Introduction

There have been active female religious figures for centuries in the territory of Mawaranahr (modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and southwest Kazakhstan). A variety of terms are used to describe the same social institution, such as bibi otun/otin, bi- -otin/otun, bu-otin, bibi khalifa/halfa/holpa, oy (u) bibi mullo, otyncha, otin-bucha, and ot…