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Title
The Buddhas of Bamiyan / Llewelyn Morgan.
Author
Morgan, Llewelyn, author.
ISBN
9780674065383
Published
Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (206 p.) : 24 halftones, 1 map
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674065383 doi
Summary
For 1,400 years, two colossal figures of the Buddha overlooked the fertile Bamiyan Valley on the Silk Road in Afghanistan. Witness to a melting pot of passing monks, merchants, and armies, the Buddhas embodied the intersection of East and West, and their destruction by the Taliban in 2001 provoked international outrage. Llewelyn Morgan excavates the layers of meaning these vanished wonders hold for a fractured Afghanistan. Carved in the sixth and seventh centuries, the Buddhas represented a confluence of religious and artistic traditions from India, China, Central Asia, and Iran, and even an echo of Greek influence brought by Alexander the Great's armies. By the time Genghis Khan destroyed the town of Bamiyan six centuries later, Islam had replaced Buddhism as the local religion, and the Buddhas were celebrated as wonders of the Islamic world. Not until the nineteenth century did these figures come to the attention of Westerners. That is also the historical moment when the ground was laid for many of Afghanistan's current problems, including the rise of the Taliban and the oppression of the Hazara people of Bamiyan. In a strange twist, the Hazaras-descendants of the conquering Mongol hordes who stormed Bamiyan in the thirteenth century-had come to venerate the Buddhas that once dominated their valley as symbols of their very different religious identity.Incorporating the voices of the holy men, adventurers, and hostages throughout history who set eyes on the Bamiyan Buddhas, Morgan tells the history of this region of paradox and heartache.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series
Wonders of the world : 20
Linked Resources
Online Access
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Online Resources > Ebooks
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All Resources
Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Foreword
1 Dynamite and Celebrity
2 Reimagining Bamiyan
3 Islam Contempl ates the Buddhas
4 On the Trail of Alexander
5 Bamiyan, It s Future and It s Past
Further Reading
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Index
Backmatter
Contents
Foreword
1 Dynamite and Celebrity
2 Reimagining Bamiyan
3 Islam Contempl ates the Buddhas
4 On the Trail of Alexander
5 Bamiyan, It s Future and It s Past
Further Reading
Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Index
Backmatter