Abakh Khoja Mausoleum, Kashgar
A pretty magnificent garden, a tomb of a legend
Abakh Khoja was a major political and religious leader in Kashgar in the 17th century, and this is his family tomb, built for his father in the 1640’s. It is a great example of Islamic architecture. It is surrounded by a magnificent garden. These are not the reasons people come here.
Rather it’s for his grand daughter, Iparhan. While she was a real person, there are competing accounts of who she was, although it does seem to be a fact that she was the sole Uyghur and Muslim concubine of among the collection of 41 maintained by Emperor Qianlong. She is known as the Fragrant concubine, as she smelt sweet without any need for perfume. The people of Kashgar have it that she was taken against her will and was eventually poisoned, while the other version is that the Emperor was so taken by her that he persuaded the family to give her to him, and set her up with a luxurious life in Beijing. I’m not sure the two versions are so inconsistent that they could not both be true - certainly neither suggest that she wanted to go and be the Emperor’s consort.
It does seem the Emperor was not 100% legit - he staged an elaborate procession to get her body back to Kashgar to take her place in the family mausoleum, and there’s a sign saying which tomb holds here body, but archeologists have discovered it never left Beijing.
There’s an impressive building, obviously quite recent, which is a kind of museum for her, showing her in various rooms, engaging in various activities.
This is a depiction of the course of her life, in pictorial form - there was no way to get a frontal view, because of a row of trees. The site has two other major buildings - a sermon house, even older than the mausoleum, and an open plan mosque, built in the 1800’s.
Outside the walls, there’s a fairly big cemetery - I think for the public, not just the family
Finally, some more general pictures of the grounds - they are really well maintained, with an orchard and vegetable garden off to one side. I liked the mis-translation of a warning sign on the pool, which said “carefully fall to the water”.
Cheers!