Kokildor Ota Khanqah

Name and history

The khanqah stands in eastern Termez, not far from the Sultan Saodat ensemble. Locals know it by several names: the pavilion of the Termez ruler Alo al-Mulk Khudovandzoda, Azizon, Azlar Eshon and Kokildor. The last is linked with the custom of cutting a child’s first forelock (kokil). A khanqah is a lodge where Sufis and dervishes lived and prayed.

Tradition says Kokildor Ota, a scholar and calligrapher related by marriage to the family of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, was buried here; in August 2001 his remains were moved to the Sultan Saodat cemetery. The building was restored for Termez’s 2,500th anniversary and the grounds landscaped.

Architecture

The khanqah is rectangular, 27.5 × 17 m, with five rooms. A tall, deep-arched portal leads into a central hall of 7.5 × 7.5 m whose dome sits on an octagonal drum; identical side rooms are linked by a corridor. The arches and niches inside are finished in carved ganch, the pendentives with muqarnas, and several graves remain in the central hall.

The fired-brick façade with its three-stepped composition resembles the buildings of Sultan Saodat. Scholars compare the entrance with 15th-century Timurid work and believe the building, like other Termez monuments, was remodelled in that era.