BUDDHIST TOURISM IN BANGLADESH

Bhitagarh , Panchagarh

Every year, archaeologists reveal yet more of the very tangible evidence of the history of Buddhism in Bangladesh.

Slowly, the great flood plains are giving up their secrets, the latest being just outside Narshingdhi town just north of Dhaka, where only the beginnings of what promises to be the fifth major site in the country has begun to be excavated.

Bhitagarh , Panchagarh

The tangible history of the religion, in this, near neighbour to the birthplace of Prince Gautama, is very manifest in sites such as Mahasthangarh, Paharpur, Bhitagarh, and Mainamati. The first three of those are all in North Bengal, where there are also signs of other Buddhist establishments.

Chinese visitors, in the 7^th Century CE, commented on the number of stupa and pillars observed whilst travelling through the lands of Bangladesh, erected by Emperor Ashoka, the 3^rd Century Mauryan Emperor, to mark places that The Buddha himself preached.

Itakhola , Comilla

Indeed, some historians believe that the post Ashoka period saw the first of the Brahmanic persection of Buddhists in what is now India. In those last centuries BCE, and the first centuries of the Common Era it seems likely that the intensity of the development of such as Bhitagarh, and World Heritage Paharpur and Mainamati, as well as the development of already ancient Mahasthangarh, was due to Buddhists seeking refuge from such purges in lands that were less surely Vedic.

Itakhola , Comilla

Emerging evidence from the Narshingdhi excavation, located on the banks of the once enormous Brahmaputra River, with suggestion of the  ancient trade between China and South Asia and the West, also raises questions about the routes by which Buddhism reached China, Central Asia, and beyond into Japan.

Tradition has it that the mountain route to Tibet was the path, but access from North India was certainly seasonally more practical on the Bangladesh, Assam, Upper Burma route.

Mahastahgarh , Bogra

Even later, the early Islamic invaders of Bangladesh lands seem to have been more tolerant of the Buddhist tradition, perhaps, in part, because, themselves markedly educated people, inclined to scholarship, they appreciated the high level of scholarship amongst the Buddhists.

It is further suggested that, it was in that environment, that Tantric Buddhism developed, as a form of meditation offering the prospect of more rapid enlightenment.

Mahastahgarh , Bogra

Vajrayana, the name given to this more radical branch of Buddhism, itself a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, was almost certainly the originator of Yogacara.

Hindus offer the theory that such an advanced form of meditation originated within that religion, and it is certain that there was always a close connection between, particularly, Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism, but the attitude of the Brahman caste has been consistently hostile from those earliest times.

Traditional Hindu religious beliefs have their own scriptures and culture, closer, perhaps, in its purity, to the somewhat conservative Theraveda branch of Buddhist belief and teaching.

It may well be a long time before all the evidence can be revealed in Bangladesh. Both the nature of the terrain, with its severe annual flooding that has certainly engulfed most low lying remains, such as Bhitagarh, and the arrival of Islam as a serious force from 11^th Century CE, which has slowly driven both Hindu and Buddhist traditions to the margins of the country, have tended to conceal much of what it is reasonable to theorise from existing and circumstantial evidence. But it can already be said that rich, tangible remains of a great Buddhist culture certainly dating back to the earliest years of the religion can be readily seen in Bangladesh.

FOLLOW THE YELLOW AND RED BRICK ROAD

Brick Road Bandarban

‘If you go down to the woods today..’ some iconographies a trifle mixed, perhaps, the yellow and red brick roads that lead off the Lama road in East Bandarban, just 40 minutes drive from Cox’s Bazar, will certainly lead you into rubber tree plantations that, with the ground in dappled shadows, looks a perfect setting for a picnic, even a teddy bear’s picnic!

Rubber Garden Bandarban

Then throw in thatched cottages of wattle and daub, as it used to be known in England, and wide rivers, small streams and great green patches of vivid green rice, and there could, surely, be few better places for a country walk, or cycle ride.

Rubber Tree Bandarban

Then, just to complete the story, some BIG surprises. A choice between herds of wild elephants, and a nearby crocodile farm. What more could you need for the perfect day out. Well, I’m pretty sure I have at least one grandson who’d jump at it!

Wattle Daub Bandarban

The Bandarban is still a little problematic as a place for tourists. It’s never quite reassuring to find military check points, and hill top encampments, nor really getting to the bottom of the many social conflicts that regularly erupt between settlers, indigenous people and army. Indeed, driving through areas closer to lovely Rangamati I sometimes think this is yet another piece of living history for any student wondering just what it was like to live in England after the Norman Conquest, where the invaders built castles, and imported settlers build villages around them seeking their protection as they settled the lands of the earlier, Anglo Saxon inhabitants.

Yellow and Red Brick Road Bandarban

This east end of the Bandarban, however, seems more settled, more tranquil, more a place to relax and enjoy the shade and hill country.

THE GRAND TRUNK ROAD

Unusually, Wikipedia have probably got the history of this extraordinary road a bit wrong.

Stretching, in its original construction in 3^rd Century BCE by the Mauryan Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya, from Patna, on the banks of the Ganges to Texila in modern day Pakistan, close to the Indus valley route, it was probably a major link to the South west Silk Road, a trade route between India and China from, perhaps, as early as 9^th Century BCE.

Apart from the military and administrative convenience of such a road, with is inns, bridges, ferries and stables, it was almost certainly a much favoured route by early traders with the Greek cities. Certainly, the Greek cartographer Ptolemy produced a very accurate map of the Ganges Delta, which suggests that the Phoenicians were familiar with the area.

The sea route to the Brahmaputra route into China was, however, subject to monsoon seasons. This road, reached the Ganges, from where a voyage from the west, down the Ganges, reached both North Bengal, with its already flourishing early Buddhist communities, much favoured by the later Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, and finally, met the Brahmaputra near Sonargaon, although that capital of Bengal was of a much later date.

When, in the early 16^th Century, the last Pashtun Emperor, Sher Shah Suri, extended the road, it is unsurprising that it then reached from Kabul in the west, to Sonargaon in the east. By then, Kabul was an established gateway to the Central Asian Silk Road, and Sonargaon to the South West Silk Road, accessible by land and river, or by sea.

Within Bangladesh, the road, this originally had no link to what was, at the time, the tiny fishing community that became Calcutta, headed from India to Jessore. A stretch of road immortalised in Alan Ginsberg’s great poem ‘September on the Jessore Road’, an awe full poem to the refugees from the pogrom being carried out in Bangladesh by the Pakistani Army and their allies.

From Jessore, it appears to have run to Narail, and across to the Ganges delta between Barisal and Faridpur, though it is possible that the ancient port of Barisal was its main destination.

At the time, Dhaka was a small town, and it seems unlikely it headed in that direction. The last stretch perhaps landed at Naryanganj, or maybe at Sonargaon itself.

Certainly, at its fullest extent, of 2,500km, it was both the oldest, and the longest road in South Asia. Few roads in the world can match either its length, or its history!

Someday, maybe the overworked Archaeologists of Bangladesh will get around to investigating its full course in the country; no simple task in a country full of rivers with shifting courses! But then, in this nation, so rich in history, there is rather a lot to investigate. Perhaps just knowing it is there is enough, whatever its course.

SURF’S UP IN BANGLADESH

The summer arriving in Bangladesh means much needed monsoon rain in prospect for the farmers. So long as there’s not too much of it!

On the beaches it means that the monsoon breakers are rolling onto the sands on such as the world’s longest sea beach, the 120km that runs from historic Cox Bazar in the north to Teknaf on the Myanmar border in the south.

The newly formed Cox Bazar surf club, with about 40 keen, local members are looking forward to another year of visitors to share their passion with.

Last year, over 400 visitors from across the world headed to this, which promises to be one of Asia’s best beaches. This year, a couple of club members hope, State Department permitting, to spend a few months in Hawaii, brushing up on surfing and tuition skills, and then, at the end of the surf riding season in Bangladesh, a couple more are planning to head to Australia, where a great Lifesaving and Surf Club is offering help.

In planning is already a state of the art facility, with finance provisionally promised, and the club look to be supporting other aquatic sports on the beach, and activity such as trekking and mountain biking in the Himalayan foothills behind the beach. One thing the young Bangladeshis of Cox Bazar, boys and girls, do well, is looking after visitors. Hospitality is part of their tradition, and its a tradition that has lost nothing with this generation.

Tiger Tours, a supporter of the club from day 1, are the guys to facilitate your days on the breakers.