PESHAWAR - Swiss Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and Pacific Bern Beat Nobs accompanied by the Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan, Christoph Bubb visited the Peshawar Museum on Friday.
They were received by the Curator of the Peshawar Museum Professor Nidaullah Sehrai who briefed them about the history of the Peshawar Museum and Buddhist civilization of Gandhara. The Peshawar Museum, which was established in 1906, has the most extensive collection of the Gandhara art in Pakistan and is famous all over the world for its beautiful collection of the Buddhist art.
Sehrai gave them a guided tour of the main hall, where 74 stories of the life of the Buddha i.e. from the time of his birth to the death are on display. The other important sculptures in the main hall are Bodhisattva Siddhartha’s first meditation, fasting Siddhartha, his enlightenment, first sermon, various miracles of Buddha and his death at Kusinara.
In another sculpture, the distribution of his relics among the claimants is shown. The prized collection of the museum is Kanishka relic casket, which contained the bones of the cremated Buddha recovered from Shah-Ji-Ki-Dheri on the outskirts of Peshawar. Here once stood the tallest stupa, which was the wonder of Buddhist world.
It was 512 feet high partly made of stone and mainly of wood. It was constructed by Emperor Kanishka who ruled Peshawar in the first century AD.
They were shown around the Bodhisattva gallery. The curator explained the various images of Maitriya, the Buddha of the future, Alokitesivara, Padamapani, Hariti the goddess of fertility and her husband Panchika the god of wealth. He showed them the sculptures of Greek and Roman influences merged in Gandhara art.
The ambassador showed interest in the Gandhara architectural pieces.