Bangladesh Studies

Group Assignment
Group Name:- “ The Archaeology Team ”
Topic:-
Different Archaeological Sites of Bangladesh
Sonargaon

Bangladesh is the most beautiful country in South Asia loaded with beautiful
archaeological sites and historical establishments. Sonargaon is one of those
beautiful archaeological sites.
Sonargaon is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It is one of the old capitals of
the historic region of Bengal. But now, Sonargaon is home to some of the oldest
buildings in Bangladesh. It is also known as the ‘ Golden Village ’.
Location:-
It is located in the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. It
is situated on the northern bank of the Dhaleswari. It is close to the confluence of
the Dhaleswari and the Sitalakshya, and close to that of Old Brahmaputra and the
Meghna. The site of the city is lying about 27 kilometers almost southeast of
Dhaka city. The area is now known as Panam in Sonargaon, about 2.5 kilometers
to the north of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Mugrapara point.
History:-
Sonargaon was the seat of the Deva Dynasty until the 13th century. In the early
14th century, Sonargaon became part of the Delhi Sultanate when Shamsuddin
Firoz Shah conquered central Bengal. When Bahram Khan died in 1338, his
armor-bearer, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah, declared himself the independent
Sultan of Sonargaon. After the death of Fakhruddin in 1349, his son Ikhtiyaruddin
Ghazi Shah became the next independent ruler of Sonargaon. Sonargaon
continued to maintain this status until the ruler of Satgaon Shamsuddin Ilyas
Shah attacked and defeated Sonargaon in 1352 and established the Bengal
Sultanate. When the Bengal Sultanate disintegrated in the late 16thcentury, Isa
Khan gained an estate covering the area of Sonargaon.

( Isa Khan )
Isa Khan and a confederation of zamindars resisted Mughal expansion in eastern
Bengal. The confederation is known as the “ Baro-Bhuyan ”. He was designated as
the ruler of the whole Bhati region, with the title of “ Masnad-e-Ala ”. Isa Khan
died in September 1599. His son, Musa Khan, then took control of the Bhati
region. After the fall of Musa Khan in 1610 in the hands of the Mughals,
Sonargaon became the headquarters of one of the sarkars of Bengal subah. With
the establishment of the Mughal capital in Dhaka, the city of Sonargaon had fallen
fast into decay.
Differents Places to Visit:-
Sonargaon Folk-Arts & Crafts Museum
Sonargaon Folk-Arts and Craft Museum is the most popular tourist spot in
Sonargaon. There are two museums inside the premises of Sonargaon Folk-Arts
and Craft Museum.
The original museum was established by famous painter Joynul Abedin in 1975 on
an old house called Bara Sardar Bari built-in 1901.

( Bara Sardar Bari )

Artifacts related to the heritage of Bengal from the 17th century onward are being
displayed in this museum. Daily-life tools, ornaments, furniture, treasure box,
musical instruments, and many other things related to the heritage of Bengal are
the main attraction of this museum. A new museum has been built on the same
premises, where mainly the rich culture of fabrics in Sonargaon is being displayed.
Sonargaon was very famous for its production of the finest quality hand-made
saries among which Muslin was the most famous. Its customer was mainly the
royal families.

( A Woman in Fine Bengali Muslin )

Other interesting artifacts like an ornamented wooden door, different wooden
decoration pieces, models of different types of boats, etc are being displayed in
the new museum.
Panam Nagar

Panam Nagar is an abandoned city of Hindu merchants. It is the most attractive

tourist spot in Sonargaon. It was founded in the early 19th century during British
rule in the sub-continent. Hindu merchants built their houses in the city- 52
houses on a single street. The Hindu merchants fled to India during the Partition
of India when Bengal became a Muslim region. As a result, the area became
completely abandoned. It is a great place for tourists to spend a whole afternoon.

Goaldi Mosque
Goaldi Mosque is a beautiful medieval period mosque in Sonargaon, located just
01 km north-west of Panam Nagar. This is the only structure remaining in
Sonargaon from the medieval period. It is a small mosque built by Mullah Hisabar
Akbar in 1519 CE. It has been fairly well-maintained by the Government, and
tourists are welcome to visit this place respectfully.
 ( Goaldi Mosque )
There are more places to visit in Sonargaon like the Mosque and Tomb of Pir
Mohammad Yusuf, the Tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, Panch Pir Dargah,
Shiva Shrine, etc and many forts and places which makes this place interesting for
the tourists to visit.
 Shat Gambuj Mosque
The Sixty Dome Mosque is more commonly known as Shat Gambuj Mosque or
Shat Gambuj Masjid. UNESCO World Heritage Site has declared it as the largest
Mosque in the country from the Sultanate Period. It has been described as the
most impressive Muslim monument in the whole of the Indian subcontinent.

History:-
In the middle of the 15th century, a Muslim colony was founded in the mangrove
forest of the Sundarbans, near the coast in the Bagerhat District by a saint-
General, named Khan Jahan Ali. He preached in an affluent city during the reign
of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, then known as ” Khalifalabad ”. Khan Jahan
adorned this city with more than a dozen mosques, the ruins of which are focused
around the most imposing and largest multi-domed mosques in Bangladesh,
known as the Shat Gambuj Masjid (160'×108'). The construction of the mosque
was started in 1442 and was completed in 1459. The mosque was used for
prayers, and also as a madrasah and assembly hall.
Location:-
It is located in the Bagerhat district in Southern Bangladesh which is in Khulna
Division. It is about 3 miles far from the main town of Bagerhat. Bagerhat is nearly
200 miles away from Dhaka which is the capital of Bangladesh.

Style:-
The Sixty Dome Mosque has walls of unusually thick, tapered brick in the Tughlaq
style and a hut-shaped roofline that anticipates later styles. The length of the
mosque is 160 feet and the width is 108 feet. There are 77 low domes arranged in
seven rows of eleven, and one dome on each corner, bringing the total to 81
domes. There are four towers. Two of four towers were used to call Azaan. The
mosque has 77 squat domes with 7 four-sided pitched Bengali domes in the
middle row. The vast prayer hall, although provided with 11 arched doorways on
the east and 7 each on north and south for ventilation and light, presents a dark
and somber appearance inside. It is divided into 7 longitudinal aisles and 11 deep
bays by a forest of 60 slender stone columns, from which springs rows of endless
arches, supporting the domes. Six feet thick, slightly tapering walls and hollow
and round, almost detached corner towers, resembling the bastions of fortress,
each capped by small rounded cupolas, recall the Tughlaq architecture of Delhi.

Sixty Domes or Sixty Columns

The Sixty Dome Mosque is locally known as the Shat Gambuj Masjid. However,
there are 77 domes over the main hall and exactly 60 stone pillars. It is possible
that the mosque was originally referred to as the Sixty Pillared Mosque.
 Mahasthangarh

Mahasthangarh is one of the most beautiful historical sites in Bangladesh. It is

also one of the oldest archaeological sites in Bangladesh. ‘ Mahasthan ’ means a
place that has excellent sanctity and ‘ Garh ’ means fort. Mahasthangarh is also
known as ‘ Pundranagara ’ or ‘ Paundravardhanapura ’.

Discovery:-
Several personalities contributed to the discovery and identification of the ruins
at Mahasthangarh. Francis Buchanan Hamilton was the first to locate and visit
Mahasthangarh in 1808.

The fortified heart of the ancient city, is rectangular in plan, measuring roughly
1.523 kilometers long from north to south, and 1.371 kilometers from east to
west, with high and wide ramparts in all its wings.
Location:-
Mahasthangarh has located 11 km north of Bogra on the Bogra-Rangpur highway,
with a feeder road leading to Jahajghata and the site museum. The spectacular
site is an imposing landmark in the area having a fortified.
History:-

From the archaeological evidence, it is proven that Mahasthangarh was a

provincial capital of the Mauryans, the Guptas, the Palas, and the Feudal Hindu
kings of a later period. Beyond the citadel, other ancient ruins were found within
a radius of 7/8 km in a semi-circle in the north, south, and west which testify the
existence of extensive suburbs.
The whole area is rich in Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim sites. The Buddhists were
here until at least the 11th century. Their most glorious period was the 8th to the
11th centuries when the Buddhist Pala emperors of North-Bengal ruled. It is from
this period that most of the visible remains belong. The citadel was probably first
constructed under the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century B.C. Mahasthangarh
fell into disuse around the time of Mughal invasions. Mahasthangarh dates back
to at least the 3rd century B.C and is acknowledged as the earliest city-site so far
discovered in Bangladesh.

Mounds
At present, there are several mounds and structural vestiges inside the
fortifications. Some of them are Jiat Kunda, Mankalir Dhap, Parasuramer Basgriha,
Bairagir Bhita, Khodar Pathar Bhita, Munir Ghon, and many more.
Excavations

Systematic archaeological excavation of Mahasthangarh was first started in

(1928–29) under the guidance of K.N.Dikshit of the Archaeological Survey of
India. The excavations have led to the recovery of a large number of items like
Inscriptions, Coins, Ceramics, Sculpture, Terracotta Plaques. Many of these are on
display in the site museum.
 Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort is an incomplete Mughal palace defensive structure at the national

capital on the stream Buriganga within the southwestern part of the recent town.
The stream has currently gone additional south and flows at quite a distance from
the fort. D'Oyly's painting (1809-11) shows that over half this east-west
rectangular defensive structure touched the water of the stream on its south and
southwestern sides.
Location:-
Lalbagh Fort is located in Lalbagh of Old Dhaka, hence named so. It is situated by
the bank of the river Buriganga in rich red soil.

Burials
Pari Bibi, Charles D’Oyly, Muhammad Habibur Rahman
The burial chamber of Pari Bibi is uncommon thanks to its materials of black
volcanic rock, white marble, and painted tiles of assorted colors are accustomed
to beautify its interior, whereas the central chamber, wherever Pari Bibi is buried,
is entirely veneered in white marble.
History:-

Mughal aristocrat Muhammad Azam, third son of Aurangzeb started the work of
the fort in 1678 throughout his vice-royalty in a geographical area. He stayed in
the geographical area for fifteen months. The fort remained incomplete once he
was known as away by his father Aurangzeb. Shaista Khan was the new subahdar
of Dhaka therein time, and he didn't complete the fort. In 1684, the female
offspring of Shaista Khan named Asian country Dukht Pari Bibi died there. Once
her death, he began to suppose the fort as unlucky and left the structure
incomplete. Among the 3 major components of Lalbagh Fort, one is that the spot
of Pari Bibi. After Shaista Khan left Dhaka, it lost its quality. The most cause was
that the capital was affected from Dhaka to Murshidabad. Once the top of the
royal Mughal amount, the fort became abandoned. In 1844, the realm
nonheritable its name as Lalbagh commutation Aurangabad, and therefore the
fort became Lalbagh Fort.
Structure:-

The central space of the fort is occupied by 3 buildings – the Diwan-i-Aam and
therefore the Hammam on its east, the House of God on the west, and therefore
the grave of Pari Bibi in between the 2 – in one line, however not at equal
distance. A water channel with fountains at regular intervals connects the 3
buildings from east to west and north to south. Three field monuments at
intervals the complicated was finished: the sepulcher of Pari Bibi, the Diwan or
Hall of Audience, and therefore the Three-Domed Quilla House of God all go back
1684.

The fortification wall on the south had 5 bastions at regular intervals 2 stories tall,
and therefore the western wall had 2 bastions; the most important one is close to
the most southern gate. The bastions had an associate underground tunnel.
 Somapura Mahavihara

Many famous monasteries grew up during the Pala Dynasty in ancient Bengal and
Magadha. Somapura Mahavihara is one of those monasteries. It is one of the
largest monasteries in the south of the Himalayas and Indian sub-continent. It is
one of the most significant ancient historical Buddhist monuments. It is also one
of the most famous examples of architecture in pre-Islamic Bangladesh. At
present, it is a major tourist attraction and many domestic and foreign tourists
visit it every year.
Location:-
Somapura Mahavihara (also known as Paharpur Bihar or Paharpur Buddha Bihar)
is located in Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon district. It is about 5 km
north of the Naogaon district and about 12 km south of Jaipurhat district.

History:-
Somapura Mahavihara is one of the most important archaeological sites in the
country. Many scholars view this inscription as the largest Buddhist monastery in
the world. The famous British archaeologist, Sir Cunningham discovered this huge
monastery. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. In the
middle of the 8th century, Hiuen Tsang came to Pundravardhana, but it is not
mentioned the name of Somapura Mahavihara, the monastery, and the temple in
his description. Emperor Dharmapala was a very earnest Buddhist and he built
Vikramashila and Somapura Mahavihara. But according to others, Tibetan
sources, Taranatha's history, and Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang mention that Dharmapala's
sources, Taranatha's history, and Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang mention that Dharmapala's
successor Devapala built it after his conquest of Varendra. In various scripts, the
monks of Somapura Mahavihara donated money and treasure to various Buddhist
pilgrimages like Nalanda, Buddha, and others and it indicates the prosperous
condition of Buddhists in the 1st - 5th centuries.

Structure:-

This monastery occupies 27 acres of land. There are 177 rooms inside the
monastery. It looks like a small hill from far away. The basement of this site has
the shape of a cross. The current height of this monastery is 21 meters, but it is
anticipated that the height was more than 30 meters. But the local people
surrounding this temple are saying that with the times it is getting down in height.
The actual height of the 80s when the excavation started was, in fact, higher than
now. Terracotta works are on the walls of the main temple and those created in
the various form of idols. All the rooms were located surrounded by the main
temple.

It is anticipated that the tantric priests and student monks from distant places
used to come and stayed in those rooms. The rooms are approximately 8.2m in
length and 5.7m in width. The rooms are surrounded by the main temple as a
square field. There are 45 in a row on the north and 44 on the other three rows.