Published: 11:17 PM, 11 September 2026
Was the Bay of Bengal a Wall of Ancient Bengal or a Gateway to the World?
Sonia Tasnim
Whenever I think of this delta called Bangladesh, a green, verdant land comes before my mind’s eye. From the Padma, Meghna, Jamuna and Ichamati to the Brahmaputra, they immerse themselves in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, forming their union and companionship with the blue sea. Its waves have woven together the threads of this blue commercial stream.
From ancient times through the unbroken flow of history, we have largely viewed the history of ancient Bengal’s interaction with the outside world through the history of rivers, ports and maritime trade. The delta washed by the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Meghna, the celebration of green crops upon fertile layers of alluvial soil, and the river-dependent way of life intertwined with them—these elements seem to form an inseparable part of Bengal’s ancient identity. But another important geography was also attached to this identity—the Bay of Bengal.
As time turns and the marks of currents strike the sandy shore, a natural curiosity arises in the mind: was the Bay of Bengal an ever-watchful guardian on the southern frontier of ancient Bengal, or was it an unrestricted gateway through which this land could set sail toward the astonishing world beyond?
Archaeological evidence makes the second idea increasingly significant. If we dissect history and view the rivers, settlements and ports of ancient Bengal not in isolation, but as part of a larger river-sea network, a somewhat different picture of Bengal comes into view. Research on Wari-Bateshwar has brought forward its possible connection with the broader expanse of the Indian Ocean maritime trade network during the early historic period. (Ancient Asia Journal)
According to archaeological investigations of Wari-Bateshwar in present-day Narsingdi, evidence of settlement has been found here dating back to the fourth century BCE. If the remains—fortification walls, moats, roads, coins, beads and various archaeological artefacts—are threaded together, this place makes a fairly strong claim to being an organised urban centre. Researcher Shahnaz Husne Jahan has presented Wari-Bateshwar within the broader framework of the Indian Ocean maritime trade network of the early historic period. (Ancient Asia Journal)
To explain the reason behind such a possibility, Wari-Bateshwar possesses a particular geographical significance. History tells us that this region, located near an ancient course of the Brahmaputra, the Meghna, the Arial Khan and the Shitalakshya, was connected by waterways with various regions at that time. Research has also raised the possibility that, because of the course of the ancient Brahmaputra, Wari-Bateshwar may have developed as an estuarine port. This means that a seaport of that period did not necessarily mean a place situated directly on the open sea, as it does today. There were rivers, which served as one of the principal links connecting the ships and goods of that time with the sea. (ResearchGate)
Punch-marked coins, beads and various types of pottery found there provide important clues to ancient commercial connections. However, one point must be approached with caution. The discovery of the same type of pottery in a distant region alone is not sufficient to prove that Wari-Bateshwar had direct commercial relations with that region. Archaeology requires conclusions to be drawn by considering the distribution pattern of artefacts, their production centres and the intermediary trade routes—all together. Despite these limitations, however, the discovery of such remains makes one thing clear—that some urban centres of ancient Bengal were by no means disconnected from the broader regional exchange system. (ResearchGate)
Now, when speaking of the most discussed ports in this commercial geography, the position of Tamralipta becomes extremely important. Ancient Tamralipta is generally identified with the Tamluk region of present-day West Bengal, India. A study published in 2022, analysing Tamralipta’s commercial role from 200 BCE to 700 CE, indicates that archaeological materials point to the possibility of its connections with Southeast Asia, China and the Roman world.
At this point, an important matter becomes apparent. A port is essentially not a fixed institution. Its importance changes with the course of rivers, sediment deposition, navigability, changes in estuaries and shifts in political and economic power. Therefore, if the rise and fall of Tamralipta is viewed merely as the history of a single port, the full grammar of the story will not be complete. It is, in fact, the history of the changing relationship between rivers and the sea—a history whose course, changing with time, was capable of transforming the history of an entire empire or region.
Now, if we step into the history of Samatata, it becomes even more significant for eastern Bengal. According to UNESCO’s assessment, the Buddhist establishments of the Mainamati region were considered closely associated with ancient trade routes. UNESCO documents mention that after the decline in the importance of Tamralipta, Samandar played an important role in maintaining communication from the Ganges Valley through Samatata towards Kamarupa and the ports of Southeast Asia.
Now the matter worth contemplating is this: did this blue body of water bring only the flow of coins, or did culture also cross the unrestricted waters, riding in boats of creation? In reality, the history of maritime trade did not record merely the transportation of goods; it also wrote the story of bonds and companionship between the souls of human beings.
If I look at the history of Wari-Bateshwar, Tamralipta, Samatata and the possible ports of southeastern Bengal from a bird’s-eye view, an important picture emerges—that Bengal was a meeting place of rivers and the sea. A kind of estuary of a new awakening. Yet, has this history actually been written in its entirety? The answer would be, no. Thousands of years of inquiry still remain to be traversed before this history can be written with the pen.
The archaeology hidden beneath the earth, the ancient courses of rivers that have changed, or the ageing of some once-mighty current rushing forward in a slender form, the possible remains hidden beneath the floor of the Bay of Bengal—all together suggest that a vast chapter of ancient Bengal’s maritime history is still awaiting deeper investigation. In that sense, if I, as a humble seeker, claim that the Bay of Bengal was essentially a wall of ancient Bengal, while at the same time being a door of immense possibilities, would it be very wrong to say so?
I call it a wall because beyond that barrier lay an unfamiliar and vast world, and a door in the sense that this very body of water had also created the pathway by which one could sail toward that unknown world.
Therefore, the sea that kissed the southern shores of ancient Bengal was not merely a silent guardian; rather, it was the pathway holding the hand of the rivers, a path that propelled Bengal toward an eternal world, toward a vast gateway of possibilities standing open to the universe.
Sonia Tasnim is an essayist.
