Noor Inayat Khan

Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was called Nora Baker and Nora Inayat-Khan. She (1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944) was one of the British resistance agents serving in the SOE or Special Operations Executive in France in World War II. SOE's purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in several nations that the Axis powers had occupied, mainly those that Nazi Germany had occupied.

She was an SOE agent who was working under the codename Madeleine. Noor was the first lady wireless operator who was sent from the UK to aid the French Resistance during World War II. But she got betrayed and captured. Later, she was executed at the Dachau concentration camp. Noor received the George Cross award for her service, the highest civilian decoration for gallantry in the UK.

Who Was Noor Khan?

Noor Khan, called Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan, Nora Baker, Noor Inayat Khan, was a spy in Britain.

Go through this article to learn about the important information regarding Noor.

Noor Inayat Khan Early Life:

This British spy was sent to occupied France during World War 2 as a secret agent. After going there, her life was cut short brutally at the Gestapo's hands. Now, let's learn about her early life in detail.

Noor was born on 1st January 1914 in Moscow. Her father was Indian Muslim, whereas her mother was American. Noor's father was a musician and a Sufi teacher. Besides, her father was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore who ruled the Kingdom of Mysore in south India.

Mother Ora Ray Baker

Her mother, called Ora Ray Baker, was a poet. Once her mother married her father, she took the Pirani Ameena Begum name. She met her father while travelling throughout the United States. Among the four kids of the couple, Noor was the eldest.

When she was a baby, there was an international conflict on the horizon. It was shortly before the First World War. After that, her family left Moscow in order to move to London and settle in the Bloomsbury area.

The early years of Noor were spent in London before her family went to France (2 years after the end of the war). When her family lived on the continent, they moved into a house near Paris, and here she spent much of her life.

When she was 13, she had to deal with a personal tragedy. During this time, her father died. But her mother and younger siblings were enveloped by grief.  Although she was a youngster then, Noor felt responsible for her family. The sense of her duty became a cornerstone of her personality.

World War II

Before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, her family left Russia and started living in Bloomsbury.

She also attended a nursery in Notting Hill. They moved in 1920 to France and settled in Suresnes near Paris. The house where they settled was gifted by a benefactor of the Sufi movement. When she was young, she was shy, quiet, sensitive, and also dreamy. But after her father's death, she took the responsibility of her family — her grief-stricken mother of her younger siblings. She went to Sorbonne in order to study child psychology. Besides, she studied music at the Paris Conservatory under Nadia Boulanger, composing for piano & harp.

When she was young, she wanted to be a writer. According to the plan, she started her career by publishing her poetry. She published children's stories in English & French. Later, she became a daily contributor to magazines of children & French radio. She also wrote a book named Twenty Jataka Tales, inspired by the Jataka tales of Buddhist tradition in 1939. George G. Harrap and Co published the book in London. Unfortunately, the War changed everything including her and her family’s lives. She, with her family, moved to England in June 1940 from Paris. The reason is that German troops had invaded France.

When they moved to England, they stayed in the home of Basil Mitchell in the initial times. Mitchell is a philosopher influenced greatly by the teachings of her father. Noor and her brother were willing to contribute to the war effort, though she had a Sufi background that preaches non-violence. Noor joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in November of the same year, and she was trained as a wireless operator.

Life in Bordeaux

When German Troops invaded France, her family went to Bordeaux, after the Second World War's outbreak. Then, they went to England by sea and landed at Falmouth in Cornwall on 22 June 1940. Southampton, the parental home of the philosopher Basil Mitchell, is where they stayed initially.

Noor was assigned to the bomber training school in the following year before she became part of the France Section of the SOE in 1943. But during this time, she needed to have specialist training as a wireless operator in occupied France. Previously, all women worked as couriers only. Therefore, she became the first lady who fulfilled the position properly.

When she was taking an intensive training course, she had gone through a mock Gestapo interrogation. Besides, she faced multiple challenges that were conducted to test her competencies. There were a few superior officers who had different opinions over her proper qualities to complete such a mission. But she is not so athletic. However, the commitment of Noor was unwavering. Noor was deemed suitable for sending to France.

Women's Auxiliary Air Force:

It was true that pacifist ideals influenced her deeply. But she, with Vilayat, her brother, decided to assist in defeating Nazi tyranny.

In the November month of 1940, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and, then as an Aircraftwoman 2nd Class, she was sent to be trained as a wireless operator.

Capture And Imprisonment:

She remained in radio contact with London. Buckmaster asked her that she might be flown home. But she told him that she might like to remain because she thought of being the only radio operator in Paris. However, Buckmaster agreed to it. Noor was told to receive signals instead of transmitting.

Betrayal

She was betrayed to the Germans, possibly by Renée Garry, the sister of Émile Henri Garry, the head agent of the 'Cinema' as well as the 'Phono' circuits, and the organiser of Inayat Khan in the Cinema network that was later renamed Phono. However, later, Émile Henri Garry was arrested as well as executed in September 1944 at Buchenwald.

Renée Garry was paid allegedly 100,000 francs. The actions of Noor have been attributed at least to Garry's suspicion that she lost the affection of SOE agent France Antelme to Noor. However, once the war ended, she tried but escaped conviction by one vote.

Arrest of Noor Inayat Khan

She was arrested on or around 13 October 1943. Later, she was interrogated at the SD Headquarters at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris. Then, she attempted to run away twice. The former name of the head of the SD in Paris was Hans Kieffer, who testified after the war that she had not given Gestapo any details, but lied consistently.

But according to other sources, she chatted with an Alsatian interrogator. These sources said that Noor gave personal details, which allowed the SD to answer random checks about her childhood & family. She never released the secret of her activities when she was interrogated. However, the SD found Noor's notebooks. She copied all messages sent by her as an SOE operative, contrary to security regulations. Despite refusing to reveal any secret codes, sufficient information was gained by Germans from them to continuously send false messages imitating her.

According to some people, London did not succeed in investigating anomalies appropriately. It meant that the transmissions were sent under enemy control in the 'fist', the style of the Morse transmission of the operator. Being a WAAF signaller, she got the "Bang Away Lulu" nickname. The reason is that she had a distinctively heavy-handed style that is considered the result of chilblains.

M.R.D. Foot said that SD was adept at faking the fists of operators. The actual reason for the intelligence failures is SD's well-organised work of Hans Josef Kieffer. The air-landing officer of the F Section in France is Déricourt, who gave the secrets of SOE to the SD in Paris. He said later that he used to work for the SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service, that we know commonly as MI6, without having knowledge about SOE.

That's why three more agents who were sent to France were captured by the Germans. However, Madeleine Damerment was executed later. There was a locally recruited SOE agent, named Sonya Olschanezky, who learned of the arrest of Noor. Then, the agent sent a message to London through Jacques Weil, who is her fiancé. The agent told Baker Street of her capture as well as warned HQ to suspect transmissions from "Madeleine".

Execution:

She was later, on 12 September 1944, transferred to the Dachau concentration camp. And there were some agents with her— Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment & Eliane Plewman. The four women were executed at dawn on the following morning.

 The in-charge of prisoner transports at Karlsruhe was Max Wassmer, who was a Gestapo man. He accompanied the women to Dachau. Christian Ott was another Gestapo man who gave a statement to US investigators after the war as to her fate & her three companions. After Ott was stationed at Karlsruhe, he volunteered in order to accompany the four women to Dachau. The reason is that he was willing to visit Stuttgart to meet his family while returning. Although he was not present at the execution, Ott told investigators everything that had been told by Wassmer.

It is an unreliable account. The reason is that Ott told the investigator about his asking Wassmer the following question after he got to know what had happened to the women. But an anonymous Dutch prisoner said that Noor was beaten by an SS officer cruelly in 1958 before getting shot from behind. The name of the officer was Wilhelm Ruppert before. "Liberté" was the last word she reported. However, her mother and three siblings survived her.

Special Operations Executive:

She was later recruited in order to join the Special Operations Executive's F (France) Section. Noor was posted to the Air Ministry, Directorate of Air Intelligence, seconded to First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in early February 1943. Besides, Noor needed to go to Wanborough Manor, which is near Guildford in Surrey. Later, Noor was ordered to Aylesbury which is in Buckinghamshire, where she got special training in occupied territory as a wireless operator. She became the first woman who was sent over in such a capacity. As she had wireless telegraphy (W/T) training previously, she had an edge over the people who just started their radio training.

Her best training exercise was the mock Gestapo interrogation, which aims to let agents know what could be there for them when they were captured. The escaping officer of Noor found her interrogation unbearable. According to his report, Noor was terrific and overwhelmed so much that she nearly lost her voice. Later, Noor was quite blanched. Now, let's know the honours that she got.

Honours and awards:

She got the George Cross award in 1949. Also, she got a French Croix de Guerre award with a silver star (avec étoile de vermeil). In 1946, she was still considered missing. Therefore, she didn't get a membership of the Order of the British Empire. However, in June, her commission as Assistant Section Officer was gazetted. In October 1946, Noor was Mentioned in Despatches. She was the third one of three Second World War FANY members who got the George Cross award. It is the highest award in Britain for gallantry.

A campaign was raised at the start of 2011 to pay for the construction of a bronze bust of her in central London, near her former home. The Princess Royal unveiled the bronze bust, which took place on 8 November 2012 in Gordon Square Gardens, Bloomsbury, London. She was commemorated on a stamp that the Royal Mail issued on 25 March 2014, a set of stamps about "Remarkable Lives". A campaign was launched in 2018 to have Noor represented on the £50 note's next version.

George Cross citation:

This award was announced in the London Gazette on 5 April 1949.

Blue plaque:

On 25 February 2019, the announcement said that she would be honoured with a blue plaque at 4 Taviton Street at her wartime London home in Bloomsbury. It is the house where she left on the final mission. She etched an address onto her bowl in person so that she could be identified. She is the first woman of South Asian descent to have a blue plaque that honours her in London. This blue plaque was unveiled at a virtual ceremony broadcast on the Facebook page of the English Heritage at 7 pm on Friday, 28 August 2020.

Theatre:

A play named Agent Madeleine premiered at the Ottawa Fringe Festival in 2018 and represented Noor's life and death. Puja Uppal played the role of Noor. These are the deviations from the facts that have been noted:

• Noor had a relationship with Leo Marks, instead of an unknown SOE officer.

• A single character, "Marcel de Faye" represented all prisoners like John Starr, Leon Faye, etc, in 84 Avenue Foch.

• At 84 Avenue Foch, she is imprisoned until she is moved to Dachau. From this place, she is executed alone.
•  Several times, her escape attempts failed. She tried once to escape from the bathroom window, but it was foiled by an air raid siren. In addition, she attempted to escape with the screwdriver, but it didn't work as a guard discovered her with it.
•  She is the basis for Anna Sidiqui in Catalyst Theatre's The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
•   Jonathan Christenson gave the music & lyrics.

 

Film:

• Tabrez Noorani & Zafar Hai were the two producers who obtained the film rights to the biography Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu in September 2012.
•  The story of her life is seen in the film A Call to Spy. While the writer was Sarah Megan Thomas, the director of the film was Lydia Dean Pilcher. Radhika Apte played her character.
•  In the 2021 live-action short film Liberté, she is the central character. It was shot at Beaulieu Palace House, the location she had trained for SOE.

 

Literature:

Stacy Ericson, an American poet, posted a poem on 6 September 2010 on the Internet and it is known as "Resistance". The poem is the first one that is dedicated to Noor.

An American poet named Irfanulla Shariff posted a poem on 3rd March 2013 on the internet, and its name is "A Tribute To The Illuminated Woman of World War II". This poem is dedicated to Noor, and illustrates her life story.

Television:

This section requires extra citations for verification.

• Adrishya, which is the second episode of the Indian anthology series, aired on Epic TV in 2014. This one is based on her adult life in a wartime organization till she died in Nazi Germany.
•  A Man Called Intrepid, a 6-hour TV miniseries, is broadcast on NBC in the US and on CTV in Canada. David Niven played the role of the protagonist Sir William Stephenson whereas Barbara Hershe played the role of Noor.
  

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story, which is a one-hour biographical docudrama aired in 2014 by PBS. Alex Kronemer and Michael Wolfe of Unity Productions Foundation produced it, whereas the director was Robert H. Gardner.

Netflix released "Churchill's Secret Agents The New Recruits" in 2018. In this show, Season 1, episode 4 features a summary of Noor's final mission with the SOE. Aurora Marion played Noor in "Spyfall, Part 2" on 5 January 2020. This one is the second episode of Doctor Who, series 12.

Radio:

BBC Radio 4 in November 1980 broadcast a play where Patrice Chaplin wrote about Noor.

Another play, Knightsbridge Memorial about Noor, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as a Saturday Night Theatre production in November 1980.

The Bottom Line:

In this article, we have discussed all the details about Noor Inayat Khan, i.e. who she is, how her early life was, her contributions in different fields, the awards she got, her special works, and many more details. In the year 1958, an anonymous Dutch prisoner said that an SS officer named Wilhelm Ruppert cruelly beat Noor before she was shot from behind. The last word of Noor was reported as "Liberté". Noor's mother and three siblings survived her.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What was Noor Inayat Khan famous for?

Known as Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan, this British spy served in the 2nd World War as the Secret Operations Executive. She was called Nora Baker, who has a codename Madeline. We should know that Noor was the first female wireless operator who was dropped into occupied France in order to assist the resistance as well as to send messages back to Britain.

Q. What did Noor Inayat Khan say before she died?

According to an anonymous Dutch prisoner in 1958, Wilhelm Ruppert, who was an SS officer, beat Noor cruelly, before Noor was shot from behind. The last word she used was "Liberté". However, her mother & three siblings survived her.

Q. How old was Noor Inayat when she died?

When she died, she was thirty years old. The lifespan of Noor Inayat was from 1914 to 1944.

The Silk Road

The Silk Road served as a network of Eurasian trade routes, which was active between the second century BCE and the mid-15th century. It has expanded more than 4000 miles or 6400 kilometres. Silk Road helped to facilitate cultural, economic, political, & religious interactions between the East and West.

In the late nineteenth century, the name "Silk Road" was first coined. It has fallen into disuse among a few modern historians who are in favor of these routes, on the grounds that it more precisely describes the complex web of sea & land routes, which are connecting Central, East, South, Southeast, & West Asia, East Africa, and Southern Europe.

What Was The Silk Road?

The Silk Road in ancient times served as a trade route connecting the Western world and the Middle East & Asia. This one was the major conduit for trade between China and the Roman Empire. Later, it served as a major conduit between China and mediaeval European kingdoms.

Where Did The Silk Road Start And End?

It started in north-central China in Xi’an. Along the Great Wall of China, a caravan track stretched west through Afghanistan across the Pamirs into Anatolia & Levant. The Mediterranean Sea was used to ship goods to Europe.

The Silk Road was the route used between China and Rome to carry goods. While silver, wool, and gold went to the east side, silk used to go westward. Through this road, China received Nestorian Christianity & Buddhism. Some people travelled the whole route, and a middleman was there to handle goods in a staggered progression.

Gradually, the loss of Roman territory was seen in Asia, whereas, during that time, Arabian power began to rise in the Levant. As a result, this route became increasingly unsafe. The Silk Road was revived in the 13th & 14th centuries under the Mongols. During that time, it was used by Venetian Marco Polo for travelling to China ( formerly known as Cathay). But now people think that the Silk Road was a major way of spreading plague bacteria westward from Asia, causing the Black Death pandemic in Europe in the middle of the 14th century.

Part of this road still exists in the form of a paved highway, a connection route between Pakistan and the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China. The old road was an impetus behind the United Nations plan for a trans-Asian highway.

UNESCAP, or UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, has proposed a railway counterpart of the road. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was inspired by the road in 1999 to set up the Silk Road Project. It explored cultural traditions along the route to connect arts across different cultures worldwide. 

History of Silk Road:

Central Eurasia is popular for its horse riding & horse breeding communities from old times. The overland Steppe route across the northern steppes of Central Eurasia was used before the silk road. Archeological sites like the Berel burial ground in Kazakhstan made sure that the nomadic Arimaspians were breeding horses for trade and producing the best craftsmen who could propagate exquisite art pieces along the route. In the region of Yarkand and Khotan to China, people used to trade nephrite jade from mines from the 2nd millennium BCE. You should know that these mines were not too far from the lapis lazuli & spinel mines in Badakhshan. Despite the Pamir mountains separating them, people used these routes from very early times.

Genetic Study

The Genetic study of the Tarim mummies is found in the Tarim Basin, in Loulan, located along this Silk Road 124 miles east of Yingpan, and dated to as early as 1600 BCE. This study suggested very ancient contacts between East & West. It is guessed that the mummified may be those people who used to speak Indo-European languages that are still used in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang region until Turkic influences replaced them from the Xiongnu culture to the north. Moreover, Chinese influences replaced them from the Eastern Han dynasty speaking a Sino-Tibetan language.

Chinese Silk

Chinese silk, dated from 1070 BCE, has been found in Ancient Egypt. Hence, the Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a very important role when it came to talking about trading in the silk route. Although the originating source looks trustworthy, silk has degraded rapidly. Therefore, it was not possible to verify whether it was cultivated silk or wild silk that could have come from the Middle East or the Mediterranean. In this case, it needs to be mentioned that gold was introduced from Central Asia, following contacts from Metropolitan China to nomadic western border territories in the 8th century BCE. Chinese jade carvers started to make the steppes' imitation designs by adopting the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. This style is reflected in the rectangular belt plaques, which consist of gold & bronze. There are several versions in Jade & steatite. An elite burial near Stuttgart, Germany was dated to the sixth century BCE. It was excavated and it was found that it had Greek bronzes & Chinese silks. People also have found art pieces of animal shapes as well as wrestler motifs on belts in Scythian. It stretches from the Black Sea region to the archeological sites of the Warring States era in Inner Mongolia. In addition, it has stretched to Shaanxi (at Keshengzhuang [de]) in China.

Scythian Culture

Scythian culture was expanded to the Chinese Gansu Corridor from the Hungarian plain & the Carpathian Mountains. Thus, it helped to connect the Middle East with Northern India. Undoubtedly, Punjab plays a crucial role when it comes to the development of the Silk Road. The Assyrian Esarhaddon was accompanied by Scythians on the invasion of Egypt. People found the triangular arrowheads as far south as Aswan.

Nomadic people rely on the neighbouring settled populations for several important technologies. They were seen encouraging long-distance merchants as an income source along with raiding vulnerable settlements for such commodities. Regarding facilitating trade along the Silk Route between China and Central Asia, Sogdians played a very important role in the later phase of the tenth century.

From Where The Name "Silk Road" Derived :

The name came from the lucrative trade in silk, which was first developed in China. It served as the main reason behind the connection of the trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network. The German source term from which the word is derived is Seidenstraße. Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made the name popular in 1877, also made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872. However, prior to this, the term had been used for decades. "Silk Route", which is an alternative translation, is occasionally used. Despite being coined in the nineteenth century, people didn't accept it widely in academia, or it was not popular among the public until the 20th century.

Sven Hedin

Sven Hedin, a Swedish geographer, was the writer of the first book, The Silk Road, in 1938. The term "Silk Road's use isn't without its detractors. According to Warwick Ball, compared to the silk trade with China, the maritime spice trade with India & Arabia was more consequential due to the Roman Empire's economy. The silk trade with China was conducted via India at sea, whereas, on land, several intermediaries like the Sogdians handled it. However, the whole thing is called a "myth" of modern academia.

Ball

According to Ball, while no coherent overland trade system existed, and any free movement of goods was seen during the Mongol Empire's period from East Asia to the West. Traditional authors like Edward Gibbon & Marco Polo, who discussed east–west trade, did not label any route a "silk" one specifically.

Previously, the stretched part of the southern side ( from Xinjiang to Eastern China) was not used for silk. Instead, it was used for jade as long as 5000 BCE. And still, people have been using this for such purposes. "Jade Road" might be more appropriate than "Silk Road" if it didn't have the wider nature of the silk trade geographically. 

Routes Of Silk Road:

The Silk Road has several routes. It stretched westwards from the ancient commercial centres of China. So, the overland is divided into southern & northern routes, which bypass the Taklamakan Desert & Lop Nur. Along these routes, merchants had a connection with relay trade, where goods went through many hands before reaching the final destination.

Northern Route:

It started at Chang'an, which people know as Xi'an, which was an ancient capital of China, and was further moved east to Luoyang during the Later Han. This route was defined around the 1st century BCE when by nomadic tribes, Han Wudi put an end to the harassment.

This route went northwest through Gansu from Shaanxi. After that, it split into three routes. Hence, two routes followed the mountain ranges to the Taklamakan Desert's north and south sides in order to rejoin at Kashgar. Another route went north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar, & Almaty.

These routes split west of Kashgar again with a southern branch, which went to the Alai Valley towards Termez, and Balkh. Whereas the other one travelled via Kokand in the Fergana Valley, which is now called eastern Uzbekistan. After that, it went across the Karakum Desert. Before reaching Turkmenistan and ancient Merv, these routes joined the main southern route. There is a branch of this route, which turns northwest past the Aral Sea & north of the Caspian Sea, later on to the Black Sea.

This route for caravans helped to bring a lot of goods to China. Goods that came to China were:

 

• Dates, saffron powder, and pistachio nuts from Persia;
• frankincense, aloes, and myrrh from Somalia;
• glass bottles from Egypt and
• other costly items from different parts of the world.

 

The caravans sent bolts of silk brocade, lacquer-ware, & porcelain in exchange for these goods.

Southern Route:

This route was known as the Karakoram route, a single road from China through the Karakoram mountains. Nowadays, people call it the Karakoram Highway, connecting Pakistan and China. This route set off westwards but with southward spurs to allow travellers to complete their journey from different areas by sea. This road has crossed the high mountains and passed through northern Pakistan over the Hindu Kush mountains. Then, it joined again the northern route near Merv, Turkmenistan. From here, a straight way is followed west through northern Iran, Mesopotamia, & the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant.  It is the place where regular routes are piled by Mediterranean trading ships to Italy. Land routes went north via Anatolia or South to North Africa.

There also existed another branch road that travelled to Charax Spasinu via Susa from Herat at the head of the Persian Gulf, across to Petra, and to Alexandria & other Mediterranean ports (eastern side) from where ships used to carry cargo to Rome.

Southwestern Route:

It is believed that the southwestern route is the Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta, which has been the subject of great interest internationally for a long period for more than two millennia. The first-century Roman writer Strabo mentioned that merchants who are now sailing from Egypt, as far as the Ganges, are only private citizens. People took an interest in his comments because they found the existence of Roman beads and other materials at the Wari-Bateshwar ruins. This old city is gradually being excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.

Ptolemy made a map of the Ganges Delta, in which it was displayed that his informants knew about the Brahmaputra River's course, crossing through the Himalayas. Next, it bended westward to the source of it in Tibet. Undoubtedly, we can say that the Delta used to be a significant international trading centre. In the delta, Gemstones, Java & other merchandise from Thailand were traded.

Bin Yang:

According to Bin Yang, a Chinese archaeological writer, along with a few old writers & archaeologists like Janice Stargardt, this international trade route is the Sichuan–Yunnan–Burma–Bangladesh route. This Chinese archeological writer said that people used the route from the 12th century to ship bullion from Yunnan through northern Burma into the current Bangladesh and used the ancient route, which was called the 'Ledo' route. Silver & gold are such minerals in which Yunnan is rich. The international trade centres in this route were Wari-Bateshwar ruins, Mahasthangarh, Bhitagarh, Bikrampur, Egarasindhur, and Sonargaon.

Maritime Route:

It indicates the historic Silk Road's maritime section connecting China to Southeast Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, the Arabian peninsula, The Indian subcontinent, to Egypt & finally, Europe.

This trade route surrounded several water bodies like the South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, & the Red Sea. It also overlaps with several other routes, like Southeast Asian maritime trade, Spice trade, and Indian Ocean trade. After the eighth century, this route overlaps the Arabian naval trade network. In order to connect China with the Japanese archipelago & Korean Peninsula, this network extended eastward to the Yellow Sea & East China Sea.

Expansion Of The Arts:

There are multiple artistic influences transmitted via the Silk Road, mainly through Central Asia, where Indian, Hellenistic, and Chinese influences are mixed internally. Greco-Buddhist art is the most vivid instance of such interaction. Silk was also used as an art representative that serves as a religious symbol. It was used for trade as currency along the Silk Road. People can view such artistic influences in the development of Buddhism, where Buddha was depicted first as a human being in the Kushan period. In later Buddhist art, it is possible to find the existence of a mixture of Greek and Indian elements in China & throughout different nations on the Silk Road.

Art production was made up of several different items, and people used to trade them from east to west along this road. The lapis lazuli is one of the common items used as paint after this blue stone with golden specks was ground into powder.

Commemoration:

UNESCO, or United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, named this road a World Heritage Site on 22 June 2014 at the 2014 Conference on World Heritage. With the aim of developing sustainable international tourism, since 1993, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has been working along this Silk Road to foster peace and understanding.

The China National Silk Museum also announced a "Silk Road Week" for commemorating the Silk Road to take place between 19–25 June 2020. Almaty & Bishkek have a major east–west street, which is named after the Silk Road.(Kyrgyz: Жибек жолу, i.e., Jibek Jolu in Bishkek, & Kazakh: Жібек жолы, i.e., Jibek Joly in Almaty).

Expansion Of Religions:

The Nestorian Stele described Nestorian Christianity to China. How trading activities have taken place along the road over multiple centuries has been described by Richard Foltz, Xinru Liu, & many others. They describe how people can benefit from the transmission of goods, ideas and culture, especially in the religious area. Several religions like Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism, and Islam spread across Eurasia via the trade network, which is tied to particular religious communities & their institutions. A haven & new religion for foreigners were provided by the established Buddhist monasteries along this Silk Road.

Jerry H. Bentley said that syncretism took place because of the spread of religions and cultural traditions along this route. Encounter with Chinese and Xiongnu nomads was one of the examples. Because of such unlikely events of cross-cultural contact, these cultures were adapted to each other as alternatives. Xiongnu military techniques, music, dress styles, and dance were adapted by the Chinese. Like them, Xiongnu also adopted Chinese agricultural techniques, dress style, & lifestyle.

The cultural exchange that surprises most is that Chinese soldiers defected sometimes and later, converted to the Xiongnu way of life. In order to avoid the punishment, they stayed in the steppes. Nomadic mobility played an important role to facilitate inter-regional contacts & cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Road.

Transmission Of Christianity:

Transmission of Christianity was called primarily Nestorianism on the Silk Road. An inscribed stele in 781 shows that Nestorian Christian missionaries are arriving on this road. Christianity had spread east & west to bring the Syriac language & evolve the forms of worship.

Transmission Of Buddhism:

You should know that it was the Kushan Era when Mahayana Buddhism entered the Han Dynasty or the Chinese Empire. The maritime "Silk Roads" and overland had internal connections in order to form the "great circle of Buddhism". As per a semi-legendary account of an ambassador that Chinese Emperor Ming sent to the West, Buddhism's transmission started in the first century CE to China through the Silk Road. This religion also started to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia during this time. The names of three primary forms of Buddhism are Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism and these forms of Buddhism spread across Asia through the Silk Road.

In world history religion, it was the first big missionary movement. Chinese missionaries could assimilate Buddhism into native Chinese Daoists, resulting in these two beliefs being brought together. The Sangha, Buddha's community of followers, contains male & female monks and laity. They later moved through India with the aim of spreading Buddha's ideas. When in the Buddha's community, named Sangha, the number of members increased, it became impossible for some large cities to afford to have the Buddha and his disciples visit. This religion was spread to China & other Asian parts under the control of the Kushans between the middle of the first century and the middle of the third century. The costly contracts began in the second century because the Kushan empire expanded into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin. The missionary efforts of multiple Buddhist monks and Chinese lands are the reason behind it. Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian, or Kuchean could be the first missionaries & translators of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.

 Conflicts

Displacement and conflict were some of the results that took place, as Buddhism spread along the road. In the initial phase of the second century BCE, due to a new Iranian dynasty named Parthians, Greek Seleucids were exiled to Iran & Central Asia. It made the Parthians the new middlemen for trade during the time, and Romans were the most important customers of silk. The involvement of the Parthian scholars was seen in the translations of Buddhist text into the Chinese language. The city of Merv was the major trade centre on this road. It became a significant Buddhist centre by the middle of the second century. When Ashoka was the king of the Maurya dynasty (268–239 BCE), and converted to Buddhism, people got to know about the Silk Road. He raised this religion in his northern Indian empire to official status.

Chinese pilgrims began travelling to India on this Silk road from the 4th century CE onward to access the original Buddhist scriptures, with Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India (395–414), Xuanzang (629–644), and Hyecho. In the sixteenth century, the travels of Xuanzang were fictionalized in a fantasy adventure novel that we know as Journey to the West. 

Many different Buddhist schools travelled on this road. The names of two significant Nikaya schools were Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins. The Mahayana, which displaced them eventually, was called the "Great Vehicle". It was the Khotan region where the Buddhist movement first gained influence. You need to know that Mahayana was more of a "pan-Buddhist movement" than a Buddhist school. It seems to have begun in northwestern India or Central Asia.

Greater Vehicle

Mahayana was formed during the first century BCE. At first, it was small, and the source of "Greater Vehicle '' wasn't totally clear. Although there are a few Mahayana scripts that were found in northern Pakistan, it is still believed that the main texts were composed in Central Asia along the road. In simple words, it can be stated that the diverse & complex influences resulted in various schools and movements of Buddhism. As Mahayana Buddhism was raised, Buddhist development's initial direction changed also. According to  Xinru Liu, the Buddhist form, highlighted the elusiveness of physical reality along with material wealth. It stressed avoiding material desire to a certain point. Therefore, it becomes often challenging for the followers to understand.

Merchants played a very important role during the 5th and 6th centuries CE in the spreading of Buddhism. According to them, this religion's moral and ethical teachings are more appealing compared to the old religions. Therefore, Buddhist monasteries got support from merchants along the Silk Road. As an exchange, merchants were allowed by the Buddhists to stay somewhere because they travelled from city to city. Therefore, they spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they travelled. In addition, with the help of merchants, it became possible to set up a diaspora within the communities they encountered. The more time passed, their cultures started to be based on Buddhism.

Therefore, the communities became centres of literacy as well as culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage. The Chinese's voluntary conversion of ruling elites helped to spread Buddhism in East Asia, and as a result, Buddhism spread widely in Chinese society. Buddhism's Silk Road transmission ended around the 7h century when the Islam religion rose in Central Asia.

The Bottom Line:

We can still find the existence of numerous historic buildings & monuments, which marked the passage of the Silk Road via ports, caravanserais, and cities. The legacy of this famous network is reflected in multiple distinct. But you can find the interconnection of languages, cultures, customs, & religions developed over millennia along these routes. The passage of merchants & travellers of different nationalities helped in commercial exchange & cultural interaction. The Silk Roads were developed in order to become a driving force in the formation of diverse societies across Eurasia & far beyond.

Frequently Asked Questions

What major goods travelled along the Silk Road?

Silk was exported to Western buyers by Chinese merchants. Gold, wool & silver were sent eastward from Rome & later from Christian kingdoms.

What travelled along the Silk Road besides goods?

Religion was a major export of the West along the Silk Road, apart from material goods. Merchants who belonged to the Indian subcontinent exposed China to Buddhism. During that time, early Assyrian Christians took faith in China & Central Asia. However, diseases also travelled along this road. As per the belief of several scholars, the bubonic plague spread from Asia to Europe, the result of which the Black Death pandemic caused in the middle of the fourteenth century. 

Is the Silk Road still used today?

The Silk Road's parts that still exist in the form of a paved highway, connects Pakistan & Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. A trans-Asian motor highway and railroad were planned to be sponsored in the 21st century by the United Nations. It is the Silk Road from which China's Belt and Road Initiative was inspired, which is a global infrastructure development strategy. President & General Secretary Xi Jinping authored this.

Osiris

Osiris, who is known as Usir, is one of the important gods of ancient Egypt. In lower Egypt, he was a local god of Busiris. Moreover, he is considered as a personification of chthonic fertility. He played a double role by about 2400 BCE. Along with being a god of fertility, he was also the resurrected king. The dual role was mixed with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, who is the underworld God, and the son of the king was known as Horus, the living kind and the God of the sky. Osiris and Horus had a father and son relationship. Isis was the mother of King Horus and consort of Osiris. The God Seth, the murderer of Osiris, was an adversary of Horus.

Plutarch, a Greek author, reported that Seth killed or drowned Osiris and tore the corpse into 14 pieces, and later, he flung the pieces over Egypt. Isis and Nephthys found as well as buried all the pieces (except the phallus) and gave new life to Osiris, who remained the judge & ruler of the underworld. The son of Osiris, Horus fought against Seth to become the king of Egypt.

The soul of Osiris was worshipped occasionally as if it were a distinct god, in the Delta city of Mendes. People knew this aspect of Osiris as Banebdjedet or "the ba of the lord of the djed." It is spelt "Banebded" or "Banebdjed." Its meaning is the soul of the lord of the pillar of continuity. Hence, you need to know that djed, which is a kind of pillar, was understood as Osiris's backbone. Now, let's know about Osiris in detail like who he is, his appearance, and other details.

Who Is Osiris?

He was an important god of ancient Egypt.

His Names:

This term "Osiris" is a Latin word. In Egyptian hieroglyphs, Wsjr is the traditional rendering of the name. There are a few Egyptologists who call the deity Aser, Ausar, Asar, Asari, Ausir, Ausare, Usire, Usir, Wser, or Wesir. Almighty or The Powerful is the name's English translation.

In this way, he was perceived among the old Egyptians. It has been thousands of years since the name "Osiris" was celebrated with ritual activity and was worshipped as the shepherd god.

Titles Of Osiris:

People can find the mention of his name during Egypt's Fifth Dynasty. However, since the first dynasty, he has been worshipped. In later Egyptian documents, such as Contending of Horus & Seth, ancient author's writings, and the Shabaka Stone, his name is mentioned.

He got several titles and was called "King of the Living" also. Besides, he received the title of "Foremost of the Westerners". He got both titles as he was the ruler of the dead —

Ancient Egyptians called them Westerners or The Living Ones. He was known as a merciful judge of people in the afterlife. He had many other attributes & titles like:

The Lord of love,

The Lord of silence 

He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful.

Appearance Of Osiris:

Osiris' old paintings were often coloured black or green. The green colour indicates the relationship between ancient Egyptian and rebirth. On the other hand, black was related to fertility, indicating the colour of the rich, fertile soil that expanded over the plains every year when the River Nile overflowed.

In a few rare instances, you can see him wearing a crown in which a rendering of the moon was included. After observing the picture, researchers concluded that Osiris was associated with the moon or night.

History Of Osiris:

He was one of the five kids who was born to the god of the earth & the goddess of the skies, Geb and Nut, respectively. Based on the family tree, it is known that he was a great-grandson of the famous Egyptian god Ra. In his story, his four younger siblings played vital roles. Seth was his brother's name, whereas the names of the two sisters were Isis & Nephthys.

As he was the son as well as the first child of Nut & Geb, it was his responsibility to inherit the throne of Egypt. Nephthys was married to Seth, whereas Isis was married to Osiris. It was believed that together Osiris & Isis had a lot of powers. However, their married life was not happy.

Nephthys later took the appearance of the wife of Isis and presented herself as Osis. And without differentiating them, he had made Nephthys pregnant as she seduced him. Then, she gave birth to Anubis.

Seth had a vendetta against Osiris because of either Osiris' inheritance of the throne or because he had made the wife of Seth pregnant. So, Seth planned to kill Osiris by luring him into a coffin and or by drowning him in the Nile. People still believe that the Nile River floods annually as the representative of the event.

Later, Isis recovered the body of her husband. But Seth stole away with this. After cutting up Osiris' body, Seth distributed all the pieces of his body throughout the Egyptian desert.

Isis loved his husband so much that she spent many years looking for his mutilated body part. As a result, she at last found all the lost pieces except one. People believe that she used her magical powers to restore the body parts of her husband.

Despite various versions of the story of this part being available, it seems like Isis got pregnant by Osiris, and Horus was born. Then, Osiris died once again and descended to assume completely his responsibilities as the Egyptian god of the underworld.

The Significance Of The Resurrection:

The resurrection of Osiris after being killed by Set, is the representative of a new beginning of good to the ancient Egyptians. They thought that the sun, which goes into the dead world every night and reborn with every new day, symbolized the story.

He was the one who controlled everyone's life, death, rebirth, and resurrection. Whereas, a pillar of continuity which represents a phallus that was made by Isis, became the symbol of the power of Osiris or the Ba.

A Familiar Story:

You should not be surprised if the tale of Osiris sounds familiar. Several story elements of his story are similar to the death and Jesus's resurrection. Ancient people in Egypt believed that a person would be greeted in the afterlife by deities like Anubis, Ammut, Henefer, Ma'at, Osiris and Thoth. The weight of the heart of that person was measured against the feather of Ma'at. If the weight was lighter than the feather, it was assumed that they lived a truthful life and would spend eternity in Osiris' kingdom.

Worship:

His worship was an important part of regular life in ancient Egypt. Besides, the story of his death at the hand of his brother Seth as well as his 72 accomplices have been retold every year as part of worship. It was a tale of rebirth & regeneration, which can be seen each year playing out with the flooding cycle of the Nile.

Many ceremonies by the ancient Egyptians were held to praise the name, actions, & attributes of Osiris. He was the first Egyptian king, and he had symbols like the flail & the shepherd's staff, which became the vital symbols of the pharaohs. This great king represented a time of unity, peace & fertility to his followers.

Osiris, the good shepherd, was loved by many people. They felt that if they paid homage & venerated him, it would make Egypt & Egyptians successful. In addition, people believed that worshipping this god ensured the fertility & prosperity of crops on the bank of the Nile.

Celebrations:

The Great Mystery Festival and a five-day religious ritual are two celebrations that were held every spring dedicated to Osiris. There are a few celebrations commemorating his life by planting grain that received water from the Nile in the shape of Osiris. The germination as well as growth of the grain indicates his death & resurrection.

According to the belief of Egyptians, the sprouting grain was the symbol of his exceptional power and vitality. People believed that Osiris was someone who came from heaven to make human life better. He was known as a person who continued to be perfect. The time of these celebrations was the last month of the inundation of the Nile.

About Osiris:

While he was the ruler of the dead, he had a lot of powers which granted all life from the underworld, from sprouting vegetation to the Nile River's annual flood. From about 2000 BCE onward, people started to believe that deceased kings, as well as every man, had connections with Osiris at death. But the identification with Osiris did not imply resurrection, even though he didn't rise from the dead. Rather than that, it signified life's renewal in the next world and via one's descendants on Earth. The universalized form of Osiris cult that was spread throughout Egypt, and joins with the local fertility & underworld deities' cults.

The idea of gaining rebirth in the next life by following Osiris was maintained via a few cult forms. In the festival of God, nocturnal rites as well as processions were celebrated in the Middle Kingdom of 1938–c. 1630 BCE at the temple of Abydos. It is the place where he had assimilated Khenty-Imentiu, the ancient god of the dead. The meaning of this name is "Foremost of the Westerners", which Osiris adopted as an epithet. In the festival, participation of the public was allowed as it took place in the open area. Burying along the processional road at Abydos was fashionable by the early 2nd millennium BCE.

Osiris festivals that reenacted the fate of the god were celebrated in different towns throughout Egypt. The main feature of this festival was the construction of the "Osiris garden," which was a mold in the shape of Osiris and filled with soil. The mold got moistured with the water from the Nile and was sown with grain. Remember that sprouting grain was the symbol of the vital strength of Osiris.

Apis, who was the holy bull, was connected to Osiris. According to the Greco-Roman authors, Osiris has a connection with the god Dionysus. Besides, he was identified with Soker, who is an old Memphite god of the dead.

What Were Osiris's Powers?

He was the ruler of the dead as well as the source of power which can grant all life from the underworld, like vegetation and the Nile river's annual flood. People began to believe that every man as well as every deceased king associated with Osiris at death from about 2000 BCE.

What Does Mythology Say?

According to mythology, before Osiris became the master of the Afterlife, he ruled the Egyptian country. He also taught agriculture.

In addition, he was the one who gave civilization & laws to humans. As per mythology, Seth, the brother of Osiris, was very jealous of him. His brother cut Osiris's body into pieces to kill him. Later, Seth distributed the body parts around Egypt. After his death, his brother became king of Egypt and married his sister Nepthys, who felt sorry for Isis, his sister. Osiris's wife wept continuously for her lost husband. She had magical powers, using which he decided to find Osiris. 

Isis wanted to bring her husband back to life so that they could have a kid. With this aim, Nepthys and Isis roamed Egypt to collect all the body parts of Osiris and then reassemble them & hold them together with linen wrappings. By breathing the breath of life into his body, Isis resurrected him.  After so many challenges, they were together again, and Isis got pregnant afterwards. Then, she gave birth to a kid named Horus. After that, Osiris went to the underworld and became the lord of that domain.

Origins:

The Osiris myth is first seen in the Pyramid Texts, and multiple important features of it took shape before the writing down of the texts. There are a few segments of the tale following: Osiris's death and restoration, Horus's childhood, and Horus's conflict with Set — these can be originally independent mythic episodes. If so, then they need to be coalesced into a single story during this time. You should know that the Pyramid Texts loosely connect these segments. The tale's most of the parts are based on religious ideas, including—

●       The divine nature of kingship,

●       the struggle to maintain maat

●       the succession from one king to another, and

●        the effort to overcome death.

For example, the lamentations of both sisters for their brother can be considered as the representative of an early tradition of ritualized mourning. There is a lot of debate on the origins of Osiris, and the basis of death's myth is uncertain. Anthropologist James Frazer, in 1906, made an influential hypothesis, and said that the death & restoration of Osiris is based on the yearly death & re-growth of plants. There are multiple Egyptologists who agree with the explanation.

Later, at the end of the 20th century, J. Gwyn Griffiths gave some statements about the origin of Osiris. He extensively studied about him and said that he was first a divine ruler of the dead. And the secondary development was his connection with vegetation. The overarching idea of "dying and rising gods" has been criticised by scholars of comparative religion. Recently, an Egyptologist, Rosalie David, says that Osiris personified trees & plants' rebirth per year after the Nile inundation.

There is another continuing debate on the opposition of Horus & Set, which Egyptologists are often trying to connect with political events in the early historic stage of Egypt or prehistory. The cases in which the kingdom was divided by the combatants and Horus & Set associated frequently with the union of Upper & Lower Egypt, meant that two deities are the representative of a type of division within the nation. 

According to archaeological proof & Egyptian tradition, Egypt was united at the starting phase of history when Lower Egypt in the north was conquered by an Upper Egyptian kingdom in the south. Rulers of the South area were known as "followers of Horus". Then, Horus also became the patron god of the unified nation & its kings. That's why both Horus & Set are unable to be equated with the two halves in Egypt. 

Horus has connections with Lower Egypt mostly, whereas Set has connections with Upper Egypt. Kurt Sethe also gave an explanation in this regard in 1930. According to him, Osiris was the human ruler of a unified Egypt in prehistoric times. Later, Horus' Lower Egyptian followers reunified the land forcibly before Upper Egypt became prominent at the beginning of the early dynastic period.

The main focus of Griffiths in the late 20th century was on the inconsistent portrayal of both Set & Horus as brothers and as uncle & nephew. According to him, the struggle between Set & Horus as siblings in the early stages of Egyptian mythology didn't have any link with the murder of Osiris. Before the writing of Pyramid Texts, two stories were merged into the single Osiris myth. Once these are joined, the genealogy of the deities gets involved. Then, the characterization of the conflict between Set & Horus was altered so that Horus became the heir. 

You can still find traces of the independent traditions in the conflicting characterizations of the combatants' relationship and the texts that didn't have connections to the Osiris myth that makes Horus the son of the goddess Nut or the goddess Hathor instead of Osiris & Isis. So, Griffiths rejected the possibility that indicates Osiris's murder was rooted in historical events. Many recent scholars have accepted the hypothesis. A few names of these scholars are Jan Assmann and George Hart.

For the Set-Horus rivalry, Griffiths sought a historical origin. He upholded Egypt's two distinct predynastic unifications by the worshipers of Egypt, which is similar to Sethe's theory. But the problem remains unresolved. The reason is that other political associations for Set & Horus make the picture complicated. However, there was only one ruler in Upper Egypt, two big towns were Nekhen and Naqada. Horus was considered the patron deity in Nekhen, the rulers of where might have unified Upper Egypt under their sway, even Naqada. 

As Set had connections to the Naqada, an enmity between the towns may be reflected by the divine conflict. King Peribsen used the Set animal (traditional falcon hieroglyph) at c. 2890–2686 BCE, the end of the 2nd dynasty when he wrote his serekh-name. Khasekhemwy, who is his successor, used both names — Set & Horus in the writing of his serekh. From this evidence, you can clearly understand that a clash between Set's worshippers ( led by Peribsen) and Horus's followers was seen in the Second Dynasty. Khasekhemwy used two animal symbols that represent the reconciliation of the two factions.

Herman te Velde argues that the historical roots of the conflict are very obscure. So, the myth can not be understood easily. According to him, the source of the myth of Horus & Set is lost in the mists of the religious traditions of prehistory.

Conclusion:

Osiris, the underworld Egyptian god of ancient times, was killed by Seth who tore apart the corpse and then flung the pieces throughout Egypt. Later, the goddess Isis & her sister Nephthys found the pieces of Osiris and gave him a new life. Then, Isis became pregnant by Osiris and gave birth to Horus. The king at death became Osiris in the Egyptian concept of divine kingship. He represented the power that can bring life out of the earth. Egyptians celebrate festivals reenacting his fate in towns every year.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. What god killed Osiris?

You can get to know from mythology that Osiris was the master of the Afterlife. But before becoming that, he ruled Egypt as well as taught agriculture. In addition, he was the one who gave civilization & laws to humans. According to mythology, Seth, who was the brother of Osiris, was highly jealous of him. His brother killed him and cut his body into pieces. Later, Seth distributed the body parts of Osiris around Egypt.

Q. Was Osiris a sun god?

Sometimes, he has been interpreted as the sun god.

Q. Who was Osiris' loyal wife?

Isis was his loyal wife.