188 E. V. Westmacott — On Traces of Buddhism in Dinajpur. [No. 3, 



In all south-eastern Dinajpur, and the neighbouring parts of Bogra, re- 

 mains of Buddhism and of the Buddhist Pal kings are numerous. It was in 

 this neighbourhood that in the seventh century the Chinese pilgrim Hiouen- 

 Thsang found the Buddhist court of Paundra-Varddhana, which I identify 

 with Yarddhana-kuti, the residence of a very ancient family, close to Govind- 

 ganj, on the Karatoya. Mr. Fergusson, in his paper on Hiouen-Thsang, quotes 

 from an account of Pundra Desa in the fourth volume of the Oriental Quar- 

 terly Magazine, that Verddhana Kuta, governed by a Yavana, or Musal- 

 man, was one of the chief towns of Nivritti, comprising Dinajpur, Rangpur, 

 and Koch Bihar, and consequently the eastern half of Hiouen-Thsang's 

 kingdom of Paundra-Varddhana. If the Pal kings were not the rulers of 

 Bengal in the time of Hiouen-Thsang, little more than a century elapsed 

 from his visit before they became so. They resided in the part of the country 

 of which I am speaking, and may have continued to do so for some time after 

 the Sen dynasty had established itself at Bikrampur, near Dhaka. Dharmma 

 Pal, whose fort still bears his name, more than seventy miles north of Yard- 

 dhana-Kuti, and other Pal kings, were ruling east of the Karatoya long 

 after Bengal had been subdued by the Sens, before whom indeed the Pals 

 probably retreated by degrees to the north-east, and were supplanted with- 

 out any great catastrophe. Had the Sens signally defeated the Pals, 

 and violently dispossessed them, I cannot but think that there would have 

 been some trace of such an event in history. 



Be that as it may, the Pal kings and their Buddhism have left their 

 traces plentifully in this corner of Bengal. First, thirty-two miles W. S. YV. 

 from Govindganj, in a village called Paharpur, or ' the Town of the Hill ', 

 is a tall brick mound which was once a Buddhist stupa, and, so far as I 

 know, the only one of importance in this part of the country. Dr. Bucha- 

 nan has described it in his account of Dinajpur. It is, he says — " An im- 

 " mense steep heap of bricks, from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet 

 " in perpendicular height, covered with bushes, and crowned by a remark- 

 " ably fine tree." Halfway up, Dr. Buchanan saw three large rough stones, 

 but without an inscription ; for these I searched in vain. " On the summit 

 " is a small chamber of brick, with a door facing the east and a small 

 " niche towards the west. This is said to have been the residence of a 

 " Muhammadan hermit, which is very probable. The heap of bricks, or hill, 

 " as it is called, has been surrounded by a square rampart, the ruins of which 

 "contain many bricks, and each side may be 400 yards in length. The 

 " rampart is overgrown with trees, but the space between it and the hill 

 " is clear, contains some small tanks, and indications of brick buildings, 

 " especially towards the corners of the rampart. The thickness of this 

 " would induce one to believe that the place might have been a fortress ; 

 " but no ditch can be traced, and the heap, which is by far the most re- 



