ঢাকামঙ্গলবার , ২ জুন ২০২৬
Projonmo Prokriti Prashnik: Bangladesh is a country rich in history. We are rich and full of culture. I got the honor to visit two of our historical sites; Paharpur and Mahastangarh. In this article, I will give you glimpses of my experience of visiting these two places.
Every student, like me, read and heard about Paharpur and Mahastangarh. But I got the opportunity to visit them. It was simply eye-opening. Thousand years ago, these structures were built, and they still stand strong up today, surviving all the challenges nature had to offer. Thousands of years ago, when almost majority of the civilizations in the world were not yet formed, we built these masterpieces.
Paharpur Vihara was a Buddhist institution built to educate students and even had rooms that the students and teachers could stay in. The other name of this is Shompur Vihara. It was built almost 1200 years ago by Raja Dharmapala. And with some damage done, it is still standing, situated in the district of Naoga, but very close to Joypurthat district.
So many years ago, when there was no technology, no modern science or mathematics and tools, they built it so greatly that it is still standing and mostly undamaged even after centuries.
On my vacation to my hometown Kalandarpur, I was fortunate enough to visit and learn about these two masterpieces.
We first went to Bogra to stay at my aunt’s house and after a day or two, we went to visit Mahastangarh. We wandered around and took many pictures. There are still more things to uncover and half of the structure is buried under the ground. If we dig deeper, we will still find many more wonders of Mahastangarh. From there, we headed out for the main destination, my grandfather’s village, Kalandarpur , under the Pachbibi subdivision. We stayed there for a few days and on the second last day of our stay, we decided to go and visit Paharpur.
Upon arriving there, we had to walk for a few minutes and then finally saw the main structure and the Bihar was HUMONGOUS! And beautiful. I was most fascinated by the terracotta on the sides and the beautifully and carefully crafted designs. Then we all filled up our storage by taking as many pictures we could.
After some time, when we were done with exploring, we went to the museum and the artifacts there were splendid! The designs were so carefully crafted and every detail was perfect. Imagine 1200 years ago, when people had no technology or tools to do such crafting, but they still made tiny details and carved them out of ROCK! Amazing! After some time of wandering around, we got in our car and headed back home.
This was such a fun experience and I would love to go to Paharpur and Mahastangarh again sometime. And for those who have never visited these places before, I would definitely recommend going and exploring the beautiful history of our beloved country.
writer: Projonmo Prokriti Prashnik, Class 5/E, A.G. Church School
