How the Bamiyan Buddha were destructed

Bamiyan Buddha is commonly referred to two idols which were located 130 kilometers away from Kabul in Afghanistan. In March 2001 when the rule of Taliban was at its peak these idols were destroyed by a blast. Let us read some more interesting facts about Bamiyan Buddha and how they were destroyed.

The height of the bigger idol was 58 meter whereas that of the smaller one is 37 meter. It is said that these idols were constructed by Kushans. These constructions happened between 5th and 6th century. Both the idols were made after cutting from the mountain itself. Made of Balua stone these idols are the largest idols for Buddha in his standing posture. In the first idol, Buddha is in Verokna pose whereas in the second one he is in Sakyamuni pose.

 

In 1999 Afghanistan was ruled by Taliban and their head was Mullah Mohammed Omar. Initially, he said that they will not destroy the idols because it is a source of income in the form of tourists. But soon after Muslim leaders started putting pressure in him | Indian government even said that they would bring the idols back to India at their own expense. But the Taliban rejected their offer.

On 2nd March 2001, they started destroying the idols. First rocket launchers were used to do the job but they failed. After that gaps were found in which dynamite was filled. Doing that took a full 3 days to accomplish. Later a cry of Allah- o- Akbar was issued and the blasts were initiated. This led to the almost complete destruction of the small idol. The bigger idol was only destroyed at the feet level. Every day the idols were subjected to such blasts and after 25 days these idols were completely destroyed.

Everybody was affected by the destruction of these idols. A professor of Munich University Irving Emerling is trying to construct the idols again. By now he has identified nearly 500 pieces. He is trying to construct the idols again without using any new stone. UNESCO is helping him in this effort.

In 2015 technology was used to create a laser image of the idols. But they were allowed to do so only for one day. Chinese couple Jheyang Shinyu and Liyang Hong were very upset with the breaking of these idols. With the help of 3D, these idols were recreated again.  They had to spend 74 lakh rupees on the whole event.  These holographic statues were recreated for exhibition on 7th June 2015.