Tajiks and Uzbeks Disagree on Birthplace of Poet · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

Travelling through Central Asia, blogger Don Croner writes that the “dispute over the birthplace of the Poet Rudaki (858-c.941) is heating up and may soon lead to wine-throwing and fist-fights”. The problem is that “both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are claiming Rudaki as one of their own”. In Tajikistan, the poet is considered to be the “founder of the Tajik classic literature” [ru] and the “sun of the Tajik civilization” [ru]. It is widely believed that Rudaki was born and is buried in a village in northern Tajikistan.