Nearly eight years after the destruction of the big stone buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, news stories say the Taliban is trying to destroy more artifacts of ancient Buddhist civilization. This time the artifacts are housed in a museum in Swat, a community in southwestern Pakistan.
Buddhism spread into present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan during the reign of the Emperor Ashoka of India, ca. 304–232 BCE. So, although Islam dominates those nations now, within their borders are sites of ancient Buddhist cities, temples and monasteries. These were not pioneer outposts but centers of Buddhist civilization.
The kingdom of Gandhara stretched across what is now northern Pakistan, Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan, and for a time (1st to 6th centuries CE) this kingdom was ruled by Buddhist kings. Gandhara Buddhist art is especially beautiful. The Buddha in the photo is from Gandhara, 1st or 2nd century, and is now safely in the Tokyo National Museum.
In the 6th century the kingdom was invaded and destroyed. A small group of Buddhist monks carried as much art as they could over the Malakand Pass into the valley of Swat. Buddhism flourished in Swat for another five centuries.
In the late 1950s, the local government in Swat built a museum to house and preserve the remaining Gandhara and other Buddhist artifacts. The Swat museum was renovated with assistance from Japan in 1992. Now the museum is a prime target of Taliban militants. Last year the militants planted an explosion in the museum that damaged more than 150 artifacts. Now Pakistani troops guard the museum, but the threat remains.
In November 2007 the Taliban blew up a seven-meter tall, 7th century Buddha in the Jihanabad area of Swat, severely damaging its head.
Photo: Public domain, Wikipedia Commons
you can’t expect a positive approach from Talibans . They are mentally frustrated , only giving a bad name for entire Muslim Community .
It is so sad that people could rob their own children and grandchildren of their cultural heritage.
Something similar happened in China during the 1960s and that country is still recovering from it.
I wish the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan well and dare to hope that we will all come out of this night.
The loss of the cultural treasures is a loss for all of us~ these statues heavily influenced and possibly executed by the decendents of helenistic greeks durring Gondhara’s goldenage are evidence of our one humanity touching the roots of western culture and reaching and influencing the branch of Buddhim that would spread through China south east asia and Japan where its influences are evident to this day. To destroy these is an act of war on humanity itself. The Taliban are a cancer on the numan body and should be excised before its too late.