Everything about Hazrat-e Turkestan totally explained
Hazrat-e Turkestan (modern name
Türkistan,
Kazakh: Түркістан), a city in the
southern region of
Kazakhstan, near the
Syr Darya river, is where the capital of ancient
Kangju (康居) was located prior to being moved to
Zhe’she. It has a population of 85,600 and is situated 160 km (100 miles) north-west of
Taraz (Aulie-Ata) on the
Trans-Aral Railway between
Ak-Mechet (Perovsk) to the north and
Tashkent to the south .
Türkistan is the most historic city in Kazakhstan with an
archaeological record dating back to the 4th century. (For a brief description click
here
). To the Chinese it was known as Beitian. Later it was known as
Yasi or
Shavgar to the 16th century, it was an important trade centre.
The name Hazrat-e Turkestan literally means "the Saint (or Blessed One) of Turkestan" and refers to
Khoja Ahmad Yasavi, the great
Sufi Shaikh of Turkestan, who was born here at the turn of the 11th century AD, and is buried in the town. Under his aegis the city became the most important centre of learning for the peoples of the Kazakh steppes. In the 1390s
Timur erected a magnificent domed
Mazar or
tomb over his grave, which is without doubt the most significant architectural monument to be found anywhere in Kazakhstan.
The city still attracts thousands of pilgrims. According to local tradition, three pilgrimages to Türkistan are said to be equivalent to one
hajj to
Mecca, although this isn't widely accepted elsewhere in the Muslim World. The Saint was held in such reverence that the city was even known as the
Second Mecca of the East, and it's of enormous importance for Muslims in Kazakhstan.
Other important historical sites include a medieval bath-house and four other mausoleums, one to Timur's granddaughter and three to
Kazakh khans (rulers).
Throughout its history Türkistan has been a border town, lying as it does on the fringes of the settled Perso-Islamic
oasis culture of
Transoxiana to the south, and the world of the Turko-Mongol
steppe nomads to the north. Accordingly at times it has been an important Kazakh political centre, and at others a frontier town under the control of the
Uzbek Khanates further south.
When it fell to the Russians in
1863 it was under the suzerainty of the
Khanate of Kokand. Türkistan was in the
Syr-Darya Oblast of the
Governor-Generalship of
Russian Turkestan. When the
Tsarist regime fell in
1917-18 it was briefly part of the
Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic before being incorporated into the new
Kazakh SSR in 1924.
Modern-day Türkistan has a population of 85,600 (1999 census), almost all of whom are ethnic
Uzbeks. The population rose by 10% from 1989-99, making it the second-fastest growing town in Kazakhstan, after the new capital
Astana.
Turkestan may be reached by train from
Almaty, in a journey of nearly 20 hours. The road trip from the nearest airport at
Shymkent takes about two hours.
Historical background
To the Chinese the Jeti-su became known only at the end of the second century B.C.
Wusun dominated the
Jeti-Su at the time of the first Chinese embassies, though remnants of both the
Saka and the
Yuezhi remained in the Jeti-su. At the time,
Jeti-Su bordered
Fargana on the south-west,
Kangju to the west, and
Huns on the east.
The seventh century A.D. Chinese writer
Yan Shigu described the
Wusun as: "Among the various
Rong in the Western Regions, the Wusun's shape was the strangest; and the present barbarians who have green eyes and red hair, and are like a macaque, belonged to the same race as the Wusun."
Around the year 105 B.C. the Chinese ambassador
Zhang Qian came to the Wusun with suggestion that they should return to the East and in alliance with the Chinese resume their struggle against the
Xiongnu, but was coldly received at the kunmo's camp and found no response. In the second century the Wusun completely detached themselves from China, and Xiongnu in formidable numbers crossed Jeti-su in their migration from
Mongolia to the west. The place of the Huns was taken by the
Xianbei, who conquered all the Huns lands to the Wusun possessions. In the fourth century the Xianbi ruler Yulu conquered the ancient Wusun lands. From the end of the 4th century to the middle of the 6th the Jeti-su subordinated to the [Rouran]. The raids of the Rouran forced Wusun to abandon the plains of the Jeti-su for the mountains of
Tianshan. After this the name of Wusun as independent people disappeared from history, and as is well-known, their name has survived only in the name of the great
Kazakh horde (the
Uysun)..
In the sixth century A.D.
Jeti-Su, formerly the land of the Wusun, became the centre of the
Western Türkic Kaganate, and as such remained in all successive nomad states in the western part of Central Asia .
Chinese,
Arab and
Persian sources draw a comparatively clear picture of the grouping of the Turkic tribes after the fall of the Western Turkic Kaganate. In the Jeti-su alone remained
Türgeshes. They had two tribes:
Tukhshi (
Tukhsi) and
Azes, Azes are identical with the people Az mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions. At that time was mentioned the
Yasi pass on the road from Fargana to
Barskhan. In the second half of the 8th century supremacy in the Jeti-su passed to the
Karluks. Another reference to the
Yasi pass came from 1370es, on the road to
Uzgand. In the 1598 the Uzbek khan Tevek Kül took the towns of Tashkent and Yasi,. already also called Hazrat-e Turkestan.
Notes and references
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