March 2nd 2001
The world stood helpless as the Taliban government started the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha statues first by using anti-aircraft guns and artillery and later using dynamites. Despite the protests from Organization of Islamic Countries, which includes Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Mullah Mohammad Omar order the destruction of the site which was listed as World Heritage place by UNESCO. These destructions were later dubbed by many nations as "savage" and were condemned. Of the many statues that were destroyed, two of the more prominent ones are Vairocana and Sakyamuni, standing 55 and 37 metres (180 and 121 feet) high respectively. I fail to fathom how the hideous minds of these Talibs work.
The Place and its History
Bamiyan lies on the silk route, the main trading route between the east and the west. Until 11th century Bamiyan which lies in Hindukush mountain range was part of Gandhara kingdom. For those people who know Mahabharata, this is the kingdom where Gandhari, the wife of Dhritarashtra hails from. The legend has it that the then Gadhara is now what is called Kandahar.
Bamiyan is a very fertile land where culture, religion and Indian art were flourishing. The statues were built by Buddhist monks under Kushan empire during 6th and 7th century AD.
When Taliban took over Afghanistan, they started "cleaning" non-Islamic segments of the society. It banned music, sports, television and any form of communication with the world, there by pushing Afghanistan back into medieval ages. In the process, a whooping 400 clerics around Afghanistan voted that the Buddha statues were against Islam and should be destroyed. Despite international pressure to stop the barbaric activity, Taliban govt dynamited the place and grounded it to rubble.
Post Destruction Political Scenario
On September 11th, 2001, Osama bin Laden carried out an incredible attack on World Trade center that divided US (the entire world's, probably) history into two parts, pre-9/11, and post 9/11. US govt under George Bush vowed to bring Osama down. US started mobilizing its forces into Afghanistan and after years of battle drove Taliban govt out and reinstated a "democratic" govt. After 10 years of fighting, eventually Osama was gunned down during Obama's administration.
When the statues were destructed, a few countries like Japan and Sri Lanka came forward and pledged to restore them. In 2011, a proposal was put forth to reconstruct the statues out of the rubble. However it was turned out eventually citing the risks in the process.
To build or not to build
The proposal begs a very interesting question. What is history? Is history a study of what happened without trying to rebuild what was once there? Or is it restoring how things were at some point of time? In this particular case, the history is that there were statues in Bamiyan at one point and they were destroyed by Taliban. There are two schools of thoughts. first, which thinks the statues shouldnt be built since the history is that they were destroyed and hence be left as they are (destroyed) and be taught to future generation what a hideous thing the Taliban has committed. Second, which thinks the statues to be built to teach future generations on how they used to look like. Personally, I am with the first school of thoughts. History is what happened and should be left untouched.
The proposal put forth in 2011 argued that reconstruction of the statues will bring jobs to folks who are unemployed currently and will help Afghanistan with tourism industry. Without going into too many details, my take on this :
1. I think there are more important things to address currently in Afghanistan than to rebuild the statues.
2. Even if they construct the statues, with the current conditions and instability, I doubt how much tourism these statues will bring in, especially given their location which is remote.
3. Employment promised through the reconstruction can be brought in by reconstructing the broken infrastructure. So divert the funds from reconstructing the statues to other projects which help Afghanistan sustain the growth.
Today is March 2nd, 2012. I thought it would be apt to put down my thoughts on the anniversary of the statues destruction. What do you think? Should we build the statues? And what do you think about the timing of the proposal? Leave a comment with your thoughts.
The world stood helpless as the Taliban government started the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha statues first by using anti-aircraft guns and artillery and later using dynamites. Despite the protests from Organization of Islamic Countries, which includes Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Mullah Mohammad Omar order the destruction of the site which was listed as World Heritage place by UNESCO. These destructions were later dubbed by many nations as "savage" and were condemned. Of the many statues that were destroyed, two of the more prominent ones are Vairocana and Sakyamuni, standing 55 and 37 metres (180 and 121 feet) high respectively. I fail to fathom how the hideous minds of these Talibs work.
The Place and its History
Bamiyan lies on the silk route, the main trading route between the east and the west. Until 11th century Bamiyan which lies in Hindukush mountain range was part of Gandhara kingdom. For those people who know Mahabharata, this is the kingdom where Gandhari, the wife of Dhritarashtra hails from. The legend has it that the then Gadhara is now what is called Kandahar.
Bamiyan is a very fertile land where culture, religion and Indian art were flourishing. The statues were built by Buddhist monks under Kushan empire during 6th and 7th century AD.
When Taliban took over Afghanistan, they started "cleaning" non-Islamic segments of the society. It banned music, sports, television and any form of communication with the world, there by pushing Afghanistan back into medieval ages. In the process, a whooping 400 clerics around Afghanistan voted that the Buddha statues were against Islam and should be destroyed. Despite international pressure to stop the barbaric activity, Taliban govt dynamited the place and grounded it to rubble.
Post Destruction Political Scenario
On September 11th, 2001, Osama bin Laden carried out an incredible attack on World Trade center that divided US (the entire world's, probably) history into two parts, pre-9/11, and post 9/11. US govt under George Bush vowed to bring Osama down. US started mobilizing its forces into Afghanistan and after years of battle drove Taliban govt out and reinstated a "democratic" govt. After 10 years of fighting, eventually Osama was gunned down during Obama's administration.
When the statues were destructed, a few countries like Japan and Sri Lanka came forward and pledged to restore them. In 2011, a proposal was put forth to reconstruct the statues out of the rubble. However it was turned out eventually citing the risks in the process.
To build or not to build
The proposal begs a very interesting question. What is history? Is history a study of what happened without trying to rebuild what was once there? Or is it restoring how things were at some point of time? In this particular case, the history is that there were statues in Bamiyan at one point and they were destroyed by Taliban. There are two schools of thoughts. first, which thinks the statues shouldnt be built since the history is that they were destroyed and hence be left as they are (destroyed) and be taught to future generation what a hideous thing the Taliban has committed. Second, which thinks the statues to be built to teach future generations on how they used to look like. Personally, I am with the first school of thoughts. History is what happened and should be left untouched.
The proposal put forth in 2011 argued that reconstruction of the statues will bring jobs to folks who are unemployed currently and will help Afghanistan with tourism industry. Without going into too many details, my take on this :
1. I think there are more important things to address currently in Afghanistan than to rebuild the statues.
2. Even if they construct the statues, with the current conditions and instability, I doubt how much tourism these statues will bring in, especially given their location which is remote.
3. Employment promised through the reconstruction can be brought in by reconstructing the broken infrastructure. So divert the funds from reconstructing the statues to other projects which help Afghanistan sustain the growth.
Today is March 2nd, 2012. I thought it would be apt to put down my thoughts on the anniversary of the statues destruction. What do you think? Should we build the statues? And what do you think about the timing of the proposal? Leave a comment with your thoughts.
