Returning to Varakhsha

Aleksandr Naymark

Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York

There are archaeological monuments in order to update it in the context of extensive ruins lie buried; in this and archaeological monuments. After recently-studied monuments and to place after rain, people go to dig a while you start distinguishing a kind make use of materials brought to light for such articles, and find a great of individual presence in these hills. by the last decades of research. many; particularly plate, and uten- Some of them are grim and unfriendly, sils of gold and silver, for all of others leave a light, pleasant imprint which they find a ready market with on your soul. Varakhsha is one of the The very first Sogdian archeologi- Russian merchants, who, he as- most welcoming and enjoyable sites cal site sured me, would give five times where I have been fortunate to exca- their weight for such articles of vate. Even the wind performing its A British artist and adventurer, James metal, and a very high price for all lonely dance in the roofless empty halls Fraser, who collected information about carved gems. I should indeed have of the palace sounds like a distant cho- the Uzbek Khanates while traveling in doubted greatly the rates he rale. As to the Sogdian lunar god Mah, Khorasan in 1821 and 1822, mentioned quoted for such things, and would whose light floods the uninterrupted that the Bukharan oasis would have believed that it was a trick to dreamy plains stretching from the foot induce me to make purchases, had of the citadel to the flat horizon, I have afford a rich field to the antiquar- it not been for the prices actually not seen him so beautiful in any other ian, for there are several sites of demanded by others in Mushed, part of the world. These personal feel- ancient cities scattered over it, and those which he himself offered ings make me wish to revisit the site, among the ruins of which, gems, for individual articles, which con- but, by themselves, they do not con- coins, medals, and various antique vinced me that the merchants of stitute a legitimate reason for a schol- utensils and arms are to be found. Bockhara had found ready, and arly return to Varakhsha, a monument One person who was himself a probably ignorant purchasers for which has held an exceptional place in dealer in such articles, mentioned things of which they could hardly the history of exploration of Sogdiana. to me a city called Khojahwooban, be judges. [Fraser, p. 98] Such a scholarly re-examination is nec- which he described as having been essary for our understanding of the site overwhelmed by sand, under which Fifteen years later, another British trav- eler, Alexander Burnes wrote:

About twenty-five miles north-west of Bokhara, and on the verge of the desert, there lie the ruins of an ancient city, called Khojuoban, and which is assigned by tradition to the age of the caliph Omar. Mahommedans seldom go beyond the era of their Prophet, and this proves nothing. There are many coins to be procured in this neigh- borhood; and I am fortunate in possessing several beautiful speci- mens, which have turned out to be genuine relics of the monarchs of Bactria. They are of silver, and nearly as large as a half-crown piece. A head is stamped on one side, and a figure is seated on the reverse. The execution of the former is very superior; and the ex- pression of features and spirit of the whole do credit even to the age

9 of Greece, to which it may be said oasis appears in a local chronicle as twenty-first day is then New Year’s they belong. They brought numer- early as the late Ashtarkhanid period day, and they call it the New Year’s ous antiques from the same place, [Tali - Semenov 1959, p. 138]. The rea- day of the farmers. The farmers of representing the figures of men son why the name of the one and not Bukhara reckon from that (day) and animals cut out on cornelians very significant site was extended to and count from it. The New Year’s and other stones. Some of these the large territory was the great popu- day of the Magians is five days bore a writing that differs from any larity of the mazar, the “holy grave” later. [Narshakhi-Frye 1954, p. 18] which I have before seen, and re- situated on the top of the archaeologi- sembled Hindee. [Burnes, pp. 319- cal mound of Khwaja Uban. [Among As we know from ethnographic mate- 320] the early descriptions is that by rials, Central Asian festivals of this type Vambery. The most detailed is Shishkin required participation of local lords or Indeed coins and gemstones presented 1963, p. 134; for fictionalized descrip- squires - dihqans, whose role was to in the engraved plates illustrating tion of life on this mazar in the early start the agricultural year by plowing Burnes’ book are of great interest. twentieth century, see Aini 1949, p. 210 the first furrow. The “farmer’s New ff.]. Bukharans shared a popular belief Year” of the entire Bukharan oasis The same Khwaja Uban was said to be that this mazar had special healing would require participation of the a source of important finds under the powers and the complex of the build- Dihqan of Bukhara, i.e. the Bukhar Russian colonial rule. The famous Rus- ings constructed in the fifteenth to Khuda, originally the king and then a sian scholar and eager collector of gem- nineteenth centuries on the top of the descendant of the kings. This very well stones, Alexander Semenov mentions mound served as a makhaw khona - corresponds to various passages in that one of the most resourceful people “a reservation for lepers.” In other contemporary early Islamic writings trading in antiques at the turn of the words, it was not the Khwaja Uban site, (for example: Biruni, Firdawsi) ascrib- 20th century used to say that the most but the huge zone of desolate lands of ing to dihqans and kings from old dy- precious of his objects came from ancient irrigation in the western part nasties the function of the ritual lead- Khwaja Uban [Semenov 1957, pp. 149- of the Bukharan oasis (about 700 sq. ers of the agricultural community. 150]. Semenov thought that his in- km), that produced such a large vol- formant referred to the site situated in ume of various archaeological finds. Apart from the temporary political and the now deserted area beyond the Yet, there is little, if any, doubt that religious significance connected to its western border of the Bukharan oasis the ruins of the ancient city “over- residence status, well-fortified on the road to Khoresm [Semenov whelmed by sand” mentioned by Fraser Varakhsha was an important military 1945, p. 30]. and Burnes are the remains of outpost on the western border of the Varakhsha, by far the largest and the oasis [Muqaddasi - de Goeje 1906, p. The very first archaeological survey most impressive among the archaeo- 282]. It was also a considerable trade conducted in the area of Khwaja Uban logical sites situated in this zone. This center situated on the road between by Vasilii Shishkin in the early 1950s makes Varakhsha the very first Sogdian Bukhara and Khoresm [Istakhri - de established that the actual site bear- archaeological site mentioned in Euro- Goeje 1870, p. 338; Ibn Hawqal - de ing this name is rather small and did pean literature. Goeje 1873, p. 400] and in the contact not conform to this image of an anti- zone between the nomads and seden- quarian Klondike responsible for the gi- On the other hand, the name of tary population. As its population de- gantic volume of finds which through- Varakhsha was well known to the his- liberately rejected township rights, it out the nineteenth and early twentieth torians of Central Asian long before was considered “the largest of the vil- centuries filled the local market with Shishkin identified it with the mysteri- lages” in the Bukharan oasis [Narshaki antiquities. Shishkin’s survey brought ous Khwaja Uban. This was due to the - Frye 1954, p. 18], but we can safely to light almost no archaeological ma- important role that Varakhsha played assume that it was also a major center terial from the surrounding plain either. in local history during the dramatic of crafts, because Narshakhi states that Moreover, the hillock Khwaja Uban and period of the Arab conquests. At that the suburbs of Varakhsha “were like the area around it produced nothing time, the old Bukharan ruling family those of Bukhara” itself [Narshaki - datable prior to the fifteenth century, moved the royal court to Varakhsha, Frye 1954, p. 17; Naymark 1999, pp. except for the bricks of the early Is- thus turning it into the scene of many 49-50]. This statement of the chronicle lamic period which were re-used in the tragic events of their dynastic history. is supported by the discovery of the construction of the building itself traces of industrial quarters in [Shishkin 1963, p. 134]. This “residence” status may also ex- Varakhsha’s environs made in the plain the exceptional role that course of the surveys and small scale The explanation for this little mystery Varakhsha later played in the traditional excavations conducted by the archaeo- of Khwaja Uban turned out to be the pre-Islamic calendar of Bukhara. The logical expedition of the Museum of local toponyms. Shishkin pointed out history of Bukhara written by Oriental Art in the 1980s. Last, but that by the end of the nineteenth cen- Muhammad Narshakhi in 943-4 CE re- not least, Varakhsha was the center of tury the entire zone of the abandoned lates that a large agricultural area “irrigated by lands of ancient irrigation situated to the twelve canals” [Narshakhi - Frye the West of the Bukharan oasis was every (year) for fifteen days there 1954, p. 17]. called Chul’-i Khwaja Uban. We know is a market in this village, but when now that this designation of the desert the market is at the end of the year Varakhsha’s role in local history, and on the western fringes of the Bukharan they hold it for twenty days. The especially the abundance of the infor-

10 Source: Shishkin, Varakhsha (1963), facing p. 96 The Varkhsha palace (V.A. Nil’sen’s reconstruction) mation in written sources, attracted the with the representatives of Russian co- drafted once more, this time by the Red attention of scholars as early as the lonial administration (Zimin, for ex- Army. Following the end of the Civil nineteenth century, but it was Vladimir ample, perished in the hands of the War, he was ordered to Turkestan. Fas- Barthold who first suggested the cor- Baku Revolutionary Tribunal). The tur- cinated by Central Asia and not an army rect location of the ancient settlement moil of the Civil War (1918-1920) left man by persuasion, Shishkin demobi- by placing it near the well Varakhchin Russia ruined, and the subsequent pro- lized and by 1926 graduated from the had marked on the nineteenth-century cess of rebuilding the country’s Oriental Department of Tashkent Uni- maps [Barthol’d 1963, p. 167]. Later economy prevented the allocation of versity. In 1928, he received an ap- Barthold’s student and one of the first resources to support Central Asian ar- pointment to Bukhara as the local rep- serious amateur archaeologists of Rus- chaeological research. New investiga- resentative of the Uzbekistan commit- sian colonial Turkestan, L.A. Zimin, tions of ancient cultures of the area tee for the preservation of cultural heri- mentioned in the report on his archaeo- started in the second half of the 1920s tage. Despite the strained conditions logical trip to this area that the remains and reached a fairly significant scale and limited resources, he did a lot for of the ancient town were the large only by the second half of the 1930s. the preservation of Bukhara’s cultural mound Varakhsha and extensive adja- heritage. These, however, were the cent ruins [Zimin 1917, p. 131, n. 4]. By that time, Vasilii Shishkin, the man roughest years of the Soviet era when These were situated at a distance from who was destined to become the real almost any activity was pregnant with Bukhara which corresponds quite well discoverer of Varakhsha, had already trouble. Well versed in local languages, to the four farsakhs mentioned by spent a fairly significant amount of time Shishkin worked closely with the sur- Sam’ani [Bartol’d 1963, p. 167] or a in Bukhara. He originally did not plan viving Bukharan architects, ganchkors, one day trip reported by Ibn Hawqal to become an archaeologist at all. Born painters, embroiderers and other art- [Ibn Hawqal - de Goeje 1873, p. 400]. in 1889 in the village of Spaso-Talitskoe ists. Many of them were famous in the near Viatka, Shishkin followed the steps pre-Soviet era, and some worked on Vasilii Shishkin and archaeological of his father in selecting the profes- the orders of the former Amirs. Accord- exploration of Varakhsha sion of a teacher. After graduating from ing to the then existing practice, these Viatka College, he received an appoint- lucky ones were assigned a court rank. Yet Varakhsha had to wait for its true ment in the Siumsin Higher Initial Col- In 1936, however, the record of such a explorer for two more decades. Dur- lege as a teacher of drawing, but in formal affiliation with the Amir’s court ing the Bolshevik revolution the only September of 1915 was drafted into proved to be dangerous: when the two archaeological institutions of Rus- the army and fought on the south-west- wave of Stalin’s proscriptions reached sian Turkestan - the Tashkent and the ern front. With the end of the First Bukhara this “incriminating fact” Ashkhabad Circles of the Amateur Ar- World War in 1918, Shishkin returned started being used as sufficient pre- chaeologists - disappeared together to his peaceful occupation but was text to sentence a person to certain

11 death in Siberian camps. Shishkin tried The Varakhsha excavations, which had Institute of Archaeology of the to save old artists by using his official been interrupted by World War II, re- Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences re- status and the position of an outsider. sumed in 1949 and then continued for moved the paintings on the southern He testified on their behalf during the another six years. They stood out wall of the Blue Hall at Varakhsha, but court procedures, although he certainly among the contemporary archaeologi- without any effort to clarify the realized the danger of engaging in con- cal work in Central Asia because of the building’s history. In 1986-1991, the troversy with local secret police unusual attention devoted to the build- team from the Moscow Museum of Ori- (NKVD), which of course saw him as a ing history of the edifice and the me- ental Art conducted more or less ex- mere obstacle in their efforts to meet ticulous recording of different architec- tensive excavations on the site of their targets of a certain number of ar- tural materials. I believe that Shishkin’s Varakhsha, but because of conserva- rests and convictions. This “unwise be- initial education as a painter and his tion concerns, its work on the palace havior” labeled Shishkin, a Russian later interest in the history of architec- was mostly limited to the so-called from Viatka, as a “Bukharan national- ture were largely responsible for this eiwan in the western part of the pal- ist,” and one day a warrant was issued unusually advanced methodology. The ace. These small scale excavations dis- for his arrest. Shishkin’s personal popu- quality of the work on the excavation covered three different stages in the larity and a mere chance, however, turned Shishkin’s expedition into one history of this part of the building saved him - a well-wisher inside the of the major schools of Central Asian [Alpatkina 1999; Alpatkina 2002], but NKVD who happened to learn about the field work in which many future lead- provided practically no dating materi- pending arrest warned Shishkin sev- ing scholars, like archaeologist Lazar als. Unexpectedly interrupted in 1991, eral hours in advance. Shishkin caught Albaum, orientalist Nataliia D”iakonova, they could not solve the major prob- a train to Tashkent shortly prior to the the architect V. A. Nil’sen, and art his- lems related to the chronology of the beginning of the regular nightly har- torian V. A. Meshkeris were trained. different stages in the edifice’s build- vest by the NKVD. As often happened ing history, leaving us with the firm at the time, the prosecution did not Yet Varakhsha’s primacy in the study belief that more archaeological work is bother to pursue him; they could hardly of Central Asian adobe brick architec- needed. cope with the plan of proscriptions im- ture carried negative aspects as well. posed on them by the central author- The majority of simple “methodologies” Narshakhi’s story of the Varakhsha ity. Shishkin returned to Bukhara as a allowing an archaeologist to synchro- palace member of the Tashkent Institute of nize different stages in rebuilding of History and Archaeology a year later, adobe architectural structures, now Yet, it is possible to solve some of the when a new wave of repressions had considered to be the alpha and beta of puzzles even without excavations. In wiped out those NKVD investigators Central Asian archaeology, had not yet doing this, we can utilize some new themselves. Yet, after this incident he been developed at the time of data accumulated in Sogdian numis- completely switched to the safer field Varakhsha excavations. For example, matics, art history and archaeology in of archaeology and for a while did not excavators did not pay special atten- general. Even more beneficial, however, work in the city itself. tion to the passages between the may become yet another unique fea- rooms; in the majority of cases, no ef- ture of the Varakhsha palace: this pal- fort was made to establish the corre- ace is the only archaeologically known It is, however, a rare ill wind that blows spondence of numerous floor levels in Sogdian architectural structure which no good. Indeed, it was this dramatic neighboring rooms through the connec- has a written history. Indeed, in the encounter with the almighty secret tion to the repairs of their common Tarikh-i Bukhara composed in 332 AH/ police that pushed Vasilii Shishkin to walls, etc. Consequently, no true ar- 943-4 CE by Muhammad Narshakhi we the lands of old irrigation on the west- chaeological stratigraphy was elabo- find a special passage devoted to this ern fringes of the Bukharan oasis. The rated, and hence no archaeological building: further steps simply followed the logi- dates could be offered for the famous cal path: the largest and the most Varakhsha paintings and stucco. There was a palace in it [Varakhsha impressive of the monuments situated - A.N.], the beauty of which is told in this zone, Varakhsha, simply called The Varakhsha excavations came to a in a proverb. It was built by a for excavation. Once on the site, halt in 1954. Since then, Central Asian Bukhar Khudah more than a thou- Shishkin noticed the outlines of rooms archaeology and art history advanced sand years ago. This palace had on the surface of the elevation to the both by the accumulation of a large been destroyed and abandoned for east of the citadel. This looked prom- quantity of new precise data and many years when Khnk Khudah re- ising, and the first excavation spot was through the development of research stored it. It again fell into ruins, set there. One of the rooms turned out methodologies. As a result, our under- and again Bunyat b. Toghshada, to be filled with the fragments of orna- standing of Varakhsha, once the most Bukhar Khudah, rebuilt it in Islamic mental and figurative decorative stucco advanced monument of Sogdian ar- times and made his court there till in early (what was then considered chaeology, lagged behind the now he was killed in it. Amir Isma’il Sasanian) style. This find became a much better dated and understood Samani convoked the people of the true archaeological sensation. That is monuments excavated on the sites of village and said, “I shall give how the palace of Varakhsha became Panjikent and Afrasiab. 20,000 dirhams and wood, and the very first Sogdian monumental edi- shall take care of the rebuilding fice to undergo archaeological excava- In the 1970s, a joint expedition of the of it. Part of the building is stand- tions. Moscow Institute of Restoration and the ing. You make a grand mosque out

12 trolled by the bearer of the title. In Khunak or Khanuk. Another type of of this place.” The village people the case of Khnk Khuda, however, Khunak/Khanuk coins has puzzled did not want it, and said that a such an interpretation seems to be scholars since the beginning of the grand mosque was unnecessary implausible - we are aware neither twentieth century - the so called and unreasonable for their village. of an apanage, nor even of a village drachms with the long Sogdian leg- So the palace existed till the time called Khnk in Sogdiana. The silence end, which reads clearly pwx’r xr’’ xwâ of the amir Ahmad b. Nuh b. Nasr of written sources can hardly result xw/nn/wk - “Bukharan *Great King b. Ahmad b. Isma’il al-Samani. He from a gap in our knowledge. Judg- Khunak”.2 On the basis of typologic and brought the wood of that palace to ing from his role in the coalition of the stratigraphic considerations these coins the city and used it to build a man- year 88/707 (commander of large can be attributed to the time of the sion which he made at the gate of army) and from his rebuilding of the Arab conquests, which makes the the fortress of Bukhara. [Narshaki great palace, Khnk Khuda must have Khunak/Khanuk mentioned on them - Frye 1954, pp. 17-18] been a major prince. In other words, chronologically compatible with Khnk the title of this personage as it is of Narshakhi and Ya’qubi (707 CE), the Although no exact dates are found in given by Tarikh-i Bukhara appears to father of Shukr b. Khnk of Tabari (722 this passage, it gives us an opportu- be “suspicious.” CE). In other words, a cross-examina- nity to enhance the dating of different tion of coins and written sources al- stages in the history of the building if Fortunately, the same personage ap- lows identification of the personage we use the four mentioned historical pears in the description of this very epi- mentioned in Tarikh-i Bukhara as the figures as chronological anchors. sode in Ya’qubi’s Tarikh: “When Qutaiba restorer of the Varakhsha palace as a left, Tarkhun Sahib of al-Sughd began Bukhar Khuda named Khunak/Khanuk, Stage One - The Palace of Khunak to agitate and then Khnk Abu Shukr who was active around 707 CE. Bukhar Khuda and Kurmaghanun an- The information provided is certainly Nufasi came at the head of the Turks.” insufficient to identify the anonymous [Ya’qubi - Houtsma 1969, p. 342]. Con- However, turning to the history of the Bukhar Khudah, who built the palace trary to Narshakhi, Ya’qubi treats Khnk Bukharan royal family as described in “more than a thousand years ago.” Yet as a personal name. The accuracy of Tarikh-i Bukhara, we do not find such the second personage of this story, Ya’qubi’s account compared with the a ruler. In an abridged form, the story Khnk Khuda is certainly a historical fig- version found in Narshakhi’s work is told by Narshakhi reads as follows. Af- ure. He appears once more in the text attested by the appearance of a cer- ter the death of Bukhar Khudah Bidun, of Tarikh-i Bukhara as one of the lead- tain Shukr b. Khnk, evidently a son of power was assumed by his wife, who ers of the anti-Arab coalition of 88/707: the person mentioned by Ya’qubi, ruled fifteen years on behalf of her mi- among other Central Asian princes in nor son Toghshada. The reign of this Among the villages of Bukhara, be- Tabari’s account of the siege of Mug queen (whom sources usually call by tween Tarab, Khunbun, and castle in 722 CE [Tabari - de Goeje her title, Khatun) started prior to 674 Ramitin, many troops gathered and 1906, II, 1447]. CE, for she is said to have been in surrounded Qutaiba [b. Muslim - charge of Bukhara during the first Arab A.N.]. Tarkhun, ruler of Sughd, There is another drastic difference be- attack on Sogdiana led in that year by came with many troops. Khnk tween the information of the two ‘Ubaidallah b. Ziyad. According to 1 Khudah came with a large army; sources - Ya’qubi supplies Khnk with Narshakhi, she reigned for fifteen Vardan Khudah with his troops, and the title of Bukhar Khuda. The veracity years, i.e. to 689 CE or a little earlier. king Kur Maghanun, nephew of the of Ya’qubi’s account in this matter is At the time of Khatun’s death her son emperor of Chin also came. indirectly supported by Narshakhi him- Toghshada was already fit to rule, but [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 45] self: it is unclear why a certain Khnk the throne was usurped by the ruler of Khudah would resolve on restoring the Vardana, who remained in power until It is quite obvious that even combined Varakhsha palace of the Bukhar Khudah the systematic conquest of Sogdiana the two mentions of Khnk Khudah in dynasty; yet if we accept the version by Qutaiba b. Muslim, which started in the Tarikh-i Bukhara are insufficient to of Ya’qubi, everything falls into place. 707 CE. “Qutaiba had to fight many help with the identification of this mys- battles against him. Several times, he terious man. In other words, the fairly slim data of drove him from this district so that he written sources suggest that the re- fled to Turkistan. Vardan Khudah died, The presence of the Khuda component storer of the Varkhsha palace, a cer- and Qutaiba seized Bukhara. Qutaiba of the name (New Persian - “master” tain Khnk, was a Bukhar Khuda who gave Bukhara back to Toghshada and as a substitution for Sogdian xws) ruled over Bukhara around 707 CE. All made him ruler.” [Narshakhi - Frye places this personage in a group with this may seem rather speculative, but 1954, p. 10]. This happened in 90 or Central Asian princes such as Bukhar fortunately there is an independent and 91 AH/708 or 710 CE.3 Toghshada’s Khuda - “Lord of Bukhara”, Vardan authentic source which supports reign ended with his assassination in Khuda - “Lord of Varadana”, Chaghan Ya’qubi’s information - Sogdian legends Ramadan of 121 AH (August 11- Sep- Khuda - “Lord of Chaghanian”, Khuttal on Bukhar Khuda drachms. One of the tember 9, 739 CE) near Samarkand, Khudah - “Lord of Khuttal”, Saman types of Bukhar Khuda drachms, which in the tent of the Arab governor of Khuda - “Lord of Saman”, etc. Yet in all until now has escaped the attention of Khurasan Nasr b. Saiyar [Tabari - de known titles of this type, the first com- numismatists, carries the inscription Goeje 1906, II, p. 1693; Narshakhi - ponent is the name of the realm con- pwx’r xwâ xn/wn/wk - Bukharan King Frye 1954, pp. 60-2].

this latter title when mentioning the rected the Arabic text by splitting the How does our newly discovered enthronement of Toghshada in the original Vardan/Bukhar Khuda Khnk Bukhar Khudah Khunak fit this pic- year 91/709-710 [Tabari - de Goeje into two separate personages, Khnk ture? Chronologically his rule coin- 1906, II, p. 1230]. In other words, the Khuda and Bukhar Khuda. There is a cides with the usurpation of Vardan discrepancies between the two clear trace of this simple operation in Khudah, and the simplest way to Tarikhs (Abu Shukr Khnk Bukhar the text: the two “Khudahs” are men- settle the discrepancy between the Khudah of Ya’qubi versus Vardan tioned only under their “titles,” while sources is to put an equals mark be- Khudah of Tabari) likely result from “Tarkhun, ruler of Sughd” and “king Kur tween these two figures. This seems the political agendas of the time. Like- Maghanun, the nephew of the emperor quite possible since none of the writ- wise, the appearance of the strange of Chin” retained both their titles and ten accounts mentions Vardan combinatory creature Khnk Khudah in their names. Khudah’s personal name. Moreover, the Tarikh-i Bukhara seems to reflect there could be quite a reasonable ex- a retrospective attempt on the part What effect may this little investiga- planation how this one personage be- of a descendant of the Bukhar Khuda tion into the chronology of the Bukhar came “split” into two separate histori- family who supplied Narshakhi with Khuda dynasty have on our under- cal figures: since it was Qutaiba b. the information about the Varakhsha standing of the history of Varakhsha Muslim who “restored” Toghshada to palace to deprive the usurper of the palace? I believe it establishes the fact the throne, Arab historians deliberately royal title. In the part of his book writ- that the actual building of the palace negated the legitimacy of Vardan ten later, Narshakhi ran into Bukhar by Bukhar Khudah Khnk after “the Khudah’s claim to the throne of Khuda Khunak once more, while copy- thousand years” of neglect took place Bukhara. Tabari, for example, labels ing the text of the Arabic source from sometime immediately prior to Vardan Khudah the “Malik of Bukhara” which he borrowed the episode about Qutaiba’s conquest of Bukhara. If we [Tabari - de Goeje 1906, II, p. 1230], Qutaiba’s encounter with coalition go further and accept the identification which is the exact Arabic equivalent of forces in 707 CE. In order to smooth of Khnk, the Bukhar Khuda, with the the title Bukhar Khuda, but never calls the contradiction, Narshakhi gave pref- anonymous usurper Vardan Khudah, him Bukhar Khuda although he uses erence to his oral local source and cor- we would be able to attribute this ma-

14 jor re-building of the edifice to the thought, but rather to the end of the century, but an investigation into the time span between 689 (or a little seventh century. Unfortunately, with- textiles depicted in it led Alexander earlier) and 709-710 CE. out additional excavations, we can say Belenitskii and Boris Marshak to be- very little about the actual layout of lieve that the eighth century is more Shishkin distinguished the earliest walls this building. appropriate as their date [Belenitskii of the Varakhsha palace by their spe- and Marshak 1979; Belenitskii and cific bond of vertically alternating Stage Two - the Palace of Marshak 1981, p. 49]. The date of this courses of headers and stretchers Toghshada painting suggested by Belenitskii and “floating” in thick layers of unformatted Marshak equally well fits into the rule clay mortar. The stage in the building The building of the second period is of any of the two Bukhar Khudas of history of the edifice characterized by quite well known: the principal layout the early eighth century: usurper this rather specific masonry technique of rooms six (Eastern Hall), eleven (Red Khunak (689-708/9 CE) and his chal- ended in the major redesigning which Hall), thirteen, fifteen (Western Hall), lenger and successor Toghshada b. was outlived only by a few walls incor- sixteen to twenty-one and the original Bidun (709-732 CE), but since there porated into the later structure. Since walls of the so-called eiwan date to this are sufficient grounds to associate Shishkin’s excavations did not specifi- time. the previous stage in the building’s cally aim to study this period, the origi- history with the former, we can attrib- nal floors connected to this first build- Our attribution of the early palace to ute the second stage in the history ing were reached only in a few cases, the time of Khunak pushes the dates of the building and the paintings of and we do not have a single complete of the next stage in the construction the Blue Hall to the reign of Toghshada chamber pertaining to this stage, ex- history of the building to the eighth cen- b. Bidun. cept for tiny room twelve. Yet there is tury. Unfortunately, almost no archaeo- a very important piece of evidence logical and numismatic material be- On the first glance the clearly coming from one of these floors. A longing to this stage has been recov- “zoroastrian” content of these paint- coin found in the stratigraphic trench ered during the excavations. Some ings, which shows the royal couple per- under room fourteen (Northern Hall) support for our date of this stage is forming a fire ritual in front of the gi- belongs to the most common type in provided by the famous scene painted ant figure of Vashagn, the Sogdian god the Bukharan “camel” series, which on on the southern wall in the Eastern Hall. of war and the celestial patron of the typologic grounds can be dated to the Previously it was dated to the seventh Bukhar Khuda family, seems to con- second quarter of the seventh century [Naymark 2001, p. 174]. From the stratigraphic data received during the recent excavations in Paykend we know that such “camel coins” circulated along with Bukharan cash at least until the very end of the seventh century [Semenov 2003, p. 148]. How can this find affect the date of the earliest building? Even if we accept the earliest possible date of this “camel” coin (second quarter of the seventh century) as the date of the earliest structure in which it was found, it would be hard to fit a long period of neglect (even if it was ten times shorter than the meta- phorical 1000 years of Tarikh-i Bukhara) between the middle of the seventh century and the reign of Khunak, which started in 689 or even earlier. In other words, the date of the coin does not allow us to associate the structure in question with the legend- ary palace of the anonymous Bukhar (det.) XIV Plate (1963), Khuda. On the other hand, Khunak’s restoration of the palace reported by

Narshakhi fits quite well into the end Varakhsha of this interval, i.e. it is possible that these earliest structural remains belong to his reign.

In other words, the earliest palace Shishkin, Source: building does not belong to the fifth or Painting of the fire ritual in the East Hall the sixth century, as it was earlier

15 tradict the statement of the sources, ern Hall, which for some reason did the Red Hall also remains a matter of that Toghshada b. Bidun “accepted Is- not satisfy the owners of the palace speculation. Even the completely read- lam from the hands of Qutaiba b. Mus- any more. The Eastern Hall was not able repeating scenes of the lower reg- lim” [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 10]. architecturally altered, but seems to ister, which show a fierce fight between We have, however, a reason to sus- have lost its function as a gala hall - the hero riding an elephant and beasts, pect that Toghshada’s conversion was instead of proper repainting and res- real and fantastic, finds no parallels in only a part of a political deal and that, toration having been undertaken, the other Sogdian paintings. In other in secret, he kept practicing the tradi- losses of the painted surface on the words, little has changed since tional Sogdian form of Zoroastrianism. southern wall which occurred during Shishkin’s times when the absence of In addition to the plain statement of this period were replaced with a firm parallels prevented him from sug- Tarikh-i Bukhara that “he was still an primitive geometric motif. No changes gesting an interpretation of these unbeliever in secret” [Narshakhi - Frye took place in the principal layout of scenes [Shishkin 1963, p. 205]. This 1954, pp. 60-2], we know that he was the Red Hall, but here a new layer of forces us to look for the formal proto- buried according to the local version paintings covered the older one. The types beyond Sogdiana. The enlarged of Zoroastrian burial rites [Tabari - de Western Hall (room fifteen), however, earlobes and the naked figure of the Goeje 1906, II, p. 1693; Narshakhi - was significantly modified and painted main hero, together with rich gold jew- Frye 1954, p. 62]. anew. Unfortunately, the state of elry of undoubtedly Indian type recall preservation does not allow us to the typical iconography of a However, it is hard to imagine that an judge the content of these paintings. Bodhisattva. The immediate source of open statement of Toghshada’s actual Similar decorative works must have this image was probably the iconogra- religious affiliation, like the one we find been planned for room thirteen, but phy of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, in the Eastern Hall, could be issued this hall was apparently still in the pro- who is shown riding an elephant. Be- during the life of Qutaiba b. Muslim or cess of remodeling with the intention sides the strikingly similar ratio be- during Toghshada’s close affiliation with that it be decorated with paintings tween the body size of the elephant the Arabs in the 720s or 730s. There when the owners of the palace re- and the rider, which are exactly those seems to be only one point in solved on a new, fundamental alter- found in the images of Samantabhadra, Toghshada’s career when he could al- ation of the building’s layout. Judg- this analogy is supported by an “ana- low himself to do something of this sort. ing from this unfinished business, the tomic anomaly” of Varakhsha el- It was after the death of Qutaiba b. third stage must have been very ephants. The elephant of Saman- Muslim, when the Arab power in short. In the process of preparation for tabhadra has six tusks, three on each Mawarannahr was shaken, and the the next building stage, the Red Hall side. The Varakhsha painter did not re- Bukharan King decided that time came and room thirteen were partially de- produce this fantastic aspect of Bud- to abandon his new masters. In 719, stroyed, walled up and filled with de- dhist iconography, and reduced the he asked the Chinese Emperor for help bris separated by the regular layers of number of tusks to normal. Yet, since against the Arabs [Chavannes 1903, p. brick. the three tusks of Samantabhadra’s el- 203; 1904, p. 39; Bartol’d 1964, pp. 381-2]. His copper coin type which It is not clear what caused damage of shows the scene of the fire ritual on the paintings in the Eastern Hall and the reverse belongs apparently to the why it became necessary to repaint the same year(s) [Naymark 1999]. It was Red Hall. Shishkin thought that this was probably this apostasy of Toghshada the result of simple aging, but this that prompted the Arabs to keep an- theory is incompatible with the newly other challenger for the Bukharan established dates of the previous stage throne, Shukr b. Khunak, among their (eighth century, most likely around 719 troops while suppressing the Sogdian AD), because, as we shall see later, uprising of 722 CE [Tabari - de Goeje there was not enough time for simple 1906, II, p. 1447]: if necessary this aging. There could be other reasons for landless prince could turn into a handy neglect of some paintings and for the political resource. repainting of others. For example, a scene of a fire ritual involving the own- In other words, the second rebuilding ers of the castle, like the one in the of the palace is likely to have taken Eastern Hall, could cause major trouble place under Toghshada and most likely for the owner of the edifice in the (1963),(det.)PlateI was completed around 719. quickly changing political and confes- sional situation of the eighth century.

Stage Three - The Aesopic lan- Since we do not know what was the Varakhsha guage of the Red Hall subject of the earlier paintings of the Red Hall, all theories about the causes The alterations of the third stage aimed for repainting would be mere specula- the creation of the new system of gala tion. halls. This involved modifying, partially

Source: Shishkin, replacing and extending the older com- Surprisingly, the subject of the well- bination of the Red Hall and the East- preserved upper layer of paintings in Detail of elephant from Red Hall

16 Source: Shishkin, Varakhsha (1963), Plate IV The hunting mural in the Red Hall ephant were “filling” the entire the trousseau of the “daughter of the tify him as the depiction of a god. On mouth, the painter of Varakhsha faced king of Chin” and was established in the other hand, this absence of the an unexpected problem: he did not Ramitan near Bukhara [Narshakhi - standard indicators of the divine sta- know from where a single tusk should Frye 1954, p. 8]. tus may not be taken as an absolute grow. Unable to solve this riddle, he The establishment of the iconographic negative proof, because, as we shall made a wrong choice and placed the prototype, however, does not provide see further, the paintings of the Red remaining tusk in the lower jaw. much help in deciphering the meaning Hall stand out from the entire system of the depicted scenes - there is no way of Sogdian art by their genre charac- that the fiercely fighting hero of the teristics, and thus the data accumu- In other words, the scholarly opinion Varakhsha painting could be a lated in the course of the study of which generally recognizes a strong In- Bodhisattva. Two interpretations of this Sogdian paintings may not be com- dian influence in the Red Hall paint- figure seem possible. pletely applicable in this case. ings is correct. Yet this “Indic” iconography was not derived directly from The first one was suggested by Another possibility is to see in the el- India, but rather from eighth-century Belenitskii and Marshak, who thought ephant rider of the Varakhsha painting Tang art, or, more likely from the art of that the main hero of this painting was the King of the South, one of the four Eastern Turkestan of the Tang period. Adbag, the supreme divinity of the great monarchs of the four cardinal It is Puxian, the Chinese version of Sogdian pantheon. This idea rests on points [Pelliott 1923; Bartol’d 1966, p. Samantabhadra [see for example: Li a strong, but sole argument: Adbag’s 216; Marshak 2000, pp. 77-8]. This Jian 2003, p. 161], who is usually de- live attribute, an animal companion “geopolitical” concept was Buddhist in picted riding a bridled and saddled el- similar to the Indian vahane, which origin but undoubtedly popular in ephant with festooned ears, i.e. an el- could be depicted as the god’s throne Sogdiana; its artistic embodiment is ephant which shares all the highly un- or as his riding animal, is known to be found in a building in the Sogdian city realistic characteristics of its cousin at an elephant [Belenitskii and Marshak of Kushania [Chavannes 1903, p. 145]. Varakhsha. Our Sogdian painter could 1981]. Yet this interpretation is very The image of the King of the South, have encountered the Chinese iconog- hard to prove; the elephant rider dis- who was also known as the king of the raphy of Puxian in the but-khaneh, the plays no standard divine attributes elephants and the king of wisdom, house of idols, which was brought in which would allow a Sogdian to iden- would require the Indian appearance

17 and this, in turn, would explain why in Sogdian art, but all animals in the able to investigate visually prior to re- the Varakhsha painter drew on the ico- Varakhsha palace display one very un- moval of the last paintings during the nography of Samantabhadra - Puxian. usual feature - they are all saddled. re-excavations in the Red Hall in 1987, It is harder to explain why the King of Since each Sogdian god had an animal certainly do not comply with this no- the South was selected for depiction throne, often depicted as an Indian tion. First of all, the easiest way to on the walls of the palace of Bukhar vahane, a riding animal, this proces- damage the wall painting on dry plas- Khudas. These images could have a sion of saddled animals can be inter- ter would simply be to scratch off the certain genealogical significance in le- preted as the depiction of the deities painted surface, as we see in damaged gitimizing the origin of the Bukhar of the Sogdian pantheon [Belenitskii paintings of Afrasiab. If something Khuda dynasty or could be a part of a and Marshak 1981, pp. 32-3]. Yet this more serious was needed, the plaster larger iconographic program that in- way of representing deities certainly itself could be knocked off the wall and cluded an “Indian Hall”, analogous to deviated from standard iconographic brought down, as was done in the gala what was found in European palaces programs commonly found in Sogdian halls of The Panjikent palace. In the during the popularity of Chinoiserie in gala halls, where gods would be de- latter case, one would expect chaotic the eighteenth century. There seems picted mostly in a sort of “blown up” cuts going parallel to the surface of the to be one aspect of this unusual imag- icon on the back wall of the hall, as wall in order to break off large “slabs” ery that supports the second interpre- Vashagn, for example, was represented of plaster. Yet, the person who cut tation over the first one. The main de- in the slightly earlier paintings of the pieces of paintings in the Red Hall first viation from the rather faithfully repro- neighboring Eastern Hall. Together with marked the borders of the pieces that duced iconography of Samantabhadra the unusual genre characteristics of the interested him by cutting circles around - Puxian, which makes the elephant lower register, this leaves the impres- them. Then he cut deep into the wall, rider at Varakhsha certainly a non-Bud- sion that the patron ordered both the so that the final product of his work dhist figure, is the fierce fight with the religious content and the political looked like a cone for which the painted fantastic and real beasts of prey. This agenda of the paintings to be “coded” surface of the wall served as a flat base. alteration, however, is nothing other and hidden under the neutral cover of In other words, these cuts seem to be than the application of an ancient Near the rhythmically organized anthropo- the result of very accurate and time- Eastern iconographic formula, which morphic and zoomorphic “ornament.” consuming work aimed at the removal was widely used in the Iranian world of wall fragments with an intact painted in general and in Sogdiana in particu- In the historical context of the eighth surface. Since each cut concentrated lar. As far as I know, in the Iranian century, these observations on the lan- on a certain compact element of im- world from at least the Achaemenid guage of the Red Hall paintings may ages, like the head of a man or the period and in the Near East in general be used as a dating resource. Such an wing of a gryphon, these cuts are very throughout the early medieval period, Aesopic language perfectly fits the situ- likely to be done by a artist who used a king and not a deity is depicted fight- ation in which Toghshada would find this opportunity to obtain samples of ing beasts. Retrieval of this old icono- himself from the time when Arabs re- superior work for his pattern collection graphic formula could have transpar- stored their control over Sogdiana in from the paintings destined for inevi- ent political connotations in the 722 until his death in 738 CE. It is not table destruction. This unusual fact troubled eighth century. clear how much time passed between provides us with a rare insight into one the completion of the second stage of the mechanisms that allowed the Yet the most puzzling aspect of this (around 719 CE.) and the beginning of elements of pre-Islamic artistic tradi- painting is its genre characteristics. In- the third one. It is, however, tempting tion to be passed to the art of the early deed, in all known monuments of to suggest that the sharp change of Islamic period. Sogdian art, we find a clear tendency building plans, such as the interrup- to avoid repetition of scenes while here tion of the unfinished reconstruction of Stage Four - The Palace of Qutaiba we see at least eleven similar compo- the rooms, and subsequent conversion b. Toghshada sitions rhythmically repeated on the of the entire block of gala halls into a walls of the hall. Such intentional reit- platform for a new building, indicates We know almost nothing about the next eration of one and the same statement the “arrival” of a new master, i.e. re- stage in the palace’s life. It was during yields very little information, but flects the situation when the power this stage that the central element of stresses the majesty of the main per- passed from Toghshada to his son the later palace’s plan, the elbow cor- sonage. This would fit well with the Qutaiba in 738 CE, upon Toghshada’s ridor, was designed. Marshak pointed principles of imperial Achaemenid art, death. If this bold suggestion is cor- out that such corridors were typical for but it looks odd in Sogdiana, where rect, then the paintings of the Red Hall Sogdian palaces and rich dwellings, and most painted decoration is narrative in are likely to belong to the later part of that even such details as the engaged nature. Toghshada’s reign, probably the 730s. wooden column fortifying the protrud- ing corner on the elbow finds analo- A rational explanation for the peculiari- Before the final demolition of the roof gies in the early medieval architecture ties of this genre can be offered if we construction, somebody cut off several of Central Asia [Marshak 2000, p. 155]. accept Belenitskii and Marshak’s con- pieces of paintings in the Red Hall. Some traces of rooms belonging to this genial “religious” interpretation of the Shishkin thought that this was an act period were discovered on the top of “animal run” frieze in the second reg- of vandalism performed by iconoclas- the platform that incorporated the ister of the Red Hall paintings. Similar tic Moslems [Shishkin 1963, p. 83]. booted remains of the Red Hall and friezes with an “animal run” are known Several of these “cuts”, which I was room thirteen. Judging from the brief

18 Source: Shishkin, Varakhsha (1963), facing p. 80 The eiwan in V. A. Nil’sen’s reconstruction textual description (none of Shishkin’s ures in high relief covered with a thin lim for a while until he apostatized in several publications devoted to the ex- layer of alabaster ground. Another un- the time of Abu Muslim (may God show cavations in Varakhsha provides us with published slab of this type preserved mercy on him). Abu Muslim heard [of any illustrative materials), these indis- in the Bukharan Museum shows a his apostasy] and killed him. He also tinct fragments of walls could not be gryphon in low relief. Most likely be- killed his brother with his followers” made into a comprehensible plan. longing to the fourth period, neither [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 10]. This Apatkina dates the erection of the mas- the material nor the technique used took place in late 751 or early 752. sive arches of the eiwan to this period in their production are found in the [Apatkina 1999, 2002], but this does earlier architectural decor of not seem right to me; the foundations Sogdiana, and they do not seem to Stage Five - the Palace of Buniyat of these constructions cut through the find a place in the decoration of the b. Togshada corresponding floor and certainly be- third stage, which, in terms of tech- long to the next stage (palace of nique, is very traditional. Altogether, Our information about the second per- Buniyat). these slabs look like an experiment sonage mentioned in the history of the which was meant to imitate some for- Varakhsha palace, Bukhar Khuda Of the finds of this period which could eign prototype but, due to its unsuc- Buniyat b. Toghshada, is limited to the be used for dating, Shishkin mentions cessful nature, was not continued. two passages in the Tarikh-i Bukhara only an early shahada “Caliphate” fals. Yet, the string drapery of these re- recording the succession of Bukharan Although the coin is preserved in the liefs seems to correspond quite well rulers. The first of these passages is Coin Room of the Samarkand Institute to that known in Sogdian terra cotta likely to be a later, literary interpola- of Archeology, its poor state leaves no figures and on slab-molded ossuaries tion full of chronological mistakes, chance of a more precise attribution. of Samarkandian Sogd of the seventh contraditions, and inconsistencies No other dating materials are reported century. [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 8-9]. This on the floors of this period, which were suspicious passage is the only place reached in the Western Hall, in the “el- This period terminated with a major where a certain Sukah is mentioned as bow” corridor, in a trench in the North- fire, traces of which are found in all brother and successor of Qutaiba b. ern Hall and in the eiwan. the rooms where floors of this period Toghshada and as brother and prede- were reached, except for the Eastern cessor of Buniyat b. Toghshada. We have almost no knowledge of the Hall and vaulted rooms in the south. palace’s decoration at that time. Re- This fire likely resulted from an event The second of these passages, on the used in the next, fifth, state were the which Narshakhi described by saying contrary, bears no evident traces of large terra cotta slabs with human fig- that Qutaiba b. Toghshada “was a Mus- later distortions. It repeats twice that

19 Buniyat b. Toghshada directly re- This assumption is perfectly supported tempt to present themselves to Ar- placed his brother Qutaiba b. by the investigation of architectural abs as pious converts to Islam on the Toghshada, who was killed by Abu remains; Shishkin was certainly right other. Muslim in Varakhsha around 753 CE in attributing the latest reconstruction [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 10-11]. of the palace to the early Abbasid About the Author The majority of scholars who dealt period. With the significant bulk of Born in Tashkent, Aleksandr Naymark with the dates of the Buniyat’s reign archaeological materials accumulated received his education in tried to smooth out the severe dis- during the last 60 years of archaeo- archaeology and history at Tashkent crepancies between these two pas- logical exploration in Sogdiana, we and Moscow Universities. After sages and to combine their informa- can now point to three prominent ar- moving to the United States in 1992, tion in one coherent “system.” As a chitectural features which put the he received a Ph.D. in Central result, in all published chronological early Islamic date of the reconstruc- Eurasian Studies from Indiana and genealogical charts devoted to tion carried out during stage five be- University, his dissertation being on the Bukhar Khudah dynasty, we see yond a reasonable doubt: (1) the use “Sogdiana, Its Christians and Sukah suceeding his brother of baked brick (not recorded in Byzantium: A Study of Artistic and Toghshada and ruling for seven years, Sogdiana until the 730s or even Cultural Connections in Late Antiquity with Buniyat stepping in after the 740s); (2) the massive round brick and the Early Middle Ages.” He has death of Sukah and remaining in columns supporting the passages in participated in more than 30 power until his own assassination by the so-called “eiwan” (one of the stan- excavations in Central Asia and for a the order of al-Mahdi [Smirnova 1981, dard features in the repertory of east- time worked in the Moscow Museum pp. 426-8; Goibov 1989, pp. 39-44, ern Abbasid architecture, possibly of Oriental Art as its curator of 89-95; Frye 1995; Rtveladze 1999, p. derived from the older Sasanian tra- Central Asian pre-Islamic art and 33]. dition, but completely unknown in coins. Between 1997 and 1999 he However, the methodology of source pre-Islamic Sogdiana); (3) and the was a fellow of the German studies does not allow a scholar to very use of stucco as the means of Archaeological Institute in Berlin. Dr. merge such diverging accounts with- architectural decoration (completely Naymark is currently an Assistant out an investigation into the causes absent from the monuments of this Professor in Art History at Hofstra of the contradictions between them, area prior to the Arab conquest). University. He has published widely especially when they appear in the on early Islamic art, numismatics and adjacent chapters of one and the Some Conclusions archaeology in Central Asia. He may same source. Once started, such an be contacted at Aleksandr.Naymark examination immediately reveals that The original building of the palace @Hofstra.edu. the first of the passages is a later in- dates to the reign of Khunak (689- terpolation by a real ignoramus who 709 CE). The first remodeling took not only made a number of major mis- place during the reign of Toghshada takes in chronology, but also “con- and the paintings on the blue back- structed” evidence. One of his “con- ground (the Eastern Hall and an early structs” is Sukah with his biography layer of paintings in the Red Hall) most while, in reality, it was Buniyat who likely belong to the period of his replaced his brother Qutaiba b. “apostasy” around 719. The new (1963), p. 65 Toghshada. Fortunately, there are paintings of the Red Hall belong to not any discrepancies in sources the later part of Toghshada’s reign, when it comes to the date of Buniyat’s which ended in 738 CE. The fourth Varakhsha death: both these passages of the stage in the history of the building Tarikh-i Bukhara agree that he was was connected to the enthronement murdered in the Varakhsha palace in of his son Qutaiba b. Toghshada (738- 166/782-3 on the order of Caliph al- 753 CE). Finally, Buniyat b. Toghshada

Mahdi, who suspected him of sympa- (753-782) was responsible for the Source: Shishkin, thizing with Muqanna’s revolt. In major reconstruction of the palace other words, Buniyat “ruled” for 30 and the first stucco decoration. The years from 751/52 to 782/3. content and genre characteristics of the Varakhsha paintings as well as Since we attributed the construction their fate reflect the political instabil- activities of stage four to the times of ity of the time and the dubious posi- Qutaiba b. Toghshada and inter- tion in which the rulers of Bukhara preted the traces of fire which are found themselves. Bukhar Khudas found all over the palace as the evi- had to balance between their own dence for the destruction of the build- pretension to rule over the Bukharan ing which occurred at the moment oasis and the overwhelming power when Qutaiba b. Toghshada was of the Arabs. This position required a killed, we should look at the subse- sophisticated maneuvering between quent reconstruction of the edifice as the old national and religious tradi- the work of Buniyat b. Toghshada. tions on the one hand and the at- Stucco relief from the Northern Hall

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21 de ciel.” T’oung Pao, vol. XXII, no. 2, Shishkin 1948 Islamicam continens, ed. by M.Th. Mai 1923. V. A. Shishkin. “Mechet’ Magoki Attari Houtsma. Leiden: Brill, 1969 (repr. of v Bukhare (XII vek)” [The Mosque of 1883 ed.). Rtveladze 1999 Magoki Attari in Bukhara]. In Trudy Edvard Rtveladze. “Coins of Ancient Instituta istorii i arkheologii AN UzSSR Zimin 1917 Bukhara.” In Attilio Petruccioli, ed. [Works of the Uzbek SSR Institute of L.A. Zimin. “Otchet o dvukh poezdkakh Bukhara: the Myth and the Architec- History and Archaeology], vol. I. po Bukhare s arkheologicheskoi tsel’iu ture. Cambridge, Mass.: AKPIA, 1999. Tashkent, 1948. [Report on two trips to Bukhara for archaeological purposes].” In Protokoly Sam’ani - Margoliouth 1913 Shishkin 1963 Turkestanskogo kruzhka liubitelei The Kitab al-Ansab of ‘Abd al-Karim ibn V. A . S h i s h k i n . Varakhsha. Moscow: arkheologii [Protocols of the Turkestan Muhammad al-Sam’ani, ed. by D. Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk, 1963. Circle of the Lovers of Archaeology], Margoliouth. Leiden-London, 1913 year XX (1917), issue 2. (Gibb Memorial Series, XX). Smirnova 1981 O.I. Smirnova. Svodnyi katalog Notes Semenov 1945 sogdiiskikh monet. Bronza. [General A. A. Semenov. Material’nye pamiatniki catalogue of Sogdian coins. Bronze]. 1. Thus, in the majority of manuscripts, iranskoi kul’tury v Srednei Azii [Mate- Moscow: “Nauka,” GRVL, 1981. in both scholarly editions and in all rial remains of Iranian culture in Cen- translations. The MS of the American tral Asia]. Stalinabad, 1945. Tabari - de Goeje 1906 Oriental Society reads Khbk Khuda Annales quos scripsit Abu Djafar [Narshakhi - Frye 1954, p. 45, n. ‡]. Semenov 1957 Mohammed ibn Djarir at-Tabari, ed. by A. A. Semenov. “Nechto o Sredne- M.J. de Goeje. Leiden: Brill, 1906 (re- 2. For detailed discussion see: Naymark aziatskikh gemmakh, ikh liubiteliakh i print ed. 1964). 2001, pp. 264-278; Naymark 2001a, sobirateliakh (iz vospominanii pp. 56-7; Naymark 2004. proshlogo)” [Something about Central Tali - Semenov 1959 Asian gems, their lovers and collectors Abdurrakhman-i Tali’. Istoriia Abulfeiz- 3. Tabari dates this enthronement to (from the memories of the past)]. In Khana (Abulfayizhon Tarikhi) [History 91 A.H. which leaves 31 years to the Izvestiia Akademii nauk Tadzhikskoi of Abulfeiz-Khan]. Russian transl. by death of Toghshada in 121 A.H., while SSR. Otdelenie Obshchestvennykh A. A. Semenov. Tashkent: Izdatel’stvo Narshakhi speaks about Toghshada’s nauk [News of the Tajik SSR Academy Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoi SSR, 1959. 32 years of rule. of Sciences. Division of Social Sci- ences], 14 (1957). Ya’qubi - Houtsma 1969 Shishkin 1934 Ibn-Wadhih qui dicitur al-Ja’qubi, Historiae. Pars prior historiam ante- V. A. Shishkin. “Iz opyta Bukhkom- starisa po okhrane pamiatnikov material’noi kul’tury” [From the expe- rience of the Bukharan Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in the Protection of the Monuments of Material Culture]. Problemy istorii dokapitalisticheskikh obshchestv [Prob- lems of the history of pre-capitalist societies], no. 11-12. Leningrad, 1934.

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Shishkin 1936b CopyrightWaugh C. Daniel 1999 © V. A . S h i s h k i n . Arkhitekturnye pamiatniki Bukhary [Architectural Detail from mural of procession on south wall of monuments of Bukhara]. Tashkent, the palace at Afrasiab (photographed in Afrasaib 1936. Museum)

1999