The present work attempts, to analyse on the basis of the archaeological data, the growth and features of urbanisation in Bangladesh (which for obvious historical reason has dealt with undivided Bengal) between C. 3rd century B.C. and the mid-13th century A.D., as a part of the general historical process. The literary data have also been utilised to the extent possible and wherever available. In order to trace up the growth and development of urbanisation in this region the materials of the chalcolithic Bengal have been used in analysis and explanation. Thus the chronological coverage in this book presents wide range of discussions throughout to feature the urban growth.
Most of the information provided in this book are based on the research work I carried out in the late 80s at the Calcutta University that formed a major part of my Ph.D dissertation. I continued my research further to publish it as a book and finally submitted for publication to the Bangladesh National Museum in 2003. Unfortunately lack of institutional conviction on the part of the Museum leadership prevented its publication for this long. Despite this suffering, the manuscript has been updated with the latest research findings and many significant new information have been included
My indebtedness to the past and the present workers in the field will be obvious in course of this work. I owe my debt of gratitude to Professor Amita Ray of the Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta for guiding me as my academic adviser, taking so much interest in my work, and for all the valuable suggestions and advice. She continued to advise afterwards also as I progressed through the book. I am thankful to Professor B. N. Mukherjee, Professor Samir Mukherjee, and Dr. Mallar Mitra of the University of Calcutta for extending to me always their co-operation and friendly advice. Among friends and colleagues I owe some references to Durga Basu, Anjan Bhattacharya, and P. Giri, who have helped me in more ways than I can remember. I am also grateful to Professor Nazrul Islam, Chairman, University Grants Commission, Dhaka who has given me some constructive suggestion when he reviewed the manuscript.
