Kukildor-Ota Khanaka

The Kukildor-Ota khanaka is among the most venerated buildings in Termez. Raised in the eleventh century, it stands out among Central Asian khanakas for a frontal composition richly worked in ornament. Its overall grandeur suggests it was restored in the fifteenth century, under the Timurids.

Many gravestones stand inside, and beneath one of them lies Kukildor-Ota himself — a religious figure revered for the righteousness of his life. The complex was built in his honour.

A curious custom attaches to him: taking part in the commemorative rite, a person would cut off a lock of hair and then let it grow until whatever they had come for had come about.

The building is large, with many rooms, finished in brick. As at Sultan Saodat and the at-Termezi complex, a three-tier open front is used here, and the whole composition holds to a strict symmetry.