Struggle between the Samanids and
the Karakhanids
In the late tenth-the early eleventh
centuries, Bukhara was passed from hand to hand many
times in the struggles between the Samanids and the
Karakhanids. Judging by numismatic materials, the
Karakhanid internal feuds followed in the area downstream
of the Zerafshan. After the conqueror of Maverannakhr,
I4asr b. AM, died in 403/1012 AD, his throne was inherited
by his brother Mansur. He gave Bukhara, in his turn,
to his son, Yusuf. Soon, Akhmad b. AM, an powerful
noble and Mansur's eldest brother, expropriated this
domain from Yusuf, but the latter did not surrender.
On the contrary, he proclaimed himself the Great Kagan
(Arslan-khan) and went on the attack. He managed to
reconquer the Bukhara oasis, but Khuseyn, another
of Mansur's sons, ruled Bukhara directly (406-407/1015-1017).
In 407/1016-1017 Akhmad b. AM and Mansur b. AM concluded
a peace treaty in which Bukhara was given again to
Akhmad. Once Akhmad died (408/1017-1018), Mansur returned
to power in Bukhara. He gave his rights as ruler to
his fourth brother, Mukhammad b. AM, who gave them
in his turn to his son Akhmad. Finally, in 41 1/1020-1021
a Karakhanid prince Ali-tegin (AM b. Khasan) escaped
from Arslan-khan Mansur and seized Bukhara. He broke
relations with Arslan-khan and repulsed an attack
of Mukhammad, but later made peace with him. So, during
those few years (403-41 1/1012-1021) Bukhara was passed
from hand to hand "many time and oft." In
most cases (if not in all the cases) this was accompanied
with military actions that mean violation and destruction.
Nevertheless, regardless of loosing its status as
capital (the Karakhanids moved their capital to Balasagun
in the Chu Valley), Bukhara retained its importance
as the center which was coveted by new rulers of the
country.
From 41 1/1020-1021 AM b. Khasan established a relatively
long reign in Bukhara, fie began implementing a policy
of separation from Maverannakhr. His position was
particularly strong in 415-416/1024-1025, when many
regions, including Khodjend and Shash (the Tashkent
oasis), came under his power. However, his success
appeared to be fragile. Ali had to flee because of
the invasion of his rivals, Mahmud Qaznavi and Karakhanid
Kadyr-khan Yusuf (416/1025). Thus, he was temporarily
deprived of all of his domains. Soon, Ali b. Khasan
retrieved Bukhara, and then, Samarkand (in 419/1028).
He possessed the Zerafshan Valley until his death
in 426/1034.
In V.V. Bartold's opinion, Ali-Tegin had two capitals:
Bukhara and Samarkand. There are reasons to agree
with this opinion based on manuscript sources (first
and foremost, Bawa-khaki's History of Masud). However,
Samarkand coins bear only Ali's name, whereas Bukhara
ones also bear that of his son and successor, Yusuf,
or, in some cases, only the latter. This could mean
that Ali b. Khasan established his capital in Samarkand.
Perhaps, in this case coins express a formal aspect,
whereas manuscripts disclose the real state of affairs,
as it happened in the days of Ismail b. Akhmad. Both
cities were important for Ali; nevertheless, it seems
that he established his capital in Samarkand. In 1032
a large army of the Qaznevids invaded the Bukhara
oasis by order of Mansur, Makhud Qaznevi's son. This
army, under leadership of the Khorezm-shah Altunshakh
seized Bukhara and its warriors got much rich booty
while plundering the city.32
Samarkand retained the status of capital, apparently,
under Yusuf as well. Buri-tegin Ib-rahim, the Karakhanid
prince, wrested Samarkand from Yusuf's hands in 431/1040
and just before seizing Bukhara, announced himself
a khan (Tafgach-khan). He established his residence
in Samarkand as well; however, he was also aware of
Bukhara's importance. In 432/1040-1041 soon after
seizing Samarkand, Ibrahim b. Masr took Bukhara and
held it for a brief time. He retook Bukhara in 433/1041-1042.
The Bukhara dirkhems Ibrahim minted in 433/1041-1042
— in honour of the taking of Bukhara —
are evidences of how important possessing the city
was for Ibrahim Nasr. The two Quranic citations included
in the legend on these coins both contain a mention
of the victory: "We granted you an evident victory",
and, "Aid from Allah and evident victory".
Clearly, Ibrahim b. Nasr, who was famous for his devotion,
perceived and announced his triumph in Bukhara as
a notable victory gained "with the God's help".
And yet Samarkand became the capital of the Karakhanid
Western Kaganate, an independent state Ibrahim founded
in Maveranna-khr. For both Bukhara and the whole country,
the profit in Tafgach-khan Ibrahim's centralization
policy was that it put an end to internecine wars;
this policy resulted in a peaceful twenty-five-year
period for these domains. Being a partisan of strict
Sunni orthodoxy, Ibrahim persecuted any delinquency
from orthodoxy. In 1044 or 1045 he massacred Shiites
in Bukhara. In 1056 a dreadful famine struck over
all the territory from Iraq to Maveranna-khr, followed
by an outbreak of plague that reached Bukhara.
In 1068 Shams al-Mulk Nasr, a son and successor of
Ibrahim, had to defend his throne in a struggle against
his brother Shuays. The latter seized Bukhara and
even struck his own coins there, until he was overthrown
by his brother. The congregational mosque of Bukhara
was burnt during these military actions.
Some years later the Seldjuk Sultan Alp-Arslan invaded
Maverannakhr with his enormous army. His warriors
reached the localities of Bukhara and started to plunder
and rape women, but the city stood; the sultan was
killed by an assasin's dagger and his army retreated.3'1
His son Malik-shakh was more successful in his campaign
to Bukhara (1089) that brought about the vassalage
of the Kara-khanids to the Seljuks in Maverannakhr.
After routing united Muslim troops under the command
of Sandjar b. Malik-shakh in a battle that took place
north-east of Samar-
kand, infidel Karakhytays (Kidans) subjugated Central
Asia completely, but retained the Samarkand throne
for the Karakhanid khans who ruled until 1212.
One notable feature of this period was the increasing
influence and might of the Muslim clergy, particularly,
in Samarkand and Bukhara. Samarkand's khan Akhmad
died in 1095, while struggling against clergy. His
predecessor Shams al-Mulk had executed imam Ismail
as-Saffar, a member of a very influential family in
Bukhara during the previous phase of the struggle.
In the early twelfth century, Sultan Sandjar appointed
Imam Abdalaziz to the position of the Rais of Bukhara
(mayor of the city, governor). This imam was the first
to establish the original dynasty of the Burkha-nids,
or Sadrs. They concentrated the clerical and, to a
large extent, secular power in the Bukhara oasis,
though the dynasty was subjugated to the Karakhanids
up to the early thirteenth century. Umar, a son of
Abdalaziz, participated in the Katvan battle in 1141.
After the battle he was executed by the Karakhytay
Qurkhan. Nevertheless, Umar's brother Akhmad was appointed
at the same position by the Karakhytays. The Sadrs,
who had collected much wealth by the early thirteenth
century, were exiled during an uprising led by a son
of a shield-seller. After capturing the city he named
himself Malik Sandjar. Bukhara gained independence
for a short time. In 1207, Khorezmshah Mukhammad occupied
Bukhara, added the city to his tremendous empire,
and brought the Sadrs back to the city.
Though Bukhara lost its role as a political center
after the Samanids' decline, it was still of great
importance, so that many of the Karakhanids cared
for the city well in the eleventh-twelfth centuries.
Shams al-Mulk, who spent every winter in Bukhara,
prohibited his warriors from staying within the city
after sunset on pain of death, in order, probably,
to save citizens from possible lawlessness that could
have emerged. He also created the Shamsabad reservation,
which consisted of a palace, gardens, and a menagerie
in the suburbs of Bukhara. In Bukhara itself he built
a new congregational mosque (1069).
One of his successors, Arslan-khan Mukhammad, erected
another magnificent palace in Bukhara, among the very
large number of structures he commissioned (1102—
1 130).
He reconstructed the city citadel and outer walls,
erected a new beautiful congregational mosque with
a minaret, two large public baths, two palaces (one
of which functioned later as a madrasa), and a country
holiday mosque (namazgakh or musalla). Only the namazga-kh
(with its richly decorated mikhrab wall made of kilned
bricks) and the minaret at the cathedral mosque survive.
The latter is a monumental tower, usually called Minaret
Kalyan, nearly 50 metres in height, covered with figured
brickwork. This monumental structure unmistakably
marks the silhouette of Bukhara even now. Magaki Attari
Mosque is also dated back to the twelfth century.
A wonderful portal of this mosque demonstrates the
richness and diversity of the architectural decor
of that time.
In the late twelfth century, an impressive minaret
was erected by the Sadrs in Vabkent, near Bukhara.
It is not as high as Kalyan Minaret, but seems to
be much higher due to its elegant proportionality.
The Burkhanids made a significant contributions to
the cultural life in Bukhara. Makhmud Akhmad compiled
a vast treatise on jurisprudence in about the mid-twelfth
century that continued to enjoy a great popularity
into the nineteenth century.
The eighteenth century manuscript copy of this treatise
consists of 1,769 pages. This work is not the only
treatise Makhmud wrote. And Makhmud himself was not
the only Burkhanid who left a noticeable trace in
literary work on jurisprudence. In the early thirteenth
century another member of this family wrote verses
dedicated to the last khan of Maverannakhr. A little
earlier (in 574/ 1178-1179) Mukhammad b. Zufar remade
and complemented riarshakhi's History of Bukhara by
order of Abdalaziz the Sadr. So, by no means did the
cultural life of Bukhara fade away. The development
of jurisprudence and religious science were of especially
high quality; there are dozens of studies by many
authors that have survived.
The period of the Burkhanids' rule was not so peaceful
and prosperous as the Samanid epoch, nevertheless,
the city area was not reduced by any considerable
extent. According to estimations by O.Q. Bolshakov,
the population of Bukhara was 40,000 or 50,000 citizens
in the tenth century.42 One could assume that figures
represent the population numbers in the pre-Mongolian
period. However, E.A. Dav-idovich demonstrated the
imperfection of the O.Q. Bolshakov's method.43 The
following suggestion leads us to the same conclusion.
According to Vassaf's data, within the period from
1262 to 1265, a Mongolian khan ordered to count the
city population (from the context this meant the male,
and, most probably, able-bodied population). The adduced
figure was 16,000.44 This figure seems realistic —
not fantastically large. Women and children are mentioned
separately, though their number is not given. However,
their number should be threefold or fourfold the number
of males. If, after the devastating Mongolian invasion,
about 50,000-60,000 were living in Bukhara, the number
of citizens in all probability would have been greater
under the Samanids, also under the Karakhanids.
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