Echoes of Gandhara

PESHAWAR: Archaeologists have found Buddhist artefacts in the northwest region of Pakistan that date back 1,800 years, an official has said.

The rare artefacts have been found in the Swabi district located some 83 kilometres from Peshawar, the Provincial Director Archaeology Department, Abdul Samad informed the Anadolu Agency.

“We have found around 400 new antiquities belonging to the Gandhara Civilization during an ongoing excavation at the Baho Dheri village of Swabi over the past six months”, he informed further.

The discoveries include a 73-metre-high stupa, the largest of its kind so far found in the region, and a rare 10-feet life-size statue of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. “The statue is not intact. We need to work on its restoration”, said Samad.

Other antiquities include seated Buddha statues, the original floor of the largest stupa dating back to 1,800 years, and a statue in meditation pose, he added.

“These antiquities are not mere art pieces but they were used for worship purposes”, he said and apprised that the Buddhist disciples used to take rounds of the stupa in the anti-clockwise direction.

Mostly, he said, round Indian-style Ashokan stupas have been found in the region that date back 2,200 years. The latest discoveries are the outcome of an ongoing excavation in the region. “We have so far completed 40 per cent of the planned excavation, said Fawad Khan, the head of a 20-member team of archaeologists taking part in the excavation.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, he said that more “interesting” discoveries are expected. He said that the latest discoveries have added a “new chapter” to the history of the Gandhara Civilization.

Having emerged in 500 BC, the ancient Gandhara Civilization sprawled across the region, which included Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Buner, and Bajaur situated in the northwest, and Taxila in the northeast of Pakistan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — once a hub of terrorism and suicide bombings — is home to 70pc of the sites that are sacred to the Buddhists.

Hub of Buddhist culture

Once known as the heart of the Gandhara Civilization, Takht-i-Bahi (throne of origins), a small scenic town located some 112km from Peshawar, is the most visited site by the Buddhists who flock to see the ancient monastery dating back to the 1st century, according to Samad.

In the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that borders neighbouring Afghanistan, there are some 20,000 archaeological sites out of which some 2,000 belong to the Buddhist Civilization.

“The region comprising Swabi and Mardan is so important for Buddhists in general and for the Korean peninsula in particular as Buddhism was introduced to that region (Korea) by a monk from Swabi some 1,600 years ago,” said Khan.

Discoveries to boost religious tourism

Thousands of tourists from Japan, China, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Myanmar visit the Buddhist sites in Pakistan every year, following an improved law and order situation in the country in recent years.

The Pakistan Army has launched a series of crackdowns on militants, particularly in the north-western tribal region along the Afghan border since 2014, claiming to have cleared 95pc area from terrorists.

According to the interior ministry figures, there has been an 80pc decline in the number of terrorist attacks in the country since 2014.

The fresh discoveries, the archaeologists and the tourism authorities believe, will give a further boost to the already growing religious tourism in Pakistan.

Pakistan is situated in a region that has been home to the world’s three major religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. The state hosts scores of revered pilgrimage sites, with some dating back 5,000 years, linked to numerous ancient civilizations.

Badly hit by the events related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, religious tourism in Pakistan is now picking up mainly because of the improved law and order situation, and the government’s realization of the economic and political importance of this sector.

“The latest discoveries, which include rare stupas and other artefacts, will certainly boost the religious tourism in Pakistan, which is already picking up”, Samad observed.  Echoing his views, Khan, the chief archaeologist, said the discoveries would attract the Buddhist community from across the world. Located some 27km from Islamabad, Taxila is another holy site, which includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of several Buddhist monasteries.

Apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north-eastern Punjab is home to the five most important pilgrimage sites for Sikhs. They include the birthplace of Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion who was born in 1469 in Nankana Sahib district, and gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdal town, where the handprint of Guru Nanak is believed to be imprinted on a boulder at the monastery.  The two sites are visited by thousands of Sikhs from neighbouring India, Europe, and America every year.

The Katas Raj temple in the north-eastern Chakwal district and the Sadhu Bela temple in southern Sukkur district are the two most visited religious sites by the Hindus from across the world.

The Hindu community that is Pakistan’s largest minority, equally reveres the water of a lake in the Katas Raj temple as they believe the lake was filled with the tears of Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Hindus make up 4pc of Pakistan’s 210 million population.—Anadolu Agency