Establishing university at historical Paharpur demanded

People of Badalgacchi upazila under Naogaon district have demanded to establish a university at the historical site of Paharpur at Badalgacchi upazila.

Local people of Badalgacchi said that Paharpur Buddha Vihara or Sompura Vihara, established in the 7th and the 8th centuries by the Pala Emperors, is a historical place which was, in fact, a university for teaching religious studies mainly. Despite local pupils, students from various southeast Asian countries used to get admitted here to take education on religious and social studies including Buddhist religion, Comparative Religion, Language, History, Sociology and Philosophy. The university was a residential one.

Thousands of tourists visit Paharpur every year while the region is also famous for producing rice, vegetables and fruits. People of Badalgacchi said, Like the Nalanda University in Bihar of India, the proposed university in Naogaon district should be established in Paharpur to retain its past tradition and history.

Meanwhile, the Food Minister Sree Sadhan Chandra Majumder at a public meeting held recently at Naogaon has declared to establish the proposed university at Chhatra Beel under Niamatpur upazila of Naogaon. Local political leaders of Naogaon, however, were demanding to establish the university either at Paharpur or at Naohata crossing of the district.

According to some people of Niamatpur upazila, the Chhatra Beel was not a suitable place for establishing a university. It will take a lot of money to fill up low-lying areas of Chhatra Beel, which will not be required for establishing the university at Paharpur. Moreover, the establishment of the university inside a beel will also destroy the biodiversity of the water body. They opined, since there was an ancient university at Paharpur so the adjacent areas of Paharpur will be a suitable place to establish the university. They opined, the government should consider the proposal with utmost significance.

According to renowned Historian Sree Hara Prasad Shastri, the ancient song and religious sermons were written at Paharpur during 11 the century. Sree Hara Prasad Shastri recovered an ancient book named Charjacharjabinishchoy from the library of the King of Nepal in 1907 and later on he published a book named Bouddha  Gan and Doha in Puran Bangla language. The very book is known as the Charjageeti or Charjapada. This charjageeti or Charjapada is regarded as an excellent literature in ancient Bangla language.

It is learnt, people of Badalgacchi have formed a 101-member convening committee to table the demand to the government to establish the proposed university in Paharpur.

Mathurapur UP Chairman Abdur Rahman and Baidyanath Toppo, President and the Secretary-General of the convening committee respectively said, Paharpur was once a famous university where the renowned scholars like  Sree Shil Bhdra and Sree Atish Dipankar had worked as the Vice-Chancellors( Acharya) and the Paharpur and its archaeological exhibits are famous in the world. Moreover, thousands of people including students of the country and abroad used to visit here and to rejuvenate the glorious tradition and history of Paharpur, former Deputy Commissioner of Naogaon Mijanur Rahman had also proposed to establish a university there and the people of Paharpur were unanimously supporting his proposal. They sought cooperation from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to establish the proposed university at Paharpur.