THE SILK ROAD IV: BUKHARA

TIM ABDULLAH KHAN 

BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN), USSR 1984 

The man wears a helmet, the woman and the child (in the sidecar) take their chances. Or perhaps there was a law covering the driver of a motorcycle, and only the driver. 

Bukhara, as we have seen, is an ancient Silk Road capital. The Tim Abdullah Khan (above) was a silk bazaar, dating back to 1577.  There is a vivid description of its construction and role here. The practical result of this domed construction, for the visitor, is a drop of ten degrees in the summer heat when you enter  into this covered marketplace. 

GUARDIAN OF THE DRAGON GATE

A FIERCE GUARDIAN 

OF THE DRAGON GATE 

THE LONGMEN GROTTOES 

NEAR LUOYANG, CHINA 

Luoyang (in Henan province) is one of the ancient capitals of China, and a major locus for the introduction of Buddhism into the Middle Kingdom. For several hundred years beginning in the fifth century, a vast panorama of Buddhist figures was carved out of a kilometer-long stretch of rock face and caves along the Yi River.  These are known collectively as the Longmen (Dragon Gate) Grottoes.  The central section of the ensemble includes an enormous Buddha, whose ears are 6'2".  S/He is identified as the Vairocana (Vairochana) Buddha, a being with a countenance somewhere between placid and passive.  Startling, then, to find among the Buddha's retinue the fierce warrior above, said to be a "'World Protector,' guardian of the Buddhist teachings."  

It was startling, too, to hear this passage from Barack Obama's Inaugural Address: "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.  We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers."  To have the new president strain so hard to be ecumenical, to be inclusive, as to include "non-believers" (and to think to pair "Jews" with "Hindus"), and yet leave out one of the great world religions, Buddhism, was, at best, disconcerting. 

THE SILK ROAD II: BUKHARA

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

ON FARAWAY STREETS

BASHFUL IN BUKHARA

BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN) USSR 1984

You have been introduced to one of the monuments of the Silk Road city of Bukhara; now meet a few of its people.

THE SILK ROAD I: BUKHARA

NADIR DIVAN BEG MADRASA 

Today, something from the world of Islam – something beautiful, and something a bit unusual. Shown above is a close-up of the pishtaq (a "portal projecting from the facade of a building") of the Nadir Divan Beg Madrasa in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.  

Bukhara is a Silk Road city, Persian-influenced, over two millennia old.   The UNESCO World Heritage Committee calls it "the most complete example of a medieval city in Central Asia." It was once "the largest center for Muslim theology in the Near East";  a madrasa (madrasah, medresseh) is a school, a school for the study of Islamic religion and thought. 

The Nadir Divan Beg Madrasa, built in 1622, was, the story goes, originally meant to be a caravanserai. This is supposed to somewhat soften the violation of the Islamic prohibition against the depiction of living creatures:  better on an inn for trading caravans than on a religious institution. 

But then, phoenixes (above) are only mythical, no?  And the human (man?) in the sun? As to the two white deer (one shown above), well, perhaps they may be called "stylized."

When I visited Bukhara in 1984 and photographed the madrasa, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan has been independent since the end of 1991.