Buddhist Monastic establishments had much in common both in purpose and objective throughout India. The monastery modelled in the form of dwelling-cum-educational unit with temple within followed an age old tradition. The embellishment of monastic complex with lime/stucco decorations became widespread in Post-Gupta period which was however replaced by terracotta plaque decoration in the later period. The present discovery of a Pre-Pala Buddhist monastic establishment with two distinct structural phases at Moghalmari in Paschim Medinipur by the Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta is a significant landmark in the history of Bengal. The earlier structural phase dated to AD 7th/8th century represents a huge monastery extensively decorated with lime/stucco decorative elements, while the later phase dated to AD 12th/13th century shows the decadent phase of structural activities devoid of external decoration. This possibly indicates the gradual decline of Buddhism as experienced at other Buddhist monastic sites of Bengal.
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