BUDDHISM IN AFGHANISTAN

MUSLIMS AND BUDDHISTS

RELATIONS

Salma Faiz Usmani

 Arrival of Buddhism in Afghanistan

• Eight weeks after Shakyamuni’s

enlightenment, in 537 BCE
• 2 merchant brothers from Bactria, became the
first disciples to receive layman’s vows.
• Mentioned in early Hinayana biographies of
the Buddha, such as the Sarvastivada text The
Sutra of Extensive Play ( Lalitavistara Sutra),
Tapassu and Bhallika.
 Arrival of Buddhism in Afghanistan

• The Mahasanghika tradition of Hinayana split

off from the Theravada.
• In 349 BCE, several years after the Second
Buddhist Council, Many Mahasanghikas
moved to Gandhara.
• At Hadda, the main city on the Afghan side,
near present-day Jalalabad, they eventually
founded Nagara Vihara Monastery, bringing
with them a skull relic of the Buddha.
• Mahasanghikas split into five sub-schools.
• Main one in Afganistan was Lokottaravada.
• It established itself in the Bamiyan Valley in
the Hindu Kush Mountains.
• Between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE, its
followers built the world’s largest standing
Buddha statue.
• The Taliban destroyed the colossus in 2001
CE.
 Alexandere

• In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great of

Macedonia conquered most of the Achaemenid
Empire, including Bactria and Gandhara.
• He was tolerant of the religious traditions of
these regions and seemed interested primarily
in military conquest. His successors
established the Seleucid Dynasty.
 Mauryan Dynasty for Buddhism in
Afghanistan

• In 317 BCE, however, the Indian Mauryan Dynasty took

Gandhara from the Seleucids
• Thus the area was only superficially Hellenized during this
short period.
• The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (ruled 273 – 232 BCE)
favored Theravada Buddhism.
• He sent a Theravadan mission to Gandhara, led by
Maharakkhita. As far south as Kandahar.
• Erected “Ashoka pillars” with edicts based on Buddhist
principles.
• Through these missions, Theravada established a minor
presence in Afghanistan.
 Graeco-Bactrians

• In 197 BCE, the Graeco-Bactrians conquered

Gandhara from the Mauryans.
• Subsequently, Sarvastivada came to the
southeastern part of Afghanistan as well.
• From the strong interaction between Greek and
Indian cultures that followed, Hellenistic styles
strongly influenced Buddhist art, particularly its
representation of the human form and the drape of
robes.
Kushan king Kanishka (ruled 78 – 102 CE),

• Northern Pakistan , Kashmir..

• He supported the Sarvastivada School of
Hinayana
• Nava Vihara (nobahar)
• The center of higher Buddhist study for all of
Central Asia
• One of the main centers of pilgrimage along
the Silk Route from China to India.
 Relation; Persian Sassanid Empire

• In 226 CE, the Persian Sassanid Empire

overthrew Kushan rule in Afghanistan.
• Although strong supporters of Zoroastrianism.
• Sassanids tolerated Buddhism
• Allowed the construction of more Buddhist
monasteries. It was during their rule that the
Lokottaravada followers erected the two
colossal Buddha statues at Bamiyan.
 The Western Turks 560
• Expanded into Bactria.
• Drove the Turki Shahis further east in Nagarahara.
• Many Western Turk leaders adopted Buddhism
from the local people.
• In 590, they built a new Buddhist monastery in
Kapisha.
• In 622, the Western Turk ruler Tongshihu Qaghan
formally adopted Buddhism under the guidance of
Prabhakaramitra, a visiting northern Indian monk.
• “Buddhism was flourishing
• Especially at Nava Vihara Monastery in Balkh.
• not only for its scholarship, but also for its
beautiful Buddha statues, draped with silk robes
and adorned with jewel ornaments, in
accordance with local Zoroastrian custom.
• A monastery near Nava Vihara dedicated to
advanced Hinayana meditation practice
of vipashyana (Pali: vipassana)”
- The Han Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang
(Hsüan-tsang)
 Turki Shahis (Mid 5th Century)

• Fled to Nagarahara.
• Conquered portions of it from the White Huns
and,
• By the mid-5th century, extended their rule to
the Kabul Valley and Kapisha.
• Turki Shahis supported Buddhism in
Afghanistan.
 The Umayyads 661

• An Umayyad Iranian author, al-Kermani, wrote

a detailed account of Nava Vihara at the
beginning of the 8th century
• Destroyed those who posed threat
• Imposed taxes
 Abbasids 750

• They maintained control over northern

Bactria.
• Continued the policy of granting dhimmi
status to the Buddhists there.
• They took great interest in foreign culture,
particularly that of India
• Buddhist scholars translated into Arabic a few
Mahayana and Hinayana sutras dealing with
devotional and ethical themes.
• 775 – 785
The Abbasid army destroyed the Buddhist
monasteries and Jain temples at Valabhi under
caliph al-Mahdi .
 Ghaznavid Rule 999:In
• Mahmud of Ghazni (ruled 998 – 1030)
• The Ghaznavid Empire now included Bactria
and southern Sogdia.
• Al-Biruni reported that, at the turn of the
millennium, the Buddhist monasteries in
Bactria, including Nava Vihara, were still
functioning
• Mahmud of Ghazni was intolerant.
• Looted and destructed the temples and
monastries on his way.
• Though he left the monastries ni Kabul and
Bactria alone.
 The Mongol Period: 1215
• Chinggis was tolerant of all religions, so long
as its leaders prayed for his long life and
military success
• The Bamiyan region remained predominantly
Buddhist up until the 9th century
• In 1221, Genghis Khan invaded the Bamiyan
Valley, wiping out the population, but leaving
the Buddhas undamaged.
 Destruction of Buddha Statues
• March 2001

• Reasons
Iconoclasm
Famine
Revenge
Efforts for restoration
Forced to blow up
Views of Natives
Present situation
 Conclusion

• Muslims were tolerent in general

• But that doesn’t mean acceptance
• Only took interest in the philosophy for magic
• Wrong perception led towards the destruction
• Long lasting negative image of Muslims
created