Bamiyan River flows northward through Kunduz River, flows into Amu Darya River, one of the mother rivers of Central Asia, and finally flows into Aral Sea. This is the Bamiyan Canyon in the Hindu Kush Mountains in central Afghanistan, and it is an important commercial center on the ancient Silk Road.
Look carefully, there are two huge Buddhist niches on the mountains on both sides of the photo. They have stood here for 65,438+0,500 years, but the owner in the niche has left us.
In the same place, from another angle, we can see more clearly the dense caves excavated on the cliff 1300 meters long. In this 1000 grottoes, there used to be exquisite Buddha statues and murals of all sizes. Now the remaining desolation and mottling tell us the civilization course of Bamiyan Canyon.
In the huge niches on the east and west sides, there once stood two classic works of Greek Buddhist art-Bamiyan Giant Buddha. The giant Buddha on the west side is 55 meters (180 feet) high, which was once the largest vertically carved Buddha statue in the world, while the giant Buddha on the east side is 37 meters (125 feet) high.
Bamiyan Canyon is located in the Hindu Kush Mountains between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia, with an altitude of about 2,500 meters. It is located in the center of the ancient Silk Road. The Bamiyan River, which originated from the snow-capped mountains, irrigated a vibrant oasis in the harsh and arid climate of the mainland. The development of agriculture and the convenience of transportation made it a transit point for ancient trade and religious exchanges.
In 327 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the Bactria region where Bamiyan Canyon was located, and this land was gradually engraved with the brand of Greek culture.
In 256 BC, it became the territory of Daxia State. Around 130 BC, the Dayue family in the middle of the river (the Zelavshan River basin between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers) conquered Daxia to the south.
Beginning in the 4th century BC, Buddhist civilization began to spread in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. In 30 AD, the powerful GuiShuang Empire was established. Kujura Kadfisses, the founding monarch of Guishuang Empire, believed in Buddhism. Under his influence, Buddhism flourished in what is now Afghanistan.
The Buddhist culture and art in the northern Indian subcontinent collided and merged with the Greek civilization rooted here at that time, forming a unique "Greek Buddhist art" (also known as "Gandhara Buddhist art"), and its Buddha sculpture has a strong Greek and Roman style.
The early "Greek Buddhist art" mainly described Buddhist stories. After the 2nd century AD, single Buddha statues and large Buddha statues became popular in this area.
Two famous Bamiyan Buddhas were built in the 6th and 7th centuries. The giant Buddha on the east side was built about 50 years earlier than that on the west side, and the builders have no way to verify it.
The shape, hairstyle and undulating costume patterns of the giant Buddha are typical Gandhara Buddha styles, which also deeply influenced the Buddhist art in the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. The Buddha statues in Yungang Grottoes and Dunhuang Grottoes have obvious characteristics of Gandhara Buddha.
Xuanzang, a famous monk in China, passed through Bamiyan about 630 years ago. In his book "The Tale of the Western Regions of Datang", he described the local area (called Fanyan Country in the book) as the center of the prosperity of Buddhism, and recorded these two magnificent sitting buddhas: "On the northeast mountain of Wangcheng stands a stone Buddha, which is 140 to 50 feet high, with its gold swaying and its jewelry decaying." In the east, there is a Buddha statue of Sakyamuni.
We can know from the descriptions of the historical books such as the Records of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty that these two giant buddhas are richly decorated with bronze, gold and jewels.
Since the 7th century A.D., the process of Islamization began in Afghanistan, but in the following hundreds of years, despite the wind and sand erosion, the exquisite Buddhist sculptures in Bamiyan Gorge were still well preserved.
In the violent collision of civilizations, two giant buddhas were doomed. Since the13rd century, the Buddha statues here have been destroyed. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, the Mughal emperor Orangzbu tried to destroy two giant buddhas with artillery, but failed.
After 1996, the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan. In 200 1 year, the Taliban destroyed these two priceless treasures of Buddhist culture with artillery and tanks. On March 12, two Buddha statues were completely destroyed by explosives.