The “Somapuri Vihara” at Pahapur is said to have been the “biggest Buddhist monastery south of the Himalayas”. Whether this is true I know not but it is quite an impressive site, albeit not up to some “world class” Buddhist ruins such as Borobodur or Anuradhapura. One of its most pleasing aspects is that it is set deep, deep, DEEP into the Bangladeshi countryside. Getting there is a pleasure in itself as you pass the myriad of rural activities which characterise the Bengali way of life.

The site consists of a large quadrangle of some 170 monastic cells set in a high wall/earthwork and looking inward (photo) to a 3 level Stupa now largely ruined but originally containing, presumably, Buddha statues in shrines set deep into each face of the structure. There are also various other structures within the quadrangle. A visit (allow 2 hours) is likely to consist of a walk around the outer wall and then round each of the 3 levels of the stupa whilst taking in some of the other structures. Around the Stupa itself you can see examples (some original and some modern) of the terracotta “tiles” which decorated the walls of each level – a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain artwork (Buddhism reached its zenith in Bengal during the 8th to 11th centuries before being replaced by a Hindu resurgence in 12th century but was probably always heavily influenced by Hindu and aboriginal polytheistic aspects). The Pahapur museum also contains some of these, although we found the best examples of this type of decoration in the museum of another Bangladeshi archaeological site the Salban Vihara at Mainimati (on the Bangladesh tentative list).

If you go to Bangladesh it would be a shame to miss this site but it is rather out of the way in the Northwest of the country (although there is much else of interest up there) and I couldn’t describe it as a “must do” – if you see Mainimati which is more accessible and on the route to the coast and the tribes of the Hill Tracts you will get the general idea of what a “Vihara” was like!