The embankment along the south side of Rajshahi, built to protect the city from Padma flooding, has become the city's most popular public space. In the late afternoon and evening, residents come here in large numbers to walk, sit, and watch the river — or, in the dry season, what remains of it, since the Padma's flow has been dramatically reduced by the Farakka Barrage upstream in India. What was once a great braided river is now, for much of the year, a wide sandy plain with a modest channel threading through it.
The embankment area has been developed with small parks and viewpoints, including the T-Dam lookout to the west, from which the scale of the old river becomes clear. In the mango season (May to June), vendors line the path selling dozens of varieties of Rajshahi mangoes. The city's best-known sacred site, the shrine of Shah Makhdum Ruposh — the 13th-century Sufi saint who brought Islam to this part of Bengal — is a short walk from the embankment and worth a visit.