BAMIYAN BUDDHAS
Rao S. Maradani
The world was aghast
witnessing the senseless destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas by Taliban under the
orders of Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Many people wondered how
Buddha Statues in Afghanistan existed. Here in I write the geography and
history of Bamiyan Buddhas:
Afghanistan is situated on
the north west of India beyond Peshawar and has existed for over 2300 years. Afghanistan
was a melting pot of Greek-Persian, Indian and Central Asian countries. Bamiyan
is a valley that nestles between the mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and Kohi
Baba situated at 250 kms. North of Kabul, the capital of present Afghanistan.
Bamiyan was once an important center on the famous silk route between India, Central
Asia, China in the east and Iran, Greek, Roman and Byzantine world in the west.
For over 1000 years it flourished as a prize sought by succession of
conquerors. Bamiyan in those days was a great seat of culture, similar to Nalanda,
Ajanta and Ellora of India. The valley of Bamiyan is a place of scenery located
at a plateau at a height of 8000 to 9000 feet above the sea level, surrounded by
mountains 17000 ft to 18000 ft high above sea level, snow-capped during winter
making it inaccessible from outside.
The first Indian king to
rule over Afghanistan was Chandra Gupta Maurya (324BC -300 BC) who defeated
Selukos (Alexander’s General) and annexed it to the vast Mauryan Empire, Bindusara,
Chandra Gupta’s son, ruled Afghanistan for nearly 27 years from 300 BC to 273
BC). Bindusara was succeeded by Ashoka, the Great from 273 BC to 232 BC. It
was during the reign of Ashoka that Buddhism was introduced in Afghanistan and soon
it got roots there. Ashoka engraved dhamma edicts on rocks and pillars in
various parts of the Mauryan Empire including Afghanistan. It is significant to
note that as many as three inscriptions of Ashoka have been found from Kandahar
in Afghanistan.
When the Mauryan Empire
disintegrated about 184 BC, parts of Afghanistan were reoccupied by, Indo-Bacterians.
Buddhism in Afghanistan got great impetus during the reign of Kanishka of the
Kushyar dynasty, who ruled from 78 BC to 101 AD and whose empire extended from
Kandhar to Varanasi. Arabs took control of Kabul and Kandahar in the late 7th
Century AD. but the small Buddhist kingdom of Bamiyan remained intact for
another century. Later the Bamiyan princes were converted to Islam under pressure,
and the Buddhist community of Bamiyan also was converted to Islam and the Buddhist
relics were deserted and left uncared for.
In about 870 AD Yatiub-bin. Laith destroyed man Buddha statues in Bamiyan and possibly
plucked the precious stones off the two giant Buddhas. Then Bamiyan was mercilessly
ravaged by Chengez Khan in the 13th Century. But the great Buddhas survived
the ravages of weather and man for more than 1000 years under Muslim rule. The Buddhist
heritage in Afghanistan is found at the following major archeological sites.
Bamiyan Famous
two gaint Buddha Statues
Kapisa Dozens
of Stupas, panels of scenes from the life of Buddha as well as Jataka stones
Jalalabad 44
Buddhist stupas, skull bones of the Buddha, his robe and walking sticks
Ghazni Ruins of stupas built of Asoka
Hadda Many
sacred Buddhist spots
Balkh Ruins
of many Buddhist shrines built by Khushans
Surkhkotal Site of great temple built by Kanishka, a
Stupa cave, monastery Fahiyan, the first
Chinese piligrim who came to India at the beginning of the 5th Century
via Afghanistan noticed a large number of Buddhist monastries where in 3000 Buddhist
monks stayed.
Hieunstang, who visited India via Afghanistan in 639 AD, described the
grandeur and glory of two colossal Buddhist statues of 55 meters and 35 meters
height carved in the 5th Century AD and 2nd Century AD
respectively from the rock of a cliff side forming part of the southern slope
of the Hindu Kush, The local people called the big statue red Buddha and the
small statue gray Buddha, Scholarly pilgrims from China described that the
great statues glittered with gold and jewels. Yuan Chang observed that golden
lines of Buddha sparkled in every direction. He saw hundreds of monasteries
with thousands of monks. He describes reclining Buddha 300 meters long, the
traces of which are not found by archeologists.
At the invitation of the
then Afghanistan government UNESCO experts visited Afghanistan in the year 1970
and gave valuable suggestions for making Bamiyan valley an ideal tourist
attraction.
When Taliban ordered
destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas, Srilanka offered finance to save them to take
them and preserve in their country for posterity. Metropolitan museum of New
York for which Taliban did not agree. The appeal made by Koichiromastura,
UNESCO chief was of no avail. They have not heeded the plea of Japanese
Parliamentary team. UN special envoy Francesco Venn Darrell’s appeals did not
get any positive response. The repeated appeals of the UN Secretary General,
Kofi Annan did not win a courteous response.
Finally, Taliban destroyed
the two gaint statues of Buddha. There after they celebrated the wreckage operation
by slaughtering 100 cows as a sacrifice to atone for the delay in destroying
the idols! Pakistan’s Religious Ministry has justified the destruction of
ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan (Times of India dated 27-6-2001). This is
a crime against history. Thus the world’s cultural legacy and heritage of
Afghanistan came to an end.
Books referred to:
1.
Bamiyan Buddha – DC,
Ahir
2.
Suhrullekha –
April-June, 2001
3.
Dhamma – April 2001
4.
Rationalist voice –
July-August, 2001
According to a news report
in ‘The Hindu’ dated November 20, 2001 Two Buddhas blown up by the Taliban in
one of their most extreme acts of vandalism are going to be rebuilt if a plan
by two Swiss art lovers succeeds. Now a campaign is underway in Switzerland to
raise more than one million pounds to recreate them. The Campaign has been
launched by Paul Bucherer who runs the Afghanistan Institute and Museum near Zurich,
and Mr. Bernard Weber, a Swiss film maker. The two men have assembled an
international team of art historians and scientists who propose to work
alongside Afghan craftsmen to recreate what were once the world’s biggest
standing Buddhas.
They said, “We want to
prove that even willful destruction cannot bring oblivion to that which mankind
holds dear.”
-Editor