Hewn into the forbidding Hindu Kush mountains that enclosed the beautiful valley (located 230 km north-west of Kabul at an altitude of 2500 metres, Bamiyan -- a major Buddhist centre from the second century up to the time that Islam entered the valley in the ninth century -- was an invariable rest point for the caravans on the Silk Route), the imposing Buddhas (53 metres and 38 metres respectively) were not just the tallest such statues in the world -- they were also Afghanistan's best-known archeological treasures.

Cannons boomed with deadly precision. Tanks rocked on their tracks as they unleased their destructive artillery. The enemy was successfully annihilated. And the world mourned as ancient statues were reportedly destroyed by the Taleban in Afghanistan over the last few days.

"The head and legs of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan were destroyed," Taleban's Information Minister Quadratullah Jamal told reporters on March 4. "Our soldiers are working hard to demolish their remaining parts. They will come down soon. We are using everything at our disposal to destroy them."

The two statues were hewn out of the rock (estimates of dates vary, but most probably around the fourth and fifth centuries AD). They were covered with a mud and straw mixture to model the expression of the face, the hands and the folds of the robes. This was then plastered and, finally, they were painted: the smaller Buddha blue, the larger one red, with their hands and faces gold. They must have been quite impressive for monks travelling through the harsh surrounding landscape, who finally reached the beautiful valley with the peaceful Buddhas making the gesture of reassurance. -- Jet van Krieken, Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage

The Taleban appear unfazed by international expressions of wrath -- even Muslim states and international agencies like UNESCO have condemned their actions -- at a time when the country faces a humanitarian crisis -- aggravated by two decades of civil war and Afghanistan's worst-ever drought in 20 years -- and critically in need of foreign aid. As far as they are concerned, the statues were "an insult to Islam" and a barrier in their avowed goal -- "the creation of a pure Islamic state."

Former foreign secretary S K Singh, who served as India's ambassador to Afghanistan, is furious, "Were Ahmad Shah Abdali and Shahabudeen Gauri not Muslims? Why did Muslim rulers like them not consider the statues "insulting to Islam? When the statues have been around for such a long time, how do the Taleban explain the sudden realisation that these statues insult Islam? Are they some new breed of Muslims?"

Another former foreign secretary J N Dixit is equally livid. He termed the Taleban's actions as the "most violent vandalism" and as a "violation of all the principles of the civilised world." He condemned the Taleban's "narrow and aggressive interpretation of Islam. Afghanistan has had Muslim rulers for thousands of years, but nobody ever did anything like this."

The features of the Buddhas have disappeared. During the centuries they have probably been assailed by iconoclasts. The idea behind the destruction was to take away the soul of the hated image by obliterating, or at least deforming, the head and hands. Although there is no firm evidence the Buddhas were subjected to iconoclasm, this fate was certainly meted out to the frescoes surrounding the Buddhas, namely the numerous religious places and monks' cells also hewn out of the rock and covered with beautiful paintings. The faces in these were destroyed by one of the many groups of invaders who have passed that way. -- Jet van Krieken, SPACH

Singh, an admirer of the Bamiyan Buddhas and the other priceless artifacts at the National Museum of Afghanistan, says: "It is out of sheer desperation that the Taleban have destroyed these artifacts. Basically, they are angry about the UN sanctions imposed on them in January and about their failure to get recognition from the international community. It is a shameful act of barbarism and the loss it has caused is irreparable. For seven years, a group of Indian archaeologists and chemists had -- on request from Afghanistan -- worked there to restore and help preserve these statues. To strengthen the arm of the taller Bamiyan Buddha, they successfully devised a syringe that would inject adhesive and concrete into the structure. And, in one go, the Taleban have destroyed everything."

Professor Kaleem Bahadur from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, adds: "The Taleban are simply trying to pressurise the world into recognising them since even the Islamic states have not done so. Besides, the Taleban's main problem stems from their interpretation of Islam -- which comes from a mixture of their limited knowledge of Islam and the Afghan tradition.

"Breaking idols is not Islam. Even the barbaric Chengiz Khan and Taimur Lang did not touch these statues. Jews lived in the Islamic state in Prophet Mohammed's time. They had religious freedom. Islam tells you to respect other religions and the feelings of their followers. And where Muslims are in a majority, it is their duty to protect the minorities and their religious places. If the Taleban wanted to ensure that no un-Islamic rites are performed, they should have merely banned such practices."

However JNU Professor Ajay Patnaik, who specialises in Central Asia, disagrees. "The Taleban are using the demolition of the statues as a tool to unite multi-ethnic Afghanistan in the name of religion. They fear that any symbol not connected with Islam will help keep non-Islamic identities alive. They only want to retain the identity of Islam so that ethnic groups like the Tajiks, which do not support them at the moment, join the bandwagon. Religion can help them achieve that goal."

Which begs the question: Was there a way to save the Buddhas?

The Buddhas, at once so impressive and yet so vulnerable, have survived the hostile onslaughts over the centuries. Even so, they are still at risk. In the mid-1990s, the space at the feet of the bigger Buddha was being used as an ammunition dump by one of the warring factions. It was practical: it was an easily defendable, dry position. Who would dare to attack it? One shot might blow the statue to smithereens. Who would care, though? This image was an an idol, and human and animal depictions are forbidden by Islam. It was worth the risk....

The valley has been in the hands of the Taleban since the autumn of 1998. The head and part of the shoulders of the smaller Buddha were blown off, partly by a rocket, partly by explosives. Even worse, the infamous Taleban commander who threatened to damage the Buddhas in the first place had succeeded in drilling holes in the head of the bigger Buddha with the aim of inserting dynamite into the holes. He appears to have been stopped at the last moment by the Taleban governor of the Bamiyan Valley, with whom SPACH was in contact. The most recent damage has been the burning of tires just above the mouth of the big Buddha, so his entire face is now blackened. -- Jet van Krieken, SPACH

Dixit says, "The only way to preserve this cultural heritage was for the UN Security Council to have taken military action against Taleban. But it did not happen and it is too late now."

Bahadur, however, feels: "India could not have done anything to prevent the Taleban from destroying the statues. Moral pressure does not work on the Taleban. The present Afghanistan has a complex social structure with a strong emphasis on tradition."

Patnaik adds, "The only people who had a shot at influencing them were Pakistan and certain elements in Saudi Arabia; unfortunately, they have chosen not to do so. Certain institutions in Pakistan believe a Talebanised Afghanistan is in their interest (At present, the Taleban control 90 per cent of Afghanistan) since, besides the advantage of free passage of goods to Central Asia -- they will also have the strategic support of an allied state."

Bahadur has the final word: "The Taleban, by their actions, have succeeded in bringing a bad name to Afghanistan as well as to Islam. It will only make life more difficult for Muslims, especially in those countries where they are in a minority. It will promote fundamentalist tendencies in other religious groups. We don't need to look far -- look at what is happening in India itself. The reactions of groups like the VHP and the incorrect perception that such fundamentalist groups have of Indian Muslims is only being strengthened."

One of the 1,800-year-old statues served as a modern-day anti-aircraft gun platform. The ancient site of Bamiyan became a makeshift refugee camp. The poor and displaced live in caves around what was once a world archaeological treasure trove. Holes in the ground bear witness to the poor who scavenge for artefacts to sell for cash, the scarcest commodity of all in Afghanistan, apart from peace. -- The Buddhayana Quarterly

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EXTERNAL LINKS:

Afghan Taleban Say they demolished Buddhist statues
Taleban: Most statues destroyed
Taleban to demolish Buddha statues
Afghanistan's forgotten past
The colossal Buddhas at Bamiyan and their influence on Buddhist sculpture
The plunder continues

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