Month: October 2021
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Taliban now guard site of Bamiyan Buddhas they destroyed
Taliban gunmen now stand guard at the gaping rock cavities that once housed two ancient statues of the Buddha – desecrated with dynamite by the Islamists during their last stint in power. The monuments in Bamiyan province had stood for 1,500 years but their destruction was ordered in 2001 by that regime – already infamous […]
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Should a deity have two arms or more?
The earliest Hindu iconography showing a four-armed Vishnu has been found in Malhar in Madhya Pradesh, dating to 100 BCE In Kushan coins, minted over 1,800 years ago, we come across images of a woman holding the horn of plenty. She is identified with the Roman Goddess Fortuna, the Greek goddess Tyche, the Central Asian […]
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Afghanistan: Years after dynamiting Buddha statues, Taliban vow to preserve empty niches in Bamiyan
A Taliban member said the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed in 2001 because of religious ideology. Two monumental statues of Buddha were created on either ends of a cliff side in Bamiyan during the sixth century The Bamiyan Buddhas were once the tallest standing Buddhas in the world Approximately 780 historical monuments can be found in […]