BAMIYAN
Located 240 miles northwest of Kabul in present-day
Afghanistan, Bamiyan was a point of intersection on
the major thoroughfares of antiquity. References to
Bamiyan as a religious center can be found in the writ-
ings of the Chinese pilgrim to India XUANZANG(ca.
600–664 C.E.). The site ultimately fell into disuse after
its annihilation by Genghis Khan in 1222, an act of re-
venge for his son’s death during the siege of the citadel
Shahr-i-Zohak, which sits high above the Bamiyan
valley. In the eighteenth century, Buddhist images at
the site were used for artillery practice by the Mogul
emperor Aurangzeb, and in the nineteenth century
Bamiyan was explored by British archaeologists. The
most extensive research done at Bamiyan was under
the auspices of the French.
The trading post of Bamiyan sits in a lush valley be-
neath the mountains of the Hindu Kush, with a pre-
cipitous mountain at its back and an escarpment
suitable for carving at its face. This escarpment came
to be covered with innumerable grottos carved from
the living rock, comprising Buddhist assembly halls,
meditation caves, and icon niches. All told they cover
at least one mile. Until 2001, there stood within carved
niches a monumental fifty-three-meter buddha image
at the western end, and a smaller thirty-five-meter
buddha at the eastern end. Originally covered with
brilliant pigments and gold, these buddha figures left
a lasting impression on Xuanzang, as well as on the
thirteenth-century Arab geographer Yakut. Both re-
marked upon the great buddha images of Bamiyan as
being without compare elsewhere in the world.
There is debate as to the iconographic identity of
the two images. It is generally argued that the smaller
buddha figure represented the historical Buddha,
S ́akyamuni, largely because that is how the image is
referenced in most of the chronicles of the times. The
larger buddha is thought to have represented the uni-
versal buddha Vairocana. Written accounts of this
statue as wearing a crown support this possible icono-
graphic identification. This statue, like its smaller
counterpart, displayed the drapery patterning that
originated in Gandhara. Constructed no later than the
sixth century C.E., both images were first carved out
of the living rock, then completed using an additive
technique employing wooden dowels to attach addi-
tional pieces, covered by clay and stucco, and lastly
painted. The interior of the image niches were also
covered with painted depictions reflecting the syn-
cretic beliefs of the rulers of Bamiyan at the time. Both
statues were missing their faces as early as the eigh-
teenth century, with at least one scholar arguing that
the faces were once covered by metal plates, which
were easily removed.The colossal buddhas of Bamiyan survived the vi-
cissitudes of the various political changes in the region
until March 2001. After issuing an edict against images
and idolatry, the reigning Islamic fundamentalist Tal-
iban regime in Afghanistan—after spurning attempts
by international organizations to buy or preserve the
statues—proceeded to destroy them. Two days of ar-
tillery barrages were required to successfully destroy
what Aurangzeb had left behind. The niches that pro-
tected the buddha images still remain, their outlines
forever an echo of what were once the most awe-
inspiring BUDDHA IMAGESin all of Asia.See also:Huayan Art; Persecutions41