The Arts - Central Asia - page 441

Down in the plains, Uzbeks make silk and cotton wall hangings and
coverlets such as the beautiful suzani (embroidery; suzan is Persian for
needle). Suzani are made in a variety of sizes and used as table covers,
cushions and ruijo (a bridal bedspread), and thus were a key part of a
bride's dowry. Rich with floral or celestial motifs (depictions of people
and animals are against Muslim beliefs), an average suzani requires
about two years to complete. Possibly the most accessible Kazakh tex-
tile souvenir is a tus-kiiz ( tush-kiyiz in Kyrgyzstan), a colourful wall
hanging made of cotton and silk.
The psychedelic tie-dyed silks known as ikat or khanatlas are popu-
lar throughout the region. Take a close-up tour of how the cloth is made
at the Yodgorlik Silk Factory in Margilon (see p167).

For a fictionalised
account of the life
of Persian poet
Omar Khayam,
check out
Amin Maalouf's
imaginative novel
Samarkand,
partially set in
Central Asia.

Literature: Bards & Poets
The division into Kazakh literature, Tajik literature, Uzbek literature
and so on, is a modern one; formerly there was simply literature in
Chaghatai Turkic and literature in Persian. With most pre-20th-century
poets, scholars and writers bilingual in Uzbek and Tajik, literature in
Central Asia belonged to a shared universality of culture.
Take for example Abu Abdullah Rudaki, a 10th-century Samanid
court poet considered the father of Persian literature, who also stars
in the national pantheons of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan (he is
buried in Penjikent) and is also revered by Uzbeks by dint of being born
in the Bukhara emirate. Omar Khayam (1048-1131), famed composer of
rubiayyat poetry, although a native of what is now northeast Iran, also
has strong ties to Balkh and Samarkand, where he spent part of his
early life at the court of the Seljuq emir.
Uzbekistan's national poet is Alisher Navoi (1441-1501), who pio-
neered the use of Turkic in literature. Born in Herat in modern-day
Afghanistan, Navoi served the Timurid court of Hussain Baiqara,

Since independ-
ence Central
Asian art has
been closely
linked to the
search for a new
national iden-
tity, an identity
that had been
suppressed for
decades during
the Soviet era.

TOP PLACES FOR CRAFTS
For those intereted in learning about local handicrafts, with an eye to purchasing,
consider the following:
¨ Abulkasim Medressa (p153), Tashkent. Artisan school in a former medressa.
¨ Ak Örgö Yurt Workshop (p270), Barskoön. If you have plenty of cash and a generous
baggage allowance, the ultimate Kyrgyz souvenir is your own personal yurt.
¨ Bukhara Artisan Development Centre (p198), Bukhara. Watch artisans at work here.
¨ Caravan (p151), Tashkent. Browse for stylish handicrafts over lunch or a cappuccino.
¨ De Pamiri (p346), Khorog. Felt carpets, musical instruments and more from the
western Pamirs.
¨ Erkin/Kochkor-Kotu (p277), Kochkor. Some of the country's best shyrdak .
¨ OVOP (p262), Karakol. Good selection of locally sourced products.
¨ Rishton Ceramic Museum (p168), Rishton, Fergana Valley. The best place to learn
about and buy Uzbek ceramics.
¨ Khiva Silk Carpet Workshop (p209), Khiva. Hand-made Khivan carpets that
incorporate local designs with natural dyes.
¨ Unesco Carpet Weaving Shop (p198), Bukhara. Watch how carpets are made.
¨ Yak House (p354), Murgab. For Pamiri-style crafts, bags and socks.
¨ Yodgorlik Silk Factory (p167), Margilon. Silk by the metre, as well as ikat dresses,
carpets and embroidered items.