Afghanistan: How Italian researchers reconstructed 1800-year-old Buddhist Ghazni

The visit of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has brought India and Italy closer politically and commercially. Italian archeologists and scholars have been at the forefront of researching and documenting India’s ancient civilization for decades. After Kabul fell once again to the Taliban in 2021, the Italian Archeological Mission to Afghanistan has not stopped its work documenting and popularising Afghanistan’s glorious history. The Italian archeological mission, which has operated in Afghanistan since 1956 now does not physically operate in the country given security challenges. The last time the Taliban captured Afghanistan they destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas, two enormous 6th century Buddha statues on Mullah Omar’s orders in 2001. Now the archeological mission is using technology to popularise its research and findings, especially given the danger that the Taliban regime poses to the cultural heritage of the country, Islamic and Buddhist. It uses 2D and 3D to reconstruct sites and ruins using Youtube to spread awareness and conserve ancient history. Prior to the advent of Islam, Afghanistan was a Buddhist country with many cities such as Ghazni, on the silk route. An animation recently published by the Italian Archeological Mission, as a part of the Ghazni project, brings to life the history of the architectural remains of an important Buddhist site set high on a hill overlooking the city of Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan. The 1,800-year-old monastery complex has been excavated by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan since the 60’s. It opens a window into the ancient Buddhist art of Afghanistan, its embedded meanings, and its impact on the society of those times. The animation, in Dari with English subtitles, takes one back to the Kushan Empire (first to third century CE) which ruled over a considerable part of central Asia including modern day Pakistan and Northern India. The empire reached its zenith under the rule of Kanishka the great (127-150 AD). Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism and given the trade routes that crossed through his empire he was key to the spread of Buddhism to China and other Asian countries. This animation takes you back to Kanishka’s times and shows you a glimpse of Buddhism at that point in history. Tapa Sardar is a Buddhist archeological ruin, outside of Ghazni dominating the Dasht i-Manara plains. This second or third century vihāra was excavated by the Italian mission in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Among the thousands of fragments found, there are fragments of a pot with an inscription “Kanika Mahārāja Vihāra” or the monastery of the Great King Kanishka. The Italian archeological missions work has helped piece together what life was like in pre-Islamic Afghanistan. The Vihāra, where devotional practice included pradakshinā, the path for which was marked on the ground with a special floral mosaic. The stupa dominated the landscape across the silk route which passed through Ghazni and the Vihāra survived the fall of the Kushan empire, patronised by Ghazni’s aristocracy making it the centre of Ghazni’s social, religious and political life. Evidence reinforced the hypothesis that the sacred area of Tapa Sardar may well correspond to the Šāh Bahār (The temple of the King) that, according to the Kitāb al-buldān, was destroyed in 795 AD by the invading Muslim army. After being destroyed by a fire during the first Muslim incursion in 671/672 AD, Tapa Sardar underwent an extensive reconstruction in the late seventh or early eighth century CE. The date of the final abandonment, though uncertain, does not precede in any case the late eight or ninth century AD.  As clearly highlighted by the archaeological investigation of the site, Tapa Sardar was a prestigious religious centre where not only new artistic forms were experienced and established but also periodical ceremonies of great political relevance might have taken place. This is suggested by iconographies depicting members of the ruling elites and, especially in the last phases of the site, cultic images symbolically connected to the theme of the protection of the “Buddhist kingdom”. Another animation created by the Italian archeological mission -  What remains of medieval Ghazni, capital of a mighty empire?- reconstructs the royal palace of the mediaeval Islamic Ghaznavid rulers. The Ghaznavid dynasty (977-1186 AD) was founded by the notorious conqueror Mahmud of Ghazni who sacked Mathura in 1018 and plundered the Somnath temple in 1025, breaking its jyotirlinga. The Ghaznavid empire flourished due to their repeated military excursions to India where they were able to loot fabulous wealth. This made the Ghaznavid empire flourish and made Ghazni the centre of Arabic and Persian literature, poetry and art. Mahmud of Ghazi continues to inspire modern day terrorists like Anais Haqqani, who visited the Sultan’s shrine in October 2021 and praised the conqueror as a “renowned Muslim warrior” who sacked Somnath. Despite challenges and being unable to work on the ground, the Italian archeological mission continues to document its decades long work, creating 2D and 3D models of ruins, trying to give us a window into Buddhist, pre-Islamic and mediaeval Islamic Afghanistan, which are intrinsically connected to India’s history and culture. With a regime in Kabul which has scant respect for history and no regard for non-Islamic cultures and religions, with conflict and extreme poverty, the ancient history of Afghanistan may disappear before our eyes without these dedicated efforts of the Italian archeological mission. The author is an Indo-Italian entrepreneur and has over 24 years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience across a wide range of disciplines including pharmaceuticals, technology, renewable energy, strategic consulting, not-for-profit and development in over 30 countries. He is also the founder of the Dialogue on Democracy. Views expressed are personal. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.