227 km from Dhaka by road is Bogra, the nerve center of northern Bangladesh. Mahasthangarh, the city of the earliest (3rd century BC) documented urban civilization in Bengal is situated 13 km north of Bogra town. It has been identified with the ancient city of Pundranagar, familiar in Maurya, Gupta, Pala and Sena literary and other epigraphic records. Buddhist relic called the Vasu Vihara mound is only 6 km west of Mahasthan.