Jammu, Dec 27: An eight-metre high rock-cut Buddha located in the remote Zanskar region of Jammu and Kashmir, which is among the tallest of such sculptures in northern India, is all set to be declared a State Protected Monument by the government there.
Director General in the state archaeology department Khurshid Ahmed Qadri said the notification for declaring the sculpture of Chamba Buddha set atop Suru Kartse village a protected monument will be issued shortly.
“We have decided to declare the Bamiyaan-type huge rock-cut Buddha as a SPM. I had personally visited the site and started process of declaring it SPM. A notification for its declaration as SPM would be issued shortly,” Qadri told PTI here.
Qadri, who personally visited the monument site, said the 1,400 year-old sculpture, would be the first ever SPM in Ladakh and added it would be made the centrestage of heritage tourism in that region.
“I think it is biggest and tallest of Buddhas in northern India,” Qadri said. The Chamba Buddha is carved on a hillside and is eight-metre high and three metre wide. It is adorned with jewels and a head-dress.
Qadri said the sculpture was like the Bamyaan Buddha in central Afghanistan which was destroyed by the Taliban.
On its sides miniature Buddhas have been carved out to make it more attractive and the sculpture depicts the execution of early Buddhist art, he said.
To a question, he said that on the sides of the sculpture there were numerous holes in the rock which clearly indicated that huge sky-folding was made before the carving of Chamba Buddha.
The director general added that not only this sculpture but some more heritage sites in the Ladakh region would be declared as protected monuments, saying declaring them protected monuments was the first step towards their preservation.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST