THE METAMORPHOSIS AND, FINALLY, DESTRUCTION OF A MILLENNIA-OLD SYMBOL

Jamsheed (Antiquity from Afghanistan)

The partly destroyed Bamiyan "Buddha"

Another statuette of Yima Khshaeta

The inhabitants of Bamiyan have for ages and ages known that their large statue, overlooking the country from afar, was a likeness of the ancient great Airean King : Jamsheed (called Yima Khshaeta in the ancient Gathic language).

It was around the fourth or fifth centuries that Buddhist monks took over the site of Jamsheed's statue along the Silk Road, added several smaller statues of Buddha, and converted the huge statue of Jamsheed, standing at 58 meters, into a likeness of Buddha, by removing the top half of the head and hands, then remodelling them with a mud and straw mixture to create the re-shaped face and hands. Finally it as all painted over to camouflage the "restoration". This all is well known by age- old tradition to the inhabitants of the region, but still, the rest of the world seems decided to keep calling it a "Buddha", regardless of its true history. It was considered the world's largest stone statue and, since then, the tallest image of the Buddha. And nowadays, since the drastic destruction by the Taliban, it has been completely removed forever.