BAKHCHI-SARAI (Tatar for "a palace surrounded by gardens"):
Former residence of the Tatar khans (fifteenth century to 1783); now a town in the government of Taurida (Crimea), Russia, situated on the rivulet Churuksu, nearly midway between Simferopol and Sebastopol. In a total population of 13,377, mostly Tatars (in 1881), about seventy families were Karaites and about twenty families Talmudical Jews. The Karaites trade largely in dress-stuffs, mercery, and groceries, while most of the Talmudical Jews are artisans. Both communities have their synagogues.
Bibliography:
- Mandelstamm, Ḥazon la-Mo'ed, iii. 16, Vienna, 1877;
- Deinard, Massa' la-ḥazi ho-I Krim, p. 104, Warsaw, 1879;
- Entziklopedicheski Slovar, iii. s.v., St. Petersburg, 1892.
