Afghan Indiana Jones Hunts Giant Buddha

Somewhere in Afghanistan there’s a statue of Buddha more than 1,000 feet long, according to the ancient journal of 7th century Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang. Dr. Zemaryalai Tarzi, an Afghan archeologist with a sense of adventure, believes the legend.

He’s out to find the statue and make up for the Taliban’s disgraceful destruction of what were the world’s largest standing Buddhas.  —PS

BBC:

Try to imagine a stone statue reclining across the length of three football fields.

But it is more than a dream. Dr Tarzi is trying to make it a reality.

“At first, people told me I must be mad,” he recounted, barely concealing a smile, as we stood at his excavation in the midst of potato fields in the ancient Afghan city of Bamiyan.

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Flickr / Carrie Hasselback

Where there is now just a hole was once one of the two largest standing Buddhas in the world.