#uzbekistan🇺🇿 #uzbekistan_inst – Rana Safvi

Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

Rana Safvi — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 08:18:28 +0000

A good time to describe the achiements and legacy of Abu Ali al-Husayn IBN SINA (980–1037), known to the west as Avicenna whose 1038th birth anniversary was yesterday, 7th August.
Thank you Jamal Jafri for the post on him.
When I visited Khiva in Uzbekistan, it was their Museum of Scholars that fascinated me.
I had already read ‘Lost Enlightenment’ by Frederick Starr so knew what to expect but even then it was beyond that. They have recreated rooms in which the models of these scholars and their works are displayed. Their books are displayed and it is pretty amazing.
The Age of Enlightenment in Central Asia connects antiquity to the Modern Age. This was centred around Afghanistan, Kazakhstan; Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They were Arab speaking polymaths who fuelled this age but they were not of Arab origin as commonly believed.
This was an age which produced polymaths where individual thinkers accumulated truly encyclopedic bodies of knowledge and then went on to make original contributions to as many as six or more different fields. There was no concept of discrete disciplines or specialities.
A major part of the work of these polymaths is lost to us or lies untranslated from Arabic or Persian, and we come to know of them through some quotes in later Latin books which used them as references.
Ibn Sina wrote over 400 books and treatises but only 240 survive in any form, of which only a fraction have been edited and published.
He was a “philosopher, theologian, polymath, and author of the Canon of Medicine, which remained for half a millennium the classic medical text throughout the Muslim world and Europe. The impact of his Book of Healing and Book of Deliverance on theology in the Muslim world and Christian Europe was equally powerful owing to his intricate affirmation of both reason and faith.”

Chor Minar ( char minar) of Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Rana Safvi — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 10:14:53 +0000

Who hasn’t heard of Hyderabad’s Char Minar? It was built in the 16th century and defines the city.
But recently I saw another Char Minar ( pronounced Chor Minar in the local language) in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
Is there a connection?
Quite possible because the builder of this char minar was a rich merchant living & trading in Bukhara, who it is possible saw it in India on one of his business trips and got inspired.
“Chor-Minor“ (“Four minarets“) was built in
1807 by a rich Turkmen merchant Haliph Niyazkul.
There is a small yard surrounded by hujras ( Cells) around the madrasa and a small mosque in form of a columnaded ai an.
madrasah includes a small yard surrounding the main building.
One of the towers contains a staircase leading to the second ﬂoor of the domed hall. It housed a library, where precious manuscripts were preserved.
The reason why a Hyderabad connection is possible is because Central Asia does not have similar architecture.
The Hyderabad Charminar is of course larger and it’s minarets soar considerably higher than the Bukhara one.
Since the tops of the minarets bear a resemblance to the Kalan ( Kalyan) minaret in Bukhara, it would have been replicated by local artisans and craftsmen on a description by the merchant.
The insides of the monument is now taken over by shops selling suzani embroidery and trinkets.
I am sure the merchant’s heart must be full.

Satpula Dam: Delhi

ranasafvi — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 22:10:58 +0000

In the second half of Muhammad bin Tughlaq ‘s reign the kingdom particularly Delhi was facing economic distress due to his disastrous schemes such change of capital to Daulatabad and then back again.

There were also high expenses being incurred because of his wars against the Deccan kings.

Both these acts necessitated increasing taxes to enhance the treasury coffers to meet large expenses.

He was also facing rebellions.

Two natural calamities like sought and plague had added to the suffering of the people in the country. Urgent solutions had to be found to remedy the distress conditions.

The dam Satpula or the seven arches bridge or gate controlled weir/dam, was built to tap the water resources of the local nallah (stream) feeding the Yamuna river, which could be used to bring large areas of flat land in the vicinity under controlled irrigated agriculture to grow food crops to stem the famine conditions.

This solution was also thought to provide the much needed defense to the walls of the newly built city of Jahanpanah.