Cumilla, Chattogram
The excavated ruins of an early medieval Buddhist monastery on the Lalmai–Mainamati ridge, with the Mainamati Museum next door.
Shalban Vihara is a large square Buddhist monastery of brick, with rows of monks’ cells around a central courtyard and a temple in the middle. It is generally linked to the Deva kings of the 7th–8th centuries, and it was rebuilt several times before it was abandoned.
It is one of many sites along the Lalmai–Mainamati ridge, which was a centre of the ancient kingdom of Samatata. Excavations here turned up coins, copper plates, terracotta plaques and bronze images, and the finds changed what was known about early Bengal.
The Mainamati Museum, next to the vihara, displays many of these objects — terracotta plaques, stone and bronze sculptures, and inscriptions. Seeing the museum first makes the ruins much easier to understand.
Start in the morning with the terracotta plaques, sculptures and coins found on the ridge.
Walk around the monastery’s cells and the central temple.
A simple meal at one of the roadside restaurants.
A quiet hour among the Second World War graves by the cantonment.
End at Monohorpur for rosomalai, and an evening walk by Dharmasagar.
November to February, in the morning or late afternoon
About half an hour west of Kandirpar by CNG or auto-rickshaw, at Kotbari near BARD. Hire the CNG for half a day to add the other Mainamati sites and the War Cemetery.
