A First-Class Source — "Babur-nama".
The author of these notes (memoirs), Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur (1483—1530), was one of the representatives of the Timurid dynasty, who tasted the sweetness of power in Andijan, then the bitterness of exile, and finally became a fortunate conqueror and the founder of the vast Mughal Empire, which included India and Afghanistan. However, it was not for his military exploits and conquests that the Timurid heir was celebrated; UNESCO recognized the half-millennium anniversary of Babur worldwide in 1983. He was honored not as a cruel conqueror but as a talented scholar, a wonderful poet and historian, and the author of a valuable historical primary source — "Babur-nama".
Babur knew the city of Osh well and left many flattering lines about it. Babur himself was born in the neighboring Andijan. His father, Omar Sheikh — the great-grandson of the "iron horseman" Timur (Tamerlane) — was the ruler of the Fergana possessions of Mawarannahr. When his father died, twelve-year-old Babur ascended to his throne and inherited the Fergana possessions. However, an unsuccessful struggle against the advancing Shaybanids and feudal infighting forced Babur to leave his homeland and seek refuge in Kabul. There, fortune smiled upon him. Gathering an army in Afghanistan, Babur did not tempt fate in Central Asia and moved to conquer India. The country, torn by feudal infighting, became a relatively easy prey for the conqueror. Thus, in 1526, the Mughal Empire was established — a centralized state that left its mark on the development of India. Babur ruled for five years, lived in the new capital of Agra, but longed for his homeland, often reminiscing about Andijan and other cities of Fergana, including Osh. In his later years, he decided to write his memoirs — "Babur-nama", which became a remarkable literary and artistic monument and a valuable source on the history of the peoples of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India in the late 15th to early 16th centuries. As seen from the memoirs, Babur visited Osh multiple times, knew the city well, and thus described it with expertise, in detail and accurately.
Let us turn directly to the primary source:
“It (Osh — ed.) is located southeast of Andijan, four yigač (about 24 km — ed.) away, the air there is wonderful, there is plenty of running water, and spring is very beautiful.
... To the southeast of the fortress stands a beautiful mountain called Bara-Kukh. At the top of this mountain, Sultan Mahmud Khan (a Chagatai, Mughal Khan, killed in 1508 — ed.) built a hujra (pavilion — ed.). Below it, on the ledge of the mountain, I also built a hujra with a terrace in the year nine hundred and second (1496/97 — ed.). Although his hujra stands higher than mine, mine was located much better: the whole city and suburbs spread out beneath it...
At the foot of the mountain Bara-Kukh, between the mountain and the city, stands a mosque called the Jauza Mosque. A large stream flows down the slope of the mountain...
In the Fergana region, there is no city equal to Osh in pleasantness and air purity.”
With a touch of poetry, Babur described the natural and geographical conditions of Osh and its immediate surroundings: along the high banks of the river, which flowed through the green suburbs of Osh and the city itself, stretched the orchards and luxurious flower gardens of the wealthy and powerful townspeople, interspersed with fields, vegetable gardens, and melon patches. In spring, violets bloomed there, followed by tulips and roses. The clean spring air (about which there were disputes between the residents of Osh and Kassan), the abundance of running water (river and irrigation), and the abundance of greenery, flowers, and fruits were considered essential attractions of medieval Osh. By the early 16th century, entire legends were being composed about the city's virtues.
Remains of the Medieval Suburb of Osh
In "Babur-nama", there is mention of the still-preserved fortress — the citadel of Osh, where the residence of the ruler of the city and district was located, as well as brief mentions of other topographical features of the city and its surroundings, known for their extensive gardens. Thus, we see that by this time, the traditional three-part structure of the medieval city (citadel, shahristan, and rabat with their respective functions) was preserved. However, specific data for judging the territorial size of the city compared to the pre-Mongol period is not contained in written sources, and archaeological excavations of late medieval Osh have not been conducted, as the modern city is built on the same terrain. The remains of the medieval suburb of Osh were discovered during aerial photography by Yu. A. Zadnevsky.
In Babur's notes and the works of academician V. V. Bartold, who commented on his information about Osh and also used other Eastern sources, only some characteristic details about notable topographical features of medieval Osh are provided, including the river Ak-Bura (which Babur called the river Andijan, apparently due to its general flow direction) and the increasingly famous "Osh Mountain".
This is not difficult to understand. After all, issues of water supply, alongside land, were vital for the townspeople (as in previous and subsequent times). River water flowed by gravity into 9 channels (ariqs), dug with consideration for the sloping terrain from south to north, supplying the city with water. It was completely used for household needs, for irrigation of gardens, vegetable plots, and fields. The main ariq from Ak-Pura was called the Hokand (as were the mentioned southern gates of the city — presumably named after the region Hokand, which was located south of the city). Behind the wide main ariq, which was difficult to cross even on horseback, stretched a strip of hilly adyrs up to the outer walls of the city, surrounded by a water-filled moat. On the other side of the moat lay a stone-paved road, and beyond it were the suburban quarters (mahalas) of the extensive Osh suburbs (rabada), as the inner city was considered the shahristan.
The Osh Suleiman Mountain, referred to in "Babur-nama" as Bara-Kukh ("free, solitary mountain", or in other interpretations — "beautiful"), as in previous centuries, was still not included in the territory of the city. However, the urban development had apparently come somewhat closer to it. At the top of this mountain, a stone hujra had stood since the late 15th century; it was previously thought to be the hujra of Sultan Mahmud — a Chagatai who was killed in 914 AH, the son of the Mughalistan ruler Yunus Khan. Below it, on the ledge, Babur allegedly built his hujra with a terrace. Later, the first hujra collapsed, and the second became known as the "White House" or "Babur's House". From here, a bird's-eye view opened up to the city located at the foot of the mountain with its populated suburbs and nearby surroundings.
However, local historians of Osh, along with Leningrad scholars and Frunze restorers, decided in the pre-anniversary year of Babur — 1982 — to establish whether this was true. It was not easy to find out because no hujra had survived. However, they managed to collect all descriptions and photographs of the house, which was usually referred to in literature as either a mosque or a mausoleum of the Muslim prophet Suleiman.
The Russian ambassador to the Kokand Khanate, translator of the Separate Siberian Corps, Philip Nazarov, visited Osh in 1814. “On the right hand on the cliff of the mentioned mountain,” he wrote about Takht-i Suleiman, “we saw two ancient buildings, beneath which is a large cave... These buildings are uninhabited.” In 1913, the orientalist L. Zimin, a student of V. V. Bartold, published a photo of Suleiman Mountain, which showed two structures: one on the top of the mountain and another on a lower terrace.
Analyzing the descriptions and photographs, the assembled experts concluded that the "White House", usually attributed to Babur, was in fact the construction of Sultan Mahmud — Babur's uncle, who ruled in Tashkent. It stood sheltered by a rock and survived longer. Babur's hujra, located, according to the builder himself, on the ledge of the rock, “somewhat lower, but with a better view of the city and suburb,” collapsed earlier, as it was not protected from the effects of winds and rains.
This should be kept in mind when encountering the so-called "Babur's House" in certain publications and photographs — the structure that survived until the 1960s was actually the hujra of Sultan Mahmud.
What Babur Writes About
On the slope of the mountain, between the gardens and Osh, during Babur's time, there was the Jauza Mosque, with a large outer courtyard, mentioned in "Babur-nama", apparently due to its wide fame. A little lower, by three ponds filled with water from the stream flowing down from the mountain, travelers and pilgrims rested in the shade of trees. Usually, popular places of worship in the East are also accompanied by a mihman-khana, a market-type establishment, residential and economic buildings of the sheikhs who exploited the cult objects. All this, along with the sprawling cemetery at the mountain, where supposedly lay the revered grave of the prophet Solomon's vizier, indicates a significantly greater development of the mountain already in the 15th century than what Babur himself writes about. The latter was evidently aware of other Osh legends, particularly of a religious nature — hadiths, for example, about such as the legends fabricated by local sheikhs about the supposed presence of the prophet in Osh, about the supposed traces he left, and about his stone throne (Takht-i Suleiman), but he did not mention them. By the way, the city of Osh itself was sometimes referred to in subsequent centuries as Takht-i Suleiman.
Unfortunately, regarding the life of the people of Osh, as well as the inhabitants of other Fergana cities, and especially the condition of the common folk, Zahir al-Din Babur, as well as his contemporary Muhammad Haidar, do not directly report anything, but the reader understands that the numerous feuds of feudal rulers for power in Fergana brought devastation to the working townspeople and peasants. They were mass diverted from economic activities, impoverished, and when attempting to resist the plundering by "their" and foreign feudal lords, they were mercilessly exterminated. Nevertheless, Babur had to mention the resistance of the working population of Osh, Margilan, and other Fergana cities to feudal exploitation, levies, and the plundering of warriors, as well as the abduction of townspeople and peasants into the militia of warring emirs and their Mughal allies.
For example, barely in 1499, when Emir Sultan Ahmed Tanbal and Jehangir Mirza entered the city with troops, “as in Osh,” Babur wrote, “the common folk also rose up. The people of Tanbal were soundly beaten and expelled from Osh.” The rebels, hoping that Babur would be a “good” ruler, preserved the fortress for him and sent a messenger with this news. The subsequent attempt by Tanbal to seize Osh also ended in failure, as the residents revolted, driving his supporters out of the city. Soon, however, Osh was suddenly captured at night by Tanbal's brother Khalil. When in 1502 Babur approached Osh with a Mughal army, its residents surrendered the city without resistance. The Uzgen people followed their example, and then the Margilan people expelled their rulers. Later, Babur made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Samarkand. However, soon the residents of Osh realized that the new power, which was not shy about levies and oppression, was no better than the previous one, especially since the Mughal warriors considered themselves entitled to "legally" plunder the people of Osh for helping Babur. “The Mughals left in Osh, Margilan, and other fortresses that had submitted to me,” Babur wrote, “contrary to the hopes of the people, began to commit atrocities and violence. When the khans left from under Andijan, the residents of Osh and Margilan attacked the Mughals in the fortress, captured them, robbed them, beat them, and expelled them.” Such are the first accounts that have reached us about popular uprisings in Osh during the medieval era, very sparingly reported by the author of "Babur-nama".
Osh and other cities and villages of the rich and fertile region, somewhat strengthened during the Timurids, continued to serve as arenas for feudal wars and infighting, devastating the working masses of the city and village in the 15th — 16th centuries.
Few narrative (storytelling) Eastern sources contain extremely scarce and fragmentary information about Osh and southern Kyrgyzstan in the eventful political history of this time, as well as about the economy and socio-economic relations of the townspeople of Osh and the surrounding villagers in the 16th — 17th centuries.
The endless internal disputes of Fergana feudal lords, the infighting of the nomadic elite of the Uzbek Shaybanids with Kazakh sultans, and the quarrels of the leaders of Kyrgyz tribal units with local feudal lords had an extremely adverse effect on the economic activities and socio-economic development of the settled agricultural population in the city and countryside. Echoes of this can be found in the lines of the "orthodox" Balkh Muslim Mahmud ibn Wali about Osh in the first half of the 17th century: “From time to time, Kyrgyz tribes migrate to its surroundings, and rebellious Cossacks wander [there] like wolves and plunder Muslims.”
But especially devastating were the numerous raiding incursions of Mughal khans from Eastern Turkestan into Andijan, Osh, and Uzgen. Against the generally unsuccessful invasions of the Mughal khans into the Fergana-Semirechye regions, the Tian Shan Kyrgyz actively opposed from the 16th century. They had already become the predominant ethnicity in the Tian Shan and were beginning to play an active, often leading role in political events in Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan.
Separate attempts by the urban elite of Osh, dissatisfied with the levies and violence of their "own" local rulers, to surrender to the khan's mercy and gain the protection of stronger foreign lords ended tragically for Osh. This was the case, for example, during the first successful campaign of the Mughalistan ruler Abdallah Khan (1638—1668) against Osh. When Abdallah Khan, with a large army, reached the “Osh Pass” (probably the Karvan-Kul Pass south of Osh on the road from Osh to Gulcha), “the residents of Osh went out to meet the khan, who, upon entering Osh, unleashed [the city] to plunder and destruction and returned to the Katman-Tube Pass.”
In the Late 16th and 17th Centuries, Osh — "A Fortified Settlement" and One of the Centers of Eastern ("Kyrgyz") Pre-Fergana
Osh, along with its rural district, was part of the "Osh tuman" of the Andijan vilayet of the Mughalistan state. However, according to the informed and enlightened contemporary Mahmud ibn Wali — the librarian of the ruler of Balkh, Ashtarkhanid Nasr Muhammad Khan (who ruled in the first half of the 17th century), for whom he wrote (in 1631—1641) the work "Sea of Secrets", in the first half of the 17th century, the city of Osh “was far from prosperity” due to the ongoing feudal “tumults” and did not differ, as in the early Middle Ages during the Karakhanids, in “well-being”. However, the Osh “shrines” — Suleiman Mountain and others — were gaining increasing fame in the Muslim countries of the East due to the efforts of the local Islamic clergy.
The city of Osh and other nearby settlements (administratively they then constituted the Osh tuman) were granted by the Mughalistan khans, as noted in their charters, “from ancient times” as land grants in conditional ownership (“suyurgal”) to secular officials and spiritual feudal lords from Andijan, most often to Muslim judges — “kazis of the Andijan region and Osh”.
For the rulers of Osh (including the chief judge of the region — kazi-kalan), this grant of “suyurgal” meant not only tax immunity but also administrative and judicial authority, of which neighboring feudal lords and the population were repeatedly informed by khan's charters — “especially the nobles, holders of orders, sheikhs, and arriving local people who live in Andijan, primarily the residents of Chokhortar and Osh...” For the laborers — the people of Osh and the residents of neighboring kishlaks, “suyurgal” turned into an intensification of their exploitation by each new owner and an increase in the alienated part of the feudal rent. Moreover, the residents of Osh and nearby villages in the 16th—17th centuries lived in constant fear for their personal safety and the preservation of their property.
In the late 17th and the first half of the 18th century, for the increasingly powerful leaders of large Kyrgyz tribal units, Osh became their own administrative center — their feudal stronghold. But this did not promise any guarantees of safety for the townspeople of Osh, did not bring them relief from tax oppression, and did not save them from violence during the collection of various levies. The urban fortifications of Osh could no longer serve as a serious barrier to the armed detachments of the warring local and foreign military-feudal nobility.