Masood Imran, PhD
Professor & Course teacher
Office: NAC 1155
e-mail: [email protected]
§ This study area is situated at Raynagar
Union of Shibganj Upazila
(subdistrict/thana) in Bogra district,
Bangladesh.
§ In Bangladesh, administrative units are;
§ 1. Division - 8
§ 2. District – 64
§ 3. Subdistrict/Thana – 490
§ 4. Union- 4553
§ Land Unite is Mouza
CHAPTER-5
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 3
Majar Area
Bazar
Area
Museum
RAMPART WALL OF JIYOT KUP IN FORTIFIED THE MUSEUM OF
MAHASTHANGHAR AREA OF MAHASTHAN,
MAHASTHANGHAR DEPARTMENT OF
ARCHAEOLOGY
It represents the largest Early Historic archaeological site of Bangladesh, consisting of the
ruins of the ancient city Pundranagara. Mahasthanghar represents the first urbanization in
Bengal. It was the result of a flourishing trade. Mahasthanghar also became the first
provincial capital (Pundranagara) of Bengal. Besides this inscription, Mahasthanghar yielded
some typical Early Historic antiquities like NBPW (Northern Black Polish Ware), silver punch-
marked coin, copper cast coin, ring stone, bronze mirror etc. These materials suggest that
Mahasthanghar flourished as a major centre during the Early Historic period. Archaeological
evidence also shows that the Mahasthanghar region was a key centre at the time of the
Guptas (ca. 300 AD to 550 AD), the Palas (775 AD to 1071 AD) and even in the Muslim period.
This area is continuously inhabited until the present day. Therefore, this place has always
been characterized in different ways. Popular practices (e.g. songs, rhyme, story, puthi, myth)
are producing new identities. For instance, a temple is known to the local people as
‘Lakhindarer Bashor Ghar’, a bridal suite of Lakhindar. Further, so many cultural and ritual
events have been arranged based on the tomb of Shah Sufi Balkhiar, such as a village-fair,
oros, and others.
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 14
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 15
l 1807-1812_Buchanon Hamilton, under the survey in Eastern India between
l 1879_Sir Alexander Cunningham first excavated this mound in small scale
l 1923_Archaeological Survey of India, VARENDRA RESEARCH SOCIETY of Rajshahi
and Calcutta University jointly started for excavation under the guidance of DR
Bhandarkar, Professor of Ancient History and former Superintendent of
Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle. The work was confined to a few
rooms at the south-west corner of the monastery and the adjoining courtyard.
l In 1925-26_The work was resumed by RD Banerjee, who excavated in the northern
part of the central mound.
l In 1926-27 onward excavation was carried out under the supervision of KN Dikshit.
l In 1930-32_GC Chandra conducted the excavation.
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 16
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 17
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 18
3D PREDICTIVE MODELLING OF PANCHAYATA STYLE
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 19
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 20
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 21
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 22
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 23
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 24
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 25
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 26
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 27
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 28
Past has many voices; not just one – Ian Hodder 29
30
Wari-Bateshwar an archaeological site in
WARI- Narsinghdi district of Bangladesh. Cultivation of
land, digging drains, cutting garbage-pit and red
BATESHWAR soil for building local traditional mud-house and
other household activities of the local people
regularly turn the surface upside down which
expose the objects of ancient people in Wari-
Bateshwar. In addition, after rain fall, wonderful
beads of semi-precious stone and glass, silver
punch-marked coins etc. are rinsed out which
results into clear visibility. In 1930s, local
schoolteacher Hanif Pathan and afterward his son
Habibulla Pathan started collecting those artifacts
and later carried out research with a curious mind.
But for a long time, this potentially important
archaeological site had failed to attract the
attention of professional archaeologists in
Bangladesh. After waiting for 60 years,
archaeological exploration started in 1989
resulting regular excavation from 2000. 31
§ In the west and south-west side of Wari-Bateshwar
citadel, there is a 5.8 km long, 20m wide and 10 m high
mud rampart known as Asom Razar Garh. Most
probably this was linked to the defensive system of
Wari-Bateshwar fort-city which can be considered as
the second fortification wall. Nagarjunakonda in India is
an example of double fortified ancient city.
§ So far 50 archaeological sites have been discovered in
and around Wair-Bateshwar fort-city located by the
bank of the river old Brahmaputra. It is evident from the
pattern of the archaeological sites that the ancient
people established their settlements in flood-free zone.
This is also the evidence of the knowledge of developed
town planning and intellectual height of the ancient
settlers. Similar settlement patterns are evident at
Mahasthangarh (Pundranagar) in Bogra and Allahabad
region of Uttar Pradesh, India.
32
§ Based on all these studies, it appears that the site was occupied continuously from
the early historic to modern times without any break. The presence of the punch-
marked coins not only indicates that the inhabitants used money-based economy but
also suggest that they possessed considerable purchasing capacity. It is also
apparent that the site was a production centre for manufacturing:
§ (1) semi-precious stone beads (as indicated by the recovery of a large quantity of
core and waste materials such as semi-precious stone blocks, flakes and chips, non-
IN THE BOTTOM LINE
perforated, semi-perforated and broken pieces of semi-precious stone beads);
§ (2) pottery (indicated by innumerable potsherds recovered from the site),
§ (3) various types of iron objects (as the discovery of the hoard of triangular-shaped
iron implements and various iron tools such as arrowheads spearheads and nails
indicate).
§ Further, concentration of iron ore in Rajarbag (a neighbouring village) and
Bateshwar areas suggest that the raw material for producing iron objects were
obtained locally. The distribution pattern of Northern Black Polished Ware, Rouletted
Ware, knobbed vessels, semi-precious stone beads (specially the etched variety)
and glass beads establishes that the site functioned as a maritime port and was
already integrated in the Bay of Bengal littoral trade network between 3rd century
BC and 3rd century AD.
33
GANGARIDAI KINGDOM
Ptolemy (c 2nd century AD) gives a little more detailed
location when he writes that Gangaridai occupies the entire
region about the five mouths of the Ganges and that the royal
residence was in the city of Gange. Ptolemy's five mouths of
the Ganges cannot be definitely identified though he has
given their names along with their longitudinal and
latitudinal positions, although these are inaccurate. However,
in his description 4 longitudinal degrees covered the coast
from the westernmost to the easternmost mouth of the river.
This, in effect, means that the Gangaridai country stretched a
long way on the coastline of the bay of bengal between the
westernmost and easternmost mouths of the Ganges. It is
interesting to note that the longitudinal difference between
the mouth of the Bhagirathi (near Tamluk) and the Padma
(near Chittagong) at present is little more than 3.5 degrees.
Thus on Ptolemy's evidence Gangaridai can be located in the
area in between the two main channels of the Ganges in
present West Bengal of India and Bangladesh. However, the
city of Gange cannot be located for lack of details. 34
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