Pundranagar

Pundranagar

Mahasthangarh
Shown within Bangladesh
Location	Mahasthan, Bogra District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh
Coordinates	24°57′46″N 89°20′45″E / 24.96278°N 89.34583°E / 24.96278; 89.34583

Pundranagar in Paundrabhukti was the most important city in the ancient Bengal region, now identified with the current site of Mahasthan, located in Bogra, Bangladesh. It was a vibrant administrative, religious and cultural centre from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD that is from the Maurya Empire time to the Sena dynasty period. Archaeological remains and literary descriptions speak of a truly planned and magnificent city. City walls, elaborate gates, palaces, common dwellings, assembly halls, temples, viharas, shops, ponds and even suburban temples and viharas characterised the city; Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang (Hiuen tsang), visiting in the 7th century AD, particularly mentions ponds, orchards, flowers and pleasure gardens.^[1]

Pundanagar within the Pundravardhana Bhukti suggests it to have been a part of the early historical empires – both Hindu and Buddhist. During the Muslim period the site was not forsaken looking for a new place as was their tradition. The physical feature and the strategic importance of the place must have been of higher priority in the selection process. But the fact that the settlement pattern of the Hindu-Buddhist Period did not hinder in any way their own settlements within the same wall proves that at least in architecture and living way there was a continuity of form and technique which never died out of the Bengalese both liberal and secular.