Buddha in Ruins
There was an interesting article about the remains of the Bamiyan Buddhas in the New York Times website today. I guess some people want to put the Buddhas back together again. And then there are some archaeologists who are taking advantage of the fact that since the Buddhas are now rubble they can glean more information from them. For instance, did you know the small Buddha was constructed in 507AD and the larger (180 feet high) one in 554AD?
There was also mention of this:
“The most exciting find, he added, was a reliquary containing three clay beads, a leaf, clay seals and parts of a Buddhist text written on bark. The reliquary is thought to have been placed on the chest of the larger Buddha and plastered over at the time of construction.”
This sort of reminded me of buildabear. A few months ago we were in a buildabear shop and were told about how each bear has a little something extra stuffed into it, like a heart or an angel pendant or something. Kind of makes you wonder if the people who make buildabear profitted from the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. If so, I think that is deplorable and hope UNESCO does all it can to rectify the situation.