Sanjarshakh lies in the Zarafshan valley of Tajikistan, a short ride from the town of Panjakent, and its low mounds and walls are the remains of a Sogdian settlement. The Sogdians were the great merchants of Central Asia, who spoke an Iranian language and carried silk, spices, paper and ideas along the Silk Road from China to Persia and beyond, and their language was the common tongue of the trade routes for several centuries. Their towns lay in the valleys of the Zarafshan and the Kashkadarya, and Panjakent, a few kilometres from here, is the best known, with houses decorated with wall paintings of epic stories, banquets and gods, that are now in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
The Arab conquest in the early eighth century changed the region. The last Sogdian ruler, Divashtich, held out in a mountain fortress at Mount Mug in the Zarafshan valley and was defeated around 722, and Sogdian culture slowly faded, though the people and the language left their mark on the later Persian culture of the region. The poet Rudaki, regarded as the father of Persian poetry, was born in a village near Panjakent in the ninth century.
The setting is wonderful. Panjakent lies at the foot of the Fann mountains, a spectacular range of snow peaks and turquoise lakes, with the Zarafshan river rushing down through its valley and orchards of apricots, apples and walnuts around the villages. The road from Dushanbe crosses a high mountain pass, partly through a long tunnel, and the road conditions have changed over the years, so ask locally about the current state before setting out. On the Panjakent side, the road is a pleasure, with a good deal of traffic from trucks and shared taxis.
Panjakent, a town of over thirty-five thousand, has fuel stations, a lively bazaar and simple guest houses, and it is the starting point for trips to the Seven Lakes at Marguzor and Iskanderkul. Summer is hot in the valley but cool in the mountains, and the high passes are blocked by snow from late autumn to late spring. Buy bread, apricots and almonds at the bazaar, and enjoy a bowl of shorba, soup with lamb and vegetables, in one of the small cafes.