The book appears by popular demand as scholars and fellow Buddhists seek a better understanding of a country so little known among Thais despite its importance to the religion.

The whole world heard about Muslim Afghanistan's other faith when the Taleban regime dynamited the massive Bamiyan Buddha images in 2001, saying that figurative representations of divinity were a sin, yet at the core displaying sheer intolerance.

From Indian and other foreign sources, Phra Maha Daosiam has produced a brief but extremely well researched history of Afghan Buddhism before the arrival of Islam.

His prose is precise and easy to follow without sacrificing scholarly intensity, and the book is generously illustrated with photographs.

Located at a strategic intersection of the Arab and Indian worlds, a gateway from the West to China, Afghanistan has been at the mercy of foreign invasions for thousands of years.

Greeks, Persians, Turks, Mongols and many more took turns holding sway here, but until the Muslim army came around 1200, Buddhism was never under serious threat. Under Islam, it disappeared in a century, its devotees forced to convert.

Presenting each location where Buddhism once thrived in Afghanistan, Phra Maha Daosiam has rescued many details from oblivion.

The city of Kapisa, for example, crops up today in reports of military operations, but the oldest city in Afghanistan was once the capital under King Kaniska, a devout Buddhist.

Kapisa was the home of Phra Samputasanawasi, one of the most learned disciples of Anondha, who was in turn the Lord Buddha's closest follower. There are descriptions of the city from Xuan Zang's 18th-century "Journey to the West" - better known to Thais as the adventures of Phra Tang Sam Jang.

Bamiyan's four gigantic carved Buddha images shared their valley view with 20,000 caves man-made for religious purposes, the largest such cluster in the world.

The book's sole chapter not devoted to history discusses present-day efforts and proposals to preserve the country's Buddhist relics and sites - and the debate over whether the Buddha statues should be restored.

There is also a brief account of the need for conservation in neighbouring Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

And there's a survey of world opinion on the Bamiyan travesty, gleaned from newspapers and documents, plus the author's 2004 interview with the Indian scholar CS Upasak, whose "The History of Buddhism in Afghanistan" is lauded as the best by Phra Maha Daosiam himself.

Upasak told the author that he had sleepless nights after the Taleban announced plans for the statues' demolition, hoping against hope that it was only a bluff. When he saw video of the blasts on television, the tears flowed.

Restoration, Upasak says, is not replacement - the originals were, after all, carved into the mountain - but it would greatly benefit future generations, who could at least see a magnificent facsimile of the ancient monument to faith.

Reprinted verbatim from the newspaper Matichon is a 2004 interview with Venerable PA Payutto, the Thai recipient of the 1994 Unesco Prize for Peace Education.

The much-admired monk-scholar warns against allowing the images' destruction to foster hatred or vengeful feelings among Buddhists, but calls upon all caring people to denounce the act, prevent its repetition and help conserve such shared treasures. 

From his base in India, Phra Maha Daosiam has been able to both consult international sources on the initial threat to wreck the statues and on the act itself, and assess reactions there and in Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Japan.

He was, however, dismayed by the muted response to the initial threat from Thai religious authorities and the government, even as the Bangkok-based World Buddhist Organisation was urging the United Nations to do something.

While then-opposition leader Chuan Leekpai called for the government and Thai Buddhists to show solidarity in trying to block the devastation, the author writes, the Thaksin administration barely budged.

Afghanistan has some 2,800 religious sites registered, according to Professor Upasak, but only 1,600 have been excavated.

All the better, suggests Pra Maha Daosiam, to protect them from the lingering possibility of destruction.

Their fate remains unsure as long as those who hold power ignore their ancient land's cultural legacy.

By Sukanya Hantrakul