Nawruz in Brooklyn

It has been long since I posted anything. My last post was a diversion from my original intend of writing history pieces; perhaps, that's not a bad thing. Much has changed since, and much more needs to change if our small but ever growing Tajik community means to make a hold in this foreign land.

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Last Sunday, on March 24th, the first guests began to trickle in around 5pm. First, a couple followed by a group of friends and then a small crowd came through the doors of Orion Palace. The guests  passed through the hallway, which was adorned with six stands, three on each side, on top of which were plates of wheat grass used for making sumanak. This is an easily recognizable sign for Nawruz, Tajik New Year which has its roots in ancient Persia. Three balloons floated between each stands, their colors corresponding to colors on the flag of Tajikistan: red, white and green. At the end of the hall there was a circular vestibule with three different doorways.

The one on the right lead the guests to a coat check-in window; doorway to the left led to an area with a table adorned with many Tajik wares. Behind the table, on the wall, there hang a large hand-woven tapestry, known to Tajiks as suzani. This area was purposefully prepared by the organizers of event, so that the guests could take memorable photographs next to something familiar, something dear to their hearts. And many did so, as can be seen from the work of professional photographer, Dan Culleton, who was hired for the job on Sunday evening.

Doorway in the center of vestibule led the guests to main hall of Orion Palace, where twenty five tables were setup for 300 guests. At the door, guests found their names next to a table number, and slowly made their way in. All was well until around 5:30 pm; a large crowd of guests appeared suddenly, as if they were waiting outside and decided to make their way together. This caused a slight panic among the organizers as they were hectically trying to place everyone. After all, this was the first event of such proportions in Brooklyn, New York, but an hour later, everyone was seated and entertainment program began.

Across the entrance, musicians were setting the stage. Kids were running on the dance floor; there were many of them that evening. Next to the stage, there was a table beautifully decorated with traditional symbolic items of Nawruz; these were various edible and non edible items names of which either began with letter "s" or "sh". Tradition has it that Nawruz table must have seven items from each letter, as to why it is so this author has not yet learned (just that number seven holds a special place in Tajik culture). In addition to sambusa (stuffed dough with meat), sabzi (carrots), seb (apples), sir (garlic, perhaps to ward off evil eye), sham (candle), shakar (sugar), and shona (comb), the table was also decorated with clay statuettes and dried fruits. These seemed to have attracted the kids more than anything; some of them didn't shy away from raiding the plates.

Perhaps the best feature by the stage was the kettle of sumanak, specially prepared for Nawruz celebration. This brown paste was cooked overnight using wheat sprouts, flour, whole walnuts, and some other secret ingredients only known to the womenfolk, as men traditionally are not allowed to participate in the cooking process. I personally had not tasted sumanak for 16 years until last Sunday evening; the flavor triggered pleasant memories of home.

Part of the program for the evening included Tajik music and songs, games and dance numbers both by adults and kids. Makhfirat Hamroqulova and Khurshed Alidodov were the highlight of musical performances. The trio dancers, namely KibriyoMakhmudova, Dilnoza Latipova and Shahnoza Tuichieva, burned the dance floor to the ground. They, at first, performed a separate regional dance, each girl representing one part of Tajikistan. Kibriyo, adorned in a Pamiri attire, shyly appeared on the stage first, followed gracefully by Dilnoz in a garb of Sogdian region. Shahnoza, who carried a doira (hand drum), moved energetically on the floor, and at the end of her dance, all the girls appeared together for the final number; their dancing excited our guests to such a degree that applause and cheering overshadowed the music. Significance of the dances symbolized unity of all the regions of Tajikistan, gracefully represented by girls.

Later during the evening, the men showed their prowess in a game of “tug of war”. Excitement was reigning and the energy of young Tajiks was evident as the game required several rematches. Of course, the ladies of the evening showed their own ability to pull the rope; some even threw away their high heels and jumped to pull the rope for solidarity. Everyone was a winner.

For me, the best part of the evening was to see so many kids running around. Nawruz is not just the Tajik/Persian New Year, a time for toiling the land and planting new harvest, but it is celebration of life. What is the best way to celebrate Nawruz if not with children, who often bring about the news of arrival of spring by carrying boichechak (crocus flower) in hand and running through the streets cheering, “Spring is here. Nawruz is here.” Last Sunday, the kids got a visit from Бобои Деҳқон (read: Bo-bo-ee Deh-qon, roughly, “grandpa land-tiller” symbolic of Nawruz), in a long purple overcoat and the blackest beard. He brought gifts of sweets in hopes of making their evening of music and dancing even more special.

The success of last Sunday’s event, celebration of Nawruz in Brooklyn, is evident by the number of guests who left Orion Palace hall with good memories. People are still talking about it. And this is a good thing. First time in sixteen years that I am here, I attended such a large event with such a rich entertainment, both by the organizers and by guests. Though first, many are hopeful that it is not the last time that Tajiks will gather in such large numbers for celebration of their unity. There are rumors now that another event is being planned in Brooklyn. Hopefully, those rumors will become a reality. In the meantime, here are few photographic memories from Nawruz 2013.

Red, White and Green, © Masrur Odinaev

View of entrance from vestibule, © Masrur Odinaev

For Memories, © Masrur Odinaev

Clay Musicians, © Masrur Odinaev

Main hall of Orion Palace, © Masrur Odinaev

kettle of sumanak, © Masrur Odinaev

7 shin-7 sin table, © Masrur Odinaev

Madina and Farangis explaining meaning of the Nawruz table, author of photograph unknown

The burning of dance floor by Shahnoza, Kibriyo and Dilnoza, author of photograph unknown

Kids are getting gifts

Our Benevolent People

I planned to use this blog to write about my favorite subject, history. Between studies, work and family responsibilities, I hardly have time to write. Today, I am encouraged to write again, but for different reasons.

I want to dedicate this post to the memory of Tajiks, not past but the current generation who suffers so much. I am not sure if I will be able to write everything that I have in my mind, but I want to put it out there nonetheless.

On August 23, 2011, I learned about the passing of Timur Abdukayumov in Colorado via a post on Facebook. The Tajik community in Colorado, though small at the time, was able to collect some money for burial. In fact, the Tajiks of Colorado gave Timur a proper Muslim burial. Of course, originally the idea was to send his body back home, so his family can properly mourn his passing. But it was far too expensive to do so, especially for a small community of Tajiks in Colorado. Many people learned about Timur's passing a bit late, but money was still being gathered after his burial. People from all over the United States (and Europe) donated to a PayPal account set up by a young Tajik lady in Nebraska. The final amount of all donations totaled $1650. With transfer fees that bank charged, there was still a substantial amount, which was decided to be given to Timur's mother.

That summer, I had an idea, which I was never able to fulfill, even in writing. This idea was stuck somewhere in the back of my mind, always scratching in less than cheerful days.

Such a day came in July of 2012. That summer Tajik government's forces entered the last remaining territory in the country where there was still active opposition. In 1997, the official peace was signed, between the warring sides in the bloody civil war of Tajikistan. It was all a farce, for the government was gathering strength for 15 years. When Tajik army entered Badakhshan last summer in order to fight the "enemy" the innocent people died. Twenty two civilians were killed, two of whom were children. Many efforts from outside the country were made to help those families who suffered most. My idea scratched from the back of my mind, as I sat there helpless. I wanted to do something, but something once again prevented me from acting.

And now, almost six months later, there is again a scratch in my head. Mizhgona Sardorova died on Monday, January 21, after long battle with leukemia. She fought for three years, and finally her body could not take the barrage of chemotherapy and radiation sessions. Her father and sister who tried hard to come from Tajikistan to New York, were delayed three weeks in Dushanbe by the American embassy. They finally arrived on Sunday the 20th, and then Mizhgona was no more. Strangest thing happened. The same young lady who coordinated collection efforts when Timur Abdukayumov died in 2011, was also in charge of running the account this time. I don't know who began it, but the young lady from Nebraska once again stepped up to the front line, opened a PayPal account, and began collecting money which was decided to be given to Mizhgona's family. In two days, over 3000 dollars were donated by many more Tajiks than two years ago. Why? Because our community has grown, and has become little bit more united. Internet is a wonderful thing. I should also note that this time, we also had help of two Americans, non-Tajiks who donated money without asking any questions; this makes me proud, especially because one of the individuals I count amongst my friends.

As I write this words, Mizhgona's body is being boarded on a plane for transportation to Tajikistan, she is going home. Last night, I along with many young Tajik ladies whose efforts at collecting money can only be described as a phenomenal, went to the family of Mizhgona and paid our respects. We also handed what little money our community was able to gather in two days to Mizhgona's father. It wasn't much. It probably did not even come close to cover a quarter of expenses for sending Mizhgona home. What we hope is the money can alleviate just a little bit of the family's hardships. What happened in the past two days made me realize that a new generation of Tajiks is willing to come to each others help in such dire moments. 

I am writing this to all Tajiks, to all Central Asians, no matter what ethnic group you are, or what your faith is, or what language you speak, don't wait until the person dies to help them.

I am proposing organization of a Foundation, a benevolent society. You can call it what you want, organization, association, society, league, anything, but your goals must be geared toward helping those who are less fortunate than you are, those whose hardships are plentier than yours. You may ask, but why should we when there is already "People of Tajikistan in America" or "American-Tajik Association". As a matter of fact, both of these organizations do a lot of good things for our community. Members of ATA were among the first to organized collection efforts for burial of Timur Abdukayumov. And PTA organized fundraising last Ramadan and donated all the money to an orphanage in Tajikistan.What I am proposing is not another organization, separate or in competition of ATA or PTA. No, I think members of both of these fine organizations showed how they can come together and help a family in need, as they were among the donors of funds for Mizhgona's family.

What I am proposing is that we set up a foundation, whose goal will be to collect funds on constant basis. Somewhere where people can give as little as $1 or infinity, whenever they can. And if they want their money to be tax deductible, we should make all efforts to make it so. All the activities of this foundation should be transparent. A monthly, or quarterly, meetings should be held, and its discussions should be made public. If the foundation gathers enough money, it can be used in such emergencies as funding the transportation of person's body (such was the case with Mizhgona, but sadly not for Timur), or the funds can be used in many other situations, which members of the foundation can agree on. 

Ten years ago, Nebraska had the largest population of Tajiks within its borders. Since then, East Coast of the United States has seen an influx of immigrants and students from Tajikistan. Whether ten years ago, or today, people who come to this great, but foreign, country are often faced with hardships. These hardships can be as short as finding a place to reside, or work, or can be as permanent as losing a member of your family. Money is always an issue. Having our own community can help. I know we all do our parts, we all help when we can, but something stable has to be in place.

Now is the time, especially because there are many more Tajiks in the United States today than there were 10 years ago. There are more hardships, especially in such difficult economy. If we set up a foundation where each one of us donates constantly, but as much as they can, or want to, then we maybe better prepared when one of us is in dire situation. We can all collaborate, all the organizations: the PTA, the ATA, or even, as I just now learned about them, the Tajik American Cultural Association.

I don't have any special skills. I don't know how to register a non-profit organization. I don't even think I properly expressed what I wanted to here and now. I am willing to lead this, or follow anyone who is willing to take charge. I am willing to do something that will make it easier for members of our community in the future. Anyone who knows me, you know I mean well. Comment on this. Give me your ideas. Let's sit down and talk. Let us not wait until someone else leaves our community forever in order to do something. I am willing to meet and express my ideas and thoughts in more concise details. 

My name is Jahongir, and I live in Brooklyn, New York.

Write me: genealogy@jahongir.com

Thank you for reading this.

I Speak Pajamas

About two months ago, I wandered through the Facebook world and stumbled upon a page on the history of Tajikistan. Sadly, I can no longer find that page, but there was something that caught my attention. The page had somewhat compressed  history of Tajikistan, mainly from the post-Soviet era; and there was also a list of English words which supposedly "came" from Tajik language. None of the words surprised me more than the word "pajamas," so I looked it up. It appears, after a little bit of Googling, the creators of the Facebook page were half right. 

The English word "pyjamas" comes from Persian language, but Persians did not "give" the word to the English, rather it were the Indians from whom the British borrowed the word. Sometimes in early 1800s, those native people of British India who were acquainted with the Persian language, called that piece of garment which they wore at night a poijoma (пойҷома), that is to say "leg clothing" from poi (leg) and joma (top coat, long jacket). This discovery surprised me a lot, especially because growing up in Tajikistan and speaking a mix of Tajik and Russian, I always called pajamas by its Russian name, пижама (pee-zha-ma). Never did I think that the Russians would borrow a word from Tajiks. Well, actually, chances are they didn't.

The word poijoma of the Persian speaking Indians traveled from the subcontinent of India to Europe. Once in Europe, both the word and the practice of wearing night garments, it was borrowed by Russians, whence pyjama became pizhama. The garment became popular during the Soviet Union as one of those odd symbols of modernity; you know, because sleeping naked is a barbarian thing to do. As the Soviets brought modernity to the people of their empire, which included Tajiks and Mongols, the people called the garment by the Russian word. So, the word traveled half the world from India to Tajikistan, not across the mountains of Hindu Kush but along the maritime trade routes from Indian Sea to Atlantic Ocean then through the Black Sea with a final delivery aboard a steam locomotive (a.k.a. a choo-choo train). So, like I said, the creators of Facebook page on history of Tajikistan were half right.

It is interesting to note that with the Russian pajamas, Tajiks acquired another item of modernity, that is to say a chemodan (чемодан or suitcase). A suitcase is basically a rectangular box for carrying clothes, perhaps while riding a choo-choo train. What is most interesting is that the Russian word for suitcase comes from Persian words joma (see above) and -don (container).  

Tajik language has many words with suffix -don, such as ғалладон (gha-la-don, drawer), яхдон (yakh-don, refrigerator), гулдон (gul-don, vase),  зиндон (zin-don, dungeon), but what it doesn't have is a word for a car (мошин, moshin), bus (автобус, avtobus), trolley bus (троллейбус, trolebus), railway car (вагон, vagon), phone (телефон, telefon), and so on. All the languages I speak have many words which are borrowed from one or another foreign language. This is why in addition to the study of history, I dabble in linguistics.

I find it fascinating that such diverse languages as English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Tajik (Persian), Urdu, Hindu, and so on, have so many common words, while spoken in such distant locations between Europe and India. For example, when first time I heard the word soap in Spanish (jabon), I though that it strangely sounds similar to Tajik sobun (собун); or how about German Tochter and Tajik духтар (dukhtar) both of which mean daughter; or Spanish naranja and Persian narang, which are oranges.

Interesting thing about the word "orange" in Tajik language; we call them афлесун (af-le-sun). This word in Tajik comes from Russian (Soviet) апельсин (a-pel-sin), which is clearly German Apfelsine meaning "Apple of Chin" or "Chinese Apple." The English word derives ultimately from Sanskrit to which Persian is a distant cousin, and just like pajamas, the orange seems to have traveled a similar path and came to Tajik people by the modernizing Russians, yet corrupted and unrecognizable; if I were to write "orange" in Tajik, as the Persians pronounce it, I'd call it наранг (na-rang). Although Tajik word ранг means "color," no one from my generation, that is those who were born in Soviet Tajikistan and with whom I am well acquainted, will actually realize that наранг means orange.

I could make a long list of English words which have their roots in foreign languages, including that cousin of Tajik language, Persian. Instead, I'll end this post with two more words which exist in Tajik language, which are of foreign origin.

Tajik word for pencil is qalam and it comes from Greek word for "reed" (κάλαμος, kalamos).

In colloquial Tajik, a bed is called каравот (karavot); this word comes once again from Russian, кровать is pronounced kro-vat'.

Land of Wolves

Gurg (Гург) is Tajik word for wolf. This animal more than any other played an important role in formation of a number of ancient societies. The earliest written record with reference to wolves dates from about 3000 BCE. In the extinct language of the Luwians who settled in what is now Anatolia (Turkey), the word Lulakhi referred to the "wolfish" deities of the people. The Hittite cuneiform Lu-um-na-as, also rendered Lu-Ur-Bar-Ra in the hieroglyphs in Bogazköy, meant "men-dog-wild" in reference to the Luwians. 

From the Luwians, the myth of wolfish origin went westward to Italy via Greek coastline settlements. The Oscan speaking people of Italy included such tribes as the Lucani (Greek Lykaioi), the Hirpini (from hirpus, "wolf" in Hirpini language), the Marsi (named after god Mars whose sacred animal was wolf), and the Sabini, who gave the Latins their word for wolf, lupus. The myth of founding of Rome becomes clear when one learns about the pre-Roman tribes in Italy. 

Mount Ararat is situated in the eastern edge of Anatolia, in modern day Armenia; the word comes from Assyrian Urartu. In this mountainous region, during the reign of Ashurbanipal, there was a province of Lu-ub-di settled by one branch of Luwians. This region was called Loubion by ancient Greeks, also spelled Louvion, and the medieval sources spelled it Luponissa. The Latin suffix -issa indicates "feminine likeness" as in "priestess, goddess, etc." and with Lupon (clearly derived from lupus) it forms "like a female wolf" or "she-wolf," progenitor of the Luwians.

Parallel to the Indo-European Luwians in Anatolia, a number of Turkic people in Central Asian region have wolfish myths of origin. In ancient times, they included the Hsiung-nu, the Wu-san, the Ting-ling, and the T'u-chüeh. During the first millennium of common era (when the Oghuz Confederation was extant), they were the Onogur (whose descendants include the modern Chuvash of Siberia), the Hu-chieh, and the Seljuks (who first appeared on the banks of Sirdarya, from whence they moved to the territory of modern Iran, and finally settled in Anatolia). The Osmanli tribe followed the Seljuks in the same path and founded an empire which would later become Turkey. Interestingly, when the Turkish wolves arrived in Anatolia, the Luwian wolves were nowhere to be found. One of the early tribes of Kyrghyz called themselves Bölik (wolfish), which has the same etymology as the name of modern Mongolian Buryats (wolves) of Siberia. The last people to trace their ancestry from a wolf were Mongols.  

The Secret History of Mongols, which was written by the heirs of Chingizkhan, begins with the genealogy of the Mongol ruler. Chino is Mongolian word for wolf, and it has a close connection with the word chin, which means "strong, firm, unshakable, and fearless." It is no accident that the title received by the young Temujin upon his consolidation of various Mongolian tribes should be associated with his ancestral animal: Chingizkhan from chingiz and qa'an (ruler, king, emperor).

When Mongolian army marched through Central Asia, sacking one city after another, they were stopped at Urgench, as this city proved difficult to be conquered. Eventually, Mongols prevailed and turned the ancient city into ruins, but this is not an account of the march of nomads against the settled people. The reason I mention Urgench is because it hides a clue in its name to the Iranian origin of its founders.

Urgench is a city that lies on the right bank of Amudarya within the borders of Uzbekistan. This modern city takes its name from the one across the waters of Amu, in the territory of Turkmenistan, which is known as Kunya-Urgench. The word kunya is a local corruption of Tajik кўҳна (pronounced kuh-na, where "u" has the sound of "ea" as in early), meaning "old." It was Old Urgench that was leveled to the ground by the Mongols. The city in Uzbekistan is located in the viloyat of Khorazm,* one of the smallest provinces in the republic. The province is named after earliest inhabitants of the region between the Caspian Sea and Amudarya. 

Uvarazamiya was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire. It was listed next to Bactria and Sogdia, as inhabitants of these three areas were related to each other since their arrival to Central Asia, and all three spoke languages that belonged to the Eastern Iranian branch. Originally the Khorezmians were actually settled on the southern shores of Caspian Sea.  By the time of Chingizkhan, the region was part of the Khorezmian Empire, ruled by the infamous Muhammad II, and included the territory of modern Iran, all of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and parts of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Thus, the name of the empire derived from the name of a province, whence the ancestors of Muhammad II originally established their rule, and which includes the entirety of modern Turkmenistan.

The Caspian Sea was known to the Greeks as the Hyrcanian Sea, and the region inhabited by the Hyrcanioi (Khorezmians) was known as Hyrcania. The Russians, referring only to the capital of the Khorezmian Empire, called it Гургандж (Gourgandzh) or Гурганч (Gourganch), betraying its origin which is lost in the modern pronunciation of the word. The suffix -andzh/-anch comes from Proto-Eastern-Iranian "settlement, town, city," which can be seen in other forms, such as -qand (Samarqand), -jand (Khojand), -kant or -kath (Numijkant or Numijkath, both are renderings of the old name of Bukhara), or -kent (Panjikent, Tashkent). Thus Urgench means "City of Wolves" and Hyrcania, which meant "Land of the Wolves," actually corresponds to modern Gurgan, Iran.

Since Khorezmians spoke a language which belonged to the Indo-Iranian family, and since Luwians spoke an Anatolian language, both of which belong to the larger Indo-European languages, it is possible that the myth of wolfish origins traveled from the Luwians to Central Asia with the ancestors of Khorezmians. It is important to note that for Luwians wolfish ancestry was a matter of pride, but for the Hittites, who ruled over them later on, the matter had a criminal aspect to it. "Texts found in the Bogazköy archives suggests that by the middle of the second millennium BC the Luwians were only employed in lowly positions in the Hittite empire and may also have been regarded as social outcasts."* In an ironic twist, in Turkey, there is an ultranationalist party, whose name Bozkurtlar, means "Grey Wolves." Their activities turned the image of wolf into a very negative one, on par with swastika in Europe, or so I've heard. But much more interesting to me is what I once heard from a friend, who told me that there is a statue of she-wolf feeding a child, somewhere in the mountains of Tajikistan. He told me he had seen this statue himself, and I hope to investigate it on my next trip home.

*Khorazm has various spellings, among them Chorasm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, etc. The region has been known as "the land of the sun," from khor "sun" and zamin "land, earth." The first syllable of the name also forms first part of a personal masculine name Khurshed, "rays of sun" or "as bright as the sun."  

*Torday's "Grandson of Raven, Son of Wolf" chapter

Empire's Fall

August 20, 2012 marked twenty one year anniversary of the day when tanks rolled through the streets of Moscow. It was a fateful day indeed, which caused a disastrous chain reaction within the bolshevik empire when each of the Soviet republics declared their sovereignty. Unlike the American colonies of the British crown in the 17th Century, who chose to fight for their independence, for the former Soviet republics, especially those of southern peripheries, independence came reluctantly. None of the "istans" were ready for it, but they declared their separation one after another, effectively bringing the collapse of the empire to its completion.

If recent Olympic achievements are any indication, Kazakhs have fared better than their cousins in Central Asia since the end of Soviet rule in the region. Interesting to note that people whose ethnonym carries the most nomadic meaning, as qazaq means "wanderer" in Turkic languages, should be more progressive as independent country, while the earliest sedentary people, i.e. Tajiks, should behave so barbarically as to wage war with their own kind (both immediately after the declaration of independence and as recently as a month ago). I never liked politics and Soviet history is current events for me; it is not past enough, as the effects of the entire regime can still be felt throughout the current republics. For that reason, I find it difficult to talk about it all, and prefer to write about the ancient histories of the people who inhabit Central Asia. But the events of summer of 1991 are imprinted on my mind forever for several reasons, so perhaps I will comment on this after all.

Most immediate result of the independence was the need for each people to have individualized identities. Under the Soviet rule, there was one history for all fifteen republics, with the pre-1920s histories rarely discussed publicly or positively. Since 1991, every republic in Central Asia has been re-writing its own myth of origin and defining its identity. The paradox, for me, is how far everything is from reality, with the late Turkmenbashi's Ruhnoma as the most obvious example. In search of their identity, each republic began building of mosques in order to connect the people with their Muslim past. Interestingly, presidents of each of the republics kept the Soviet style of ruling, rather than returning to the old forms of emirates or khanatas. 

In the case of Tajikistan, the government searched in the 10th Century of what it came to call the Tajik identity. The year 999 (I bet numerologists are having a field trip with this) was the end of the Samanid rule, last Iranian speaking dynasty in the region, whose capital was in Bukhara. This period actually marks the formation of Tajik cultural identity, with the earliest known use of the word "tajik" and the completion of Shohnoma of Firdawsi, the book of origins of the Iranian peoples. Ironically, the 10th Century of modern era (BC, BCE, etc.) also marks the end of Sogdian culture in the region, where this ancient language is replaced completely by the Persian language infused with Arabic script. 

After numerous houses of prayers, building of statues seemed to be the next obvious choice for the newly independent republics.  The saddest thing in search of identity was the Tajik government's building of statue of the most prominent Samanid ruler in the capital of Tajikistan, whose face, as people noticed, oddly looks like the current president's. People are becoming aware of their past, but to built a large statue, with golden crown at the time when most of the population is in dire poverty is negligence in direct sense of the word. Ismoil Somoni was known to have been a good ruler and people of his domain stood on his shoulders; thousand years later, descendants of Somoni's subjects carry their president on their backs, young and old alike.

There is a statue of Amir Timur in Samarqand who is sitting on a throne with his menacing gaze onto the main boulevard of the city. Another statue of Timur riding a horse stands on a square in Tashkent. Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan, did not do what his neighbor did and make the face of Amir Timur look like his own, but he did sanction the building of the statues for the same reason. That is to say to establish the Uzbek identity by linking it to a well known historical figure. Amir Timur is indeed well known in the region, and around the world; who doesn't know Tamerlane? Even Chaucer wrote about him, so did Poe. But what is so bad about linking Tamerlane with the Uzbek people?

For one, Tamerlane was not Uzbek at all, he was only born on the territory of Uzbekistan. Timur was a Mongol from a clan known as Barlas. They were related to the Borjigin into which young Temujin was born, who later came to be known as Chingizkhan. Timur admired Chingizkhan so much that he wanted to be just like the Mongol conqueror, this was one reason several of his wives belonged to the Chingizkhanid house. Mongolian rulers were chosen by a kuriltai, a form of a nomadic council not unlike the modern majlis. Timur was never able to attain the full vote of the council, as he was not a direct descendant of Chingizkhan. So he humbly accepted the title of amir rather than khan, where the former is a subordinate to the latter.

In reality, Timur's militaristic abilities were unparalleled at the time, so he could have easily call himself Khan Timur. He had other abilities to be admired or despised, but the point I am trying to make is that his empire was overrun by the nomads from the north. They called themselves Shaybans, descendants of the fifth son of Jochi, the eldest son of Chingizkhan. Shaybanids, as they came to be known after they formed their kingdom over that of Timurids, were the "original" Uzbeks. That the president of Uzbekistan chose to built a statue to Amir Timur (Mongol) and not to the earliest known Uzbeks is a paradox to me (Uzbeks are also Mongols, but this is best left for another post). Karimov's choice is even more striking because almost no Uzbek I know will want to be associated with the Mongols, but they will admire the achievements of a figure without knowing who exactly Timur was. As 25% Uzbek (there's my mathematical inclination again), I admire Chingizkhan more than Amir Timur, and prefer calling the latter Tamerlane.

This post may seem like ranting of a mad student, but when I learned about the late Turkmenbashi's building of a statue in his own liking, made of gold, I can't think of any sensible person who wouldn't go mad at such news. The statue has been removed by the new president of Turkmenistan, but at one point it showed the "Father of Turkmen" pointing to the sun as it rotated. There are many such examples of selfish extravagant behavior exhibited by the leaders of Central Asian republic, and it depresses me every time I think about them all. So, I rather continue talking about ancient histories of our people, something that we can find useful for our future.

The last thing I will say is that I admire the achievements of the Kazakh people, even if those achievements were due to "better" geography. I also take my hats off to the Kyrgyz, who upon being dissatisfied with their president, ousted him from his position (I can't say I have a positive view of the events in Osh in 2010 between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks). The poet Saadi once wrote that "only his name remains of the Tyrant," so we can only hope. May we all have the strength and patience of our ancestors.

Purely Mixed People

I remember reading an article six years ago about placards of redesigned swastikas on the streets of Dushanbe. I think that was the president's idea of "getting back to our roots," when he had announced the year 2006 as the year of the Aryans. Yes, Tajiks are one of the few people on this globe who can trace their ancestry to the Aryans. But what does it mean? It is interesting to note that the few remaining veterans of the WWII protested to the president Rahmonov's announcement. And why wouldn't they? After all, they fought against a nation whose twisted pride was symbolized by swastika. Hitler ruined it for everyone when he took a peaceful symbol and turned it into an image which most people fear or associate with hatred.

There are a lot of individuals today who still think of themselves belonging to the "pure people," and some of those come from the same part of the world where I was born. Somehow, by trying to prove who was first, people believe themselves to be flawless, authentic, or better than the rest. The idea is preposterous to me, especially in our modern globalized world.

Central Asia Proper with territories adjacent to it, is home of the five republics of former Soviet Union. Each of the republics, namely, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, represent five major ethnic groups in the region. But the region is not limited to these five groups, with some republics comprising autonomous regions whose people did not attain level of independence under the Soviets. If we go back far enough in time, we can see that none of the five major ethnic groups were actually "first" on the scene.

The earliest settlers of Hissar Valley included groups of people, whose remnants include Burushaski people of northern Pakistan. The ancestors of Burushaski people were indigenous to the region, as the Georgians are to Caucasus. Their language does not belong to any known family groups, such as Indo-European or Altaic. (The linguists proposed this theory, and based on the known living and dead languages, this seems to hold ground. However, if the countries of the region stopped their bickering and allowed archeologists to do their work, we'd have a more concrete proof of this theory.)

Some three thousand years ago, a large group of horse riding nomads arrived into the Central Asian region. That the Burushaski who currently occupy the northern regions of Pakistan, a region to be precise only a mountain away from Tajikistan, indicates that the arriving horseman pushed the natives of the land further south. This does not necessarily mean an aggressive push. Linguists have shown that the Burushaski language has many loan words from the newcomers; these words (namely father, mother and grandfather, just to name a few) indicate that ancestors of Burushaski lived a substantial amount of time alongside the new settlers. It is hardly plausible that the natives would adopt the language of the newcomers if the latter were aggressors. Rather than being pushed away from their homeland, a most likely scenario shows the absorption of the Burushaski's forefathers into the society of horse riders. The much larger number of the newcomers would turn them into the overlords of the native population, which would allow for the amalgamation of the two peoples.

An acronym PIE stands for Proto-Indo-European[1], and it indicates a very large group of people who at one point spoke a single language from which many modern languages sprung. The exact "homeland" of the PIE is not known, but suffice it to say, it is somewhere in the middle of a large region between India and Europe. Since PIE did not leave any written records, most likely because writing was yet to be invented, they are known only by a language they may have used to communicate and not by a specific ethnic designation. After a millennium or so of existence, the PIE grew very large in size and naturally began to break away into smaller groups[2]. One of the groups went towards the Mediterranean, and eventually would have become Hellenes, the ancestors of modern Greeks. Another group would become ancestors of the Germanic and Slavic tribes. And yet another group moved toward Central Asia, and are known today as Proto-Indo-Kafiri-Iranians[3]. The acronym PIKI indicates that this group spoke a single language from which three more sprung. The Indians' and Iranians' current location is well known, but the Kafiri language speakers do not currently have a self-designated home, like their cousins. They mostly live in eastern Afghanistan, and are also known as Nuristanis (perhaps a separate post will be dedicated to them later).

When the PIKI broke off from the PIE, it took them approximately a millennium to reach Central Asian region. By 3500 BC, wild horse was domesticated by the PIKI, and another split of the group occurred into: Proto-Indians, Proto-Kafiri, and Proto-Iranians. By the 1st millennium BC, the Proto-Iranians would further divide into numerous ethnic groups, whose names begin to appear in written records of the earliest known civilizations. These were mainly western Iranians, such as Medes and Persians and eastern Iranians such as Scythians, Sogdians, and Bactrians. When a group of equestrian nomads arrived in Central Asia and met the local Burushaski people, they could still be generically called Proto-Eastern-Iranians (PEI).

The Hissar Valley of Tajikistan is one of the known sites of the ancestors of Burushaski, but their actual homeland may have included the entire region of Central Asia Proper as well as territories on both sides of the rivers, i.e. Amu and Syr. When the PEI arrived into Central Asia Proper, some of them began creating permanent settlements. By this time, written records begin to identify groups of PEI with a specific designation, since once they settled their immobility allows other settled people to locate and interact with them. 

One such settlement was called Samarkand, and it was populated by the PEI who called themselves Sogdians. The cousins of Sogdians lived beyond Syrdarya, on the steppes, and they were known as Skuthoi to the Greeks, Saka to the Persians, and Sai to the Chinese; in Russian scholarship the term is Скифы and in English they are known as Scythians. A linguistic connection has been made between the Scythians and Sogdians, both of which mean "archer" in PEI language.

All the confusing acronyms aside, by the time Persians established their Haqamanish dynasty, which was roughly 550 BC, Sogdians had already established themselves in Central Asia Proper. It has already been mentioned that the natives, from whom Burushaski descended, borrowed many words from the early Sogdians. But the Sogdians also borrowed words from the natives.

Burushaski word for water is ts.hil, which the Sogdians pronounced Sil and the word eventually became Sir. This word exist today as name of the river, Syrdarya. That both Sogdians and Proto-Burushaski borrowed words from each other indicates that both of these societies mixed with each other since the first contact. Already here, one can see that the word "pure" cannot be applied to the earliest settlers of the Central Asia Proper. But if this does not convince the modern natives of CAP, perhaps the following may change their minds.

The Tajiks claim descend from the Sogdians, as the latter is the earliest known group of people who spoke an Iranian language. But the word Tajik has nothing to do with the word Sogdian. Just how the Iranian speaking Sogdians came to be known as Tajiks is a story better left for another post. But it ought to be mentioned here that the change of name occurred during a merge of another foreign group of people with the locals. The last trace of "true" Sogdians has survived in a group known in Tajikistan as the Yaghnobi people; their population, which numbers in less than ten thousand, is dwindling away, as the new generation goes out of the community in search of work and eventually mingles with the others.

The Sogdians, ever since they settled in Central Asia Proper and absorbed the local Proto-Burushaski people into their own society, have been in contact with numerous other new comers. To mention every minor group of nomads who passed through CAP would require more time and space. However, a general mention of major groups, whose influence on the Sogdian society is more noticeable than those of minor nomads would be sufficient to make a point.

The Persians under the Achaemenids were first; the second cousins to Sogdians, they occupied the region and turned it into one of their satraps. After them came the Greeks under their Macedonian conqueror. If there is ever doubt that both Persians and Greeks influenced the local society, one but has to look at the names of the cities. Cyrus the Persian built a town near Syrdarya and named it Kurushkatha (sometimes rendered as Kureskhata), which the Greeks called Cyropolis. When Alexander arrived to the same location, he built his own town next to the Persian one and named it, Alexandria Eskhata, which translates as "The furthest city of Alexander." Both of these cities are part of modern Khujand (Leninobod of the Soviets).

After the Persians and Greeks, came another group, whose name in Chinese sources is recorded as the Yuezhi. That the Chinese had a record of this people indicates the direction from which they came into CAP. The Yuezhi were also of Indo-European descent, and their horses would reach as far as India, from where they eventually established a ruling dynasty known as Kushans. The territory of Kushans streched from northern India to Ferghana Valley, thus encompassing Sogdian lands.

The next rulers of the region were another Iranian speaking people known as Parthians, from whose name the Tajiks have the word pahlavon meaning "hero, brave." Parthians did not actually control the Sogdian lands, as their rule paralleled, to some degree, those of the Kushans. However, Tajik scholars call their language zaboni Pahlavi, which translates as "language of Parthians." Tajik is not exactly related to Parthian, but the influence of the latter on the former is very heavy, with many Tajik words having roots in Parthian.

The Parthians were replaced by the Sassanids. They too were of Iranian descent, but unlike the Parthians, the Sassanids (sometimes rendered as Sassanians) had a direct control of the Sogdian lands. If Parthians, without controlling the Sogdian domains had influenced their language and culture, imagine what sort of influence the Sassanids had with their direct rule of the lands. There are more personal names in Tajik language which come directly from the Sassanids, such as Bahrom, Khurshed, or even Anushervon (a name I gave my own son).

Now, one may question how much of a change one Iranian folk could have over another, for after all, Persians, Kushans, Parthians, and Sassanians were all of the same stock. But one ought to realize that if the Sogdians arrived onto the Proto-Burushaski lands and mingled with them before identifying themselves as Sogdians, then every other Iranian people who came to rule over the Sogdians did so after having lived in a given location, for a certain period of time, mixing with other indigenous population, and then identifying themselves with a specific ethnonym. So, each cousin, close or distant, of the Sogdian people arrived to them already mixed with some other blood. So, if one thinks the Sogdians were pure Aryans before the coming of Arabs, then one ought to redefine the meaning of "pure people."

Additionally, the Greeks had a substantial influence on the Sogdian society and its people (not to mention the language, i.e. Tajik word qalam, which means pen/pencil comes from Greek kalamos). But if all the mingling of the Sogdians with other people between 500s BC and 700 AD is not sufficient, then consider the great changes brought about by the Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and Russians since the 8th Century to the present. Rendering ourselves as "pure" becomes useless activity. Instead, we should embrace all the new changes to our culture, and enjoy the benefits that come with it. It would be arrogant to think that one group of people could go far without interaction with another. But most importantly, it is simply foolish to designate oneself Aryan without knowing the full extent of the word (see [3] below).

I think I wrote more than enough for this post. Whoever reads this, I welcome your comments, questions, and criticism.

[1] Prefix proto- means "first."

[2] Harmatta: The separation of the Indo-European groups of languages had to take place at a time when agriculture began to develop in eastern Europe, that is, in the beginning of the sixth millennium B.C. as shown by the fact that the western Indo-Europeans and the eastern group (represented mainly by the Indo-Iranians) have no common agricultural terminology. (357 in HOCOCA-I).

[3] Linguists often abbreviate the term Proto-Indo-Kafiri-Iranian into PII (with Proto-Indian as PIn and Proto-Iranian as PIr as separate branches of PII). They often leave out the word Kafiri, perhaps due to the fact that the Kafirs are smaller in number, and have no had as greater influence on others as their cousins Indians and Iranians. The term Aryan comes from the word "ārya-" which was a designation of the aristocracy in both tribal societies of later Indians and Iranians. Aryan never was an indication of entire ethnic group of people, but rather a title of a ruling elite in society; it is a social term, not ethnic.