In 1786, Henry Creighton — a young Scotsman working at an indigo plantation in Malda, present-day West Bengal, in India — noticed the remains of an ancient city in the region. Over the next 21 years until his premature death in 1807, Creighton explored the exquisite remains and made meticulous maps and drawings of the forgotten city. This was Gaur — the ancient city which served as the capital of many powerful dynasties who ruled over Bengal between 8th and 16th centuries CE.

The earliest mention of Gaur appears in the Mahayana Buddhist text Manjushri-Mulakalpa which recorded the existence of an independent Gauda Kingdom before it was conquered and subsumed by the Gupta Empire in 4th century CE. After the death of Mahasenagupta — one of the last later Gupta emperors — in the 7th century CE, Gauda became an independent kingdom again under Shashanka, the first independent king of Bengal.

Known variously as Gauda, Lakshmanavati, Lakhnauti, and finally Gaur throughout its history, this ancient walled city served as the seat of many powerful dynasties like the Palas, Senas, Khiljis, Ilyas Shahi Sultans, Habshis, and Mughals who ruled over Bengal between 8th and 16th centuries CE. Most of the existing ruins of Gaur belong to the Sultanate and Mughal periods, and feature outstanding examples of Indo-Islamic architecture with regional variations.

Although much of the ancient city fell into disrepair when it was abandoned in the 16th century after an outbreak of plague, there are still several Sultanate and Mughal-era architectural ruins that speak to the bygone grandeur of Gaur. Today, the remains of Gaur lay scattered between the Malda district of present-day West Bengal, India, and the Chapai Nawabganj district in Rajshahi division, present-day Bangladesh.

Among the ruins of Gaur that still exist in West Bengal, India, the Boro Sona Masjid (the Great Golden Mosque), the Tantipara Mosque, the Gumti Darwaja (the domed gate), the Lukochuri Darwaja (the hide and seek gate), and the Baishgazi Wall (or 22-yard wall) — the defensive outer perimeter wall of the ancient city — are some of the most awe-inspiring examples of the architectural capabilities of Gaur's artisan architects and master builders.

These constructions once featured terracotta brick walls, domed ceilings, cusped arches, and distinctive square columns covered in glazed tiles and enamelled surfaces. Although the remains of these glazed and enamelled surfaces are rare now, some examples of such intricate glaze and enamel-work are still visible in parts of the Boro Sona Masjid and Gumti Darwaza.

Sher Shah Suri’s invasion of Bengal in 1539 marked the beginning of Gaur’s end. The city was sacked and left deserted after the invasion, and an outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1575 dealt it a death blow. The city lay abandoned for centuries afterwards, during which nature took its course: a dense jungle grew between and among the ruins, and the Ganges, too, altered its course. Smugglers plundered the ruins in search of buried treasure, and brick-hunters dismantled the marvellous palaces, mosques, and madrassas early Chinese and Portuguese travellers mentioned in their accounts piece by piece for the durable terracotta bricks and precious glazed, enamelled, and gilded tiles.

This was the state of Gaur when Henry Creighton came across the ruins of the city and decided to document them. Decades later in the 1860s, John Henry Ravenshaw, an employee at the Bengal Civil Service, spent years photographing these ruins. These rare, colonial-era documents and photographs are now part of the Sarmaya collection.

Watch a West Bengal Tourism video about the Islamic architecture of Malda and Murshidabad here:

Find your way around the exquisite architectural remains of Gaur here:

How to reach Gaur:

Malda is easily accessible from Kolkata by both road and rail. By road, it's just over 300 kilometers along NH34. Frequent train services also connect the two cities. From Malda, Gaur can be reached by bus or car.

Learn more about the forgotten city of Gaur here.

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