By the end of the 9th and in the 10th century, Osh already occupied a prominent place among the cities and large settlements of Eastern Fergana.
Contemporaries considered it the third largest city in the Fergana domain of the Samanids — after the capital city of Ahsikent and the large (in size) city of Kuba (now Kuva).
Rabad, like in other Fergana cities of the 9th—12th centuries, was the center of trade and craft activity in Osh. Pottery production held a leading position in the urban crafts, although, judging by archaeological finds and information from written sources, various types of construction crafts, blacksmithing, and others were also developed. The products of Osh's potters, like those of other Central Asian potters of that time, were characterized (according to numerous archaeological finds) by a great variety of shapes and purposes of items made on the potter's wheel: from large containers — khums for grain, water, or wine to small sphero-conical vessels for storing mercury and aromatic oils. The decoration of ceramic items was equally diverse, covered with glaze and colorful ornaments with various motifs.
One of the pottery workshops with a mass of hollow ceramic sphero-cones, covered with stamped ornamentation, was discovered during the excavation of a pit for the foundation of the "Shirin" grocery store, located on the modern Sverdlov Street. Archaeological supervision was carried out by V. Druzhinina — a researcher at the Osh Regional Local History Museum. In other places within the city, beautiful glazed pottery, various metal, wood, and leather products from the 9th—12th centuries, and more rarely from the 13th century were also found, many of which are carefully preserved in the Osh Museum.
The craftsmen-builders, working with the labor of dependents from feudal urban lower classes and, apparently, Turkic slaves, constructed fortifications, palaces for the nobility, Muslim cult buildings, and madrasas of new architecture, caravanserais, inns, water reservoirs, baths, irrigation channels, bridges, and roads here, as in other Fergana cities. About Osh's craftsmen, as well as about the demographics of the urban population, its ethno-religious affiliation, social and professional composition, one can only make more or less justified assumptions based on the concise lines of written sources. But the very material remains of their creations speak of the hardworking and skilled hands of the direct producers, the craftsmanship of Osh's artisans, and the high level of construction and other spheres of material culture.
Indirectly, one can judge about the socially useful activity and partly about the position of urban craftsmen by the enthusiastic poem of the 11th-century poet Nazir Khisraw "Praise to Craftsmen":
Craftsman! There is no better fate in the world —
Not a king, but not a slave. Always free in will.
He hammers or sews at his workbench,
Neither in the evening does he sing in his native family.
Let him not walk every year with a full belly,
But he multiplies all that he produces.
Free from the fate that instills fear,
He also does not tremble before the pomp of the nobles.
Under his hammer, golden sparks fly...
Whether he hammers or sews, cooks or thunders,
He knows no low passions and does not want to know...
Hardworking, playful. Of sociable nature
Hosanna to the craft! Glory to the craftsman!
No! You will not find an equal to him anywhere!
For even kings need his labor!
Craftsmen produced a variety of items for the townspeople, taking them to the market for visiting merchants. In addition to trade rows, numerous shops and stalls of small traders, small craft establishments for making household items and national dishes, as well as storage facilities and caravanserais were an indispensable attribute of Central Asian bazaars. Here, the exchange of products between the trade-craft people of the city and the surrounding nomadic Turks took place.
O Eastern Bazaar!
What is not here: fragrant local melons and striped robes, simple household items, exquisite delicacies and precious stones, Chinese silks and Badakhshan turquoise. The bleating of sheep is drowned out by the enticing voices of shopkeepers. Staid money changers whisper quietly with foreign merchants. Dervishes cry out hoarsely and contort themselves. Pilgrims from all over the Muslim East flock to worship at Mount Suleiman, seeking healing and praying for heirs. But their path must also lead through the bazaar — fortunately, it sprawls nearby, almost at the foot of the mountain.
Large trade was conducted by major merchants of various nationalities who permanently resided in Osh. Here, Uzbeks and Arabs, Tajiks and Indians, Uighurs and Kyrgyz, among others. They supplied luxury goods, including foreign-made items, to the Osh castle, for the military-feudal and spiritual nobility, owners of country palaces, estates, and extensive gardens. One can assume the participation of Osh traders in interregional and international trade. It is not by chance that important trade routes and distances between Osh and the cities of Medva (Mady), Kuba, Khojent, and Uzgen are noted in Arab travelogues — a kind of route guides for the wealthy Eastern merchant class. All of them were located along what was once a very busy route of the Great Silk Road — a transcontinental trade route connecting the states of the West, particularly the Roman Empire, with the countries of the East — China and India.
The famous poet of the Karakhanid era, a native of Kyrgyzstan, Yusuf has-hajib al-Balasaquni, or simply — Yusuf Balasaghuni (1015/16—1069/70), praised the merchants of his time:
There are still merchants; both night and day
They are concerned about their income.
In search of profit, the whole world is their road.
In their wanderings, they rely on God.
And with them, keep a good connection:
Give them what they ask, arrange for trade.
They are needed by the world, let us not forget this,
From edge to edge, their paths lie,
So that you can find the desired item.
And thousands upon thousands of treasures of the universe
You will find, O wise one, in their priceless cargo.
The skillful products of Fergana's craftsmen were transported through Osh and Uzgen, and further over mountain passes to Eastern Turkestan (Kashgaria), and then to Inner China. Through ancient caravan routes, silk, silver, livestock, and livestock products were sent from the markets of Mavara-un-Nahr to Western Europe, as well as wool, Siberian honey, furs, and even slaves. In international trade, the trade in furs and the use of silver coins — dirhams — were of considerable importance. Copper coins — felses, including those minted in Osh and other mints of Central Asian cities, circulated in local markets.
Controlling the approaches to the Fergana and Alai mountains and the trade-caravan road passing through the city, Osh, due to its geographical location on the eastern edge of Fergana, served as an important stronghold in the struggle of the Muslim rulers — the Samanids — against the Turkic tribes of Tian Shan. Apparently, Osh had quite powerful fortifications, as in the 10th century its citadel and shahristan, unlike other Fergana cities, were not destroyed. A double, and in places triple, belt of walls with towers and gate fortifications served as protection for the townspeople against the frequent attacks of restless neighbors — settled and nomadic feudal lords.
Access to the city could only be through three fortified gates. Moreover, they had very characteristic names reflecting the location and features of the city: Mountain, River (leading down to the river), and Mugkede, or "Gate of the Fire Worshippers' Temple."
The name of the last gate is one of the echoes of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, practiced by only part of Osh's townspeople, as by the 10th century Islam had become the dominant religion of the settled agricultural population of Fergana.
The role of external fortifications for Osh was played by the surrounding settled agricultural settlements (as well as around the cities of Uzgen and Kuba). In addition, to the southeast of Osh was the town of Medva (Mady) with a first-class fortress for those times. Unlike Osh, there were no cities around Kuba and Uzgen.
In the 10th century, Osh, like Uzgen, served as one of the outposts of Islamized Fergana on the border of the Samanid possessions with the territory of the nomadic Turks, behind whom were the rulers of the Karakhanid Khanate. The Karakhanid Khanate, which arose in Semirechye and Eastern Turkestan, soon expanded its possessions to Fergana, where the city of Uzgen became its second capital. Naturally, the eyes of the conquerors immediately turned to wealthy Osh, their thoughts were directed at taking the city from the Samanids. In the struggle for Osh, as an important economic and political center, the warring parties tried to seize the Suleiman Mountain adjacent to the city from the west — a convenient observation point, sending out outposts there. The militarily inclined townspeople surveyed the surroundings from the mountain, watching the movements of scouts and advanced cavalry units of the nomadic Turks, used by the Karakhanids as a strike force. The Turkic military leaders, in turn, having driven the Osh people from the mountain and defeating their advanced guard, could see the wealthy and fortified Osh from the top of Suleiman Mountain, observing the gathering of the arriving ghazis — "defenders of the faith" of Islam in the Osh rabad.
But the nomads were not only tireless warrior-conquerors. They were also ordinary skilled laborers, a hymn to whom was sung in his famous poem by the Karakhanid Yusuf Balasaghuni:
Still, the herdsmen have their distinctions,
They graze herds in the valleys.
They are all — simple, righteous people,
And from them, people suffer neither misfortunes nor turmoil.
Clothes, food, horses — all from their herds.
They also raise pack animals.
Kumys, milk, cheese, and cottage cheese,
Bedding and saddles — all for your benefit.
And all this — for great usefulness, men,
And you deserve their trust with good!
Feed them, water them, keep close to them,
And with truth, you will be able to meet in life.
What they ask — give them, what is needed — take,
I have seen: there is no deceit among them.
The law is unknown to them, they are not wise,
But they are generous in the free breadth of actions.
The Fall of the Mighty Dynasty
The second half of the 10th century for Fergana was a time of interfeudal strife and palace coups among the representatives of the ruling Samanid dynasty in Samarkand and Bukhara. In 992, the ruler of Balasagun (near modern Tokmak) and Taraz (modern Jambyl) the Karakhanid Harun Bogra-khan invaded the territories of the Samanid state, which included possessions from Bukhara and Samarkand to Uzgen, and defeated its armies, but due to illness was forced to retreat to his possessions, where he died at the end of 992 — beginning of 993. Among the Samanids, bloody clashes for the throne continued, after which in February 999, Abdulmalik ibn Nuh was elevated to the throne. But already in October of that same year, the new Karakhanid ruler Nasr ibn Ali passed through all of Fergana and, by cunning, almost without resistance, took Bukhara.
Abdulmalik ibn Nuh, the ruler of Bukhara Begtuzun, along with all his relatives, was captured and sent into captivity in Uzgen. The Karakhanid historian Beyhaki described this as follows: "From Uzgen, the prince Bul-Khusain Nasr, son of Ali, rushed. On the first day of the month of zul-qada of this year (the 389th year of the hijra, i.e., October 14, 999), he appeared in Bukhara and presented himself as if he had come to express submission and offer assistance. The next day, Begtuzun was suddenly captured along with many leaders and shackled. The ruler of Khorasan hid; he was also captured along with all his brothers and relatives and was taken in canopies to Uzgen."
Thus, the fall of the once mighty dynasty occurred. From 999, the dominance of the Karakhanids was established here, their state was divided into several fiefs headed by ilek-khans. Osh initially entered the fiefdom of the founder of the Karakhanid dynasty Nasr ibn Ali (ruled from 990 to 1013), and then into the fief of his brother Ahmad ibn Ali.
These facts from the political history of Osh in the early 11th century became clear after reading the names of the Karakhanid rulers on coins minted at the mint in Osh. In 1978, the Frunze numismatist M. N. Fedorov discovered and first introduced into scientific circulation a silver dirham of the Uzgen mint of the western Karakhanid ruler Khizr-khan — the only coin of this ruler among about 16,000 Karakhanid coins that have survived to this day. In the summer of 1983, on the territory of the Tian Shan settlement Shirdaqbek, archaeologist M. I. Moskalev found a second similar dirham of Khizr-khan, but minted not in Uzgen, but in Samarkand.
The first was dated to the 473rd year of the hijra (1080/81 AD) and testified to the beginning of the reign of Ahmad ibn Khizr, while the second — to the 479th year of the hijra (1086/87 AD) — pushed back the time of this little-known in historical literature western Karakhanid ruler's reign by several years. Thus, it was established that Khizr-khan at the end of the 11th century owned not only Mavara-un-Nahr, with the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, but also Fergana, with its easternmost point Uzgen, which during these years also included the city of Osh. Thus, numismatists contributed a new word to science, thanks to the two coins of Khizr-khan, found only on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. This data indicates that at the end of the 11th century, the cities of Fergana maintained trade relations with Tian Shan (the Shirdaqbek fortress is in the very center of Tian Shan).
Uzgen - the Tomb of Karakhanid Rulers
Uzgen is mentioned in sources later, in connection with various political events up to the beginning of the 13th century, but information about Osh disappears. It was assigned a secondary role. Political and cultural primacy passed to Uzgen, which became the famous tomb of the Karakhanid rulers.
Unlike Uzgen, no majestic monuments of monumental architecture from the period of the Karakhanid Khanate have survived from early medieval Osh. However, as seen from the Arabic inscriptions on gravestones — qayraks — and from medieval manuscripts, prominent Muslim jurists of their time originated from Osh. One of them was Ali ibn Osman, who bore the honorary title "Light of Faith" — the author of a collection of legal and domestic norms, as well as judicial decisions (569 years of hijra, i.e., 1173 AD).
He is also the author of "The Book of Best Tidings and Poetic Pearls," a collection of 1000 hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). But his "Qasidas" — short poetic summaries of the foundations of Islamic dogma — gained the greatest popularity, known from many manuscript copies. Information about Ali ibn Osman — a native of early medieval Osh was kindly provided to us by Leningrad Orientalist A. B. Khalidov — a participant in the first field archaeological expedition that began searching for ancient manuscripts and books in the territory of Kyrgyzstan since 1976. We will discuss them below.
And finally, about the encyclopedic dictionary of one of the last "classical" geographers of the Arab world — Yakut (circa 1179—1229). In the article about Osh, Yakut notes that it is a large city, surrounded by a wall adjacent to the mountain, and has four gates. Earlier, rafas only mentioned three gates of the city. On Suleiman Mountain, there was still a guard post against the nomadic Turks.
Yakut writes about the fertile lands in the city and its surroundings, naming famous scholars and theologians from Osh who had visited Mecca, Baghdad, Bukhara. These include Omar ibn Musa al-Oshi, Imran and Masud — the sons of Mansur al-Oshi, a well-known jurist who died in 1125, and Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Hamid Abu Abdullah al-Oshi, who, after making a pilgrimage to the "holy places" — hajj, lectured in Baghdad in 1215/16 and died in Bukhara (the following year).
Yakut's dictionary is still a serious scientific source, unfortunately, still little used for the history of Kyrgyzstan. At one time, academician I. Yu. Kratchkovsky wrote specifically about Yakut's dictionary: "In the science of our days, his book lives and serves as an authoritative guide every day."
Other Arab writings of the 13th century increasingly highlight Osh as one of the Muslim centers of Fergana on the border with nomads, mentioning the existing tombs of "saints" and the deeds of local sheikhs. In this regard, the work of the Central Asian scholar and poet Muhammad Jalal ad-Din Karshi (born 628 years of hijra, i.e., 1230/31) "Mulhakat as-Surah" ("Additions to the Dictionary of Surah") is characteristic. This is the only source on the history of Central Asia written by a local resident during the era of Mongol rule. Muhammad Karshi was born in Almalyk, traveled a lot, met local celebrities in Khojent, Tashkent, Osh, Fergana, and wrote his main work in Kashgar. The only one of Osh's attractions that Muhammad Jalal ad-Din Karshi mentioned in his work is the mazars of saints and righteous people and "next to other graves, that of Asaf ibn Burhiya — the vizier of Suleiman ibn Dawud." The mausoleum of Burhiya at the foot of Suleiman Mountain has survived to this day.