Cult Monuments of Osh
It is particularly difficult to characterize the culture of the population of Osh during the Kokand period, not only due to the scarcity of sources.
The Kokand Khanate was at such a stage of development that there are no grounds to speak of cultural progress: the culture of the preceding Timurid period was much higher. Moreover, very few sources on the history of culture from the Kokand period have survived. We can only affirmatively speak about those architectural and manuscript monuments that have survived to this day or are mentioned in later sources. We even find it difficult to characterize the material culture of the townspeople, as this is a completely unexplored area, and studying it is a task for the future.
Therefore, we will focus only on the monuments of cult architecture from the 18th to 19th centuries and the manuscript books from this time, to which we have been involved in identifying and collecting in recent years during a historical and archeographic expedition.
The cult monuments include mausoleums—gumbazes, mazars, mosques, and madrasas, which are of architectural interest.
The burial structures of the Kyrgyz—gumbazes were usually built in the traditional Islamic style from unburnt, and less often, burnt brick. They were erected in honor of mythical or historically lived Muslim "saints" and over the graves of prominent local feudal lords. These included the gumbazes at the foot of Suleiman Mountain (where, by the way, the ancestral cemetery of Kurbandzhan was later established, as well as the gumbaz of the "Alai Queen" herself), directly in the city of Osh, as well as the mazar from the late 17th to early 18th century of Khoja Biala, the mazars of Ishan Balkhi in Uch-Kurgan and Arslanbob in the eponymous kishlak of the Osh region. In Osh, a correspondent of the Muslim newspaper "Vakt" ("Time") wrote in 1913, there were several mausoleums and many mosques, especially many under Suleiman Mountain and around the cemetery. Prayers were held here. Moreover, on one side of the mosque, a yak's tail could be displayed on a long pole, and on the other—a flag.
The modest external architectural design of the gumbazes and mazars of Osh significantly lagged behind the well-known similar monuments of Central Asia from earlier times, in particular, the Samarkand monuments of the Timurid era, the Uzgen monuments of the Karakhanid period, or even the contemporary Bukhara ones. Their lifespan was also short, and many of them have not survived to our time, as have the madrasas and most mosque buildings.
According to archival materials, it can be concluded that in the last years of the Kokand Khanate, there were 6 madrasas and 147 mosques directly in Osh and its immediate vicinity.
The Alymbek madrasa was highly regarded by contemporaries as the only worthy architectural structure in Osh in the mid-19th century. It was compared to the khan's madrasas in Kokand and similar ones in Bukhara. There were also other, more modest madrasas—Alymkula, Khalmurza-bay.
The madrasa and waqf of Alymbek have been described in detail above. In general, this complex structure represented not only historical but also architectural interest as a monument of the former architecture of the city of Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan, and indeed the Ferghana Valley as a whole. The madrasa occupied an area of more than a quarter of a hectare and represented a significant architectural complex. It was a typical structure from the late stage of cult architecture in Central Asia, an example of the Ferghana architectural and construction school.
Externally, the madrasa presented a closed symmetrical composition, with a vast courtyard surrounded by brick walls, which separated the internal life of the madrasa from the outside world; they were more than five meters high, and at the corners stood four minarets over 15.0 m tall, which gave the structure a distinctive appearance. The entrances to this complex were emphasized by high monumental portals with deep pointed niches.
The characteristic picturesque view of the overall silhouette of the madrasa was given by five domes, minarets at the corners, and two portals. This complex was quite imposing among the surrounding lowly shabby residential buildings. The courtyard of the madrasa had a rectangular shape, surrounded by pointed arches. In the courtyard, there was a hauz with running water, brought by an irrigation channel from the Ak-Bura River. One could ascend to the flat roof and the second floor via spiral staircases in the minarets. What the decoration of the rooms was like is difficult to judge now, but it should be assumed that the decor of the rooms was given certain attention.
The madrasa, as already mentioned, was built of burnt brick on a ganch mortar. During its existence, it underwent numerous repairs, extensions, and reconstructions, which were even specifically stipulated in the waqf documents.
Medieval Monument of Osh: Mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya
The most famous surviving medieval monument of Osh is the mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya. According to experts, the modern appearance of this mausoleum was acquired as a result of reconstructions in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, its foundation was built of burnt brick, characteristic of the Karakhanid period. Until recently, there was the ruins of the Karakhanid mausoleum of Kchik-Makka near the mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya, which existed until 1976. The building was a domed structure with two entrances, serving as passages to the mausoleum-mazar of Asaf ibn Burhiya.
What do we know today about this mausoleum? What is its value?
If we refer to the passports of historical and cultural monuments of Kyrgyzstan, established for such objects in the Ministry of Culture of the Kyrgyz SSR, we can learn that the mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya "has scientific, historical, and artistic significance as the only representative of this type of structures in the Ferghana Valley, preserved in the city of Osh." Information about the mausoleum, its photos, and plans can be found in the works of L. A. Zimin, B. P. Denike, A. N. Bernshteyn, and V. E. Nusov, although there is no consensus among researchers about the time of its construction. The name of the author and builder of the mausoleum has not been established, and even the real name of the person buried in the mausoleum is unknown; the memorial inscription in the niche has been lost. According to L. A. Zimin, on the one surviving door leaf, the name of the carver—Usto Ahmed—was inscribed. That is about all the data we have. The dating of the monument has been proposed solely based on comparative analogies, techniques, and building materials, as well as the architecture of the structure. It is believed that the basis of the mausoleum was a structure from the Karakhanid period of the 11th-12th centuries.
Subsequently, a new cult structure was erected on this site in the 16th century, which was later reconstructed and acquired its modern appearance in the 18th and 19th centuries. The last changes were associated with the addition of the Jami mosque to the mausoleum in the early 20th century.
According to legend, a local "saint"—Asaf ibn Burhiya—was buried here.
The mausoleum is located on the eastern slope of Suleiman Mountain, with its main facade facing southeast. The structure is rectangular in plan, measuring 7.3 by 9.65 m. The internal space has an octagonal outline. The pointed dome, with a diameter of 4.4 m, rests on a low octagonal drum. In the architectural design, there is a high portal with a deep niche, covered by a pointed arch. The upper part of the portal is completed with four rectangular openings with transparent grilles. Instead of a cornice, the portal is finished with a massive ornamental parapet. In addition to the main door opening in the niche of the portal, there is a later door opening in the southwestern facade. Above the door, there was an inscription on a small plaque. The foundation of the monument is made of large broken stones on a loess mortar. The walls and dome are made of burnt brick. The portal and around the door of the southwestern facade have carved ganch decor. There were likely elegant slender columns on the flanks, possibly at the corners.
The mausoleum, as an architectural monument, is subject to state protection. In 1980-1983, a group of architects from the restoration workshops of the Ministry of Culture of the republic developed a project for the restoration and reconstruction of the mausoleum.
Mosque of Ravat Abdulla Khan
On the northeastern side at the foot of Suleiman Mountain, one of the large mosques, called Ravat Abdulla Khan, has survived. Currently, an exhibition on the pre-revolutionary history of the region is housed in the local history museum.
The original appearance of this cult structure has long been lost due to numerous repairs and reconstructions carried out in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Before the repairs, the mosque of Ravat Abdulla Khan had a majestic appearance as a monumental cult structure. The main facade of the mosque, facing east, represented a symmetrical three-arch composition, which was topped at the axis by a high pointed dome. Three deep monumental arches formed three pointed niches, each 3 to 4 m deep. The arches of the niches rested on powerful pylons, 125 to 162 cm thick. The niches of the arches cast deep shadows, emphasizing the expressive relief of the facade of the structure. The architectural decor on the facades has not survived, but it can be assumed that it existed.
The mosque is rectangular in plan, measuring 15.6 by 27.4 m. The thickness varies from 92 cm to 2.5 m. Its structural plan consists of three parts. The central part is emphasized by a high dome, while the side parts, although secondary, are of considerable importance.
The open central space with a high dome, located on the axis of the main facade, is covered by a pointed dome on pendentives. The diameter of the dome is about 4 m. The height of the central space from the floor to the apex of the dome is about 12 m.
The central part served as a summer space, while the side parts were winter spaces, illuminated through narrow pointed windows.
The mosque was built of durable tile brick on a loess mortar with a mixture of ganch. The floors were possibly paved with brick. The internal walls and domes were plastered with ganch mortar. It is possible that there were paintings on the walls with floral and geometric ornaments. The exact date of the mosque's construction has not yet been determined. However, judging by the style, the nature of the architectural forms and decor, as well as the construction techniques and materials, this mosque was built in the spirit of the Ferghana architectural and construction school of the 16th-17th centuries.
The architectural measurements of the mosque of Ravat Abdulla Khan were made in 1963 by architect V. E. Nusov. He also developed a project proposal for the reconstruction and restoration of this architectural complex.
The mausoleum of Asaf ibn Burhiya and the mosque of Ravat Abdulla Khan in Osh represent a certain historical and cultural interest as monuments of the Ferghana architectural school of the late Middle Ages. In southern Kyrgyzstan, there are only two such structures, and both are located in Osh. These monuments will be included in the "Register of Monuments of History and Culture of Kyrgyzstan," which is being prepared for publication.
Similar, but more modest in architectural design, were other mausoleums, mosques, and madrasas in Osh.
The building materials used were burnt and unburnt brick, guvalyak, pahsa, and wood was also used for internal reinforcement and architectural framing. Mosques and madrasas typically had ayvans adjacent to the winter rooms, and their walls and ceilings were decorated with colorful paintings featuring floral and geometric ornaments, as well as carvings in ganch and wood. The madrasas had cells for students. Children were educated in mektebs (schools) attached to mosques, struggling to grasp only the basics of Arabic writing and reading the Quran. Students mastered the tenets of Islam and hardly engaged in sciences during this period. Moreover, there were very few students, with Kyrgyz being a minority, mostly from the affluent townspeople and Osh merchants. We do not know the name of a single Osh scholar or writer from the time of the Kokand Khanate who left any notable mark on culture, unlike the early Middle Ages.
Sanats of Moldo Niyaz
The Kyrgyz people, as is known, did not have their own writing, historical chronicles, or literary written works before the revolution. However, communication with Uzbeks and Tajiks (which was most close in Osh) contributed to the spread, albeit very limited, of Arabic writing among the Kyrgyz during the Kokand period. In Osh, single copies of manuscript books circulated among the population in both Arabic and Tajik, as well as in Turkic, or otherwise—Chagatai language. The discoveries of ancient manuscript books in Osh (some of which are stored in the Osh Local History Museum, while others were acquired for the funds of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR) serve as undeniable evidence, albeit weak, of the cultural ties of the Kyrgyz with other Central Asian peoples.
Archeographic finds, including those in Osh, indicate that among the manuscripts circulating in Kyrgyzstan were not only works of spiritual content (although naturally, there were more of them) but also secular works—textbooks, poetic collections, including sanats (quatrains of a moralizing nature), and instructions for legal studies.
Among the manuscripts was a legendary work, the aforementioned "Treatise on the City of Osh." This is a copy of an anonymous work, rewritten during the time of the Kokand khans and apparently tracing its origins back to the Middle Ages. It contains a collection of Muslim traditions extolling the virtues and attractions of Osh. (A photocopy of it was made by us back in the 1960s at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in the mid-1970s, it was kindly translated from Persian by orientalists from Almaty, V. N. Nastić and V. K. Shukhovtsev). Although it does not have specific historical significance, the manuscript is nonetheless interesting for its mythological interpretation of certain plots. In particular, it mentions that the city of Osh is "the best of cities." It states: "On the eastern side, there is a city called Osh. It is the best of cities, and it is worthier than other cities, and its inhabitants [are worthier] than other peoples." And further: "This is a city that is located in the east of the land and is called Osh, and it is also called Khayr al-buldan" (literally, "the best of cities." The name Khayr al-buldan is rarely found in other sources).
The 19th-century manuscript, written in ink in the Nasta'liq script on typically Eastern paper, is bound in cardboard covered with leather and represents a characteristic example of Kokand religious books. It has historical and cultural significance as a written monument of the past. However, it should be noted that, according to the aforementioned translators, the language of the work (Persian, Tajik) is characterized by a lack of literacy, with the text replete with grammatical inaccuracies and dialectisms. This indicates that the author did not shine with particular "scholarship," and that the work was written somewhere on the periphery of cultural centers, possibly in Osh.
A remarkable monument of the cultural past of the Kyrgyz people is the manuscripts of the sanats of the Kyrgyz author of the last century, Moldo Niyaz (approximately 1820-1896). His first manuscript was accidentally discovered in the Osh region in 1951 by Professor B. M. Yunusaliev and is currently stored in the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR. The author was a well-known singer-mentor in his time, possibly from the Alai or Shakhi-Mardan Kyrgyz. As indicated in the sanats, Moldo Niyaz traveled throughout Ferghana, Tian Shan, Chuy, and Talas valleys. Being a witness and direct participant in many historical events in the Kokand Khanate, he left his records about them in the form of teachings. In the sanats of Moldo Niyaz, we find references to the Kokand Khudoyar Khan, Alymkula—the all-powerful regent during the minor Sarimsak, Yakub-bek—the Kashgarian badaulet—the founder of the Uyghur state of Yettishahr, and others. In them, we find motifs of sympathetic attitudes toward simple workers, denouncing the despotism of Khudoyar Khan, under whom "the entire oppressed people fell into trouble: the son became an orphan, the wife became a widow, the jigits of Alymkula fled," and for the Kyrgyz "a bloody day has come." Scourging the khan's servants, sultans-thousanders, Moldo Niyaz states that it is better to die as a simple Alai than to resemble bloodsuckers.
In some sanats of Moldo Niyaz, there is direct, albeit somewhat naive, criticism of local Kyrgyz feudal lords and clergy (qazis), who profit at the expense of the common people (bukharas), cruelly oppressing their own people. The author calls on fighters against the Kokand henchmen—some Kyrgyz from the Naiman clan, Suvankul and Tayir—to defend the people's interests and to active struggle: "All Naimans have fallen into oppression. The khan's thousanders are raping the people. Where are you—Tayir and Suvankul? We must save the people!"
As a historian and poet, Moldo Niyaz did not manage to rise to a scientific analysis of facts and their artistic generalization. He presents all events as he perceives them: naively, subjectively, simplistically, sometimes incorrectly due to limited worldview, and sometimes due to too biased attitudes toward participants and events, as he was personally connected with them. All this is understandable. It is difficult to expect more from a graduate of an orthodox madrasa (and only such could Moldo Niyaz have completed in his time). However, it should be taken into account that for that period, this is still the only expression from a representative of the Kyrgyz people about the historical and political events contemporary to him. Moreover, it should be noted that the sanats are written "in the Kyrgyz language, reflecting the phonetic, morphological, and lexical features of the southwestern (ichkilikskiy) dialect," as noted by the recognized Soviet Turkologist, specialist in Kyrgyz linguistics, Academician B. M. Yunusaliev.
Medieval Manuscripts of Osh
In the Osh region and directly in the city of Osh, we have identified and subsequently acquired for the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR several manuscript books, including those from the Kokand period. However, for the most part, these are various commentaries on Sharia, the Quran, hadiths (sayings of the prophets), but among them are also risolas—prayer books and instructions for artisans, butchers, farmers, and even textbooks.
Among the finds are interesting printed, lithographic, and manuscript books with poems by Bedil, Hafiz, Omar Khayyam, Jami, and Alisher Navoi, as well as completely unknown manuscripts.
In the territory of Kyrgyzstan, we have acquired works such as the Turkic version of "Mukhtasar al-Wiqaya" (a copy from 1807), the encyclopedic dictionary "Giyas al-lugat" (1826/27), a copy of the work of a medieval author from Central Asia on Muslim jurisprudence "Al-Hidaya," a substantial Turkic manuscript by Sufi Allayar "Maslak al-muttakkin" ("The Path of the Righteous"), and others.
One of our valuable acquisitions in 1984 can be considered an almost complete copy of a manuscript, kindly donated to the institute by the oldest resident of Osh, S. Isakov. In one bookbinding, it contains various works united by a common theme. According to the orientalist V. N. Nastić, the manuscript contains four texts in Arabic on scholastic logic and commentaries on them. In the margins of the first text, there are notes from other works in various handwriting and inks. The title page—colophon has the date—1242 AH, i.e., the copy was made in 1826/27. In the colophon of the second work, the name of the copyist and the date of completion of his work on the manuscript are given: "On the 12th month of Zul-Qi'dah in the year 1242, completed by the hand of the poor, insignificant Mir Seyid Ibrahim, son of Mirza Mahmoud Mazari in Hazrat-Shah, one of the villages of Balkh, in the mazar, abundant with signs of the fourth caliph [i.e., Ali]. Finished. The end." In translation from the Hijri calendar, the indicated date corresponds to June 7, 1827.
The next two works are similar commentaries.
The collection does not represent special scientific value in terms of content, especially since all the treatises, commentaries, and possibly supercommentaries included in it are anonymous. However, the manuscript book itself is of certain interest as such—a copy from the Kokand period that circulated in Osh, the presence of the copyist's name, the date, as well as the features of calligraphy and binding. The book in question is a sample of manuscript bookmaking in Central Asia from the first half of the 19th century and, importantly, evidence of the existence of traditional Muslim literacy in Arabic in Osh.
Also of interest are the several scrolls with handwritten Muslim prayers that we discovered in one of the gumbazes in the Osh region in 1984. These are peculiar amulets—tumaras, written on paper produced in Central Asia in the 19th century with dark gray or brown inks, poorly sharpened kalams (pens), and non-calligraphic handwriting.
One of the scrolls contained a prayer in Tajik approximately of the following content: "From diseases. — Whoever possesses [this prayer] with pure thoughts, it is as if he has performed a thousand hajj (pilgrimages to Mecca) or read the Quran a thousand times, or freed a thousand slaves, or fed a thousand hungry people, etc. Hazrat Osman said that God created three thousand diseases for man. Whoever keeps this 'great' prayer with sincere feelings, it will protect him from the three thousand diseases sent by Allah (!), and the devil will not find a way to this person..." and so on. How simple it all is!
Besides the fact that these and similar protective prayers are, strictly speaking, a product of folk creativity, just like samples of any literary genre, and therefore deserve the attention of specialists in linguistics, dialectology, and folklore, they also serve as eloquent evidence of religious obscurantism, the stupefaction of simple people, who, in the case of serious illness or other misfortune, are offered (and without alternatives!) in a "colorful" and seductive form to hope only for Allah, who will supposedly help the Muslim. It is also transparently hinted that if this does not help someone, it is solely due to the absence of "pure thoughts" and unconditional faith in all this mystical nonsense. The author of this prayer and the mullah who received payment for it, of course, bore no responsibility.
On approximately such an ideologically enlightening basis flowed the "cultural" life of the townspeople of Osh and the surrounding population during the dark period of Kokand rule—times of darkness and oppression, violence, and unrestrained exploitation.
Spiritual Heritage of the Townspeople of Osh
Characterizing the entire archeographic complex as a whole—all the collected manuscript books and scrolls—it can be noted that despite their modesty, they represent quite valuable and interesting sources for historical science, allowing certain conclusions to be drawn about the level of development, or rather, about the poverty of enlightenment and the absence of scientific ideas (there is, of course, no talk of science). Yet even scrolls with semi-literate prayers in Turkic and Tajik languages, at first glance devoid of any cognitive significance, can contribute to the study of the social and individual historical psychology of the population of that time, significantly going back centuries and reflecting very ancient notions and beliefs.
Not to mention the works of secular content, which carry interesting historical information and represent artistic value, manuscript books on theology and Muslim jurisprudence, while not being direct primary sources of the historical circle, often contain hidden factual material that allows for certain ideological conclusions. All of them, with a critical approach to them as sources, can serve as an important support for orientalists-historians, philosophers, and historians of Muslim law. In any case, they reflect the interests, values, or spirit of their era.
With all this, it should be taken into account that manuscript books, especially those executed with high artistic skill, were very rare and highly valued. Therefore, they were accessible only to wealthy people and often appeared only at the request of rulers, large feudal patrons, and affluent townspeople.
As we see, both the architecture of cult monuments (gumbazes, mazars, madrasas, mosques) and monuments of spiritual culture, particularly books, have a class character both in form and content, although the immediate creator, the master (often of a high level) was from the people. The class structure of the antagonistic society left its mark not only on politics, economy, and everyday life but also on material and spiritual culture. As the founders of Marxism point out, "the class that has at its disposal the means of material production also possesses the means of spiritual production, and due to this, the thoughts of those who do not have the means for spiritual production are generally subordinate to the ruling class."