Final Report UTLP_30062021

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Prepared by DoA Page 39

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Ground plan of Idrakpur Fort ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Prepared by Department of Architecture, Daffodil International University (DIU) Page 40

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Ground plan of Hajigonj Fort ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Prepared by Department of Architecture, Daffodil International University (DIU) Ground plan of SonakandaFort Prepared by Department of Architecture, Daffodil International University (DIU) Page 41

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Ground plan of Lalbagh Fort ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Prepared by DoA Page 42

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Front elevation of Soter Ratna Temple Prepared by DoA Ground floor plan of Soter Ratna Temple Prepared by DoA Page 43

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Front elevation of Khelaram Data Temple Prepared by DoA Ground floor plan of Khelaram Data Temple Prepared by DoA Page 44

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 2.12 Stakeholder consultations and awareness-raising regarding the ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS implementation of the World Heritage Convention and the implications of inscription of the properties on the World Heritage List Community is an important part of the conservation, management and sustainability of heritage properties. Community also plays an important role in raising awareness and knowledge about the world heritage convention and inscription process as a World Heritage site. In this regard, as well as for the proper management of the prospective future World Heritage sites through community participation, the DoA conducted several stakeholder meetings (Table 7). The stakeholder meetings helped to not only create a knowledge base but also to gather more data for the DoA from the community about the site, its history, authenticity, etc. A total of seven stakeholder meetings were conducted throughout the country. Local administration, public representative, important and honourable persons, college and university faculties, freedom fighters, government officials, etc. were present at the stakeholder meetings. News on the stakeholders' meetings can be found in Annexure- 10. Table 07: Stakeholder Meetings Sl. No. Title & Location Date 23 September 2020 1. Stakeholder meeting with Ministry of Cultural Affairs Venue: DoA Head Office, Dhaka 24 October 2020 26 November 2020 2. Stakeholder meeting on Halud Vihara & Jagaddala Vihara Venue: Paharpur Museum Meeting Room 9 December 2020 3. Stakeholder meeting on Updating the Tentative List of 14 December 2020 Bangladesh 14 December 2020 Venue: Meeting Room, DC Office, Jashore 17 February 2021 4. Stakeholder meeting with Bangla Academy and University of Dhaka Venue: Meeting Room, Bangla Academy 5. Stakeholder meeting with monitoring committee from MoCA Venue: Meeting Room, DoA 6. Stakeholder meeting with DoA Officials Venue: Seminar Room, DoA 7. Stakeholder meeting with Journalists Venue: Seminar Room, DoA Page 45

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Stakeholders meeting on Halud Vihara & Jagaddala Vihara at Paharpur, Naogaon- © DoA ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Meeting with Bangladesh Army, Cumilla- © DoA Page 46

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Stakeholders meeting at Cumilla- © DoA ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Stakeholders meeting at Cumilla- © DoA Page 47

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Stakeholders meeting at Jashore- © DoA ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Stakeholders meeting with DoA officials- © DoA Page 48

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Stakeholders meeting at Bangla Academy- © DoA ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Meeting with Monitoring Committee from MoCA- © DoA Page 49

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 Monitoring Committee meeting with consultants and DoA- © DoA ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS Meeting with Head of UNESCO Dhaka Office- © DoA Page 50

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 The government of Bangladesh and all the important agencies are aware of the Tentative ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS List upadating process. Local level consultation like metting with local government, important persons & public representatives along with consultation with ministrial level was done throughout the process. Public participation is an important part with the implementation of World Heritage Convention. DoA started the Tentative List upadating process through an open call to submit proposals. There was an opening seminar on updating the Tentative List process and a final sharing seminar where stakeholders were invited (section 2.5 and section 2.14). Public participation was always maintained throughout the project. For the properties which are not protected by the DoA conscent letter is collected from the concerned departments. Conscent letters can be found in Annexure-08. 2.13 Elaboration of the draft Tentative List using the Tentative List Submission Format All the data on the heritage properties were incorporated in the Tentative List Submission Format (Article 66 and Annex 2A of the UNESCO Operational Guideline). The final elaborated submission format for each proposal to be included in the updated Tentative List can be found in chapter 3. Before putting the on-site data into the Tentative List submission format there was a necessity to prepare aerial photographs, drawings and layouts for each of the property to better understand the present condition of each property. 2.14. Finalising the Tentative List and Sharing Seminar The elaborated draft Tentative List was then sent to the experts and UNESCO for review. The draft Tentative List was also shared with all on 17 February 2021 through a sharing seminar. State minister of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Mr KM Khakid, MP was the chief guest at the seminar, along with the secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Mr Md Badrul Arefin and UNESCO representative to Bangladesh Ms Beatrice Kaldun as special guests. The seminar was chaired by the Director General (Additional Charge) of the DoA Md. Ataur Rahman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The updated Tentative List was Page 51

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 presented by Md. Amiruzzaman, Deputy Director (Antiquity) and assistant coordinator of ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS the project. International Expert for the project Dr Sharif Shams Imon presented the inscription process of the World Heritage site. Renowned architect Dr Abu Sayeed M. Ahmed was present at the seminar as a discussant. A great number of people were also present through video conferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Several national daily newspapers covered the news of the seminar (Annexure-11). Chief guest along with other guests Audiences present physically on the seminar State Minister of the Ministry of Cultural Draft Tentative List sharing by Associate Affairs delivering speech Coordinator of the Project Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Head of UNESCO Dhaka Office delivering delivering speech through video conferencing speech through video conferencing Page 52

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 2 ACTIVITIES & FINDINGS The journey from the preliminary proposals to the Updated Tentative List of Bangladesh The DoA started the journey by receiving 61 proposals, finally selecting 8 proposals to be enlisted in the updated Tentative List of Bangladesh. After considering all comments and field data, and through extensive discussions with the project experts, the DoA prepared the final Tentative List. The list is prepared from the initial 16 themeatic titles and throughout the process the property titles are modified several times according to field data, discussion with UNESCO expert, DoA officials and present condition of the sites. The list is as follows: Table 08: Updated Tentative List Sl. No Name of the properties 1. Archaeological Sites on the Deltaic Landscape of Bangladesh 2. Mughal Mosques in Bangladesh 3. Cultural Landscape of Mahasthan and Karatoya River 4. Archaeological sites of Lalmai-Mainamati 5. National Assembly Complex of Bangladesh 6. The Architectural Work of Muzharul Islam: an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement in South Asia 7. Mughal forts on fluvial terrains in Dhaka 8. Mughal and Colonial Temples of Bangladesh Page 53

CHAPTER 3 PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Proposals are reviewed and rewritten by Dr. Sharif Shams Imon and Prof. Dr. Swadhin Sen South gate of Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka- © DoA

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Name of Property: Archaeological Sites on the Deltaic Landscape of Bangladesh PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Submission prepared by: Afroza Khan Mita, Regional Director, DoA A K M Syfur Rahman, Regional Director, DoA Urmila Hasnat, Research Assistant, DoA Reviewed and rewritten by: Professor Swadhin Sen, PhD STATE PARTY: Bangladesh Institution: Department of Archaeology State, Province or Region: Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, District–Khulna, Jashore, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Division: Khulna (Southwestern Area of the Country) Latitude and Longitude, or UTM coordinates: The northern boundary of the area is 22°51'57.55\"N to 88°58'39.68\"E and 22°48'1.39\"N to 89°34'17.32\"E. The southern boundary of the area is up to the Bay of Bengal. The boundaries of these archaeological settlements are the Jamuna River at the west and the Kabodak River to the east. The settlements are probably located on paleo-levee of Jamuna, Bhadra and Kobodak River. DESCRIPTION a. The dynamic, active and changing deltaic landscape and cultural activities The southwestern or lower part of Bangladesh (and West Bengal, India) is characterized by the unique, continuously metamorphosing, and comparatively unstable part of the active Ganges Delta (a delta is a landform created by the sediments deposited by the rivers, and water flows often in an area close to the mouth of the rivers). This part of the dynamic, tidal and fluvially active delta is a portion of a larger delta known as the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Delta and most of the parts of present Bangladesh and West Bengal, India are located on it, the largest delta in the world. The northern and eastern parts of the GBM Delta are not moribund. The southwestern part of Bangladesh along with the southern part of present West Bengal, India is entirely different as a landscape that is still active and forming/transforming by an expansive and intricate network of rivers falling into the Bay of Bengal. This landscape is littoral (i.e., a region lying across a shore) and is under direct influence of marine, estuarine (i.e., ‘estuary’ is the partly enclosed coastal area where river water mixes with the seawater) and riverine depositional and erosional processes. This part of the active delta has been formed by the sediments transported and deposited by the Ganges (Padma River in Bangladesh) River and its numerous distributaries. The region in this proposal (Active Ganges Delta, hereafter, AGD) is bounded by the previous course of the Ganges River (known as Hooghly-Bhagirathi River) to the west (presently in West Bengal, India) and the Meghna River to the east, the present course of Padma River (Ganges River in India) to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south. This property is distributed spatially in the southwestern part of Bangladesh covered currently by the administrative units of Khulna and Barisal Division. The part of the AGD which is included within the Khulna and Barishal division is characterized by various unique ecological, fluvial and cultural characters. The area is also known as the tidal delta as the rivers and waterscape is dominated by the tidal rivers and their depositional environment. The northern part of this delta is more mature than the more active part in the littoral zone. The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest of the world and, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is included within the littoral zone of this deltaic landscape of the AGD. The landscape of this delta is unique in many ways. The rivers and the water bodies are continuously changing during the last 5000-6000 years. The tidal rivers and regular annual floods during the monsoon mark the transient and changing character of this landscape and its ecology. The landscape is prone to regular natural disasters like cyclones, tidal surge, rapid erosion of the land, and river shifting, which is further threatened by climate-change-induced sea-level rise. Page 55

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 The landscape, people and cultures are under active threat of being destroyed and obliterated in the next 50 PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED years. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Generally, it is assumed that the human activities in such a region are transient, temporary and often, related to the time or locations of stability. Earlier historians believed (see, for example, Richard Eaton, the Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier) that the region came under extensive human occupation in the 16th-17th centuries CE. They thought that earlier human occupation was dispersed, temporary and specific activity (i.e., riverine trade and commerce, use of the natural resources of the mangrove forest, etc.) oriented. Contrary to their assumptions based upon the unique, changing and transfiguring character of this land, the region was inhabited at least in the second quarter of the first millennium BCE. Archaeological sites and monumental remains in the part within India (e.g., Tamluk, Chandraketugarh, Mahishadal, Sagar Island, Hindu Temple at Jatar Deul, etc.) date back to c. 3rd-4th century BCE. Recent archaeological studies in the region under Bangladesh as well as several previous studies, clearly show that the cultural activity in this dynamic, disaster- prone and unstable area began in the 5th-6th century CE. Future studies may provide archaeological evidence of cultural activity from an earlier period. These archaeological sites attest to the permanent settlements even within the mangrove forest area, cultivation of land and use of settlements for maritime and riverine trade networks. They also suggest that the transforming landscape and hostile waterfront could not deny the ancient settlers from building extensive settlements even during the destruction and modification by floods, riverine erosion and natural rapid growth of dense forests. Undoubtedly, the AGD represent an unparallel and extraordinary human and landscape (or nature) relationship which is very rare in world history. The resilience and adaptation of humankind through the development of new adaptive strategies is the highlight of the cultural history of this region (see, for example, Allisson et al. 2003; Bandyopadhyay 2019). b. Historical background This active Ganges Deltaic region, covering both Bangladesh and West Bengal, India is identified as Gangaridai. Gangaridai, as a name of a territory in the mouth of the Ganges River, occurs as the name of a people and of a country in Greek and Latin writings, dates of which range between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE. The term Gangaridai and its variants - Gangaridae, Gangaridum and Gangarides - are found in the works of classical authors. In Ptolemy's description, four longitudinal degrees covered the coast from the westernmost to the easternmost mouth of the river. This, in effect, means that the Gangaridai country stretched a long way along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal between the westernmost and easternmost mouths of the Ganges. It is interesting to note that the longitudinal difference between the mouth of the Bhagirathi (near Tamluk) and the Padma (near Chittagong) at present is little more than 3.5 degrees. Thus on Ptolemy's evidence Gangaridai can be located in the area in between the two main channels of the Ganges in present West Bengal of India and Bangladesh (Bhattachayya 1977; Basak 2014; Chakrabarty 2017; Chattopadhyay 2018; Mukherjee 1987; Sanyal 2010). The three copper plate inscriptions issued by the Sena rulers and another by Domman Pala, the genealogy of whom is still unknown, have been found from the same landscape zone currently included within West Bengal, India. All these inscriptions can be dated tentatively to the 11th to 13th century CE (Sanyal 2010; Basak 2014). The area was referred to as khari mandala in a few of these inscriptions. This area was claimed to be a part of Pundrabhardhana bhukti in the inscription of Sena rulers. As a sub-region or state of the early medieval (c. 7th-13th century CE) period, this entire deltaic region is recognized as Vanga. The region was partially included in the Sultanate domain during the medieval period (c. 14th – 18th century CE) with the territorial assimilation by Khan Jahan Ali. During the Mughal period, the region was a centre of a long conflict between Mughal governors and the local landlords, especially, Pratapaditya and this lineage in the 17th-18th century CE. The region was finally coming under the control of the Mughals during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir in the 17th century, though the invading Arakanese (or the popularly known mog) mercenaries (from present-day Myanmar) and the Portuguese pirates ran havoc in these coastal territories even after the British colonial domination after the battle of Plassey in 1757. Page 56

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 c. Archaeological sites and monuments in the region and their cultural significance PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED Archaeological sites in this region comprise various types, including standing monuments, monumental TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH remains, buried archaeological deposits, mud fortified spaces, brick-built remains, scatters of stones and stone made artefacts, embankments, and transported deposits of archaeological materials. They can be dated from c. 7th – 8th century CE to c. 18th – 19th century CE. Often, it is found that the archaeological sites from the early period were reused in the later period without any significant increase in the thickness of the cultural debris. Monuments with intact superstructure are the sites where the superstructures are visible in many cases. These monuments are mostly religious edifices belonging to both Brahmanical and Islamic traditions. Simultaneously, many of the monuments of the contemporary period have lost their superstructure and became buried under the later alluvium. They are exposed after excavation. The complex and spatially varied fluvial depositional environment has played a key part in the preservation and destruction of the monuments and monumental remains. The archaeological sites and monuments do not show any specific spatial distribution pattern across the temporal scale. Archaeological sites belonging to the c. 7th- 10th century CE are found as in the northern part of the delta as in the littoral zone even within the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans. Similarly, mosques and temples of the later period are found throughout the region. Although scholars and experts are talking about the human resilience and adaptive strategies in the active tidal and dynamic deltaic zone in recent days *see, for example, O’ Donnel and Wodon 2015; Hoque et al. 2019; World Bank Portal (https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2016/10/07/bangladesh-building-resilience-to- climate-change), the archaeological landscape of AGD vividly manifests the adaptive resilience subsistence strategies of the human activities (see, for example, van de Noort 2013). The changing dynamic of the terrain is not a new phenomenon. Human settlements and activities in this region are adapting to the natural disasters and changes of the riverine dynamics including sea-level changes for a long time (see, Bandyopadhyay 2019; Sen 2018a, 2018b, 2020). Studies on archaeological sites and monuments indicate that human activities went through changes that were triggered and often controlled by natural factors like flood, changes of rivers, subsidence of lands, change in sediment depositional processes (see, Sen 2018a, 2018b, 2020). This is a unique case in terms of the environmental and ecological context. Very few archaeological sites in the world are preserved in such a volatile landscape to attest to the complex adaptive strategies of humankind in the face of such diverse and perennial natural disadvantages. On the contrary, human adaptive strategies and resilience show that cultural processes transformed the disadvantage in advantages by using the water for their communication and trade, for salt production and for trade activities to the upland to the north and through the Bay of Bengal to the south (Mukherjee 2011). As a property proposed as a tentative world heritage, forty-six archaeological sites have been selected after careful and systematic evaluation of their significance in the historical processes of human- landscape/environment entwined interaction. They have been selected, moreover, from numerous sites based upon the authenticity and integrity according to the World Heritage guidelines. The components of the property with their respective key characters are given in the following table for serial nomination under a relevant theme: Serial code Name (the Type Tentative Location Geo- Current date number protected sites are coordinates ownership/pr of the referred according (Latitude/longi otection component to official tude) status documents) Page 57

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Serial code Name (the Type Tentative Location Geo- Current PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED date TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH number protected sites are Structural Khedapara, coordinates ownership/pr mound c. 9th – 14th Manirampur, of the referred according century CE Jashore (Latitude/longi otection Suspected c. 10th – 17th Bhojgati, component to official remains of a century CE Manirampur, tude) status Buddhist Jashore documents) temple-shrine c. 8th – 16th Structural century CE Gourighona, AGD. 1 Khedapara Mound remains of a Keshabpur, 23°02'01.1'' N Private Buddhist c. 8th – 17th Jashore 89°09'26.3'' E Temple century CE AGD. 2 Damdam Pirosthan Structural Gourighona, 23°4' 44.83\" N DoA Protected Dhibi remains of a c. 8th – 17th Keshabpur, 89°13' 59.66\" E Buddhist century CE Jashore AGD. 3 Bharat Bhayna monastery and c. 8th – 15th 22°84'97.55 \" N DoA Protected Buddhist Temple temples century CE Gourighona, 89°34'87.69\" E Cluster of Keshabpur, AGD. 4 Dalijhara Buddhist structural Jashore 22°50'26.12'' N Private Bihara-Temple mounds Majhiara, 89°20'27.15'' E complex Structural Tala, Satkhira mound AGD. 5 Bharat Rajar Bari 22°50'22.8\" N Private 89°19'57.7\" E AGD. 6 Majhiara Mound 22°45'57.8'' N Private 89°15'16.2'' E AGD. 7 Jhurijhara Dhibi Suspected c. 10th – 17th Tala Sadar, N 22°47'3.29\" DoA Protected AGD. 8 Mollapara Bhita remains of a century CE Tala, Satkhira E 89°15'48.99\" Buddhist temple-stupa c. 11th -17th Shahpur, Tala, 22°45'51.66\" N Private Structural mound century CE Satkhira 89°15'11.95\" E AGD. 9 Structural mound Buried c. 9th -14th Munshigonj, 22°13' 14.95\" N Protected on the bank of structural 16th century Shymanagar, 89°14' 23.39\" E within the Kholpetua River mound CE Satkhira reserve forest AGD. 10 Aangrakona 1 Buried c. 9th -14th Arpangasia, by Forest structural 16th century Shyamnagar, Department mound CE Satkhira 22°1' 15.92\" N Protected 89°16' 44.26\" E within the AGD. 11 Aangrakona 2 Buried c. 9th -14th Arpangasia, reserve forest structural 16th century Shyamnagar, by Forest mound CE Satkhira Department 22°1' 29.32\" N Protected AGD. 12 Aanrakona 3 Buried c. 9th -14th 89°6' 47.35\" E within the structural 16th century reserve forest mound CE by Forest Department 22°0' 36.18\" N Protected 89°16' 27.23\" E within the reserve forest by Forest Department Page 58

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Serial code Name (the Type Tentative Location Geo- Current PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED date TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH number protected sites are coordinates ownership/pr c. 9th -14th of the referred according 16th century (Latitude/longi otection CE component to official tude) status c. 9th -14th documents) 16th century CE AGD. 13 Sindukkhali 1 Buried Arpangasia, 22°1' 2.14\" N Protected c. 9th -14th structural 16th century Shyamnagar, 89°17' 2.29\" E within the CE mound Satkhira reserve forest c. 9th -14th 16th century by Forest CE Department c. 8th -17th AGD. 14 Sindukkhali 2 Buried 16th century Agrakona, 22°1' 9.8\" N Protected structural CE mound c. 8th -17th Shymanagar, 89°17'11.47\" E within the 16th century CE Satkhira reserve forest c. 8th -17th 16th century by Forest CE c. 8th -17th Department 16th century AGD. 15 Angrakona- Buried CE Agrakona, 22°0' 30.02\" N Protected Sindukkhali 1 structural c. 9th -18th mound century CE Shymanagar, 89°16' 34.68\" E within the c. 15th -16th Satkhira reserve forest century CE c. 17th -18th by Forest century CE Department c. 15th -16th AGD. 16 Angrakona- Buried century CE Agrakona, 22°0' 30.02\" N Protected Sindukkhali 2 structural mound Shymanagar, 89°16' 34.68\" E within the Satkhira reserve forest by Forest Department AGD. 17 Rezakpur cluster Buried Kapilmuni, 22°41'50.6'' N Private AGD. 18 Kapilmuni Mound structural AGD. 19 mound Paikgacha, 89°19'00.0'' E AGD. 20 AGD. 21 Structural Khulna mound AGD. 22 Kapilmuni, 22°40'48.2\" N Private Paikgachha, 89°18'23.8\" E Khulna Ramnagar Dhibi Structural Ramnagar, N 22°42'23.1'' Private mound Paikgacha, E 89°19'12.2'' Khulna Nathpara Supari Buried Kashimnagar, 22°71'46.52\" N Private Bagan structural Paikgacha, 89°31.03.72\" E mound Khulna Pratapadityer Garh Walled space Bedkashi, 22°18'34.15\"N Private (Barobari) and Koyra, Khulna 89°18'25.01\"E surrounding zone with buried archaeological deposits outside the enclosure Masjidkur Mosque Mosque Masjidjkur, 22° 47' 88.72\" DoA Protected Koyra, Khulna N AGD. 23 Mirzanagar Monumental AGD. 24 Hammamkhana remains used 89.28'55.48\" E as bathing Mirzanagar, 22°53'52.44\" N DoA Protected Prabazpur Shahi built-space Keshabpur, 89° 8' 48.41\" E Mosque Mosque Jashore Mothurespur, 22°25' 40.15\" N DoA Protected Kaligonj, 89°1' 49.19\" E Satkhira Page 59

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Serial code Name (the Type Tentative Location Geo- Current PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED date TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH number protected sites are Moutala, coordinates ownership/pr Kaligonj, of the referred according Satkhira (Latitude/longi otection Ishwaripur, component to official Shyamnagar tude) status Satkhira documents) Ishwaripur, Shyamnagar AGD. 25 Eidgah Mound Structural Satkhira 22°25' 40.15\" N DoA Protected 89°4' 40.91\" E mound Jahajghata, Shyamnagar AGD. 26 Bangshipur Shahi Mosque c. 15th -16th Satkhira 22°19' 55.49\" N DoA Protected Mosque century CE 89°6' 12.96\" E Gopalpur, AGD. 27 Iswaripur Monumental c. 17th-18th Shyamnagar, 22°18' 20.05\" N DoA Protected AGD. 28 Hammamkhana remains used century CE Satkhira 89°6' 40.32\" E AGD. 29 for bathing Sonabaria, Jahazghata built-space 11th-13th Shyamnagar 22°22'53.04\" N DoA Protected Hammamkhana Monumental century CE; Satkhira 89°5'12.3\" E remains used 17th-18th Gobinda Dever for bathing century CE Doulatpur, 22°20' 18.28\" N DoA Protected Mandir built-space c. 18th-19th Kaliganj, 89°5' 47.04\" E Hindu Temple century CE Jhenaidah Doulatpur, 22°52'35.33\" N DoA Protected AGD. 30 Shyamsundor Hindu Temple c. 18th-19th Kaliganj, 88° 59' 6.36\" E Temple century CE Jhenaidah Barobazar, - DoA Protected AGD. 31 Barobazar Cluster Mosques, c. 14th – 18th Kaliganj, AGD, 31a. of Monumental Jhenaidah Remains tombs century CE Mithapukur, Kaliganj, Gorar Masjid anchorage and Jhenaidah Sadikpur, other Kaliganj, Jhenaidah architectural Doulatpur, Kaliganj, remains c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 23018'11.2\" N DoA Protected Mosque Doulatpur, 89008'31.8\" E Kaliganj, century CE Jhenaidah Hasilbag, AGD. 31b. Pathagar Dhibi Mosque c. 14th – 18th Kaliganj, 23018'14.6\" DoA Protected century CE Jhenaidah 89008'57.0\" AGD. 31c. Jorbangla Dhibi Mosque c. 14th – 18th 23018'21.0\" N DoA Protected century CE 89008'11.2\" E AGD. 31d. Kharer Dighi Tombs c. 14th – 18th 23018'04.6\" N DoA Protected AGD .31e. (Mataranir Didhi) Mosque century CE 89009'05.4\" E Dhibi Manohar Didhi c. 14th – 18th 26021'54.1\" N DoA Protected Dhibi century CE 88038'18.4\" E AGD. 31f. Badedihi Dhibi Monumental c. 14th – 18th 23018'14.0\" N DoA Protected AGD. 31g. Namajgaon remains and century CE 89009'25.5\" E AGD. 31h. Damdam Dhibi mound Monumental c. 14th – 18th 23018'45.9\" N DoA Protected remains and century CE 89008'15.1\" E tombs Structural c. 14th – 18th 23018'05.1\" DoA Protected mound and century CE 89008'31.6\" remains Page 60

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Serial code Name (the Type Tentative Location Geo- Current PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED date TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH number protected sites are coordinates ownership/pr c. 14th – 18th of the referred according century CE (Latitude/longi otection component to official c. 14th – 18th tude) status century CE documents) c. 14th – 18th AGD. 31i. Ghoper Dhibi Structural century CE Ghoppara, 23018'02.2\" N DoA Protected Kaliganj, 89007'44.6\" E remains and c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 23025'53.8\" N DoA Protected century CE Sighada, 89006'19.9\" E tombs Kaaliganj, 23018'57.8\" N DoA Protected c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 89007'05.2\" E AGD. 31j. Singhada Awlia Mosque century CE Saatgachhiya, 23017'57.3\" N DoA Protected Kaliganj, 89008'12.6\" E Masjid c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 23018'20.7\" N DoA Protected century CE Hasilbag, 89008'18.9\" E AGD. 31k. Saatgachhiya Remains of a Kaliganj, 23018'09.1\" N DoA Protected c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 89008'41.3\" E Gayebana Mosjid mosque century CE Barobazar, 23017'53.1\"N DoA Protected Kaliganj, 89008'49.7\" E AGD. 31l. Jahaj Ghata Remains of a c. 14th – 18th Jhenaidah 23017'52.3\" N DoA Protected structure (an century CE Doulatpur, 89008'33.6\" E AGD. 31m. Golakata Dighi anchorage?) Kaliganj, Protected Dhibi Mosque 10th-19th Jhenaidah 22°19'38.68\"N within the century CE Phulbari, 89°28'51.36\"E reserve forest AGD. 31n. Pir Pukur Dhibi Mosque Kaliganj, by Forest Jhenaidah Department AGD. 31o. Nungola Dhibi Mosque Hasilbagh, Kaliganj, AGD. 31p. Shukur Mollick Mosque Jhenaidah Dhibi Shekhertek, Koyra, Khulna AGD. 32. Shekhertek Temple Monumental and mound remains and buried archaeological remains An overview of the sites entwined to their changing deltaic landscape There are several clusters of places and many isolated structural or monumental sites and habitational mounds dated from 9th to 18th-century CE as an indicator of intimate human-landscape interaction. A few examples are given below: Killa Bari-Mirzanagar Hammamkhana Cluster, Mirzanagar, Jashore: Two particularly important ruins of the Mughal period are located in Jashore District. The first one is known as a Hammamkhana located at Mirzanagar of Trimohini Union of Keshobpur Upazila. It was a ruin of ancient buildings with two square courtyards and separated by a high wall. These are designated as the residence of Nawab’s or Foujdars of Jashore. The second one is situated on a 3-4m high mound and it is enclosed by walls. Locally it was known as killa-bari or fort and located one kilometre south of the Hammamkhana. There are partially exposed brick-built structural remains under these medieval ruins of the enclosed structural remains. It is highly probable that the Mughal structures were built upon pre-medieval structural remains. Their location within Bhairab-Betna intertidal zone shows the continuity of human activity despite the lateral changes in the river flow in the last one thousand years. Agra-Kapilmuni-Shyamnagar cluster: The Agra-Kapilmuni cluster is an area with several clusters of archaeological remains in both the wetland and relatively higher interfluve natural levee in the Kapataskho- Page 61

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Betrabati River System. The locations of the sites in clusters from the north to the south on a linear pattern on PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED a large area extending from Keshabpur Upazila of Jashore to Tala Upazila, Satkhira suggest continuous cultural TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH activity from c. 7th-8th century CE to c. 18th century CE in the land, which was regularly flooded during the monsoon and the high tide. Hunter (1877) and Mitra (2013, p. 209) have also mentioned a broad area from Tala Upazila (Satkhira District) to Chandkhali (Satkhira District) (covering approximately 18 kilometres) with several clusters of archaeological sites. Archaeological sites in Shyamnagar Upazila, Satkhira District within the Betrabati-Ichhamati Rivers are associated with these sites. Initial archaeological surveying has provided evidence of the presence of many of these sites which are located within the Sundarbans and at the margin of the present Sundarbans. They are not included in this property because their nature and preservation state have not yet been determined based upon intensive archaeological studies. Local people have also informed that structural remains were found while digging at one of these buried sites. Bharat Bhayna-Dalijhara-Bharat Rajar Bari cluster: A large cruciform Buddhist temple was excavated and preserved by the Government Department of Archaeology at Bharat Bhayna in Keshabpur Upazila of Jashore District. This temple with multiple phases of construction and modifications can be dated back to the 8th-9th century CE. This temple’s top represents a building technique unique to the deltaic flood plain and this technique is known as the cellular-technique (i.e., construction by building multiple blind cells with an earth filling). In a recent archaeological excavation by the Regional Directorate Office, Department of Archaeology, Khulna , a Buddhist temple at Jhurijhara mound in Tala Upazila was exposed. This temple also has a cellular construction style similar to the temple in Damdam Pirasthan Dhibi, excavated earlier at Manirampur Upazila in Jashore to the north of Jhurijhara. These temples have a close resemblance to two temples that were found in association with Dalijhara Buddhist Vihara (monastery) at Keshabpur Upazila, 1.2km to the southeast of Bharat Bhayna. Excavation in Jhurijhara and Damdam Pirosthan Dhibi/mound revealed suspected Buddhist temples. Bharat Bhayna and Dhalijahara have several other clusters of sites locally known as Bharat Rajat Bari and Manik Fakirer Bari. These two places cover an extensive area to the south of the aforementioned excavated sites. The construction of the temple can be dated back to the 8th-10th century CE. The edifice was reused during the medieval period. The pottery assemblage from this site clearly attests to this continuous reuse (Rahman, Alam and Hasnat 2020). The cellular technique of construction has a close resemblance to several architectural remains from the northwestern part of Bangladesh. The style in this region as suggested by these remains is different in its own respect. The buildings have a shallow foundation trench almost at the level of the surrounding surface and the massive brick-built walls were primarily laid out in a concentric square plan. Three to four squares comprised the main layout and consecutive squares were joined to each other by walls creating cells to be filled up by earth or deposits mixed with brickbats. These cells were constructed to give the structure solidity and stability on a landscape that is formed with loose, non-sticky, and often, wet silt and sand. The central high square brick-built structure of the Buddhist temple of Bharat Bhayna has a deep foundation and the square is solidified by multiple blind cells at the top where the original shrine was built at the first period of its occupation and use. Four rectangular arms at four cardinal directions were added in a later period to give the temple a cruciform shape (see, Rahman and Mita 2018). The same zones were under human occupation and cultural activity during the later period after the 13th century. Archaeological stratigraphy and material culture from the excavated sites, such as Jhurijhara, Dalijhara and Bharat Bhayna, indicate their continued use until the 17th-18th century or later. Ruins of a mosque of Sultan Ala al-Din Hussain Shah are at Arshnagar of Dumuria Upazila (Khulna District), at a distance of 2km to the northeast of the shrine of Jhurijhara Mound. An inscription of 907 AH (1501 CE) has been recovered from the mosque (Rahman 2017). The continuous occupation of the landscape and the studies on the surrounding landscape suggest that because of regular floods, changes in river flow and earthquake-related subsidence of the structural remains and land, people adapted with a building style that is comparatively smaller and shallow, and had a wattle and daub superstructure. Page 62

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 All these sites are located on a low and wetland-associated landscape in the Bhadra-Hari River belts. There are PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED quite a large number of back-swamps and ox-bow lakes in the adjacent area indicating the change in the TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH transformations in hydrological regimes and deposition patterns. The low wetland in which the temple of Jhurijhara was excavated is regularly inundated during peak monsoon even though the current river and flood management have resulted in the loss of river flow during monsoon. Damdam Pirosthan Dhibi and the sites adjacent to this excavated temple seem to form another cluster of monumental remains in close spatial association with the Khedapara cluster of mounds to the southwest at a distance of 10km. These sites are situated on a landform that is slightly higher than the earlier sites. These sites, however, are closely associated with the abandoned meanders and belts of the Kapotashko-Haporkhali River system. These rivers, like several other tidal rivers, have become seasonal because of the river and flood management programmes during the last four decades. They were active and large rivers with seasonally changing flow and landscape alteration even in the 20th century CE. Barobazar cluster of monumental and monumental remains: This is a cluster of monuments and monumental remains comprising several mosques, tombs and non-religious structures like jahajghata. The monuments are dated to the archaeological sites and monuments of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Mosque City of Bagerhat. This cluster is considered to be the medieval settlement of Mahamudabad or Muhammadabad. Situated on the interfluve of Bhairav River, several mosques were exposed by archaeological excavation without any superstructure. The jahajghata (anchorage?) illustrate the communication through the currently abandoned channel of Bhairav River. Considered to be contemporary to the mosque city of Bagerhat (15th-16th century CE), some scholars, like Satish Chandra Mitra, think that there were pre-medieval settlements in the place of which this medieval settlement was built. This settlement and its location are intimately related to the palaeo-channels of the Bhairav River system and the natural processes such as the change of river flow and lateral shifting of channels had a considerable effect upon the change and abandonment of the settlements and decay-collapse of the superstructures of several mosques. Borobari Cluster (Popularly known as Pratapaditya’s Garh), Koyra, Khulna: The core of this cluster is a walled settlement which is popularly known as Barobari. Like many remains in this active deltaic part of Bangladesh, this walled settlement is associated with Pratapaditya, one of the famous landlords of baro-bhuiyan who resisted the Mughal subjugation of Bengal in the 17th century CE. It is rectangular in plan and measured 335m × 275m. The walls were constructed with bricks and overlain by mud. The walls are still preserved at different locations. Many stone objects, primarily used as components of construction with bricks (e.g., pillar bases, door jambs, pedestals with ratha-projections, square gauripattas, etc.) and sculptural fragments are seen on the surface of different parts of the settlement to the north. There are buried and surficial evidence of brick structures, stone blocks and sculpted stones within and outside the walled space and they can be dated to the pre-medieval period. Contrary to the popular oral history of dating this cluster to the medieval period, there is ample archaeological evidence to prove that there were settlements in the early medieval period (pre-13th century CE). This settlement is now adjacent to the Sundarbans and the river of Shakbaria separates this settlement from the present protected forest of the Sundarbans. There are several low wetlands around the walled space and signatures of abandoned channels attest to the dynamic and unstable fluvial environment in the zone. Buried and semi-carbonised floral remains of the chunks of mangrove roots are found from the zone, 2-3 metres below the present surface. It is evident that the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans extended up to this area and the archaeological sites throughout their formation and occupation for over a millennium transformed with the changing ecological contexts. The partially brick-built walls were constructed later, probably during the first part of the medieval period over the abandoned settlement of early medieval time. Bonghipur-Ishwaripur-Dhumghat, Satkhira: The Bonghipur-Iswaripur-Dhumghat cluster is especially important evidence of medieval settlements in the Jashore-Khulna region. Bongshipur Garh, Jishur Girza, Ishwaripur Hammamkahana, Tenga Shahi Mosque, Burujpota archaeological sites within a zone visibly illustrate settlements dating from the 15th-18th century CE. Like many other archaeological sites of this region, legends and oral history associate several sites with Raja Pratapaditya, though there is no empirical evidence. At Page 63

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 several locations, medieval structural remains were built upon the ruins of earlier (possibly, early medieval) PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED structural and non-structural remains. The remains are exposed in the accidental sections of the pits and TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH ditches dug by the locals for various purposes, and by riverbank erosion. These sites are located in the littoral zone in association with the Ichhamoti-Kalindi-Kholpetua-Araibanki River System and many other channels crisscrossing the active deltaic landforms. Continuity and episodic abandonment of locations of human activities could well be related to the changes in the fluvial environment of this littoral active deltaic zone (see, Sen 2018). Shekhertek cluster: Although a standing late medieval temple of the 18th century within the dense, tidal mangrove forest of the Sundarbans is the visible evidence of settlement in this area, there are descriptions of mud walls and buried sites in the different reports of the colonial period and in the history written by Satish Chandra Mitra. Initial survey in this area, which is inundated daily by tidal water, has detected buried structural remains within a large area measuring approximately 2 square kilometres. These buried remains, exposed sometimes by riverbank erosion and during the ebb of winter, are extraordinary evidence of human adjustment and adaptation in an ecology that is marked by regular changes in water regimes. Arpangasia cluster: Though seven buried and structural mounds in the Arpangasia River valley within the reserve mangrove forest area of the Sundarban have been included at the components of this property, there are several other exposed and partially preserved archaeological sites in the zone marked by the mangrove ecosystem. These sites can be dated back to c. 8th-9th century CE. Recent surveying (by the Government Department of Archaeology, and several other local archaeologists) has provided archaeological evidence in a dynamic and partially inundated landscape within the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans. There are numerous pieces of archaeological evidence of cultural activities from different temporal scales from many other places. They are not included in this proposal either because of the absence of reliable and systematically collected data or because of the lack of integrity because of the partial destruction by the erosion, subsidence and transformation of the rivers, coastal zone and alluvial terrains. They can be included as a serial nomination in future. Justification of Outstanding Universal Value: (iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; Archaeological sites in the dynamically transforming deltaic landscape of the southwestern part of Bangladesh comprise various types: buried archaeological remains of human activities (which are invisible on the surface, and exposed through archaeological excavation or detected by fluvial erosion) (e.g. AGD.1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10-16, 17, 18, 19, 20), structural mounds (which are visible and detectable on the surface because of their higher altitude in comparison to the surrounding plains) (e.g. AGD. 1, 5, 18, 19), monuments (AGD. 22, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31a-31e), monumental remains (e.g., AGD. 2, 3, 4, 7, 23, 27, 28, 31f, 31g, 31h, 31k), walled settlements/spaces (AGD. 21), structural mounds within the dense and regularly inundated tidal zones of a mangrove ecosystem (AGD. 9-16, 32), embankments or monumental remains enclosed by embankments (AGD. 32), etc. They represent an outstanding example of an architectural and technological ensemble, the primary aim of which was to adapt to the riverine and water-centric ecology of the active deltaic region. Brick and earth were the primary construction materials. The monuments were constructed with mortars and plasters bearing lime, clay and powdered bricks. Most interestingly, the lime was often used in an impure form with the fragments of faunal remains of snail and oyster shells. There is a long tradition of producing lime from various species of sweet and saltwater snails and oysters in this region of the littoral zone. The cellular technique of construction of the base of the religious edifices surmounted by thatched cover is another unique and adaptive architectural as well as technological style. The use Page 64

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 of snail-shell-produced lime continued in the medieval period in the construction of mosques and PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED temples. The use of salt-containing mud to produce bricks for building the mosques and other TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH structural remains are one of the reasons for extensive weathering effects on brick-built monuments and monumental remains. Mosques, moreover, represent the style named after the Sufi saint Khan Jahan Ali – Khan Jahan style of mosque – especially during the pre-Mughal period in this region. The human activity on this landscape reflects the dominance of ecologically adaptive architectural style and a technology of construction which is rare in the world. Many of the archaeological sites and monuments are still preserved because of this changing adaptive ecologically modified and adaptive technology. As the ecology of this active Ganges Delta is incomparable to any other ecosystem in the world, the technology of construction either with bricks or with mud and with a combination of mud- brick-lime sustaining for a period over a millennium with episodic changes with influence from other parts of the world are rare in the global context. The assimilation of external building techniques and forms in ecologically sensitive ways are visible most prominently in the Brahmanical and Buddhist remains from the early medieval period and in the mosques from the medieval period. For example, the cruciform temple building can be noticed in the Vikramshila Mahavihara of Bihar, India, Somapura Mahavihara (Paharpur) in the northern part of Bangladesh, in Bhabadeva Mahavihara in Lalmai- Mainamati of Cumilla in the eastern part of Bangladesh, and in various Buddhist monuments of Southeast Asia. Mosques of this region have also incorporated the traditional mosque architecture with a bay-aisle with domes above. The walls are massive. Except for the Shait Gambud Mosque of the World Heritage site of the Mosque City of Bagerhat, the larger mosques with multiple domes have not survived with their superstructure as is attestable from several ruins of mosques in Barobazar. The smaller yet massively built wall dominated mosques were probably an adaptation to the soft and loose sediments of the delta as suggested by the historian Richard Eaton. It is a wonder, however, that how such monuments were built with a very shallow foundation within the persistently changing, saltwater dominated, tidal mangrove ecosystem of the Sundarbans which was more extensive even during the 17th century and earlier. Many of the sites included in this property as components were located in the Sundarbans of the past. Such an adaptation required in- depth knowledge of the fluvial dynamics of the region as well as a flexible construction technique to sustain the vagaries of nature. These architectural remains and archaeological sites are, most importantly, an example of exceptional human resilience, remarkable skill and experiential awareness about the ecological variable and their actions. (v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; Several recent studies (e.g., Mukhejee 2011; Doyell and Mukherjee 2019; Hall et al. 2019) have pointed out the centrality of this region in trans-regional riverine and maritime networks for more than a millennium. The walled space of Pratapadityer Garh and adjacent area are associated with several buried structural ruins and one of them, situated just on the riverbank is known as jahajghata (anchorage?). There are also other sites (e.g., AGD. 28 and 31l) identified similarly. Their locations and many of the sites’ association with the fluvial networks of the littoral zone, signify their function as smaller ports that were connected to the maritime networks of the Bay of Bengal. The cowry shells were imported to Bengal by exporting rice grain to the Maldives and several hoards of cowry shells have been found from the sites of the Sundarbans area and from the Rezakpur cluster (AGD. 17). The sites in this deltaic terrain, now within West Bengal, India, have revealed evidence of external trade like cowries, ceramics, sealing bearing horse-mounted boats, etc. One of the recently discovered structural remains on the riverbed of the Kholpetua, just on the edge of the Bay of Bengal, is another archaeological place which possibly acted as an entrepôt of maritime trade links. The site has not Page 65

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 been included in this property as it is extremely destroyed and can be completely erased by river PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED erosion. These sites must be viewed and understood in close relation to the archaeological sites in the TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH littoral zone of the Active Gangetic Delta in the current political territory of West Bengal, India. Before the partition of 1947, the regions were together and, culturally and historically, they formed a landscape and ecological unit distinct from the other parts of South Asia with the large mangrove ecosystem and actively forming delta. These sites are a living testimony of the consistent trans- regional and trans-continental network of trade, migration and mobility of ideas for more than two millennia. These exchanges went through change and adaptation over time. The centrality of the Active Gangetic Delta within Bangladesh in the maritime network connecting both Southeast Asia and Eastern Indian Coastal regions to present-day Sri Lanka and the Maldives is attested by these archaeological sites and several other textual sources (See, Mukhejee 2011; Doyell and Mukherjee 2019; Hall et al. 2019; Sen 2018a; Sen 2018b; Sen 2020; Sen 2015; Chakrabarty 2001). Undoubtedly, these sites represent a unique and unparalleled persistent human engagement with their environment and ecology for more than one thousand years. Humans had to modify their activities with the persistently changing landscape, cyclones, tidal surges, floods, riverbank erosion, sudden avulsion of rivers, gradual lateral migration and subsidence of landforms, and the expansion and contraction of the mangrove ecosystem. The use of land and sea is still detectable in the way drinking water is preserved in the tanks or reservoirs and the way embankments are constructed to achieve protection during floods. Because of the imminent threat of climate change and sea-level rise, this entire region will be submerged in the next 40-50 years. Climate change along with the intensified human intervention into the ecology and landscape have created the processes of irreversible changes and these unique and exceptional signatures of human and environment interaction by mutual sharing and dependence will be lost forever. This property, therefore, deserves to be in the tentative World Heritage list for Bangladesh for its significance in attesting to a human-environment intimate interaction that is under the threat of extinction by the modern perceptions and practices as well as by the effects of climate change underway and still to come. Criteria met: (iii) √ (iv) √ (v) √ (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (i) (ii) Statement of authenticity and/or integrity Authenticity: The excavated, conserved and protected as well as enlisted sites archaeological sites on the dynamically transforming Deltaic Landscape of Bangladesh undeniably represent the authentic attestation of human creative and building technologies and their unique adaptive use of the landscape and resilience to the changing ecology. Because of the imminent threat of global warming and climate change, this region is under the highest risk of hazard and inundation due to sea-level rise. These changes are causing irreversible damages to the archaeological sites. These components as a part of a serial nomination, however, represent the most authentic testimony of cultural activity in mutual relation to the natural ones. These sites and the landscape proposed for nomination as a complex or cluster of properties were constructed mainly by burnt bricks, mud, earthworks and clay, and lime-surki mortars, with occasional use and reuse of stone blocks. Evidence of plasters of lime and clay with the remains of snail shells are also recovered. The structural mounds, buried archaeological remains, monuments and monumental remains and earthworks - all represent the most authentic, changing and unique human-landscape interaction which is exceptional on a global scale. The remains have provided evidence, based upon which the original characters and layout of the buildings and associated landscape, the traditional construction materials and techniques, and the common regional use of Page 66

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 clay for producing bricks as well as for binding the construction material can be inferred with a high degree of PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED precision. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Integrity: Because of the recent expansion of developmental and habitational activities, and intensifying environmental change and effects of climate change, many of the sites have already been destroyed or have lost their character partially. The proposed properties represent the selected sites which are well preserved and compatible with the guidelines of the world heritage convention. The modification of the landscape is increasing because of the human activities in a densely populated country like Bangladesh. The continuous monitoring by the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs of these sites protected under the Antiquity Act, 1972 have retained the original nature and character of the sites when they were exposed by excavations. Several proposed sites are under private ownership and they can be protected and preserved without evicting the people living around them. The conservation of excavated remains have followed the international conventions and standards in protection and conservation. The sites which are under private ownership are either buried sites and well preserved or are under community protection as ritual places. The augmenting threat of climate change and anthropogenic modifications are distorting the integrity of several components. These enlisted and proposed components under this property are the best representatives of integrity in terms of the prescribed guidelines. The guideline may be ineffective considering the intense changes which are threatening the very existence of many of these sites which are a unique and exceptional testimony to the mutual and entwined interaction of human-environment intimacy in terms of adaptation and use of the natural resources. Comparison with other similar properties: The property is comparable to the following properties: Konso Cultural Landscape, Ethiopia (World Heritage Site); Criteria for inscription (iii), (v), Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes, Senegal (World Heritage Site); Criteria for inscription (iii), (v), (vi), Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea (World Heritage Site), criteria for inscription (v) Konso Cultural Landscape, Ethiopia: Konso is an arid property of walled terraces and fortified settlements occupied for more than 400 years that adapted to its dry, hostile environment. The landscape demonstrates the shared values, social cohesion and engineering knowledge of its communities. The Trans-Himalayan Cold Desert Cultural Landscape demonstrates a similar resilience to a cold desert climate. However, its scale is much larger, demonstrates the confluence of two national cultures as well as important aspects of natural heritage that are deemed to be of Outstanding Universal Value. Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes, Senegal: The Bassari Country property is a well- preserved multicultural landscape housing original and still vibrant local cultures. The Bassari, Fula and Bedik peoples settled from the 11th to the 19th centuries and developed specific cultures and habitats symbiotic with their surrounding natural environment. The Bassari landscape is marked by terraces and rice paddies, interspersed with villages, hamlets and archaeological sites. Their inhabitants’ cultural expressions are characterized by original traits of agro-pastoral, social, ritual and spiritual practices, which represent an original response to environmental constraints and human pressures. The site is a well-preserved multicultural landscape housing original and still vibrant local cultures. Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea: Located inside the Arctic Circle in the central part of West Greenland, the property contains the remains of 4,200 years of human history. It is a cultural landscape that bears witness to its creators’ hunting of land and sea animals, seasonal migrations and a rich and well-preserved tangible and intangible cultural heritage linked to climate, navigation and medicine. The features of the property include large winter houses and evidence of caribou hunting, as well as archaeological sites from Paleo-Inuit and Inuit cultures. The cultural landscape includes seven key localities, from Nipisat in Page 67

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 the west to Aasivissuit, near the ice cap in the east. It bears testimony to the resilience of the human cultures PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED of the region and their traditions of seasonal migration. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH References Alison, M. A., Khan, S. R., Goodbred, S., and Kuehl, S., (2003). Stratigraphic evolution of the late Holocene Ganges-Brahmaputra lower delta plain. Sedimentary Geology 155 (3-4), 317-342. Bandyopadhyay, S. 2019. Sundarban: A Review of Evolution and Geomorphology. World Bank Group. Washington, D.C. [available from: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/ 119121562735959426/Sundarban-A-Review-of-Evolution-and-Geomorphology Basak, B., (2014). Interpreting Historical Archaeology of Coastal Bengal: Possibilities and Limitations. In: D.N. Jha ed. The Complex Heritage of Early India. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors. Bhattachayya, A., (1977). Historical geography of ancient and early meidiaeval Bengal. Calcutta: Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar. Chakravarti, R., (2001). Trade in Early India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Chakraborty, S., (2017). Archaeological Sites of Lower Deltaic Region of West Bengal and Their Context: Some Preliminary Observations. Pratna Samiksha (Kolkata: Centre for Archaeological Studies & Training, Eastern India). New Series. 8, 27-58. Doyell, J. and Mukherjee, R. ed. (2019) From Mountain Fastness to Coastal Kingdoms: Hard Money and ‘Cashless’ Economics in the Medieval Bay of Bengal World. Manohar, New Delhi. Chattopadhyay. R. K., (2018). The Archaeology of Coastal Bengal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Eaton, R. M., (1990). Human Settlement and Colonization in the Sundarbans, 1200-1750. Agriculture and Human Values, Spring, 7(2), 6-16. Hall, K. R., Ghosh, S., Gangopadhyay, K., and Mukherjee, R., (2019). Cross-Cultural Networking in the Eastern Ocean Realm, c. 100 – 1800. Primus Books, New Delhi Hossain, M.M. ed., (2004). Archaeological Survey Report of Greater Khulna. Dhaka: Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs. pp. 107-112. Mita, A. K. and Rahman, AKM.S., (2018). Rethinking the Archaeological Remains of Barat Bhayna. In: Chowdhury, A. M. and Chakravarti, R, ed. History of Bangladesh: Early Bengal in Regional Perspectives (up to c.1200 CE), vol.1. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. pp.416-24. Mitra, S., (2013). Jasohor Khulnar Itihas [History of Jessor-Khulna+. Vol.1. Kolkata: Dey’s Publication. Mukherjee, R., ed., (2011). Pelagic Passageways: The Northern Bay of Bengal before Colonialism. Delhi: Primus Books. Mukherjee, B. N. (1987). The Territory of Gangaridai. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies, II, 65-90. O’ Donnel, A., and Wodon, Q. (2015) Climate change adaptation and social resilience in the Sundarbans, edited by, Routledge Rahman, A. K. M. S., (2015). Archaeological Excavation: Khanjahan (r:) Residence Mound, 2014-15. Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh: Regional Directorate office, Khulna and Barisal Division. [unpublished report]. Rahman, A. K. M. S., (2017). Archaeological Excavation: Khanjahan (r:) Residence Mound, 2016-17. Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh: Regional Directorate office, Khulna and Barisal Division. [unpublished report]. Page 68

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Rahman, AKM.S., Alam, M. S and Hasnat, U., (2020). Preliminary Excavation Report: Jhurijhara Mound, Tala, Satkhira. Regional Directorate office, Khulna and Barisal Division, Department of Archaeology, Ministry of PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED Cultural Affairs, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Rahman, M., (2017). Khulnar Purakirti [Antiquities of Khulna]. Dhaka: Jatiya Sahitya Prokash. Sanyal, R., (2010). Copperplate Inscriptions of West Bengal: Finding Find-spots and Locating Localities. Pratnasamiksha, New Series 1, 107-34 Sen, S., (2020). Climate change and Bangladesh archaeology. An unpublished paper presented in the webinar entitled ‘Climate change and its impact on Bangladesh archaeology’ organized by Centre for Archaeological Studies, Bangladesh University of Liberal Arts (see, https://www.academia.edu/video/kbARNl) Sen, S., (2018a). Banglai Islamer Prasar Samparkito Eaton er tattwer parjalochana. A lecture presented under series organized by Bodhichitta (Jahangirgar University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tch_AXNMkCc Sen, S., (2018b). Engaging with the ‘pasts’ at the ‘presents’ of the Anthropocene: Beyond accepted wisdom on climate change and heritage in Southwest coastal region of Bangladesh. An unpublished paper presented in the workshop organized by UNDP in collaboration with Department of Archaeology, Government of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh, UNESCO and IDCOL. Sen, S., (2018c). Northwestern Bangladesh: Sites and Settlements. In: A. M. Chowdhury and R. Chakravarti eds. History of Bangladesh: Early Bengal in Regional Perspectives (up to c. 1200 CE). Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, pp. 317-350. Sen, S., (2017). Landscape Contexts of the Early Medieval Settlements in Varendri/Gauda: An Outline on the Basis of Total Surveying and Excavation in Dinajpur-Joypurhat Districts, Bangladesh. Pratna Samiksha New Series 8, 59-109. Sen, T., (2015). Buddhism, Diplomacy and Trade: Realignment of Indian-China Relations, 600-1400. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Kittlefield Van der Noort, R. (2013). Climate Change Archaeology: Building resilience from research in the world’s coastal wetlands. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Page 69

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Name of Property: Mughal Mosques in Bangladesh PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Submission prepared by: Md. Shahin Alam, Field Officer, DoA Khandokar Mahfuz Alam, Assistant Architect, DoA Md Khairul Bashar Swapan, Field Officer, DoA Imamur Hossain, Lecturer, Sonargaon University Reviewed and rewritten by: Professor Swadhin Sen, PhD STATE PARTY: Bangladesh Institution: Department of Archaeology DESCRIPTION Sl. Name of the components State, Province or Region Latitude and Construction A Mosques with single dome (Sub-district, District, Longitude, or UTM Period Division) coordinates 18th century CE A1 Bibi Chini Mosque Betagi, Barguna, Barisal 17th – 18th century 22°28'22.2\"N CE A2 Srirampur Moque Sadar, Patuakhali, Barisal 90°12'02.6\"E 18th century CE 22°25'20.8\"N 18th century CE A3 Amirullah Munshibari Jame Dashmina, Patuakhali, 90°22'22.9\"E 18th century CE Mosque Barisal 22°20'16.8\"N Rajapur, Jhalakathi, Barisal 90°32'04.9\"E 1652 CE A4 Khanbari Old Jame Mosque 22°32'48.8\"N Complex Pakundia, Kishoregonj, 90°09'07.3\"E Mid 17th century Dhaka 24°15'41.1\"N CE A5 Shah Muhammad Mosque 90°39'50.0\"E 18th – 19th century 24°15'44.9\"N CE A6 Sadi Mosque 90°39'34.8\"E 1582 CE 17th century CE B Mosques with three domes Shibganj, Chapai 24°49'05.0\"N B1 Nawabganj, Rajshahi 88°08'21.7\"E 1793 CE Shah Niamatullah Wali Durgapur, Rajshahi, 24°26'40.8\"N 18th century CE B2 Mosque Rajshahi 88°46'29.3\"E 17th century CE Kismat Maria Mosque Chatmohar, Pabna, 24°13'38.8\"N 17th century CE Rajshahi 89°17'27.6\"E 18th century CE B3 Shahi Mosque Rajarhat, Kurigram, 25°46'35.8\"N Rangpur 89°32'07.5\"E 1704-5 CE B4 Chandamari Mosque Kaharol, Dinajpur, Rangpur 25°46'54.7\"N 17th century CE 88°39'31.0\"E B5 Nayabad Mosque 22°49'54.0\"N 89°10'03.3\"E B6 Sheikpura Jame Mosque Keshabpur, Jashore, 23°46'29.9\"N B7 Jhaudiya Shahi Mosque Khulna. 89°03'18.6\"E Sadar, Kushtia, Khulna 23°02'47.9\"N 90°13'40.7\"E B8 Kamalapur Mosque Gouranadi, Barisal, Barisal 22°43'27.2\"N 90°17'20.3\"E B9 Karapur Miya Bari Mosque Sadar Upazila under the district of Barisal in Barisal 23°43'15.1\"N B10 Khan Mohammad Mridha Division 90°23'02.8\"E Mosque Sadar Upazila, Dhaka, 23°43'07.6\"N Dhaka 90°23'13.0\"E B11 Lalbagh Fort Mosque Page 70

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Sl. Name of the components State, Province or Region Latitude and Construction PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED B12 Haji Khwaja Shahbaz Mosque (Sub-district, District, Longitude, or UTM Period TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Division) coordinates 1679 CE B13 Musa Khan Mosque 23°43'45.6\"N 17th century CE 90°24'01.2\"E 17th century CE B14 Bakshi Hamid Mosque Banshkhali, Chattagram 23°43'36.4\"N 17th century CE 90°24'02.9\"E 17th century CE B15 Mohammad Ali Chowdhury Sadar. Feni, Chattagram 22°04'43.6\"N Mosque 91°54'07.7\"E 1741 CE Chagalnayya, Feni, 23°03'34.9\"N 18th century CE B16 Chandgaji Bhuiyan Mosque Chattagram 91°20'28.6\"E Begamgonj, Noakhali, 23°05'03.4\"N 1728 CE B17 Bajra Shahi Mosque Chattagram. 91°29'45.8\"E 1670 CE Kabirhat, Noakhali, 23°00'14.4\"N B18 Ramjan Miya Jame Mosque Chattagram 91°05'35.1\"E Sadar, Brahmanbaria, 22°51'07.9\"N B19 Ulchapara Shahi Mosque Chattagram Division 91°13'58.2\"E Sarail, Brahmanbaria, 23°57'02.0\"N B20 Arifail Mosque Chattagram 91°05'48.5\"E 24°04'11.8\"N C Mosques with four domes Kaligonj Upazila, Satkhira, 91°06'26.7\"E C1 Probajpur Shahi Mosque Khulna C2 Atia Mosque Delduar, Tangail, Dhaka 22°25'40.5\"N 17th century CE 89°01'48.5\"E 1609 CE D Mosques with five domes Astogram Kishoregonj, 24°11'02.7\"N D1 Qutub Mosque Dhaka Division 89°54'41.1\"E E Mosque with seven domes Sadar, Dhaka, Dhaka 24°16’44.3\"N 16th century CE E1 Sat Gambuj Mosque 91°06’39.1\"E 23°45’27.7\"N 17th century CE 90°21’32.3\"E a. Mughal mosques in Bangladesh as an architectural ensemble The Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent (including present-day Bangladesh, India and Pakistan) is renowned for the initiation and development of new architectural concepts, forms and symbols. The Mughals were the patrons of architectural enterprise which can be considered one of the most creative and richest representations of the global, regional, and local aspect. The empire building processes were initiated by the first ruler Babur in 1526 CE, and the empire began to disintegrate after the death of the ruler Aurangzeb in 1707 CE. Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan were the rulers and patrons of various elaborate, astounding, and splendid monuments along with Aurangzeb. With its differential fusion of cultures, religions, and traditions from various parts of the globe, the empire went on to integrate different territories of the subcontinent through warfare, treaty and diplomacy. The architectural assemblage of the Mughals in the Indian subcontinent synthesised various heterogeneous elements from Transoxanian (land between Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers), Timurid, Indian, Persian and European regions. The Mughals gradually assimilated different regional architectural and artistic traditions. Mughal monuments, therefore, went through spatiotemporal changes and continuity. Emperor Akbar’s appointed historian Qandahari contended that a good name for a king is [achieved by means] of lofty buildings; that is to say, the measure of men is assessed by the worth of their buildings. Subsequently, a historian during the reign of Shah Jahan explicitly proclaimed that an increase in such buildings was necessary for good rule. The buildings and their surroundings (e.g. gardens adorned with fountains), in his words, created the esteem of the rulers in the Page 71

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 eyes of the people and increased respect for the rulers in the peoples’ heart. The elaborate, grand, and lofty PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED monuments constructed by the Mughals and their subsidiaries, therefore, were not merely religious, TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH administrative, or commemorative ones. They acted for asserting the authority and legitimacy of the rulers. The religious monuments performed as a symbol for the establishment and continuity of a new political, religious, and social order in different parts of the subcontinent. The eastern part of the subcontinent – characterized by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna rivers and their numerous tributaries and distributaries – was officially recognized as part of the Mughal empire as Subah Bangla only during the reign of Akbar in 1576 CE. Present-day Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, were part of the subah (an administrative and revenue extracting unit). The Mughals, ruling from their capital in Delhi, had consistent difficulties and resistance in this riverine delta. After persistent expeditions, they successfully annexed a larger part of the eastern part of Bengal or present Bangladesh in 1609 and established their provincial capital in Dhaka by Islam Khan, the provincial governor (subahdar). It was in 1666 that Mughal provincial powers in Bengal were able to conquer present-day Chattagram. The Mughal realm in Bangladesh was subject to continuous conflicts with various internal and external forces. The independent landlords from riverine deltaic fronts, Ahom kings of present-day Assam (India), and Arakanese and Portuguese pirates were the dominant forces of conflicts over territoriality and control over the fluvial routes of trade and commerce. The contestation for the throne in Delhi and internal competition among the elites were persistent. The period of Mughal expeditions to incorporate the region and the period after the annexation were also characterised by intensified interaction with various European traders, travellers, and missionaries. The empire fell to the colonial conquest of the British East India company in 1757, though the puppet rulers continued for a considerable time. In the popular imagination, the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar became the epitome of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. After the suppression of the uprising, the Indian subcontinent finally became a colony of the British empire. Most importantly, Bengal, with its later capital in Murshidabad (since 1707 CE) in present-day West Bengal, India, was one of the most thriving economies within the subcontinent, vibrant with external and internal trade and commerce, even during the period of disintegration and decline of other parts of the Mughal empire. Dhaka and Chattagram continued to be the centre of trade and commercial activities. The rural commercialization of the area of present-day Bangladesh continued to intensify and spread during the 18th century despite continuous raids and attacks by Portuguese and Arakanese pirates and mercenaries. The Mughal realm in the eastern part of Bengal or present-day Bangladesh was, understandably, a period of activities of multiple agents, including the ecological variables such as monsoon rain, rivers, floods, and new formation of land in the active delta region and river valleys. This period is characterized by the construction of hundreds of mosques all over Bangladesh. This proposed property represents thirty mosques, each as a component for serial nomination. Situated in different parts of the county, these monuments represent a distinct architectural style and morphology with shared and common attributes and heterogeneity. These mosques represent an adaptation of the imperial Mughal architectural assemblages of the north and western part of the Indian subcontinent to local and religious landscape, traditions, and artistic lineage. These mosques, therefore, are global, regional, and local at the same time. The components of the property are categorised based upon the number of domes by which these primarily religious monuments are generally recognised. b. Mughal mosques of Bangladesh: commonalities and lineage Unlike the mosques built in the Sultanate period, these mosques were developed within a simplified and humble ground plan, characterised by a single-aisled plan with one or more bays. During the Sultanate period, the architecture of mosques had already acquired a regional character by incorporating curved cornices, terracotta decoration and subdued elevation with stone-paved façades. Mughal mosques, keeping in the continuity of the preceding architectural attributes, incorporated the North Indian imperial style as well as the Page 72

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 regional traditions. Simultaneously, the entire building tradition went through an evolution spanning three PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED hundred years. There were spatial variations in the minute stylistic and morphological features and treatment TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH of the outer surface. Bricks were the main construction materials. Some of the key morphological attributes of the Mughal mosques in Bangladesh are: - The internal space of the square or rectangular structure was divided by lateral arches, with the central one often being the largest and making the plan single-aisled with one or three bays. - The concave arched mihrab to the west was located centrally and it was outlined by cusped arches and often terracotta or stucco floral decoration. - The structures were invariably attributed with four circular or octagonal turrets at four corners with ribbed copula at the top and often bulbous base. - The domes were either bulbous or ribbed, placed upon an octagonal drum decorated with blind merlons. The finial of the domes featured an inverted lotus design and a kalasa (an earthenware made especially for storing water and considered sacred to both Islam and Hinduism) form. - The façade on the east and the mihrab were decorated by engaged colonettes with a bulbous base on both sides of the entrances, and featured cusped arches. - The external surface of the façade was embellished with panels, stucco decorations, articulations of terracotta floral motifs and plaster. - Although three bays and a single-aisled structural layout capped by three domes on a rectangular form became the most popular variety during the late 17th century and 18th century, the single-domed structure was popular in different areas. - The parapets were decorated with blind merlons, and these slender yet sombre buildings had straight or curved cornices. c. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity and proliferation of mosque building The common and shared architectural morphology of the basic Mughal mosques had gone through differential modifications, adaptations, and reconfigurations in different parts of the country in different periods. Many mosques have in situ inscriptions, mostly in Persian, while many others do not have one. These inscriptions refer to the name of the patron and the date of the construction. Many other such inscriptions, on stone slabs or terracotta, were found from scattered find spots or the reused context of other mosques. The proportional comparison among these inscriptions suggests that the heydays of the constructions of these mosques were the latter part of the 17th to the 18th centuries CE. Hundreds of such mosques are yet to be owned and protected by the state. These mosques illustrate interesting modifications of the single-domed or three-domed varieties. For example, B10 and B11 are constructed upon a raised podium composed of several chambers which were probably used as educational institutions (madrasa). At the same time, C2 is an excellent example of the extension of a single-domed mosque into a four-domed one. The northern and eastern façade of this mosque display exquisite terracotta ornamentations with many traditional motifs. The corner towers of this mosque are octagonal and crowned by flat fluted copulas. A1 does not have any corner turrets and instead has offsets on the corner and carefully curved cornices as is found in the early Sultanate mosques – a feature appropriated from the traditional wattle-dub huts of Bengal. Many of these mosques are associated with auxiliary buildings in the same compound and they were intricately connected to these sacred built spaces. For example, B2 has a double-storied small axillary structure with do-chala (like the traditional huts) roof. A5 is within a walled compound the entrance of which is through a do-chala structure. A4 is composed of three tiny mosques in a row and their functional use as a prayer space seems improbable considering their size. B16 has two octagonal structures with a single dome on both sides of the entrance. E1 is a spatial and structural elaboration of the basic three-domed variety. Four circular corner towers or pavilions are crowed by four separate domes. These spatial variations of morphology and decoration were related also to the social, economic, religious and landscape contexts. Many mosques have one or more tombs which are considered as the burial places of Sufi Page 73

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 saints or a holy person. They enhanced the sacredness of the monuments not only as a holy place of worship PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED and congregation but also as a sacred space of the manifestation of the miraculous acts of these Sufi saints. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH d. Mughal mosques in their contexts There was a marked proliferation of mosque building activities in the late 17th to 18th century CE. This proliferation and divergence of mosques were related to the growing social stratification and rural commercialization of Bangladesh in that period. The fluvial network marked by numerous rivers enabled the connection between the centre and peripheries to be more intimate. Social mobility was increased by the new merchant groups who traded with local big merchants as well as European traders. Mughal dominion had attracted several groups of people from different professions, both military and civil, to Bengal. They developed into a class of elites known as ashraf and the locals were relegated to the atraf stage. The social differentiation and mobility of the lower class to the upper echelons or their attempts to ameliorate their position and status were reflected by the construction of mosques. The construction of mosques in various parts of the area where there was no brick-built structure before was a modality to assert their authority, status, and legitimacy in the developing and transforming social order. The mosque-building activities were also intimately linked to the formation and expansion of settlements in the area which were either forested and fluvially dynamic or occupied by other religious groups. The tombs or mazars of the Sufi saints or pirs, with their essential association with the mosques, gave a multidirectional purpose in settlement formations, legitimacy, and power to the monuments. Mughal mosques, thereby, became a holy place as the embodiment of the sacred and supernatural abilities of the Sufi saint or pirs who played a crucial role in giving the syncretistic and pluralist worldview of Islam in Bangladesh. Interestingly, the same period in Bangladesh witnessed the proliferation of Hindu temple building activities. The exchange of structural forms such as do-chala and other ornamentation motifs clearly illustrate a dynamic environment of appropriation and rejection of artistic and architectural symbols. The coastal belts with their connectivity and tidal dynamic terrain saw the construction of many three-domed and single-domed mosque as they were structurally suitable for adapting to the landscape and ecology. Mughal mosques in Bangladesh, therefore, embody the complex articulation of power, piety and society during the early modern period and the stylistic lineage continued even during the colonial period. These monuments were religious as well as political. They represent the dynamic and active engagement of and exchange of ideas and traditions between two religious communities – Muslims and Hindus in Bangladesh. Despite their fundamental character as Islamic places of worship, these monuments are the evidence of the expansion of Islam in Bangladesh and the formation of a pluralistic and inclusive religious tradition. Mughal mosques, moreover, are the signatures of the intimate relationship between landscape and architectural forms. The representational aspect of the monuments took a turn into humble and disperse structures in the active riverine terrain of Bangladesh to facilitate commerce and the religious community. Justification of Outstanding Universal Value: The proposed property with thirty components for serial nomination possesses various characteristics in terms of its historical and regional developments. Their outstanding universal value can be justified in reference to the following criteria: Criteria (ii): to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; Mughal mosques in Bangladesh convincingly exhibit the interchange of monumental art, technology as well as human values for more than three hundred years. Mughal monuments and buildings in general and Mughal mosques, especially in northern and western India with the epicentre in Delhi (present India) are one of the richest examples of the synthesis and fusion of various ideas, technology and architectural Page 74

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 traditions of Transoxanian (land between Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers), Timurid, Indian, Persian, and European PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED origins over a long span of time. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH The Mughal empire in the Indian subcontinent and the later annexation of Bangladesh (under the administrative and revenue gathering unit of Subah Bangla) paved the way for the interchange of ideas, artistic traditions and architectural technology and elements from various regions. As has been mentioned in the previous section, Mughal mosques in Bangladesh incorporated various technologies and elements from the North Indian style and gave birth to a regional tradition through the medium of bricks, terracotta, and stucco. Instead of representing grandeur, solidity and exhibitionist power, the Bengal mosques represented the ideas of pluralism and syncretism through subtle modest, and simple structures by adopting the soft soils in the changing alluvial terrain of the region. The interchange was not one way. The curved cornices, terracotta decorations, motifs, and façade articulations of the mosques, were adopted and articulated in the monuments of north India through stone. This bi-directional exchange and interaction among various traditions from different times and spaces are exhibited in these mosques. The interchange of technology and art were also active on the regional and local level. Interaction of Islam and Hindu religious traditions of architecture during the 17th- 19th century is overtly detectable in the craftmanship, use of architectural elements, interchange of ideas, and in the appropriation of decorative motifs. It is quite probable that the exchange took place by the mobile and skilled group of artists and architects who cultivated the skill and efficiency of hereditary occupational practice. The accentuated acts of mosque construction also blurred social stratification and differences because of ethnic and economic mobilities and power. The groups in the lower echelons and upper strata interacted with each other, perhaps involuntarily, through these monuments. These mosques linked with auxiliary buildings and tombs (mazars) turned into objects with the power to express the newly acquired position and status and reflected the space of interaction, even symbolically. Imitation and actions to be equal with the landed nobles and merchants by constructing mosques opened a window through which idea, artistic traditions and social networks were built and exchanged. The Mughal mosques in Bangladesh, in another way, attest to the interaction among the rural and the urban, the merchants and the producers, and the administrator-military ruler and the ruled. Their different worldviews fused together in these monuments through terracotta motifs, mazars of Sufi saints and the ideas of expressing power and status. With the growing rural commercialization through the intricate fluvial network of Bangladesh, many mosques coincided with the rural marketplaces and settlements. Such mosques in the 17th-18th centuries became the core around which the interaction and exchange of ideas and things were facilitated among people from various regions and localities. Criterion (iv): to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; As an ensemble of primarily religious monuments, the Mughal mosques of Bangladesh represent an extraordinary enterprise with evolution, transformation, and adaptation in the history of humankind. There are few examples in the world where fluvial dynamics and monument building together and in reciprocity acted in the development of a new genre of monuments with bricks and other construction materials available on an alluvial terrain. This extraordinary flexibility of construction technology and adaptation in intimate relationship with the landscape is rare in a global context. The ways in which these mosques acted in the formation and expansion of a religious tradition and human settlements for over three hundred years are exceptional as an example of intimate and interactive connection among society, economy, power, and piety. Page 75

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Criteria met (iii) (iv) √ (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH (i) (ii) √ Statements of authenticity and integrity Authenticity: All the proposed components for serial nomination have maintained their original character to a certain extent. They are enlisted as protected monuments under the Antiquity Act of Bangladesh. The main construction materials – bricks and lime-surki mortar – have been kept untouched in most cases. As many of these mosques are living religious monuments and community participation is inevitable in the process of performing prayers and other religious rituals, a few mosques have been intervened with later additions of mosaics and tiles in the late 19th or early 20th century CE. According to the Nara Documents, these renewals and renovations must be accepted as authentic as they were performed during the living periods of these monuments. Because of the population growth and scarcity of lands, several mosques have been encroached by the locals and some parts have been damaged or left uncared for. The authenticity of the monuments with their substance, function and primary purpose has been largely unaffected. Integrity: A few buildings on the coastal belts are threatened by the effect of salinity and by the weathering of clay-made bricks. The superstructures, especially the domes, are prone to damage. The intervention by the local community for the restoration and renovation in the manner of putting plasters or colours over the surfaces have had an impact on the integrity of the mosques. The boundary walls and auxiliary structures in several cases have been damaged. Nevertheless, these protected and state-owned buildings represent unhindered integrity in terms of history and artistic traditions. Comparison with other similar properties There are few such examples of nomination from the enlisted World Heritage properties. Among them, a close analogy can be made to the Baroque Churches of the Philippines. The components of this property, as a serially nominated one, are distributed over a regional scale. They represent a rare tradition of monument building traditions as a group of religious monuments in a specific temporality. Another comparable property is the Sassanid Archaeological Landscape of the Fars Region (Iran). In this property of serial nomination, eight monuments on a broader and heterogeneous landscape context have been nominated as a World Heritage site. Although the buildings represent both religious and non-religious types of specific historicity and tradition of architecture, Mughal mosques cover a similar spatial scale with different building type belonging to a similar synthesized architectural tradition. References: 1. Haque, Anamul, Islamic Art Heritage of Bangladesh, 1983, Bangladesh National Museum, Dhaka 2. Ahmed, Dr Nazimuddin, Discover the Monuments of Bangladesh, 1984, UNESCO 3. The Islamic Heritage of Bengal, edited by George Mitchell, 1984, UNESCO 4. Ahmed, dr abu Sayeed M., Mosque Architecture in Bangladesh, 2006, UNESCO 5. Banglapedia (http://en.banglapedia.org) Page 76

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Name of the Property: Cultural Landscape of Mahasthan and Karatoya River PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Submission prepared by: Naheed Sultana, Regional Director, DoA Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director, DoA Reviewed and rewritten by: Professor Swadhin Sen, PhD STATE PARTY: Bangladesh Institution: Department of Archaeology State, Province of Regions: Bangladesh, Rajshahi, Bogura Description: S.N. Site name State, Province or Region Latitude and Longitude, or MAH. 1 (Village, Union, Sub-district) UTM coordinates Site 1a Mahasthan Citadel Mahasthan, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°57'24.86\"N Site 1b 89°20'54.45\"E Site 1c Khodar Pathar Bhita Baghopara, Gokul, Bogura Sadar 24°57'2.43\"N Site 1d Chandaua Haripur, Gokul, Bogura 89°20'51.25\"E Site 1e Mankalir Dhap Sadar 24°57'8.15\"N Site 1f Chandaua Haripur, Gokul, Bogura 89°20'51.25\"E Site 1g Parasuramer Bari Sadar 24°57'18.26\"N MAH. 2 Chandaua Haripur, Gokul, Bogura 89°20'49.11\"E MAH. 3 Jiyat Kunda /The wall of Sadar 24°57'17.16\"N MAH. 4 Life Gokul, Gokul, Bogura Sadar 89°20'52.24\"E MAH. 5 Bairagir Bhita 24°57'33.41\"N MAH. 6 89°20'43.66\"E The temple to the - southeast of Bairagir Bhita Mazar of Shah Sultan - Mahisawar Skandar Dhap 24°55'34.98\"N 89°21'1.56\"E Burir Than & Sannayasir 24°56'10.88\"N Than 89°18'58.27\"E Dolmancha/Rashmancha 24°55'56.54\"N 89°18'44.39\"E Sasti Tala 24°55'56.54\"N 89°18'44.39\"E Lakshmindarer Medh/ 24°56'10.49\"N Gokul Medh 89°20'11.32\"E MAH. 7 Netai Dhopanir Dhap Gokul, Gokul, Bogura Sadar 24°56'8.88\"N 89°20'31.74\"E MAH. 8 Pir Borhan Ali Majar Gokul, Gokul, Bogura Sadar 24°56'50.61\"N 89°20'44.12\"E MAH. 9 Godar Bari Dhap Mathura, Gokul, Gokul 24°56'51.78\"N 89°19'33.24\"E MAH. 10 Mathura-Palashbari Mathura, Gokul, Gokul MAH. 11 Paursuramer Sabhabati Mathura, Gokul, Gokul 24°57'6.65\"N 89°20'12.22\"E MAH. 12 Dhap Mathura, Gokul, Gokul 24°58'25.60\"N 89°19'54.40\"E Ramsahar (east), Gokul, Bogura MAH. 13 Ramsahar Page 77

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 S.N. Site name State, Province or Region Latitude and Longitude, or PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED (Village, Union, Sub-district) UTM coordinates TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH MAH. 14 Kanai Dhap Sadar Bamanpara, Namuja, Bogura 24°56'45.24\"N MAH. 15 Panch Pirer Dhap Sadar 89°19'21.90\"E Bara Saralpur (north), Namuja, 24°56'37.62\"N MAH. 16 Dulur Bari/Dulu majhir Bogura Sadar 89°19'4.02\"E MAH. 17 Bhita Tengra, Namuja, Bogura Sadar 24°56'13.41\"N Kutir Ara Dhap 89°18'45.76\"E Tengra, Namuja, Bogura Sadar 24°56'33.30\"N 89°18'22.90\"E MAH. 18 Madya Para Masjid Dhap Tengra, Namuja, Bogura Sadar 24°56'33.36\"N 89°18'25.84\"E MAH. 19 Nara Dhap/Narpatir Dhap Tengra, Namuja Bogura Sadar 24°56'49.62\"N 89°18'8.28\"E MAH. 20 Sannyashir Dhap Tengra, Namuja, Bogura Sadar 24°56'37.62\"N 89°19'4.02\"E MAH. 21 Mangalkot Palibari, Namuja, Bogura Sadar 24°56'32.55\"N 89°19'28.02\"E MAH. 22 Andhar kota Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'42.20\"N MAH. 23 Chagannaiya Dhap Sadar 89°20'6.50\"E MAH. 24 Khulnar Dhap Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'46.32\"N MAH. 25 Madarir Than/Darga Sadar 89°19'27.60\"E Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'41.62\"N Sadar 89°19'34.41\"E Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'23.10\"N Sadar 89°19'46.26\"E MAH. 26 Padmar Bari Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'19.80\"N MAH. 27 Yogir Dhap Sadar 89°19'51.72\"E MAH. 28 Chander Dhap Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°58'25.24\"N MAH. 29 Gonsayer Dhap Sadar 89°19'15.57\"E MAH. 30 Ojha Dhanvantarir Bhita Hukmapur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'4.06\"N MAH. 31 Chand Saudagarer Bari Sadar 89°17'55.94\"E MAH. 32 Dhana Bhandar Hukmapur, Namuja, Bogura 24°57'14.71\"N MAH. 33 Kutir Dhap Sadar 89°18'4.94\"E MAH. 34 Singhinather Dhap Hazradighi, Noongola, Bogura 24°55'47.34\"N MAH. 35 Dolmancha Sadar 89°19'44.46\"E Rajakpur, Noongola, Bogura 24°55'51.66\"N Sadar 89°18'37.98\"E Rajakpur, Noongola, Bogura 24°55'46.80\"N Sadar 89°18'30.96\"E Chingashpur, Namuja, Bogura 24°56'33.30\"N Sadar 89°18'22.90\"E Rajakpur, Noongola, Bogura 24°55'56.16\"N Sadar 89°18'34.74\"E Daulatpur, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°55'56.54\"N 89°18'44.39\"E MAH. 36 Bismardan Mahasthangarh, Rainagar, 24°57'29.82\"N MAH. 37 Kanjir Hari Dhap Shibganj 89°20'8.52\"E Sekendrabad, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°58'26.16\"N 89°19'2.04\"E MAH. 38 Lizanir Dhap Sekendrabad, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°58'12.05\"N 89°19'47.42\"E Page 78

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 S.N. Site name State, Province or Region Latitude and Longitude, or PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED MAH. 39 Malinir Dhap (Village, Union, Sub-district) UTM coordinates TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH MAH. 40 Mal Pukuria Dhap Sekendrabad, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°58'9.78\"N MAH. 41 Yoginir/Dakinir Dhap 89°19'25.62\"E MAH. 42 Lahonar Dhap Sekendrabad, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°58'18.53\"N MAH. 43 Dhaniker Dhap 89°18'53.35\"E MAH. 44 Govinda Bhita Sekendrabad, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°58'25.24\"N 89°19'15.57\"E Dakhin Syampur, Rainagar, 24°57'56.88\"N Shibganj 89°19'26.82\"E Dakhin Syampur, Rainagar, 24°57'58.74\"N Shibganj 89°19'23.95\"E Mahasthan, Rainagar, Shibganj 24°57'46.01\"N 89°20'44.82\"E MAH. 45 Dheep Kazipur, Raniganj, Shibganj 24°58'25.60\"N MAH. 46 Bhasu Vihar Bhasu Vihar, Bihar, Shibganj 89°19'54.40\"E 24°58'57.87\"N MAH. 47 Sannasir Dhap Bhasu Vihar, Bihar, Shibganj 89°17'49.99\"E Bihar, Bihar, Shibganj MAH. 48 Bihar Dhap Panartik, Bihar, Shibganj 24°59'7.50\"N Gokarna, Maidanhatta, Shibganj 89°17'34.14\"E MAH. 49 Nishanghata Arola, Paikar, Kahaloo 24°57'52.14\"N Arola (west), Paikar, Kahaloo 89°17'58.32\"E MAH. 50 Gokarna Rajar Bari Yogir Bhaban, Paikar, Kahaloo 24°58'31.98\"N Baghahali, Paikar, Kahaloo 89°18'15.00\"E MAH. 51 Arola Dhap Pirapot, Paikar, Kahaloo 25° 6'35.60\"N Deogaon, Durgapur, Kahaloo 89°18'44.68\"E MAH. 52 Shalban Rajar Bari 24°54'35.71\"N 89°16'39.32\"E MAH. 53 Yogir Bhaban Cluster of 24°54'19.32\"N MAH. 54 Temple 89°16'33.96\"E Shalban Rajar Kachari 24°54'47.88\"N 89°16'52.62\"E MAH. 55 Ghopa Dhap 24°55'35.80\"N 89°17'27.67\"E MAH. 56 Devkunda 24°54'58.57\"N 89°17'34.19\"E 24°47'39.59\"N 89°11'48.54\"E Mahasthan (literally meaning maha = great and sthan = place in Bengali) is in Shibganj Upazila of Bogura district, under the Rajshahi division of Bangladesh. Mahasthan is located on the west of the Bogura-Rangpur highway and is about 12km north of the Bogura district headquarter and to the western bank of the currently seasonally active channel of the Karatoya River. These archaeological sites and the riverine alluvial landscape at Mahasthan, featuring the Karatoya River, represent the complex interaction of cultural activity and natural landscape to an extent that the landscape, river, waterbody and cultural activities over 2400 years have become entangled. The cultural landscape in this area, moreover, represents the entwinement of tangible and intangible aspects of heritage. The landscape and rivers have continued to be part of popular imagination and local legends and myths. They are also an essential component of local religious rituals belonging to different religious traditions – Islamic, Hindu and other sects. This property can be defined under the second sub- category of the second category of cultural landscape as ‘continuing landscape is one which retains an active social role in contemporary society closely associated with the traditional way of life, and in which the evolutionary process is still in progress. At the same time, it exhibits significant material evidence of its Page 79

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 evolution over time.’ In this place, popular folktales, legends, religious rituals, and archaeological remains have PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED manifested inseparable association and influence of waterscape and landscape in the area, especially the TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Karatoya River. b. The archaeological milieu of Mahasthan and Karatoya River The archaeological context of Mahasthan can be broadly represented by a citadel and numerous archaeological sites in the form of structural and habitational mounds, monumental remains, and old tanks. The citadel is known as Mahasthangarh and it is characterized by fortified urban centres of early Bengal. The urban centre was established around the 4th-3rd century BCE on the bank of the Karatoya River. Archaeological studies since the later part of the 19th century to date have exposed several facets of the rich and evolving history of the place as an urban centre. Excavations in the citadel area and radiocarbon dating of the stratigraphic context have established that the human activity in the citadel area continued to date with several periods of transformation. The fortified citadel is the core urban centre and it measures roughly 1.52km (north to south) by 1.37km (east to west), with high and wide ramparts in all its wings. Other sites, both excavated and unexcavated, are distributed around this core citadel area. Most of the excavated sites are religious monumental remains including Buddhist monasteries, Brahmanical temples, mosques and mazars (tombs of Muslim saints). The urban centre was known as Pundranagara according to various textual sources belonging to the 7th century CE and later. According to the excavation and geoarchaeological research in the area, the urban centre with the first fortification wall was built with mud around the 4th century BCE during the Mauryan period. A fragment of a stone inscription written in Brahmi script represents the importance of the settlement, where the administrator of the settlement was asked to help the poor during the time of calamity. Scholars think that this inscription can be dated to the time of the Emperor Asoka. The urban centre became the administrative centre and capital of Pundrabardhana bhukti, a unit under Gupta and later, Pala and Sena rulers. During the 13th century, the capital city was partly destroyed by a massive earthquake. The human occupation continued here in various parts inside and outside the citadel area. The mazar of Sultan Mahisawar (r.) and Borhanuddin, two Muslim Sufi saints, became the hub of ritualistic gathering and ceremonial activities during the 15th-16th century CE. The mazar of Mahisawar was constructed on the abandoned citadel wall in the 15th century CE or earlier. Among other archaeological sites around Mahasthangarh, the monastic complex at Vasu Bihar, the temple built with a cellular technique at Gokul Medh, the temples of Bihar Dhap, Govinda Bhita, Mangolkot and several other excavated places, and more than a hundred unexcavated mounds within 15-20km of the citadel area testify to the immense significance of this area as a nodal zone of administrative, political, cultural, economic and religious activities for nearly two and a half millennia. c. The landscape and its functional significance The settlements and religious edifices around this centre in the hinterland zone of the urban core are difficult to define with regard to a specific spatial boundary, partly because of the lack of archaeological research in the hinterland zone and partly because of the nature of the archaeological remains which are spread over a considerably large space. Yet, for the purpose of proposing the property of Mahasthan and Karatoya River as a cultural landscape, the area with the highest density of the sites to the north, west and south has been taken into consideration. The most dense occurrences of the sites extend6-8km to the north, 8km to the west and 10km to the south of the citadel. This spatial boundary is drawn as a requirement for this proposal, though considering the landscape and its use, the boundary can be extended further in these directions, and also to the east of the Karatoya River. The landscape context can be broadly divided into two units on the basis of their geological and geomorphological characteristics, and also, on the basis of the historic land-use pattern. The citadel and Page 80

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 around the citadel are situated on a terrain which is recognized as Barind Terrace. This terrace is tectonically PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED uplifted and characterized by Pleistocene deposits with yellowish-red to reddish-brown clay and sandy clay. TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Barind Terrace with the citadel and most of the sites to the right bank of the Karatoya River are on the bank of the Karatoya River (and its tributaries like Bangali) and the Karatoya River cuts an alluvium deposited by the Brahmaputra-Karatoya Rivers during the Holocene period. The older alluvium of Barind Terrace and the recent alluvium of the rivers played a critical role in the formation, evolution and transformations of the archaeological and cultural pattern of landscape use and modifications. The scholarly works have suggested that the formation of the urban core was controlled by its location in the margin of the Barind Terrace, on the bank of the Karatoya River. The fortification wall gradually evolved from a mud wall into an extensive brick-built rampart that was essential for defence as well as for the protection of the core urban area from floods and inundations which were regular during the peak Indian summer monsoon (ISMR). The riverine route was, moreover, the route for communication and trade with the sub-regions to the northern, southeastern and southern parts of Bengal. The location of the citadel and the settlements sites in the hinterland were, thus, partly controlled by the fluvial network and fluvial landscape. Distributaries of the Karatoya River like the Nagar River and several other palaeo-channels have differential implications on the human activity pattern and history in this area. The Barind Terrace, though predominantly characterized by the yellowish-red and reddish-brown old alluvium, has micro-scale variabilities in the hinterland zone. The zone is marked with moderate undulations, wetlands and lowlands characterised by dark-grey to greyish clayey soils. Several structural remains of the archaeological mounds were constructed by careful adaptations and modifications of these landforms. The formation of the settlements in Mahasthangarh was controlled by the landscape context, as the recent studies suggest. The landscape was covered densely by lowlands and wetlands before the formation of the urban core around the 5th-4th centuries BCE and it was not suitable for human occupation and construction of an urban centre as large as Mahasthangarh. The studies also suggested that it was during the expansion of the Mauryan empire, this place, with its unique location in the intersection of recent and old alluvial terrain, became suitable for the development of an urban landscape. The recent alluvium offered the suitable terrain for the agrarian expansion and the supply for surplus production for the sustenance of the urban settlement. The fluvial network, in which the Karatoya River became pivotal for communication and trade, offered the perfect landscape for the development of an urban landscape that continued until the 13th century CE and with the evident decline of the landscape and dwindled riverine network, the occupation continued in various patches in a semi-urban or rural character. Many tanks were excavated outside the citadel area for purposes like irrigation, supply of drinking water, and for ritualistic purposes. These tanks manifest the modification of the landscape for different settlement activities for more than 2400 years. There are the remains of an earthen wall, popularly known as Bhimer Jangal, which had acted as an embankment and pathway. A major portion of the earthen wall has been destroyed by human activities during the last 50-60 years. The popular memory, however, narrates this earthen wall as a signature of the Kaivarta rebellion in the 11th century CE. The examination of the Mahasthan and the human activity in this place overtly manifest the symbiotic relationship between culture and nature, between cultural activities and their changes and landscape- waterscape. The intimate interrelationship becomes explicit in the ways the human perception and actions are shaped by the landscape variables. d. Cultural landscape as the realm of the symbolic and perception Karatoya Mahattyam, a poetic composition belonging to c. 13th-14th century CE, belongs to the category of texts known as sthal-purana (a specific type of Purana, or mythical narration of time and events, representing the supernatural and sacred qualities and characters of a place). It was in the verses of this textual composition that the place name of Mahasthan occurred first. The text also attests to the fact that Mahasthan is the location of the great urban centre of Pundranagara. The entire composition illustrates the great sacred Page 81

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 qualities of the Karatoya River and the place of Mahasthan. The place (and the landscape) were perceived in PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED this purnara as possessing the power of healing, the emancipation from sins and the ascribing of merit to TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH sincere devotees. The water of the Karatoya River was perceived as sacred and possessing miraculous powers. Bathing in the water of the river was considered as a holy and merit-gaining act. Mahasthan, in association with the river, gained equivalent miraculous power, according to the text. Living in this land was narrated as a holy achievement in human life. In a similar way, Mahasthan is perceived and experienced as a holy and sacred place, as the location of the mazars of Hazrat Shah Sultan Mahisawar (r.) and Sheikh Borhanuddin (r.), two great Sufi saints of medieval Bengal. The grave of Mahisawar is considered by the local people, irrespective of their religious identity, as possessing miraculous powers to heal, to fulfil the desires, and to giving merits to devotees. The archaeological remains, such as khodar pathar bhita, jiyat kunda and several other features in the landscape close to the southern part of the citadel, are considered as sacred and worshipped by the local people. The sacredness of the river, land and archaeological remains are celebrated annually, first, by the huge gathering of the people belonging to the Hindu community for bathing in the river water in the months of March-April and secondly, by the gathering of thousands of devotees during the uras (a sacred gathering and ritualistic activities to commemorate the birth or miraculous acts of a holy Sufi saint or pir in Bengal) each year on the last Thursday of the Bengali month of Baisakh (the months of April-May in the Gregorian calendar). The existence of the tangible remains are often perceived, lived and narrated in the tales and poems representing the holy miraculous acts of the Sufi saints. The places and remains are actors in popular mythical narratives from the Manasa mangal kavya (a category of poetic narrations of different local deities among the Hindu community of Bengal). For example, the moat and the wetland to the west of the citadel are recognized as the Kalidaha sagar (a big water body name Kalidaha) where the boats of the merchant Chad anchored. The places are identified in the popular narratives as associated with these characters and events from a mythical past. Interestingly, the narratives which are constructed by the archaeological and historical discourses are not known or popular among the larger section of the people. These narratives clearly show that people may have different and heterogeneous perceptions and associations with their pasts. The archaeological places of Mahasthan are kept alive and significant by the religious rituals, popular folklores and the pluralistic relationship of landscape, river, archaeological places and the people living with the places at the present. The landscape of Mahasthan attains a very different meaning, albeit very distinct from the mainstream historical and archaeological meaning and narration style, as a living religious place and as a landscape vibrant with living religious traditions. The tangible archaeological remains, therefore, become the sites for popular mythical perception as well as for the religious rituals, blurring the boundaries between history and myth, real and unreal, secular and religious and dead traditions and living religious traditions. The cultural landscape of Mahasthan and Karatoya River, eventually, illustrate the multivocality of the past at the present. It represents the pluralistic, heterogenous and concurrent existence and continuity of different traditions at a place that is characterized by the entanglement of cultural activities and natural processes, of the land, water and people. e. Mahasthangarh (the citadel) and other archaeological sites in its hinterland associated historically and culturally with the Karatoya River System: the proposed components under the property Although hundreds of archaeological sites and places have been recorded in the area, many of them have been destroyed and obliterated to an extent that they cannot fit within the standards of authenticity and integrity. Among these sites, sixty-two components are proposed within this property. Hence, the sites which comply with the accepted Nara Document on Authenticity are listed above. It must be stated that the Karatoya River, with its connected channels and palaeo-channels (seasonally flooded) associated with the area of the site, is also included as a component, though they have not been listed in the table. The area covers more than 80 sq. km and there are many cultural remains and features within this zone which lack intensive inspection and surveying. Subsequent research may add more properties to this list. Page 82

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 The Karatoya River to the south and southeast of the urban area and the Nagar River to the north of this PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED property must be included as the landscape component of this property. As natural features, they are owned TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH by the state authority and managed by the local communities. Justification of Outstanding Universal Value: (i) to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius From the 4th-3rd century BCE to the 18th – 19th century CE, this property represents unparalleled, innovative and flexible human activities to build a large city with numerous monuments, artificial water bodies and modified landscapes around the city. The fortification wall of the citadel represents the transformation from an earthen wall into a massive brick-built rampart with bastions, with the modification of the landscape and with the adaptation with the floodplain of the Karatoya River. The citadel and the monumental remains are located on the uplifted terrace of Barind and the moat of the citadel is connected to the Karatoya River. The western part of the citadel has a water body which is also enclosed by the fortification wall and is connected with the low land (bill), which is locally known as Kalidaha Sagar. This is an outstanding example of the use and modification of a natural water body for maintaining connectivity and communication through the water of the artificial moat and the natural fluvial network mediated by the Karatoya-Nagar and other rivers. To the west and the north of the citadel, a vast area characterized by natural wetland was brought under use for habitation and cultivation by harvesting water through tanks and the seasonal use of water in the wetlands. Several monumental remains in this zone are either enclosed by natural waterbodies or by artificial moats. Remnants of palaeo-channels connected to the Karatoya River and the Jamuna River (also known as the Brahmaputra River upstream) vividly illustrate the cohabitation of the natural and the cultural on a wide area. The area between the currently moribund channels of the Karatoya River and the Jamuna River represents an alluvial terrain that is as dynamic and changing as it is fertile. This floodplain is marked with numerous abandoned river beds, oxbow lakes and back swamps. Despite the changes in the fluvial system, the cultural activities continued to flourish with certain ups and downs in the entire city and the hinterland zone for more than two millennia. Excavated data from the citadel and outside (e.g. excavated Buddhist and Brahmanical remains of Vasu Bihar, Bihar Dhap, Govenda Bhita Temple, Gokul Medh, etc) show that attacks from outside and natural disasters were common in this area. The evidence of the attacks and breaking of the fortification wall as well as the evidence of a massive earthquake and partial collapse of the urban area around the 13th century are well attested by radiocarbon dating. Floods and consequent changes in the fluvial environment were perpetual. In spite of all these obstacles, a formidable centre of administrative, economic and religious activity was established, maintained and continued by taking the urban area as its focal point and by adapting to the landscape-waterscape around the city. The city represents intense cultural activities both during the phases of second urbanism in the Ganges-Jamuna plains extending from the western part of present India to the east up to Mahasthangarh in the 4th-3rd century BCE. In that sense, the city and the vast hinterland represents the easternmost detectable large urban proliferation despite the dynamic landscape. Simultaneously, the archaeological evidence suggests that the city flourished after a period of decline again in the period of third urbanism in South Asia in around the 8th-9th century CE. Various studies by the Bangladesh- France joint team and their publications represent irrefutable evidence of the close and intimate interaction between human activity patterns and changes in natural features including the landscape. Human creativity can not be better portrayed in the enterprises and actions of adapting to nature. (ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design As has been elaborated in the justification of the criteria (i), the cultural activities in this urban area and its hinterland zone continued over two millennia. Following is a table representing the stratigraphic evidence of the continuity gleaned from the excavation by the Bangladesh-France Joint Team in Eastern Rampart Area within the citadel (Alam and Salles 2001). Page 83

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 LEVEL BUILDING METHODS SPECIAL FINDS SUGGESTED RADIO – PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED 1 TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH 1B Unknown probably earth- CHRONOLOGY CARBON DATE 2 based architecture 3 Unknown probably earth- Late 4th cent./beginning None 4 based architecture 3rd cent. BC 5 Earth/wood clay floor 6 Late 4th cent./beginning None 7 Earth/wood clay floor 3rd cent. BC 7B Earth-based architecture Red polished ware Late 4th cent./beginning None 8 3rd cent. BC Mud walls, Probably tile 9 roofing clay floor Clay firing area Late 4th cent./beginning None 10 Fgt of terracotta 3rd cent. BC None 11 Earth-based architecture tile Late 4th cent./beginning 366-162 BC 12 roofing (large tiles); clay floor; 3rd cent. BC timberwork 3rd cent. BC 13 Earth-based architecture 14 timberwork tile roofing (large ring well (ca 9cm size); floor made up of fgts of 15 bricks and clay high); fgts of tiles 15B Unknown floor made up of 16-18 brick fgts Fgt of terracotta 3rd cent. BC./beginning None Earth-based architecture, ring well (ca 9cm 2nd cent. BC baked bricks for partitions walls; tile roofing(small size); high); fgts of tiles floor of crushed bricks Baked bricks probably used in fgt of terracotta ring 3rd cent. BC./beginning 371-173 BC the architecture; floors made 2nd cent. BC up of clay and brick fgts well (ca 9-11cm 367-85 BC Complete bricks; tile roofing (small size); floors made up of high); fgt of wall brick fgts Fgtary baked bricks; tile coating? roofing (small size); floors made up of brick fgts 2nd cent. BC 370-72 BC Fgtary baked bricks; few floors made up of brick fgts First attestation of 2nd cent. BC/ 1st cent. 197-46 BC city wall in this area BC Fragmentary baked bricks; few floors made up of brick fgts Terracotta ring will 1st cent. BC None Fgtary baked bricks; few floors (ring dia. : 70cm; h: made up of brick fgts 10cm) 1st cent. BC/ 1st half 1st 107BC-57AD New city walls cent. AD 40BC-122AD Fgtary baked bricks; few floors (complete bricks) made up of brick fgts 60 BC-172 AD Fgtary baked bricks; few floors ring well (terracotta, East/2nd Cetn. AD 84 BC-320 AD made up of brick fgts ring dia.: 90cm; H: 84 AD-316 AD ca 20 cm) End 2nd Cent AD- 4th 20 AD- 239 AD Fgtary baked bricks Brick platform cent. AD (Between 11 and 12 AD) 82 3rd AD- 5th Cent. AD AD-242 AD 109 AD-461 6th Cent. AD-10th AD Cent.AD 361 AD-594 AD New city wall 6Cent. AD-10th Cent. 602-776AD (reused bricks) AD?? (Between Large quadrangular 8th Cent. AD-12th Cent. levels 13 and building; change in AD?? 14) circulation paths 16th Cent. AD- 18th None Cent.AD?? None Page 84

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 The cultural materials from the excavations and the excavated monumental remains including Brahmanical, PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED Buddhist, Jain and Islamic edifices illustrates the exchange of human values through overland and riverine TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH routes. For example, similar and analogous cultural material including Northern Black Polished Wares (NBPW), Rouletted Wares (RW), Moulded Terracotta Plaques with specific ‘Sunga style’, Bronze objects including mirrors and sculptures, stone made religious and non-religious objects, etc. are so abundant that it is evident that trade and commercial activities and exchanges of religious ideas were continuous. Chinese Pilgrims Zuan Jang’s (Hiuen Tsang) description in the 7th century CE about the glorious and thriving religious activities in these sites is one of several examples. As an urban centre surrounded by many monastic establishments and temples, the scholastic studies suggest, the city and its hinterland zone were vibrant with pilgrimage and mercantile activities. It has also been suggested that the fluvial networks through the Karatoya-Brahmaputra River system enabled communication with the Himalayan piedmont zones in the north and to the maritime routes to the south in the Bay of Bengal. (iii) bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; The aforementioned text of Karatoya-Mahatyam of the 13th-14th century CE clearly indicated the sacred qualities of the land of Mahasthan and the Karatoya River. The water of the river was considered as possessing supernatural sacred qualities. This ancient text narrated the annual bathing in the river to gain merit according to Hindu tradition. The tradition of ritualistic bath in the river continues up to the present. At the same time, the mazar of Shah Sultan Mahisawar (ra.) is the location of huge annual gatherings and pilgrimages by the adherents of various Sufi sects, pious Muslims and Hindus. In the month of April, the gathering gains special significance through various ritualistic activities and gathering, musical performances and embodied ritualistic activities. These traditions have their historicity from at least the 15th-16th century CE or earlier. The pluralistic, tolerant and syncretistic religious and ritualistic traditions are nowhere better represented than in Mahathan and Karatoya Rivers. The religious traditions of the property similarly attest to the intimate inter-relationship between human beliefs and rituals and the natural features. The waterscape, especially the rivers, have shaped the symbolic as well as the perceptions of the inhabitants in this area for a long time. The landscape and waterscape were not only related to human activity in a functional sense. The inseparable existence of the tangible and the intangible is represented by the oral histories, folktales and legends which borrow from the rich literary traditions of Bengal. An example may be given here of the identification of the several archaeological sites and wetlands with the narratives of Manasa Mangala Kavya of the medieval period. (vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance Mahasthan and Karatoya River are entangled entities as a locus of cultural activities, symbolic perception, continuous oral traditions of narrative making, literary creation, and human experiential and phenomenological engagement with the landscape. The traditions continue with their transformations and obstacles despite various modern and colonial interventions. The living traditions of storytelling, folklore, oral history in song, poetries and dances, and performative embodied actions are quite unique as they show the deep, inseparable and juxtaposed human and non-human, human and landscape and human and river actions and mobilities. These traditions and events of celebrating these traditions have a universal significance in terms of the ways human perceptions and senses are shaped by as well as refashion the natural environment around them. Criteria met (i) √ (ii) √ (iii) √ (iv) (v) (vi) √ (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) Page 85

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Statements of authenticity and/or integrity: PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Authenticity: The excavated, conserved and protected archaeological sites and their landscape at Mahasthan in relation to the Karatoya River System undeniably represent the authentic attestation of human creative and building technologies and their use of the landscape. These sites and the landscape proposed for nomination as a complex or cluster of properties were constructed mainly by burnt bricks, mud, earthworks and clay, and lime-surki mortars, with occasional use and reuse of stone blocks. Evidence of plasters of lime and clay are also recovered. The excavations revealed the architectural remains of various natures. The cellular temple of Gokul Medh, the massive brick and stone-built fortifications enclosed by a moat, the construction of habitations and monuments within wetlands, and the excavated tanks – all represent the most authentic human-landscape interaction, both functionally and symbolically. Thick and sequential successive occupation deposits and objects of innumerable types were found and preserved. The remains were found incomplete and having gone through weathering and damage done by the passage of time. The remains, nevertheless, have provided evidence based upon which the original characters and layout of the buildings and associated landscape, the traditional construction materials and techniques, and the common regional use of clay for producing bricks as well as for binding the construction material can be inferred with a high degree of precision. Integrity: Because of the recent expansion of developmental and habitational activities, many of the sites have already been destroyed. The proposed properties represent the selected sites which are well preserved and compatible with the guidelines of the World Heritage Convention. The Karatoya River with its abandoned beds is also clearly detectable and manageable through a planned river management initiative. The impact of natural processes has been reduced by the continuous protection and conservation as well as monitoring of the properties. The modification of the landscape is increasing because of human activities in a densely- populated country like Bangladesh. The continuous monitoring of the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs of these sites protected under the Antiquity Act, 1972 have retained the original nature and character of the sites when they were exposed by excavations. Several proposed sites are under private ownership and they can be protected and preserved without evicting the people living around them. The conservation of excavated remains has followed international conventions and standards in protection and conservation. These sites are major tourist destinations of the region. Proposed sites such as the mazars of Shah Sultan (ra.) and Borhanuddin (ra.) are communal properties and they are continuously being reused for living religious traditions. As communal places of worship and the continuous focus of living religious traditions, sites like these are proposed despite their changes and renewal by the communities around them. These sites represent the religious sites around the world that are recognized by UNESCO under the conventions of protecting the places of living religious traditions. The landscape around the Karatoya River which is the centre of living ritualistic traditions are well protected by the communities around the sites. The touristic activities are controlled and managed according to the accepted guidelines and as per the required accountability and community-oriented engagements. Comparison with other similar properties: The cultural landscape of this proposed property can be compared to the Bam and its Cultural landscape of Iran. Located on the Iranian high plateau, the urban centre of Bam and the hinterland of this city can be dated back to the Achaemenid period (6th to 4th centuries BC). Its heyday was from the 7th to 11th centuries, being at the crossroads of important trade routes and known for the production of silk and cotton garments. Bam is closely connected to the arid desert environment and landscape. On the other hand, Mahasthan is intimately connected to its fluvial landscape. Arg-e Bam is one of the most outstanding examples of a fortified medieval town/city like Mahasthangarh and it represents the adaptive tradition of human activities. The proposed property and the components are also comparable to Vat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape in Laos. This World Heritage property was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity, using an axis from mountaintop to Page 86

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 riverbank to lay out a geometric pattern of temples, shrines and waterworks extending over some 10km. Two planned cities on the banks of the Mekong River are also part of the site, as well as Phou Kao Mountain. The PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED whole thing represents a development ranging from the 5th to 15th centuries, mainly associated with the TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Khmer Empire. The settlement pattern, urban centres and the intimate relationship between nature and human activities are illustrated, both symbolically and functionally, in both of these properties. Key characteristics in this world heritage site manifested by the relationship between the Mekong River and the cities resemble the intimate relationship between Mahasthan and the Karatoya River. References:  Alam, Md. Shafiqul and Salles, Jean-Feançois (ed.), France-Bangladesh Joint Venture Excavation at Mahasthangarh : First Interim Report 1993-1999. Department of Archaeology, Dhaka and Maison de L`Oreint Méditeranéen- Jean Pouillox, Lyon, Dhaka, 2001.  Alam, Md. Shafiqul and Salles, Jean-Feançois (ed.), France-Bangladesh Joint Venture Excavation at Mahasthangarh : Second Interim Report 1993-1999. Department of Archaeology, Dhaka and Maison de L`Oreint Méditeranéen- Jean Pouillox, Lyon, Dhaka, 2017.  Rahman, SSM, Archaeological Investigation in Bogra District: From Early Historic to Early Mediaeval Period, International Centre for Study of Bengal Art, Dhaka, 2000.  Banglapedia, (2015). Mahasthangarh [online]. Banglapedia. [Viewed 2 November 2020]. Available from: http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title= Mahasthan Page 87

Final Report on Updating the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List of Bangladesh CHAPTER 3 Name of Property: Archaeological sites of Lalmai-Mainamati PROPOSED SITES FOR UPDATED TENTATIVE LIST OF BANGLADESH Submission prepared by: Md. Shahin Alam, Field Officer, DoA Abir Bin Keysar, Assistant Director, DoA Md Amiruzzaman, PhD, Deputy Director, DoA Reviewed and rewritten by: Professor Swadhin Sen, PhD STATE PARTY: Bangladesh State, Province or Region: Bangladesh, Chattagram, Cumilla Institution: Department of Archaeology DESCRIPTION: a. Location and landscape: The property is located in the prominent Buddhist religious centre of Lalmai- Mainamati representing twin villages on a hill range. The low and lenticular shaped hill range has a maximum height of 45 metres, is 17 kilometres long (from north to south) and at its widest part is 4.5 kilometres wide (from east to west). It rises within a vast floodplain formed by the active and moribund part of the Brahmaputra-Meghna delta. The hill range with a cluster of archaeological sites – many of them already excavated and protected – has the Gomati River and its palaeo-channels connecting the archaeological cluster to the Meghna River to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the south. The following table provides a list of the 21 property components: S.l. Site Name State, Province or Region Latitude and Foundation (Cumilla, Chattagram Division) Longitude, or Period 1 Ranir Bunglow Temple UTM coordinates (Rani Mainamatir Bari) Union Sub-district c. 10-12th Mainamati Burichang N 23°29’46.86” centuries CE 2 Mainamati Mound-1 E 91°06’27.53” -- Mainamati Burichang N 23°29'13.2\" 3 Mainamati Mound-2 E 91°06'31.9\" -- Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°28'28.8\" 4 Charpatra Mura E 91°07'19.8\" c. 10-13th Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°28'26.2 centuries CE 5 Kutila Mura E 91°06'55.9\" c. 6-11th Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°27'29.1\" centuries CE 6 Bairagir Mura E 91°07'24.1\" -- Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°27'21.6\" 7 Ananda Vihara E 91°07'12.0\" c. 8th century (Ananda Rajar Bari) Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°26'57.6\" CE E 91°07'46.5\" -- 8 Rupban Kanya’s Palace Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°26'45.6\" (Rupban Kanyar Bari) E 91°07'37.7\" c. 8th century Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°26'31.6\" CE 9 Bhoj Vihara E 91°07'53.6\" c. 8th century (Bhoj Rajar Bari) Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N23°26’19.7” CE E 91°07’45.9” c. 8-13th 10 Itakhola Mura Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°26'19.5\" century CE E 91°07'53.5\" 11 Latikot Mura Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar c. 8th century Bijoypur Cumilla Sadar N 23°26’11.2” CE 12 Rupban Mura E 91°07’45.3” c. 8th century N 23°26'12.5\" CE 13 Kotbari Mura E 91°07'15.0\" Page 88