Buddhas of Bamiyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two monumental Buddhist reliefs in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, carved possibly around the 6th-century. Located to the northwest of Kabul, at an elevation of, carbon dating of the structural components of the Buddhas has determined that the smaller "Eastern Buddha" was built around 570 CE, and the larger "Western Buddha" was built around 618 CE, which would date both to the time when the Hephthalites ruled the region.
In March 2001, both structures were destroyed by the Taliban following an order given on February 26, 2001, by Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, to destroy all the statues in Afghanistan "so that no one can worship or respect them in the future". International and local opinion condemned the destruction of the Buddhas.
Inscribed in 2003 as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Buddhas are recognized as an outstanding expression of Gandharan Buddhism.
The sculptures represented a later evolution of the classic blended style of Greco-Buddhist art at Gandhara. The larger structure was named "Salsal" and was referred as a male. The smaller relief is called "Shah Mama" and is considered as a female figure, but this cannot be said with certainty. The smaller statue predated the larger one. Technically, both were reliefs: at the rear, they each merged into the cliff wall. 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 colours. The lower parts of the sculptures' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix, supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces consisted of huge wooden masks.
Since the 2nd century CE, Bamiyan had been a Buddhist religious site on the Silk Road under the Kushans, remaining so until the Islamic conquests of 770 CE, and finally coming under the Turkic Ghaznavid rule in 977 CE. In 1221, Genghis Khan during the Siege of Bamyan invaded the Bamiyan Valley, wiping out most of its population but leaving the Bamiyan Buddhas undamaged. Later in the 17th century, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb briefly ordered the use of artillery to destroy the carvings, causing some damage, though the Buddhas survived without any major harm.
The Buddhas had been surrounded by numerous caves and surfaces decorated with paintings. It is thought that these mostly dated from the 6th to 8th centuries CE and had come to an end with the Muslim conquests of Afghanistan. The smaller works of art are considered as an artistic synthesis of Buddhist art and Gupta art from ancient India, with influences from the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, as well as the Tokhara Yabghus.
History
Commissioning
Bamiyan lies on the Silk Road, which runs through the Hindu Kush mountain region in the Bamiyan 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 Bamyan cliffs. Most of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes, sharing the culture of Gandhara.The Great Buddhas of Bamiyan were carved around 600 CE during the Hephthalites' rule as principalities in the areas of Tokharistan and northern Afghanistan. The Hephthalites did not always follow the Buddhist faith. For instance, during the time of Song Yun, who visited the chief of the Hephthalite nomads at his summer residence in Badakhshan and later in Gandhara, said that they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities." Bamiyan had been a Buddhist religious site since the 2nd century CE under the Kushans, and remained so up to the time of the Muslim conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate under Al-Mahdi in 770 CE. It became Buddhist again from 870 CE until the final Islamic conquest of 977 CE under the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty. Murals in the adjoining caves have been carbon dated from 438 to 980 CE, suggesting that Buddhist artistic activity continued down to the final occupation by the Muslims.
The two most prominent art works were the giant standing sculptures of the Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni, identified by the different mudras performed. The Buddha popularly called "Salsal" measured 55 meters tall, and "Shah Mama" 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.
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, with narrow dates of between 544 and 595 CE for the 38-meter Eastern Buddha, and between 591 and 644 CE 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, with offers being 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 Bamyan Valley. Their colour faded through time.
Pre-modern era
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited the site on 30 April 630, and described Bamyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center "with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks". He also noted that both Buddha figures were "decorated with gold and fine jewels". Intriguingly, Xuanzang mentions a third, even larger, reclining statue of the Buddha. A monumental seated Buddha, similar in style to those at Bamyan, still exists in the Bingling Temple caves in China's Gansu province.Mural paintings
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 CE, until the onset of Islamic invasions. 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. The later paintings are attributable to the "Turk period".Eastern Buddha (built )
Most of the surfaces in the niche housing the Buddha must have been decorated with colourful murals, surrounding the Buddha with many paintings, but only fragments were remaining in modern times. For the 38 meter Eastern Buddha, built between 544 and 595 CE, the main remaining murals were the ones on the ceiling, right above the head of the Buddha. Recent dating based on stylistic and historical analysis confirms dates for these murals which follow the carbon-rated dates for the construction of the Buddhas themselves: the murals of the Eastern Buddha have been dated to the 6th to 8th century CE by Klimburg-Salter, and post 635/645 CE by Tanabe. As late as 2002, Marylin Martin Rhie argued a 3rd–4th century date for the Eastern Buddha, based on artistic criteria.Sun God
Among the most famous paintings of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the ceiling of the smaller Eastern Buddha represents a solar deity on a chariot pulled by horses, as well as ceremonial scenes with royal figures and devotees. The god is wearing a caftan in the style of Tokhara, boots, and is holding a lance. His representation is derived from the iconography of the Iranian god Mithra, as revered in Sogdia. He is riding a two-wheeled golden chariot, pulled by four horses. Two winged attendants are standing to the side of the chariot, wearing a Corinthian helmet with a feather, and holding a shield. In the top portion are wind gods, flying with a scarf held in both hands. This composition is unique, and distinct from Gandhara or India, but there are some similarities with the paintings of Kizil and Dunhuang.The central image of the Sun God on his golden chariot is framed by two lateral rows of individuals: kings and dignitaries mingling with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. One of the personages, standing behind a monk in profile, is likely the King of Bamyan. He wears a crenulated crown with single crescent and korymbos, a round-neck tunic and a Sasanian headband.
Hephthalite donors
The Bamiyan Buddhas were built at the time of the Hephthalites. Several of the figures have the characteristic appearance of the Hephthalites of Tokharistan, with belted jackets with a unique lapel of their tunic being folded on the right side, the cropped hair, the hair accessories, their distinctive physiognomy and their round beardless faces. These figures must represent the donors and potentates who supported the building of the monumental giant Buddha. The individuals in this painting are very similar to the individuals depicted in Balalyk Tepe, and they may be related to the Hepthalites. They participate "to the artistic tradition of the Hephthalite ruling classes of Tukharestan".These murals disappeared with the destructions of 2001.
Western Buddha (built )
A few murals also remained around the taller 55 meter Western Buddha on the ceiling and on the sides. Many are more conventionally Buddhist in character. Some of the later mural paintings show male devotees in double-lapel caftans.Adjoining caves
Later mural paintings of Bamiyan, dated to the 7th–8th centuries CE, display a variety of male devotees in double-lapel caftans. The works of art show a sophistication and cosmopolitanism comparable to other works of art of the Silk Road, such as those of Kizil, are attributable to the sponsorship of the Western Turks. The nearby Kakrak caves also have some works of art.After the destruction of the Buddhas, 50 more caves were revealed. In 12 of the caves, wall paintings were discovered. In December 2004, an international team of researchers stated that the wall paintings at Bamyan were painted between the 5th and the 9th centuries, rather than the 6th to 8th centuries, citing their analysis of radioactive isotopes contained in straw fibers found beneath the paintings. It is believed that the paintings were done by artists travelling on the Silk Road.
Scientists from the Tokyo Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Japan, the Centre of Research and Restoration of the French Museums in France, the Getty Conservation Institute in the United States, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, analysed samples from the paintings, typically less than 1 mm across. They discovered that the paint contained pigments such as vermilion and lead white. These were mixed with a range of binders, including natural resins, gums, and oils, probably derived from walnuts or poppies. Specifically, researchers identified drying oils from murals showing Buddhas in vermilion robes sitting cross-legged amid palm leaves and mythical creatures as being painted in the middle of the 7th century. It is believed that they are the oldest known surviving examples of oil painting, possibly predating oil painting in Europe by as much as six centuries. The discovery may lead to a reassessment of works in ancient ruins in Iran, China, Pakistan, Turkey, and India.
Initial suspicion that the oils might be attributable to contamination from fingers, as the touching of the painting is encouraged in Buddhist tradition, was dispelled by spectroscopy and chromatography giving an unambiguous signal for the intentional use of drying oils rather than contaminants. Oils were discovered underneath layers of paint, unlike surface contaminants.
Scientists also found the translation of the beginning section of the original Sanskrit Pratītyasamutpāda Sutra translated by Xuanzang that spelled out the basic belief of Buddhism and said all things are transient.