Bamyan
City in AfghanistanWikipedia
31
MENTIONS
12
EPISODES
10
PODCASTS
Search complete. 31 mentions across 12 episodes found for "Bamyan".
Oct 11, 2026
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
...
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
Bamiyan and who was there when the Buddhas were destroyed and when so many Hazaras were murdered.
Roh YakobiHOST
Bacha Bacha.
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
Uh-huh.
19 MINS LATER
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
And, you know, it's hot a-and I've just spent however many hours getting there, or days.
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
I don't have time for sophistry.
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
So whether it was the, the warlord Taliban who now runs, you know, um, Bamiyan and who was there when the Buddhas were destroyed and when so many Hazara w-were murdered back in the day, and I'm having to listen to his, frankly, lies, um, I, I can't-- I couldn't hold back.
Jon Lee AndersonGUEST
I-- And I have to puncture the-
speaker_0NARRATOR
The valley remained, its walls still standing, its geometry unchanged, waiting for the next civilization to find a use for a narrow canyon with good acoustics and excellent access control.
speaker_0NARRATOR
In central Afghanistan, at an elevation of roughly two thousand five hundred meters in the Hindu Kush Mountains, the Bamiyan Valley sits along what was once the primary corridor of the Silk Road through the mountain ranges that separate Central Asia from the Indian subcontinent.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The valley is wide here, several kilometers across, and the walls are composed of soft sandstone and conglomerate, the same kind of easily carved rock that made Cappadocia's underground cities possible, and the same principle applied.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Where the rock is soft enough to carve, people carve it.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Beginning in the sixth century, Buddhist monks carved thousands of cave dwellings, monasteries, libraries, and meditation chambers into the Bamiyan Valley's cliff faces.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The caves honeycombed the rock for kilometers along the valley wall.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Some little more than simple cells, others elaborately decorated with painted murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha, images of bodhisattvas, and geometric patterns influenced by the artistic traditions of every culture that passed through the valley.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The valley's position made it a waypoint, not by design, but by geology.
speaker_0HOST
The story of the captured Chinese siege expert Wang Geping is incredible.
speaker_0HOST
He's brought into the Mongol war machine and helps them construct a weapon at the siege of Bamiyan that sounds like pure science fiction.
speaker_1HOST
Wang Geping was instrumental in integrating Chinese explosive technology with heavy siege mechanics.
speaker_1HOST
At Bamiyan, he directed the construction of a weapon the chronicles refer to as the Thundering Ram.
speaker_0HOST
It wasn't just a log, right?
speaker_1HOST
No, this was not a traditional battering ram where 50 men swing a heavy log on chains.
speaker_1NARRATOR
The valley remained, its walls still standing, its geometry unchanged, waiting for the next civilization to find a use for a narrow canyon with good acoustics and excellent access control.
speaker_1NARRATOR
In central Afghanistan, at an elevation of roughly two thousand five hundred meters in the Hindu Kush Mountains, the Bamiyan Valley sits along what was once the primary corridor of the Silk Road through the mountain ranges that separate Central Asia from the Indian subcontinent.
speaker_1NARRATOR
The valley is wide here, several kilometers across, and the walls are composed of soft sandstone and conglomerate, the same kind of easily carved rock that made Cappadocia's underground cities possible, and the same principle applied.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Where the rock is soft enough to carve, people carve it.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Beginning in the sixth century, Buddhist monks carved thousands of cave dwellings, monasteries, libraries, and meditation chambers into the Bamiyan Valley's cliff faces.
speaker_1NARRATOR
The caves honeycombed the rock for kilometers along the valley wall.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Some little more than simple cells, others elaborately decorated with painted murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha, images of bodhisattvas, and geometric patterns influenced by the artistic traditions of every culture that passed through the valley.
speaker_1NARRATOR
The valley's position made it a waypoint, not by design, but by geology.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
Fragments of an abbey at dusk.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
Sandstone toe of a Buddha mortared at Bamiyan.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
Stone from the hill of three crosses and a crypt.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
From a chimney where storks cried like human children.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
And then we have the idea of warfare, and bridges being blown up, and, and what a stone does when it weighs down a petition or when it breaks a window.
Kevin YoungHOST
Mm-hmm.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
And then that one for the Bamiyan.
Carolyn ForchéGUEST
I remember when the Buddhas at Bamiyan were mortared because they were considered sacrilegious.
Yann VagneuxGUEST
So that is a good syncretism.
Yann VagneuxGUEST
But this good syncretism is always targeted as a reaction, you know, look what's happened to the Buddha of Bamiyan, the Buddha of Bamiyan in such a way where like Gandhara heart, you know, and the Taliban's were promoting at the time, very hard version of Islam, they targeted that, you know, because if you have the feeling that in the world, you are losing your identity, Then you will close your door and you will make something, a very strong identity, but too much identity.
Yann VagneuxGUEST
You see the risk.
Yann VagneuxGUEST
The risk, if I start to mix everything and not respecting the difference, the singularity, then in such a way, I am creating the counter reaction, which is hardening the identities.
Alan EyreGUEST
So I didn't go to Balch.
Alan EyreGUEST
I didn't go to Bamiyan, which would have been beautiful.
Alan EyreGUEST
I didn't go to Balat, which would have been heaven on a stick.
Alan EyreGUEST
So yeah, it was nice, but I never got that opportunity.
David BowensNARRATOR
And he quoted the opinion of Sir Willoughby Cotton that, quote, unless the Bengal troops are instantly strengthened, we cannot hold the country, unquote.
David BowensNARRATOR
At this critical period, however, Dost Mohammed was heavily defeated at Bamian on the Hindu Kush, voluntarily surrendering shortly afterwards, and for the moment prospects looked brighter.
David BowensNARRATOR
But the clouds soon gathered again, and the end was at hand.
David BowensNARRATOR
The Governor-General of India had throughout the whole war wisely and steadfastly resisted the proposed further operations in Central Asia, and the Court of Directors in London wrote as follows, quote, We pronounce our decided opinion that for many years to come the restored monarchy will have need of a British force in order to maintain peace in its own territory and prevent aggression from without.
speaker_2NARRATOR
Where the rock is soft enough to carve, people carve it.
speaker_2NARRATOR
Beginning in the 6th century, Buddhist monks carved thousands of cave dwellings, monasteries, libraries and meditation chambers into the Bamiyan Valley's cliff faces.
speaker_2NARRATOR
The caves honeycombed the rock for kilometers along the valley wall.
speaker_2NARRATOR
some little more than simple cells, others elaborately decorated with painted murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha.
8 MINS LATER
speaker_2NARRATOR
The narration slows now, and you slow with it.
speaker_2NARRATOR
You have been descending through this entire journey.
speaker_2NARRATOR
from the rim in the first moments down through the acoustic anomalies of the taos hum and wadi rums whispering walls through the fog-locked inversions and the lethal gas lakes through the isolation valleys where life evolved in sealed jars of rock and water, through the carved cities of Cappadocia and Petra and Bamiyan, and now you've reached the valley floor, the lowest point, the place where everything collects and comes to rest.
speaker_2NARRATOR
The valley floor is not what you expected.
Raza JaffreyHOST
I didn't come all the way out here to miss out on the main event.
Raza JaffreyHOST
How'd everything go in Bamiyan? Spann beams with pride.
Raza JaffreyHOST
Mission accomplished.
Raza JaffreyHOST
Should fall any moment.
2 more episodes mention Bamyan.
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