Dushanbe - Boris Litvinov, 1895 & Alexey Nechaev, 1914
Translation on Dushanbe in Mountainous Bukhara, its Surroundings, Political Administration and Bacha Dancers
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Below are translation of two texts about the city of Dushanbe, the modern day capital of Tajikistan.
The first is a text is an article from the military journal Разведчик (“Scout”). The author, Boris Nilovich Litvinov, was born in 1872 in Kostroma, northeast of Moscow. He studied in Kazan and later served in Turkestan as an officer where he participated in several expeditions to the Pamir Mountains. During the First World War he fought in the Caucasus Theater against the Ottomans, and later during the Civil War he fought with the Terek Cossacks against the Bolsheviks. After 1918 Litvinov emigrated to Belgrade. In 1945 he was handed over to the Soviet authorities, who convicted him of counter revolutionary activities and sentenced him to 10 years in a correctional labour camp. Litvinov died in the camp but was rehabilitated in 1998. The source for the translation can be found here. The original text can be found here.
The second text is an except from the travelogue “Across Mountainous Bukhara” by Alexey Vasilevich Nechaev. Nachaev was born in 1864 in Kazan, and later studied geology and paleontology. Later he worked at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute as a professor. He died in 1915 from heart disease. The source for the translation can be found here. The original text can be found here.
Both texts focus on the city of Dushanbe, which in the 19th century was known as Dyushambe, and then in the Soviet period as Stalinabad. Dushanbe is located in the valley of the River Vakhsh, a tributary of the Amu-Darya, the ancient River Oxus. The city was technically not within Russian territory, and instead was apart of the Emirate of Bukhara, which after 1873 was a Russian protectorate and vassal state. Along with the Zerafshan Valley, where the city of Bukhara is located, the Emirate of Bukhara also stretched up the Amu-Darya River into the Pamir Mountains. This region was known as Mountainous Bukhara during the Russian Empire, and later during the Soviet era, this region was mostly carved off from the Uzbek SSR to form Tajikistan, with Dushanbe, renamed as Stalinabad, becoming the republic’s capital. Thus at the time of both Litvinov’s and Nachaev’s visits, Dushanbe was still a possession of Bukhara.
A note on the Tajiks. The Tajiks differ from the rest of Central Asia’s population as they speak an Iranian language and not a Turkic one. The Tajiks can be considered to be the modern day descendants of Bactria and Sogdia, the two great Indo-Iranic peoples of Central Asia during antiquity. Unlike the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and others who have “Asian” facial features, the Tajiks appear more European in appearance, which is similar to some peoples found in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.
The end of the second text focuses on bacha dancers. Bacha were usually young boys who dressed as girls and danced for the entertainment of men. They were also often the subjects of pederastic love interests. This custom was common throughout the sedentary regions of Central Asia, and still exist today in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. For more on bacha dancers, see my translation of the painter Vasily Vereshchagin’s encounter with them.
Lastly, on X, formerly Twitter, I recently posted a translation of a contemporary blog post of someone’s travels along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border in Badakhashan. I included the author’s photos as well, which are very interesting.
Dushambe - Литвинов, подпоручик. Из Средней Азии // Разведчик, 1895, № 260.
The city of Dushanbe beautifully stretchs out along the clay shoreline of the river Varzob. Nothing differentiates it from the other cities of Bukhara, and it seems that it is not even a commercial center. Nevertheless, it is extremely pretty and proudly flaunts its old fortress with two half-ruined circular towers where the head of the city now lives, the amlyakdar,1 a typically beautiful Tajik. The fortress itself is small, and except for the amlyakdar’s home, which consists of a huge guest house with some separate buildings and a wonderful pond within the walls, there is nothing else. The remaining part of the fortress is occupied by the amlyakdar’s vegetable garden.
The population of Dushambe and its surrounding area are entirely Tajik by blood, except for the small kishlak2 Dzhar, located opposite the city on an elevation above the right bank of the Varzob, where the Lyuch-Ob pours into it. This kishlak is populated, according to the amlyakdar, by Turks, a few hundred of whom who came here from Karategin.3 The poverty, or rather misery, in Dzhar is startling. Surprisingly, they have almost no fields with crops.
Tajiks treat these Turks (in all likelihood Uzbeks) with hatred and contempt, and unwilling discuss their vices and laziness. For a visitor, the bareness of Dzhar and the dark faces of its inhabitants catches their eyes very sharply.
Across Mountainous Bukhara - А. В. Нечаев. По Горной Бухаре. Путевые очерки. — СПб., 1914.
In the morning of the 9th we set of from Baldzhuan in the direction of Dushambe. We went crossed the Vakhsh over the famous Puli-Sangin bridge (“stone bridge”). The road was good, soft, with some ascents and descents. Towards evening we were on the Vakhsh. We spent the night with the amlyakdar in the kishlak Tut-Haul right on the bank of this beautiful river. The valley of the Vakhsh here is quite picturesque. It then expands significantly, and then goes through a narrow gorge where the Vakhsh is squeezed between rocks and has a width of only a few sazhens.4 The current is swift, and there are rapids in some places. The road from Tut-Kaul to the bridge is wide and well made, but the bridge itself does not make an impressive sight. The Puli-Sangin stands no more than 8 sazhens over the level of the Vakhsh. The rocks that squeeze the Vakhsh hang over it, and the distance between the opposite sides is narrower higher up on the cliffs than below closer to the river. At the point where the two sides are the most narrow a bridge is set up across the crevasse, consisting of a primitive floor supported by two logs. The length of the bridge is 2 to 3 sazhens. Along its edges, instead of railings there is a poorly made rampart reinforced with brushwood. The Vakhsh here is hidden within the gorge, and while going across the bridge travelers cannot see it at all. A beautiful panorama opens up much further ahead after crossing the bridge. At the bridge on the right side of the Vakhsh there are two saklyas.5 This is a customs post - “badzhgir-khana.” Everyone that crosses the Puli-Sangin from one bank of the Vakhsh to the other must pay a special tax called “badzh.” Only those travelling by foot and administrative personnel are exempt from paying the badzh. The size of badzh: with a pack camel – 2 tengri (30 kopeks), with a pack horse – 1 tengri, with a pack donkey - .5 tengri. And without any packs only half the amount is paid. Badzhgir-khana is rented out to a private individual who pays about 10,000 rubles annually for it. This money is added to the personal income of the Bukharan minister of finance – the divan-begi.
For this vast district the Puli-Sangin serves as the single crossing point over the Vakhsh. Across a large distance from here, up and down the Vakhsh, there is no other place to cross.
Beyond the Vakhsh a vast plain that is wonderfully irrigated and thickly populated spread out. Rice predominates, and thus malaria has made itself a durable nest here and is a terrible scourge for the local population. The high Hissar range confines this valley from the north. Here is the bread basket of mountainous Bukhara. There are a few wealthy beks6 in the valley. In the distant past this place served constantly as an arena for bloody struggles with militant highlanders directing their raids against this place expecting to fall upon wealthy prey. The various beks of the valley waged endless feuds amongst themselves. More than once the more powerful ones among them went against Bukhara, challenging her primacy.
By lunchtime on 11th September we had arrived to Dushambe. This is a large town with a wealthy bazar. It is spread out across a plain on the left bank of the stream Dushambe-Darya, not far from its confluence with the Kafirnigan-Darya. Rooms for guests of the local bek are located at a distance from the bek’s apartment, in a special yard which has an aryk7 running through it. A pond is dug in the middle of the yard, full of dirty water with rotting garbage. The yard is also very polluted. Water from this pond is drunk raw and it is also used for cooking. We settled into was a spacious tent, decorated with paintings of patterns in an Asian style. A separate saklya is allocated for officials and dzhigits8 in the same yard. The bek of Dushambe holds a high rank in Bukhara – “inok” (equivalent to secret advisor). He is a grey haired, respectable old man. Our Mirkara with a special degree servility put his hands to his forehead. When we paid a visit to the bek, we were met at the gate of his home by music and a platoon of soldiers. The frantic sounds of marching horribly frightened the horses, and we struggled to clam them.
In the evening the bek sent bachas to us. They came to the rooms that were allocated for us, accompanied by a host of spectators. Tea and treats appeared. There were two bachas. One was simply a child, about 9 or 10 years old, and quite pretty, huddled in a corner with lively black eyes that seemed to have fear in them. He did not take part in the dance and reacted passively to everything that was happening around him. But the public became exalted, they impulsively hugged and kissed him. He is new and is still only becoming accustomed to his profession. The second bacha is a pretty boy, about 14 years old, fully blooming with beauty and charm, entirely aware of his influence and is very flirtatious. He blows kisses to the bearded audience or beckons kisses from them. He begins a lively but monotonous dance. The primary move is a quick rhythmic turn, joined with a forward movement. Periodically he suddenly stops, his entire body twitches or sometimes only the head does, while his eyes cast flirtatious sparkles that delight the spectators. He wears a robe and a skullcap covering long hair. While dancing he makes a sharp turn, and then makes a jerking movement with his head that throws off his cap. A cavalier rushes forward to pick it up and place it back on the bacha, and he does not fail to cuddle him in such cases. There were also musicians, furiously pounding on their doira9 while wildly yelling with their entire throat.
Our dzhigits got their hands on vodka (probably, in Dushambe there are Armenians10), pouring it into their teapot and sipped it as if it were tea. And from among the bek’s people there are lovers of this kind of tea. The feast lasted late into the night.
The amlyakdar was the local Bukhara official who collected taxes and information on behalf of the emir. He was subordinate to the Bek, who was the local governor on behalf of the emir.
Turkic word for village, commonly used in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Historic Tajik word for the Rasht River valley and surrounding regions, which are located north of Dushanbe. These Turks are likely Kyrgyz who settled here from the Alai Mountains.
Old Russian unit of measurement. 1 sazhens equals 2.13 meters or 7 feet.
A type of small homes made of stone or clay, common across Central Asia, Caucasus and Crimea.
Title of nobility common across Central Asia.
A small aqueduct, common across Central Asia.
A term meaning “brave rider.”
Similar to a tambourine.
According to Dmitry Nikolaevich Logofet who visited Dushanbe around the same time, vodka production was run by local Bukharan Jews who were given permission to produce alcohol as long as they did not sell it to Muslims.