Bamiyan - Day One (Buddhas)

Kicking up dust from the unpaved roads (there is no pavement in Bamiyan or the surrounding villages), the Surf took us to the site of the ancient city where many Buddhas, large and small, once carried out their quiet meditation since 500 to 600 AD until 2001. There were two enormous statues in rock of the hill-side, from base to summit, known as the Surkh (red) Bud and the Khing (grey) Bud. An old 2001 BBC report from the internet told me the tale of the destruction:

“Reports say the demolition of the ancient [Buddhas] was supervised by the Taleban's defence minister over the last few days…The larger, 53-metre (175-feet) statue was blown up on Thursday, and the smaller 38-metre (120-feet) destroyed the following day. The aid worker said the work was "professionally done". The extent of the damage is hard to confirm, as the militia have blocked journalists from visiting the province. Speaking at the Taleban's Islamabad embassy on Sunday,[Defence Minister] Mr Muttawakil said "We do admit all these statues were the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, but we will not leave the part which is contrary to our belief." He dismissed opposition from other Islamic countries saying they were motivated only "for the sake of reconciliation".

We could see a small troupe of labourers carefully moving the heap of rubble that once was the largest Buddha with a simple cable-pulley system and classifying it with metal labels. A guide ushered us up a narrow, staircase to the top of the cave where the Buddha’s head once peered out over Bamiyan. We saw many caves, which used to be shrines or living spaces for the sangha (check word – community) that lived there historically. Small fragments of the original drawings where visible in each cave, many of which had been marred by scribbling in Persian – Tariq confirmed that most of the scribbling said “so and so was here”. His mood was very sour at the monuments and most of the time he was muttering angrily about the Taliban. I was somewhat surprised at his sense of connection to the Buddhist statues, though not surprised by the bitterness memories of the Taliban left.

For my part, I felt a mixture of sadness that this site was not professionally preserved and managed, and an inexplicable feeling of privilege that I was here to see it and walk through it before it could be made off-limits to visitors. At the top of the Buddha was a walkway with an unparalleled vista over Bamiyan. As I looked out, I reflected that it was wonderful to be in Mogul or Hazara (Italicize) country, their beautiful red sandstone faces greeting us with a friendliness I have not seen elsewhere in Afghanistan. The lush farmlands of Bamiyan – 90% of which were potato crops – looked like a velvet patchwork stitched with fruit trees quilt discreetly covering the cleft between raw sandstone monuments and cave dwellings.