The ridge
Mainamati is a low ridge running some eighteen kilometres north to south near Comilla in Bangladesh, in ancient India. More than fifty mounds along it have been identified as Buddhist establishments, of which about a dozen have been excavated. The area formed the core of Samatata, the south-eastern division of ancient Bengal, and the capital Devaparvata lay nearby.
Shalban Vihara
The largest excavated monastery is Shalban Vihara, a square of about 167 metres a side with 115 cells around a courtyard and a cruciform shrine at the centre — the plan familiar from Somapura, at a smaller scale. Six building phases have been distinguished, which makes it the best stratified monastery in the region.
Other excavated sites include Kotila Mura, where three stupas stand together and have been read as the three jewels — Buddha, Dharma and Sangha — together with Ananda Vihara, Rupban Mura and Charpatra Mura.
Finds and history
The mounds have produced bronze images, terracotta plaques, inscribed seals and coins. The copperplate grants recovered here are the principal source for the dynastic history of Samatata under the Deva kings of the seventh and eighth centuries and the Chandras of the tenth and eleventh.
The ridge came to notice in 1943, when military construction during the Second World War cut into the mounds. Excavation followed from 1955 and has continued intermittently since.
Further reading
- Mitra, Debala. Buddhist Monuments. Sahitya Samsad, 1971
- Asher, Frederick M. The Art of Eastern India, 300-800. University of Minnesota Press, 1980
- Huntington, Susan L. The Pala-Sena Schools of Sculpture. Brill, 1984
- Majumdar, R. C. History of Ancient Bengal. G. Bharadwaj, 1971
- Morrison, Barrie M. Political Centers and Cultural Regions in Early Bengal. University of Arizona Press, 1970
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.