The world gasped collectively in horror and disbelief in March 2001 when Ayatollah Khomeini gave the thumbs down on a stay of execution for these massive sentinels of Persia's deserts, which had stood in the mountain face of Bamiyan since time immemorial.

While many took to the streets in demonstration, Indian-born, Jakarta-based writer Amol Titus picked up his pen and wrote Darkness at Bamiyan in tribute to the Buddhist artists who had hewn these statues from the living mountain.

"Darkness at Bamiyan was the only method I could grasp that would tell of the ache I felt when these statues were destroyed," said Titus.

Sections of the epic work were performed during the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in early October where, he said, "a chord was touched" with the international audience.

"It seemed the readings from the book touched a chord with the audience, all of whom, like many of us, felt a sense of loss and despair at the destruction of a shared heritage in March 2001."

Reflecting the scale of the Buddhist statues, Sol Sol and Shahmama, and the scale of the act of violence by the Taliban in their ruin, Titus wrote Darkness at Bamiyan in epic poetry form.

It is a work spanning 640 lines and 160 stanzas.

Epic poetry is one of the foundations of great literature worldwide, a genre applied by Greek poet Homer and philosopher Plato, by masters of English classics such as Pope, Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare and Johnson, and Middle Eastern poets such as Omar Khayyam and Kahlil Gibran.

It is a very difficult genre demanding great focus and surety of touch -- skills possessed by the Jawaharlal Nehru scholarship-winning Titus.

"I chose the epic poetry form to tell the stories of Sol Sol and Shahmama as a conversation between to the two monoliths that had stood side by side for more than 1,000 years," he said.

According to Titus, this mythical conversation between ancient friends dances back and forth, touching on the emotions and actions of humanity.

"The discussion between Sol Sol and Shahmama is an exploration of certain key elements of the human condition, such as companionship, uncertainty, materialism, ritualism, dogma, guilt, anger and separation. (It is) A dialogue of drama and friendship, of hope and tragedy," he said.

Broken into three parts, Titus' epic poem opens with a portent of doom for the statues: "Wake up Sol Sol for I have heard a rumble/Portending a terrifying menace of the unknown".

Over the course of Darkness at Bamiyan, the monoliths discuss the frailty and magnificence of the human mind and human beings, comforting and accepting the inevitable destruction of their montane-hewn forms, which will be carried on desert winds as dust:

A new phase of this inconclusive journey starts to beckon/Promise of renewal, irresistible prospect of a clean slate.

In these lines, Titus has touched on the notion of reincarnation, whether in heaven or hell, pointing out that destroying a visible, tangible symbol does not destroy a philosophy. Further, there is almost a forgiveness for the destroyers, "for they know not what they do" as one holy book intones.

Like most poetry, Darkness at Bamiyan is at its richest when performed, and this epic poem reads like it was created for the stage.

To hear the language spoken out loud, to have its meter and rhyme vocalized, would be a very fine tribute to its author -- and to the subjects whose demise inspired this epic ode.

Back