Bikrampur Vihara is an ancient Buddhist vihara at Raghurampur village,

Bikrampur Bikrampur (lit. City of Courage) was a historic region and a sub-division of Dhaka within the Bengal Presidency during the period of British India. Located along the banks of the Padma River (a major distributary of the Ganges), it was a sign ...

Munshiganj District Munshiganj District () is a district of Dhaka Division. It is located in central Bangladesh. This region is also historically known as Bikrampur. Geography It is a part of Dhaka Division and borders Dhaka District and Narayanganj District in the ...

Dhaka division Dhaka Division () is an Divisions of Bangladesh, administrative division of Bangladesh. Dhaka serves as the capital city of Dhaka Division, the Dhaka District and Bangladesh. The division remains as a population magnet, and covers an area of 20, ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Location

The monastery is located at Raghurampur village under Rampal Union of Sadar Upazila of

History

The discovery was announced on 23 March 2013, after four years of excavation conducted jointly by Agrasar Bikrampur Foundation, a local sociocultural organisation, and the Archaeology Department of

Jahangirnagar University Jahangirnagar University (, abbreviated as JU; initially started as Jahangirnagar Muslim University; ) is a fully residential public university, public research university located in Savar Upazila, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in ...

. The excavation was financed by Bangladesh's Ministry of Cultural Affairs. On 23 March 2013, Director of the Archaeological Excavation and Research in Bikrampur region, declared the discovery of this 1000-year-old Buddhist Vihara. Over 100 precious idols and sculptures have been found till March, 2013. This is one of the thirty viharas built by Emperor Dharmapala during his regime c. 820 as the second emperor of the

Pala Empire The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda Kingdom, Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopala, Gopāla by the chiefs of Kingdo ...

. It is connected to

Atiśa Atish Dipankar Shrijnan (Sanskrit transliteration: Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana) (c. 982–1054 CE) was a Bengalis, Bengali Buddhist religious teacher and leader. He is generally associated with his body of work authored at Vikramashila, Vikram ...

, an important figure in

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

. During the time of Atiśa, this region was the center of Buddhist education and some 8,000 students and professors came to study at Bikrampur from as far as China, Tibet, Nepal and Thailand.

Central temple

Five rooms of the monks sized have been excavated so far. The exact size of the monastery, however, could not be assumed yet.

References

External links

{{Buddhism topics 9th-century religious buildings and structures Buddhist monasteries in Bangladesh Medieval Indian universities Archaeological sites in Bangladesh Former populated places in Bangladesh Pala Empire Buddhist sites in Bangladesh Buddhist universities and colleges

Location

History

Central temple

See also

References

External links