Today I will take you on a tour of Shalban Buddha Vihar, one of the tourist centers of Bangladesh.I hope it is good, my best wishes to all who are reading this blog from where I am, I apologize in advance for not being able to blog for a long time, 

Oh yes, I forgot to tell about myself, I am Rabiul Islam BUET third year cse department student,, I don’t have much time to travel. What is the focus of the conversation? 3rd year filan year exams are over, we all had already planned to go on a tour to each village house after the final exam.

As usual, we Buetians were sitting in the canteen chatting, planning where to go on the tour, everyone naming different places.Shihab mentioned the name of a place which we all burst out laughing, anyway don’t go there again, finally I suggested a trip to Shalban Vihar myself, everyone agreed.,, Hearing that Shalban was going to Bihar, everyone’s face got a concentric line of laughter 

So far I have only read about Shalbon Bihar in textbooks. Today I was lucky enough to actually go to Shalbon Bihar. I was very excited about it. A well-known travel agency in Bengal took the responsibility of managing our tour.

The tour director brothers have already booked the bus, the date of our departure to Shalban Bihar was fixed on Wednesday 23rd November, everyone was preparing for the tour. I didn’t take anything big in my bag, just some clothes and binoculars and a power bank for a good battery backup. Finally, the desired time came, the distance from Dhaka to Comilla road is not too long and it takes about 5 hours by bus.

Finally we reached Comilla Tomcham Bridge Bus Stand. We were divided into teams of 4 and we went to Kotabari by CNG and from there we took an autorickshaw to Shalban Vihar.

 

The reason for coming to Shalban Bihar

With the change of seasons, winter is coming after a few months. Which we can also call travel season. During this time, people who are hungry for travel wander around in different places. There are many who cannot travel due to lack of time. That’s why many people like places where they can see everything in one day and come back on the same day.

There are many places to visit in a day from Dhaka and Chittagong. But I will name one place where you can see a lot in one day, get a touch of tradition and nature. That place is ‘Shalban Vihar’ in Comilla. Since ancient times, people from different parts of the country have flocked to Shalban Vihar in Comilla due to its beauty. A lot of tourists gather here every year in winter. So a place to relax a little between work is truly unparalleled.

 

Some important information about Shalban Vihar

Shalban Buddhist Vihara is one of the monuments of ancient civilization of Bangladesh. This temple is located in the middle of Lalmai hill in Kotbari of Comilla district. This Vihar was named Shalban Vihar as there was once a dense forest of Shal-Gazari around the Vihar. This monastery is similar to Paharpur Buddhist monastery but smaller in size. In late 1875, during the construction of a road in the present Kotbari area, the ruins of a building were exposed.

The ruins discovered at the time were assumed to be a fort. In 1917, Director of Dhaka Museum, Nalini Kant Bhattasali, visited the area and while conducting research in the area, decided that the ruins were the fort of Ranbangamalla Harikela Dev’s copper reign (13th century AD) and Pattikera Nagar surrounded by Vihara. However, according to other archaeologists, it was the ruins of an ancient city called Jayakarmantabsaka.

Six construction and reconstruction phases of Shalban Vihar are known. Square in shape, each side of Shalban Vihar is 167.7 meters long. The walls of Bihar on four sides are five meters thick. The rooms are built on the walls of the four sides of Bihar. There was only one way in or out of Bihar. This path or door is right in the middle of the north block. Each room has a 1.5 meter wide wall between them. Right in the middle of the Bihar Angan was the central temple.

There are total 155 rooms in Bihar. It is believed that Buddhist monks lived and practiced religion here. In front of the room is a 8.5 ft. wide verandah and a low wall at its end. Each room has three niches in the wall where idols or oil lamps etc. were kept in the past. On the other hand, the hall built on the four side walls and four huge round pillars in front is believed to be the dining room of the monks. The size of the hall is 10 meters by 20 meters.

There is a wide brick road around the hall. Eight copperplate inscriptions, about 400 gold and silver coins, numerous terracotta plaques, seals, bronze and clay idols have been recovered from the ruins of the vihara during various archaeological excavations. It should be noted that a large amount of artefacts collected from this Bihar are displayed in Mainamati Museum.

 

Now I will tell you about my trip to Shalban Vihar in detail. 

I had 3 friends with me on that trip. We first booked tickets to enter Shalban Vihar. Ticket price for Bangladeshi citizens is 20 rupees for Mainamati Museum and Shalbon Vihar separately Tickets for boys and girls up to class 10 are Rs.5. 100 taka tickets for citizens of SAARC countries. Tickets for other foreign nationals are sold at Tk 200.

 

What we saw at Shalbon Bihar

was a 167.7 meter encircling arm at Shalbon Bihar. The walls of Bihar on four sides are five meters thick. The rooms are built on four sides of the walls of Bihar. There was only one way in or out of Bihar. This path or door is right in the middle of the north block. Each room has a 1.5 meter wide wall between them.

Right in the middle of the Bihar Angan was the central temple. There are total 155 rooms in Bihar. In front of the room is a 8.5 ft. wide verandah and a low wall at its end. Each room has three niches in the wall. Deities, oil lamps, etc. were kept in niches. These rooms were where Buddhist monks lived. He used to study and practice religion there.

There is a hall in the southeast corner next to the entrance outside the bihar. It is believed that the hall built on four sides walls and four huge round pillars in front was the dining room of the monks. The size of the hall is 10 meters by 20 meters. There is a wide brick road around the hall. Seeing these ancient archeological monuments will instantly fill your mind with joy. I’m not really exaggerating. This is exactly the scene.

 

Shalbanbihar Bihar has hotels for tourists

Besides, you can stay here, there are several hotels and guest houses including Comilla Club, Comilla City Club. AC or Non-AC systems are available. And each room will cost Rs 1,000 to 3,000 per night. Apart from this, there are Hotel Chandrima, Hotel Sonali, Hotel, Shalbon, Hotel, Nidra Bagh, Ashiq Rest House etc. The rent is between 200 to 600 rupees.

Anyway, I told you about travel and accommodation. After that we enjoyed the beauty of Shalbon Vihar and left Shalbon Vihar. It was a really wonderful moment. After that we finished the rest of our other work and left for our home. Thus ended our travel chapter of ‘Shalban Vihar’.

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