SCPR.org (National Public Radio, story partly funded by a Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion) edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
Bamiyan, the Buddhas of Afghanistan, the Buddha's hometown (Lion's Roar News) |
Taller Buddha in 1963 and in 2008 after destruction ( ) |
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Mes Aynak (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty) |
The Taliban [egged on by the CIA] destroyed the historic statues a decade ago. But in a
painstaking process, the two giant carvings of Buddha are being
reconstructed on the side of a cliff in central Afghanistan.
When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan a decade ago, they were
fanatical about eliminating everything they considered un-Islamic.
Their biggest targets -- literally and figuratively -- were the two monumental Buddha statues carved out of the sandstone cliffs in central
Afghanistan. One stood nearly 180 feet tall and the other about 120 feet
high, and together they had watched over the dusty Bamiyan Valley
since the sixth century, several centuries before Islam reached the
region.
Despite international opposition, the Taliban destroyed the statues
with massive explosions in 2001. At the time they were blown up, the
statues were the largest Buddha carvings in the world, and it seemed
they were gone for good.
Buddhist Afghanistan, ancient Scythia/Shakya Land, where the Buddha was born (WQ) |
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But today, teams from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization, along with the International Council on Monuments
and Sites, are engaged in the painstaking process of putting the broken
Buddhas back together.
Up to half of the Buddha pieces can be recovered, according to Bert
Praxenthaler, a German art historian and sculptor, who has been working
at the site for the past eight years. He and his crew have sifted
through 400 tons of rubble and have recovered many parts of the statues
along with shrapnel, land mines and explosives that were used in their
demolition.
But how do you rebuild the Buddhas from the rubble?
"The archaeological term is 'anastylosis,' but most people think it's some kind of strange disease," said Praxenthaler.
For those in the archaeology world, "anastylosis" is actually a
familiar term. It was the process used to restore the Parthenon of
Athens. It involves combining the monument's original pieces with modern
material.
On a recent day, Praxenthaler was leading a group through a tunnel
behind the niche where the smaller of the two statues once stood.
"We are now on top of the Buddha," he explained. "There was just a
wall and a small opening to sit on the top, or the head, of the Buddha.
But now there is no head."
The workers were busy removing scaffolding after months spent reinforcing the wall where the Buddha's head once was.
Mixed feelings about project
Mixed feelings about project
Afghanistan/Scythia/Shakya Land (upper left corner next to Himalayas), Bharat/India |
Bamiyan is an extremely poor and remote land in one of the world's
most underdeveloped countries. The Buddha statues were once a major
tourist attraction, but Afghanistan has been at war virtually nonstop
for more than three decades. The fighting drove away the tourists years
before the Taliban blew up the statues.
The restoration project is designed to rebuild the historic site, as
well as bring back the tourists. The project has the support of Habiba
Sarabi, the popular provincial governor. And there are reasons to be
hopeful. Bamiyan is now considered one of the less dangerous places in
Afghanistan.
Yet others, like human rights activist Abdullah Hamadi, say the empty
niches where the Buddhas stood are a reminder of the Taliban's
fanaticism, and should be left as they are.
"The Buddha was destroyed," said Hamadi. "If you made it, rebuilt it,
that is not the history. The history is the broken Buddha."
Hamadi is from the nearby district of Yakawlang, where the Taliban
massacred more than 300 members of a minority group, called the Hazaras,
in 2001. Those killings took place just two months before the Taliban
blew up the Buddha statues.
While Bamiyan is much safer today, the Taliban can still strike.
Recently, Taliban insurgents kidnapped and beheaded Jawad Zahak, the
head of the Bamiyan provincial council, while he was driving his family
toward Kabul, about 150 miles to the southeast.
Some in Bamiyan say they would rather see the money for the
restoration project go toward services like electricity and housing,
which are in desperately short supply.
Homeless take shelter in caves
Map of Central Asia, Shakya Land (Greek name Scythia), Indo Sakastan, India |
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In fact, the caves at the site of the Buddha statues are the only
shelter some Bamiyan residents can find. Homeless villagers like Marzia
and her six children are living in one of the caves, while the family's
goats bleat nearby. Marzia, who like many Afghans uses only one name,
said she has no use for the statues.
"We don't have a house, so where else can we live?" she said.
A few enterprising villagers have found ways to make money off the
story surrounding the Buddhas. One is Said Merza Husain, known around
town as the man who was forced to help the Taliban blow up the statues.
He said he had no choice but to obey the Taliban a decade ago. If he
had resisted, they would have killed him. One of his friends refused to
take part, and the Taliban shot him.
But that is the only information Husain will share for free. To hear
more of the story, he charges anywhere between $20 and $100.
Meanwhile, Bert Praxenthaler's team was about to halt their work
temporarily during the scorching Afghan summer. One longtime worker, Ali
Reza, was picking up his pay. He signed his name and received a wad of
Afghanis.
Praxenthaler also handed him a certificate and thanked him first in
Dari, then in English. Piecing together Bamiyan's Buddhas will take many
more years. After a summer break, Praxenthaler's team plans to resume
their work in the fall. More
- The Buddha's birthplace in Afghanistan (Dr. Ranajit Pal)
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