Sogdiana. blog entry #5

Who were the Sogdians ? What impact have they made on the Silk Road? And how did neighboring countries influenced those people?

Sogdiana was located between Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in modern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Even though Samarkand  was considered the capital, Sogdiana was actually much larger, defined by the areas where Sogdian language was spoken. The language itself was Eastern Iranian and was highly popular along the Silk Road.

Sogdians were known as a great merchants and traders along the Silk Road. The Chinese even told anecdotes about Sogdians’ merchant race.

Sogdians didn’t have a single polity and were controlled by more powerful rulers from Hephthalites to Turks; which didn’t stop them from thriving. Sogdiana was perfectly located in a heart of the Silk Road with access to west (Sassanian Empire); north (Russian steppes);south( India and Afghanistan) and east(China). Sogdian rulers, whether Hephthalites or Turks  supported their  mercantile activities and even offer a protection to caravans(which also helped Buddhist monks to travel safely along those caravans  ).

In terms of religion Sogdiana  was mainly influenced by Iran , which religion at that time was Zoroastrianism. Therefore,  Sogdians worshiped Zoroastrian gods , but also several other deities. Goddess Nana (influence of Hindu); small communities of Christianity and Buddhism also existed.

Even though highly influenced by others, Sogdians still had their own culture and played a major role in developing of Silk Road relationships. They were know for  their silk textiles, language abilities(many Sogdians used to be translators), and artisans (Sogdian dancers were very popular with Chinese).

Being born in Uzbekistan, Tashkent I’ve traveled to Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and other regions. One striking  thing that I have noticed that the people are very proud of their culture and the funny thing that they are in some way still the same as they were many centuries ago. When you get of  the station people are running to you trying to sell you things from breads and sweets to cars and whatever.

They  looooveeee to bargain and  I think it became their culture.

Blog entry #4 Pilgrim

Diplomatic, cultural and religious relationships between China and India are getting limited attention by some scholars. However, if we do not look closely many important facts from developing of  these countries can be missed. For example, China in particular played a great role in developing political and military affiliation of Sino-Indian contacts. In addition, it is important to notice that motives of individuals were  the main force of developing of such relations. Sometimes it is hard to apprehend that one can make the difference in the world , but articles by S.H. Wriggins and Tansen Sen can prove   that is one wrong.

Xuanzang - a brave young Buddhist pilgrim who travelLed a great distance to find out the “true” Buddhism. His motives were so pure, it seems that nothing could convince him otherwise or stop him from accomplishing his mission. His high intelligence and determinism from the young age helped him along the way and by the end of his journey he became a legend and a hero in his home country. Interestingly to notice that at first he had to escape by night to start his quest for scriptures, but by the end emperor Tang himself was waiting for his arrival. Even though Xuanzang declined many offerings by emperor Taizong (and many other rulers) due to his religious beliefes (Beliefs у тебя вроде правильно,но это слово исключение), by doing so he perhaps in some way converted Taizong from Confucianism to Buddhism by the end of his life. Where he turned to A Brahman expert for producing life-prolonging drugs.

Xuanzang travelLed 10.000 miles from Chang’an China as far as Samarkand.He  has  met many rulers on his way that were all interested in Buddhism and knew  about Xuanzang quest. The king of Turfan, for example, didn’t even want him to leave  Instead,he wanted him to  become a spiritual preceptor for his kingdom. After a month of convincing Xuanzang, he let him go and gave him letters for other kings that he would meet on his way in addition to clothes, gold, silver, horses and servants. Which would make all the rulers  of the Western Turks at his service.

On his way to ancient India, Xuanzang meets with King of Kucha ,whom hi describes as a man of a weak intellect. But the country is very cultured  with population of Indo-European people ,who are also the followers of Buddhism.

Xuanzang crosses the Tian Shan mountains and meets the Great Khan of Western Turks.Even though the people of the region were not Buddhist followers , they knew  a little about Buddhism they asked Xuanzang to stay and expound the Buddhism doctrine, tellings of Xuanzang left Khan highly impressed. Once again he tried to stop him from his mission, but Xuanzang continued his journey for “true” Buddhism.

That all raises many questions such:Can one make a difference? What was important to people of that time? Everyone  had their own motives , which contributed to the development of Buddhism in Asia in the 7th century.

Blog entry #3 Khushan empire

   The readings for this week were Czuma, Stanislaws J. with Rekha Morris.”Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India.” And “Migration and settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence  of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies.” By Xinru Liu which  are once again made me wonder about a lot of things: history, art, culture, ethnicity  and so forth. My perspective has changed dramatically since the beginning of the course .I used to think I know what those terms are, and I used to find history …boring. But now I see it all in a new ,different way. Every week’s reading brings up a new perspective it makes you think differently and inquire about every fact that you think you new about.

    Reading about Yuezhi-Kushan tribe was once again  very fascinating. It seems that we know so much about those people, but at the end so little. Well, not enough for many historians today to agree on chronologies and origins of  Yuezhi.

 From what I have gathered tribe and it’s migrations was an important part of the History of The Silk Road and cultural exchange of Eurasia. It made me think what would happened if there was no such tribe, or what if they would never migrate anywhere; where would we be right now(culturally, religiously, linguistically etc. )???Yuezhi, even though , they didn’t have much of their own culture  or religion  played an important role in developing of China, India and Bactria. For example, supplying China with horses made a great impact on its history and culture. What if they wouldn’t have those ‘heavenly horses’ ,would Chinese still have a dragon as their symbol???

      Kushan empire was indeed a great empire at that time, it’s tolerance to religion boost the spread of Buddhism. Unfortunately, they didn’t leave much literature sources (on that we have to rely on Chinese or Indian writers) but, they left their “writings” in art form.It is fascinating that today we can look at work of art from many centuries ago and see a historical development  of Kushans. The sculptures of Buddha or Kaniska king are what we have today to be able to “read” about   Khushan empire. How from very basic sculptures or coins they progressed to more detailed look(snail-curled hair of Buddha), or how we can determine  which region influence the other -by the look of Buddha garment and the drapery with folds arranged symmetrically. My favourite piece would be the BODDO coin dated AD 78-101, where on obverse we can see Kaniska king and on reverse  Buddha wearing boots and his feet are pointing out (typical Kushan style due to horse riding) very cute :)

  There is still a lot of mystery around the Yuezhi-Kushan people the chronology is too complicated due to multiple eras  used for dating; plus lack of writings and archaeological evidence, but it is very clear migration of the tribes played a major role in variety of aspects in developing of sedentary, agricultural societies and it is obvious that migration is important to human kind.

Right now I feel like an old archaeologist or a historian who is anticipating for the next discovery like a missing  piece of puzzle that will help to see the whole picture better.

blog entry #2 The Mistery of History

     Chinese civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. That is why it is full of mysteries and myths and impregnated with culture. It is hard to study history of China and especially come to a conclusion regarding ethnicity of Chinese .Reading “Myth and Construction of Foreign Ethnic Identity in Early and Medieval China» by Bred Hinsch stroke me at first with all the confusion around the history of ethnicity and roots of conquerors.  Then, I came to realization that they weren’t trying to complicate it , but they simply had no choice. The West Region survived a great amount of wars in that period, so they were smart about writing the history to suit the particular time at its best. Sacrificing the “real” history of origins or doing it on purpose to relate themselves to the higher kinships, they made definitely harder for us to study, but probably easier for them to survive. Even though, the times were tuff and most of conquers were cruel and evil they would still try to support and promote the cultural and economic growth. The Han rule period was saturated with cultural values (textiles; clothes beautifully decorated; arms pottery; coins etc.) and how smart it is to use your arm forces as an agricultural colony!(History of civilization of Central Asia).

     It is very interesting to study history of ancient civilizations, especially when it comes to Central Asia and China in particular. There might be some archeological and scientific evidence to some aspects of it’s history(culture, ethnicity, religion) , but the fact that  we perhaps could never find out for sure what was REALLY  happening , how they REALLY  were thinking at that time; all that will remain a mystery that is why it is so fascinating to me.

You may ask:” Why The Other?” Well, I was born and raised in Uzbekistan, Tashkent; therefore I am a part of it’s history .Being raised in Central Asia and being constantly reminded by neighbors, teachers, government that it is the East ,it is the Orient.   According to  E. Said’s  Introduction to “Orientalism” that makes me The Other(at least I feel like one in some sense) .

Reading the course material made me  wonder about a lot of things that I’ve asked myself once before already.

This summer I was visiting my family back home and I’ve had an urge to “dig a little deeper” in the history of Orient. I’ve decided to take a trip to the cities that allure great amount of tourist for many years already; cities that used to be a part of The Great Silk Road.

Walking narrow streets of Bukhara; climbing up the minaret in Khiva; and riding camels in Samarqand made me ask myself  some big questions about my life, lives of people who walked those street many centuries ago and people’s believes in general.

How can I relate to those people? Can I relate to them?

My background is Russian, but I was raised in Central Asia and I haven’t even visit Russia until I was 20 y.o. Who do I really belong to? What is my ethnicity and what is ethnicity in general? I might speak Russian ,I am Christian orthodox, but I’ve inherited so much from the culture of  the Orients that I feel like I could relate more to those people. What really determine your ethnicity? I don’t consider my self an Uzbek, but I have more in common with that nation that the one I actually belong to.

Also, seeing all that architecture and what a great impact religion had on building those cities made me wonder why religion was and still is so important to those people? Is it because people always need something to believe in and  they seek for something beyond ordinary? It seems to me like it’s a lifestyle to those people it’s just the way it always has been for them. They just know what they have to do, because they ‘ve been doing this for so many generations. Another question that always interested me is that there are many Jewish people in Bukhara ,they are very different in some way from the rest of the Jewish people around the world ,but the question is how is it possible that two such different religions can and have so many thing that are similar even though they came from different ethnicities?

Some other things surprised me as well, the fact that people from the same regions sometimes could not understand each other dialect fully. For example, our tour guide was from Urgench ,but when we went to Khiva(city-museum) he often had a problem understanding what locals were trying to say  even though those cities are 30 minutes away from each other. Whereas, in Bukhara  a 12 year old girl would speak English ,trying to sell you a pashmina .

The Culture. I can speak for ages about culture of the East .How nice the people are and how proud they are of their origins and it seem like they are ready to share almost everything they have with you. I’ve also noticed that culture in that region doesn’t change with time. By that I mean if I would compare the culture of Russia, Moscow to culture of Uzbekistan I would say that culture in Russia seems to change with time. But is it possible for culture to change? The cities are growing and people become colder to each other and they forget about important things like being nice to each other. Is it possible to loose culture? How did it all started ….the culture of people, nations, world? Why do we have need for culture? Do we do things out of generosity. Do we want to share our history and traditions? Why is it so important to some of us and why it is irrelevant to others?