Mahasthangarh : Another View

The remains of the walls of Mahasthangarh show the site as having been once a fortified city. Its suburbs extended for miles and their impressive remains can be traced even today. As its remains show it is also unique in being a city with a continuous history of more than 1500 years (c 3rd -2nd century BC to about 15th century AD). However, with the earlier discovery of probable evidence of urn burial and the recent discovery of probable Chalcolithic levels (Bangladesh-French joint excavations) the occupation of the site may go back to many centuries prior to the foundation of the Maurya period city. In the beginning of the 20th century some excavations were carried out at Mahasthan, particularly in 1907. Then in 1928-29 KN Dikshit of the Archaeological Survey of India excavated here, closely followed by Probhas Chandra Sen, a lawyer from Bogra. Sen probed a large number of mounds and published a report on behalf of the Varendra Research Society in 1929 in which he published an excellent map of the site and its environs.

Huen Tsang's description of Pundranagara in the mid-7th century AD gives us glimpse of a prosperous and rich city. About five hundred years later, the same suggestion is made in the 13th century in the Karatoyamahatmya, confirming the city's continuous prosperity over the centuries. However, Mahasthan excavations have always been on a rather limited scale and as such, except for some probable remains of Gupta and Pala period temples and non-descript structural remains, no considerable area of the city has been cleared to make its plan in any given period intelligible. The latest attempt by the Bangladesh-French joint excavations team, also seems to have taken on the task of establishing the culture sequence of the site by vertical probing, instead of looking for any horizontal progress. At least that is the impression one gets at the end of seven seasons' diggings. Some buildings, all apparently religious, around the city have been extensively excavated - govinda bhita in1928-29 and lakshmindarer medh, Gokul in 1934-36 (NG Majumdar).

As in other sites of Bangladesh, many terracotta plaques have been found in Mahasthangarh. However, we should take note of the recent discovery of a series of a very unusual type of large terracotta plaques from a place near the main city site. These plaques appear to have adorned the walls of a temple now completely gone. The speciality of these plaques is that they depict the story of the Ramayana. Each plaque depicts a particular scene and is labelled with a Sanskrit inscription using alphabets of the late seventh century. This is so far unique in Bangladesh. Very recently, a new cultural dimension has been added by the discovery of Rouletted Ware at Mahasthan.