Table of contents:
1- Location and history
Gargah Buddha is an important historical archaeological site that traces the ancient history of Gilgit-Baltistan and is believed by experts to have been carved out of a high rock in the 7th century. This historic rock-cut Buddha statue is not only of interest to foreign tourists, but Buddhists around the world are devoted to it and Buddhists and tourists visit Gilgit-Baltistan every year.
In 2019, a 17-member delegation of Buddhist followers from Korea visited Gilgit-Baltistan and visited the Buddha statue and performed religious rituals. The story is just a giant story.
But the local people of Gilgit-Baltistan still have little knowledge about this historical statue of Buddha. It seems they have forgotten the past.
After the fifteenth century, when Islam came to this region, the inhabitants of this place accepted Islam and with the passage of time, the ways and beliefs of the people changed. went .
So even today, the local people mention hearing a supernatural story about this Buddha/Pishini from their father Wajdad, which was described by British political agent John Biddulph based in Gilgit in his book Tribes of Hindookoosh.
2-Carving excavation and legends
"In ancient times, when the giants lived here, there was a demon that hunted humans and lived in a ravine from which it would seize and swallow passers-by, and this demon was in the habit of being its only victim. It used to swallow half of it and leave half of it, but when it hunted two people, it would swallow one of them alive and leave the other alive. had spread.
But one day an old man entered this valley, he found the people in a state of fear and when he heard about this demon, he decided that he would imprison this demon and free the people from its evil.
So when the elder reached the abode of the demon, the demon began to hunt the elder and the elder with his spiritual power imprisoned the demon in a rock and turned it into a phatr.
After that, the people of the whole country began to live in China due to the virtues of the elder, but one day the elder expressed his desire to go back from this country and told the people that he had imprisoned the demon by suffocating him, but from him forever. In order to be imprisoned there, it is mandatory that when he (the elder) dies, his body should be buried right under this rock.
The sage insisted that whenever he died anywhere, his body must be brought here and buried under the rock where he had imprisoned the demon. The people of the city evaluated this problem from a practical point of view and they unanimously said that they do not know where the elderly will die in a remote area and why should they take the risk of finding his dead body? If they fail to find the elder, then the demon will be released again. So, after consideration, they were not ready to take this risk and before leaving the country, they caught the old man and cut off his head. After killing the old man mercilessly, his body was buried under the rock where the old man had imprisoned the demon.
According to Badolf, the tomb of this unfortunate saint is under the same rock, the Gargah Buddha, where he insisted on burying himself. But the surprising thing is that there is no longer any tomb under the Kargah Buddha statue.
Regarding the legend attached to the statue of Buddha, we have no evidence as to whether the unfortunate sage was really Dayel Khamitu or who he was. Due to the fear of a demon, he was brutally killed, but there are different traditions related to this story in Gilgit-Baltistan.
For example, in Punyal Valley, this story is famous that a person had nailed a nail in the hearing of Gargah Buddha / Yeshaini and imprisoned this demon in the same rock so that people would be
protected from its evil.
A review of the background of this story reveals that in ancient times the road from Gilgit to Ghazur district passed through the mountains which was a very difficult road through which people traveled on foot or on horses and donkeys. were At night, when it got dark, the travelers traveling on foot on this hill were threatened because there was no concept of electricity or kerosene lanterns in those days, so it was dangerous to travel alone at night. Apart from the fear of falling down the difficult mountain path, the fear of the ghost witch is still a part of the psyche of the people here, and the majority of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan still believe that since ancient times, the ghost often appears in the middle of the night. Desolation haunts humans in places, so this overall social fear also led to the Buddha statue being portrayed as a demon so that people could easily accept it.
And this story is recorded in an official signboard installed under the cover of the Gargah Buddha statue with a slight modification.
When I went to Gargah Budha last few days and asked a local guide about the tomb of this saint that the tomb of the saint mentioned in this signboard is not visible, where did he go? In response, the local guide pointed to a barren valley far west of the Buddha statue and said that there used to be a tomb of this saint, but the tomb was destroyed by landslides many years ago and now there is nothing there. The guide also repeated the same legendary story recorded in the installation signboard at Gargah Budha. In fact, a fictional story in the name of a brief history of the Buddha statue is recorded in this signboard, in which other facts except the name of the Buddha are not correct, perhaps due to lack of research.
So this article mentions the historical information about the Buddha statue so that the public can know the hidden facts behind this myth.
Prof. Oscar von Hanber in his research paper titled “Sudharampavasar Kasatra, Letters, Devotees, and Artists in Gilgit” writes “The only surviving library of ancient India was the Gilgit Library which coincidentally was founded in 1931 at a site at Nipura near Gilgit. Discovered and this ancient building is often mistaken for a stupa.
The building was actually a small tower and a living space for the monks. It was probably a two-storied building where monks served as religious advisors. They probably practiced Buddhist rituals and certainly served as healers for the local people, where numerous manuscripts and Buddhist objects were buried. I got two medical prescriptions. Buddhist manuscripts cover the sites where the Gilgit Library was discovered, which is now the site of a Muslim cemetery.
According to Oscar Van Hanber, in 1929, when the local people were digging in Gilgit Nipura for firewood, they found a very unique treasure inside the ground, which was an ancient library, where a large number of books were found, but they were not discovered. A large part of them was lost soon after it happened. The local people who acquired these books could not recognize the value of these rare books. Therefore, they used these books written on the tower leaves to build the roofs of their houses and used a large part as fuel, but fortunately, a significant number of ancient books survived in a broken state. were
In which are written the names of the nobles and kings who donated to build Buddha statues on the mountain rocks.
University of Freiburg Professor Oskar von Hanber titled his research paper
The Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra at Gilgit
Manuscripts, Worshippers, and Artists
I write that these 6th century AD rock art images and impressions found in Gilgit-Baltistan were not of interest to the local people because they did not have an idea of their usefulness and they did not understand these impressions. They were considered only fairies and ghosts and for a long time no one touched them out of fear. In this way, these pictures were saved from being damaged and destroyed, however, in the last few years, these rare images in some areas of Gilgit-Baltistan have been severely damaged by color painting.
According to German anthropologist Carl Zetmar, the carvings of Buddha statues on bronze/brass show that “the generosity and religious fervor of the Bilor Shahi led to the creation of inscriptions and other stupas in the region and A donation was made for their preparation.
3- Division into small kingdoms
According to Oskar von Hanber, after the Sino-Tibet war in the valleys of Gilgit, many Buddha statues were taken to Tibet by the Tibetans, which are coming back to the world after a millennium. This war fought between China and Tibet in the valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan is mentioned in detail by Susan Whitfield in her book Life Along the Silk Road. According to him, "In this war fought between China and Tibet in the valleys of Gilgit in 745 AD, 9,000 thousand Tibetan and 10,000 (ten thousand) soldiers of China fought a bloody war in which Tibet was defeated."
Due to this bloody war between Tibet and China, the Bilor kingdom was broken and the region was
divided into small kingdoms.
In the book Bilor and Dardastan, Karl Jetmar writes that during the 4th century AD, a large number of Buddhist monasteries and stupas were built in Gilgit-Baltistan and gradually Gilgit became an important seat of Buddhism. At that time, the Bilor Shahi rulers of Gilgit-Baltistan were followers of Buddhism and the people were also followers of Buddhism. During this period, Gilgit became an important center of Buddhism and Buddhist monks. Manthal village near Skardu is also famous for its Buddhist carvings, including the Gargah Buddha statue at Gilgit Nippura, Hanzal's Stupa, the ancient Buddhist library of Gilgit, and is one of the popular tourist spots where twenty disciples around There is a huge statue of Buddha. The inscription is believed to have been carved around the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Thus, there are indelible traces and remnants of Buddhism in other areas of Gilgit-Baltistan which confirm the argument that the people here were followers of Buddhism in ancient times. The kings, princesses and nobles of the royal family had made Buddha carvings on stones by donating and had also produced bronze statues of Buddha, which are regularly mentioned in the books found in the ancient Gilgit library.
4-Gilgit Manuscripts:
The manuscripts found at Nipura are called Gilgit Manuscripts, and the names of the rulers of Bilor Shahi period are also mentioned in them. In which Srideva Shahi Surendra Vikarma Dita Nanda and his wife Sami Devi, Triloka Devi Bhattireka and Balur Shahi Vijayara Daitya Nandi are mentioned and the names and pictures of 16 other people who donated to build Buddha statues are mentioned. was
But the local people have no knowledge about the ancient history of Gilgit-Baltistan because during the colonial period the people here were deprived of the wealth of knowledge so that they could be ruled easily.
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| A Buddha Rocks skardu Gilgit Baltistan view |
5-Books written about Kargah Buddha
Thus, the ancient history of Gilgit-Baltistan has been lost in the darkness of long slavery, so the majority of the local people do not even know that in the year 1931, a herdsman buried the Buddha in a circular chamber in a wooden box inside a Buddha Stupa in Gilgit Nippura. Ancient books known as Gilgit Manuscripts were discovered. which are the earliest surviving books of the Buddhist period. These books were kept in the frozen basement of the building and were written on the bark of the Bhoj (birch) tree. Hence it lived for centuries. Among these rare books is the important Buddhist book "Lotus Sutra" which is among the books found in the ancient Gilgit Library which is preserved in the National Archives of India, Delhi.
Known as the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra – or the teachings of the white lotus and sun – the sutra is the basis of the Tiantai and Nichiren schools of Buddhism.
While a part of the manuscripts found in Gilgit were in Srinagar, a part of which was destroyed by a flood a few decades ago, while most of the manuscripts are preserved in the University of Barclay.
These oldest manuscripts are named after Gilgit, where they were discovered. These manuscripts provide information about the kings of the Balur Shahi era and their religious practices. According to Dr. Oscar von Hanber, the name of this state is recorded in Arab and Muslim history as Pullula Shahi/Bulur Sultanate.
In the year 1938, the government of the state of Kashmir excavated the place where these books were found in Nipura Gilgit, from where the remaining volumes of the books were found. Beautifully painted pictures are also included in these books.
According to Harold Hopman, more than 50,000 rock carvings and 6,000 inscriptions have been recorded in Gilgit-Baltistan and the number may increase with further exploration.
According to UNESCO, the Gilgit Manuscripts are among the oldest surviving manuscripts. These manuscripts are the only references (corpus) of Buddhist manuscripts in the subcontinent. The Gilgit Manuscripts refer to three Buddhist sects (conferences between religious leaders).
According to Muzaffaruddin Advocate, a senior lawyer from Napura, this statue of Buddha is not located in the Gargah, but in the boundaries of Napura, where apart from this Buddha statue, there are still many traces of the Buddhist era, which have been mentioned above. Is .
According to Muzaffaruddin, according to a tradition, there was another statue of Buddha on another rock of Nipura, which was destroyed by gunpowder explosion many years ago while constructing a
water kohl for Mouz Basin. A stupa still exists today.
6-Buddhist culture and civilization:
Therefore, it will not be wrong to say about this historical statue of Buddha that it is not a demon, but it is a historical statue of Buddha that was made during the period of Bilur State when Buddhist culture and civilization was at its peak here, but Gilgit. Like the last Buddhist ruler of Baltistan, Sri Badat, the purpose of portraying the Buddha statue as a demon and a man-eater was to instill hatred in the people against the old social system in order to break the people's connection with the past and endorse the new social system. And pave the way for acceptance;;
Therefore, it is correct to say that this statue of Gargah Buddha located in Gilgit is not only a manifestation of the ancient history of our region and a masterpiece of architecture, but also an invaluable symbol of the ancient history of Gilgit-Baltistan and a symbol of peace and love.Also read click here..
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