English Bazar is situated in between the ancient historical cities of Gaur and Pandua. The city, however, came to be much later, around mid 18th century. It was once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers. In 1813 a joint magistrate and deputy collector were appointed and in 1832 a treasury was opened. The gateway of North Bengal, Malda, once the capital of Gour-Banga with its 3456 km² lay of the land classified into Tal, Diara, and Barind awaits the advent of tourists and people of archeological interest with its wealth to be enjoyed and its huge potential to be explored.
This portion of the Earth is washed by the waves of the rivers Ganges, Mahananda, Fulahar, Kalindri and had been the witness of different empires which were raised, flourished, and then cast down near oblivion by a successor kingdom built up on the relics of its predecessor. Panini mentioned a city named Gourpura, which by strong reason may be identified as the city of Gouda, ruins of which are situated in this district. Examples are legion of the relic of a predecessor kingdom being used in the monuments of the successor kingdoms.
It had been within the limits of ancient ‘Gaur’ and ‘Pandua’ (Pundrabardhana). These two cities had been the capital of Bengal in ancient and medieval ages and are equidistant, north and south, from English Bazar town (once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers).
The boundary of Gour was changed in different ages since 5th century BC and its name can be found in Puranic texts. Pundranagar was the provincial capital of Maurya Empire.
Gour and Pundrabardhana formed parts of the Mourya empire as is evinced from the inscriptions, Brahmilipi on a seal discovered from the ruins of Mahasthangarh in the Bogura District of Bangladesh. Hiuen Tsang saw many Ashokan stupas at Pundrabardhana.
The inscriptions discovered in the district of undivided Dinajpur and other parts of North Bengal along with the
