Manthal Buddha Rock ('Dray chatfi Fong' in local Balti language) is a large granite rock with a relief sculpture of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

, which probably dates back to the 8th century. This rock is located in Manthal village in

Skardu Skardu (, Tibetan script: སྐར་མདོ, ) is a city located in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

, in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Buddha Rock is one of the most important relics of Buddhism in Skardu. It is about 3 km from the Sadpara Road that leads to Satpara Lake.

History

Before the arrival of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

in the region of

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

, the majority of people were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and they sculpted Buddha images on many rocks. This Buddha carving was not known to the world until the beginning of the 20th century due to its remote location. In 1906 the Scottish traveller Ella Christie wrote a book on her journey to Western Tibet and featured the carving in her book which gave it international attention. Since then the government has taken many steps to preserve this monument and it is visited by tourists who visit Skardu. The Pakistani government has recently been attempting to promote religious travel. In order to inform the global Buddhist community, these sacred sites are being recognised in national forums.

References

Archaeological sites in Gilgit-Baltistan History of Gilgit-Baltistan Monuments and memorials in Gilgit-Baltistan Buildings and structures in Gilgit-Baltistan {{GilgitBaltistan-hist-stub

History

See also

References