Jahanabad Buddha

The Jahanabad Buddha is a 7-metre-high seated Buddha carved into a granite boulder above the village of Jahanabad in Manglawar tehsil, around 25 km northeast of Mingora. It is one of the largest rock-cut Buddhist sculptures in Asia and dates from the 7th century AD.

Reaching the site involves a short climb up a rocky hillside from the village. The carving sits in a clearing among boulders with views across the valley, and the restoration work (visible up close) is itself part of the story. Bring water; there are no facilities on site.

things to do sight
A story
The 7th-century rock-cut Buddha at Jahanabad — one of the largest in South Asia — was dynamited by the Taliban in 2007 and meticulously restored by a joint Pakistani-Italian team in 2016, the face reconstructed from old photographs and surviving fragments.