History
Varendra: the old name of this country
Rajshahi sits in Varendra, the historic region of northern Bengal whose name the city's museum and university still carry.
Updated 17 Oct 202644
- Era
- Ancient and early medieval
The land around Rajshahi belongs to Varendra, the historic region of northern Bengal. The name is old enough that it was already in use long before the modern districts were drawn.
The region's importance to scholarship is why, in 1910, three men founded the Varendra Research Society here to study it — and why the museum they built still carries the name.
The society's collection of sculpture, inscriptions and terracotta from across northern Bengal remains the best single record of what this region was.