| Dibar Dighi | |
| Native Name: | দিবর দীঘি |
| Native Language: | Bengali |
| Designation1 Free1value: | Bangladesh |
| Designation1 Free2name: | Region |
| Location: | Patnitala Upazila, Naogaon District, Bangladesh |
| Coordinates: | 25.1225°N 88.6202°W |
Dibar Dighi (bn|দিবর দীঘি) is a tank in Bangladesh. An octagonal granite pillar, associated with Kaivarta (later identified as Mahishya), chief Dibya, who usurped the Pala throne, stands in the centre of the tank.[1]
The site is located in Dibar village, on the northern side of Nazipur-Sapahar highway in Patnitala Upazila of Naogaon District.[2]
Alexander Cunningham, whose "servant" visited the site in 1879–80, noted the lake to spread about 1200 square ft.[3] Average depth was about 12 ft. The tank currently occupies about 20 acres of land and sits atop a mound, spread over 100 acres.[4]
The tank is primarily famed for housing a semi-submerged granite pillar — locally known as Kaivarta Stambha — in its center.[5] The apex of the pillar is crown shaped and decorated with three inflated circular rings. The pillar does not have any inscriptions. Francis Buchanon-Hamilton's survey of Bengal (1807–08) measured the net height to be 22.5 cubits (33 ft, 75 in) and the diameter to be 6.5 cubits (9 ft, 9 in). He had deemed it to be octagonal in shape.
Cunningham's expedition revised the height to be approximately 30 ft — the visible portion spanned 10 ft, the submerged portion 12 ft, and the rest, underground foundation. From the logged data, he determined the pillar to be nonagonal having side-length of 12 in. each; diameter came out to be 29 in. Cunningham regretted that he did not personally visit the site, noting that such a large single-shaft stone pillar was yet to be recorded in Indian subcontinent, after Ashoka's reign.
A Bangladeshi archaeologist confirmed Cunningham's approximation but changed the distribution; 12 ft was above water level, 8 ft was submerged, and 10 ft was below ground.[6]
The site is yet to be accurately dated.[7] [8] The name of the village as 'Dibar' may be derived after the name of king Dibyak or Dibya. Local legends construct a mythological origin, wherein the lake was dug within one night by a jinn.
From an etymological perspective and literary history, it is currently argued that the tank and the pillar were commissioned to commemorate the victory of a local Kaivarta (Mahishya) vassal, Dibyak (var. Dibya) over his 11th century overlord, Mahipala II.[9] [10] The cause of the war between Dibyak and Mahipala II can not be ascertained — R. C. Majumdar interpreted it to be a rebellion by a local samanta, strategically timed to the weakening of Pala authority whilst Ram Sharan Sharma took it to be a peasant rebellion against feudal suppression.[11] [12] The construction might have been executed in the reign of Dibyak himself or his successors — brother Rudak, and nephew Bhim.
In 1939, the Central Government declared Dibar Dighi to be a heritage site.[13] Rajshahi Social Forestry Division has created an artificial forest (alongside a mini-zoo) around the tank; boating trips seem to be allowed.[14] [15]