People who open ancient burials do it either for the sake of science or for profit. But in any case, disturbing the peace of the deceased is fraught with unpredictable consequences. A vivid example of this is the curse of Tutankhamun - a series of deaths of members of an English archaeological expedition who excavated the tomb of the pharaoh.
Another vivid example is associated with the opening of the tomb of Emir Timur (Tamerlane) in Samarkand by the group of Professor Gerasimov. It took place a day before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Naturally, popular rumor immediately linked these two events together.
But the ashes of the deceased, which will be discussed below, rests not in a tomb, but in a cave located in the mountains of Central Tajikistan. This peculiar burial place is surrounded by many secrets. And the locals claim that having excavated the cave, you can incur all kinds of punishment.
KHOJA ISKHAK
Mazars (graves of saints) in Central Asia are objects of worship. Muslims make pilgrimages to them, hoping to be healed of diseases.
Mazar Khoja Iskhaka (Khoja Iskhak Wali) is not a grave in the strict sense of the word. It is a small cave (Makshevatskaya Cave), which contains unburied mummified remains. The saint, as it were, sits on an earthen dais, half buried in clay. Therefore, this mazar is also called the Sitting Skeleton Cave.
Photos of the skeletonized mummy cannot be found on the Internet, but there is a detailed description of the remains. The mummified remains of a man, revered as the body of Saint Khoja Iskhak Vali, are located in the entrance of the cave, about five meters from the entrance, near the wall, somewhat away from the natural window in the roof. In front of the mummy there is a small flat area, from which the descent begins on two sides - deep into the cave and towards the exit.
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The remains are in the aeration zone. The stream of air once dried up the corpse, while other bodies deep in the cave decomposed and crumbled. The mummy is upright. It is dug up to the waist in earthy sediments. The body is surrounded by a semi-ring of stones. The right side and face of the mummy are facing the exit, they are badly damaged by time, the bones of the skeleton are visible.
The skin on the back and nape of the head is preserved, short red hair is visible. The right arm is bent at the elbow and practically separated from the shoulder. The body is facing south, the head is turned west - southwest.
According to the stories, the mummy was discovered in the early 19th century. A resident of Makshevat, Mullo Kurbon, hunted in the upper reaches of the gorge and wounded a goat, but he ran away along the cliff and suddenly disappeared. Following him, the hunter made an amazing find. By the time of the Russian colonization of the region (the end of the 19th century), the imperishable body had managed to become overgrown with Muslim legends.
The road to the mazar is difficult, and in some places it is simply dangerous. First, she walks along a path that passes over a cliff, then climbs to the cave along a steep slope. Not every traveler will master such a road.
There is currently no answer to the question of who was the one whose unburied remains can be seen in the cave. Moreover, it is not even clear in what historical era this person lived. But on this account there are several versions, some of which are incredible.
According to one of them, the mysterious dead is none other than Spitamen, the legendary leader of the uprising against Alexander the Great. There is a legend that a detachment of rebels was ambushed in the mountains by Alexander's soldiers. The wounded Spitomen, fleeing the pursuit, rushed into a stormy river, and then ended up in a cave, where he died from loss of blood.
Spitamen and Alexander
According to another legend, Khoja Iskhak was sent by Allah in order to convert the local people to the true faith. However, the people here were all stubborn pagans as one. They killed the messenger of Allah. It is his imperishable relics that are in the cave.
CORRECT THE ERROR
At the end of the 19th century, the mazar was visited by a mining engineer and amateur archaeologist from Tashkent named Leopold (alas, history has not preserved his surname). Having learned about the mysterious cave, he wanted to look at it personally. I made a hard and long way, and having examined the cave, I decided to excavate it. I hired three young people from the locals, they were residents of the Anzob village, located 30 kilometers from this place.
The excavation began by removing a layer of pigeon droppings. Then a layer of clay appeared and finally a layer of sand mixed with stones. It was difficult to dig.
It is not known for certain whether they found anything or not. But an amateur archaeologist, satisfying his scientific curiosity, paid generously to his assistants and went to his place in Tashkent. And the mountaineers hired by him hastened to return to their native village. However, on the way home, trouble almost happened to them. When they were descending the mountain, one of the men named Alisher stumbled and almost flew down - at the last moment he grabbed a bush growing on the slope.
Frightened to death, Alisher decided that it was not without the intervention of otherworldly forces, that this was a warning about a possible punishment for desecrating the mazar. Returning home, he did not find a place for himself for several days, he was expecting reckoning.
I decided: I need to go back to Khoja Iskhak and try to correct the mistake. I bought a sacrificial ram, prepared food and distributed it to the poor. Then he began to work in the cave, trying to bring it back to its original form.
BLACK DEATH
Curiously, Alisher's decision to leave Anzob saved his life. On the way back from the mazar, he met armed horsemen who blocked his way.
“You can't go to Anzob,” they told him. - There is disease, plague, black death.
When Alisher was finally able to get to Anzob, he saw a sad picture: not a single inhabitant was left alive. The Black Death did not spare anyone. Alisher's two friends, whom Leopold hired with him, also died.
Shocked by what had happened and grief-stricken, Alisher could no longer stay in his native village, he left, as they say, wherever his eyes were. I didn't stay anywhere for a long time. Preached. He joined the order of wandering dervish monks.
THE POWER OF THE HOLY
The people have developed stable ideas about the power of the saint. It is believed that under its influence the water dripping in the cave turns into ice, which fossils during the year. This stone (sintered calcite bark), in crushed form, is used as a medicine for the treatment of various diseases.
They say that many people are not allowed by the power of the saint even to the chillahona, not to mention the rock (cave), so they put stones in piles and sacrifice near the holy place, within its sight.
In this case, the manifestation of the strength of a saint is understood as extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, heart attacks (that is, mountain sickness), which occurs among pilgrims when going uphill.
People who nevertheless decide to climb into the cave leave pebbles in the recesses, crevices and on the shelves of its walls, taken for the traces of the saint's hands and feet. These symbolic offerings are accompanied by prayers and requests for health, wealth, or well-being.
GEOLOGIST'S STORY
A story from our time, indirectly related to the Sitting Skeleton Cave, was told to me by a familiar geologist Sobir Yusupov.
Their geological survey team set up camp several kilometers from the aforementioned mazar. One day Sobir passed the route near the cave. I decided to look in. He did not touch anything, he just carefully examined everything and photographed the main attraction - the skeleton.
Coming out of the cave, he began to look for a convenient way to descend. I found a place where the river and the road running along it were clearly visible. I slowly began to descend. Why hurry? The road is just a stone's throw away.
But he miscalculated. Somehow, imperceptibly, the twilight thickened, then everything was enveloped in darkness - you can't see where to put your foot. The descent became slow and dangerous. The geologist suffered a lot before he came to the water. Then I realized that his misadventures were not over. The road ran along the opposite bank, and at night there was nothing to think about crossing the stormy river.
It was necessary to go to a place to which at least 2 kilometers along a narrow path. On one side - a roaring stream, on the other - a steep, steep slope. To top it all off, a barbed wire barred his way, behind it was once an ammonite warehouse. Even a shield with the inscription “Stop! Restricted area . In search of a passage, he felt it with his hands, scraping his palms.
Sobir was in the camp only at three o'clock in the morning. “The saint punished me for thrusting himself into the cave out of idle curiosity and without due reverence,” he immediately thought.
And the next morning a surprise awaited the geologists. The ram, who lived in the camp and was destined for slaughter, was devoured by a wolf: horns and legs were left from the barbecue. The gray robber left people only a head, a neck with a rope and part of a front leg. The remains of entrails lay nearby.
Sobir disturbed the peace of the ancient dead, and therefore he and his colleagues were deprived of fresh meat. Or maybe there was a coincidence? I don’t presume to judge. But, they say, everything in this world is interconnected …
Sergey SHCHIPANOV, magazine "All the riddles of the world" No. 18, 2017