Dakhma-i-Shakhon and Modari Khan, Kokand

The necropolis was created in the 1820s by Madali Khan, son of Umar Khan, as a burial place for his father and the ruling family. It is a small complex around a courtyard, with a mausoleum, a mosque and graves. Its most striking feature is the tall portal of the main tomb, decorated with tile mosaic and painted designs, and its carved wooden doors, among the finest in the Fergana Valley, with dense floral patterns and inscriptions. The aivan (porch) of the mosque has carved columns and a painted ceiling.

Inside lie the tombs of Umar Khan (died 1822) and other members of the dynasty, marked by carved tombstones.

Nodira (1792–1842) was the wife of Umar Khan and one of the most celebrated poets in Uzbek and Persian literature. Educated and talented, she wrote under the pen names Nodira, Komila and Maknuna, composing lyrical poems (ghazals) about love, loss and the spiritual life. After Umar Khan’s death she became a powerful figure at court during the reign of her son Madali Khan, supporting poets, scholars and the building of madrasahs, and gathering a circle of women poets.

Her life ended tragically. In 1842, the emir of Bukhara, Nasrullah, conquered Kokand and had Madali Khan, other members of the family and Nodira executed. Nodira is remembered in Uzbekistan as a symbol of culture, wisdom and courage; schools and streets bear her name, and her poems are studied in schools. A memorial to her is associated with the necropolis.

Nearby stands the Modari Khan mausoleum, built in 1825 for the mother of Umar Khan. It is a small domed building with a tiled portal decorated with blue, green and white majolica, a fine example of Kokand architecture. Modari Khan means “mother of the khan”, as at the Kosh Madrasah in Bukhara built centuries earlier for the mother of Abdullah Khan.

The execution of Nodira in 1842 was one episode in the long rivalry between Kokand and Bukhara. Kokand recovered its independence soon after, but internal conflicts between settled townspeople and nomadic Kipchak tribes, and the advance of Russia from the north, weakened the khanate. Russian troops took Tashkent in 1865, and in 1876 the khanate itself was abolished. The tombs of the khans in the Dakhma-i-Shakhon are a quiet memorial to a dynasty that ruled the Fergana Valley for little more than a century.

Location: in the centre of Kokand, not far from the Juma mosque.

Tickets: a small entrance fee may apply.

Time needed: 30–45 minutes.

Etiquette: this is a burial place and a site of prayer; dress modestly and speak quietly.

Tips: look closely at the carved doors and the painted ceiling of the aivan, among the finest details in Kokand. Combine with the Khudayar Khan palace and the Narbutabey madrasah.

In the early 19th century, the court of Kokand was a centre of poetry. Umar Khan himself wrote poems under the pen name Amiri, and he gathered dozens of poets around him, writing in both Uzbek (Chagatai) and Persian. Nodira continued this tradition after his death. Later, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kokand was home to poets such as Mukimi and Furqat, whose satirical and lyrical poems are classics of Uzbek literature, and to reformist thinkers of the Jadid movement. For visitors interested in literature, Kokand is one of the most evocative cities in Uzbekistan.