Bamiyan Buddhas

Buddhas of Bamiyan

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th-century monumental statues, Salsal and Shahmama (in the Hazaragi dialect of Dari Persian), which were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan, 130 kilometres (81 mi) northwest of Kabul at an elevation of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft). Carbon dating of the structural components of the Buddhas has determined that the smaller 38 m (125 ft) "Eastern Buddha" was built around 570 AD, and the larger 55 m (180 ft) "Western Buddha" was built around 618 AD, which would date both to the time when the Hephthalites ruled the region.

              

Larger 55 meter Western Buddha               Smaller 38 meter Eastern Buddha

The Buddhas of Bamiyan (shown before 2001) were carbon-dated to 591–644 AD and 544–595 AD, respectively.

The statues represented a later evolution of the classic blended style of ancient art in Afghanistan. The statues consisted of the male Salsal ("light shines through the universe") and the shorter female Shamama ("Queen Mother"), as they were called by the locals.The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, the majority of which wore away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands, and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs held wooden pegs that stabilized the outer stucco.

The Buddhas are surrounded by numerous caves and surfaces decorated with paintings. It is thought that the period of florescence was from the 6th to 8th century AD, until the onset of Muslim conquests. These works of art are considered as an artistic synthesis of Buddhist art and Gupta art from India, with influences from the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, as well as the country of Tokharistan.

On orders from Mullah Omar, the statues were destroyed in March 2001, after the Taliban government declared that they were idols. International and local opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas.

History

Panorama of the northern cliff of the Valley of Bamiyan, with the Western and Eastern Buddhas at each end (before destruction), surrounded by a multitude of Buddhist caves.

Commissioning

Bamyan lies on the Silk Road, which runs through the Hindu Kush mountain region, in the Bamyan Valley. The Silk Road has been historically a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of the Western world. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and art. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Most of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes, sharing the culture of Gandhara.

Bamiyan was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century AD up to the time of the Islamic invasion of the Abbasid Caliphate under Al-Mahdi in AD 770. It became again Buddhist from AD 870 until the final Islamic conquest of AD 977 under the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty. Murals in the adjoining caves have been carbon dated from AD 438 to AD 980, suggesting that Buddhist artistic activity continued down to the final occupation by the Muslims.

The two most prominent statues were the giant standing sculptures of Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni, identified by the different mudras performed. The Buddha popularly called "Solsol" measured 55 meters tall, and "Shahmama" 38 meters—the niches in which the figures stood are 58 and 38 meters respectively from bottom to top. Before being blown up in 2001 they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller, but that statue is sitting).

Following the destruction of the statues in 2001, carbon dating of organic internal structural components found in the rubble has determined that the two Buddhas were built circa AD 600, with narrow dates of between AD 544 to 595 for the 38 meter Eastern Buddha, and between AD 591 and 644 for the larger Western Buddha. Recent scholarship has also been giving broadly similar dates based on stylistic and historical analysis, although the similarities with the Art of Gandhara had generally encouraged an earlier dating in older literature.

Historic documentation refers to celebrations held every year attracting numerous pilgrims and that offers were made to the monumental statues. They were perhaps the most famous cultural landmarks of the region, and the site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley. Their colour faded through time.