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Shibganj is the administrative town of Shibganj Upazila, the northernmost subdistrict of Bogra District in northern Bangladesh, crossed by the Karatoya River as it flows south. Most visitors come for one reason: the village of Mahasthan in the upazila holds Mahasthangarh, the earliest and largest urban archaeological site yet discovered in Bangladesh.
Mahasthangarh is the ruin of Pundranagara, capital of the ancient territory of Pundravardhana. A limestone slab in Brahmi script found here in 1931 shows the city existed by the 3rd century BCE, when it was an important centre of the Maurya Empire, and its fortified area was in use until the 8th century CE.
Visitors walk the high brick ramparts of the citadel, explore excavated mounds such as Govinda Bhita and Bairagir Bhita, see the finds in the site museum, and drive out to the Buddhist monasteries of Vasu Vihara and the terraced mound of Gokul Medh.
The citadel of Mahasthangarh, near Shibganj, is the fortified heart of ancient Pundranagara, a rectangle about 1.5 kilometers long and 1.4 wide ringed by brick ramparts that once rose 11 to 13 meters above the plain. A Brahmi inscription found here dates the city to at least the 3rd century BCE.
Khodar Pathar Bhita is a mound inside the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj whose name means the place of the stone bestowed by God. Excavations here recovered pieces of stone carved with the transcendent Buddha and devotees kneeling with folded hands, a reminder of its Buddhist past.
Bairagir Bhita, named as the palace of a female anchorite, lies inside the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj. Excavation showed it was built and rebuilt in four periods from the 4th to the 11th century, exposing base ruins resembling temples, and two carved sandstone pillars were recovered.
Mankalir Dhap, a mound inside the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, is named as a place consecrated to the goddess Mankali. Digging here uncovered terracotta plaques and bronze figures of Ganesha and Garuda, along with the base ruins of a 15-domed mosque from the 15th or 16th century.
The Palace of Parshuram, or Parasuramer Prasad, inside the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, is said to be the palace of a king named Parshuram. Excavation found three periods of occupation, from a Pala era stone Vishnupatta of the 8th century to East India Company coins issued in 1835 and 1853.
Jiyat Kunda is an ancient well inside the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, among the named sites within the ramparts of the old city of Pundranagara. Local legend holds that its water had life-giving power, and the ground around it was excavated in the 1960s along with the nearby mounds.
The shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Sultan Balkhi Mahisawar stands at the southeast corner of the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, where a holy tomb has long drawn pilgrims. A Persian inscription records that a mosque was built beside it in 1718 and 1719, under the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar.
Gokul Medh, about 3 kilometers south of the Mahasthangarh citadel, is known in folklore as the bridal chamber of Behula and Lakshindar from an old Bengali ballad. Excavated in 1934 to 1936, it is a terraced podium of 172 blind rectangular cells that once supported a shrine above it.
Govinda Bhita lies just outside the northeast corner of the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, on the banks of the Karatoya River opposite the site museum. Named as a temple dedicated to Govinda, it exposes the bases of two temples, with remains spanning the 3rd century BCE to the 15th century.
The Mahasthan Archaeological Museum, opposite Govinda Bhita at Mahasthangarh near Shibganj, displays representative finds from the site. Its collection includes terracotta plaques, sandstone door frames and pillars, bronze Buddha figures of the 10th and 11th centuries, coins, seals and pottery.
Vasu Vihara, locally known as Narapatir Dhap, lies about 6 kilometers west of Mahasthangarh in Shibganj Upazila. Excavations from 1973 exposed two brick monasteries with monks' cells and some 800 antiquities, and Cunningham linked the site to a monastery visited by Xuanzang in the 7th century.
Totaram Panditer Dhap lies in the village of Vihara, about 6 kilometers northwest of the Mahasthangarh citadel near Shibganj, where excavation exposed the remains of a damaged Buddhist monastery. It is one of around a hundred mounds scattered within 9 kilometers of the ancient city's walls.
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