Langar Ota Complex

History

The Langar Ota shrine lies in the foothills of the Hisor Range, in the mountain village of Katta Langar in Qamashi District. Langar means a holy place or cemetery, but also a caravan halt or a place where alms are given. The complex comprises a mosque, a mausoleum on a hillock beside it and a cemetery; a chillakhona, a retreat cell for meditation, survives about a hundred metres from the tomb.

According to the historian Abdusobir Rayimkulov, the mausoleum holds members of the Ishqiya Sufi order: Sheikh Abulhasan Ishqi, his son Shaykhzoda Muhammad Sodiq and his grandson Abulhasan Okhund; the fourth grave is unidentified. Tradition holds that Langar Ota was Sheikh Abulhasan’s nickname. The mausoleum was built about a century after the mosque.

Mosque and mausoleum

The mosque is typical of Central Asia’s mountain areas, with two prayer halls and an entrance veranda. It has four mihrabs, seven doors and nineteen columns, and the veranda ceiling and beams are painted with floral motifs. Inscriptions around the mihrab preserve the dates 1519–1520, 1562–1563, 1748 and 1807–1808, marking building and repair campaigns. A copy of the Kufic Katta Langar Quran is kept in the mosque.

The tile panels are the highlight: yellow and orange pieces with blue and white borders set in mosaic on a black ground, the centres of the star patterns touched with gold paint. The mausoleum is of fired brick, its door and window arches finely decorated. It was added to the national heritage list in 2019.