Sompura Mahavihara in Bangladesh is one of the earliest and Largest Buddhist Monastery in the world of Ancient Times . It was build in the 8 th century in the time of Pala Dynasty under the king ‘ Dharmapala ‘ . It has all total 177 rooms for the students around the central structure . Central structure has a Sharp Pyramid like structure which makes confusion about it’s reason of existence . Famous chines traveller and philosopher Xuensung stayed there in his travel period . Science , arts , Astrology , astronomy and Religion were taught by some famous teachers like Silbhadra and Atis Dipankar . Lots of tibetan scholers come here to study and Both Vajrayan and Mahayan buddhism were practished here . In 1985 it was designated as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site other two UNESCO sites in Bangladesh being the Sixty Dome Mosque and Sundarban Mangrove Forest .
Travel arrengement for Sompura Boudhya Vihar ?
Sompura Boudhyavihara is situated in a village in Naogaon District in the Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh . It is situated near to the India Bangladesh Border . There is just one Paharpur Bihar Guest House situated inside the Temple complex for staying but rather than , there is very few stay option in this area . Although there is lots of Restaurant for the tourist .Three district Head Quarters are situated within 50-60 km from this area , which are better option to stay for visiting here . Entry ticket for this place is 20 taka for Bangladeshi , 100 taka for SAARC countries and 500 taka for Foreign Citizen .
Bogura is the district HQ of the Bogura District . It is 55 km from this spot . Plenty of hotels are available in this spot and Public transport is also available from this spot .
Naogaon is a District HQ of Naigaon District . It is situated 38 km from this spot and Hotels and Public transport is available from this spot .
Joypurhat is also a district HQ of Joypurhat district in Rajshahi Division . It is also the nearest city to this point . It is just 13 km from the Joypurhat Railway station . Direct trains are available from Dhaka , Khulna and other cities of Bangladesh to Jaipurhat . I stayed here and the city is quiet affordable for the budget tourist . Here mostly you can find budget Hotels . Mostly in the way from the Railway station to the Bus road , most of the hotels are situated . Near to the bus stop most of the restaurants and fruit stalls are situated .From this place by battery car you can reach to the actual spot and in a shared battery car it is just 30 taka and takes almost 30 mins .
This Monastery is the largest among the all 5 ancient monastery(Vikramsila , Nalanda , Sompura , Odantapura and Jaggadala) made in the time of Pala Kingdom . This monastery was spread across 27 acres and also a Dharmic center for the Buddhist , Hindus and Jains . Lots of Hindu sculpture was found in this place . This all monasteries were state sponsored . Sompura Mahavihara was made by the Pala King Dharmapala in 781-821 AD . This is a Quadrangle structure and near to the outer wall most of the rooms were situated . Previously this were for the staying but later some of the rooms were converted to meditation center . In the middle of the complex there is a huge structure which has three floors and above that there is a Pyramid like structure . But this pyramid is not totally solid , inside this situated a hall . Some said , might be in inside there is huge treasure but from long distance also you can see leaf of a big tree inside . Now you can not climb the structure but those climbed previously said there is a huge tree inside .
The total structure was build by clay burned Brick and stone . There is beautiful teracotta plaques , stone sculptures , wall decoration in this place . This terracotta plaques were placed in every floor in the bottom of the wall . This describes the social and religious belief of the people of this area . Among the plaques some are associated with Hindu and Jains tradition . Some of the plaques have Shiva Linga and Kurma Avatar of Bishnu .In my mind this is the most interesting thing to see in this place . The figures are really good .From the sky if you look at this structure it looks like a Mandela which is the Buddhist shape of Universe . This temple structure influenced some of temples in Mayanmar and Indonesia and combodiya. Chandi Loro Jongrang and Prambanam temple of Java is influenced by this structure . In this time there is connection from this place with the south east asia .
It is heard that in the 11 th century there is a Huge fire in this place and lots of documents were lost . But Later Sena Dynasty become the ruler of this area and gradually it lost it’s significance as they were not much interested . Later As the time goes it covered by forest . After lots of years in 1873 British Engineer Alexander Cunningham rediscovered this place . Later different archeologist studied this place decoded different facts about this place .
Summary :
It was a Buddhist Monastery which was build by King Dharmapala of Pala Dynasty in 8 th century. It was the biggest monastery of ancient time . At that time students come from Tibet and South east asia to learn buddhist teahing , science ,arts , astrology and astronomy . It has a huge central structure and 177 rooms for the students of this university . Famous scholer Shilbhadra and Atis Dipankar teaches in this university . But later in 12 th century in the time of Sena dynasty it lots it’s significance and lost in the time and later rediscovered in the time of British . Now it is a major Tourist spot in Bangladesh . Only the road connectivity is available in this spot and nearby cities to stay were Joypurhat , Bogura and Naogaon . It is the historical heritage of this Land .
