old. It was called Alexandria Eschate or Alexandria the Furthest.
Panjikent is the Pompeii of the East. The old hilltop city a few km east to the current one was destroyed by fire set by the Arab conquerors who invaded in 722AD. As the walls collapsed inwards they preserved beautiful frescoes that were decorating the inner walls. These frescoes that can be viewed in the museum in Panjikent and in Dushanbe are a testimony to the richness of the city as a key center on the old silk route.
Sarazm, about 10 km west of Panjikent and near the border with Uzbekistan is a recently inscribed UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a reputedly over 5’000 years old settlement in Central Asia. We were lucky enough when visiting it that we managed to get explanations from a visiting French archeological team. They explained that excavations which also resulted in the discovery of the remains of a buried rich lady, showed this settlement 5000 years ago interacted with civilizations at the Indian Ocean, China, Mesopotamia and with the nomadic cultures of north Central Asia as evidenced by the jewelry, pottery and materials in the grave.
In the small town of Panjrud about 15 km off the main road to and about 45 km before Panjikent, one can find the mausoleum of the Persian poet Rudaki. It is set in beautiful gardens against the backdrop of the Fan mountains. Rudaki is the founder of modern Persian. He is especially honored in Tajikistan as one of their great heroes. He was born in the 9th Century and was a great poet at the court of Amir Nasr of Bukhara. His clear simple language became the standard for modern Persian.
Last Updated: 19-10-2011
Copyright © 2011 Hans Dewaele – All rights reserved
Aug
28
2011
On August 12-14 I stayed behind a few days in Mongolia after a business trip to visit a few sites I had not seen before. The first stop was the monastery at Amarbayasgalant. It’s situated in a beautiful green valley which this particular week looked like a huge camping site filled with gers and tents as people from all over Mongolia converged on these days to the monastery for special prayers in support of business. I stayed overnight in a ger camp right next to the monastery. It’s one of the best preserved monasteries in Mongolia and counts among the three most important ones along with Erdene Zuu Khiid in Harhorin and Gandan Khiid in Ulaan Baatar. It was built in the first half of the 18th century and dedicated to the great Mongolian buddhist Zanabazar.
After Amarbayasgalant I went to Hustai National Park in particular to look for the many monuments related to the Turkic civilization and some of which are dating back to the early Bronze and Iron age. Hustai is located about 100km west of Ulaan Baatar. Hustai is a huge park where the Przewalki horses have been re-introduced. It has a very rich wildlife, beautiful nature and vistas together with the archeological remnants of the the Turkic and pre-Turkic civilizations. The park is enormous at 50’600 hectare. No roads and no signage. So looking for ancient monuments can be a challenge. Thank God for the GPS and for a good driver.
While driving about in the park and following a well trodden track, I was lucky to observe from a distance the outcrop of a small standing stone. As this did not appear to be a natural phenomenon, I got out of the car and started walking towards the stone. I then realized I had found myself in a large graveyard of square stone graves. The stone I had first noticed seemed like a headstone on the east side of the tomb. It is carved with parallel lines pointing down. What was striking with the location of the graveyard is that all bronze and iron age people seemed to look for the proximity of water, a slightly inclined slope and a view of the hills or mountains when they searched for a site for a grave. Very similar to what I have seen in Kazakhstan.
The square stone graves I had stumbled upon were very similar to bronze age stone graves I have seen in Kazakhstan, except these in Hustai park where each several times bigger. Based on the information from the Hustai National Park website the east corner of each tomb is marked with a standing tall stone called a Serege. The Serege was supposedly used to tether a horse. Sofar about 160 of these graves have been recorded. The site I stumbled upon had at least about 30-40.
The valleys opening up to the open plain and the Tuul river are dotted with large stone covered burial mounds – kurgan as they are called in Kazakhstan. Some are lined of with an outer circle of stones, others are marked with an outer square of stones. These burial mounds date from the 2nd to the 1st century BC while the square tombs dated from the 3rd to the 2nd century BC. Apparently about 19 of these mounds have been recorded. I must have seen and stropped at bout 5-6 of these.
One remarkable site is a burial mound high up in a valley which is marked by what is called a “deer stone”. Its head stone with beautiful deer engravings with elaborate and beautiful circular antlers. Apparently only 1 such stone has been discovered in the park while over 800 are spread over Mongolia. This stone is claimed to date to the 2nd century BC.
Another spectacular site is the assembly of Ongot stone monuments in the plain between the mountains and the river Tuul. Based on the information from the Hustai National Park website the Ongot stone monuments date back to the period when Mongolia was a part of the Turkic Empire (552-742 B.C). The Ongot is the biggest collection of stone monuments in Asia, with over 30 stones carved into man and animal figures. Ongot stones carved into lion and sheep figures have particular symbolic and cultural significance. For instance, the lion is the symbol of safety and peace while the sheep was one of main sacrificial offerings. About 600 man stones have so far been discovered in Mongolia. There are three varieties of man stones representing sitting, crouching or standing forms. Sitting man stones represent high ranking noblemen, while standing forms represent slaves and servant girls. Next to them, in the shape of an X, decorated, rectangular stone slabs are placed for use as an altar. It is thought that offerings of food and meat were originally placed on these.
There are 552 balbal standing stones in a line stretching from the Ongot to the south-east. Local elders repeat old legends, one of which claims that the stones represent the number of enemies killed or the number of battles won; in another version, the stones are said to point in the direction of heaven and to act as a guide for departing human souls.
About 50km south of Ulaanbaatar Manzushir Khiid overlooks a beautiful valley with plenty of different types of trees, birch, cedar, pine, littered with boulders. Sadly the entire site suffered at the hands of the Stalinist purge of 1937 with only a few walls of the over 20 temples left standing. A smaller temple next to where the main temple used to be has been rebuilt in wood. The pictures and models in it depicting the site before its destruction give an impression of how beautiful a complex it must have been. Climbing up behind the temple one can reach a few small prayer huts which offer great views over the alley as a reward for the arduous climb.
Last Updated: 28-08-2011
Copyright © 2011 Hans Dewaele – All rights reserved
Aug
6
2011
On Sunday 31 July I decided to follow in the footsteps of William of Rubrouck on his way to Karakorum, the capital of Genghis Khan. William was of Flemish origin and he was a Franciscan friar ordered by King Louis IX to travel to the court of Möngke Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan who had passed away in 1227, with the objective to deliver a message of peace but really to discover his true intents with regards to Europe. Catholic Europe was divided and fighting crusaders wars and hence in no position to defend itself from an invasion by Genghis Khan’s army. Hence the “ambassadorship” of William.
On his long journey from Constantinople, present day Istanbul, which started on 7 May 1253 and was completed with his arrival at Tripoli, in present–day Lebanon, on 15 August 1255, William passed, amongst others, through present day Kazakhstan. He describes extensively two of his resting places. First, on 8 November 1253, he enters Kinchat which must be near present day Taldykorgan where he only stays the night and has the opportunity to try wine as there are vineyards there. On 9 November they depart and reach Kaylak on 18 November. So it took him about 10 days to cover 200km by foot and ox cart. Today Kaylak is known as Koylyk or Antonovka. He rested there for 12 days.
I first learned of Kaylak from an article in the Air Astana in-flight magazine Tengri (issue 2 of 2009). The article was a well written and documented write-up on archeological surveys and digs that took place. These were undertaken by the Institute of Archeology of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Prof. Karl Baypakov, the head of the department and the author of the article. This triggered my curiosity and I set out to research where the exact location could be and I decided to read the journal William of Rubrouck kept of his voyage.
Today not much is visible from what used to be Kaylak. The archeological excavations are completed. The research is done. As a result to protect the site the digs have been refilled. Some only partially possibly indicating that archeologists may want to return for more research. On site which is only partially covered is the old mosque that was unearthed. One can still very clearly see the what must have been the base for the pillars supporting the roof. It is recognizable as it is featured as an aerial photograph in the Air Astana in-flight article. Other digs were not recognizable.
It was clear when walking around that in some instances not a big effort was made to cover the digs. As a result I got lucky and stumbled on what appears to be a round millstone, very smooth with a perfect opening in the middle. It was half covered by vegetation. The archeologists probably left not more than 2 years ago and already the site is being overgrown again. Clearly it is no surprise that hundreds of years later after a site has been abandoned by its people it’s very difficult to find it back when you see how well nature covers it in dust and vegetation in a mere two years.
Last Updated: 06-08-2011
Copyright © 2011 Hans Dewaele – All rights reserved