SV: Plight of Buddhist art

[rohan.oberoi at CORNELL.EDU]

Since Dr. Fosse has decided to comment on a political issue on which I
am at least as qualified as he is, I would like to point out that
anyone who laments the (undeniable) folly of the Taleban authorities
in seeking to destroy such a striking part of their country's history
as 'the folly of religious fanatics', without commenting on 'the folly
of Pentagon fanatics' who funded, armed, and trained Mujahideen thugs
for their anti-Soviet crusade in such such numbers as to make the
country unlivable (a circumstance without which a gang like the
Taleban could not have come to power) and who then sought to isolate
them and starve the people of Afghanistan, instead of taking any of
the more constructive actions that Washington's undoubted degree of
responsibility for the present crisis of the country would warrant (a
circumstance without which the Taleban might not have taken such
extreme positions) lays himself open to very justifiable charges of
hypocrisy and Western ethnocentric prejudics.

I recommend to anyone on the list who has not read it Jason Eliot's
"An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan" (Picador 2000) which,
along with an intelligent and sympathetic portrait of the country's
people (rare in the current climate of hysteria and thinly veiled
racism towards Afghans) also describes other less-known treasures of
the country's past that have also been lost in the troubles since the
1980s.

Regards,
Rohan.




>> Can Indologists do something?
>
>Probably not. I suspect that this announcement on the part of the Taliban
>is an invitation to the powers that be to offer something in return for not
>going through with the destruction. Possibly, the Taliban can be bought off
>(economically or politically), but it probably takes more than whatever the
>Indologists on this list can offer. Perhaps, we can turn to our governments
>and implore them to bribe the Taliban not to go through with their plans.
>We might, e.g., suggest that civilized governments of the world offer to
>buy the statues that the Taliban want to destroy.
>
>Otherwise, all we can do, is lament the folly of religious fanatics if they
>go through with this.
>
>Lars Martin Fosse
>
>Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
>Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
>0674 Oslo
>Norway
Phone: +47 22 32 12 19
>Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45
>Fax 1:  +47 22 32 12 19
>Fax 2:  +47 85 02 12 50 (InFax)
>Email: lmfosse at online.no
>
>