Asian Current

High in the Koh-e-Baba range (3000 meters) of the Hindu Kush Mountains, the five lakes of the Band-e Amir are Afghanistan’s greatest natural wonder. They used to attract tourists in hordes from all over the world before the problems started. And the problems have continued for so many years that the Band-e Amir lakes have now been forgotten by the outside world.

The amazing thing about them is the high retaining wall that surrounds each lake. The five Band-e Amir chain of lakes constitute of the Band-e Gholaman (slaves), Band-e Qamber (Caliph Ali’s slave), Band-e Haibat (grandiose), Band-e Panir (cheese), Band-e Pudina (wild mint) and Band-e Zulfiqar (sword of Ali). Of these, the Band-e Haibat is the largest and the deepest with an average depth of more than 80 meters. Although the high retaining walls appear to have been formed by calcium carbonate precipitates, the local legends tell a different story. Caliph Ali is believed to have miraculously raised the walls to dam a perilous river course and thus gain the confidence of the local pagan king whom he converted to Islam. Next to the legendary Bamian Buddha statues (alas no more there), the Band-e Amir lakes are one of the most amazing sights in Asia. The landscape is stunning and looks other-worldly.

Tourists used to throng the lakes to witness the astounding change of hue of each lake according to the light and timing of the day, due no doubt to the high mineral content of the water in the lakes. “Just at sunset - we reached some large terraces of snow, so flat that I realized that they were a chain of frozen lakes. The waterfall had frozen into bloated stalactites, streaked with intense copper oxide green and turquoise blue and sulfur yellow, creamy with snow where they had struck the water”, described a veteran tourist.

After destroying the Bamiyan Buddha despite worldwide protests against such vandalism, why the Taliban did not mine the lakes remains a mystery. The bad news is, the adjoining area still remains unsafe even for pedestrians. The road that takes the visitor to the fascinating Band-e Amir lakes lying approximately 75 km west of Bamiyan should only be attempted during the height of summer or autumn, because there is a lot of snow at other times. In favorable weather, the trip takes about five hours and the vehicle should be hired from Bamiyan.

Since the lakes could not be declared either a heritage site nor given the status of a national Park, many ecological and conservation problems hang high over the Band-e Amir lakes. Several warring factions planted numerous landmines along the route to the lakes in 2001. Though some of the explosives have been cleared, enough remain to pose serious threat to all life forms around the area. As peace is limping slowly back in Afghanistan, the volume of tourism is sure to grow and so the environmental protection wing of the local government would do well to raise awareness for preservation of the lakes and its surrounding areas. The outside world will hopefully one day soon again discover the incredibly wondrous beauty of the 5 lakes in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan.

The answer probably is no. Though it is a stupendous work to reconstruct the colossal monuments, help nevertheless, is pouring in from various parts of the world.

Nearly one thousand seven hundred years ago, two large standing Buddha statues were carved out of the sedimentary rocks in the valley of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. These immense sculptures were as high as 53m and 38m, the larger one believed to be the tallest representation of a standing Buddha in the world. When in 1996, the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan, it started indulging in systematic destruction of Afghan art and cultural images and icons, that were deemed to be in violation of the tenets of Islam, to them.

However, when the Talibans expressed their desire to destroy Afghanistan’s priceless and monumental sculptures, the Buddha statues carved into the Hindu Kush mountain range in Bamiyan, the whole world went against it. A senior political leader ruefully commented that the proposed action, if carried out, may tantamount to India’s decision to destroy the Taj Mahal on similar but opposite grounds. Directors of world-renowned museums begged for the statues to be kept for the sake of posterity. The United Nations sent special envoys to Afghanistan to prevent the vandalistic attitude of the Talibans towards such priceless examples of world heritage.

Incidentally, the Chinese traveler Hiuan Tsang first reported the statues in 632 describing the larger Buddha as ‘glittering with gold and precious ornaments. Both the statues combined classical Indian and Central Asian symmetry and poise. Their faces were modeled on that of the Greek god Apollo while the bodies were clothed in Greek robes’. The carvings survived myriad invasions and wars, ravages of time and were a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists world over. They were also one of the wonders of the ancient world. Despite protests from people, governments, political parties and national leaders, Taliban militia destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha’s before U.S toppled them in the Afghan battle.

Recovering from the after effects of the vandalism unleashed by the Talibans, amateurs and professionals from across the world has offered their services to reconstruct the statues in right earnest. Afghan sculptor, Amannulah Haiderzad returned to Afghanistan in April 2002 after a 23-year exile to lead a reconstruction project of the Bamiyan Buddha’s. The Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata in November 2005 declared a $60 million project to create the Bamiyan Buddha’s with Laser beams and computer-aided equipment.

Later, a group from ETH Zurich completed computer reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha’s that may serve as the basis for a physical reconstruction. Results of the image-based 3D reconstruction of the statues, performed on three different data-sets in parallel and using different photogrammetric techniques and algorithms is currently being viewed with interest by the United Nations World Heritage Site chapter.

Hopefully, sometime soon, the Hindu Kush would again be alive with people singing in praise of Lord Buddha and his eternal teachings.