Final Report UTLP_30062021

Title Theme Year Geograph Scope 21. Potential Fossil Hominid Sites for Fossil Hominid sites 1997 Global Inscription on the World Heritage List 22. Context for World Bridges (Overlaps with 1997 Global Heritage Bridges Industrial Heritage) 23. The International Canal Routes, Industrial Heritage. 1996 Monuments List Overlaps with Heritage of Water. ANNEXURE -02

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh hic Relevance for Bangladesh This study focusses on sites linked to the human origin and describes four periods of human evolution. It also offers criteria for the selection of such sites for World Heritage inscription. The relevance of this theme for Bangladesh is yet to be identified. The study identifies the following three criteria for World Heritage bridges: - Represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; - Have exerted great influence, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in engineering theory, technology, construction, transportation, and communication; and - Be an outstanding example of a type that illustrates a significant stage in bridge engineering or technological developments. It then provides an analysis of the chronological development of bridges around the world by material and type, and a list of potential World Heritage bridges, except a few, all of which are from Europe and North America. Mughal bridges and old steel railway bridges in Bangladesh could be studied to assess their potential for World Heritage inscription. According to the study, “This list is mainly concerned with waterways whose primary aim was navigation and with the monuments that formed each line of a waterway.” It identifies four types: 1. Individually significant structures or monuments along the line of a canal or waterway. 2. Integrated industrial areas, either manufacturing or extractive, which contain canals as an essential part of the industrial landscape. 3. Heritage transportation canal corridors, where significant lengths of individual waterways and their infrastructure are considered of importance as a particular type of cultural landscape. 4. Historic canal lines (largely confined to the line of the waterway itself) where the surrounding cultural landscape is not necessarily largely, or wholly, a creation of canal transport. Page 134

Title Theme Year Geograph Scope ANNEXURE -02

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh hic Relevance for Bangladesh It defines, “A canal is a human-engineered waterway. It may be of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history or technology, either intrinsically or as an exceptional example representative of this category of cultural property. It may be a monumental work, the defining feature of a linear cultural landscape, or an integral component of a complex cultural landscape.” Canals can have significance related to the following factors: TECHNOLOGY Canals can serve a variety of purposes: irrigation, navigation, waterpower, flood mitigation, land drainage, defence, and water supply. ECONOMY Canals contribute to the economy in a variety of ways, eg in terms of economic development and the conveyance of goods and people. Canals were the first effective man-made carriers of heavy bulk cargoes. Canals are of continuing economic and recreational use. SOCIAL FACTORS The building of canals had social consequences LANDSCAPES Such large-scale engineering works had an impact on the natural landscape. There was also the generation of new industrial settlement patterns from rural dispersed populations to the creation of urban nuclei. Page 135

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 03 Annexure 03: Focal Points for the Project Sl. No. Focal Point Group Name Focal Points Ms Mst. Naheed Sultana, Regional Director 01. Regional Directorate, Rajshahi Mr Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director Division, DoA Mr Md. Abusaid Inam Tanvirul, Custodian 02. Regional Directorate, Dhaka Division, Ms Rakhi Roy, Regional Director DoA Ms Tania Sultana, Field Officer Ms Halima Afroz, Custodian 03. Regional Directorate, Chattogram Dr Md. Ataur Rahman, Regional Director Division, DoA Mr Hasibul Hasan Sumi, Custodian Mr Md. Shiam Chowdhury, Assistant Custodian 04. Regional Directorate, Khulna Ms Afroza Khan Mita, Regional Director Division, DoA Mr A.K.M Syfur Rahman, Assistant Director Ms Urmila Hasnat, Research Assistant 05. Heritage Cell Support Team Ms Lovely Yeasmin, Deputy Director cum Keeper Mr Md. Mohidul Islam, Assistant Director Mr Md. Shahin Alam, Field Officer Mr Firoz Ahmed, Assistant Archaeological Engineer Page 136

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 04 Annexure 04: Proposals Submitted by Stakeholders Sl. Name Submitted by Status No. Khandoker Mahfuz Alam Incorporated in theme 01. Rose Garden No. 16 02. Armenian Church Dhrubo Alam It will be processed in the future if time permits 03. Landscape and Monuments of Liberation War Md. Amiruzzaman Theme 16 of Bangladesh in Dhaka city Regional Directorate, Incorporated in theme 04. Panam City Dhaka No. 08 05. Early Medieval Buddhist Settlement of the Md. Amiruzzaman Incorporated in theme southern part of Bangladesh No. 01 06. Egaro Shiva Temple Khandoker Mahfuz Alam Incorporated in theme No. 09 07. Jore Bangla Temple in Bangladesh Md. Amiruzzaman Incorporated in theme No. 09 08. KhelaramDatar Mandir Khandoker Mahfuz Alam Incorporated in theme No. 09 09. Satero Ratna Temple Regional Directorate, Incorporated in theme Chattogram No. 09 10. Hajigonj Fort Narayangonj City Incorporated in theme Corporation No. 07 11. National Assembly Complex Ar. Dr Kazi Khaleed Theme 05 Ashraf and Ar. Sujaul Islam Khan, IAB 12. The Architectural Work of Muzharul Islam, an Ar. Muhtadin Iqbal, Ar. Theme 06 Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Md. Wahiduzzaman Movement in South Asia. Ratul & Ar. Saif Ul Haque, IAB 13. The Architectural Work of Architect Robert G. Boughey, A Pioneering Ar. Fatema Tasmia, IAB It will be processed in the Contribution in the History of Modern future if time permits Architecture in Bangladesh Lovely Yeasmin Theme 05 Nahid Sultana Theme 14 14. Bangladesh Parliament Bhaban Umran Chowdhury It will be processed in the 15. Mosque City of Gour future if time permits 16. Sultanate Mosque and Lake of Faridpur Afroza Khan Mita Theme 15 Department of Theme 05 17. Barobazar Group of Monuments Architecture, BUET 18. Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (National Assembly Incomplete Submission Building, Bangladesh) 19. Kamalapur Railway Station Page 137

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 04 Sl. Name Submitted by Status No. Incomplete Submission 20. Institute of Fine Arts (Art College), University Incomplete Submission of Dhaka Incomplete Submission 21. Faculty of Architecture Building, BUET Incorporated in theme No. 08 22. Mughal & Colonial River front between Incomplete Submission Buriganga Bridge 0l &.02 (Shambazar, Mill Incomplete Submission Barak, Rooplal House, LalKuthi, Ahsan Manzril up to Mitford Hospital). Incomplete Submission Incorporated in theme 23. Bara Sardar Bari and Panam Nagar, Sonargaon No. 10 Incomplete Submission 24. Wari-Bateshwar Ruins, Narsingdi Incomplete Submission 25. Timber Houses of Bikrampur, Bhaggyakul, Incomplete Submission Munshiganj Incomplete Submission 26. Nagar Kashba, Mirkadam, Munshiganj Incomplete Submission 27. Kantajew Temple and Its Surroundings, Dinajpur, Rangpur Incomplete Submission 28. Puthia Rajbari Complex, Puthia, Raishahi Incomplete Submission Incorporated in theme 29. Dhaka Civil Station, Ramna (including Ramna No. 08 Park, Suhrawardi Uddyan, Minister's Enclave). Incomplete Submission Incomplete Submission 30. Grand Trunk Road (Particularly Jashore Rd Incomplete Submission part) Incomplete Submission 31. Mughal Urban Core of Dhaka (from Chandni & Qazi Azizul Mowla, Incomplete Submission Incomplete Submission Swarighat to Hossaini Dalaln via Professor, Department Incomplete Submission Katra/Chouk/Afghanfort) of Architecture, (BUET) 32. Mughal & Colonial River front between Bouriganga bridge 01 & 02 (Shambazar, Mill Barak, Rooplal House, LalKuthi, Ahsan Manzil up to Mitford Hospital) 33. Dhaka Civil Lines (both sides of Johnson Road from Bahadurshah Park to Rai Saheb Bazar) 34. Dhaka Civil Station, Ramna 35. Panam City 36. Modern Architecture from 1955 to 1975 37. Chattogram old Railway Station (1896) 38. CRB Area including CRB Building (1872) 39. Andor Killa Area including the Anderkilla Mosque 40. PorirPahar including the court building 41. Khalifatabad City (including Shait Gumbad Mosque and Darga area), Bagerhat 42. Jaintu Rajbari, Sylhet Page 138

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 04 Sl. Name Submitted by Status No. Ar. Sazzadur Rasheed, Incomplete Submission 43. Monipuri Rajbari, Mirjangle, Sylhet Chairman, Department Incomplete Submission of Architecture, Incomplete Submission 44. Nagar Kasba colonial settlement, Manikganj Primeasia University, Incomplete Submission Banani, Dhaka 45. Saidpur Railway City Incorporated in theme No. 10 46. Khulna Civil Lines (from Borobazar to DC Incomplete Submission Bungalow including Court building and jail Incomplete Submission Ghat) Incomplete Submission 47. Kantajeo Temple Complex: Unique Akhra with Incorporated in theme terracotta work No. 10 Incorporated in theme 48. Maldah Patti, Dinajpur No. 08 Theme 15 49. Sultani Gaibi Mosque, Golapganj, Sylhet Incomplete Submission 50. Grand Trunk Road (Particularly Joshore Rd Incorporated in theme part) No. 14 Incomplete Submission 51. Kantajew Temple, Kaharole Dinajpur Incomplete Submission 52. PanamNgar, Sonargaon, Narayanganj Incorporated in theme No. 16 53. Archaeological Sites of Baro Bazar, Kaligonj, Incorporated in theme Jhinaidah No. 16 Theme 05 54. Palace and Temple Complex, Puthia, Rajshahi Irrelevant & incomplete submission 55. Chhoto Sona massjid, Shibganj, Chapai Nawabganj 56. Tahakhana Complex, Shibganj, Chapai Nawabganj 57. Kusumba Masjid, Manda, Naogaon 58. Shaheed Minar, Dhaka 59. National Martyr's Monument, Savar, Dhaka 60. National Parliament Building, Dhaka Abdullah Muhammad 61. Kazi Media Ltd. Eunus, Kazi Media Ltd. Page 139

F Annexure 05: Thematic Presentation Summary of Updating Sl. Theme Presenter No 1. Afroza Khan Mita 01. Archaeological Settlements on Littoral 2. A K M Syfur Rahman 1. Landscapes of Southwestern part of 3. Urmila Hasnat 2. Bangladesh 3. 02. Brick-built Mughal Mosques in 1. Imamur Hossain 1. Bangladesh 2. Khandokar Mahfuz Alam 2. 3. 03. Cultural Landscape of Mahasthan and 1. Mst. Naheed Sultana 4. 5. Karatoya River 2. Md. Abu Said Inam Tanvirul 6. 04. Landscape and monuments of 1. Dr Md. Ataur Rahman 1. 2. interconnectivity at Lalmai-Mainamati 2. Abir Bin Keysar 3. 4. Area 3. Shahin Alam 5. 6. ANNEXURE -05 05. Mughal Water Forts of Bangladesh 1. Dhrubo Alam 7. 2. Khandokar Mahfuz Alam 8. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. 2. 3.

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh g the Tentative List of Bangladesh Panel Member Welcome & Date Presentation Closing 28.06.2020 Number Dr Md Mizanur Rashid Prof. M. Mozammel Hoque Md. Hannan Mia Webinar-1 Dr Bishnupriya Basak Prof. Dr Qazi Azizul Mowla Md Amiruzzaman 28.06.2020 Webinar-2 Prof. Dr Abu Sayeed M. Ahmed 12.07.2020 Webinar-4 Ar. Galib Mohibul Khan 1. Md. Hannan Mia Dr Md Mizanur Rashid 2. Md. Fahimul Prof. Dr Sutapa Sinha Dr A. K. M. Khademul Haque Islam Prof Dr Sufi Mustafezur Rahaman Prof Dr Jaya Menon Prof Dr Masood Imran Prof Dr Monica L. Smith Dr Md. Shafiqul Alam Prof Dr Veronica Strang Shabiha Pervin Md Ataur Rahman Prof Dr Seema Hoque 1. Md. Hannan Mia 11.07.2020 Webinar-3 Prof Dr Suchandra Ghosh 2. Shabiha Pervin Md. Mosharraf Hossain Dr Chotima Chaturawong Dr Md Mizanur Rashid Dr Parul Pandya Dhar Md. Fahimul Islam Md Ataur Rahman Dr Sharif Shams Imon Md Amiruzzaman 23.07.2020 Presentation- Dr Swadhin Sen 1 Kamrun Nesa Khondokar Page 140

F 06. Buddhist monuments in the area 1. Lovely Yeasmin 1. around Jagadala Mahavihara 2. 1. Lovely Yeasmin 3. 07. Monumental remains around Halud 2. Mohidul Islam Vihara 1. 2. 3. 08. Mosque City of Gour 1. Mst. Naheed Sultana 1. 2. Md. Abu Said Inam Tanvirul 2. 3. 09. Barobazar Group of Monuments (The 1. Afroza Khan Mita Ancient City of Muhammadabad) 2. A K M Syfur Rahman 1. 3. Urmila Hasnat 2. 3. 10. Cultural Landscape and Monuments of 1. Dr A.T.M. Masood Reza Medieval Capital Sonargaon to Panam 2. Muhammad Nurul Kabir 1. city Bhuiyan 2. 3. 4. 11. Late Mughal and Colonial Brick Shahin Alam 1. Temples of Bangladesh 2. 1. Ar. Mohammad Sazzad Hossain 3. 12. National Assembly Complex, 2. Ar. Md. Wahiduzzaman Ratul 4. Bangladesh 1. 2. 13. The Architectural Work of Muzharul 1. Ar. Muhtadin Iqbal 1. Islam, an Outstanding Contribution to 2. Ar. Sujaul Islam Khan 2. the Modern Movement in South Asia ANNEXURE -05

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh Dr Sharif Shams Imon Md. Hannan Mia 23.07.2020 Presentation- Dr Swadhin Sen Md. Hannan Mia 2 Md Amiruzzaman 23.07.2020 Presentation - Dr Sharif Shams Imon 3 Dr Swadhin Sen Mst. Naheed Sultana Md. Khairul Bashar 29.08.2020 Presentation - Dr Sharif Shams Imon Swapan 4 Dr Swadhin Sen Afroza Khan Mita Md. Khairul Bashar 29.08.2020 Presentation - Dr Sharif Shams Imon Swapan 5 Dr Swadhin Sen Dr Md. Atauar Rahman Md. Khairul Bashar 18.09.2020 Presentation - Dr Sharif Shams Imon Swapan 8 Dr Swadhin Sen Maliha Nargis Ahmed Khandokar Mahfuz 18.09.2020 Presentation - Md Amiruzzaman Alam 9 Dr Sharif Shams Imon Dr Swadhin Sen Md Amiruzzaman 12.09.2020 Presentation - Rakhi Roy Md Amiruzzaman 6 Md Amiruzzaman 12.09.2020 Presentation - Dr Sharif Shams Imon 7 Khandokar Mahfuz Alam Dr Sharif Shams Imon Khandokar Mahfuz Alam Page 141

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Annexure 06: Minutes of the presentations and comments from the experts Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Ministry of Cultural Affairs Department of Archaeology Heritage Cell Webinar series on Updating the Tentative List of Bangladesh Webinar-1: Archaeological Settlements on littoral landscapes of South-western part of Bangladesh Date & Time: 2:30 pm, 28 June 2020 Welcome & Closing Speech: Mr Md. Hannan Mia, Director General, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Presenters:  Ms Afroza Khan Mita, Regional Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr A K M Syfur Rahman, Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Urmila Hasnat, Research Assistant, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Panel Members:  Prof. M. Mozammel Hoque, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh  Dr Bishnupriya Basak, Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta, India  Dr Md Mizanur Rashid, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Australia Consultants:  Dr Sharif Shams Imon, Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, Heritage and Tourism Programmes, Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong-Há, Macao  Dr Swadhin Sen, Professor, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka Guest:  Ms Beatrice Kaldun, Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to Bangladesh Rapporteur:  Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr Hasibul Hasan Sumi, Custodian, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Summary of the webinar Mr Khairul Bashar Swapan, Field Officer, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh welcomed all to the webinar. He then invited Mr Mohammad Hannan Mia, Director General, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh, to deliver his welcome speech. In his welcome speech, Mr Md. Hannan Mia informed that the Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh became a State Party to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1983. In 1999, the Department of Archaeology prepared a tentative list consisting of five sites: Halud Vihara, Jagaddal Vihara, Lalbagh Fort, Mahasthangarh and its environment the Lalmai-Mainamati group of monuments. Recently, the Department of Archaeology took an initiative to update the tentative list. In this regard, UNESCO has approved an international assistance fund. On 27 January 2020, the Director-General of the Department of Archaeology and the Head of Office, UNESCO representative to Bangladesh, Ms Beatrice Kaldun signed an agreement to launch the project. On that day, the Department and ICOMOS Bangladesh jointly organised a seminar on UNESCO’s tentative list updating process, with government officials, teachers, and civil society members present. Mr Mia expressed his appreciation Page 142

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 towards the president of ICOMOS Bangladesh and the international consultants for their guidance in the presentation. On 8 February 2020, the Department of Archaeology organised stakeholder meetings with the national consultant, regional directors and focal points, having received 22 proposals by this date in response to its open call for proposal. Out of the 22 proposals, four were incomplete. After an initial analysis, of the remaining 18 proposals, the consultants decided to consider 15 proposals for further analysis. Accordingly, the Department of Archaeology decided to arrange webinars due to the coronavirus pandemic. Today is the first of these webinars, with 2 proposals set to be delivered. He thanked all and closed his speech. Ms Beatrice Kaldun expressed her appreciation to Mr Md. Hannan Mia, DrDr Sharif Shams Imon and DrDr Swadhin Sen, consultants of this project, panel members and esteemed participants. Ms Kaldun highlighted the objective of the “Updating the Tentative List in Bangladesh” project and the importance of the initiative to assess the potential Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity of new properties for inclusion in an updated Tentative List. In this context, Ms Kaldun stressed that the UNESCO Dhaka Office would provide guidance and advisory services to support the Department of Archaeology in this process, which is essential for future nominations of the World Heritage Sites of Bangladesh. The first proposal was presented by Ms Afroza Khan Mita, Mr A.K.M Syfur Rahman and Ms Urmila Hasnet. Ms Afroza Khan Mita started the presentation by giving thanks to all. She briefly discussed the location, boundary, landscape of the south-western part of Bangladesh highlighting many components of archaeological settlements on the littoral landscape such as rivers and their past changing courses, regular floods, tidal zone and active deltaic landscapes. She described the littoral landscape divided into four time periods in her presentation: (i) Early Medieval (7-12th century CE) settlements (ii) Medieval Sultanate (13-16th century CE) settlements (iii) Medieval Mughal (16-18th century CE) settlements and (iv) Late Medieval (17-19th century CE) settlements. In the presentation, she displayed pictures with various evidence of human settlement in the Sundarbans. She also presented 36 archaeological sites with geo-coordinates, ground plans, and photographs of the places and the artefacts obtained. Mr A.K.M Syfur Rahman mentioned criteria (ii) and (v) as outstanding universal values of the archaeological settlements on the littoral landscape. In justification, he has highlighted the unique architecture and trade links in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. He spoke about three types of trade: (1) local trades, (2) regional trades, and (3) transnational trades. He said that archaeological sites in Bangladesh protected under the Antiquities Act 1968 (amendment 1976) are maintained by the Department of Archaeology on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh in the management part of his presentation. He finished the presentation after giving thanks. Dr Sharif Shams Imon thanked the presenters and invited the panel members to give their comments on the presentation. Their comments are as follows: 1. Dr Mizanur Rashid: Dr Rashid made the following comments: “From the presentation, the presenters manage to establish two things, the first, that there is a continuous human settlement in this particular region since the 7th century onwards until the 19th century, and the second one is that it is quite evident that this particular landscape or region is kind of widely connected with regional as well as international trade routes. But my question is that we know this international trade route and human migration is actually evident from the prehistoric period. Page 143

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Human migration is a very common trait. Actually, we were global since prehistoric time. But the important thing is that through this Global Civilization when architectural ideas or religious ideas or any kind of culture ideal travel from one place to another, it acquires a sudden layer in this particular region and that gives this unique character. So, what I couldn't find here in this presentation is, what is the unique character of this particular place that is really contributing to this connection of so many trade routes and others in terms of the world context. Because I think that the proposal is too ambitious in a way that you tried to look into a very large chunk of time frame from the 7th to 19th century and there is not enough evidence to really establish that there was a continuous civilization which really contributed to the world or this region culturally and that is unique.” “But what I am interested in is because we know that there is a gap while you are looking into the development of Bihara typology or stupa typology. What happened in this particular region in Bengal especially in the Eastern part of India and Indonesia or further East? We don't know because the archaeological remains are quite fragmented and most of them are actually kind of under the ground and there is no continuous narrative of this. I found that if you can really establish this evidence of Buddhist monuments that are here which looks quite unique in terms of architectural feature and you mentioned one interesting thing about the cellular construction method which is typically for this landscape, which I agree with. We have seen similar things. If you look into the other cases like in Sri Lanka, in some parts of India, in Cambodia, in Thailand, they all have different typology and different Architecture. So, I found that this is really unique if you really wanted to have a narrative of Buddhist architecture or Bihara typology development. So why don't we focus only from the 6th to 10th century and claim that this can add a new chapter which is missing now in the narrative of history Buddhist architecture in this part. I think that there is a scope for to look into this but the way they presented is still quite ambitious.” 2. Prof. Dr Mozammal Haque: Prof. Haque made the following comments:  He found the proposal very interesting because this type of monuments can’t be found in any other places in Bangladesh. This is a unique type of monuments.  The area they showed on the map is basically a trade centre and form a different type of architecture. The main trade centre of Bengal was the area between the Bhagirathi to Madhumati rivers as evident in the inscriptions on many discovered copper plates.  The presenters showed a temple from the 12th century CE. But the architecture doesn’t show a 12th- century feature. Maybe it had been modified or if there is an earlier structure, that has to be identified.  Now about the recent excavations, what we call Bihara, but Bihara has a characteristic that in between the cells there will be no gap, they should be continuous. There was some sort of complex temple that also looks like this one. So, we need to think in another way also, because during Sena Period we see some temple complex like this one in the South-East part of India.  This area is outstanding in the sense that, during late Pala period to Sena period this area was very active for trade and commerce, for politics and for cultural activities. 3. Prof. Dr Bishnupriya Basak: She thanked the organizers for inviting her to the webinar. Then she delivered her following comments on the presentation: Page 144

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 “What I think is quite unique about the presentation is they are talking about settlements in the littoral zone. So, it's not just monuments but also, it's their contributions, the way they have prepared this thing for listing. That is not just monuments, all the monuments form a very important part of this landscape but monuments as situated in the landscape and the talking of settlements. That I think is a very important facet for thinking.” “I would like the team to concentrate more on the nature of settlements. Because their thing is titled settlements in the littoral landscape. And also, should work on the kind of processes which are responsible for making them visible or not making them visible.” “Now I would like to ask some questions to the presenters which need to be answered and important enough for the proposal”:  “How are you defining the clusters of settlements in the littoral zone?”  “How are you seeing these monuments in relation to the landscape?”  “ ou talked about trade and trade is a blanket term. It’s a huge term. How do you define the trade in littoral Bengal?”  “What about the oral traditions? There are a lot of oral traditions which are going into the making of these sites. So, how you are constructing these sites using some oral traditions?” Prof. Dr Swadhin Sen closed the session with his own speech. Giving thanks, he then offered some suggestions and corrections. He said that the Sundarbans is a World Heritage Site and that now is the time to think about all the pottery and structures found there or around it. The area is also facing many problems due to climate change. “In the aspect of why we think this theme is suitable for the selection as World Heritage Sites, he would like to add some comments about the idea of settlements on this littoral landscape.” “In our discussions about the heritage of Bengal, we are talking about Buddhist monuments, we're talking about temples, we’re talking about mosques and other things but what is missing is that the other aspects of the settlements and how do you define the settlement. Because unlike Mahasthangarh, for example, or unlike Bangarh, or unlike Chandraketugarh, most of these settlements have no detectable boundaries, no detectable walls and other things. We can only identify the extent and nature of the settlements on the basis of the distribution of the material culture on the landscape and here comes the most interesting part regarding this landscape. It is notorious for changing its nature, even within the span of just one decade you will not find anything because of the river erosion and the sea level rise. Flood, tide and the other aspects of the landscape have been present here even before the 17th century. The most interesting thing is the human adaptation patterns within this littoral landscape and which is completely unique, I think. If you think on global context, people living here, people are building settlements here and also people are doing exchanges on local level also on international level (sic). There are evidences (sic), I think they will be able to present in the final version. There are more evidences (sic) of pottery, even monumental ideas, even idea of religion and idea of many things. So, the adaptation pattern in this interesting, very unstable ecology is not something that is new. This particular unstable landscape and environment can help us to get an idea about how human being were lived (sic), adopted and used this land in different ways for over more than a millennium. This particular aspect should be included as the number one Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) according to me.” Dr Sharif Shams Imon thanked everyone and invited them to attend the next webinar and announced the ending of the webinar. Page 145

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Ministry of Cultural Affairs Department of Archaeology Heritage Cell Webinar series on Updating the Tentative List of Bangladesh Webinar-2: Brick-built Mughal Mosques in Bangladesh Date & Time: 28 June 2020 at 4:30 PM Welcome & Closing Speech: Md Amiruzzaman, Deputy Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Presenters:  Imamur Hossain, Lecturer and Coordinator, Department of Architecture, Sonargaon University, Dhaka  Khandokar Mahfuz Alam, Assistant Architect, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Panel Members:  Prof. Dr Qazi Azizul Mowla, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh  Prof. Dr Abu Sayeed M. Ahmed, Professor and Head of the Department, University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka, Bangladesh  Prof. Dr Sutapa Sinha, Department of Islamic History and Culture, University of Calcutta, India  Dr A. K. M. Khademul Haque, Associate Professor, Department of Islamic History & Culture, University of Dhaka  Dr Md Mizanur Rashid, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Australia  Ar. Galib Mohibul Khan, Former Associate Professor, Khulna University, Bangladesh Consultants:  Dr Sharif Shams Imon, Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, Heritage and Tourism Programmes, Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong-Há, Macao  Dr Swadhin Sen, Professor, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka Rapporteurs:  Mr Md. Mohidul Islam, Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr Md. Shahin Alam, Field Officer, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Summary of the webinar Names, location, built period, founders, historical brief, authenticity, integrity of brick-built Mughal Mosques in Bangladesh are presented by the above-mentioned Presenters. After their presentation, Panel members delivered their speeches. 1. Prof. Dr Qazi Azizul Mowla: Giving thanks, he started his speech. In his speech, he appreciated the very comprehensive and quite ambitious presentation that covered a lot of places. Any buildings that are built in this alluvial soil are normally brick-built. So, he thinks their focus on “Brick-built”, which may be a unique quality, should not be included in the title. The title could be “Mughal Mosques of Bangladesh”. He also mentioned that the topic of Mughal mosques of Bangladesh is quite an ambitious project. He thinks that they should concentrate more on some area or locality. He also mentioned that, when they say Mughal mosque, it should be compared with the Mughal style that was in the Imperial area, that is in the Delhi or Agra area. “They have taken a lot of examples from all over Bangladesh. But to make a story legible, I think they could have focussed on a single area that I have mentioned before and perhaps because Dhaka was the capital during the Page 146

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Mughals for some time and under the direct patronage of some Mughal governors some mosques are built in Dhaka. From those mosques, they can see what the Mughal governors or subahdars tried to build here and then they can compare the rest of the mosques which are available now in intact conditions. I would say that there are some mosques, for example, the Shat Gumbad Mosque in Mohammadpur is in a pretty good condition and is managed by the Department of Archaeology, and similar mosques in Dhaka can make a good story for Dhaka. So, I think comparing the Imperial style if they concentrate on Dhaka and see what are the traits or what are the characters available in the Mughal and how it has transformed in Dhaka or in fact in Bangladesh. Then they can focus on a few mosques to make a story legible and for authenticity purpose, naturally they will have to go for the mosques that are in intact condition and those represents the style of that period.” “One of the most important things is that in North India most of the Mughal mosques were built with sandstone but in Bangladesh it was (sic) built by brick and covered with plaster. This is a unique character that they are brick- built mosques and covered with plaster. So, my advice to the presenters is to focus on Dhaka and go in more depth and find out what is unique here in Dhaka. We should focus on either mosques built during the Mughal period or mosques built in Mughal style. But I think we should go for the style that was followed the Imperial period and got transformed in Bangladesh, if they want to focus on Dhaka that will be even better.” 2. Prof. Dr Abu Sayeed M. Ahmed: In his speech, Prof. Ahmed said that it is an issue initiating research on Mughal architecture. He spoke frankly that this area of research was totally neglected, giving one example: in Bangladesh, two historians and one architect did their PhD on Islamic Architecture but focussed on early Islamic Architecture mainly. He mentioned that this webinar is a good initiative by the Department of Archaeology to further research on the topic of Mughal architecture. He would like to thank the Department for their sincere effort. In his speech, he discussed three issues: His first issue was the title, brick-built Mughal Mosques. He provided two demonstrative questions: Is there any Mughal Mosque built by timber or stone? Is there any other period that does not use brick? He stated no to both. He proceeded to say that Buddhists had used brick, temples had used brick, the early Islamic sultanate had also used brick, so, this word can be omitted. It is not important and there are no Outstanding Universal Values (OUV). If there is no Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), it should not be promoted. He suggested brick is not a special thing; all building material was brick and thus not a speciality of Mughal architecture. He also said the second issue was that they have identified around 50 mosques that fall in the scope of the topic, and out of the 50, they have selected 20, among which 75% are located in Dhaka; thus a theme focussing on Dhaka could have been proposed, not only in terms of quantity, but also with other reasons behind it. He reasoned that when the capital was Dhaka, that was the most flourishing period of the Mughals in Bengal in terms of economy, and that this economy was started in Dhaka. He added that a lot of experiments were done in Dhaka during the Mughal period and these experiments were copied all over Bangladesh, so, Dhaka was the main field. All the ideas of the Mughals were developed in Delhi and Agra. He stated that Bengal Subahdars just copied the basic form from Delhi, and that was why all historians neglected these monuments, accusing that they were copied from Delhi, but the focus should be on the change in architecture from Delhi to Bengal during the Mughal period. And the third issue is which we should count - built during the Mughal period or outstanding values of Mughal architecture. This should be identified. Professor Ahmed ended by placing emphasis on the style, design and colour of Mughal architecture between Delhi and Dhaka, as well as Bengal, to compare and justify OUV. Page 147

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 3. Ar. Galib Mohibul Khan: In his speech, he said that his thoughts had been mostly covered by Professors Mawla and Ahmed. He was not comfortable with the title of the proposal, as brick-built can be applied to any building in Bengal and during the Mughal period in general. All Mughal mosques are actually in brick. Most of the structures in Northern India are built by brick but clad by stone. We don’t see that here. So, Mughal architecture in Bengal is definitely by brick. The title should be Mughal mosques rather than brick-built Mughal mosque. He said that we are seeking the Outstanding Universal Value of the structures of a certain era or the strength of a certain era on architecture for religious terminology, which is the mosque. So, it has to be identified in that way. The presenters exposed so many areas but it has to be narrowed down, he said in agreement with Dr Ahmed. He thinks in alignment with other scholars that the major characteristics or identifiers for these mosques to be very specific to our region Bengal or Bangladesh and representing the Mughal style. “There are two geographically variants of mosques that were discussed here. One is like a (sic) centralised and the other one is peripheral. The centralised is basically Dhaka-based, so whatever happened in Dhaka is actually the core ideas of the Mughals that they brought in. Being determined by the restrictions, primarily the building materials, because what the Mughals brought in from the North was not morphologically possible due to the climatic (sic) region and the availability of building material. Out of that comes the formation of the Bengal Mughal architectural expression. There is also a socio-political element in there too. We see the distinct morphological evolution also like double-storey mosques where the ground floor was used for commercial purposes and the top floor was used as a mosque. That is one of the distinctions here that is also involved in Dhaka and incorporation of those Bengali elements exclusively like as in Begum Bazar mosque. These things are basically very unique in terms of considering their values.” 4. Dr Md Mizanur Rashid: Dr Rashid agreed fully with Professor Mawla and Professor Ahmed. “We're going for a world heritage site and the presenters mentioned about two criteria. Firstly, it should be a unique example of human interchange or exchange of idea and secondly, it should be an artistic example of cultural evidence. I can see the potential of both of these in this project as a whole but it’s not presented clearly. There are three things happening in this case of Mughal architecture in Bengal, there are three narratives here”:  “The narrative of Mughal architecture - Mughal is a unique architecture. They not only designed mosques, but they also designed libraries, tombs, palaces. The narrative of Mughal architecture that spread all over India and their history starting from Samarkand and the Persian influence, local instance all the stories going on.”  “The narrative of Islamic architecture which started from the first mosque and then spread around the world and we know that the evolution of mosque and everything (sic)”  “The narrative of the Bengali architecture, uniqueness of Bengal. The architecture of wind, water, damp condition, regular flooding and all this thing (sic)” “I think this proposal is the combination of these three narratives and if we can really establish this to UNESCO, the district narratives eventually produce and unique type of mosque (sic), then I think there is a very good potential. I’m making emphasis (sic) on the story behind these mosques.” “If we will find a very humble not so beautiful architecture but eventually it changed the course of history then actually it’s a human heritage (sic). I give you an example which we’re currently working on which is actually a mosque in Australia, not the first but the second oldest urban mosque in Perth. This mosque is a distorted, ugly version of the Lahore Badshahi mosque but the story was very strong because this mosque was built by 3000 camel drivers who were brought from Afghanistan to Australia in the 1850s to 1920s and they eventually formed the foundation of the Australia Federation. This mosque was actually built by themselves with their own money Page 148

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 and the image that they brought in the mind. So, if you like to evaluate this mosque in terms of these qualities of Mughal architecture it might not tick any of the boxes because it is not beautiful, there is no beautiful proportion, uglier version (sic), sometimes they used steel to replicate the dome. But when you look at the story behind, this is quite unique and quite strong to claim this mosque as a heritage (sic). We managed to upgrade the listing from the Council of Perth heritage to state heritage listing and probably it will become a national heritage and then go for the listing of World Heritage (sic).” “So, you have to really scrutinize your listing. Try to find these kinds of narrative behind each of the cases and then try to claim for that. Initial observation from me, when I look at the Khan Muhammad Mridha Mosque and this topology which is quite unique in Bengal. You have this lower level used as a commercial complex and the upper level which is a mosque. This is a unique quality that Bengal has and it is because of this story that Bengal was flourishing, it is a trading centre, it is a business centre, money was raised but its urban condition, we cannot afford this amount of land, regular flooding of river and so on (sic). So, if you can add all this things and shortlist your long lists into four or five cases of typology and the story behind this, I think there is a very strong chance of going forward with this particular proposal.” 5. Prof. Dr Sutapa Sinha: Professor Sinha sent her written comments on the presentation- Reference: A. H. Dani, George Michell (Michell 1984: 13), Richard M. Eaton, Catherine B. Asher. There are two principal reasons why the Islamic monuments of Bengal deserve special attention. A. The Islamic sites of “Bengal” are now divided between West Bengal in India and Bangladesh, with many important mosques and tombs of the Sultanate and Mughal period found in India. B. Bengali Islamic buildings are mostly constructed of brick and decorated with elaborate terracotta ornamentation. But with the advent of the Mughals, as they were settling down in Bengal, stucco plaster work was substituted for the terracotta plaques. Therefore, it is easily perceived that only sustained and careful maintenance can preserve these brick buildings from serious deterioration in a tropical climate with severe monsoons. This is also worth mentioning before going into any other discussion regarding the brick-built Mughal mosques of Bangladesh, that despite their fragile nature (due to material used in these buildings) the architectural tradition is of immense vitality and originality to be recognised. Perhaps nowhere else in the Islamic world is there where a better illustration of the interaction between foreign and local architectural traditions can be found. The effective metamorphosis of Middle Eastern and Central Asian architectural schemes, techniques and decorative patterns into a regional Bengali style. As a result, these monuments, both of pre-Mughal and Mughal Bengal, may be termed as both truly Islamic and Bengali, representing the dynamic ability of Islamic architecture to transform itself by adoption and adaptation. To understand the precise milieu of these brick-built architectural edifices of the medieval Bengal in general and Mughal Bengal in particular, which is the theme of the present webinar, we need to go a little bit beyond the periphery of architecture or so to say periphery of the cultural history of a period as because ‘architecture’ is only a medium of expression of other facets of history, like the social, political, religious and economic history of a particular period which strongly influences or manipulates the cultural history of a region or civilization. Warrior- rulers, pioneer-saints and poets, together with architects and artisans, are shown to be active agents in the historical process. As we all know, during the 17th and 18th centuries, as a result of the Mughal conquest, Bengal started to become more closely associated and integrated with North India than ever before. It is needless to mention that although the great Emperor Akbar conquered Bengal in 1576 AD, it took several decades for Mughal Generals to stop the resistance movements raised by the local chieftains of this easterly province of Subah Bangla. It was only from 1613 that the entire Bengal was firmly integrated as a Mughal province, administered by the viceroys appointed in Page 149

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Delhi. The epicentre of the civilization within the province of Bengal shifted eastwards, i.e., towards the east of Ganges and this resulted partly in the Mughals’ systematic land-revenue administration. Gradual reclamation of the jungle and wasteland of the ‘Bhati’ area (south and south-east of the then Bengal) accelerated the opening of east and south of Bengal for colonization also for intensive rice cultivation. Older cities of western Bengal were dying due to the silting up of the rivers on which they were located. The establishment of the eastern city of Dhaka as Mughal capital in 1612 was also part of this basic shift because the city was better suited as a base primarily for two main reasons, a. For clearing the region of Arakanese pirates and b. For exploiting the resources of a developing frontier zone. As a result, the province in the 17th century lost a good deal of its regional flavour and began to resemble other Mughal provinces of the Indian sub-continent and reflection of this feature can be traced in the stuccoed plaster of the outer and inner surfaces of the Mughal imperial architecture of the provincial capital of Dhaka. The political attitude of the Mughal viceroys: Throughout the 17th century, we find that Mughal rule in Bengal reflected mostly the secular outlook propounded by Emperor Akbar. We see this secular outlook in the career of Islam Khan Chishti (d. 1613), the ablest Mughal general who directed the subjugation of eastern Bengal. It is worth mentioning here that Islam Khan clearly ensured that the political integration of Bengal with Mughal India did not in any way involve the religious conversion of its people. This kind of secular outlook carried forward by other viceroys of the 17th century who built relatively fewer mosques and relatively more secular edifices like bridges or forts and gardens in the capital city and elsewhere of Mughal Bengal. Mosque building activity: As we all know that in the Perso-Islamic concept of kingship, there are three important notions which reveal proper instrumentation of political legitimacy of the conquerors’, firstly reciting the Friday Sermon, striking coins and raising monuments, both for the formal and informal intelligentsia of the state, i.e., the ‘Ulama and the Sufis. Both coins and monuments, struck and built by the rulers reveal how the rulers viewed themselves and wished to be viewed by others. Hence, we understand that building monuments, especially the religious monuments and to be specific the Mosques built by the rulers, be it the Mughal Badshah himself or their appointed viceroys in Bengal Subah were not only an act of piety but also a medium of expressing legitimacy of political authority. So, we need to understand the significance of building any mosque, whether it is located in the then capital city of Dhaka or located in the countryside or rural areas of Eastern Bengal or present Bangladesh. The inscription found in situ, I presume all Mughal period inscription found in situ are inscribed in Persian, the lingua franca of the Mughal provincial court, must be studied thoroughly not only to know the exact date and time of the erection of the monument along with its builder’s name, it might reveal the post and designation of the person responsible for building the structure and some other relevant information that might throw some unknown yet significant socio- political inputs for the Mughal city of Dhaka. From the social history point of view, it can be said that the most important effect of the Mughal conquest was the growth of a class of Muslims in Bengal called themselves Ashraf, meaning in general ‘nobles’, gentlemen, me of high extraction, refined or urbane. This term in the Bengali context also referred to that class of Muslims who claimed descent from migrants from central Asia or the Middle East. These ashraf elements were also there in pre-Mughal Bengal as soldiers, administrators, scholars etc. But the integration of Bengal with North India by the Mughals exposed the province to a new wave of up-country ashrafs, who settled all over the province in the 17th century, especially in the new provincial capital of Dhaka. In fact, most of the Government officers and notable living in Dhaka in the 1630s were foreigners who themselves or whose ancestors hailed from the places like Kashmir, Mashhad, Tehran, Badakshan, Mazandaran or Gilan. This un-assumed influx of these Mughal ashraf had some other crucial effect on society. Firstly, they have dislodged the older ashraf group of the Afghans, who was the last ruler of independent Bengal and drove many of them to the remotest regions of east and south Bengal where they re-settled as colonizers or local magnates. Page 150

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Secondly and more importantly, during this period Bengal witnessed a politics of social cleavage between ashraf Muslims and non-ashraf Muslims, the latter are those rural masses who gradually absorbed into a distinctively local variant of Muslim society since the 14th century. The ashrafs of up-country are urban or city dwellers who hated farming whereas the non-ashraf Muslims were rural folk or village dwellers and readily identified themselves as cultivators of the soil. The former group claimed foreign origin and patronized “Islamic” languages like Arabic and Persian whereas the latter group were of purely Bengali extraction and spoke only Bengali. These socio-cultural differences were echoed in all spheres of the cultural history of Mughal Bengal, be it literature, art and architecture and brick-built mosques of Mughal Bengal certainly reflected that social cleavage in their form, appearance and number, be it in Rajmahal, Dhaka, Mushidabad and Calcutta. If time permits, I may add some other factors responsible for the development of the Mughal mosques of Bengal. As this Subah Bengal now linked to a Pan-Indian, if not a global economy, Bengal became the major exporter of rice in the sub-continent. Along with that, the influx of vast quantities of silver imported by European traders or trading companies also fuelled a rapidly growing textile industry that produced silks and fine cotton for a world market. Architectural features of Mughal mosques in a nutshell: do we find continuity of the tradition of mosque architecture already prevailed in Bengal pre-dating the Mughals? a. Different ground plan, which is more Timurid in pattern and style, i.e., single aisled mosque with multiple bays. In most cases, we find single-aisle three-bayed mosque covered by three domes. Variations are there b. The elaborate stone carving and stone casing or exquisite terracotta ornamentation on the outer surface and sometimes on the inner surface of the mosques of Sultanate Bengal, namely Adina Mosque in Pandua, Bara Sona mosque in Gaur, Tantipara mosque of Gaur had little or no influence on the Mughal mosques of Dhaka. c. Instead, the lime or stucco plaster imprinted with geometrical design, rectangular box or niche motifs took place which is simpler in look. d. The shape of domes was gradually changing from the earlier period along with small battered rim placed on high drum bases of the dome and also on the roof cornice. But the curvilinear roofline which is a local tradition of Bengal found its place in many mosques, either on the principal monument or on any of the ancillary structure of the monument. Here lies another major trend of cultural exchange when we find that this curvilinear roof style which was adopted from the Bengal thatched roof of mud huts, i.e., do-chala style of roof has been imitated in the architectures of Agra, Fathepur Sikri and Lahore during Akbar’s time. On the imperial architecture of Shahjajan too, this bangla do-chala was extensively used within the typical Timurid style of Mughal architecture. Thus, we may consider that a double way traffic of traditional continuity took place during this time under discussion, the imperial style of architecture followed in the peripheral provincial kingdom or Subah and the provincial indigenous style strongly influenced the imperial architectures of the great Mughals. I strongly feel that the nomination must not be confined to the urban centres (i.e., Dhaka). The differential expansion of Mughal dominion and concurrent development of agrarian frontier and commercial network in other regions were intimately connected to the mosque building activities. Often, the sizes of these mosques were so small that they acted as a more symbolic expression of Islamization and the growth of settlements. In order to rationalize the OUV on the basis of given criteria, these morphological and spatial variations and their socio- economic context should be included, if required selectively. The bias on the mosques of a particular urbanscape, therefore, would not represent the variegated functions of the mosques in Bangladesh at a particular period. Apart from the above perspectives, building patronage issue especially reference to women patronage can also be taken into consideration. Page 151

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 6. Dr A. K. M. Khademul Haque: Dr Haque agreed with some points of Professor Sutapa Sinha and added his comments elaborating on the history of the Mughal era in Bangladesh. Mr Amiruzzaman from the Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh thanked all to join the session and invite them to attend future events. Page 152

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Ministry of Cultural Affairs Department of Archaeology Heritage Cell Webinar series on Updating the Tentative List of Bangladesh Webinar-3: Landscape and Monuments of Interconnectivity at Lalmai-Mainamati Area Date & Time: 11 July 2020 at 5.00 PM Welcome Speech: Mr Md. Hannan Mia, Director General, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Closing Speech: Ms Shabiha Parvin, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh Presenters:  Dr Md. Ataur Rahman, Regional Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr Shahin Alam, Field Officer, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Panel Members:  Professor Dr Seema Hoque, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka  Professor Dr Suchandra Ghosh, Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta, India  Mr Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Former Regional Director, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Dr Chotima Chaturawong, Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand  Dr Md Mizanur Rashid, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Australia  Dr Parul Pandya Dhar, Associate Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art History, Department of History, University of Delhi, India  Mr Md. Fahimul Islam, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh  Mr Md Ataur Rahman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh Consultants:  Dr Sharif Shams Imon, Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, Heritage and Tourism Programmes, Institute for Tourism Studies, Colina de Mong-Há, Macao  Dr Swadhin Sen, Professor, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka Rapporteurs:  Ms Tania Sultana, Field Officer, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh  Mr Md. Omar Faruq, Research Assistant, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh Summary of the webinar: Mr Khairul Bashar Swapan, Field Officer, Department of Archaeology welcomed all to the webinar. Then he invited Mr Md Hannan Mia, Director General, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh to deliver his welcome speech. Mr Md. Hannan Mia thanked everyone presenting in the webinar. He briefly described the whole process of updating the Tentative List of Bangladesh and thanked UNESCO for their assistance in this project. He announced the starting of the webinar and ended his speech. Page 153

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Mr Swapan handed over rest of the session to Dr Sharif Shams Imon. Dr Imon then invited the presenters to present their proposed theme. The presentation was given by Dr Md. Ataur Rahman, Regional Director, Chattogram & Sylhet Division, Department of Archaeology; Mr Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology and Md. Shahin Alam, Field Officer, Regional Director’s Office, Cumilla. Dr Md. Ataur Rahman started the presentation by giving thanks to all. In his part, he gave the introduction of Lalmai-Mainamti. Then Mr Abir Bin Keysar briefly described the landscape of the Lalmai-Mainamati Area. He showed the archaeology sites at Lalmai-Mainamati Area, Cumilla on a map. Then he elaborated on the historical background of the area and mentioned the Allahabad pillar inscription, the Gunaighar copper plate, the Chinese travelers Xuanzang and Sheng-chi, the dynastic chronology of Samatata and so on. To describe the surveyed and excavated archaeological site of the Lalmai-Mainamati Area, Mr Abir showed a table where the site name, local name, administrative location, geo-coordinate, time period, excavation year and findings were presented. Then he gave a brief description of the architectural remains of that area such as Shalban Vihara, Ananda Vihara, Bhoj Vihara, Itakhola Mura, Rupban Mura, Latikot Vihara, Kutila Mura, Charpatra Mura Temple and Ranir Bungalow Temple. To present the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the site, Mr Abir showed that criteria (i), (iii), (iv), and (v) were fulfilled by the site. He also gave justification for each of the criteria. Then Mr Md. Shahin Alam presented the authenticity and integrity of the site according to the Nara Document of Authenticity of 1994. The presenter showed the gazette notification; ownership map; current management condition, the boundary of the properties and buffer zone. He also discussed the laws and rules to manage and conserve the properties at the Lalmai-Mainamati Area. He ended the presentation by discussing the management properties of the excavated and unexcavated sites at the Lalmai-Mainamati Area. Dr Sharif Shams Imon thanked the presenters and invited the panel members to give their comments on the presentation. Their comments are as follows: 1. Professor Dr Seema Hoque:  Some more research is needed for justification and to select the criteria, because in the Mainamati region, there is a cluster of viharas within walking distance.  This type of big cluster of viharas can’t be found elsewhere in South Asia. The Nalanda viharas also have a linear pattern but not as big a cluster as Mainamati. Because Vajrayana started in Nalanda but flourished in Eastern Bengal, especially in present-day Bangladesh, a lot of sites have big mahaviharas with a cruciform temple which shows the flourishment of Vajrayana phase of Buddhism. The Vajrayana phase of Buddhism started just after the sixth century CE and this cruciform structure started after the seventh century in sites like Paharpur, Ananda Vihara, Shalban Vihara, and Voj Vihara.  This is an important site but as a whole cluster, not individually. If you take it individually, then Paharpur and Vikramashila are already on the World Heritage List. But as a whole cluster, it’s really very important where we can see the development and flourishment of Vajrayana and the decline of Vajrayana also.  In the Bhoj vihara no changes are seen in the architecture as can be seen in the Ananda Vihara, the Shalban Vihara, or the Ranir bungalow, nor is the oblong architecture at the top of the cruciform seen. Thus Prof. Hoque thinks that it is an incomplete vihara. Two years back, she had visited that site during Page 154

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 excavation and saw that the monk cells are only at the southern side and either side of the northern part of the entrance and that there was no structure at the top of this. They also found big unique bronzes of Vajrasattva which they have found in a concealed form as if it was protected from the invaders. 2. Professor Dr Sachandra Ghosh:  Prof. Ghosh gave a small presentation (Attachment-1) about the connected history of Mainamati.  The site of Mainamati was located in the sub-region of Samatata which had a strong connected history with Southeast Asia.  The capital of Samatata, Devparvata, was an important riverine trade centre of southeastern Bengal. So, river communication and land communication helped in the connected history of Mainamati, and made it a suitable choice for the construction of monasteries because it helped in the communication with the network. Also, Mainamati was connected with the Chittagong region which had a very famous port called Samandar. In western Bengal, Tamralipta lost its presence by the eighth century, so after that, there was no proper port in the West Bengal area. So, it was Samandar by which one can move into distant places. So, there was a close linkage between Pundravardhana, Banga, Samatata and Samandar.  Some areas can be tentatively identified, despite few resources to draw on, with which Mainamati in Samatata could be connected. They are: Arakan (present Rakhine in Myanmar), Kalasapura (Martaban in lower Myanmar), sites of peninsular Thailand, eastern Java, and the region around the Isthmus of Kra and Ishanapura (Cambodia).  She also showed some bronze icons from Mainamati and other regions to connect the regions.  She mentioned the Intan Shipwreck in which several moulds for local artisans were found. The Comilla and Chittagong regions could be a potential source of workshops for metal casting due to the profusion of bronzes being found there. Depictions of similar kinds of vajra from the shipwreck were also found on a plaque in a Buddhist monastery in Pilak, Tripura which was a part of Samatata. The monastery in Pilak has a similar type of decoration to Mainamati. In Arakan, the inscription of Anandachandra talks about creating a roadway from Arakan to Pilak. So, there was a roadway that was constructed by Ananchandra so that the Buddhist monks could move.  She strongly believes that from the tenth century, there were four centres of International Buddhism, not three. Mainamati was the fourth centre.  Finally, she mentioned that Mainamati is a very good choice for inscription and deserves it. 3. Md. Mosharraf Hossain:  Nalanda has metal and monumental sculptures but Mainamati has wooden, terracotta and clay sculptures. This is the speciality of Mainamati.  In Mainamati, there is another significant structure, Tri Ratna Stupa. In the monumental form, the representation of Tri Ratna is rare. This is only found here in Mainamati.  He also mentioned that Mainamati was a metallurgical centre. He suggested the presenters study a little more to concise the whole idea of connectivity. 4. Dr Chotima Chaturawong:  There are several differences between Mainamati with other similar sites in Thailand.  Which area is Lalmai and which area is Mainamati should be mentioned. After the webinar, Dr Chaturawong also sent her written comments on the presentation (Attachment-2). Page 155

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 5. Dr Md. Mizanur Rashid:  This site has heritage value for its stupa, small and big monasteries, each with their own history of evolution.  Dr Rashid suggested focussing instead on the culture of the building of the sites because of the multiple layers of history and events.  He thinks Mainamati has the value of being a World Heritage Site. 6. Dr Parul Pandya Dhar:  How have architectural ideas, motifs, forms travelled long distances across seas and land?  What processes of miniaturisation and replication are noticed in the archaeological finds at the sites?  What is the uniqueness, what are the differences with other sites?  Is there any evidence of miniaturisation and replication that underlies the conceptual framework here?  Locate the monastic complexes such as Shalban Vihara as a function of its inter-relationships with monastic establishments in Eastern India, Myanmar, Thailand etc.  What do the discoveries convey about the nature of directional flows? Can it help us to talk about rivers, flows, change the historiography of just India centric influences? Can Mainamati play a big role in that?  The unique alignment of the ‘group of three’ at Kutila Mura- Ratnatraya really needs to be emphasised much more than just the cluster of monuments. This could help the enlistment of Mainamati.  What does the find of the magnificent Vajrasattva bronze, for example, tell us about the importance of the site in the circulation and production of esoteric Buddhist bronzes and the dissemination of Buddhist esoteric practices?  What is the evidence of style and dating with respect to direct contacts with the Gupta-period art of eastern India?  What is the legacy of these developments beyond the Bay of Bengal to more distant lands such as Java? How does this material tie up with the Javanese bronzes, for example? After the webinar, Dr Dhar also sent her written comments along with a presentation for a better understanding of her points (Attachment-3). Dr Sharif Shams Imon then moved to the questions & answer session. First Mr Ahmed Sharif shared his comments. He asked that since we have discovered some prehistoric Neolithic tools from this area, why is the time frame of this region being limited to the 6th, 7th or 8th century. He thinks that it would add more value and uniqueness to this site. Next Dr Imon asked Dr Sharmistha Chatterjee to share her comments but there were some technical issues from her side. Dr Swadhin Sen asked Dr Imon to allow Dr Elora Tribedi to share her comments. First, she mentioned that mahapratisara and tara images should be clearly labelled rather than using a slash (/). She said that the three unique stupas may represent a different concept rather than Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. She also mentioned that one needs to understand how the monuments are important in a temporal context rather than saying we have these monuments. Ms Shabiha Parvin from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs asked about the number of sites that will be added to the tentative list. Mr Mosharraf Hossain answered that 25 sites will be added as a single site. Dr Imon invited Dr Sen to summarise the session. He started his speech by giving thanks to the Department of Archaeology, especially Md. Amiruzzaman, Md. Mahafuz Alam and Mr Khairul Bashar Swapan for organising this Page 156

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 webinar. He summarised all the panel members’ comments. He also added that this site must have the heritage value but we have to study more to establish it. He thanked the presenters for their wonderful efforts. Lastly Dr Imon invited Ms Shabiha Parvin to deliver her closing speech. She thanked all the panel members for attending the webinar. She said that this type of discussion will help share the heritage and ideas. Dr Imon thanked everyone and invited them to attend the next webinar tomorrow and announced the ending of the session. Attachments: 1. Comments and Presentation of Dr Suchandra Ghosh (Page: 7-23) 2. Comments and suggestions of Dr Chotima Chaturawong (Page: 24-37) 3. Comments of Dr Parul Pandya Dhar (Page: 38) Page 157

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh ANNEXURE- 06 Attachment-1 Dear Swadhin, Apologies for late reply. Was really tied up the last few days. Swadhin please check my powerpoint which you have. Do look at the slides which talk of connectivity, both internal and external.... the routes. This is what Parul pointed out in her second point. indicate the unity of routes like riverine and land in one hand for reaching Ganga valley and again land and sea for countries of southeast Asia. I think it is necessary to harp about the cluster of monasteries of all categories. This indicates the huge popularity of Buddhism and perhaps the footfall that it had, particularly monks from other monasteries. So in Buddhism across Asia, its presence should be inscribed. Situate Mainamati within the larger network of Southeastern BengaL Portable artifacts which Parul mentioned are very important to understand networks and mobility. The profusion of miniature bronze deities or moulded clay tablets or even the unique stupas that have been unearthed are all portable items. I call the tablets voyaging objects and Isthmus of Km was known as the voyaging corridor. Please harp upon Isthmus linkages which I am trying to show and it has been recognized by Ken Hall and others. In your presentation, please try to situate Mainamati within a larger network. It would be better if you make a selection of a few sculptures, highlighting their unique features...I don't remember if in the official presentation that beautiful sculpture, Avalokitesvara in a pensive mood was projected. If not, then it is one of its kind. When you prepare the dossier, it has to be very succinct and sharp. So please write that yourself. I don't think I have any other points to suggest. If you have any query on my ppt., do ask me. Best, Suchandra di. Page 158

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