The author is an architect and former president of Korea National University of Arts.
The Gandhara region in northeastern Pakistan became a meeting point of Eastern and Western culture after Alexander the Great reached the area in 326 BC. Around five centuries later, the Kushan Empire unified the region and promoted Buddhism within this Hellenistic environment, giving rise to a distinctive Greco-Buddhist tradition. The earliest human-form Buddha statues emerged here, along with thousands of stupas. Hundreds of monasteries were built and managed to enshrine these objects.

The Peshawar Valley holds the greatest concentration of these remains. Twenty-six sites are listed as UNESCO World Heritage, yet among the ten or so major monasteries, Takht-i-Bahi is considered the largest and best preserved. Its name, meaning "spring on a cliff" in Pashto, reflects its dramatic setting on a steep slope. The main complex occupies the central ridge, while additional monastic quarters and buildings extend across the surrounding ridges, creating a vast mountain-scale monastery.
The main compound consists of four sections. The stupa court is arranged around a central stupa, with twelve small shrines lined along three sides. Below it lies the monastic court, a courtyard surrounded by fifteen individual cells that represent a typical Gandharan residential layout for monks. Between these two lies the votive stupa court, where dozens of smaller stupas were placed as offerings. On the left side of the stupa court, builders later installed a raised terrace, beneath which a set of meditation chambers was constructed as underground spaces for ascetic practice.
Takht-i-Bahi was founded in the first century and continued to flourish until the fifth century, when Hunnic invasions damaged many structures. The monastery eventually closed around the eighth century. Buddha statues and stupas once housed here are now dispersed across major museums worldwide as rare examples of Gandharan art. The "Gandhara Buddha," known for its Hellenistic clothing and facial features, is most famously represented by artifacts excavated at Takht-i-Bahi.
These artistic traditions traveled across Central Asia and China before reaching the Korean Peninsula, where they evolved into Korea's own Buddhist sculptures. Gandharan stupas followed a similar path and became the prototypes of Korea's stone pagodas, while the architectural concept of the Gandharan monastery influenced the development of Korean mountain temples. As individual expressions may differ but the underlying truth remains one, Buddhist statues and monastic complexes across regions vary in form yet share a common essence.
Gandhara, often described as "the fragrant land," remains the spiritual homeland of Buddhist art.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

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