Following a recent renovation, it attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world to Khujand, the country’s second largest city. It is not only a testament to local traditions, but also a landmark of a still-faltering economy that is trying to find its way back into regional and global trade.
Dushanbe () – One of Tajikistan’s main attractions, which after a recent renovation is attracting thousands of tourists from all over the world, is the Pančšanbe market, one of the largest in Central Asia. Its history dates back to ancient times and it is the most lively place in Khujand, the country’s second largest city after Dushanbe. The market is inseparably linked to the Syrdarja River, since everything sold there is produced on its banks.
The Syrdarja is the main river in all of Central Asia, flowing through four countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to finally flow into the Aral Sea. Its fate determines the life and mutual relations of the peoples who border it, and Azattyk journalist Petr Trotsenko has travelled along it to tell what it is like today through the stories of ordinary people, fishermen, merchants, farmers, and also by consulting the experts who deal with the problems of its basin, looking for possible solutions for the benefit of all.
The market has always been the main meeting point for the inhabitants of Khujand, where, in addition to shopping, people gather to eat plov, the national dish of rice, carrots and meat, to listen to the news while enjoying sweets and drinking tea. In the past, the river flowed right next to the market, making trade even easier, but now it has changed its course away from the stalls. After all, the city of Khudžand itself is one of the oldest in the entire Central Asian region, dating back some 2,500 years, and the river connected the Fergana Valley with one of the capitals of the Silk Road, the city of Bukhara. Bazaars were formed at all crossroads and were concentrated on the main days on Pančšanbe, which in Tajik means “Thursday”, the big market day.
Other cities in Tajikistan are also associated with trading days: Dushanbe means Monday, Coršanbe means Wednesday, Sanbe means Saturday and Jakšanbe means Sunday. The large pavilion covering the Pančšanbe market was built in Soviet times in 1964 as the main covered market in Central Asia, but it retains the appearance of the old bazaars. Here you can buy the freshest and cheapest products, there are many vendors and a lot of competition between them, some of them from neighbouring Uzbekistan, while the Kyrgyz disappeared with the border conflicts. Nearby is also the so-called Afgan-bazaar, where Tajiks from Afghanistan traditionally traded, but they too stopped coming after the return of the Taliban.
Next to Pančšanbe is the mausoleum of Shaikh Muslukhuddin, a poet and ruler of Khujand in the 12th century, with a large mosque next to it, where people pray together before the market opens in the evening, when farmers come to sell fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products until the next morning. In the evening, plov is also prepared for everyone in two large pots, with at least 100 kilos of rice, in the largest street food in Central Asia. On holidays, the square fills up for prayers, especially on the solemnity of Kurban-Akhta, when several thousand people gather and fill the surrounding streets.
Today, the Pančšanbe market is trying to revive itself even more, not only as a testament to local folklore and traditions, but also as a point of reference for a still very shaky economy in Tajikistan, but one that wants to reconnect with a constantly evolving regional and global trade, a market for the poor that is transforming itself into the renaissance of the many villages that travel along the rivers of Central Asia.
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