A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
_Marcus Garvey

We have a lot of reasons to be glorified as a Bengali by the history of past and from where we can feel proud and show our effort as a cultured and civilized nation who are not away from their origin. Ancient Bangladesh was not only influenced by humanitarian philosophy of Kapil, Mahavir and the Buddha, but also was the center of spreading knowledge of art, culture and science. Especially the Buddhist monastery played an important role to do so. Nowadays we are being able to reveal the more archaeological evidence, though it was started about 200 years ago in the time of British ruling. Sir Alexander Cunningham was the pioneer archaeologist who invented and identified many historical places in undivided India. The second largest single monastery of the world Somapura Mahavihara is one of them.

This massive Buddhist monastery, covering 27 acres, was probably built during the 8th century by the second king Sree Dhormopaldeb of Paal dynasty. This is located at the Paharpur union of Bodolgachhi Upazila of Naogaon district of Bangladesh and also known as Paharpur Bouddha Vihar. People called this as Pahar, as it looks like a hill (in Bangla hill means Pahar), from there the place is known as Paharpur.` The excavation at Paharpur, and the finding of seals bearing the inscription Shri-Somapure-Shri-Dharmapaladeva-Mahavihariyarya-bhiksu-sangghasya, has identified the Somapura Mahavihara as built by the second Pala king Dharmapala (781–821 AD) of Pāla Dynasty.’ By the patronization of Pala dynasty the fame of this institution was spread over the globe. Historians identified many cause for its destruction. Because of the termination of Pala dynasty in Bengal by the victory of Sens, like all other monastery Somapura Mohavihara became deprived from Royal patronage and gradually lost their fame. Finally it was destroyed by the turkey invasion led by Bakhtiar Khilji in 13th century.

Our pride Somapura mahavihara was active around 350 years for learning and religious researches. Great scholar of Bengal, saint Atish Dipankar was the chancellor of this monastery during the 10th century. People from different parts of the world used to come here to study in different subject (philosophy, religion, arts, science, etc) what is not only the matter of our pride but also the manifestation of progress.

Somapura was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Today’s Bangladesh as well as the concerned country of the world should understand its historical importance, architectural value and art value. Lack of the proper maintenance caused serious damage of the terracotta artworks and lots of other things. If we can properly handle this heritage it will be fruitful for us not only to learn ancient history, but also to build a progressive future of the earth. A master plan for it should be taken and also be implemented properly. Otherwise we cannot be connected with the root of peace and humanity. It is a big opportunity that, we can find the essence of our lives from the artworks of this monastery and also its whole infrastructure. Because of the secular and international view of this ancient university, students from different community and different country could be able to study there in different subjects. So we can link up a lot of things in modern life and ruling system which are still the same and we can make sure that secularism was part and parcel of ancient Bengal as well as Buddhism also.

So I think that, maintenance of this historical place should be importantly done, so that we can keep it alive as our guidance. It should be widely publicized, accessible, and should be made available for research.

Reference: Wikipedia