SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES OF BANGLADESH

SOME ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES OF BANGLADESH

Bangladesh is a country of tropical climate which is characterized byhigh temperature, heavy precipitation, excessive humidity and fairly markedseasonal variations. This type of climate is not suitable for preservation ofancient brick-built structures, which constitute almost 100% of our heritage.Besides the climatic factors, certain cultural factors are also responsible for Deteriorating the tangible cultural heritage of the country. Sometimes culturalfactors are stronger than the natural factors. For instance, vandalism in theCultural mounds by the owners of the concerned lands and their associates inrecent times in Mahasthan and its environs is so strong and vibrant that if itcontinues in its present pace, after five years or so those mounds will entirelydisappear. So it is most urgent that some measures must be taken right at themonument to stop this vandalism. Moreover, new settlements have beendeveloped over many mounds. Many cultural properties are being graduallysqueezed due to encroachment. Illicit trafficking of movable cultural propertiesis a common phenomenon in a third world country like Bangladesh. So inmany ways we are loosing our glorious heritage day by day. Water logging,salinity, biological growth in brick-built monuments etc. are also causing thedegradation of these cultural properties.
Apart from these, values of the heritage sites are not preserved properlyin course of conservation works. The country also lacks a national heritagemanagement plan. So it imperative that the problems should be identifiedproperly and suggestive measures must be undertaken for effectiveconservation and management of all the heritage sites.The sulptures found with our hard excavation and exploration works are unbelievably rich and complex heritage of Bangladesh. Benefiting from recent archaeological research helps us to show works from the Maurya period and go on until the 19th century. And thus we will retrace history whilst emphasising on a certain number of major sites. As a matter of fact, one of the characteristics of this heritage is that a lot of the pieces are well documented and enable us to situate the same in their precise historical and artistic context. The four great religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam that determine the history of Bangladesh will be duly represented.Sculptures of a impressive dimension have been recently unearthed: a bronze Buddha measuring 1,3 metres in Paharpur in 1982, a Gupta Buddha (from Sarnath) sculpted on both sides at Mahasthan in 1992, a bronze Vajrasattva, 1,40 metres in height, at Mainamati in 1995, and finally an Avalokitesvara found on the same site of the same material and size. These pieces are the real proud of Bangladesh Archaeology.I AM REALLY FORTUNATE TO LEAD THIS EXCAVATIONATION MAINAMATI,COMILLA