KARACHI, May 24: A renowned archaeologist gave an inspiring presentation about the Gandharan art attached with the life and times of the Buddha at the Burns Gardens’ auditorium here on Thursday.

In his presentation, Dr Makin Khan, the Superintendent of the National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi, gave thoughtful insights about the Gandharan art in which Buddhist legends dominate. Its subject matter principally relates to the study of the Buddha, representing his conception, childhood, marriage, renunciation, enlightenment, preaching and death.

Before his enlightenment he is shown as a Raja (king), wearing ostentatious robes and jewellery. As the Buddha, he is depicted in simple robes with a serene face and a halo.

Non-Buddhist deities also occur in Gandharan art. Of these, the popular ones are Indra, Brahma and the thunderbolt carrier, Vajrapani.

However, Dr Khan confined himself to the art reflecting over the life and times of the Buddha. The statues, according to him, were mostly made up of sandstone and other materials which were exclusively found in the region, which at the time was called Gandhara and now consists of Pakistan’s northern regions.

In the presentation, Buddhist monasteries and temples were shown located in Takht-i-Bahi (near Mardan), Dharmirajika stupa (Taxila), Jaulian (Taxila) and Buthkada (Swat). According to him, the earliest images of Buddha were found in Buthkada, which was called Uddiyana in ancient times. Besides, Shingardar stupa (Swat) and Sirkap city and Jandial Temple (Taxila) were also shown to the audience.

The relics found from the ancient sites including the ones showing the dream of Queen Maya (mother of the Buddha), birth of Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha’s original name), his father King Suddhodana and the different phases of his life such as renunciation, nirvana, preaching etc.

Shoichi Nakano, Consul General of Japan in Karachi, said in his speech that Gandharan art was the one great reason that proved the cultural ties between Japan and Pakistan were as old as 2,000 years. He said that he had a huge interest in Gandharan art and had explored many sites and museums in Pakistan to satiate his thirst.

Dr Abdul Wahab, President of Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, said that all the excavations and research for exploring the ancient history of Pakistan proved that people of those times were peaceful and humane, which was evident from the fact that researchers did not find any weapons among the relics.

Haleem Sharar, Editor of The Archaeology Quarterly and Qasim Ali Qasim, Director, Southern Circle of the Archaeology Department, also spoke.