A 13 m-long giant reclining Buddha statue was discovered in 1966 in the monastery of Ajina-Teppe, southern Tajikistan. It was cut up in 90 pieces, transported and hidden in the basement of a museum in Dushanbe in Soviet time for many years. In 2001 it was restored at the National museum of Antiquities in Dushanbe. Ever since the destruction of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban this is the largest Buddha statue in Central Asia. It is believed that before the conquest by Arabs in the 8th century AD, different religions lived side by side in Central Asia. Nestorianism, Manicheism, Zoroastrianism, Tengrianism and Buddhism were spread along the Silk Road and found fertile soil to grow in the minds of the people of Central Asia.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 14:04:26 +0000
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