Documentation Work on Buddhist Wooden Temple

  The architecture of the Buddhist temples in the Chattogram hill tracks presents a unique amalgam of Arakanese architectural influence and endogenous craftsmanship and vernacular practices of South-east Bengal. This syncretism occurred due to a long history of migration and trade, ethno-cultural exchange, and shared cultural and religious heritage between the indigenous communities of Chittagong hill tracks, such as the Chakma and Marma people, and the People of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, formerly known as Arakan. The temples not only depict the shared identity and stories of these people but also stand as significant examples of cultural hybridity that has been thoughtfully adapted to the distinct context and topography of the hill tracks. Distinguished by use of building materials, spatial organization, and formal outlook, the architecture of these temples has been less focused, less researched, and less discussed in the academic fields of architecture, heritage studies, and archaeology. This paper identifies this gap and conducts an architectural documentation of some of these temples in Chattogram hill tracks, presenting a comparative analysis of the influence of Arakanese architectural features and local adaptations in them. The study also conducted a conditional assessment of these structures and sheds light on the neglected built heritage of the South-eastern hilly regions of Bengal.