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Bengali Buddhists
Bengali Buddhists () are a religious subgroup of the Bengalis who adhere to or practice the religion of Buddhism. Bengali Buddhist people mainly live in Bangladesh and Indian states West Bengal and Tripura. Buddhism has a rich ancient heritage in Bengal. The region was a bastion of the ancient Buddhist Mauryan and Palan empires when the Mahayana and Vajrayana schools flourished. South-Eastern Bengal was ruled by the medieval Buddhist Kingdom of Mrauk U during the 16th and 17th centuries. The British Raj influenced the emergence of the modern community. Today, Bengali Buddhists are followers of Theravāda Buddhism. History Ancient Bengal was a center of Buddhist learning and art. Buddhist artefacts have been excavated throughout the region, particularly in Wari-Bateshwar, Chandraketugarh, Somapura Mahavihara, Paharpur, Mahasthangarh and Mainamati. The Mauryan Empire led by Ashoka extended its suzerainty to the region in the 2nd century BCE. Ashoka played an important role i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddha Dhatu Zadi
The Buddha Dhatu Jadi (; also known as the Bandarban Golden Temple) is located close to Balaghata town, in Bandarban City, in Bangladesh. '' Dhatu'' are the material remains of a holy person, and in this temple the relics belong to Buddha. It is the largest Theravada Buddhist temple in Bangladesh and has the second-largest Buddha statue in the country. The Bandarban Golden Temple belongs to the Theravada Buddhism order, which is practiced by the Marma indigenous people, a dominant ethnic group of Bandarban. It was built in 2000 in Arakanese architecture, an adoption of the South East Asia style. Location The Buddhist temple is known in local language as ''Kyang''. It is located in the remote Bandarban Hill District in south-eastern Bangladesh, which is part of the Chittagong Division of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The temple is ensconced in the hill town of Bandarban, which has two of the highest peaks with rolling hills, namely, the Tajingdong () and the Keokeradong (), cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Mrauk U
The Kingdom of Mrauk-U (Arakanese language, Arakanese: မြောက်ဦး ဘုရင့်နိုင်ငံတော်) was a kingdom that existed on the Arakan coastal plain from 1429 to 1785. Based in the capital Mrauk-U, near the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, the kingdom ruled over what is now Rakhine State, Myanmar, and the southern part of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh. Though it started out as a protectorate of the Bengal Sultanate from 1429 to 1531, Mrauk-U went on to conquer Chittagong with the help of the Portugal, Portuguese. It twice fended off the First Toungoo Empire, Toungoo Burma's attempts to conquer the kingdom in 1546–1547, and 1580–1581. At its height of power, it briefly controlled the Bay of Bengal coastline from the Sundarbans to the Gulf of Martaban from 1599 to 1603.Myint-U 2006: 77Topich, Leitich 2013: 21 In 1666, it lost control of Chittagong after a war with the Mughal Empire. Its existence continued until 1785, when it was con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. It is assumed that the term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Avestan scripture Vendidad which refers to land of seven rivers as Hapta Hendu which itself is a cognate to Sanskrit term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ''. (The term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ'' is mentioned in Rig Veda and refers to a North western Indian region of seven rivers and to India as a whole.) The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). Likewise the Hebrew cognate ''hōd-dū'' refers to India mentioned in Hebrew BibleEsther 1:1. The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samatata
Samataṭa (Brahmi script: ''sa-ma-ta-ṭa'') was an ancient geopolitical division of Bengal in the eastern Indian subcontinent. The Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman account of Sounagoura is linked to the kingdom of Samatata. Its territory corresponded to much of present-day eastern and southern Bangladesh (particularly Dhaka division, Barisal division, Sylhet division, Khulna division and Chittagong division). The area covers the trans-Meghna River, Meghna part of the Bengal delta. It was a center of Buddhist civilisation before the resurgence of Hinduism, and Muslim conquest in the region. Archaeological evidence in the Wari-Bateshwar ruins, particularly punch-marked coins, indicate that Samataṭa was probably a province of the Mauryan Empire. The region attained a distinct Buddhist identity following the collapse of Mauryan rule. The Allahabad pillar inscriptions of the Indian emperor Samudragupta is the earliest reference of Samataṭa in which it is described as a tributary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suzerainty
A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy and economic relations of another subordinate party or polity, but allows internal autonomy to that subordinate. Where the subordinate polity is called a vassal, vassal state or tributary state, the dominant party is called the suzerain. The rights and obligations of a vassal are called ''vassalage'', and the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called suzerainty. Suzerainty differs from sovereignty in that the dominant power does not exercise centralized governance over the vassals, allowing tributary states to be technically self-ruling but enjoy only limited independence. Although the situation has existed in a number of historical empires, it is con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashoka
Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east, with its capital at Pataliputra. A patron of Buddhism, he is credited with playing an important role in the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. The Edicts of Ashoka state that during his eighth regnal year (), he conquered Kalinga (historical region), Kalinga after a brutal war. Ashoka subsequently devoted himself to the propagation of "Ashoka's policy of Dhamma, dhamma" or righteous conduct, the major theme of the edicts. Ashoka's edicts suggest that a few years after the Kalinga War, he was gradually drawn towards Buddhism. The Buddhist legends credit Ashoka with establishing a larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauryan Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sources for the written records of the Mauryan times are partial records of the lost history of Megasthenes in Roman texts of several centuries later; the Edicts of Ashoka, which were first read in the modern era by James Prinsep after he had deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts in 1838; and the ''Arthashastra'', a work first discovered in the early 20th century,: "... another source that enjoyed high standing as a description of the early Mauryan state was the Arthashastra, a treatise on power discovered in the early twentieth century." and previously attributed to Chanakya, but now thought to be composed by multiple authors in the first centuries of the common era. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mainamati
Moinamoti () is an isolated low, dimpled range of hills, dotted with more than 50 ancient Buddhist vihara, settlements dating between the 8th and 12th century Common Era, CE. It was part of the ancient Samatata division of Bengal. It extends through the centre of the district of Comilla District, Comilla in Bangladesh. Moinamoti is located almost 8 miles or 12 km from the city of Comilla. It is the home of one of the most important Buddhist archaeological sites in the region. Comilla Cantonment is located nearby and houses a beautiful colonial era Maynamati War Cemetery, cemetery. Mainamati is named for the Chandra dynasty, Chandra queen of the same name, mother of the king Govindachandra (Chandra dynasty), Govindachandra. According historian Bisweswar Chakravarti that the dynasty had relation with Mahishya king ''Harish Pala''. According to the folk song of Comilla, 'Mainamatir Gan' mentioned that Raja Govindachandra (Chandra dynasty), Govindachandra was married Raja Harish Pala's t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahasthangarh
Mahasthangarh is the earliest urban archaeological sites discovered thus far in Bangladesh. The village Mahasthan in Shibganj upazila of Bogra District contains the remains of an ancient city which was called Pundranagara or Paundravardhanapura in the territory of Pundravardhana.Brochure: ''Mahasthan – the earliest city-site of Bangladesh'', published by the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2003 A limestone slab bearing six lines in Prakrit in Brahmi script recording a land grant, discovered in 1931, dates Mahasthangarh to at least the 3rd century BCE. It was an important city under the Maurya Empire. The fortified area of the city was in use until the 8th century CE. Etymology ''Mahasthan'' means a place that has excellent sanctity and ''garh'' means fort. Mahasthan was first mentioned in a Sanskrit text of the 13th century entitled ''Vallalcharita''. It is also mentioned in an anonymous text ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somapura Mahavihara
Somapura Mahavihara (), also known as Paharpur Buddhist Vihara (), is a major Buddhist monastery (''mahavihara'') in Paharpur, Badalgachhi, Naogaon, Bangladesh. It is among the best known Buddhist viharas in the Indian Subcontinent and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is one of the most famous examples of architecture in pre-Islamic Bengali architecture. It dates from a period to the nearby Halud Vihara and to the Sitakot Vihara in Nawabganj, Dinajpur. History A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient India in the eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, comprising Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas (universities) stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious; Somapura Mahavihara; Odantapurā; and Jaggadala. The mahaviharas formed a network; "all of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chandraketugarh
Chandraketugarh, located in the Ganges Delta, are a cluster of villages in the 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, about north-east of Kolkata. The name Chandraketugarh comes from a local legend of a medieval king of this name. This civilization can perhaps be identified with the Gangaridai of Graeco-Roman accounts. In early historic times, Chandraketugarh was connected to the Ganga by the Bidyadhari River and must have been an important centre of trade and possibly also a political centre. The Asutosh Museum of Indian Art conducted an excavation between 1957 and 1968, which revealed relics of several historical periods,Dr. Gaurishankar de & Prof. Subhradip de, Prasanga: Pratna-Prantar Chandraketugarh, First Edition: 2013, although the chronological classification of the relics remains incomplete. Many of the Chandraketugarh items and terracottas are now in collections of museums in India and abroad; many of them are a part of private collections. According to the List of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wari-Bateshwar
The Wari-Bateshwar ('','' ) ruins in Narsingdi, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh is one of the oldest urban archaeological sites in Bangladesh. Excavation in the site unearthed a fortified urban center, paved roads and suburban dwelling. The site was primarily occupied during the Iron Age, from 400 to 100 BCE, as evidenced by the abundance of punch-marked coins and Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) artifacts. The site also reveals signs of pit dwelling, a feature typically found in Chalcolithic archaeological sites in the Indian sub-continent. Geography The site sprawls across Wari and Bateshwar, two adjacent villages in the Belabo Upazila of Narsingdi district, about 17 km north-west of the confluence of the rivers Old Brahmaputra and Meghna at the lower end of Sylhet basin. Borehole records show that the site lies on the remnants of a Pleistocene fluvial terrace about 15 metre above sea level and 6-8 metre above the current river level. The sediment consists of brownish red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
