Gandhara art exhibition opens in South Korea

A 10-day exhibition of the Gandhara art and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa photography opened in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Friday.

The exhibition sponsored by the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) is being attended by the ambassadors and Buddhist scholars from 32 countries across the world. Artists, archaeologists and historians will deliver lectures on Buddhism and Gandhara art and civilisation.

A press release of the TCKP Media Cell said rare relics, antiques, antiquities and ancient photos of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been put on display in the exhibition for the visitors and researchers of the Gandhara art and civilisation.

The exhibition is aimed at introducing and promoting the Gandhara civilisation in South Korea and other countries of the Buddhists world. Peshawar valley was once the centre of Gandhara art and its several cities and towns including Chota Lahore and Hund in Swabi district, Takhtbhai in Mardan and Taxila in Punjab were the centres of Buddhist civilisation.

Gandhara is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the oldest book of Aryans, which dates back to the second millennium BC engraved on the rock edicts of the Achaemenian emperor of Iran when it was part of that empire.

The Gandhara art has not only influenced the art of India but every part of Buddhist world including Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan and Central Asian states.