Power Places of Uzbekistan: Springs, Shrines and Their Legends

Chashma simply means «spring», and the whole of Nurata grew around this one. Its water stays at about 20 °C in July and in January, and it is crowded with marinka, a fish of Central Asian mountain rivers. A mosque under a 16-metre dome stands right above the spring, and on the hill behind it, tradition places a fortress of Alexander the Great.

Nurata is a natural stop on the road to the yurt camps at Aydarkul. The full story is in our Nurata guide, and the Nuratau Mountains extension adds a night with a family in the villages of the ridge.

The legend says that the prophet Job, Ayub in the East, came here in a year of drought, struck the ground with his staff, and clear water rose where it hit. People still consider the water pure and healing.

The surprise is inside: the building now houses a museum of water supply, with leather water bags, ceramic pipes and copper vessels. For a city that lived for centuries on canals, ponds and wells, it is a fitting choice. Look at the dome as well. It is conical, unusual for Bukhara, and is usually linked to masters from Khorezm.

About 12 km from Bukhara lies the memorial complex of Bahauddin Naqshband (1318–1389), whose name the Naqshbandi Sufi order carries. His teaching is remembered in four words, dil ba yor, dast ba kor: the heart with God, the hands at work. The order did not ask people to leave the world; you could stay in your shop, your workshop or your field.

His name points the same way. His father was a weaver and a chaser of metal, and naqshband means a maker of patterns. The complex is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor. With Bahauddin begins the old route of the seven pirs of Bukhara, which our Seven Saints of Bukhara tour follows in two days.

Gijduvan, about 40–45 km north-east of Bukhara, is the town of Abdulkhaliq Gijduvani, a 12th-century Sufi master regarded as the first of the seven pirs. He is remembered for eight rules of the path, among them «solitude in the crowd» and «watch your step». Bahauddin Naqshband later added three more. Next to his tomb stands a madrasah built by Ulugh Beg in 1433.

Gijduvan is also a potters' town, known for ceramics in green, yellow and brown glazes. Our outing Gijduvan: ceramics workshop and lunch comes with a car and a guide.

The name means «the Living King». By tradition, Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, came to Samarkand to preach and did not die: he walked into a deep well under the hill and lives there still. Around the grave believed to be his, Timur's family later built a whole street of tombs in turquoise and blue tiles.

A smaller legend goes with the staircase at the entrance: count the steps going up and coming down, and if the numbers match, your sins are forgiven. Shah-i-Zinda is a place of prayer as well as a monument. Come early, before the groups, and read the details in our page on Shah-i-Zinda.

On the east side of Afrasiyab, above the Siab stream, five domes cover a grave about 18 metres long. The legend explains the length. Timur heard that whichever land holds the remains of the prophet Daniel will never lack blessings, so he brought relics of Daniel back to Samarkand, and once they were buried, the grave began to lengthen by itself.

Two more stories belong to the place. A spring below the mausoleum is said to have appeared under a horse's hoof, and people drink from it for health. And a dried pistachio tree beside it, the city says, came back to life in 1997. More legends of this kind are in the legends of Samarkand.

In Islamic tradition Khizr is the eternal wanderer, who found the water of life and appears to travellers at a moment of real need. That is why the mosque named after him, on the hill by Afrasiyab, has long been honoured by travellers, merchants and people starting something new.

The present building dates from the 19th century, with a carved wooden porch, but tradition counts the site among the first mosques of Samarkand. From the terrace you see the domes of Bibi-Khanym and the Siab Bazaar below. It is a good place to start a Samarkand day, and a short walk from Shah-i-Zinda.

Old Termez lies a few kilometres west of the modern city, along the Amu Darya. Here is the most honoured shrine of the south: the tomb of al-Hakim at-Termezi, a 9th-century Sufi writer whose works on the nature of sainthood are read far beyond Central Asia. Locals call him Termiz-ota, «the father of Termez».

Long before Islam, Termez was also a centre of Buddhism, and the ruins of the monasteries of Fayaz Tepe and Kara Tepe are part of the same sacred landscape. Our Termez guide explains how to see both in one or two days.

About 15 km from the centre of Tashkent stands the mausoleum of Zangiata, a Sufi sheikh of the 12th–13th centuries and a follower of the school of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. People come here mostly with family wishes: for a marriage, for children, for peace at home. Tradition credits Timur with starting the complex.

The legend says Timur first wanted to build a tomb for Yasawi in Turkestan, but its walls kept falling, until Yasawi told him in a dream to honour Zangiata first. About 150 metres away stands the small brick tomb of his wife, Ambar-bibi, considered the patroness of women and mothers. Zangiata fits easily into a free half-day in Tashkent, and Yasawi's own mausoleum is a trip of its own: see Turkestan from Tashkent.