Mahasthan, 1908
Mahasthan
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Ancient shrine and fort in Bogra District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, situated in 24° 57' N. and 89° 21' E., on the west bank of the Karatoya river, 7 miles north of Bogra town. It is the traditional capital of a monarch, named Parasu Rama, who ruled o\er twenty-two feudatory princes, and who is identified by the Brahmans with the sixth incarnation of Vishnu. The existing remains consist chiefly of the ruins of a fort which was constructed after the Muham- madan occupation. There are reasons for believing that they mark the site of a group of Buddhist stupas, and that Mahasthan was the capital of Pundra or Paundravardhana, the country of the Pods, lying between the Karatoya and Mahananda, which was in existence in the third century b. c, and was still flourishing in the seventh century a. d. when Hiuen Tsiang travelled in India. Under the later Hindu kings, who favoured the worship of Siva and Vishnu in preference to Buddha, part of Mahasthan obtained the name of Sila Dwipa. An ancient grant of about 650 acres from the Delhi emperor, subsequently con- firmed by the Mughal governor of Dacca in 1666, still supports a fraternity oi fakirs, and a fair is held here in April. Coins dating from 1448 have been discovered, and the place affords a promising site for archaeological excavation.
[Cunningham, Reports, Archaeological Survey of India, vol. xv, pp. 104-17-]
