Bamiyan, Hariti and Kindred Iconics

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The book begins with the sünyata of Bamiyan, discusses its international nexus, the tragic history of its destruction where Hazara tribals once lit an occasional lamp to the glory of their ancestors, its influence on the Buddhist sculptural tradition. the failure of all efforts to prevent iconoclasm, or the positive comment of an Afghan: "interest in Afghanistan's past gives hope for Afghanistan's future". The arise of a colossal Maitreya at Bodhgaya, and the 231 feet Maitreya at Leshan are the offshoots of Bamiyan. The symbolism of the Cosmic Buddhas of Bamiyan gives a glimpse of their scintillating philosophical universe. A hundred-page long monograph on Härīti by N. Péri has been translated into English from French. It is a detailed study from Chinese canonical and other texts.

The scripta minora of Prof. Nirmala Sharma include a rare Mongolian miniature of Ganeša and Indra as the "Twin Orders of the State', the only known Tibetan manuscript on mudras in Copenhagen, the depiction of nine rasas on the hidden base of Borobudur, the Surocolo bronzes and the Genzu version of the Vajradhātu-mandala. They represent the art of the sprawling Buddhist Cosmopolis.

Prof. Nirmala Sharma discusses the sculptures of the Śiva family, the Sapta- mātṛkā, Šakti in the Queen's Stepwell at Patan, Lord Krşņa, costumes and textile patterns in the Rāgamālā paintings, dance and music in Jain paintings: all in the region of Gujarat.

Folk theme of Dhola-Maru's love, folk arts and crafts of Kutch, coming up to the modern art of Raja Ravi Varma, and finally the unique art perceptions of the Roerichs enrich the volume.

Nirmala Sharma is an Art Historian and a Professor of Buddhist Studies at the International Academy of Indian Culture. New Delhi. She is working on a project of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts on Iconography of the mandalas of the Dukhang of Alchi. With two masters degrees. one in Fine Arts and the other in Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, her Ph.D thesis is on the Ragamälä Paintings. She has been awarded two gold and a silver medal for best papers read at the Gujarat Itihas Parishad. She is a recipient of National Fellowship in Fine Arts, Nagpur University and Senior Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. She has lectured on Indian Art and Culture (paintings, sculptures and monuments) as a senior Faculty at the Academic Staff College, Gujarat University from 2001-2004. Being a member of the Association of British Scholars she has delivered lectures at the British library. Ahmedabad. Delivered Lectures to IFS probationers, Delhi, School of International Studies, Nirma University. Gujarat, on several occasions at the Russian Cultural centre on Roerichs and to students from Osaka in India. She has also spoken at the Florida Atlantic University and Granada University. Read papers in Indonesia on Borobudur, on the Roerichs at Moscow, on Buddhist sculptures at Budapest and in several places in India. She has made educative films for Doordarshan on monuments, stepwells, sculptures, textiles and painting. She held senior positions as designer of textiles and costumes in Industries with specialization on the software for the weaving looms. She has published several articles on textiles. She is a member of Indian Art History Congress, Association of British Scholars and the Programme Advisory Committee at IGNCA. Her books include Ragamālā Paintings, Buddhist Paintings of Tun-Huang in the National Museum, New Delhi and Kumārajiva: the transcreator of Chinese Buddhist Diction.

The book opens with the fúnyata of the colossi of Bamiyan where ideas and images may never flourish again. It reminds us of the ferocious pride of Attila that grass never grows on the spot where his horses have trod. The extinct embers of time being attacked by fanaticism, and the fairest structures of antiquity suffering these negative forces are a singular event in the history of the human mind. The occasional offering of lamp and incense to the honor of their ancestors by the tribal folk has now become a rashness to risk the surest international nexus of Bamiyan, while Prof. Douglas deals with the decay or demolition of sacred monuments and their restoration in subsequent ages, as of Bodhgaya. Mr. Grazda is forthright in recording the tragic recount of how iconoclastic barbarism escalated over the years and liberal Afghanistan had to wonder at the plight of their cultural heritage. She cites an Afghan friend: Interest in Afghanistan's past gives hope for Afghanistan's future. Prof. Martinson offers a consolation prize that a 500 feet bronze-covered image of Maitreya is being erected in Bodhgaya. He describes the colossi in the Sichuan province of China, esp. the peril. Bamiyan was the dream space of the Buddhist world that echoed in the Awukana colossus in Srilanka, the Yun-kang grottoes of China, or the mighty statue of Leshan, or the central image of Sokkuram in Korea, or the Daibutsu of Nara in Japan, wherever Avatamsaka immensity became a luminous apparition of iconic grandeur. Inner Space knowing no bounds seeking the vivid blue of the space without. It was the coming together of the depth of Inner Space and the immensity of world space. Prof. Bernier traverses the history of the colossi of Bamiyan where Hazara women once held classes for their daughters in the caves around the shins of the Great Buddha. The masterly presentation of the great French scholar J. Hackin speaks of the influence of Bamiyan Buddhas on Buddhist sculptures. Juliette van Krieken-Pieters provides a vivid 231 feet rock-cut Maitreya at the confluence of the trinity of rivers at Leshan. Mary Storm covers the syncretic symbolism of the Cosmic Buddhas of Bamiyan across the centuries in sutras, sculptures, esoteric mantrayāna exegesis, tantras, and annals.

a tragedy of bigotry, and the values of forbearance represented by Vairocana images are still "very necessary in modern Afghanistan" ( p. 55)