WRITTEN SOURCES ABOUT USTRUSHANA

Abstract

Ustrushana, a pre-Islamic and early-Islamic polity situated between the Zarafshan and Syr-Darya basins, is known today mainly through archaeological discoveries and a dispersed corpus of written testimonies in Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Sogdian and Bactrian. These heterogeneous texts, composed between the fourth and tenth centuries CE, illuminate the principality’s political structure, economic networks and cultural transformations but have never been examined in a single, integrative study that foregrounds their mutual corroboration and tension. Employing a source-critical IMRAD approach, this article collects, contextualises and analyses the principal written records on Ustrushana, ranging from court chronicles of the Sui and Tang dynasties to Arabic-Islamic geographies, early Islamic historiography and indigenous epigraphic materials. The investigation shows that while external narratives often portray Ustrushana as a buffer state or tributary, internal inscriptions attest to a resilient local elite maintaining the title of afshīn and negotiating autonomy through flexible diplomacy. The discussion highlights convergences on trade routes and military obligations but also exposes divergences in chronology and administrative terminology. This synthesis clarifies Ustrushana’s place in Transoxianan history and underscores the heuristic value of cross-examining multi-lingual textual traditions.