The man who later became Khoja Ahmad Yasavi was born in Sayram. The date of his birth is difficult to ascertain from historical documents, and later 13th-century hagiographical sources show evidence of pushing the date of his life to before the Mongol Conquest, i.e. c. 1103–1166. This chronology is generally accepted in contemporary Central Eurasian studies. His first teacher was Hazrat Shayh Shahobiddin Isfijabi. Today he is known by the nickname Oqota Baba (White Grandfather). Near his mausoleum, there is a small stream bridged by the main road into Sayram. This bridge is the focus of a local legend concerning the meeting of Ahmad as a boy and the great wanderer Arslan Bab - also well known as Arystan Bab.