The SAARC Cultural Capital Bogra

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC is an economic and political organization of eight countries in Southern Asia. In terms of population, its sphere of influence is the largest of any regional organization. The combined population of its member states is almost 1.5 billion.  It is the most important association of this region that connects the member countries with a strong multilateral relation. It has many important organizations that operate various activities to achieve its ultimate goal, cooperation between South Asian Countries. The SAARC Cultural center is one of them. It is a regional center that promotes cultural cooperation in order to bring the people of South Asia closer and to project the distinct identity of South Asia.

The SAARC Cultural Centre launched a programme for designating a city amongst the SAARC Member countries as the SAARC Cultural Capital for a year during which a series of year-long cultural events with a national but with an overall South Asian dimension will be organized.

Every year, an archeologically and culturally rich city in the one of the 8 SAARC countries is declared as the cultural capital for that year. It was an outcome of Delhi Resolution which was adopted at the conference while preparing a road map on cultural ties till 2017. This development seeks at strengthening cultural ties among the people of SAARC nations. Bamiyan, a historic city of Afghanistan, is the current SAARC cultural capital for 2015-16.

Mahasthangarh, an iconic archaeological site in Bogra, Bangladesh has been pronounced the cultural capital of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation for the period of 2016-17.

A SAARC Cultural Centre team, led by its director Wasantha Kotuwella of Sri Lanka, made the announcement & the announcement will come into effect from 21 January next year. Honorable Prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate Mahasthangarh as the cultural capital of the SAARC on 21 January 2017. The event will be jointly organized by the SAARC Cultural Centre and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Bangladesh. Several cultural programmers, both locally as well as those with participation from the SAARC countries will take place during this period. As a SARRC cultural capital, the historic place will host festivals on literature, films, foods and dances from October 2016 to September 2017. Besides this, the year 2016-17 has also been declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.

Mahashangarh is one of the earliest urban archaeological sites so far discovered in Bangladesh. It dates back 3rd century BC and is located 11 km north of Bogra in Bangladesh. It was the ancient capital of Pundravardhana i.e. home of the Pundra, a group of people not speaking languages of the Indo-European family Background. Bairagir Bhita, Khodar Pathar Bhita, Mankalir Kunda Mound, Parasuram’s Palace Mound and Jiat Kunda are some sites in the city which have yielded archaeological objects of interest.

The SAARC cultural Capital can provide an opportunity for the city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and it can help in fostering urban regeneration, boosting the city’s image and raising its visibility and profile on a regional and international scale. The decision of picking Mahasthangarh up for the SAARC cultural capital was correct and significant. The only declaration of the site as SARRC cultural capital would not make any difference. The authorities should come forward to utilize the cultural capital to promote our cultural tradition.

The Lalbagh Fort

The Capital city Dhaka predominantly was a city of the Mughals. In hundred years of their vigorous rule successive Governors and princely Viceroys who ruled the province, adorned it with many noble monuments in the shape of magnificent palaces, mosques, tombs, fortifications and Katras often surrounded with beautifully laid out gardens and pavilions. Among these, a few have survived the ravages of time, aggressive tropical climate of the land and vandal hands of man.

The finest specimen of this period is the Aurangabad Fort, commonly known as Lalbagh Fort, which indeed represents the unfulfilled dream of a Mughal Prince.

Mughal prince Muhammad Azam, third son of Aurangzeb started the work of the fort in 1678 during his vice-royalty in Bengal. He stayed in Bengal for 15 months. The fort remained incomplete when he was called away by his father Aurangzeb. Shaista Khan was the new subahdar of Dhaka in that time and he did not complete the fort. In 1684, the daughter of Shaista Khan named Iran Dukht Pari Bibi died there. After her death, he started to think the fort as unlucky, and left the structure incomplete. After Shaista Khan left Dhaka, it lost its popularity. The main cause was that the capital was moved from Dhaka to Murshidabad. After the end of the royal Mughal period, the fort became abandoned. In 1844, the area acquired its name as Lalbagh replacing Aurangabad, and the fort became Lalbagh Fort.

It occupies the south-western part of the old city, overlooking the Buriganga on whose northern bank it stands as a silent sentinel of the old city. Rectangular in plan, it encloses an area of 1082' by 800' and in addition to corners and a subsidiary small unpretentious gateway on north, it also contains within its fortified. Perimeter a number of splendid monuments, surrounded by attractive garden. These are a small 3-domed mosque, the mausoleum of Bibi Pari, the reputed daughter of Nawab Shaista Khan and the Hammam and Audience Hall of the Governor. The building in the middle, the tomb of Bibi Pari, is the most impressive of the surviving buildings of the fort. Eight rooms surround a central square room, containing the mortal remains of Bibi Pari, which is covered by a false dome, octagonal in shape, and wrapped by brass plate. The entire

inner wall of the central room was covered with white marble, while the four side central rooms had stone skirting up to a height of one meter. The wall in the four corner rooms was skirted with beautiful glazed floral tiles. The tiles have recently been restored; two of the original tiles have been retained. The Lalbagh Fort Mosque is a three-domed mosque with a water tank in front for ablution.

The southern fortification wall has a huge bastion in the southwestern corner. On the north of the south fortification wall were the utility buildings, stable, administration block, and its western part accommodated a beautiful roof-garden with arrangements for fountains and a water reservoir. The residential part was located on the east of the west fortification wall, mainly to the southwest of the mosque. The fortification wall on the south had five bastions at regular intervals two stories in height, and the western wall had two bastions; the biggest one is near the main southern gate. The bastions had an underground tunnel. The central area of the fort is occupied by three buildings - the Diwan-i- Aam and the hammam on its east, the Mosque on the west and the Tomb of Pari Bibi in between the two - in one line, but not at an equal distance. A water channel with fountains at regular intervals connects the three buildings from east to west and north to south.

The main purpose of this fort was to provide a defensive enclosure of the palatial edifices of the interior and as such was a type of palace-fortress rather than a seize-fort.

It is the most important historical tourist point in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. A lot of local and foreign people visit and enjoy the beauty of this fort regularly.