© E. Tsareva, 2011

OBJECT, SIGN, TEXT

E. Tsareva

TALISMANIC SHIRTS OF CENTRAL ASIA

Shirt and robes, which are equal in its function, are one of the most ancient type of shoulder clothing of the popula-tion of Eurasia, and similar to many archaic phenomena of traditional culture they become attributes of various magic and ritual activities, which are then called accord-ing to the corresponding event: birth, baptismal, wedding, death, etc.

Shirts and robes have a special place in the culture of

objects [1]. Talismanic shirts are easily recognizable due

to the tradition of manufacturing protective objects. The practice was widely disseminated in the culture of Islam, in the centre of which was “the Word of God” — the

the times of the Prophets it is preached about the supernat-, a series of legends about

the words and actions of the Prophets (a th), “the

his daughter and grandchildren, and the sum total of some

for any Muslim. Let us also add that throughout the cen-turies of the profession of Islam each and of the

The earliest talismanic shirts known to us date to the

rarer of Iranian and Indian origin [3]. Talismanic shirts and robes have a special name that goes back to the

(“the garment of the fear of God”), and thus a special use, too. Namely, it was put on top of chain armour, as a means of magic protection from

-mation about the use of such artefacts are not registered, hence assumptions of their alterative use should not be rejected.

In spite of the rarity of the type, a rather large num-ber of shirts with inscriptions has been published. Each

, however, is unique. It is not just about the rarity, beauty and early enough dating of these arti-

by no means is of any smaller, if not even greater, sig-

individual décor, made within the framework of certain cultural space, but in each case it is made for a particular

for Murad III, Selim II and Jem Sultan and kept in the

-ander [6] and others. The goal of the given article is to describe the talismanic robe from the collection of Nasser

making and its use.

cotton

front. Two more gussets — a short and a long one — are

in the front on the right, and the second is in the back on the right, which corresponds to the principle of rotational symmetry, so typical for Central Asian style. The sleeves are made of two cloths sewn together diametrically, with gussets of irregular shape. The shawl-like collar has a triangular end on the chest. All mentioned cut elements,

full robes of Bukhand outer shoulder garments of male population of Cen-tral Asia in general.

The décor of the robe is made in different techniques: tracery, hand-drawn inscriptions and edging, hand-made printing. Compositionally the ornament and inscriptions are

are adorned with wide patterned stripes from close stepped rhombuses drawn by means of stamps. The same type of stripe follows along the waistline, separating the hem of the robe from its upper part. The hem itself, white in colour, has a rather modest décor, made up of eleven stripes of the same pattern. Motif has several names in Central Asia: among Turkmens it is (“stepped”) and tekbend (“a woman's

term naqsh-i khisht

E. TSAREVA.

In contrast to the simply adorned hem, the upper part of the robe is entirely decorated. The design consists of three large medallions against the background of stripes, a row of rhombuses, alternating with the lines of inscriptions. The latter are made in red, black and green ink by means of , following the silvery and gold yellow background drawn by hand, and include ninety nine Beautiful Names of Allah and quotations from the

-nique: in the centre a stuffed scalloped medallion of gold

encircled into the boundary circle with printed ornament naqsh-i khisht. Let us also add that the ornamental stripes

onto the artefact after all parts of the robe were sewn to-

by one, but at least by two scribes.The pattern is pale now after the time passed, but orig-

inally it had a very bright palette, dominating colours of which were carmine red, black, golden and silver, which elegantly matched the background shades of gold yellow, silvery, white, pink and brown colours of geometric de-signs. Even in its modern damaged state its festive and

-tempt to imagine the impression it used to make on those who looked at it immediately after the work of scribes and artists was completed.

In much the same way as other protective clothing, the décor of the robe carries magic and symbolic mean-ing. Thus, the inscriptions on one side repeat the ninety

end of -tect children from misfortunes and help in meeting with

-

the end of -tions in the circles with 112, must provide the owner of the robe with spiritual, family and material welfare and protect him from diseases.

As we see, none of the inscriptions has anything to do with particular s and , that have special protec-tive power against wounds and death in battle. It may in-directly point to some other usage of the robe, and not just that of wearing it under chain armour. On the other hand

undoubtedly worn under chain armour do not contain any deliberate “anti-wound” . Therefore, the lack of such

common practice of making .The owner of this talismanic robe is unknown, in con-

trast to the talismanic shirts made for Ottoman sul s. Thanks to the inscriptions in the centre of the medallion,

-ber — or a follower — of Central Asian brotherhood of Yasawiyya. The brotherhood was founded by A a

Khw-

tury [10]. The name of Acentre of two breast rosettes and a back one, which imi-

sanctuary of A shaykhs of ten related sh brotherhoods drawn along the pe-rimeter [11].

The décor of the robe also includes other magic ele--

mentioned motif in the form of rows of joined rhombuses and the design. The latter is one of the most an-cient Near Eastern and Central Asian designs known to us from the Eneolithic Period [12]. The status of patterns is accentuated by the usage of hats — , girdles and robes of shes ( ) in the ornamentation, where it usually was made by means of a particular type of embroi-dery. Thus, not only the inscriptions but other elements as well indicate its belonging to attributes.

-mation relating to the Turkic customs that came into ritu-als and practices [of the brotherhood of Aintroduced ethnic colouring into : the type of attire, loud dhikr, the participation of women in ceremonies and

Turkic language in the reading of dhikr and other peculi-arities [13].

The aforementioned Central Asian elements of style

the collars of the robes of nomads of the Khwand Turkic population of Central Asia. As it was already mentioned, the most related and almost identical to the

khs of the Sh

being medallions with Arabic inscriptions and their imi-tations. We have no information on whether the style of

of Yasawiyya shes, or vice versa, the makers of the latter copied the attire of Uzbek nobility. Both variants

Khwearly period some local kh s and members of their clans participated in special night supplications and prayers de-

shaykh

known specimen of this style, which became typical for full dress of Bukh -

type of military uniform sometime in the course of the

us also note that the modest ornamentation of the hem of the robe indicates it being used by a military horseman, traditional for Central Asia, whose shoulder clothing was tucked into embroidered cloth or suede wide trousers.

-

of high status and of deep knowledge of magic meaning of the

-ous that the who made the robe must have also been familiar with other types of protective clothing and must

of such kind. We shall also note that the role of the de-

Manuscripta Orientalia.

Fig.

1

E. TSAREVA.

in them were of absolute capacity. The ability to read the -

and power of the talisman were known only by the person who made it, who, as a matter fact, was the one to form the metaphysical capacities of the artefact with the help of his knowledge and abilities.

Each stage of making talismanic clothing, beginning with thread spinning for its fabric, must be accompanied

point had to do with the right choice of time and astrologi-

shirt-making. Faith in the power of talismanic objects was so strong, that in case it did not protect its owner properly, it was assumed that it had to do with the wrong choice of conditions for its making.

If we were to compare the robe concerned with other known -fer in shape, décor and inscription content, the closest

the same time, though, the organization of inscriptions in stripes follows the manner used in the shirt of Mu-

noted that although every talismanic shirt is individual and there are no two identical shirts, there still are cer-tain time- and location-related tendencies, which could

certain albums or instructions, which described the rules

of compositional structure of the pattern, since artists needed not only to choose the right magic

organize it on the surface of the fabric rightly and beauti-fully.

a sh -ble that it was made for a person, who was not part of the inner circle of This doubt rises on the grounds of the spirit of the teaching of Yasawiyya, the key principles

-ceticism and the ideal of poverty and the material value of the robe and its bright and festive décor. Besides the aforementioned, the decoration of the robe suggests that it was made for a horseman. And the mentioned detail makes the assumption that this particular talismanic robe belonged to a sh of the Yasawiyya brotherhood less plausible. It is more likely that it was made for one of the Uzbek kh s that were not part of the inner circle of the brotherhood, and yet followed its teaching and partici-pated in the gatherings of the congregation.

Legends claim that must be made

of the shirts of Ottoman sul s, their making in fact

however, could have actually been made within allotted amount of time, since its uniform décor and wide applica-tion of printing and simple drawn stripes were not such a

hours.

N o t e s

2. Thus, particular were read and written for the purpose of gaining a victory over enemies (3:111—112, 126). Magic power of the majority of s and

-van,

(København, 1920).3. Turkish are published in O. S. Gokyay, “Talismanic Shirts”, Art and Culture Magazine

Indian: M. Ashraf, The -

turies-

tion, op. cit.

op. cit.op. cit.

the bottom parts of some early Tibetan thangkas and other ritual objects.

10. DeWeese, “A , (St. Petersburg, 2003), ibid

op. cit.12. Concerning the pattern of naqsh-i khisht -

Central Asia”), 13. J. S. Trimingham,

Manuscripta Orientalia.

sh named Aop. cit.

16. Ibidop. cit.

op. cit.

I l l u s t r a t i o n s

Back cover:

Plate 2. Talismanic coat for a member of the Yasawiyya Brotherhood. Central

length — 122.0 cm. N. D. Khalili Collection, inv. No. TXT 230. Courtesy of the Khalili Foun-dation.

Inside the text:

Fig. 1. A. A. Romaskevich, sh -tesy of the Museum.