A map of the Abaqid Khanate
The Abaqid Khanate(1) (Abaqaina Khaanat ulus) is the geopolitical heir of the Kara-Khitai khanate, located in Central Asia. It encompasses the regions of Khorasmia, Sogdia, Tukharistan, Ferghana, up to Lake Balkash. In the east, it stretched across the Tengri (2) Mountains into the the Tarim Basin. The realm thus includes within its borders several deserts: the Karakum, the Kyzilkum and the Taklamakan.
A document written in Uyghur script. Uyghur script is written in a vertical manner, due to influence from China
The Abaqid khanate, also sometimes labelled as Sughd (Sogdia) deeply divided both religiously and linguistically. The major linguistic divide happens to be on a north-south axis. In the north, the majority of the people speak a Turkic language – Karluk in the west and Uyghur in the Tarim Basin. In the south, Iranian languages are spoken – mainly Sogdian in the central regions, but also Tukhari remains spoken. In the Tarim Basin, there is still the Saka language spoken in its western end.
A linguistic map of the Abaqid Khanate
The standard Karluk language (3), spoken at Almaliq has become elevated to an official language – at first becoming the language of the military, later also becoming the language in which laws and official orders are distributed, and also becoming a literary language. After all, the Abaqid khanate has a Turkic upper class of conquerors, who at court are consumers of higher culture. Sogdian itself is hardly understood by the average Abaqid nobleman. The Karluk language is being written using the Uyghur alphabet, derived from Sogdian, but better suited to the sound intricacies of a Turkic language.
A map of the scripts used in Central Asia. Sogdian is dark blue, Uyghur is light blue extending from the Aral Sea to Turfan, Kharoshti is blue-greyish
The linguistic borders of the Sogdian language have retreated considerably southwards, with the city of Tashkent now mainly Turkic. Sogdian nevertheless remains a vibrant language, a lingua franca of the Silk Road, spoken by merchants, but also a liturgical language among the followers of the Church of the East in Central Asia (4). Sogdian was considered a classical language, and thus if a nobleman in the Abaqid khanate wanted to sound educated or rich, he would drop a phrase or two in Sogdian.
A text written in Sogdian script
The Khorasmian language on the other hand has almost completely fallen out of everyday use, and could be heard mainly among the more isolated pockets of Denawar Manicheans living in the valley of the Lower Oxus (5). It could be heard as a liturgical language, or among the “elect” of the Manicheans. But even in the Lower Oxus Basin, without knowledge of either Sogdian or Karluk, you would find yourself easily lost.
The Tukhari language, spoken on the Upper Oxus valley (6) has survived among the highlander population in the area. The language has been historically written using the Greek alphabet, however, contemporarily, it is usually written with Sogdian in the lower parts and Kharoshti script (7) in the upper parts, and for religious texts.
In terms of religion, the realm is divided in a west-east manner. The Karluks and the population of Ferghana and Sogdia are mostly Christians. Buddhism is prevalent in Khotan, Qocho and Tukharistan. Furthermore, there still remains a sizeable Manichean population of Denawar denomination in the west and Toxoxian in the region of Qocho.
The metropolitan province of the Church of the East in Central Asia
The Church of the East within the Abaqid khanate consisted at first of the metropolitan provinces based in Samarqand, Ferghana, Navekath and Khotan. Two new metropolitan provinces have been stablished during the reign of Naimans: Almaliq has been elevated to an archbishopric, as it had become the capital of the realm, and Bukharah, which became detatched from Samarqand. Ultimately, Tashkent (Shash) has come to detatched from Ferghana and made its own province. Thus the number of archdioceses in the realm has risen from four to seven.
Buddhism in the realm, as stated in an affair mostly in the eastern parts of the realm. Both the Saka and the Tukhari are Iranian-speaking peoples, using the Kharoshti script, and belonging to the Mahayana tradition. The Uyghurs in the Qocho region mixed the Buddhist religion of the pseudo-Tocharian (Arsian) peoples they had encountered in the Tarim basin with their own Manichaean beliefs of their own Toxoxian branch (8). The demographic balance between the two is roughly equal (9).
Religion in the Abaqid Khanate
Ultimately, there is a third religion in the house. Denawar Manichaeism. The Denawar in 1000AD almost fully dominant in the Central Steppe, have now been reduced to a number of isolated communities: the Yenisei Kirghiz in the north, the Bolghars on the Middle Volga, the Pakhtun of Zabulistan and Segestan and of course the Sogdians and Khorasmian, who are now in a central position in regards to all of the mentioned communities.
As for Manicheans in Sogdia proper, they are not completely extinguished, rather they maintain a small presence (10), comparable to that of the Jews in Europe. However, given the region´s mercantile traditions, the business and trade very likely to remain in the hands of Christian merchants, who, with their network of monastery checkpoints can outcompete any Manichean out of the market. The small Manichean minority (+/- 10-15%) in Sogdia would specialize themselves to artisans, artists and money-lenders to some extent as well.
The first khans have openly identified with Christianity – Abaqa khan himself however a rather tolerant ruler, who allowed for all religions to coexist in peace.
His heir, Baraq has however become a Christian zealot, staunchly opposed to Buddhists, whom he declared to be “demon worshippers”. The open persecution of one religion or another by a khan had been unheard of – for centuries has this region been a tolerant place, harbouring Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Manicheans, Christians, Jews and Tengrists. Even some of the Nestorian bishops have protested against this move.
On Baraq´s command, it had become prohibited to establish a new monastery, and Buddhist monasteries were no longer supported by the state. Furthermore, it had become required that all governors become Christians, and a specific poll tax was decried upon the Buddhists
One of the most direct results of the persecution of Buddhism has been the destruction of the cathedral at Khotan, burnt down by enraged Buddhists. The Tukhari people have risen in revolt. Ultimately, Baraq was murdered by his nephew Kaidu, who has annulled all anti-Buddhist decrees. He reembraced the traditional policy of religious tolerance in the region, and has declared royal patronage over the Church of the East, the Holy Church of the Denawar of Mar Manni as well as Buddhism of the Mahayana school. In fact, Mar Ammo, the Yagma (11) of Samarqand has become a very close friend of Kaidu.
The Manichean faith will see this time as a time of renewal and consolidation, and the Manicheans are now sending many preachers again to the Uyghurs, whose autonomous church organization had collapsed and have mostly merged into Buddhism. (12)
Kaidu has sought to bring about internal stability, because his aim was to be found southwards, in he still unconquered Subcontinent named India. Controlling Kabulistan meant that he already had a strategic base for his invasion of India, although controlling Zabulistan would also be helpful. Anyhow, Kaidu was prepared to follow the footsteps of the Kushans to unite India, Sogdia and the Tarim Basin. Will he succeed?
- Named after Abaqa, which is just one of the Mongol names that came to my mind. If the Chagatai khanate was named after Chagatai, well why not this alternate khanate be named after someone else?
- Tianshan
- Something like the OTL Chagatai language
- Similar to the role of Latin in Medieval Europe
- A region similar to Karakapalkastan and the former OTL Khanate of Khiva
- In the region of Bactria, or if you prefer modern terminology, then most of Tajikistan and adjacent NE parts of Afghanistan
- Kharoshti is a script originating in NW Pakistan (Khyber Pashtunwa), and has spread also as far as the Tarim Basin. Therefore, I deem it logical for a Buddhist population to maintain its connection to India using a writing system originating in India.
- Manichaeism in China (Mingjian) has descended from the Toxoxian branch practiced by the Uyghurs, rather than from the Msadeqi of Mazoun.
- While one may contend, that Sogdia and Ferghana are going to be more densely populated, it ought to be reminded that the region suffered much more devastation during the conquest than the Tarim Basin or the Tukharistan Valleys – the former subdued itself willingly to the Naimans, the latter was too much a backwater to be sieged down properly.
- The Manicheans have suffered relatively more than the Nestorians, as they were more urbanized than their Christian neighbours.
- Highest religious title in the Manichean Church organization, analogous to the office of a Christian patriarch
- I do not know to what extent this will succeed. But Mahayana in OTL has proven to be easily susceptible to become displaced by other religions, be it in Northern Indian, Central Asia or China, perhaps because it can be described as a syncretic faith? The Manicheans are perhaps the world´s best organized syncretic Gnostic religion, and could make advantage of it, perhaps even displacing the Mahayana within the Abaqid khanate to a significant extent.