Gifts from Invaders

muqawwee123 · September 12, 2012, 9:49am

Re: Gifts from Invaders

Mahmood Ghaznavi was more interested in looting, thats why. Maybe there was nothing in Bamiyan for him, the budhas sustained hundreds of years until taleban came along.

Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Pashto: د بامیان بوتان - “de bámiyán botán” Persian: بت های باميان‎ – but hay-e bamiyan) were two 6th century[SUP][1]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)[/SUP] monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (140 mi) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft). Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE,[SUP][1]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)[/SUP] the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art.[SUP][2]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)

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The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.[SUP][3]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)

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The lower parts of the statues’ arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.

They were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar,[SUP][4]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)[/SUP] after the Taliban government declared that they were idols.[SUP][5]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)[/SUP]International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.[SUP][6]](Buddhas of Bamiyan - Wikipedia)[/SUP]

Again, after knowing all this many will not agree that Ghaznavi was just a looter and had nothing to do with Islam as promoted. Even our national poet Iqbal glamorised him in his poetry.