The Bamiyan Caves are vistased by the Great Buddhas of east and west
Just as Dunhuang played a role in the spread of Chinese culture to the West and the introduction of Western art and ideas to China, Bamiyan was the gateway for foreign cultures to enter India or Indian cultures to West and Central Asia. When it comes to the importation of Indian culture into West Asia, Central Asia and China, Bamiyan's role cannot be overemphasized. It was the starting point of Gandhara monks and merchants on the Silk Road to Central Asia and China, and the last stop in Central Asia, Chinese into the Indian subcontinent.
Interior view of the Bowl Tower Cave
The Bamiyan Caves are located in the city of Bamiyan in Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan, on the southern slope of Jagar Mountain, a branch of the Hindu Kush Mountains, about 120 kilometers from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and along the Bamiyan River valley at the foot of the caves from west to east, in order of southwest, main and southeast. They are all excavated according to the cliff wall, with the cave gate as the architectural appearance, counting the trifoliated, convex shape, parabolic shape, square and other shapes. The cave is generally extended by the cave gate as the main shrine of the statue, and a number of sub-caves and monks' houses are excavated around the inner wall, mostly in the shape of a bowl tower, and the inner wall has murals painted in different eras.
West Buddha V sub-cave algae well
The southeastern area of the grotto is located on the east bank of the Kakrak River Valley (a tributary of the Bamiyan River), so it is also known as the Kakrak Caves. This group of grottoes faces the ruins of the king city of Kagasa at the foot of the main area. There are more than 100 caves in existence, and in addition to a small number of murals, there are still remnants of a standing Buddha with a body of more than 10 meters high. The southwestern area of the grotto is located on both sides of the Fradi valley (a tributary of the Bamiyan River), so it is also known as the Fraterns Grottoes. There are more than 50 existing caves, and the statues are basically absent, but many of the murals are still well preserved, and some of the murals are painted from the late Guishuang to the Tang Dynasty. The main area of the grotto is divided into three sections along the mountain wall, east, central and west, within a range of 1300 meters, there are more than 700 caves, there are about 50 murals, and the famous East and West Buddhas are at both ends. The Eastern Buddha, clad in a blue robe, was carved in the 1st century and is 37 meters high; the Western Buddha, wearing a red robe, was carved in the 5th century and is 53 meters high. The Buddha's face and hands are painted gold. There are dark holes on both sides of the main niche where the two Buddha statues are located, and the caves are tens of meters high, which can be climbed up the stairs to the top of the Buddha, and more than 100 people can stand on the platform on it.
East Buddha
Master Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" Volume 1 "Fan Yan Na Guo" article contains "a stone statue of the Buddha in the northeast of Wangcheng Mountain, one hundred and forty or fifty feet high, golden and shining, and the treasure ornament is rotten." To the east is Garan, the place where the kings of this country were built. There is a statue of Shakya Buddha in garland, which is more than 100 feet high, and it is cast separately and is always established. "The stone statue of the Standing Buddha is this great Buddha.
Big Buddha in the East End
After its completion, the Bamiyan Caves were devastated, and there have been several large-scale destructions recorded in history. Most recently, on March 9, 2001, the Eastern and Western Giant Buddhas were powdered by the sound of explosives from the Afghan Taliban regime.
West End Big Buddha
From 1922 to 1950, a team of scholars organized archaeological teams to make outstanding investigations of the Bamiyan Caves and achieved a series of research results.
1. In 1922, the Gandhara expert A. Foucher (or Fu Xie) made his first field visit to the Bamiyan Grottoes and proposed: The "first king" of Master Xuanzang's "East has Garan, and the ancestors of this country were built", that is, the Gaya Sega, then the Bamiyan East and West Buddhas should be relics of the Kushan Era around the 3rd century AD.
2. In 1923, the architect A. Godard and his wife and archaeologist J. Hachin led an archaeological team on a second expedition to Bamiyan, taking a large number of photographs and making actual measurements and analysis of the important niches.
3. In 1930, the French archaeological team visited Bamiyan for the third time, using the method of using letters and numbers to number the grotto area, and drawing the actual survey map of each niche. After 1952, Germany, the United States, Italy, Britain, Japan and India also successively made expeditions to Afghanistan. Among the more important are the Renumbering of the Bamiyan Caves area by the Japanese archaeological team using a different numbering method than the French team;
Murals in the West Buddha Cave Area, and kyzyl murals in Xinjiang are influenced by this style
R. Gruse, an academician of the Académie de France, wrote in his book From Greece to China that the Greek influence carried by Alexander the Great's crusade merged with Indian Buddhist culture in Afghanistan to form the early Gandhara-style Buddhist art. Later, along the Silk Road, the Northern Transmission Route of Buddhism indirectly spread Greek influence to Northeast Asia, and merged into Han culture in the vast territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, so "one of the most fascinating moments in the adventures of mankind is likely to be the time when these three human civilizations came into contact with each other." What will be the result of this fusion? This is what made Greece discover India... India, along with its own Buddhism, transmitted certain elements of Greek culture to Chinese society..."
Fresco of the God mithra in the eastern part of the main cave Lady Gedal
This image of the god originated from the ancient Greco-Roman driving sun god Apollo, introduced to West Asia and Central Asia as the sun god Mithra, this image later appeared on the silk fabrics unearthed in Turpan and Dulan in China, but the image of the god Mithra became the image of the Foot Buddha. After the introduction of ancient Greco-Roman mythological figures to the East, they were mostly foiled by the main Buddha in Buddhist murals, such as the sun god Apollo and Heracles, which is also one of the ends of the Communication between China and the West.
The Japanese scholar Higuchi Takayasu said in the book "Bamiyan Grottoes": "If you look at the structure and frescoes of the Bamiyan Grottoes, you will find that many elements are mixed together, of course, the introduction of the Indian Gupta Dynasty style is not unreasonable, but also the influence of the Sassanid Dynasty, the Eastern Roman Byzantine art and the cultural elements of Tubo and Tocharian, these elements are seamlessly integrated into one is the entity of Bamiyan art." ”
This article is quoted from the "Lelang Gong Blog"
Reprinted from: 旃檀精舍
Zen Forest Network
Public Platform Statement
The above content does not reflect or represent the opinions and opinions of Zenlin, please check or choose by yourself when forwarding and quoting. All the audio and video graphics of this platform are respectively indicated to the source and author, if there is any defect, please contact the platform to add in time. The re-editor should indicate the source and author to respect the work of the work, otherwise it will be regarded as a copyright infringement and copyright infringement.