The monks' cells
Neat rows of brick walls.
Shuvajit BD — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Owais Al Qarni — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Owais Al Qarni — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Yahya — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mamun Al Imran — CC BY-SA 4.0
Shalban Vihara is the ruin of a large Buddhist monastery from the 7th and 8th centuries at Mainamati, near the city of Comilla in eastern Bangladesh. It is one of the main Buddhist sites at Mainamati, about 5.9 km in a straight line from central Comilla. The monastery is credited to King Bhava Deva, and excavations here uncovered terracotta seals and inscribed copper plates. They also showed that the central shrine went through six building phases and the monastery through four. The monastery is a square about 168 metres (550 feet) a side, with 115 monks' cells around a broad courtyard, at whose centre stand a cross-shaped shrine and smaller shrines and stupas. Low brick walls run in neat rows across the grass, and visitors enter through a gateway on the north side. The site is open to the sun, so bring water and a hat. About 5 km to the north lies the Buddhist site of Kutila Mura, which you can add to the visit. The site is about 85 km in a straight line from Dhaka.
Neat rows of brick walls.
A cross-shaped shrine in the courtyard.
The monastery's old entrance.
Mainamati, Comilla, Bangladesh
It dates from the 7th and 8th centuries.
The Buddhist site of Kutila Mura, about 5 km to the north.