Mahasthangarh

Mahasthangarh is the earliest known city in Bangladesh: ancient Pundranagara, capital of the Pundra region, walled by the Maurya period in the third century BC, its fortified area in use until the eighth century AD, with a fortified citadel about a mile and a half by a mile standing up to several metres above the plain beside the old course of the Karatoya. A Brahmi inscription found here is among the oldest written documents of the region. The citadel walls, gates and internal mounds can be walked, a museum holds the finds, and satellite sites spread over kilometres around, including the Govinda Bhita temple mound by the river and the Vasu Vihara monastery. The shrine of Shah Sultan Balkhi inside the citadel draws its own pilgrims.

History

The site holds the remains of Pundranagara, or Paundravardhanapura, capital of the Pundravardhana region, and a limestone slab found in 1931, with six lines of Prakrit in Brahmi script recording a grant, dates it to at least the 3rd century BCE, when it was an important city of the Maurya Empire; its fortified area stayed in use until the 8th century CE. The name Mahasthan, a place of great sanctity, first appears in the 13th-century Sanskrit text Vallalcharita, and an administrative decree of 1685 calls it Mastangarh (Wikipedia, Mahasthangarh).

What's there

• Maurya-period citadel walls - the rampart circuit above the plain.
• The site museum - finds from two thousand years of occupation.
• Govinda Bhita by the river - the temple mound outside the walls.
• The Shah Sultan shrine - the living pilgrimage inside the ancient city.

When to go

November to March. Half a day for the citadel and museum. There is little shade on the ramparts. The museum closes on some days.

What to expect

Much of the site is mounds and wall lines that need imagination. Satellite sites are scattered and need transport. Interpretation is limited. The shrine area is busy on Thursdays with pilgrims.

Nearby

Bogura is south; Paharpur lies north-west.

Key facts