According
to the Bengali Vocabulary, the name Paharpur (Pahar = hill, pur =
locality) means a locality of hill. It is a village in Badalgachi
Upazila of Naogaon District. The nearest railway station of Jamalganj
that lies on the Khulna-Parvatipur rail tract and is connected with
Paharpur by a 5km long brick metalled bye-way. Paharpur can also be
reached from its nearest airport, Sayedpur, following a metalled road
via Joypurhat. The village contains the ruins of a Buddhist monastery
which was called Somapura Mahavihara (the great monastery situated in
the locality of moon) in the ancient Buddhist World. It is now a World
Cultural Heritage (BGD. 292)
The
monastery is square in plan, being 281m on each side. Built by
Dharmapala (781-821 AD) the second ruler of the Pala dynasty, and
reconstructed at least twice by his descendants, each of its with has
thick exterior wall with two entrance provisions on the north and one in
the east. Besides, there has a row of monastic cells, fronted by a
running corridor, abutting the exterior wall. Some of the cells contain
solid pedestals. There has also a sub-worshipping point in the mid-most
part of each wing excepting the north one. Each worshipping point,
excepting the southern one, has a staircase connection with the
monastery courtyard in front. In the center of the open courtyard of the
monastery there stands the residual vestige of a four-faced shrine.
The
central shrine is a terraced structure springing from a cruciform ground
plan and expanding from a mid-pile of square configuration. The upper
terrace has in its each side a sanctum fronted by an ante-chamber with
circumambulatory passage around. Each of the second and first terraces
has nothing but a circumambulatory passage. The passages of the lower
terrace, however, are now covered under recently accumulated soil. Its
wall has 63 inches at plinth level, each being provided with a stone
sculpture. Whereas the un-plastered wall surfaces of the lower two
terraces are decorated with friezes containing terracotta plaques
showing different scenes. The cornices of all terraces are turgent and
lavishly relieved with carved bricks showing chain, petal, pyramidal,
dental, net and lozenge motifs. Moreover, at the juncture of the
cornices there are stone gargoyles ended in grinning lion faces.
The
courtyard around the central shrine is dotted with several units of
straggling structural ruins. Of them, Panchavede > a group of five
votive stupas>near the south-eastern comer, a kitchen towards west of
Panchavedi, a long paved dinning arrangement towards north-west of
Panchavedi and a model of the central shrine on the north of Panchavedi
are a few to note. The northeast comer is also occupied by another group
of structures, They appear to have been related to office
establishments. Close to the basement of the central shrine a number of
wells, votive stupas, vedika cruciform model etc. are noticed. The
western half of the courtyard is relatively barren in structural
finding.
A good
number of objects cultural have been salvaged from Paharpur, They
include sculptural pieces, terracotta plaques, pottery, domestic tools,
ornaments, coins, seals, ceilings, votive stupas etc. They are now
housed in Asutosh Museum Kolkata, Bangladesh National Museum , Varendra
Museum, Paharpur Museum and other site museums in Bangladesh.
Of these
antiquities sculptural pieces as well as sculptured plaques are
artistically most alluring. Most of the sculptural pieces are medium in
size and a few are smaller. All of them are wrought on stone save a few
of metal. Stucco sculptural pieces are, however, not altogether lacking.
Among the metal sculptures, the fragmentary bust of a Buddha is worth
noted because of its artistic excellence. Only one stone sculpture is
related to Mahayana order, the remaining being Hindu. In dating
parlance, they may be placed in the 7th-12th AD time-bracket.
The next
group of alluring art objects is represented by terracotta plaques. They
are at least 2800 in number and appear to be contemporaneous to the 1st
constructional period of the Pala monastery. Their sizes vary between
40cm x 30cm x 6cm and 18cm square. They depict diverse scenes reflecting
the then socio-political, economic and martial aspects.
From
Bogura, take a bus to Jaipurhat (approximately 44 km). From Jaipurhat,
buses leave regularly between 4 pm to 7 pm for Paharpur from Jaipurhat.
Then to get to the sights from Paharpur village take a rickshaw or a
three wheeler. And to get back to Jaipurhat you can get tempo.
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