Unesco’s putting of Itchan Kala in its heritage sites surpasses many others in their outstanding historical values. Writing on this site’s history, it observes, ‘Itchan is the inner town of the old Khiva oasis, which was the last resting place of caravans before crossing the desert to Iran’. This site thus marks an ancient route of the migrants who went to Iran from Uzbekistan. Its history spans over two millennia. The site is located in the Khorezm region to the South of the Amu Darya River; this river, according to scholars, identifies the ancient Oxus region.
The site contains ‘51 ancient monuments and 250 dwellings in which are included Djuma Mosque, Oq Mosque, madrasahs of Alla-Kulli-Khan, Muhammad Aminkhon, Muhammad Rakhimkhon, Mausoleums of Pahlavon Mahmoud, Sayid Allavuddin, Shergozikhon as well as caravanserais and markets’.
Names which have been placed in the literary and historical descriptions of this site speaks volume on its past. While Itchan is as same as I-ching or T’chin of the Chinese pilgrims’ accounts, it marks the place where Sri Gupta built a temple for the Chinese pilgrims to stay. I-tsing also identifies one of the Chinese pilgrims’ name, as well as name of a place. This T’chin though marks as a place under the Han dynasty’s dominion of the Chin country, association of Sri Gupta’s name with its history pinpoints its geographical situation near ‘Sri’ of Sri-kshetra same as She-chem of the Bible.
Though ‘chan’ pinpoints the ancient Chin people, Djuma marks the ancient Jerusalem, the seat of worship of God Jama, King of Death; Oq identifies ‘Ark’ or the City of Sun or the Arka-kshetra of Indian puranas. Pahlavon is another very interesting name that identifies itself with ancient Pallabha )or Ballabha)country as same as the Persepolis of history.
Uzbekistan is a combination of two names : Uz and Baku(at the foot of Mt Imaos), and both stands in a straight line with ‘Sri-kshetra’ or with the Uttara Kuru of ancient texts; Uz is as same as Ujjain which was at the centre of the study of astronomical sciences. Khorezm, Amu Darya River, and ancient Oxus which are attached to the history of this heritage site mark different place-names of the ‘first-land’ which have descriptive history behind them.