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| Wednesday, 11 February 2004 |
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Avukana and the Bamiyan connection by Derrick Schokman
The famous Avukana Buddha statue near the Kalawewa was carved in high relief on natural rock about 1500 years ago. It became the archetype for all the standing Buddha monoliths in Sri Lanka. Compared to the sedent Theravada images which glorify the Buddha's Mahakaruna and Mahapragna nature (intense compassion and supreme wisdom), the colossal standing images could be a reflection of the hyper human nature of the Buddha, probably of the primordial Adi-Buddha from Mahayan texts. It is not known who created the Avukana statue or why it was so named. It could be that the sculptors of the Avukana image were influenced by the giant Buddha image found in the Bamiyan Valley, which was an early Buddhist centre between the 5th century BC and 5th century AD, located on the busy Silk Road between the two great empires of Rome and China, a meeting place for Buddhists travelling to and from China and north-west India. The king of the Bamiyan region was said to have been a prince of the Sakya clan, a close relative of the Buddha, who left Kapilavastu following its destruction by the neighbouring Kosala kingdom. Kanishka I About the first century AD the Kushana Emperor Kanishka I, who came from central Persia, succeeded to a vast empire extending from N. W. India to Afghanistan. This king adopted an eclectic view towards Indian religions, thereby giving an impetus to the growth of new sects which helped Mahayanism to crystallise in the North and Far East Asia. The giant Buddha statue in a rock niche in the Bamiyan Valley in the Arkan region (a part of present day Afghanistan) was constructed between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. It was the largest in the world standing 55 metres high. Since it was oriental practice to name Buddhist images by their places of origin, the Avukana Buddha could have been named after the Arkan model which influenced its creation. Comparison The Avukana image in comparison to the Bamiyan Buddha of Arkan is only about 12 metres tall, but it is a superb piece of sculpture which Andreas Nell, a Sri Lankan antiquarian considered to be the finest example in this country, and Sanmuganathan of the Archaeological Department went one better to consider it the best in Asia. The face is a perfection of benign power and the folds of the granite cut robes seem to move in the wind. If you want move statistics of the Avukana image, the head is 1.9 metres, the right hand held up/in blessing 1.5 m, the foot 2.0 m long and 2.4 m around the ankle, with the big toe more than 30 cm long. The estimated total weight of the image is 75-85 tons. The Bamiyan image was destroyed in 2001 by Taliban Muslim fundamentalists, on the grounds that human figures representing a god were contrary to the religion of Islam. Now that the Afghan war is over, one wonders whether there is any possibility of rebuilding the statue in its original form as an important world cultural object. **** Back **** |
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