View source for Place:Varakhsha

{{Short description|Archaeological site in Uzbekistan}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Varakhsha
  |native_name = 
  |alternate_name = Varakhsha
  |image = Varaxsha 10.jpg
  |image_size = 300px
  |alt = 
  |caption = Ruins of Varakhsha
  |map_type = West Asia#Uzbekistan
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size = 
  |relief=yes
  |coordinates = {{coord|39|51|49|N|64|04|23|E|region:UZ|display=inline,title}}
  |location = Uzbekistan
  |region = 
  |type = Settlement
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  |excavations =  
  |archaeologists = 
  |condition = Ruined
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}}
'''Varakhsha''', also '''Varasha''' or '''Varahsha''', was an ancient city in the Bukhara oasis in [[Place:Sogdia|Sogdia]], founded in the 1st century BCE.<ref name="GA"/> It is located 39 kilometers to the northwest of [[Place:Bukhara|Bukhara]]. Varakhsha was the capital of the Sogdian dynasty of the kings of [[Place:Bukhara|Bukhara]], the [[Place:Bukhar Khudahs|Bukhar Khudahs]].<ref name="GA">{{cite book |last1=Azarpay |first1=Guitty |last2=Belenickij |first2=Aleksandr M. |last3=Maršak |first3=Boris Il'ič |last4=Dresden |first4=Mark J. |title=Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03765-6 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVSPEN4ap_0C&pg=PA201 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SFS">{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=S. Frederick |title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane |date=2 June 2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-16585-1 |pages=118–119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWyYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |language=en}}</ref> It ultimately never recovered from the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana.

==Murals==
Beautiful murals have been recovered from the palace area, dated to the 8th century CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Azarpay |first1=Guitty |last2=Belenickij |first2=Aleksandr M. |last3=Maršak |first3=Boris Il'ič |last4=Dresden |first4=Mark J. |title=Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art |date=January 1981 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03765-6 |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVSPEN4ap_0C&pg=PA49 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GA"/> They show a king and his retinue riding elephants and fighting tigers and monstruous beasts.<ref>"A painting on the palace - wall at Varaksha shows a king hunting a tiger riding on elephant back along with his retenue" in {{cite book |last1=Kumāra |first1=Braja Bihārī |title=India and Central Asia: Classical to Contemporary Periods |year=2007 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-8069-457-8 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lJI9avHstYC&pg=PA6 |language=en}}</ref> 

<gallery widths="180px" heights="100px" perrow="4">
File:Varahsha..jpg|Varahsha mural from the red room of the Palace. [[Organization:Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan|Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan]].
File:Varahsha, Relief of a hunter, 5th-7th century CE.jpg|Varahsha, Relief of a hunter, 5th-7th century CE. State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
File:Varakhsha high-relief, end of 8th century.jpg|Varakhsha high-relief, end of 8th century.
</gallery>

[[File:Wall Paintings in the Palace at Varakhsha.jpg|thumb|upright=3|center|Wall Paintings in the Palace at Varakhsha. Hermitage Museum.]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Central Asia]]

{{Sourceattribution|Varakhsha}}