The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s9.97

c5.s9.97

Ketumala Varsha—Turkestan and the lands watered by the river Chaksu or Oxus (*Vishnu P*, ch 2, *Mārkandeya P*, ch 59) In oriental history, Turkestan is called Deshti Kiptchak from the Kiptchaks who are the primitive Turkish race It comprises Kharezm (called also Urgendj) as the Khanat of Khiva is called, the Khanat of Bokhara, and the Khanat of Khokand called also Fergana Up to the time of Zenghis Khan's conquest in 1225, Bokhara, Samarkhand, Merv, Karshi (Naksheb), and Balkh (Um-ul Bilad, the mother of cities) were regarded as belonging to Persia, although the government of Khorasan (the district of the sun as it was then called) was under Bagdad (Vambery's *Travels in Central Asia* ch XII, and pp 339, 367)