HALL OF MYRIAD PATHS
Traditions present: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism
Twenty places written in Bangladesh. Each carries its history, architecture, site and orientation, festivals, and the way to get there.
Each dot is one placeHover to see its name, click to open its page
All 20 pages now have an English version.
The largest historical brick mosque in Bangladesh, built in the 15th century by Ulugh Khan Jahan in the city of Khalifatabad (Bagerhat) at the edge of the Sundarbans, featuring 77 roof domes, a forest of 60 pillars, and ten mihrabs, inscribed as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Photo: Faisal Photography, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The National Mosque of Bangladesh in the heart of Dhaka, begun on 27 January 1960 and completed in 1968 to a design by architect Abdulhusein M. Thariani. Departing from the traditional central dome, its eight-story main prayer block rises 99 feet (30.18 meters) in the cubic silhouette of the Kaaba in Makkah, accommodating over 40,000 worshippers and housing the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh.
Photo: CAPTAIN RAJU, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The preeminent Hindu sanctuary of Bangladesh, officially designated the National Temple in 1996, founded in the 12th century by King Ballal Sen of the Sena dynasty in honor of Goddess Dhakeshwari (an aspect of Durga from whom Dhaka takes its name). Revered as an ancient Shakti Peetha where the crown gem of Goddess Sati fell, the complex pairs a three-bayed (Tin-konja) main sanctum with four identical 16th-century Shiva temples associated with Raja Man Singh.
Photo: Ishrat jahan, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
One of the largest Buddhist monastic universities (Mahavihara) of the ancient world south of the Himalayas, built in the late 8th century by Emperor Dharmapala of the Pala Empire at Paharpur in Naogaon District. Its 11-hectare quadrangular enclosure of 177 monastic cells surrounds a stepped cruciform central temple adorned with some 2,000 in-situ terracotta plaques, once home to the great master Atisha Dipankara Srijnana and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Photo: Abdulmominbd, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The crowning masterpiece of late-medieval Bengali terracotta temple architecture on the banks of the Dhepa River in Dinajpur, begun in 1704 by Maharaja Pran Nath and completed in 1752 by his adopted son Maharaja Ram Nath in honor of Lord Krishna (Kanta Jiu) and Rukmini. Originally built in the three-story nine-spired Navaratna style before losing its nine spires in the great 1897 earthquake, its walls remain covered from plinth to cornice with roughly 15,000 terracotta plaques narrating the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and 18th-century Bengali court life.
Photo: Shahnoor Habib Munmun, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The 15th-century single-domed brick mausoleum of the revered Sufi saint and pioneer ruler Ulugh Khan Jahan (died 25 October 1459 / 27 Dhu al-Hijjah 863 AH), standing on the northern bank of the vast Thakur Dighi freshwater reservoir in Bagerhat, southwestern Bangladesh. Inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat in 1985, the complex preserves Khan Jahan's black basalt cenotaph carved with Arabic and Persian calligraphy, the adjoining tomb of his chief minister Pir Ali Tahir, a single-domed mosque, and broad stone ghats descending to the sacred crocodile tank.
Photo: Babul abdul malek, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
A classic 15th-century square brick mosque of the Khan-e-Jahan architectural style standing on the western bank of the Thakur Dighi reservoir in Bagerhat, southwestern Bangladesh, just 400 meters west of the Tomb of Khan Jahan Ali. Measuring 16.15 meters square externally, its interior is divided by four slender freestanding stone pillars into nine equal square bays crowned by nine hemispherical brick domes, with three richly carved terracotta mihrabs along the western qibla wall. Inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat in 1985.
Photo: Nasir Khan Saiakt, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
An iconic architectural gem on Abul Khairat Road in the historic Armanitola quarter of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, originally built as a three-domed Mughal mosque in the first half of the 19th century by Mirza Golam Pir. In 1926, local merchant Ali Jan Bepari added an eastern verandah and resurfaced the entire mosque in dazzling Chini Tikri broken-porcelain mosaic work featuring hundreds of blue and white stars alongside imported Japanese glazed tiles depicting Mount Fuji; in 1987 the prayer hall was expanded northward to five domes.
Photo: Subarashitours, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
A masterpiece of Bengal Sultanate stone-and-brick architecture situated in the Firozpur quarter of ancient Gaur in Shibganj Upazila, Chapai Nawabganj District, Rajshahi Division, northwestern Bangladesh. Built by the courtier Wali Muhammad during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Husain Shah (1493 to 1519 CE), the mosque is celebrated as the 'Gem of Gaur' for its finely carved black basalt stone facing, its royal gallery (Badshah-ka-Takht), and its fifteen domes (twelve hemispherical domes and three central chau-chala hut-roof vaults) that were originally gilded with gold leaf.
Photo: Rocky Masum This work was made by Masum-al-Hasan Rocky and released under the license(s) stated below. Please feel free, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
A celebrated ten-domed brick mosque standing on the western bank of the expansive Bagha Dighi reservoir in Bagha Upazila, about 40 kilometers southeast of Rajshahi city in northwestern Bangladesh. Built in 1523 to 1524 CE (930 AH) by Sultan Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah of the Husain Shahi dynasty in honor of the revered Sufi saint Hazrat Maulana Shah Muazzam Daulah, the mosque is famed for its exquisite terracotta plaques depicting local Rajshahi mangoes, pomegranate blossoms, and floral scrolls, its adjoining Sufi mausoleums, its 500-year-old Eid fair (Bagha Mela), and its depiction on the Bangladeshi 50 Taka banknote.
Photo: Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Renowned as the 'Black Gem of Bengal' (Kala Ratna) and featured on the Bangladeshi 5 Taka banknote, the Kusumba Mosque stands on the western bank of the vast Kusumba Dighi reservoir in Manda Upazila, Naogaon District, Rajshahi Division. Built in 1558 to 1559 CE (966 AH) by a high official named Sulaiman during the reign of the Suri ruler Sultan Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah I, the six-domed sanctuary is completely faced inside and out with finely chiselled dark gray-black basalt stone and preserves an extraordinary two-story carved stone royal gallery (Badshah-ka-Takht).
Photo: Babul abdul malek, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
A monumental late 7th- to early 8th-century Buddhist monastic university situated at Kotbari on the red-earth Lalmai-Mainamati hill range in Comilla District, Chittagong Division, southeastern Bangladesh. Originally named Bhavadeva Mahavihara after its royal founder King Bhavadeva of the Deva dynasty of ancient Samatata, the 167.6-meter-square brick quadrangle encloses 115 monastic cells surrounding a central cruciform shrine adorned with terracotta plaques. Excavated from 1955 onward, its rich finds of bronze Buddha statues, royal copperplate grants, and gold and silver coins are displayed in the adjacent Mainamati Archaeological Museum.
Photo: Yousuf enterprise, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The oldest known urban archaeological site in Bangladesh, located on the western bank of the Karatoya River about 11 kilometers north of Bogra (Bogura) in Rajshahi Division. Identified by the 3rd-century BCE Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription as ancient Pundranagara, capital of Pundravardhana under the Maurya, Gupta, Pala, and Sena empires and visited by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang in the 7th century CE, the 1.5-kilometer-long fortified citadel is paired two kilometers to its south with Gokul Medh (Behular Basar Ghar), a 13-meter-high 6th- to 7th-century stepped cellular brick podium composed of 172 blind brick chambers that originally supported an octagonal Buddhist stupa.
Photo: Md Mukul, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The largest cluster of historic Hindu temples in Bangladesh, situated around the sacred Shiva Sarobar lake and the 1895 Puthia Rajbari palace in Puthia Upazila, 23 kilometers east of Rajshahi city. Constructed between the seventeenth and late nineteenth centuries by the rajas and queens of the Puthia Raj zamindari family, the complex showcases the full spectrum of Bengal terracotta temple architecture, highlighted by the monumental five-spired Bhubaneshwar Shiva Temple (1823 to 1829), the richly carved Boro and Chhoto Govinda temples, the octagonal Jagannath Temple, and the four-story Dol Mandir pavilion.
Photo: Nahid.rajbd, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Bangladesh's only offshore island hilltop Hindu sanctuary, perched atop the 85-meter summit of Mainak Hill on Maheshkhali Island off the coast of Cox's Bazar. Dedicated to Lord Shiva as Adinath (the Primordial Lord) alongside the eight-armed goddess Ashtabhuja Durga, the temple is steeped in Ramayana lore of King Ravana and medieval Nath Yogi tradition, built in permanent masonry with seventeenth-century patronage from local Muslim landowner Nur Mohammad Sikder, and renowned for its fifteen-day Adinath Mela festival around Maha Shivaratri.
Photo: Salim_Khandoker, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The first Buddhist monastery established in modern Dhaka, founded in 1960 by Sangharaj Jyotipal Mahathero and expanded by Sanghanayaka Suddhananda Mahathero across a 4.5-acre green compound on Atish Dipankar Road in Basabo. Serving as the headquarters of the Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha, the monastery is celebrated for its 40-foot outdoor golden standing Buddha beside a tranquil lake, the memorial stupa enshrining the relics of tenth-century Bengali master Atish Dipankar Srijnan, its orphanage and schools founded after the 1971 Liberation War, and its internationally admired tradition of distributing daily Ramadan Iftar meals to underprivileged Muslim neighbors.
Photo: Ifteebd10, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The largest Theravada Buddhist stupa complex (Zedi) in Bangladesh, crowning the 60-meter summit of Pulpara Hill at Balaghata in Bandarban Hill District and overlooking the winding Sangu River. Designed and constructed between 1995 and 2000 by Venerable U Pannya Jota Mahathero (a member of the Bohmong royal family and former civil judge who ordained as a monk in 1990), the Arakanese-Burmese golden temple enshrines four sacred corporeal relics of Gautama Buddha gifted by the State Sangha of Myanmar in 1994, alongside Bangladesh's second-largest Buddha statue and the perennial hilltop pond of Debota Pukur.
Photo: Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The historic heartland of Rakhine (Arakanese) and Barua Theravada Buddhism along the Bakkhali River in Ramu Upazila, 14 kilometers east of Cox's Bazar. The monastic cluster encompasses the 1800 Lama Para Kyaung founded by Rakhine nobleman U Thangnyo Chaudhury (famed for its octagonal-pedestal bronze Buddha and Pali-inscribed bronze bells), the ancient hilltop Ramkot Banaasram linked to Emperor Ashoka, and the Vimukti Bibartanam temple near Ramu Cantonment enshrining Bangladesh's largest golden reclining Buddha statue at 100 feet (30.5 meters) in length.
Photo: TASBIR SOHAM, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The oldest surviving Christian church in Dhaka and one of the largest active Catholic parishes in Bangladesh, founded in 1677 by Portuguese Augustinian missionaries in Tejgaon (adjacent to Holy Cross College near Farmgate). Combining a three-aisled European basilica layout with thick brick walls, Tuscan-Doric columns, Mughal-style multi-cusped arches, and floor flagstones inscribed in Portuguese, Latin, Armenian, and English dating back to 1725, the compound also includes a modern 2,000-seat sanctuary and historic cemetery visited by Pope Francis in 2017.
Photo: Mahbubur, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The most revered Sufi shrine complex (Dargah) in Bangladesh, crowning the hillock of Dargah Mahalla in the heart of Sylhet city. Marking the final resting place since March 15, 1346 (20 Dhu al-Qa'dah 746 AH) of the great Suhrawardiyya Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Jalal al-Mujarrad (1271 to 1346), who arrived in Sylhet in 1303 with 360 Sufi disciples and was visited in person by Moroccan world traveler Ibn Battuta in 1345, the complex features the open-sky hilltop Mazar, a 1744 three-domed Mughal mosque, the sacred pond of Gajar fish, the Zamzam well, and flocks of historic Jalali pigeons.
Photo: Anjon singha, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
No place matches this filter yet.
This library is open and free, and it records its own progress in public. Three things you can help with today:
Write to thayungkhiem@gmail.com
Because they change constantly. A library that is wrong once about a practical detail loses its standing on everything else. Check with the place itself before you travel.
From Wikimedia Commons under open licences, each credited to its photographer, or photographed by UK MASTER ACADEMY. No image is published without both its author and its licence.
Four tests: it is officially listed as a heritage site, it belongs to a tradition this library covers, its site and orientation can be read in feng shui terms, and an openly licensed photograph exists.
The library opens one country at a time, beginning with the countries that have the most readers, and within each country with its most significant places. A grey country is simply one whose turn has not come. Suggestions are welcome through the page of Master Ưng Khiêm.
