Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .2
it means a hostelry. In antiquity, the chief boatmen, who
were in charge of the crossings over the Jayhun River,
lived in Burdagui; it was also the place where the
sultans crossed the river. The ancient kings
granted protection to the inhabitants of
that place and exempted them from taxes;
for this reason, the place was a bustling
commercial centre. Every traveller
arriving here was treated with respect.
The people were known for their generosity,
which was so great that each traveller passing
Kampyrtepa. Fragment
here was the object of competition among the
of a vessel decorated with Burdagui people: each of them wanted to take the
grapes and vine leaves. guest to their own house. There was much rivalry
between the people of Termez and Burdagui. Around
Burdagui there is much vegetation where tigers live.’
W.W. Barthold believed that this point was located at the site of present-day Kalif,
where one of the shortest crossings across the Amu Darya had been in use since ancient
times. However, M.E. Masson attributed its location to the Chushka-Guzar (wild boar
pass), located near the present-day kishlak (village) of Khoshman in the Surkhan Darya
region. In fact, according to some scholars, it was at this point that Alexander the Great’s
troops crossed in pursuit of the Achaemenid satrap Bessus, who, after the assassination
of Darius III Codomanus declared himself king, using the name Artaxerxes III. V.F.
Minorsky continued to ponder this question and asked Henning to look into the
etymology of the name of the crossing. According to Henning, the original name
was of Greek origin, and sounded like pandoxī, meaning ‘inn’ or ‘hostelry’, and it later
changed to become pardāxwī or pardāγwī (Pardagvi) (from which ‘Burdagui’ in Hafiz-i
Abru’s account is derived) in one of the Sogdian dialects. Minorsky thought that this
crossing point, evidently one that was established by the Greeks given its Greek name,
was located near Termez, at the confluence of the Surkhan Darya and the Amu Darya.
Research at Kampyrtepa by the Tokharistan archaeological expedition has
confirmed that Kampyrtepa had been established at the end of the 4th century BC
under the Greek rulers of Bactria, and as a fortress guarding the important crossing
across the Oxus River, it may well have had a Greek name. Greek inscriptions –
graffiti – made on fragments of small vessels and on a khum have been found here,
suggesting the presence of a Greek population. Furthermore, Kampyrtepa was likely
to have been a customs clearing post for trade caravans; Hafiz-i Abru mentions the
importance of Pardagvi (‘Burdagui’) as a customs post.
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