| Wari-Bateshwar
a significant archaeological site in Bangladesh. Located three kilometres
west of Belabo thana of Narshingdi district, Wari (Wari) and Bateshwar
(Bateshvar) are two contiguous villages long known for being the find-spot
of silver punch-marked coins in Bengal. The villages are situated on the
Pleistocene flat surface of the eastern Madhupur tract. A small dried-up
river, called Kayra, flows in an east west direction on the northern side
of the villages. The landscape of the area suggests that during an early
historic period the old Brahmaputra river used to flow near the village.
The river has now shifted a few kilometres eastward. The Meghna flows
only a few kms to the south of this area and the Arial Khan flows into
it
. The location of the
two villages on a comparatively high, flood-free ground; their proximity
to the old Brahmaputra, and access to the Meghna add significance
to the site.
Md Hanif Pathan, a schoolteacher, first brought
the archaeological importance of the villages to light in 1933.
Later his son Md Habibullah Pathan, an amateur archaeologist took
initiative to collect antiquities and study them. |
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Bronze and iron objects
Wari-Bateshwar |
Sporadic explorations had revealed that the major part
of Wari and Bateshwar villages was occupied in the ancient period. Signs
of ancient settlements are noticed in the surrounding villages namely,
Raingertek, Sonarutala, Kandua, Monjal, Chandipara, Patuli, Jaymangal,
Harisangan, Jessore, Kundapara, Gotashia, and Abdullanagar. Hundreds and
thousands of semi-precious stone beads, glass beads, Iron artifacts, silver
punch-marked coins and many minor artifacts have been reported from the
region from time to time. Unfortunately, all the artifacts were chance
finds. They came out during ploughing of fields, digging ponds and other
domestic activities and during rainy season when rainwater washes away
the topsoil.
Recently important discoveries were made during a small-scale
excavation at Wari. Among the discoveries a sherd of Rouletted Ware, a
piece of Knobbed Ware, good number of Northern Black Polish Ware, Black-slipped
Ware, common ceramics, a few semi-precious stone beads, chips, flakes
and cores of semi- precious stone beads, melted pieces of iron, sign
of fallen mud-wall and signs of some sort of burning activity are very
significant.
The discovery of tiny parts like chips and flakes of semi-precious stones clearly prove the existence of semi-precious stone bead manufacturing centre at Wari. The flakes are produced out of primary chipping or dressing cores. The exotic beads at Wari -Bateshwar region are objects of a bye-gone art and bear silent but eloquent testimony to the marvelous artistic skill attained by the Wari-Bateshwar people. The raw materials are not available within present Bangladesh; possibly it had to be collected from outside. A large number of iron artifacts, eg iron blooms/ handaxes (?), spearheads, knives, nails and slugs were reported earlier. Recently nails, slugs, melted tiny missing parts and unidentified iron objects were discovered from the excavation. Although furnace has not been encountered in the small-scale excavation but some signs of firing activity could be noticed. Burnt bricks like clay lumps, result of a high temperature burning, were discovered. It is likely that there was an iron smelting industry in and around the site. Iron objects were found at Wari in NBPW level also. The time bracket of NBPW from different sites of the subcontinent varies from c 700 to 100 BC or 50 AD. A part of fallen mud-wall has been found in NBPW level. The discovery is very significant because it reveals the long tradition of mud-wall architecture in the region in particular and in Bengal in general. This mud-wall is possibly the earliest evidence of architecture in Bangladesh. However, brick structures (brick size, 32 x 30 x 6 cm) are also found in the region. The religious nature of Wari-Bateshwar habitation is not very clear. The discovery of a Knobbed Ware at Wari hints at the existence of Buddhist practice in the region. Considering the geographical location of Wari-Bateshwar, Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti predicted that the region had Southeast Asiatic and Roman contacts. The discovery of Rouletted Ware and Knobbed Ware from excavation and the chance finds of high-tin Bronze Knobbed Ware, sandwiched glass beads, gold-foil glass beads and Indo-Pacific monochrome glass beads provide support in favour of Chakrabarti's assumption. Chakrabarti went one step further and tried to identify Wari-Bateshwar with Ptolemy's Sounagoura. Peter Francis Jr reports Indo-Pacific Monochrome glass beads from Arikamedu (India), Mantai (Sri Lanka), Kion Thom (Tailand) and Oc-Eo (Vietnam) - each of these sites was the first urban centre in their respective regions. They were each major ports, all have been identified as emporia listed in Ptolemy' Geugraphia. The location of Wari-Bateshwar carries all the characteristics of Ptolemy's sites. Indo Pacific Monochrome glass beads were found here, it was possibly the first urban centre in the region, it was a port city and it might have had trade relations with many other cities. It has been inferred that Wani-Bateshwar was the eastern most limit of the Mauryan Empire. The recent discovery of NBPW from excavation has provided positive support in favour of this hypothesis. It has been argued by scholars that the wide distribution of NBPW is concomitant with Mauryan imperialism. The discovery of NBPW is significant for the understanding of Buddhism and trade routes also. The excavation has placed Wari-Bateshwar in the early historic period. The C 14 dates have pushed back the chronology of Wari to 450 BC. The Northern Black Polished Ware, Rouletted Ware and Knobbed Ware are
chronology markers of the Early Historic period. The numerous NBPW sites of the Subcontinent are placed between circa 700 to 100 BC or 50 AD, Rouletted Wares to circa 3rd century BC to 2nd century AD and Knobbed Ware to 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD. [MM Hoque and SS Mostafizur Rahman]
Bibliography
H Pathan, Pratnatattvik Nidarshan - Wari-Bateshwar,
Dhaka, 1989; DK Chakrabarti, Ancient Bangladesh, Ancient Bangladesh,
Dhaka 1992; S Pawankar, MM Hoque, SMK Ahsan and SSM Rahman, 'Semi-precious
Stone Beads from Wari and Bateshwar', Journal of Asiatic Society of
Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1998; E Haque, SSM Rahman and SMK Ashan, 'A Preliminary
Report on Wari-Bateshwar Trial Excavation by ICSBA', Journa4 of Bengal
Art, 5, Dhaka, 2000.
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