Foreign delegates captivated by 'Gandhara Week'
Foreign delegates attending the 'Gandhara Week' celebrations on
Tuesday visited the ancient city of Taxila where they were captivated by
the rich archaeological and cultural heritage.
However, the heads of delegates, from different countries including
Korea, Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and China were unanimous in their
observation that both public and private organisations needed to make
concerted efforts to exploit the country's true potential and attract
more and more tourists.
Talking to local media, they said improper publicity and lack of
infrastructure at a number of destinations were hindering growth in the
tourism industry.
Commenting on the 'Gandhara Week' the delegates said such events
would promote religious tourism in Pakistan, besides projecting the
country's soft image globally.
Pakistan harbours rich Buddhist treasures, they added.
Earlier, more than 100 participants of the third 'Gandhara Week'
celebrations arrived in Taxila on a day-long visit.
The event is part of the Destination Pakistan 2007 programme being
observed with the theme: "Historical review of the world's ancient
Buddhist civilisation". Another significance of the celebrations is that
Buddhists across the globe are observing the 2,550th birth anniversary
of the great Buddha.
Gandhara is the second holiest land for followers of Buddhism and is
the place from where the religion flourished across the globe.
The Buddhist art of Gandhara influenced not just the art of united
India but that of the entire Buddhist world. So said Prof. Fidaullah
Sehrai, former director of the Peshawar Museum and former chairman of
Peshawar University's archaeology department, on Wednesday.
He was delivering a lecture at the Peshawar Museum to a 54-member
foreign delegation on the religion, art and architecture of the Gandhara
period, said a press release. The delegation is in Pakistan to
participate in the third Gandhara week which has been organised by the
Ministry of Tourism.
Members of the delegation included Buddhist monks, tour operators,
journalists and travel writers from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand,
Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Prof. Sehrai, who is an expert on the Buddhist art and architecture
of South Asia, said the first Buddha image of the world was created in
Gandhara which was its greatest gift to the world of Buddhism.
He said Buddhism in Gandhara had taken various forms from times to
time. It has started with Hinayanism, which was introduced by Ashok
Maurya, and changed into Mahayanism in the time of the Kushan Emperor
Kanishka who ruled in the first century AD.
It was Mahayanism which had given impetus to the growth of Gandhara
art. Later, Mahayanism changed into Vairayana and Tantrayana forms of
Buddhism in Swat which reached Tibet and become Lamaism, he said. He
said the Gandhara art reached the climax due to the royal patronage of
Emperor kanishka and prosperity which Gandhara achieved from foreign
trade and commerce on Silk roads which connected it with Central Asia,
Western countries and South Asia.
He said the subject matter of the Gandhara art was life stories of
the Buddha, written in Peshawar and carved by sculptors in their light
stones.
He said the reasons for the decline of the art were the lack of royal
patronage after Kanishka's death and the disconnection of Silk roads by
the Sassanian rulers of Iran. - APP
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