The Role of Sri Lanka within the Region as well as in the World
The recent transfer of political power (as it seems to be) in the Maldives was not a coup, India believes even as New Delhi sent a special envoy to the troubled Indian Ocean nation to assess the situation and help work out a way forward.
Arrayed against the tolerant and measured messages of Buddhism, the quagmire of the "Bamiyan Massacre" seems perplexing at best.
First, it is important to recognize that the massacre has little to do with religion. The Buddha is not God or even one among many gods. During his lifetime of 80 years, Buddha Sakyamuni only allowed his image to be recorded as a reflection in rippling water. Images of the Buddha himself did not appear for at least 400 years after his death and even then were created only to remind followers of their own innate "Buddha Nature." This kind of early aversion to "idolatry" is typical of Christianity and other religions — many devotees of Christ railed against material images of Jesus for centuries, especially during two waves of "iconoclasts" (idol smashers) in the Byzantine Empire.
The recent transfer of political power (as it seems to be) in the Maldives was not a coup, India believes even as New Delhi sent a special envoy to the troubled Indian Ocean nation to assess the situation and help work out a way forward.
The Sri Lankan government, purposely keeping hands out in public, only provides protection for the family of the former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed as long as they remain in Sri Lankan soil.
The political history of Maldives is closely associated with the Legend of Koimala Kalou.
Koimala Kalou (Lord Koimala) was the first king of the Homa (Lunar) Dynasty, which some historians call Theemuge.
This legendary nobleman of the Lion Race from Sri Lanka, sailed to Rasgetheemu island (literally King's Town) in North Maalhosmadulu Atoll and from there to Malé and established a kingdom there. By then, the Aadeetta (Sun) Dynasty had for sometime ceased to rule in Malé, possibly due to invasions by the Cholas of Southern India in the Tenth Century. The indigenous people in Malé Atoll, the Giraavaru invited Koimala to Malé and permitted him to be proclaimed king. Koimala Kalou (Lord Koimala) reigned as King Maanaabarana and was succeeded by his nephew Dhovemi. Koimala was a Buddhist.
Since Koimala's reign, the Maldive throne was also known as the Singaasana (Lion Throne). Before then and in some situations since, it was also known as the Saridhaaleys (Ivory Throne).
Pic 01. Maldive image of the Buddha in a buried temple excavated on Thoddu island in Ari Atoll. Such finds of pre-Islamic relics are systematically vandalised and destroyed. Ordinary people are not encouraged to find out that Maldivians could ever worship a deity other than Allah. Among the artifacts excavated from the same temple included a Roman republican coin that went out of circulation circa AD 100.
In March of 2001, the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan. These statues had been standing there since the early 6th century. Symbols of universal compassion, these were in the eyes of Taliban, something that had to be destroyed.
Pic 02
Can the Bamiyan Buddhas be put back together again? Afghanistan's government in 2002 wanted to restore the giant pair of carved Buddhas destroyed a year ago by the Taliban. "They need to be rebuilt," Raheen Makhdoom, Afghanistan's minister of information and culture, told the press. Makhdoom characterized the ancient Bamiyan statues—one was 1,800 years old; the other dated from the 6th century—as "a sign of our identity and a sign of our tolerance and our history."
Pic 03.
Smaller Buddha of Bamiyan
Left before & right after destruction
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said in March, 2011 that the 1,500-year-old historic Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, that had been destroyed by the Taliban, will not be reconstructed.
The decision emerged after a two-day meeting of scientists, Afghan officials and donors in Paris.
While some claimed that the statues can be repaired, the UNESCO told the Afghan government it does not support a rebuild project, citing concerns over funding priorities and authenticity.
Replicating the colossal monuments, which once stood 55 and 38 metres tall, could cost between eight and 12 million dollars. However, less than half of the original stone used to build the statues remains.
Pic 04. Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction
Arrayed against the tolerant and measured messages of Buddhism, the quagmire of the "Bamiyan Massacre" seems perplexing at best.
First, it is important to recognize that the massacre has little to do with religion. The Buddha is not God or even one among many gods. During his lifetime of 80 years, Buddha Sakyamuni only allowed his image to be recorded as a reflection in rippling water. Images of the Buddha himself did not appear for at least 400 years after his death and even then were created only to remind followers of their own innate "Buddha Nature." This kind of early aversion to "idolatry" is typical of Christianity and other religions — many devotees of Christ railed against material images of Jesus for centuries, especially during two waves of "iconoclasts" (idol smashers) in the Byzantine Empire.
Pic 05. 250 images of laser recreations of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata are on display in Tokyo.
Bamiyan lies on the Silk Road which lies in the Hindu Kush mountain region, in the Bamiyan Valley. The Silk Road is a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of Western Asia. Until the 11th century, Bamiyan was part of the kingdom of Gandhara. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and Indian art. It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the 9th century. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Persian: بت های باميان – but hay-e bamiyan) were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (140 mi) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft). Built in 507 AD, the larger in 554 AD, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art.
On 8 September 2008 archeologists searching for a legendary 300-metre statue at the site of the already dynamited Buddhas announced the discovery of an unknown 19-metre (62-foot) reclining Buddha, a pose representing Buddha's passage into nirvana. Pic 06.
Members of an Afghani family had recently been jailed for life in Canada for the honour killing of three teenage girls – Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13 – and their stepmother. Mohammad Shafia, the girls' father and husband of the fourth victim, was secretly taped by police describing his daughters as a "disgrace" and complaining that they dated boys and wore inappropriate clothes. The bodies were discovered along with that of their stepmother, Rona Amir, inside a car which was submerged in a 19th century canal lock in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped on their way back home to Quebec following a trip to Niagara Falls.
Although, I have never experienced such an incident, even in Sri Lanka it is traditionaly said, in case of daughters misbehaviour they are supposed to be cut into pieces and thrown to river. However, with the enforcement of the european law, at present, such evil girls are not killed but expelled from family in order to maintain the dignity of the family (if there is any).
The above afghani family had moved to Canada in 2007 as part of a programme for wealthy immigrants. Perhaps, before migrating, they were not well aware of the fact that in countries ruled by white people, it is realy hard to maintain the dignity of the family as well as the asian family standards, since their social and cultural structure does not support such. In simple words white caucasoid people have been evolved to survive in a cold and harsh environment of the northern hemisphere where temperature may sometimes fall down to -30 c. Some social and cultural values which are commonly accepted as normal by them become automatically anti cultural and anti social in Asia.
Although, at the beggining of this millenium, I had opposed the western military interference in Afghanistan https://picasaweb.google.com/111485490681542872308/NewspaperArticles#5234680872009794130 some of my assessments have been proved to be wrong in the sense of the war against LTTE in Sri Lanka. Along with the western interest of war on terrorism we managed to defeat the LTTE and establish peace in the island. Now it is our turn to get the leadership in war on terrorism in the region and restore the Barmiyan Buddhas back in place in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the extended sri lankan military influence in Asia may ensure the deduction of unwanted western armed forces in the region as well.
