Ramparts of the Mahasthangarh citadel
Mahasthangarh is the most established archeological site in
Bangladesh. It goes back to 700 BCE and was the old capital of the Pundra
Kingdom. Mahasthangarh is the most punctual urban archeological site so far
found in Bangladesh. The town Mahasthan in Shibganj thana of Bogra District
contains the remaining parts of an antiquated city which was called
Pundranagara or Paundravardhanapura in the region of Pundravardhana. A
limestone section bearing six lines in Prakrit in Brahmi Script, found in 1931,
dates Mahasthangarh to at any rate the third century BC. The invigorated range
was being used till the eighteenth century AD. Mahasthan implies a place that
has fantastic holiness and garh implies fortress.
Mahasthan was
initially specified in a Sanskrit content of the thirteenth century entitled
Vallalcharita. It is additionally specified in a mysterious content Karatoya
mahatmya, interestingly put in twelfth thirteenth century. The same content
additionally specifies two more names to mean the same place – Pundrakshetra,
place that is known for the Pundras, and Pundranagara, city of the Pundras. In
1685, a managerial declaration specified the place as Mastangarh, a blend of
Sanskrit and Persian significance sustained place of a promising personage.
Resulting disclosures have affirmed that the before name was Pundranagara or
Paundravardhanapura, and that the present name of Mahasthangarh is of later
inception.
Mahasthangarh, the old capital of Pundravardana is found 11
km (7 mi) north of Bogra on the Bogra-Rangpur parkway, with a feeder street
(running along the eastern side of the defenses of the stronghold for 1.5 km)
prompting Jahajghata and site historical center. It is trusted that the area
for the city in the territory was settled on in light of the fact that it is
one of the most astounding regions in Bangladesh. The land in the district is
just about 36 m above ocean level, while Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is
around 6 m above ocean level. Another purpose behind picking this place was the
position and size of the Karatoya, which appeared to be as wide as the ocean.
Mahasthangarh remains on the red soil of the Barind Tract
which is marginally lifted inside the to a great extent alluvium range. The
rise of 15 to 25 meters over the encompassing ranges makes it a moderately
surge free physiographic unit. The sustained heart of the antiquated city, is
rectangular in plan, measuring approximately 1.523 km long from north to south,
and 1.371 km from east to west, with high and wide bulwarks in every one of its
wings. The Karatoya , once a powerful waterway however now a little stream,
streams on its east. Till the 1920s, when unearthings began, within the
stronghold was higher than the encompassing zones by more than 4 meters and was
specked with a few straggling lifted parcels. The defense resembled a
wilderness clad mud bulwark with constrained openings at a few focuses. The
bulwark was 11-13 meters higher than the encompassing region.
