Varendra Museum is a museum, research centre, and popular visitor attraction at the heart of Rajshahi and maintained by Rajshahi University in Bangladesh. It is considered the oldest museum in Bangladesh. It was the first museum to be established in East Bengal in 1910. The museum started out as the collection for Varendra Anushandan Samiti and got its current name in 1919. The Rajahs of Rajshahi and Natore, notably prince Sharat Kumar Ray, donated their personal collections to Varendra Museum. Varendra refers to an ancient Janapada roughly corresponding to modern northern Bangladesh.
The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Karimganj district, located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal and dominated by the fertile Ganges delta. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom whose war elephant forces led the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India. Some historians have identified Gangaridai with other parts of India. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers act as a geographic marker of the region, but also connects the region to the broader Indian subcontinent. Bengal, at times, has played an important role in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
Bogra District, officially Bogura District since April 2018, is a district in the northern part of Bangladesh, in the Rajshahi Division. Bogra is an industrial city where many small and mid-sized companies are sited. Bogra was a part of the Pundravardhana territory of ancient Bengal and the ruins of its capital can be found in northern Bogra.
The Chandra dynasty was a Buddhist dynasty, originating from the South East Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, which ruled the Samatata area of Bengal, as well as Arakan. Later it was a neighbor to the Pala Empire to the north. Rulers of Chandra kingdom were adherents of Buddhism. The Kings of Chandra dynasty were identified as the kings of Vangaladesha in the Tirumulai inscription of Chola dynasty. The dynasty was founded around the 4th century AD.
The Kamboja-Pala dynasty ruled parts of Bengal in the 10th to 11th centuries CE, after invading the Palas during the reign of Gopala III. The last Kamboja ruler of the Kamboja-Pala Dynasty Dharmapala was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century.
Bikrampur was a historic region and a sub-division of Dhaka within the Bengal Presidency during the period of British India. Located along the banks of the Padma River, it was a significant cultural and political centre in Bengal. Today, the region is part of the Munshiganj District in Bangladesh.
Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent, partly because of the climate of the Indian subcontinent makes the long-term survival of organic materials difficult, essentially consists of sculpture of stone, metal or terracotta. It is clear there was a great deal of painting, and sculpture in wood and ivory, during these periods, but there are only a few survivals. The main Indian religions had all, after hesitant starts, developed the use of religious sculpture by around the start of the Common Era, and the use of stone was becoming increasingly widespread.
Dhaka (Dacca) is a modern megacity with origins dating from 500 BC to 200 BC. The history of Dhaka region begins with the existence of urbanised settlements that were ruled by Gangaridai, Gupta Empire, Gauda Kingdom and Buddhist or Shaivite Pala Empire before passing to the control of the Hindu Sena dynasty in the 10th century CE. After the reign of Sena dynasty, the region was ruled by the Hindu Deva dynasty.
Tajhat Palace is a historic palace of Bangladesh, located in Tajhat, Rangpur. This palace now holds the Rangpur museum. Tajhat Palace is situated six km. south-east of the city of Rangpur, on the outskirts of town.
The culture of Bengal defines the cultural heritage of the Bengali people native to eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly what is today Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, where they form the dominant ethnolinguistic group and the Bengali language is the official and primary language. Bengal has a recorded history of 1,400 years. After the partition, Bangladeshi culture became distinct from the mainstream Bengali culture, thus their culture evolved differently, still there are many commonalities in Bangladeshi culture & West Bengali culture which connects them both together as Bengali culture.
Narayanapala was the seventh emperor of the Pala Empire of the Eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly the Bengal and Bihar regions.
Somapura Mahavihara or Paharpur Buddhist Vihara in Paharpur, Badalgachhi, Naogaon, Bangladesh is among the best known Buddhist viharas or monasteries in the Indian Subcontinent and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is one of the most famous examples of architecture in pre-Islamic Bangladesh. It dates from a period to the nearby Halud Vihara and to the Sitakot Vihara in Nawabganj Upazila of Dinajpur District.
Chandbibi (চাঁদবিবি) is a Hindu goddess and folk deity in Bengal, worshipped in conjunction with the goddesses Oladevi, Ajgaibibi, Jholabibi, Bahadabibi, Jhetunebibi and Asanbibi.
Ballāla Sena or Ballal Sen, also known as Ballal Sen in vernacular literature, was the second ruler of the Sena dynasty of Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. He was the son and successor of Vijaya Sena, and ended the Pala Empire by defeating Govinda Pala.
Chandradwip or Chandradvipa is a small region in Barisal District, Bangladesh. It was the ancient and medieval name of Barishal.
Pundranagar in Paundrabhukti was the most important city in the ancient Bengal region, now identified with the current site of Mahasthan, located in Bogra, Bangladesh. It was a vibrant administrative, religious and cultural centre from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD that is from the Maurya Empire time to the Sena dynasty period. Archaeological remains and literary descriptions speak of a truly planned and magnificent city. City walls, elaborate gates, palaces, common dwellings, assembly halls, temples, viharas, shops, ponds and even suburban temples and viharas characterised the city; Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, visiting in the 7th century AD, particularly mentions ponds, orchards, flowers and pleasure gardens.
Bangladeshi art is a form of visual arts that has been practiced throughout the land of what is now known as Bangladesh. Bangladeshi art has a perennial history which originated more than two thousand years ago and is practiced even to this date. Among the various forms of Bangladeshi art, photography, architecture, sculpture and painting are the most notable.
Bengali Muslims are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Muslims after Arabs. Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.
The Greater Jessore region predominantly includes the districts of Jessore, Jhenaidah, Narail and Magura in Bangladesh, as well as the Bangaon subdivision of India. Nestled close to the Sundarbans, the region experienced human settlement early on. It served as the capital city of the Samatata realm and passed through several Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms such as the Palas and Senas. Jessore was ruled by Khan Jahan Ali of Khalifatabad, under the Muslim Sultanate of Bengal, who is credited with establishing the Qasbah of Murali and urbanising the region through advancements in transportation and civilization. Jessore later came to be ruled by various chieftains such as Pratapaditya and became familiar to contemporary European travellers as Chandecan before being annexed to the Mughal Empire in the seventeenth century. By 1757, the British East India Company had dominated and started to establish themselves in the region. British rule lasted up until 1947, with Jessore coming under the Provisional Government of Bangladesh from 1971 onwards.
