A total of 54 inscriptions on Dhaka have been discovered by a group of young researchers in the city.
The Committee for Documentation on Architectural Sites in Dhaka has discovered the inscriptions during its last two years of survey and disclosed them through a report yesterday. The publishing ceremony of the report titled "Dhakar Shilalipi" (Inscription of Dhaka) was held at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban at Dhaka University (DU).
Most of the inscriptions are written in Persian language while some are in Arabic, Latin, Armenia, Portuguese and English.
Writers, researchers, translators, architects, artists, photographers and journalists involved in the committee led by DU Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique jointly declared to establish a trust fund for conducting advance researches on ancient Bangla. Artist Shahabuddin read out the joint declaration paper for establishing the proposed trust fund on behalf of initiators.
Prof Arefin, also the chief adviser to the committee, unveiled the cover of the report that revealed the 54 inscriptions at the occasion chaired by committee chairman Pavel Rahman.
Reading out the declaration, artist Shahabuddin said history of ancient Bangla is still unclear, as much research was not done on it.
He said DU could play an important role in digging out the history of ancient Bangla. He added that the initiative of formulating the trust fund has been taken to introduce fellowship and scholarship for advance research on history, politics, architecture, language, literature, economics, philosophy and others in ancient Bangla.
The published report compiles 63 inscriptions, including the new 54.
Before starting the present survey, as many as 17 structures and 21 inscriptions were translated during the past one hundred years. But the committee, on a two-year survey, discovered 30 inscriptions in 2008, nine in 2009 and 24 in 2010. All inscriptions were discovered in 2008 and 2009, excluding those in Armenia languages, have been translated in the meantime and work for translating inscriptions discovered in 2010 is underway.
The report said eight inscriptions discovered in 2008 were published in a book written by Mohammad Yusuf Siddique, teacher of Panjab University in Pakistan and edited by former director general of National Museum Enamul Haque. But it did not mention any source.
Invention and translation of inscriptions are important, the report said, adding that more inscriptions will be lost with the passage of time.
VC Prof Arefin said DU would provide all out cooperation in discovering and translating the inscriptions of the oldest capital of Bangladesh.
President of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Prof Sirajul Islam, archeologist AKM Zakaria, architect Mir Mobasher Ali, Shamsul Waresh, historian Prof ABM Hossain, artist Samarjit Roy, among others, were present at the ceremony moderated by Member Secretary to the committee Zannatul Ferdous Tanvi.