A unique thing of the past relives history
Partial view of the Buddhist stupa-shrine excavated from thousand-year-old Bowalar Mandop at Sandalpur in Birampur upazila of Dinajpur district. Photo: STAR
Ecological archaeologists of Jahangirnagar University (JU) have excavated a unique Buddhist stupa-shrine from about thousand-year-old 'Bowalar Mandap' at Sandalpur in Birampur upazila of Dinajpur recently. Much of the original features of the structure has been lost with passage of time but its unique ground plan can still be observed, said Swadhin Sen, assistant professor, Department of Archaeology at JU, and director of the excavation team. On the basis of pottery assemblage it is thought that the structure was built around 9th -- 10th century and went through four construction and reconstruction phases. A drain and a large storage jar are other notable finds from the structural remains. According to Swadhin Sen, postholes on the structure suggest that the stupa-cum-shrine at the centre was covered with a thatched roof. "We have inferred with a considerable degree of certainty that the excavated brick-built structure lying on the bank of an abandoned channel of Karatoa River system was a Buddhist stupa that was later turned into a Buddhist shrine," he said. The structure was built on a three-tier platform, as Dr Arun Nag, reader of Bishwabharati University and an eminent scholar on Eastern Indian Architecture, analysed. The first tier has brick-built chambers or cells that is commonly known as cellular architecture in Bengal, Swadhin Sen said. Prof Dipak Ranjan Das of Calcutta University and Prof Mozammel Hoque of the Department of Archaeology of Jahangirnagar University have supported the idea that the structure is a Buddhist stupa-shrine, said Swadhin Sen.
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