Sabhar

Sabhar

Going beyond Mirpur Dargah we pass by Sabhar farm on the right, and then at the sixteenth mile begin the ancient ruins of Sabhar, correctly speaking Sambhar, which was the capital of the Sambhog country in 7th and 8th centuries A. D.  Dr. N. K. Bhattasali, who surveyed the entire area in 1921, writes: Sabhar “is a historical place, the traditional capital of Raja Harishchandra. It stands on the east bank of the Bansai which is a branch of the Brahmaputra and falls into the Dhaleswari at a place to the south of Sabhar.
“The Bansai has still on its east bank, to the north of the present bazar, the ruins of Harish Chandra’s fort called Harish Chandra’s Kotbari in the map published by J. Rennell in 1780. The Kotbari is 720 feet long and 550 feet broad. The surrounding mud wall is still at some places 25 feet high. The physical aspect of the place as well as of Rajasan and Majidpur localities, indicate that the places were full of civil, military and ecclesiastical edifices, the unmistakable signs of a great age.” The passage of time has destroyed much of the ancient relic. Even then we can recognise a few. “The places are full of dighis or large tanks almost silted up numbering 50 the sare bava-ganda of tradition. Some of them arc of great interest, as for instance, the Niramish dighi the fish less tank dug, as the tradition has it, for the use of the Buddhist king’s mother. There appears to be a bed of a river known as Bald separating Rajasan (east) from Majidpur (west). At Majidpur, it is said, was the place of Raja Harish Chandra. Ruins of the palace and a moat all round called Katanga and the Sagar dighi to the east of the palace, which still holds water in its bosom throughout the year, are pointed out to this day as memorials of the lost greatness. Majidpur seems to be a modern name given to it by the Ghazis of Bhowal Pergana who ruled over this part of the country before the Moguls. It is also called by some Majootpur, the place of hoarded wealth.
 “Many things of historical interest have been, of late, discovered from a place at Rajasan. Recent discoveries of Buddha images on large bricks (now in the Dhaka Musem) in different postures of contemplation from the place conclusively prove that Rajasan is a misnomer. It was really Bajasan, the corrupted form of Bajrasan, the most important of the several asans of the Buddhist monks. It is said that Buddha himself obtained Nirvana while sitting in contemplation in such asan. The meaning being unintelligible to the people, they began to call it Rajasan, the seat of Raja Harish Chandra. The recent discoveries of so-called Rajasan bear testimony to the fact of the existence of a Buddhist monastery where monks like Srijnan Dipankar Atish had an opportunity for preparing themselves for their future vocation.”

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