Laurer Garh: Open-air museum planned at ruins

A year after starting excavation at the Laurer Garh ruins in Sunamganj, the Department of Archaeology is planning to set up an open-air museum there.  

Laurer Garh, also known as Halhalia Haoli or Rajbari, sprawling over 30 acres of land in Halhalia and Brahmangaon village under Tahirpur upazila, is considered by historians an important landmark of several long-lost kingdoms of greater Sylhet region. Ruins of a fort, palace and other structures have been visible in the area for a long time.

Starting on November 14 last year, the archaeology department continued the excavation for three months.

On September 25 this year, the cultural affairs ministry declared the area a protected archaeological site under the Antiquity Act 1968 (Amendment Ordinance 1976), said Dr Ataur Rahman, regional director of the archaeology department.

The department now plans to set up an open-air museum there.

Ataur said no edifice will be built at the site, but there will be signboards with information for tourists about the history of the relics until a full-fledged museum is established.

“Our vision is to promote archaeotourism in the area for tourists, who come to visit the nearby Tanguar Haor at the base of the Meghalaya hills,” he said.

Regarding the age of the ruins, Ataur, himself an archaeologist, said, “There are debates about the history of the heritage and it requires proper research, which we will start soon.”

“But primarily, we are relying on books by eminent historians of Sylhet,” he added.

“According to some historians, the structures in the area were built in the middle age. Since no inscriptions or coins of any historical period has been found so far at the site, the age of the ruins cannot be confirmed,” Ataur explained.

However, based on the architectural designs of the ruins excavated so far, the archaeologist team believes that the relics were built in 1500-1600AD, he said.

Ataur also said further excavation is scheduled to start next month.

According to “Shrihatter Itibritto”, written by Achyut Charan Choudhury in 1920, Laur was part of the ancient Kamrup kingdom. As mentioned in epic Mahabharata, King Bhagadatta and his 19 descendants ruled the land for centuries in Puranic times.

Mentioning other versions about the history of the region, Achyut wrote that Laur kingdom was founded by a person named Keshab Misra of Kanouj, who came here in 10th or 11th century, and later another king named Bijoy Manikya ruled the area.

According to other popular beliefs, the word Laur comes from Rarh implying that the ancient kingdom was set up by some people who were ousted by Muslim invaders from the ancient Rarh kingdom, now the present-day West Bengal of India.

The most recent history, mentioned by Achyut, refers to 16th century, when the kingdom came under Mughal rule during the reign of Gobinda Singh, who later took the name Habib Kha, and his descendant Umed Raja built a Haoli or Rajbari here.

Abdul Hye Al-Hadi, anthropologist and coordinator of Save the Heritage and Environment, said, “The history of greater Sylhet is still based on the writings of historians, but to prove their claim archaeological research is a must.”

He cited the East Pakistan District Gazetteers published in 1970, which mentioned that an exiled queen from the ancient Kamrup kingdom, now the Indian state of Assam, had established a new kingdom in Sylhet.

One of her descendants, later divided the kingdom among his three sons Luddok, Gurak and Jayantak, who named their kingdoms as Laur, Gour and Jaintia, respectively.

Meanwhile, in fear of eviction locals of Halhalia and Brahmangaon village have been protesting and obstructing excavation, since it began last year.

According to officials of upazila administration and archaeology department, Laurer Garh is on khas (government-owned) land and people started living in the ruins and turning it into a village after the 1971 Liberation War.

Contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Sunamganj Abdul Ahad said, “People, who have settled on the khas land, will not be evicted or relocated for the time being. Rather they will be employed in the development of archaeotourism in this area.”