The Buddhas of Bamiyan () were two monumental Buddhist reliefs in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, carved possibly around the 6th-century. Located to the northwest of Kabul, at an elevation of , carbon dating of the structural components of the Buddhas has determined the smaller "Eastern Buddha" was built around 570 CE, and the larger "Western Buddha" was built around 618 CE, which would date both to the time when the Hephthalites ruled the region.Eastern Buddha: 549–579 CE (1 σ range, 68.2% probability) 544–595 CE (2 σ range, 95.4% probability). Western Buddha: 605–633 CE (1 σ range, 68.2%) 591–644 CE (2 σ range, 95.4% probability). In Blänsdorf et al. (2009).
In March 2001, both structures were destroyed by the Taliban following an order given on February 26, 2001, by Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, to destroy all the statues in Afghanistan "so no one can worship or respect them in the future". International and local opinion condemned the destruction of the Buddhas. Inscribed in 2003 as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Buddhas are recognized as an outstanding expression of Gandharan Buddhism. In the meantime, the Taliban conducted several days of massacre of the Hazaras − a regional ethnic minority − going door to door, killing men, women, and children. Homes, markets, trees, graveyards, and other cultural sites of Hazaras were all destroyed. Hazara community leaders later claimed that as many as 15,000 people were massacred by the Taliban.
The sculptures represented a later evolution of the classic blended style of Greco-Buddhist art at Gandhara. The larger structure was named "Salsal" ("the light shines through the universe") and was referred as a male. The smaller relief is called "Shah Mama" ("Queen Mother") and is considered as a female figure, but this cannot be said with certainty. The smaller statue predated the larger one. Technically, both were reliefs: at the rear, they each merged into the cliff wall. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, the majority of which wore 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 colours. The lower parts of the sculptures' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix, supported on wooden armatures. Current research indicates the upper parts of their faces consisted of huge wooden masks.
Since the 2nd century CE, Bamiyan had been a Buddhist religious site on the Silk Road under the Kushans, remaining so until the Islamic conquests of 770 CE, and finally coming under the Turkic Ghaznavid rule in 977 CE. In 1221, Genghis Khan during the Siege of Bamyan invaded the Bamiyan Valley, wiping out most of its population but leaving the Bamiyan Buddhas undamaged. Later in the 17th century, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb briefly ordered the use of artillery to destroy the carvings, causing some damage, though the Buddhas survived without any major harm.
The Buddhas were surrounded by numerous caves, the walls of which were decorated with paintings made during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. Archeological evidence suggests the cave painting ended after the Muslim conquests of Afghanistan. The smaller works of art are considered to be an artistic synthesis of Buddhist art and Gupta art from ancient India, with influences from the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, as well as the Tokhara Yabghus.
History
Commissioning
Bamiyan lies on the Silk Road, which runs through the Hindu Kush mountain region in the Bamiyan Valley. The Silk Road has been historically a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of the Western world. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and art. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamyan cliffs. Most of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes, sharing the culture of Gandhara.
The Great Buddhas of Bamiyan were carved around 600 CE during the Hephthalites' rule as principalities in the areas of Tokharistan and northern Afghanistan. The Hephthalites did not always follow the Buddhist faith. For instance, during the time of Song Yun, who visited the chief of the Hephthalite nomads at his summer residence in Badakhshan and later in Gandhara, said they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities." Bamiyan had been a Buddhist religious site since the 2nd century CE under the Kushans, and remained so up to the time of the Muslim conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate under Al-Mahdi in 770 CE. It became Buddhist again from 870 CE until the final Islamic conquest of 977 CE under the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty. Murals in the adjoining caves have been carbon dated from 438 to 980 CE, suggesting Buddhist artistic activity continued down to the final occupation by the Muslims.
The two most prominent art works were the giant standing sculptures of the Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni (Gautama Buddha), identified by the different mudras performed. The Buddha popularly called "Salsal" measured 55 meters tall, and "Shah Mama" 38 meters. The niches in which the figures stood are 58 and 38 meters respectively from bottom to top. Before being blown up in 2001, they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller, but is sitting).
Following the destruction of the statues in 2001, carbon dating of organic internal structural components found in the rubble has determined the two Buddhas were built , with narrow dates of between 544 and 595 CE for the 38-meter Eastern Buddha, and between 591 and 644 CE for the larger Western Buddha. Recent scholarship has also been giving broadly similar dates based on stylistic and historical analysis, although the similarities with the Art of Gandhara had generally encouraged an earlier dating in older literature.
Historic documentation refers to celebrations held every year attracting numerous pilgrims, with offers being made to the monumental statues. They were perhaps the most famous cultural landmarks of the region, and the site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley. Their colour faded through time.
Pre-modern era Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited the site on 30 April 630, and described Bamyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center "with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks". He also noted both Buddha figures were "decorated with gold and fine jewels" (Wriggins, 1995). Intriguingly, Xuanzang mentions a third, even larger, reclining statue of the Buddha. A monumental seated Buddha, similar in style to those at Bamyan, still exists in the Bingling Temple caves in China's Gansu province.
Mural paintings The Buddhas are surrounded by numerous caves and surfaces decorated with paintings. It is thought that the period of florescence was from the 6th to 8th century CE, until the onset of Islamic invasions. These works of art are considered as an artistic synthesis of Buddhist art and Gupta art from India, with influences from the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, as well as the country of Tokharistan. The later paintings are attributable to the "Turk period" (7th–9th century CE).
Eastern Buddha (built )
Most of the surfaces in the niche housing the Buddha must have been decorated with colourful murals, surrounding the Buddha with many paintings, but only fragments were remaining in modern times. For the 38 meter Eastern Buddha, built between 544 and 595 CE, the main remaining murals were the ones on the ceiling, right above the head of the Buddha. Recent dating based on stylistic and historical analysis confirms dates for these murals which follow the carbon-rated dates for the construction of the Buddhas themselves: the murals of the Eastern Buddha have been dated to the 6th to 8th century CE by Klimburg-Salter (1989), and post 635/645 CE by Tanabe (2004). As late as 2002, Marylin Martin Rhie argued a 3rd–4th century date for the Eastern Buddha, based on artistic criteria.
Sun God Among the most famous paintings of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the ceiling of the smaller Eastern Buddha represents a solar deity on a chariot pulled by horses, as well as ceremonial scenes with royal figures and devotees. The god is wearing a caftan in the style of Tokhara, boots, and is holding a lance. His representation is derived from the iconography of the Iranian god Mithra, as revered in Sogdia. He is riding a two-wheeled golden chariot, pulled by four horses. Two winged attendants are standing to the side of the chariot, wearing a Corinthian helmet with a feather, and holding a shield. In the top portion are wind gods, flying with a scarf held in both hands. This composition is unique, and distinct from Gandhara or India, but there are some similarities with the paintings of Kizil and Dunhuang.
The central image of the Sun God on his golden chariot is framed by two lateral rows of individuals: kings and dignitaries mingling with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. One of the personages, standing behind a monk in profile, is likely the King of Bamyan. He wears a crenulated crown with single crescent and korymbos, a round-neck tunic and a Sasanian headband.
Hephthalite donors The Bamiyan Buddhas were built at the time of the Hephthalites. Several of the figures have the characteristic appearance of the Hephthalites of Tokharistan, with belted jackets with a unique lapel of their tunic being folded on the right side, the cropped hair, the hair accessories, their distinctive physiognomy and their round beardless faces."A striking parallel to the Balalyk tepe murals is offered by files of donors represented on the right and left walls of the vault of the 34 m Buddha at Bamiyan. (...) The remarkable overall stylistic and iconographic resemblance between the two sets of paintings would argue for their association with the artistic tradition of the Hephthalite ruling classes of Tukharestan that survived the downfall of Hephthalite power in A.D. 577" in These figures must represent the donors and potentates who supported the building of the monumental giant Buddha. The individuals in this painting are very similar to the individuals depicted in Balalyk Tepe, and they may be related to the Hepthalites."Seizing large areas, the Hephthalites met with various kinds of art and of course, to some extent, acted as intermediary in the transfer of artistic traditions of one nation to another. It is here, in the opinion of Albaum, that the similarity of some of the figures in paintings from Balalyk-tepe and those from Bamiyan must be sought, which then was part of the Hephthalite state. Such similarities are exemplified by the right side triangular lapel, hair accessories and some ornamental motifs." in They participate "to the artistic tradition of the Hephthalite ruling classes of Tukharestan". These murals disappeared with the destructions of 2001.
Western Buddha (built ) A few murals also remained around the taller 55 meter Western Buddha on the ceiling and on the sides. Many are more conventionally Buddhist in character. Some of the later mural paintings show male devotees in double-lapel caftans.
Adjoining caves Later mural paintings of Bamiyan, dated to the 7th–8th centuries CE, display a variety of male devotees in double-lapel caftans. The works of art show a sophistication and cosmopolitanism comparable to other works of art of the Silk Road, such as those of Kizil, are attributable to the sponsorship of the Western Turks (Yabghus of Tokharistan). The nearby Kakrak caves also have some works of art.