NCH101
Session 09
Lalbagh fort
One of the finest specimens of the Mughals period is the Aurangabad Fort, commonly
known as Lalbagh Fort, which indeed represents the unfulfilled dream of a Mughal Prince.
It occupies the south-western part of the old city, overlooking the Buriganga on whose
northern bank it stands as a silent sentinel of the old city. Rectangular in plan, it encloses
an area of 1082' by 800' and in addition to corners and a subsidiary small unpretentious
gateway on north; it also contains within its fortified perimeter several splendid
monuments, surrounded by attractive garden. There are small 3-domed mosque, the
mausoleum of Bibi Pari, the reputed daughter of Nawab Shaista Khan and the Hammam
and Audience Hall of the Governor. The main purpose of this fort, was to provide a
defensive enclosure of the palatial edifices of the interior and as such was a type of palace-
fortress rather than a seize-fort.
Ahsan Manjil (The Pink Palace)
Ahsan Manzil, situated at Kumartoli of Dhaka on the bank of the Buriganga was the
residence and the kachari of the Nawabs of Dhaka. It has been turned into a museum
recently. The construction of the palace was begun in 1859 and completed in 1872. Abdul
Ghani named it Ahsan Manzil after his son Khwaja Ahsanullah. At that time the newly
built palace was known as Rang Mahal and the earlier one was called Andar Mahal. Ahsan
Manzil is one of the significant architectural monuments of the country. Established on a
raised platform of 1 metre, the two-storied palace measures 125.4m by 28.75m. The height
of the ground floor is 5 metres and that of the first floor 5.8 metres.
Sonargaon - the Old Capital of Bengal
The capital city of Sonargaon was situated on the northern bank of the Dhaleswari, close
to the confluence of the Dhaleswari and the Sitalakshya, and also 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 now known as Panam in Sonargaon, about 2.5 kilometers
to the north of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway at Mograpara point.
Bangladesh Folk-Art Museum is situated in Sonargaon. It was established by Shilpacharya
Zainul Abedin. It is open for the tourists from Friday to Wednesday from Morning 10-00
am to afternoon 5-00 pm.
Sixty Dome Mosque
The Sixty Dome Mosque (more commonly known as Shait Gambuj Mosque or Saith
Gunbad Masjid), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a mosque in Bangladesh, the largest
in that country from the Sultanate period. It has been described as "the most impressive
Muslim monuments in the whole of the Indian subcontinent”. The mosque is locally known
as the 'Shat Gombuj Masjid', which in Bangla means Sixty Domed Mosque. 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 where Amud meaning
column in Arabic/Persian, later got corrupted to Gombuj in Bangla, which means domes.
Mainamati
Mainamati once known as 'Samatata' denotes a land lying almost even with the sea-level.
An isolated eleven-mile long spur of dimpled low hill range known as the Mainamati –
Lalmai range runs through the middle of Comilla district from north to south. It is the home
of one of the most important Buddhist archaeological sites in the region. Comilla
Cantonment is located nearby and houses a beautiful colonial era cemetery which houses
the departed soldiers form World War II. Mainamati is only 114 km. from Dhaka city and
is just two-hour drive on the way to Chattogram.
Paharpur Buddha Vihara
Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon District, Bangladesh (25°1'51.83"N,
88°58'37.15"E) is among the best-known Buddhist viharas in the Indian Subcontinent and
is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It was designated a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Mahasthangarh
Mahasthangarh is one of the earliest urban archaeological sites so far discovered in
Bangladesh. The village Mahasthan in Shibganj thana of Bogra District contains the
remains of an ancient city which was called Pundranagara or Paundravardhanapura in the
territory of Pundravardhana. A limestone slab bearing six lines in Prakrit in Brahmi script,
discovered in 1931, dates Mahasthangarh to at least the 3rd century BC. The fortified area
was in use till the 18th century AD.
Mahasthangarh is a notable historical tourist attraction of Bangladesh. Many tourists come
here to see the glory of Mahasthangarh.
Kantajew Temple, Dinajpur
This Temple near Dinajpur town was built in 1752 by Maharaja Pran Nath of Dinajpur.
The temple, a 50' square three-storied edifice, rests on a slightly curved raised plinth of
sandstone blocks, believed to have been quarried from the ruins of the ancient city of
Bangarh near Gangarampur in West Bengal from where the now stolen Radha-Krishna
idols are said to have been brought. It was originally a nava-ratna (Having 9 towers at the
top) temple, crowned with four richly ornamental corner towers on two storey and a central
one over the third storey. Unfortunately, these ornate towers collapsed during an
earthquake at the end of the 19th century.
Every inch of the temple surface is beautifully embellished with exquisite terracotta
plaques, representing flora, fauna, geometric motifs, mythological scenes and an
astonishing array of contemporary social scenes and favourite pastimes. The Maharaja's
palace with relics of the past centuries and local museum are worth a visit.
Wari-Bateshwar
Wari-Bateshwar is the site of an ancient fort city dating back to 450 BC situated in the
north-eastern part of Bangladesh. This 2500-year old site is a significant archaeological
discovery. It challenges the earlier notions about the existence of early urban civilization
in Bangladesh.
The site is about 75 km from the capital Dhaka situated near the Wari and Bateshwar
villages in the Belabo Upazila of Narsingdi District. It was discovered in the early 1930s
by a local school teacher, Hanif Pathan. However, formal excavation started only recently
in 2000. The current scientific study is being carried out by a team from the Archaeology
Department of Jahangirnagar University.
The team believes that Wari-Bateshwar is the rich, well planned, ancient emporium (a
commercial city) "Sounagora" mentioned by Greek geographer, astronomer,
mathematician Ptolemy in his book Geographia. The other emporia mentioned in Ptolemy's
work include Arikamedu of India, Mantai of Sri Lanka, Kion Thom of Thailand. All of
these were the most ancient civilisations in their respective regions, each was a river port,
and all of them produced monochrome glass beads. The artifacts found at Wari-Bateshwar
bear similarity with those found in the other emporia sites.
According to researchers, the discovery of Rouletted Ware, Knobbed Ware, stone beads,
sandwiched glass beads, gold-foil glass beads, Indo-Pacific monochrome glass beads and
importantly its geographical location indicates to Southeast Asiatic and Roman contacts.
Excavation also unearthed the presence of pit-dwelling. The discovery of a pit-dwelling is
the first of its kind in Bangladesh. People used to live in these small ditches. The pit-
dwelling is a Copper Age or Chalcolithic artifact. Similar pit-dwellings have been found
in India and Pakistan which are believed to be 4000 years old. The unearthing of a 180-
meter long, six-meter wide and 21-35cm thick road with a by-lane points to very early
urbanisation in this area. Before the discovery of this, the widely held view was that
urbanisation occurred later than what Wari-Bateshwar Ruins indicate.
