[Tajikistan] Chiluchor Chashma (Sacred 44 springs) | Чилу Чор чашма | 챠슈마 @ Shahrituz | Шахритуз 

Chiluchor Chashma from Tajik means 44 Springs. It is located in South of Tajikistan, near Uzbekistan border, about 10-12 km away from Shahrituz. People all over Tajikistan visit this place for spiritual harmony and pilgrimage. Spring is a perfect time for this place to visit. As later it gets boiling for visits. Chiluchorchashma springs have healing effects from depression, headache, fertility, hypertonia, and other. It is like a small oasis in the desert. The springs are full of fish, which worth to see. We will spend a whole day in Chiluchorchashma, prepare osh (plov), spend time in the warm, quiet and beautiful atmosphere, will listen to the stories and legends of a place from an old man.
Chiluchor Chashma (“Forty-Four Springs”) is a place which is widely known in Tajikistan and in neighboring Uzbekistan. This is because, from the foot of a small hill in the area which was previously a not desert (before irrigation works in the Soviet period), five large springs emerged from underground which, in turn, divide into 39 smaller ones. The water from the springs flows together to form a channel 12-13m wide and full of fish. It is interesting to note that the fish do not swim downstream in the channel but stay within 8-900m of its beginnings.(www.tdc.tj)
Local people have a legend about the origin of the spring. When Caliph Ali (Hazrati Ali) stayed in this area preaching Islam, which was a new faith for the local population, the nearby Romit River dried up. Ali then cursed the river, calling it Kofarnihon, i.e., the “faithless river.” After arriving at present-day Chiluchor Chashma, Ali offered up a prayer to Allah asking for water, hit the ground at the foot of the nearby hill, and where he touched ground with his fingers, five of the purest springs welled up.(www.tdc.tj)
Location: 12km west of Shahrituz settlement