A cib6 rlt BUDDHIST MONUMENTS At Bamiyan in Afghanistan . I i ' i I 1 I: I i $. 1 BY: Dr. B.B.La1 and R.Sengupta t . Edited by: §. P. Sin@ (Director Conservation) National Museum, New Delhi 3 I I \, - A Report on the Preservation of BUDDHIST MONUMENTS At Bamiyan in Afghanistan BY Dr. B.B.La1 and R. Sengupta Edited by S. P. Singh (Director Conservation) National Museum, New Delhi Islamic Wonders Bureau 2660, Kucha Chelan, Darya Ganj New Delhi - 1 10002 Islamic Wonders Bureau's Publication O Islamic Wonders Bureau Name of the Book A Report on the Preservation of Buddhist Monuments At Bamiyan in Afghanistan Written by Dr. B. B. La1 and R. Sengupta Edited by S. P. Singh (Director Conservation, National Museum, New Delhi) Year of publication Price Rs. 15001- U.S. $ 601- Published by Tanzim Raza Qureshi Islamic Wonders Bureau 2660, Kucha Chelan, Darya Ganj New Delhi - 11 0002 Contact 01 1-23263996,9350334143,9717743396 E-mail : printology- i [email protected] Website : www.alfiquraan.com ISBN 8 1-87763-66-3 Cover page designed by : Tanzim Raza Qureshi CONTENTS Preface List of Plates Short History of Bamiyan Previous work on the monument at Bamiyan Genesis of the present deputation Itinefary of the tour - The Broad problems of preservation Structural 1. . . Chemical 11. Summery of recommendations Similarly for chemical presewation of the monuments and paintings the following measures are recommended. Report on structural preservation Report on chemical preservation Planning of the works Expenditure on works - a. Amount of estimates b. Deputation charges c. Transport d. Accommodation e. Supervision of works Visits to other archaeological sites and works Acknowledgements - Appendices 1. Estimate for structural preservation 2. Estimate for chemical preservation 3. Personnel 4. Climatological data for Bamiyan 5. Previous Indian Archaeological Missions to Afghanistan led By: (a) Dr, Mortimer Wheeler, 1946 (b) T.N. Ramachandran and Y.D. Shanna, 1956. (c) A. Ghosh, 1964. 13. The preservation Bamiyan List of Plates 1. General view of the Bamiyan caves with the Big Buddha in the center. 2. General view of the Bamiyan caves with the Small Buddha in the centre. 3. Big Buddha . Afghanistan. 4. General view of the Small Buddha. 5. Section of the conglomera.te showing the composition with bigger sized pebbles. 6. Exposed section of the conglomerate showing the composition with gravels. 7. A section showing the layers of conglomerate of the rock of Bamiyan. 8. Disintegration of rock. 9. Facade of the rock around the niche of the Big Buddha. 10. General view of the facade of the niche of the Small Buddha. 11. The facade of niche and the Big Buddha. 12. Course of drainage above the niche of the Big Buddha. 13. The damage feet of the Big Buddha. 14. Bamiyan. The Big Buddha , Afghanistan showing crack in the body. 15. Right thigh of the Big Buddha showing cracks. 16. The damaged heel of the right foot of the Big Buddha. m 17. Facade of the Small Buddha showing the buttress wall of brick. 18. Cracks on the western wall of the niche of the Small Buddha. 19. Cracks on the western wall of the niche of the Small Buddha 20. The damaged lower portion of the Small Buddha. 2 1. General view of the image of the Small Buddha. 22. Small Buddha showing the damage portion of the upper garment. 23. The head of the Small Buddha showing the damage portion. 24. View of the facade of the niche of the Small Buddha. 25. Paintings on the ceiling of the niche of the Big Buddha. 26. Paintings on the ceiling of the niche of the Big Buddha- right side. 27. Paintings on the ceiling of the niche of the Big Buddha. 28. Paintings on the ceiling of the niche of the Big Buddha. 29. Painting on back wall of the verandah of cave 12 to the right of the Small Buddha. 30. Distant view of caves of Darra-e-Fauladi from Bamiyan. 3 1. Stupa at Guldara showing the ruins of a vihara in the foreground during excavation. 32. Stupa at Musa-e-logar showing the reconstructed portion. 33. Ghazni. First Minar on the right side of the road built by Bahram. 34. Ghazni. Details of the masonary of the 1st Minar to the right side of the road. 35. Ghazni. Details of designs on the 2nd Minar to the left of the road. 36. Ghazni. Second Minar on the left side of the road built by Masud 111. 37. The wooden gate of the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni wrongly believed to be of the temple of Somnath. 38. Copper sheeting on the dome of the tomb of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. 39. Tomb of Abdur Razzaq (as repaired by Italian Mission) at Ghazni. 40. Ghazni. Details of masonry from the Tepesardara. 41. Excavated ruins of the palace of Masud I11 at Ghazni. 42. Mud plaster covering on the walls of the palace of Masud 111 at Ghazni. 43. The tomb of Babur with the modem construction over it. 44. A portion of Shahjahan's mosque showing repairs near the tomb of Babur. Preface Bihar where the dominance of Brahmins was not fully established, saw the birth of a number of ascetic movements. These rejected the authority of the Vedas, but their metaphysical doctrines show an affinity with those of the Upanishads. One of the earliest and most successful of these new religion was Budhism. The Buddha ("the Enlightened) founder of Buddhism lived in the sixth century in eastern India, and was said to be of princely birth. According to legend, at the BC Buddha's birth it was prophesied that he would be either a great ascetic or a universal emperor. His father, wishing him to follow in his footsteps, raised him in circumtances of ease and luxury to prevent him from developing any unworldly tendencies. One day, however, as the son was driving about in his chariot, he saw a birth, a sick man, an old man, and a corpse. Filled with a sense of the sorrow inherent in life, he renounced his family and patrimony and stole away at night to discover the source of suffering. Enlightment came while he meditated under the tree, and the disciples he acquired through his preaching became the Buddhist monkhood. Thus begun the long career of Buddhism, now extinguished in the land of its birth but with millions of adherent in all the countries of the Far East. Buddhism propounds a middle way between the induldence of the senses and the severe self-mortification of the ascetic. Suffering is universal. Its root is desire through the healing knowledge obtained in meditation. By leading an exemplary and disinterested life, and by diligent meditation, release from the cycle of rebirth and death, the final extinction of Nirvana, can be won. Buddha stood opposed to the Vedic religion. What a man does is more important that what candition of life he is born into, in this they disturbed the pretensions of the Brahamin priest. Anyone could become a monk regardless of rank. But for the vast majority cast remained the organising principals of their social existence, and, whatever their higher loyalities, the Brahmin priest continued to serve their ritual needs, at birth, at marriage and at death. When Asoka acceded to the Mauryan throne in 208 the empire he inherited BC, comprised all but the extreme southern tip of the Indian diamond and some of the eastern seaboard. He completed it by the conquest of Kalinga (Orissa) on the eastern coast below the mouths ofthe Ganges. Asoka had an inclination towards Buddhism, and the deaths suffering caused life. Henceforth he renounced aggressive war and made his whole aim the welfare of his subjects in this world and hereafter. His officials were to inculcate the virtues of respect for elders and the teachers of all sects, of non-voilence and peacefulness. He sent envoys to the Hellenistic Kingdom to promote his views there. Such conquest by righteousness he held superior to conquest by arms. He himself undertook tours to further this teaching and to visit the holy places of Buddhism. Above all, he had his words inscribed on rocks and pillars throughout the land ruled by him. Though mostly in the dialect of Magadha, Asokan edicts in Greek and Aramic have been found in Kandahar (Afghanistan). By virtue of there inscriptions we possess a record of the simple and direct words of the great figures of world history. During Asoka's reign Buddhism prospered and spread to Afghanistan, China and Sri Lanka, where it flourished. The Maurayan Empire did not long servive the death ofAsoka, and in 187 Pushyamitra raised on its ruins the more modest Shunga BC Empire. Menander (Milinda) was one of the few Greeks to leave lasting impression on the Indian consciousness thanks, less to his considerable conquests that to his patronage of Buddhism. He figures in a dialogue with a Buddhist monk in the Question of Milinda, a piece of early Buddhist literature, and his legend has spread all over Buddhist Asia. The Greeks minted portrait coins of superb artistry which set a pattern emulated by succeeding king of India. One of the last benefites of their presence in the northwest was the development of the Gandhara school of sculpture, with its image