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FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Oh Bokhara! — Kalpana Sahni

In 1832 Bokhara had 60 madrassas, about 366 institutes of higher learning and over 11 major libraries. In 1863 the traveller Vambery was overwhelmed by the love for learning in Bokhara and Samarkand. “One cannot but be amazed by the zeal and readiness of both rulers and ordinary working people to donate for the construction and provision of the colleges of Bokhara...”

My husband and I were sitting in a tiny café in the old part of Bokhara, overlooking the historical Chor Su market. As we sipped green tea in those small bowls, we wondered why we felt so much at home. Was it perhaps something to do with the welcoming energy of the place? Was it possible that when we are in strange places, our inner self can sense layers of the history of the place without any rhyme or reason.

Some places give us an acute sense of discomfort while others seem to embrace us. Neither of us believe in coincidences and sure enough, the response to our speculations materialised out of the air. He was an old man with a grey beard wearing a long quilted chapan coat from any century but ours. He looked at us and said: “Hindistan”.

It was more of a statement for he immediately turned and pointed in the direction of the dilapidated gateway of the old city wall, and said, “The Indian merchants entered from there. For two weeks they had to camp outside the city walls — quarantine period. Then they were allowed in and they headed straight for the hamaam”, and he pointed to an old hamaam close to the Chor Su. “After bathing they went to their Indian caravanserai, see there?”

Time stood still. We were transported into another era, imagining the camels tied to the rusty iron loops still visible along the outside of the city wall; the diverse groups of merchants from all corners of the world babbling in their own tongues or greeting old friends. When we came out of our reveries, the old man had vanished. We retraced our steps to the Chor Su dome imagining the hustle and bustle around the Indian jewellers in one corner, and carpet dealers in another.

We knew about Bokhara carpets, those deep maroon ones with large geometric medallions. But now we learnt that Bokharans don’t weave carpets. The town was, however, the great trading centre of carpets. That explains how the carpets originating from there became known as Bokhara carpets, just as “hindi” turned into a generic term for all spices in this region.

We were beginning to enjoy being in a time warp and decided to continue our leisurely walk through the old town with its narrow winding lanes leading to the Lyabi Haus, a square at the end of a water body. Could it be that it was here that the residents gathered for the poetry contests and exchanged anecdotes and tales? Somebody may have recounted the tale of Sohni and Mahiwaal, a favourite Punjabi folktale. Izzat, the son of a rich trader from Bokhara, comes to Chenab where he falls in love with Sohni, a potter’s daughter. Instead of returning with the trading caravan he disguises himself and takes up a job as an ordinary Indian mahiwaal (cowherd) in Sohni’s house.

Although she is married off to somebody else they continue to meet. One day when Sohni is on her way to Mahiwaal she drowns. He too jumps into the river and drowns uttering his dying words “I’m mixing the soil of Bokhara and Punjab and handing it over to the mighty spirit of love.” This is only one of numerous Punjabi folktales with characters from Central Asia.

Our wanderings led us to the only functioning madrassa, outside which some young students were lazing around in the sun. In 1832 Bokhara had 60 madrassas, about 366 institutes of higher learning and over 11 major libraries. In 1863 the traveller Vambery was overwhelmed by the love for learning in Bokhara and Samarkand.

“One cannot but be amazed by the zeal and readiness of both rulers and ordinary working people to donate for the construction and provision of the colleges of Bokhara...” Renowned scientists, philosophers and poets were associated with these great centres of learning! Who knows, over 1,000 years ago two students may have sat arguing outside their institute not knowing that their work would revolutionise European science and mathematics! Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037), known in the West as Avicenna (the author of Canon of Medicine), was born in Afshana, a village on the outskirts of Bokhara. The other boy could have been Al Beruni whose real name was Mohammed ibn Ahmed al Khorezmi, i.e. from Khorezm in present day Uzbekistan. Others who studied in Bokhara were Omar Khayyam and Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (1135-1229), the founder of the Sufi order in Ajmer.

Bokhara turned into a metaphor of the sublime, of splendour and grandeur. No wonder the poet Hafiz, in a poem to a girl exclaimed that for that one ‘hindu’ beauty spot on her cheek, he would offer her both Samarkand and Bokhara.

Agar an Turk-e-Shirazi bedast arad dile ma ra,

Be khale hinduesh bakhsham Samarkand o Bokhara ra.

Dr Kalpana Sahni has been a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A doctorate in Russian literature, she has published extensively on literature and cross-cultural issues. She can be reached at sahni.kalpana@gmail.com

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