Cultural life in the Emirate of Bukhara

Religious intolerance hindered the development of technology and natural sciences, so major works were created in history, literature, art and architecture. Historical works include Muhammad Yaqub ibn Daniyalbiy’s “Gulshan ul-muluk”, Mirza Shams Bukhari’s account of events in Bukhara, Kokand and Kashgar, Mir Alim Bukhari’s “Fathnama-yi sultani” and the “Tarikh-i Amir Haydar”. In literature Muhammadniyaz Nishati wrote the allegorical epic “Husn-u Dil” in 1778 and criticised the vices of the system in his “Debate of the Birds”; Mujrim Obid criticised social inequality, and Wala (1770–1842), blind from birth, sang of the people’s hardships. Calligraphy and miniature painting developed: Mir Masum Olamiyan, Mirza Sadiq Jondori and Ahmad Donish (1827–1897) decorated manuscripts; Bukhara was a music centre, where the Shashmaqam of six maqams (Buzruk, Rast, Navo, Dugoh, Segoh, Iraq) took shape and has been handed down orally from master to pupil. Education consisted of the maktabkhana and the madrasa, financed by waqf income; the textbook mentions Amir Haydar’s 1803–1804 decree on basic education for all, in madrasas works such as Juvayni’s “Tarikh-i Jahangushay” were taught, while natural sciences did not go beyond the works of medieval authors.