Gangarampur Kaldighi Park

History Of Dakshin Dinajpur
The district of West Dinajpur came into existence in August 1947 with the partition of Bengal. The province of Bengal was divided into two parts in accordance with the partition. The dividing line passed through the district of Dinajpur, the portion lying to the west of the line being named West Dinajpur. There is no local tradition regarding the origin of the name Dinajpur, and it is also rather difficult to advance any satisfactory theory about the origin of the name.

The district of West Dinajpur comprised an area, which in ancient times formed a part of the kingdom of Pundravardhana, the country of the Pundras. According to Brihatkathakosha of Harishena, Bhadrabahu (the Jaina guru of Chandragupta Maurya) was the son of a Brahmin of Kotivarsha in Pundravardhana.

According to the Jaina tradition, Godasa, a disciple of Bhadrabahu, founded the school called Godasagana, which in course of time had four shakhas, three of which were called Tamralipika, Kotivarshiya and Pundravardhaniya. Kotivarsha has been identified with Devkot, which again, has been identified with Bangarh in PS Gangarampur. Buddhism spread in Pundravardhana at about the same time as Jainism.

The discovery of a seal in 1931, amidst the ruins of Mahasthangrah established the fact that Pundranagara or Mahasthangrah was a centre of Buddhism in the Maurya period. The message on the Mahasthangarh seal concerns shramanas of the Chhavaggiya sect residing at Pundranagara and contains direction regarding the steps to be help them tide over a famine. A few clay seals found during excavations at Bangarh in 1937-41 have writing on them, which may be assigned to the Maurya period. The District therefore, appears to have been included in the Maurya Empire.

The discovery of terra-cotta figurines of the Shunga period and Kushana gold coins at Mahasthangarh and at Bangarh indicates that Pundravardhana maintained its relations with the rest of India during the reigns of the Sungas and Kushans period. The terra-cotta figurines show that fine arts flourished at that period.