Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

I. S. Karabulatova, E. N. Ermakova, G. A. Shiganova 

 

18

The delivery route of the Kazakh nomads, called the Yurt,

11

 stretched 

from the Aral Sea to Tobolsk. It was no coincidence that astanas (as in 

sacred places) in the Tobol region were the most powerful. Here the sacred 

space is built into the profane, such that sacred sites are repeated in the 

profane space, multiplied across time and space in numerous sites in the 

Tyumen region.

12

 In the authors’ opinion, an astana is a specially-structured 

space in Eurasia. Astanas represent the building blocks of the psychic space 

of the Turkic peoples. When Kazakhs immigrated to the Xinjiang Uygur 

Autonomous Region of China, they also referred to ancient cemeteries as 

astanas. Thus we find astana tombs in a location forty kilometres from the 

city of Turpan in the southern foothills of the Tien Shan mountains and 

two kilometres from Gaochang.  

Researchers have identified several types of Siberian Tatar places and 

objects of worship, distinctive in both nature and origin, most of which are 

undergoing a phase of Islamisation, acquiring the status of sacred places, of 

astanas.

13

 It is no coincidence that there is an expression in the dialect of the 

Siberian Tatars, “astanaly yeres,” which means sacred land. The first astana 

is located in the Orenburg region of Kazakhstan, and according to the oral 

testimony of Professor Uldanay M. Bahtikireeva, a native of the Orenburg 

region, the astana is also a place of worship. To date, academics in the 

Tyumen region (Tyumen, Tobolsk and Kazan) have identified 56 astanas in 

that region. It is now known that there are more than 80 astanas in Western 

Siberia (Tyumen, Omsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk Regions). 

Tyumen historian R. Kh. Rakhimov made great contributions to the 

certification of sacred astana monuments in the South Tyumen area.

14

 The 

northernmost astana is located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. 

Siberian Turks believe that Hajj (pilgrimage) around the gravesites of these 

saints is equal to undertaking the Hajj in Mecca itself. 

In ancient times, people believed that Siberia was the space of the 

sacred spirit. Siberia can thus be seen as a place of mystical liminality, in which 

astanas mark the presence of the mystical world in the profane one. 

 

Results 

The preservation of national cultural identity in multi-ethnic regions often 

arises from similarities between the cultures that come into contact. In this 

case, the historical development of this area is inextricably linked with the 

                                                 

11

 Yurt: A Yurt or Dzhurt is a migratory route of Turkic tribes. 

12

 http://www.con-spiration.de/texte/english/2007/huebner-e.html, accessed 11 June 

2014. 

13

 Yarkov et al. 2006, p. 3. 

14

 Rakhimov 2006, p. 24. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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Astana the Capital of Kazakhstan and Astanas in Siberia as a Linguistic-Cultural Aspect  

 

19

formation of its space in terms of not only ethnic but territorial 

communities. Especially notable is the individual’s personality, with its 

socio-cultural specificity, from which the concept “regional identity” can be 

defined.  

To some extent, mythological stories about astanas have many 

similarities with the fairy tales and stories known as “Dastans” told by 

Siberian Turks about sacred sites and sacred areas. According to the legend 

of the 366 “awliya” or saints (which exists in different versions from 

Bukhara and Arabia) the students of Ishan Bahauddin Hokhcha, the 

founder of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi brotherhood, came to Siberia to spread 

Islam. The mystical number 366 emphasizes their special metaphysical 

status.  

The awliya are a reflection of Sufi notions of the hierarchy of “hidden 

saints” (which, as a rule number 366). The Islamic tradition refers to them 

as Holy Keepers of the the Universe. Sufis believe that the awliya hold 

hidden knowledge about the structure of the universe, the laws of motion 

and the causal relationships between the “thin” world of energy and psyche 

and the “rough” material world.  

Awliya train people to properly formulate their thoughts and control 

their inner world. They are the messengers of the sacred world to the world 

of humans. Ordinary people ascribe to them extraordinary psychic abilities. 

From this perspective, the legend of these saints acquires special 

significance. Indeed, folklore in many respects penetrates the inner world of 

the people, the world of images and representations. As researchers have 

noted, the philosophical basis of the Sufi Naqshbandiyya brotherhood 

includes the classical theology “wahdat ash-shuhud,” defined by Ahmed 

Farooqi Sirhindi (1564-1624), one of its spiritual founders, as the belief that 

“all that is in this world is the creation of Allah.”

15

  

The Karagay region yurts in Tobolsk province were “strongholds of 

Sufism,” “centres of the Muslim district,” “a kind of residence of Siberian-

Tatar or Siberian-Bukharian Hajj, one way or another associated with the 

Naqshbandiyya congregation.”

16

 Medieval Arab scholars interpreted the 

inhabitants of Siberia differently to modern Russian and European 

researchers. Their perception of Siberia was more mythologized. The 

authros believe that this is due to its greater distance from the Arab East. In 

addition, the name Siberia-Ibiria indicates the predominance of fantastical 

interpretation, tales of the Great Silk Road, etc. 

In the first half of the 14

th

 century, the area was known to Arab authors 

by the toponym Ibir-Sibir. For example, Ibn Fadlallah Elomari, a 

                                                 

15

 Sayfulina et al. 2013, p. 494. 

16

 Belich 1997, p. 55-73. 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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