Bangarh

Bangarh is an archaeological site situated in Gangarampur, West Bengal, India. It represents the ancient and medieval city of Kotivarsha (Koṭivarṣa, or Koṭīvarṣa), also called Devikot, which was an important commercial, religious, and administrative centre. Based on archaeological finds, Kotivarsha appears to have first become a significant town around the Shunga period. A local tradition of goddess worship appears to have been present by this point, which later becomes attested in literary sources. Kotivarsha was the capital of a vishaya (district) within the province of Pundravardhana during the Gupta period. By approximately the period c. 550–650, Kotivarsha was "a centre of the goddess-oriented Tantric Shaivism". It also appears to have held significance within Vaishnavism and Buddhism, with at least one work of Buddhist tantric literature describing the city as a pilgrimage site. Kotivarsha continued to hold significance during the period of Islamic rule. It is attested as a district capital as late as the 1590s.

The 12th-century writer Hemachandra wrote that the names Koṭivarṣa, Bāṇapura, Devīkoṭa, Umāvana, and Śoṇitapura all referred to the same place. A similar list was provided by Puruṣottama, except he had Uṣāvana instead of Umāvana. Bāṇapura is the apparent ancestor of the present name Bangarh; the place is supposed to be connected with the mythical king Bāṇa. The fort at Bangarh is also called "Damdamaḥ" in recent times.

The site of Bangarh is located on the eastern bank of the Punarbhaba River, about 29 km south of the city of Dinajpur. The main mound is roughly rectangular and about 549 × 457 m in size, with the longer side on a northeast-to-southwest axis, parallel with the course of the river. The alignment with the river was probably intentional, planned when the city was being built. A moat surrounds this rectangular area on the west, south, and east; and all four sides were protected by rampart walls. In the map alongside, all places marked on the map are linked in the full screen version.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).