Paharpur Buddhist Monastery, Bangladesh
Paharpur Buddhist Vihara or Sompur Vihar or Sompur Mahavihar is an ancient Buddhist Vihara which is now destroyed. Sri Dharmapaladeva, the second king of the Palavansh dynasty, was building this Vihara in the late 8th or 9th century. Sir Cunningham discovered this great feat in 1879. In 1985, UNESCO gave it the status of a World Heritage Site. Paharpur can be called the largest Buddhist monastery in the world. In size it can be compared to the Nalanda Mahavihara in India.It was a very famous Buddhist center for 300 years. Not only from different parts of the subcontinent, Buddhists from countries like China, Tibet, Myanmar (then Brahmadesh), Malaysia, Indonesia etc. used to come here to practice and acquire religious knowledge. Acharya of Bihar in 10th century AD was Atish Dipankar Sreegyan.Sompur Mahavihara was situated between Pundravardhan's capital Pundranagar (present day Mahasthan) and another city Kotivarsha (present day Bangar). Its ruins are located in Paharpur village of Badalgachi upazila of Naogaon district in present-day Greater Rajshahi of Bangladesh. On the other hand, its distance from Jamalganj railway station of Joypurhat district is only 5 km to the west.
Its geographical location is 25°0'N to 25°15'N latitude and 88°50'E to 89°10'E longitude. The archaeological site covers an area of ​​about 0.10 square kilometers (10 ha) within the village. The ground plan of this archaeological site is quadrangular in shape. It is located in the flood plains of North Bengal, Bangladesh, belonging to the Barendra lowlands of Pleistocene age.The soil is reddish due to the presence of iron in the soil. However, at present this soil is covered under the sediment in most places. It survives as a hill-like structure about 30.30 meters above the surrounding plains. Local people called it 'Gopal Cheetah Hill'. Since then it has been named Paharpur, although its real name is Sompur Bihar.Hiuen Tsang came to Pundravardhan in the middle of the 7th century and there is no mention of the monastery and temple at Sompur in his detailed account. Gopal's son Dharmapala (781 - 822 AD) ascended the throne and ruled for a long time and expanded the kingdom beyond Bengali Bihar to Gandhara on the north-west border of Pakistan. Emperor Dharmapala was a very devout Buddhist and it was he who founded Vikramshila and Sompur Viharas.On the other hand, the author of the famous Tibetan history book "Pag Sam Zon Zhang" very clearly mentions the huge monastery and lofty temple built at Sompur by Dharmapala's son Devapala (810-850). It is mentioned in various inscriptions that monks of Sompur Vihar used to donate money and jewels to various Indian Buddhist pilgrimage sites like Nalanda, Buddha Gaya etc. which indicates a prosperous condition in 10th - 11th century.
The ground-plan of the Buddhist monastery is quadrangular. The north and south wings are 273.7 m each and the east and west wings are 274.15 m. It was surrounded by wide boundary walls. Along the boundary walls lined the interior were smaller rooms. There are 45 rooms in the northern wing and 44 rooms in the other three wings.Three floors of these rooms have been discovered. Each floor was very solidly built with thick surki on the laid bricks. In the last period altars of various sizes were built on the floor in 92 rooms. From this it can be inferred that in the first period all the rooms were used as residences of monks but later some rooms were converted into prayer rooms.Each of the rooms has a door. These doors are wide on the inside but narrow on the outside. Niches are available in some rooms. A number of everyday items are found on the floors of rooms with niches.Internally, the rooms measure 4.26m in length and 4.11m in width. The rear wall of the room i.e. the boundary wall is 4.87m wide and the front wall is 2.44m wide. The rooms have a 2.5m wide terrace in front. Each wing is connected by stairs to the inner open square.
The main gate is located in the middle of the north side of Bihar. It has a pillared hall on the outer and inner side and small niches on the sides. These axes were used for various purposes. There was another small entrance way between the main gate and the north-east corner of Bihar.The staircase used to access the inner open space from here still exists today. The north, south and west wings also had similar staircases. Among them there are only traces of the stairs of the western wing. Till 1984 there was a pond in front of the North Arm entrance.According to the information obtained from the excavations of 1984-85, the pond was excavated during the later period of the first construction period and the staircase in this part was destroyed. Later the pond was filled.
Sandstone Chamunda Idol, Red Stone Dandayaman Sheetala Idol, Black Stone Vishnu Fragment, Black Stone Dandayaman Ganesha, Sandstone Kirti Idol, Dubalhati Maharani Oil Painting, Hargauri Damaged Idol, Black Stone Lakshni Narayan Broken Idol, Black Stone Uma Idol, Sandstone Gauri Idol , Sandstone Vishnu Idol, Nandi Idol, Krishna Stone Vishnu Idol, Surya Idol.
2. Gabtoli Bus Terminal, Phone: 02-8011226
3. Bijoy Nagar, Kakrail, Phone: 02-9352118
4. Mohakhali Bus Terminal, Phone: 02-8834833, 01552-315831
1. Hotel Agomoni
Address: Muktir Mor, Naogaon.
Manager: Md. Salah Uddin Parvej,
Phone: 0741-63351
2. Hotel Obokas
Address: Par-Naogaon, Santahar Road, Naogaon.
Manager: Md. Abdul Azij Chowdhury,
Phone: 0741-62356
3. Afsar Rest House
Sadar Hospital Road, Naogaon.
Manager: Md. Khayrul Alam Advocate,
Phone: 0741-63153
4. Archaeological Rest House, Paharpur,
Phone: 0571 89119
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