Mahasthangarh declared SAARC cultural capital

Mahasthangarh, an iconic archaeological site in Bogra, has been pronounced the cultural capital of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for a period of 2016-17.

A SAARC Cultural Centre team, led by its director Wasantha Kotuwella of Sri Lanka, made the announcement on Thursday.

According to the Department of Archaeology, the announcement will come into effect from 21 January next year.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate Mahasthangarh as the cultural capital of the SAARC on 21 January 2017, director general of the archaeology department, Altaf Hossain, told Prothom Alo on Thursday.

Mahasthangarh is one of the earliest urban archaeological sites discovered 13km north of Bogra town in Bangladesh.

It was the ancient capital of Pundravardhana, home of the Pundra, a group of people not speaking languages of the Indo-European family.

The site dates back 4th century BC, said professor Shah Sufi Mustafizur Rahman of Jahangirnagar University's archaeology department.

The decision of picking Mahasthangarh up for the SAARC cultural capital was correct and significant, he added.

“However, only declaration of the site as SARRC cultural capital would not make any difference. The authorities should come forward to utilise the cultural capital to promote our cultural tradition,” said Shah Sufi Mustafizur Rahman.

As the SARRC cultural capital, Mahasthangarh will suppose to host festivals and cultural programmes throughout the year. 

Every year, an archeologically and culturally rich city in the one of the eight SAARC countries is declared as the cultural capital for a year.

Bamiyan, a historic city of Afghanistan, was the SAARC cultural capital for 2015-16.