The largest cluster of historic temples in Bangladesh, around a lake 23 km east of Rajshahi — with the country's biggest Shiva temple.
Puthia, 23 km east of Rajshahi city, was the seat of the Puthia Raj, which by British times had become one of the wealthiest zamindari estates in Bengal. Its rulers filled the town with temples, and Puthia now has more historic temples than anywhere else in Bangladesh, set around the Shyam Sagar lake and ringed by a moat.
The largest is the Bhubaneshwar Shiva Temple, built in 1823 by Rani Bhubonmoyee Devi, the biggest Shiva temple in the country, with a huge black basalt lingam. Next to it stands the octagonal two-storey Jagannath Temple; the Pancha Ratna Govinda Temple is covered in fine terracotta; and the old Rajbari, the royal palace, faces the lawns.
Some carvings were damaged in 1971, and conservation has been patchy, but the complex is still remarkable.
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