Department of Archeology : Bangladesh

CONTACT INFORMATION of DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY
Director Department of Archaeology Ministry of Cultural Affairs Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Telephone : 8126817, 8112715 Fax : 88-02-9114689 E-mail : archaeology@agnionline.com

The World Heritage : Paharpur Monestry

The World Heritage : Paharpur Monestry

Paharpur Monestry is situated in a village named Paharpur (Pahadpur) under the Badalgachhi Upazila of Naogaon district. The village is connected with the nearby Railway station Jamalganj, the district town Naogaon and Jaipurhat town by metalled roads. It is in the midst of alluvial flat plain of northern Bangladesh. In contrast to the monotonous level of the plain, stands the ruins of the lofty (about 24m high from the surrounding level) ancient temple which was covered with jungle, locally called Pahar or hill from which the name Paharpur is derived.

In 1923 the excavation was started at last by the initiative of the Archaeological Survey of India. This excavation continued until 1934 and the devoted work of K. N. Dikshit, one of the senior officers of the Survey, and others achieved the tremendous result to clarify the whole structure of the Vihara. Continued excavation and conservation activities showed that the degradation was becoming a problem, so the Government of Bangladesh started to request assistance and contribution to such kinds of activities from international resources. At the 21st UNESCO General Conference held in November 1980, a resolution was adopted to take up the ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur and the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat, Bangladesh, as target heritage sites for the UNESCO's international campaign to safeguard the cultural heritage. In accordance with this decision a UNESCO mission visited Bangladesh from February through March 1982 with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a master plan for the conservation of both heritage sites was completed in 1983. The international safeguarding campaign officially commenced in 1985 when Paharpur Buddhist Vihara was included in the World Heritage List.

Inscriptions : Paharpur Monestry

The discovery of an inscribed copper-plate and some stone inscriptions has helped us to determine the chronology of the different periods. The copper-plate found in the northeast corner of the monastery is dated in 159 Gupta Era (479 AD). It records the purchase and grant by a Brahman couple of a piece of land for the maintenance of the worship of Arhats and a resting place at the Vihara, presided over by the Jaina teacher Guhanandin. This Vihara, which was situated at Vatagohali in the 5th century AD, must have been an establishment of local celebrity.

It is worth mentioning here that the same name Vatagohali is found on a mutilated copper-plate found at Baigram dated 128 GE (448 AD). The mention of the name Vatagohali in a record from Barigram, which is about 30 km to the north of Paharpur, indicates that the two places Vaigrama and Vatagohali may not be for away from each other. The Guhanandi Vihara at Vatagohali must have shared the fate of other Jaina establishments in Pundravardhana, when anarchy reigned supreme in Bengal in the 7th century AD. At last peace was established and the Pala empire was securely founded in Bengal in the 8th century AD and a magnificent temple along with a gigantic monastery was established by Dharmapala at Somapura. Dikshit believes that the monks in the new Buddhist Vihara might have been given the royal permission to appropriate the land belonging to the Jaina Vihara and kept the original charter in their possession. According to him 'this suppostion can alone, explain the find of the plate among the ruins of the Buddhist Vihara'.

A number of stone pillar inscriptions were discovered from the site which contain the records of the donation of pillars referring to either Buddha or the three jewels. The dates assigned to them belong to 10th and 12th century AD. All the donors have names ending in garbha, viz, Ajayagarbha, Shrigarbha and Dashabalagarbha, excepting one which shows a fragmentary record of some person whose name ended in nandin. It is possible that these indicate continuity or succession of monks at Paharpur Vihara.

A few stucco heads have been recovered from Paharpur, but this art was not as developed as in the Gandhara period. The common feature of all the Buddha heads found at Paharpur is the protruding eyelids and in some of them the hair is shown in ringlets.

Only a few metal images have been found. The ornamental image of Hara-Gouri, a standing naked Jaina and the bronze figures of Kubera and Ganesha are the only important images that have been discovered at Paharpur from pre-Bangladesh period excavations. But the post-liberation excavation (1981-82 precisely) discovered the torso of a large and highly important bronze Buddha image. Due to damage by fire only the upper half down to the thighs has been preserved. However, it is still possible to make out that the figure once represented the Buddha in a standing posture. The surviving part of the image measures roughly 1.27m, so that total height of the original must have been about 2.40m. In view of its style and the layer in which the bronze was discovered the sculpture can be attributed to about the 9th or 10th century. The only other known bronze Buddha figure from about the same period and of roughly equal size is the famous image from Sultanganj in Bihar, now in the Art Gallery of Birmingham Museum.

Coins As many as five circular copper coins have been discovered from a room close to the main gateway complex of the monastery. Of them three are of a unique type showing a rather clumsily depicted bull on the obverse and three fishes on the reverse. A silver coin belonging to Harun-ur-Rashid, the Khalifa of Baghdad, bears the date 127 AH (788 AD). Another series of six coins issued by sher shah (I540-45 AD), two of Islam Shah (I 545-53 AD), three of Bahadur Shah (16th century AD), two of daud karrani, one of akbar (1556-1605 AD) and one of Sultan Hussain Shah Sharki of Jaunpur. All these coins are fabricated on silver excepting the last one, which is of copper. But we are not yet sure how these coins made their way into this vihara.

Pottery The pottery discovered from the excavation at Paharpur was numerous and varied. Most of them belong to the middle or the late period roughly from the end of the tenth to the twelfth century AD. One class of ware, which may be attributed to the early Pala period (about 9th century AD). These are decorated with cross lines in the lower surface only or on the sides as well. Only a few large storage jars (one inside the other) were found in situ in some monastery cells. These large jars were set in the corner of the room by cutting the floor of the third period (Diskshit's second period) monastery. But no food grains or any other object was found in the jars. These were full of soil. A number of complete saucers could be recovered from the pre-monastic level. This pottery may be attributed to the pre-Pala period (c 6th to 7th century AD). Generally the pottery is well burnt to a red or buff green on which red slip was applied either in bands or on the entire surface except at the bottom. Almost all the vessels had a broad base and a protuberant centre while the large storage jars had a pointed or tapering bottom. Besides a number of vessels shaped like modern handis and spouted vases or lotas, there are also vessels with a narrow neck and mouth with a cylindrical body. A number of lids of pottery, dishes, saucers and lamps which include a large variety of circular shell vessels with or without a lip at the rim near the wick have been found. Other common antiquities are the terracotta crude female figures, the model of animals, parts of finials, dabbers of truncate cone shape, flat discs, sealings and beads of cylinderical shape. A number of ornamental bricks have been found in the pattern of the stepped pyramid, lotus petal, the chessboard, rectangular medallion with half lotuses etc.

Terracotta Plaques in Paharpur Monestry

Terracotta Plaques in Paharpur Monestry

Terracotta plaques The terracotta plaques play the most predominant part in the scheme of decoration of the walls of the temple. There are more than 2,000 plaques that still decorate the faces of the walls and about 800 loose ones have been registered. Majority of these plaques is contemporaneous with the building. No regular sequential arrangement has been followed in fixing these plaques on the walls. The sizes of the plaques vary in different section of the walls. Some are unusually big, measuring 40 x 30 x 6 cm and some are manufactured in a special size of about 18 cm square, but most of them are of a standard height, measuring 36cm x 22/24 cm.
The representations of divinities of hierarchical religion are few and far between. The Brahmanical as well as the Buddhist gods are equally illustrated in the plaques. They are the principal varieties of Shiva and other Brahmanical gods like Brahma, Visnu, Ganesha and Surya. Buddhist deities, mostly of the Mahayana School, including Bodhisattva Padmapani, Manjushri and Tara are noticed here and there. Well-known stories from the Panchatantra are represented with evident humour and picturesque expressiveness.

The fancy and imagination of the terracotta artists at Paharpur seems to be revealed mostly in the various movements of men and women engaged in different occupations. The artists were fully responsive to their environment and every conceivable subject of ordinary human life finds its place on the plaques. Similarly animals - snake, deer, lion, tiger, elephant, boar, monkey, jackal, rabbit, fish, duck goose - have been presented in their typical actions and movements. But the representations of the flora are comparatively poor. The lotus and the common plantain tree are represented in the plaques. It appears that this art must have been very popular in Bengal and through these plaques we get a glimpse of the social life of the people of that period.



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Sculptures on Different Periods : Paharpur Monestry

Sculptures on Different Periods : Paharpur Monestry

These sculptures belong to different periods and can be classified into three distinct groups with respect to their style and artistic excellence. In the first group a considerable number of sculptures depict scenes from the life of Krsna. There are some other panels which depict the most popular themes of the Mahabharata and Ramayana and various other incidents from daily life of the rural folk. Their features and appearances are heavy and sometimes crude, without any proportion or definition of form. Though the art is technically crude and imperfect, but its social content is intensely human, highly expressive of liveliness, and artistically significant.

Despite a general heaviness all through in the sculptures of the second group, there are some panels which are marked by lively action and movement. Thus it is a compromise between the first and third group, which maintains the eastern Gupta traditions. The third group is marked by the soft and tender modelling, the refinement and the delicacy of features, which are generally associated with Gupta classicism. Besides, there is a huge difference in attitude, subject matter, temperament and general technique between the first group and the other two groups. The sculptures of the other two groups generally depict cult divinities conforming to the dictates of the Brahmanical hierarchy. The stones used in them are greyish-white-spotted sandstone or basalt. Of all the loose stone images found in the excavations the most interesting is the fragmentary image of Hevajra in close embrace with his Shakti or female counter-part.

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Please Vote for Sundarban : The Sundarbans (Bengali: সুন্দরবন Shundorbôn) is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.

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