Paharpur

Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur was the largest Buddhist monastery south of the Himalaya, founded by the Pala king Dharmapala around the end of the eighth century and lived in for four hundred years. UNESCO listed it in 1985. What is exposed is a square of a hundred and seventy-seven monks' cells around a courtyard, with a cruciform temple rising in terraces at the centre, and the brick walls carry terracotta plaques of animals and dancers. The plan influenced monasteries as far away as Java and Myanmar. The site museum holds the sculpture. Excavation began in the 1920s and has exposed only part of the enclosure.