DNA
Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace

UNIVERSITE

By Jean Pierre Bouteiller

“It is question of a great scientific adventure and a great French Mission”

Zemaryalai Tarzi

On the search for the 3^rd Buddha

Zemaryalai Tarzi, a Strasbourgan and Afghan by birth, professor at the Strasbourg University Marc-Bloch, has during his recent excavation campaign in Bamiyan unearthed the remains of a monastery where he believes rests a reclining Buddha statue of a1000 feet long.

In March 2001, the whole world witnessed in horror the brutal destruction by the Taliban of the two famous colossal Buddha statues. Dating from the III to the VI century A.D, they were carved in the rock of a huge cliff and overlooked to the North the Bamiyan Valley, which is located in the center East of Afghanistan. Draped in Greek tunics, these statues expressed the encounter of diverse cultures- Hellenistic, Indian and Asian.

The “small” Buddha 38m high was 80% destroyed; the other, the “great” Buddha 55m high was completely destroyed. The fragments of the first were scattered over 200 meters due to the explosion, the fragments of the second fell to its feet, due to another destructive technique that was used (implosion).

These marvels belonging to Humanity’s World Heritage must be given back their luster of long ago.

Three scenarios are possible:

An identical reconstruction, a reconstitution and a restoration, which if at all possible is favored by archaeologists worldwide, as expressed a year ago in Munich.

The Treasures of Afghanistan

According to Zemaryalai Tarzi ”the Taliban pretended to conduct a campaign against any human representations, in fact they were exercising a political blackmail in order to have their regime acknowledged by the International community, so far it had only been accepted by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Serious egotiations should have taken place to spare this irreplaceable heritage from becoming a hostage. UNESCO and the UN did not proceed in time. It is regrettable.”

Afghanistan has numerous archaeological treasures and monuments buried and scattered in it soil and subsoil because it is located on the road through which traveled the transmission of Buddhist thinking . Other fundamental influences include ancient Greece thanks to Alexander the Great who introduced Hellenism, as a result the Greek-Bactrian kingdom was born in 250 B.C.

In this context, the Bamiyan site was the most reputable. In the 7^th century one could count up to 10 monasteries with more than 1000 monks. And it is there that by 1975, Tarzi expressed his hypothesis on the existence of a monastery, located to the south-East of the “small” Buddha, in which presumably is a reclining Buddha statue on its death bed. A gigantic Buddha of 1000 feet in length, similar to many other statues of smaller size found in the whole of South Asia. To proceed with his research he relied on the traveling tales of a Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang, who visited Bamiyan in 632 A.D.

Unfortunately the archaeologist’s excavations were subject to the tribulations of an extensively troubled History.

The escape in 1978

Following studies at the well-known Kabul French Lycee “Istiqlal”, Zemaryalai Tarzi refuses a scholarship to study topography in the USSR. Instead by 1960, under a dual initiative by the Afghan Government and Professor Daniel Schlumberger -former Director of the French Delegation of Archaeology in Afghanistan”- he undertakes higher education in Strasbourg. He is to continue to the Louvres school but chooses instead to remain in Alsace and prepare his thesis on the “Architecture and Décor of the Bamiyan Grottos”.

And so he respondes to his double vocation: “I was born an artist. I draw well, but during my walks I always picked up rocks. To tell the truth I wanted to be a painter as well as a geologist. However the choice of my career I owe to my father who one day told me: “If you search the soil you will bring to light the evidence of our past’s architecture and art.”

Back in Afghanistan in 1967, where he later becomes Director of Archaeology and conservation of Historical Monuments, he takes his first readings in Bamiyan and takes on many excavations and restorations in the entire country for several years.

Following the1978 coup, hunted down by the new regime he refuses, he escapes in a car’s double deck trunk, crosses the border to Pakistan and eventually reaches France.

Because of the civil war he thought he would simply never see his homeland again nor pursue his excavations. In 2002 following the fall of the Taliban, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers him to restart his search for the 3^rd Buddha. His first excavation campaign however was halted because of the regional military commander in duty at the time.

Thanks to Karzai

Following President Karzai’s personal intervention Tarzi is able to get back to Bamiyan in August and September 2003 and conclude his mission, which consists in the unearthing of the monastery. Approximately 100 workers are hired on a daily basis. 2000 cubic meters are extracted, and moved back later in place to avoid illegal excavations.

Zemaryalai Tarzi is certain that he has discovered remains of great quality, in particular dried clay heads of Buddhist divinities as well as structures of monastic architecture: “ I am 100% sure to have found the said site where the reclining Buddha is. It is question of a great scientific adventure and a great French Mission”.

“ I deplore however the rivalries of some, such as when UNESCO entrusts a Japanese team with the topographic survey of Bamiyan. This team has at its disposition very high tech equipment, but which is not adapted to the site, furthermore despite a serious lack of knowledge of the Bamiyan terrain the said team might seek authorization to search everywhere in Bamiyan.

“ We are coming to a stage of the research when old-fashioned small spoons and tooth pick techniques will be necessary. I am returning to the site with a lot more funding next summer, I believe that I am very close to the discovery. THE discovery.