Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur - Bangladesh

Today I've got a nice surprise in my mailbox. Last August I arranged a swap with a Aditi to get my 3rd and last UNESCO card from Bangladesh. The 1st time I swapped with her, everything went well and her card arrived quite fast. This 2nd time, as the weeks went by, there were no signs of the card and I thought it got lost. It didn't get lost after all, it just took a long scenic road and after 6 months I finally got it. 

During a period of huge change in the Buddhist faith, it was here at Paharpur that some of the best minds gathered to try to make sense of it all. For centuries, monks came to the large monastery complex to discuss the deepest questions of humanity. Paharpur became one of the most important intellectual centres of history and saw the rise of a new form of Buddhism. The temple at the site's centre would be used as the inspiration for the greatest Buddhist monuments across Southeast Asia, including Cambodia's Angkor Wat and Indonesia's Borobudur.

The great monastery of Paharpur was established in the 8th century in modern-day Bangladesh. 
Paharpur served as one of the most important intellectual centres in the world until the 12th century, and the philosophies that emerged were a synthesis of generations of different ideas.
The main temple of Paharpur rises up from the centre of the site as a physical manifestation of the new Buddhist ideas developed here. It was the first time a cross shape was used for the design of a Buddhist temple and it's still an impressive sight for visitors. Around the edges of the central quadrangle are the four long walls that make up the monastery, each with dozens of rooms that monks would have lived in. With simple harmonious lines and a profusion of carved terracotta plaque decoration, the monastery represents one of the greatest artistic achievements of its time. - in: https://visitworldheritage.com

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