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Varakhsha
	Ruins of Varakhsha
	Shown within West and Central Asia Varakhsha (Uzbekistan)
Alternative name	Varakhsha
Location	Uzbekistan
Coordinates	39°51′49″N 64°04′23″E / 39.86361°N 64.07306°E
Type	Settlement
Site notes
Condition	Ruined

Varakhsha, also Varasha or Varahsha, was an ancient city in the Bukhara oasis in Sogdia, founded in the 1st century BCE.^[1] It is located 39 kilometers to the northwest of Bukhara. Varakhsha was the capital of the Sogdian dynasty of the kings of Bukhara, the Bukhar Khudahs.^[1]^[2] It ultimately never recovered from the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. After British archaeologists began investigating the site in the 1820s, it became "the very first Sogdian archaeological site mentioned in European literature."^[3]

Murals

Murals dating from the 8th century CE have been recovered from the palace area.^[4]^[1] They show a king and his retinue riding elephants and fighting tigers and monstrous beasts.^[5]

Varahsha mural from the red room of the Palace. Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan.
Varahsha, Relief of a hunter, 5th-7th century CE. State Museum of History of Uzbekistan
Varakhsha high-relief, end of 8th century.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Azarpay, Guitty; Belenickij, Aleksandr M.; Maršak, Boris Il'ič; Dresden, Mark J. Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art. University of California Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-520-03765-6.
^ Starr, S. Frederick (2 June 2015). Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-0-691-16585-1.
^ Naymark, Aleksandr (2003). "Returning to Varakhsha". The Silk Road. 1 (2): 10 – via EdSpace.
^ Azarpay, Guitty; Belenickij, Aleksandr M.; Maršak, Boris Il'ič; Dresden, Mark J. (January 1981). Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art. University of California Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-520-03765-6.
^ "A painting on the palace - wall at Varaksha shows a king hunting a tiger riding on elephant back along with his retenue" in Kumāra, Braja Bihārī (2007). India and Central Asia: Classical to Contemporary Periods. Concept Publishing Company. p. 6. ISBN 978-81-8069-457-8.