If India was my first love, Uzbekistan was my second. That should come as no surprise, as these two countries are cousins, joined by blood and history. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the past two decades studying, living, and working across South and Central Asia, and I see the links between India and Uzbekistan growing ever stronger.
Running through history in my mind, the line-up of heroes and villains is much the same: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Amir Timur, the Mughal Emperor Babur, and the Persian ruler, Nadir Shah. The routes by which these invaders travelled from Central Asia to the Subcontinent were well-trodden conduits for people, ideas, and trade, spokes of the Great Silk Road. The distance, relatively speaking, is short, as you’ll learn from the photos and artefacts in the Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum in Kargil or the Central Asian Museum in Leh.
As an Indian arriving in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital, on a direct flight from Delhi or Mumbai, much is familiar. In the chatter on the street, especially amongst ethnic Tajiks, you’ll hear the same Persian words which punctuate Hindi and Urdu: kitob / kitab, mehmon / mehman, muborak / mubarak, etc. Uzbek samsa (samosas) are cooked in tandir (tandoor); choy (chai) and non (naan) are served with every meal. After all, ingredients and recipes were passed along the Silk Road, too.
Tashkent’s skyline — including the iconic Tashkent Modernism architectural style — is almost entirely new, as the city was rebuilt after a catastrophic earthquake in 1966. Travel further afield in Uzbekistan, to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, or to the Fergana Valley, the birthplace of Babur, however, and you’ll see places much more reminiscent of India. The monuments of Samarkand are prime examples. The interior of the Bibi Khanym Mosque, built with the spoils of Timur’s India campaign, was originally decorated with papier mache made by Kashmiri artisans. Timur’s grand mausoleum, the Gur-i Amir, is the architectural ancestor of Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and, ultimately, the Taj Mahal.
Further south in Termez, close to Uzbekistan’s border with Afghanistan, you will find Buddhist sites. The layout of Fayaz Tepe, a Buddhist monastery and stupa dating from the Kushan period in the 1st to 4th centuries AD, is reminiscent of that of the Harwan Buddhist Monastery in Srinagar. Buddhism came here from India, of course, and then spread east from Central Asia to China. The concept and design of the medieval madrassas for which Uzbekistan is famed were based on these earlier Buddhist models: cells around a courtyard, a community of scholars and students living together, studying together, and praying together.
Just as many Indian families trace their origins to Uzbekistan, the opposite is also true. Uzbekistan’s Lyuli community migrated from India, possibly as long as a thousand years ago. Indian medical students, businessmen, and IT sector workers are living in Uzbekistan in large numbers, and Indian restaurants are popping up in major cities like Tashkent and Samarkand.
Interest in cricket is rising — the Cricket Federation of Uzbekistan was registered in 2019 — and this year’s Indian Film Festival in Tashkent was opened by none other than Abhishek Bachchan. Bollywood directors have long favoured filming in Uzbekistan: Ali-Baba aur 40 Chor (1980), Yeh Mohabbat Hai (2002), and Khuda Haafiz (2020) were all shot on location in Uzbek cities. With easier access and exchange than ever before, commercial and cultural ties are booming, strengthening the relationship between both countries.
Author: Sophie Ibbotson
