Dhaka: In search of the beginning

The history of Dhaka is as fluid and majestic as the rivers that surround it. Over the centuries, the city's course has shifted, evolving with each new civilisation that passed through, leaving behind traces of their cultures in its soil.

I wanted to read up on Dhaka's history again because of the recent newspaper hullabaloo about the origins of Dhaka. Thanks to findings from the excavations at the site of the former central jail, located on the banks of the Buriganga, the story of Dhaka's origins got the attention of general people like me, as well as archaeologists and historians.

It is said that the excavation findings are thought to trace the history of the capital city back to the times of early medieval period or the Mughal Era, to the sultanate rule from 1438, to the pre-medieval times and finally, to the early historic period of sixth century BC to sixth century AD.

I found that exhilarating.

How Dhaka thrived when it has been ruled by the many dynasties and empires over the ages, including the Hindu Gauda Kingdom, the Buddhist and Shaivite Pala Empire, the Hindu Sena Dynasty, the Hindu Deva Dynasty, the Turkic and Afghan governors, the Bengal Sultanate, and the Mughals and finally, the British?

It was my reason to look through history books and sites, and I thought I would share these interesting facts and theories with our My Dhaka readers.

The earliest mention or clue of a place called Dhaka was found in an inscription of Sultan Rukunuddin Barbak Shah, dated 1460, and discovered in Birbhum district. It might very well be our modern Dhaka!

In 1582, Akbar's Finance Minister Todar Mal's revenue settlement divided Mughal Bengal into 24 Sarkars (districts). Mughal emperor Akbar's court historian Abul Fazal, who authored Ain-i-Akbari, refers to "Dhaka-baju" as a pargana of Sarkar Bazukha of Bengal. Akbarnama refers to a thana in Dhaka-baju as a place of importance in connection with the war against the independent Bhuiyans of Bhati (lower Bengal) from 1583-1605.

Now, the discovery of the fort on the premises of the Dhaka Central Jail provides a broader context of the importance of the city in the Mughal empire.

Mirza Nathan, writer and commander of Subahdar Islam Khan's army, referred to a fort in his book "Baharistan-e-Gayebi" as being "surrounded by mud walls and the largest and strongest in a pre-Mughal era".

It was asserted that the Subahdar and his army of 50,000 soldiers lived in the palace fort and its surrounding area. Thus, it was commonly thought of as Islam Khan's fort. However, the fort has existed long before the arrival of Subahdar Islam Khan.

The first-ever Radiocarbon absolute dating, or carbon-14 dating, done on the relics from the fort, now the Dhaka Central Jail, at the US Beta Laboratory, has been found to date back to 1430 AD. This was done by archaeology students and researchers at Jahangirnagar University.

The Binat Bibi Mosque, constructed in 1454, during the Bengal Sultanate dynasty (13th-16th century AD) in the Narinda area of Dhaka, stands as the city's oldest surviving brick structure. Built during the reign of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, the Sultan of Bengal (1435-1459), it bears testament to a prosperous settlement even before the arrival of Islam Khan.

Besides, the shrine of Shah Ali Baghdadi, a saint and disciple of Shah Bahar of the Chishti Order, has been an enduring presence in what is now the Mirpur area since 1412.

At the National Museum, there is an exhibit of an inscription, from near the fort on the gate of the Naswalla Gali Mosque that further highlights the region's significance as a thriving settlement in the pre-Islam Khan period. The dated inscription of this mosque could have been a part of Iqlim-i-Mubarakabad, administrative divisions in the Sultanate reign.

There is evidence of Dhaka being a thriving city even in the pre-Medieval period (sixth-13th century AD) to Early Historical period (sixth century BC-6th century AD). The discovery of glazed potteries and rouletted wares from the fort in the jail premises showed similarity to the ones found in Mahasthangarh and Wari-Bateshwar from the Early Historic Period.

The earth has layers, and working through them, you find different archaeological wonders one above another. So, if you get one charcoal and conduct carbon-14 dating, then the other artefacts in the layers are automatically dated through relative dating, which links Dhaka's existence from the Early Historic Period. The discovered potteries imply the possibility of international trade in Dhaka through the ancient Silk Route, because the potteries were foreign in origin.

These are such intriguing facts about our Dhaka that we are not aware of. Working through layers of ancient civilisations, and combing through the remains of human settlements, an archaeological dig ascertains the age of any civilisation, how it flourished, and why it got buried under the debris of the next evolution.

Dhaka's rich history continues to unfold, as archaeologists and historians work to piece together its past. From its ancient roots to its modern incarnation, Dhaka's story is far from finished — it's still being written, one discovery at a time.