Kargah Buddha - Gilgit

Abdullah Khan

The legendary Kargah Buddha is a 7th century Buddha figure carved deep into the solid rock. The three-meter (ten-foot) high imposing Buddha sculpture is located in Kargah Nullah (ravine) about 10km south of Gilgit town in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Actually, the Kargah is the name of the small hamlet on the outskirts of Gilgit city and the carving has been given the name of Buddha because according to the people of the region the carving was carved by the Buddhists in the seventh century and excavated in 1938-1939 by the archaeologist.

As Gilgit-Baltistan is home to the world's mightiest mountain ranges and towering mountains are composed of sheer rocks, it is usual that you would find many rock carvings in the region. The reason is, long ago the region was the centerfield of Buddhist culture and religion and they had chipped many prints of Buddha at the rocks which are present until now in the region, although the region now has converted to Islam and there is 100% Muslim population. In the early days when Buddhism was on the peak, rock carving was one of the prominent ways of preaching.

In most of the carvings you would find the Buddha in the center and small Buddhas around the bigger one and in some cases, there would be inscriptions written on the rocks. Such a rock has been found in Skardu city as well which has a number of Buddhas carved into the rock and there is something written in Tibetan.

There is yet another interesting myth about Karga Buddha devised by and famous amongst the local residents. According to the legend, once upon a time there lived an ogress called Yakhshini whom local people wanted to get rid of as it used to eat human flesh. The villagers asked a passing saint for help and the saint was said to have succeeded in pinning her to the rock. The series of whole making the boundary around the Buddha are actually believed to be pinhole holding ogress tight. Later the saint declared that she wouldn't bother them as long as the saint was alive. And if they buried the saint at the foothills of the rock, she would never be freed. The saint was said to have been buried right below the Buddha statue.

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Kargah Buddha - Gilgit