Cauldron. Mound of Solokha. 5th century BC / State Hermitage Museum. Saint-Petersburg
In 1993 a resident of Mukhammadi village in the Payariq district in the Samarqand Region of Uzbekistan, Anvar Shagdarov, unearthed an old kazan (cauldron) whilst digging a canal. This cauldron then faithfully served his family for three decades. Fortunately, this region is known not only for the Registan Square, the Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum, or silk carpets but also for its Samarqand Pilaf, which is cooked over an open fire and only in a kazan. It would have likely continued to serve his family, passing down from generation to generation, if not for the interest of representatives from the Agency for Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan last year. In this very cauldron belonging to the former director of the village school, they saw traces of a bronze Saka cauldron, which according to expert analysis dates back to the 2nd-1st century BCE. Rome had not yet become an empire, and The Han–Xiongnu Wars were just gaining momentum, but this cauldron from the village in the Samarkand region already existed. As a result, this valuable item has successfully moved from the family kitchen into the State Museum of Culture History of Uzbekistan collection.
From an outside perspective, this incident might seem quite comical, but not in a country where cooking in a kazan is a common routine that any self-respecting person prepares for from a conscious youth, especially in rural areas. Astonishingly, the real age of the kazan hasn't affected the taste qualities of Samarkand Pilaf. And yet, it spent centuries buried underground.
The Turkic word 'kazan' (or 'kazgan' in a more archaic form) exists in almost all Turkic languages and has been borrowed by other nations, including Russia. 'Kazan' literally means 'to dig' or 'to scrape.' In the case of Turkic languages, there is often no clear distinction between 'kazan' and 'pot,' so any solid spherical/semi-spherical metal dish for cooking food over a fire can be broadly referred to as a 'kazan,' and explaining their difference is often impossible. As is often joked in our region, if an Uzbek (Tajik, Kazakh, or Kyrgyz) is cooking, it's a 'kazan,' but if someone else is cooking, it's simply a 'pot,' and it seems that almost nothing depends on the identity of the master who made it.
Nevertheless, throughout millennia, the cauldron has possibly been the most essential and irreplaceable item of utensils worldwide, both for nomadic peoples and settled populations alike. At the very least, to this day, in our region, it has not lost its utility. It's no wonder that in archaeological excavations across the entire territory of Central Asia—from the Iranian plateau to Southern Siberia—cast pots and cauldrons of different eras and cultures, made from copper, bronze, iron, and cast iron, are encountered. But despite this, the most sought-after in archaeological circles, and therefore the most famous among them, have always been the Saka (Scythian) kazans, in which these Eurasian nomads prepared meat and dairy products. Primarily, these bronze cauldrons, abundant in Saka burial mounds from the Pamirs to the Altai Mountains, are attractive for their unique ornamentation and intricate Scythian animal style, depicting both real animals and mythical creatures.
Scholars believe that beyond their utilitarian purpose, Saka cauldrons always possessed a sacred character, which explains the exquisite depictions of sacred and ritual animals on them. Therefore, they were cherished, cleaned, and repaired. The sanctity and symbolism of Saka bronze cauldrons were first sung by the Father of History, Herodotus. He recounted the cauldron belonging to the Scythian king Ariantas, six fingers in thickness, capable of holding 600 amphoras (almost twenty thousand litres). According to Herodotus, Ariantas wanted to ascertain the number of Scythians and, under the threat of death, ordered each person to bring an arrowhead. From these arrowheads, he subsequently fashioned this immense cauldron of Scythian solidarity and power. It's no wonder that within the more humble and narrow circles such as a tribe or family, the cauldron became a central unifying object, which to some extent has persisted to this day.
The sanctity of the cauldron did not fade even with the arrival of Islam in Central Asia; on the contrary, it was a cult object in Sufi retreats (tekkes or khanqah). After all, these retreats or Sufi houses were inconceivable without a cauldron. Undoubtedly, the central ritual item of The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkestan is precisely the 'taikazan' (Kazakh: 'тайқазан', 'cauldron the size of a stallion')—a two-ton cauldron with a capacity of 3000 litres, adorned with verses from the Quran, which was gifted to the sanctuary by Amir Timur himself in 1399. In 1935, it was taken to the Hermitage, which the people considered a sacrilege, and after many efforts, it was only able to be returned to its rightful place in 1989.
Sacred Cauldron/Ottoman archive
Roughly around the same time that the 'Taikazan' was cast, new infantry corps were being established in the Ottoman Empire – the Janissaries (Turkish: Yeniçeri – 'new soldier'), who would come to be the most formidable military force in Europe and the Middle East for several centuries. Since their inception, the Janissaries, predominantly recruited from Christian boys, mainly from the Balkans, were closely associated with the Bektashi order. This order was founded in the 13th century by Haji Bektash Velî, a Sufi from Khorasan. The founder of the Bektashi order, Haji Bektash, was considered a spiritual successor to the Turkic-speaking Sufi poet and teacher of the 12th century, Ahmad Yasawi, who played a significant role in spreading Islam in Central Asia. In turn, Haji Bektash and his Sufi order are regarded as some of the most important influences in the spread of Islam in Anatolia in the 13th century, as well as continuers of the Central Asian Sufi tradition.
Therefore, it's not surprising that the Janissary corps were referred to as 'ocak' (Turkish: Yeniçeri Ocağı), which meant “hearth”, because, just like with the ancient Scythians, the cauldron (Turkish: Kazan-ı Şerif) was the central and sacred object for these military units. Maintaining it was considered a masculine duty. Similar to the followers of the Bektashi order, the Janissaries did not marry; or more precisely, they were forbidden to do so. Their unwavering belief in the sanctity of the sacred cauldron, with its eternal fire, led them to swear not by the name of God or the sacred book, but by declaring, 'May the sacred cauldron strike me!' (Turkish: Kazan-ı Şerif çarpsın). At the same time, overturning the cauldron among the Janissaries meant open disobedience and rebellion. Consequently, everyone knew that a great disaster would follow. Since then, this expression has securely entered the Turkish tongue, denoting rebellion or disobedience (Turkish: Kazan kaldırmak — 'to raise or overturn the cauldron').
For instance, in 1622, the Janissaries' act of overturning the cauldron led to the deposition and execution of the Ottoman Sultan Osman II, known as Osman the Young (Genç Osman).
Of course, the symbolism of the cauldron was unlimited to Sufi or Muslim contexts. A vivid example is the description of the brutal execution of representatives of the Mongol Chonos tribe, who supported the young Temüjin (future Genghis Khan) in his struggle against Jamukha. According to the 'Secret History of the Mongols,' Jamukha, angered by their support for his main rival, ordered 70 nobles of the Chono tribe to be boiled in cauldrons. However, the execution of a fierce enemy through boiling in cauldrons was later attributed to Genghis Khan himself. In any case, the cauldron is not merely a sacred altar. It is also a subject connected to, for instance, the name of the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan. And it signifies something greater.
Meanwhile, it's unknown how the State Museum of History of Culture in Samarkand compensated for the inconvenience to the resident of the village of Mukhammadi who found that bronze Saka kazan. But I hope that his family continues to gather around a new kazan and enjoy the taste of their Samarkand pilaf. After all, there's a reason why a person's stomach is called '«асқазан»' in Kazakh, which translates to 'cauldron for food'.