Destruction of Art in Afghanistan

Destruction of Art in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is uniquely situated as a throughway of cultures throughout its history due to it geographic placement in South Asia. Afghanistan's location lends porous borders to trade routes between the East and West, while the Silk Road providing a vector for Buddhism and Hellenistic culture and even Egyptian influences from the west, renders an amalgamation of culture and art. Perpetual invasion and conflict has rendered a cyclic continuum of renaissance and destruction of art and culture in Afghanistan.

Even when not directly damaged due to State polices, art suffered during the decades of conflict as people struggled for survival, being forced to pack their belongings and move again, again and again. Art, a luxury, became one of the first causalities of war.

— Tradition of Suppression [1]

Contents

The History of Art in Afghanistan

Much of Afghanistan’s art can be traced back through the invasions, occupations and dynasties that so frequently have ravaged the country. Afghanistan has been a crossroads of cultures that make up the colorfully robust and dynamic foundation of Afghan art. These civilizations include, but are not limited to the empires and kingdoms that comprise Afghanistan’s political origins as a modern state. The more renown, larger regional empires include the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, the Islamic Empire and the Sassanid Empire. Like the empires, Afghanistan’s transient and nomadic kingdoms and dyasties that rose to power (see Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Hephthalites, Kabul Shahis, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Mughals, Hotaki dynasty and Durrani dynasty), helped shape the development of Afghan art as well as it's preservation and destruction.

Soviet Invasion/Occupation

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and exacted a stanch interpretation of art that stifled creativity in the 1980s during the Soviet backed regime in Afghanistan from 1979-1989.[2] [3]

Taliban Insurgence/Occupation

Upon the resurgence of Taliban rule from 1996-2001 the ban on most forms of art and cultural expression was immediately implemented.[4] Among the initial acts of removal were dragging paintings out of homes, book burnings containing art work, public execution to TV sets and the discontinuation of music.[5] In 1996, at the very beginning of the Taliban's rise to power, the entire card catalog archiving the art at the Afghan National Museum was burned in order to keep the rebels warm.(4) The systematic destruction of museums and their collections, to include film archives were purged to cleanse them of the "unIslamic" depiction of the living and human form.[6] [7] In addition to the bans on tangible and visual art mediums, social and cultural expressions such as kite flying and owning pet birds were similarly forbidden.[8] For women, an edict was issued banning make-up and high heels in the Afghan capital where the Department of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was installed to ensure strict compliance.[9] The Ministry administrators regularly beat women who disobeyed these dress-code laws. Even today, 10 years after the end of the Taliban's official regime ended, beauty parlors in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, do their best to hide go unnoticed by Taliban sympathizers.[10]

The Giant Buddha's of Bamiyan

The obliteration of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan also known as the "Bamiyan Massacre" is arguably the most devastating act by the Taliban against the history of Afghanistan.[11] In March 2001, supreme Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar issued an edict against un-Islamic graven images, including but not limited to, all idolatrous images of humans and animals. The well-coordinated and media sensationalized dynamiting of the giant Buddhas was the Taliban's outwardly dramatic expression of their quest to exterminate all "idolatrous" and unIslamic images from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past.[12]

Dated to the 7th Century B.C., the Colossi were cut at what is conceived to be an immeasurable cost into the towering, sandstone cliffs surrounding Bamiyan, located at the center of a long valley, separating the mountain ranges of Hindu Kush and Koh-i-Baba. The taller of the two statues (approximately 53 meters/175 feet) is thought to represent Vairocana while the shorter one (approximately 36 meters/120 feet) most likely represents Buddha Sakyamuni, although the local Hazara people believe it embodies a woman. In the height of their existence, the two colossi rendered a truly awesome sight being visible for miles with giant copper plated accents and brightly painted garments. The buddha's were seen as transcendental images and key symbols in the rise of Mahayana Buddhist teachings, the antithesis of Taliban belief construct and rule of law.[13]

In 1998, a Taliban commander fired grenades at the smaller statue, knocking off its upper half. The Taliban bombed the mountain above the statues frequently, cracking the niches that held the statues and damaging the colossi further. By winter 2001, pleas were raining down on the Taliban from around the world to spare the statues.[14]

On Feb. 26, 2001, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, declared, “these idols have been gods of the infidels” and ordered them destroyed.[15]

Explosives, tanks, and anti-aircraft weapons blew apart two colossal images of the Buddha in Bamiyan Province, 230 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital of Kabul.[16]

In Their Own Words

Mulla Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban Islamic militia in Afghanistan, dismissed the international pleas of the art and historical preservation world community with regard to saving the world renown Buddha's from imminent destruction. Despite international condemnation, Mulla Omar ordered the ancient Buddha's to be destroyed per the judgement of the clergymen and the ruling of the supreme court of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban).(3)

"Based on the verdict of the clergymen and the decision of the supreme court of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed." "According to Islam, I don't worry about anything. My job is the implementation of Islamic order. The breaking of statues is an Islamic order and I have given this decision in the light of a fatwa of the ulema (clerics) and the supreme court of Afghanistan. Islamic law is the only law acceptable to me." "Only Allah, the Almighty, deserves to be worshipped, not anyone or anything else."

— Mulla Mohammad Omar(3)

See also

References

  1. ^ Beyond the Frame - Aunohita Mojumdar - Published 14/19/2008, THE HINDU
  2. ^ Beyond the Frame - Aunohita Mojumdar - Published 14/19/2008, THE HINDU
  3. ^ Saving Afghanistan's Art - By Lauren Comiteau/Amsterdam Tuesday, Jan. 08, 2008 http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1701306,00.html#ixzz1bBI2kaUQ
  4. ^ Beyond the Frame - Aunohita Mojumdar - Published 14/19/2008, THE HINDU
  5. ^ Bibhu Prasad Routray: Why ban just the bra in Somalia? Ban everything. Ban food. Ban life. - Bibhu Pras - Friday, July 29, 2011, Al Arabiya News http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2011/07/29/159848.html
  6. ^ Beyond the Frame - Aunohita Mojumdar - Published 14/19/2008, THE HINDU
  7. ^ Bibhu Prasad Routray: Why ban just the bra in Somalia? Ban everything. Ban food. Ban life. - Bibhu Pras - Friday, July 29, 2011, Al Arabiya News http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2011/07/29/159848.html
  8. ^ Bibhu Prasad Routray: Why ban just the bra in Somalia? Ban everything. Ban food. Ban life. - Bibhu Pras - Friday, July 29, 2011, Al Arabiya News http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2011/07/29/159848.html
  9. ^ Bibhu Prasad Routray: Why ban just the bra in Somalia? Ban everything. Ban food. Ban life. - Bibhu Pras - Friday, July 29, 2011, Al Arabiya News http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2011/07/29/159848.html
  10. ^ Bibhu Prasad Routray: Why ban just the bra in Somalia? Ban everything. Ban food. Ban life. - Bibhu Pras - Friday, July 29, 2011, Al Arabiya News http://www.alarabiya.net/views/2011/07/29/159848.html
  11. ^ Why the Taliban are destroying Buddhas - By W.L. Rathje, Discover Archaeology Magazine, USATODAY.com, 03/22/2001 http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/archaeology/2001-03-22-afghan-buddhas.htm
  12. ^ Saving Afghanistan's Art - By Lauren Comiteau/Amsterdam Tuesday, Jan. 08, 2008 http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1701306,00.html#ixzz1bBI2kaUQ
  13. ^ The Buddha Statues of Bamiyan, Afghanistan - In 2001, The Taliban Demolished 1,500 Years of History and Art, By Pierre Tristam, About.com Guide http://middleeast.about.com/od/afghanista1/a/me080910.htm
  14. ^ The Buddha Statues of Bamiyan, Afghanistan - In 2001, The Taliban Demolished 1,500 Years of History and Art, By Pierre Tristam, About.com Guide http://middleeast.about.com/od/afghanista1/a/me080910.htm
  15. ^ The Buddha Statues of Bamiyan, Afghanistan - In 2001, The Taliban Demolished 1,500 Years of History and Art, By Pierre Tristam, About.com Guide http://middleeast.about.com/od/afghanista1/a/me080910.htm
  16. ^ Why the Taliban are destroying Buddhas - By W.L. Rathje, Discover Archaeology Magazine, USATODAY.com, 03/22/2001 http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/archaeology/2001-03-22-afghan-buddhas.htm

Bibliography


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