From Samarkand to Kashgar *
I just returned from a trip through the heart of Asia. There, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan become a walk in your steps and try to heal the wounds of recent history. Uzbek cities of all, there are two, Bukhara and Samarkand, ancient epicenter of spirituality Sufi and Persian culture, glowing with light. Both have impressed on my retina left an indelible image, although many of its mosques, madrasas and Sufi tekkes have been reduced to ruins after decades of neglect and apathy on the part of the former Soviet authorities.
Since independence, however, some monuments are the subject of a restoration tanesmerada as slow and difficult. This happens in Samarkand, whose name alone evokes the best of the Islamic East, with the wondrous architectural ensemble of Registan, or the Guri Amir Mausoleum, the place where the remains of Tamerlane, (doubtful) national hero.
I still do not know what amazed me more if the monuments and souks of these cities with unique prints not very different, however, which can be seen in Istanbul, Cairo, Damascus or Fez. Places of agitation and emotional warmth, parades scenarios where multiple faces and costumes and a lively stereo sounds of voices, the souks Uzbek retain the charm of yesteryear, when the caravans of the Silk Road stopped at them. Point and deserve the fruit stands, especially melons and watermelons, with its generous opulence.
And still the shaijanés, those houses outdoor area, shaded by vines that protect against harsh sun of August, where Uzbeks cultivate leisure lifestyle. One of the most popular in Bukhara is located opposite the Nadir madrasa next to the statue of Nasreddin Hodja mol / lá, legendary hero of Sufi tales. In shaijané lounge chairs, some dozing gutted without her veil, while others play chess - I met these scoundrels of care, out-and-out cheats! - Or just chat. On the outskirts of Bukhara, stands the mausoleum of the Sufi Bahauddin Naqshaband (d. 1388), founder of the naqshabandiyya, one of the Sufi brotherhoods world's largest Islamic orthodoxy, characterized by its rigor. This is a place that radiates peace and power, well attended by faithful from all over the country and abroad as well.
To get to Kashgar in China's Xinjiang autonomous region, former Turkestan, the traveler has to cross the inhospitable steppes Kyrgyz and head toward the passage of Torugart, at 3,752 meters altitude. Reaching the goal required two long days of travel on roads at times intrasite. Upon arriving at Kashgar, a city in another world, it was Sunday and, as every week, took place on the open market busiest in Asia. From the former republics ex-Soviet neighbor Pakistan d and all Xinjiang, more than 50,000 people huddled there in an indescribable spectacle of sale. In the following days, the traveler took his stay in the city on tours of the old medina and visit the mausoleum of Hodja Abakh, Sufi patron of the city, and Hazi Hajip Yusup. They were memorable days, in which the days passed with a calm slowly. I leave for another time to explain the incident of crossing the Taklamakan Desert, the three-wheeled car exploded in the heat of the asphalt-and how this reporter was deported by train from the Russian authorities on the border between Kazakhstan and China, a story not sleeping.
Halil Bárcena (August-September 1996)
* Published in Altaïr n º 33, July-August 1997, p. 17.
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