Kripasaran was a 19th and 20th-century Buddhist monk and yogi, best known for reviving Buddhism in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Kripasaran led a renaissance of Buddhist thought and culture in nineteenth century India.

Early life

He was born in the village of Unainpura,

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

(in modern-day

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 ...

), on 22 June 1865. His parents were members of the Barua Magh community, a group of mixed Bengali-speaking Arakanese who had migrated north to southern Chittagong after the Burmese conquest of Arakan in 1785.

Contribution

Kripasaran was ordained at the age of 16 and then became fully ordained as a

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the pratimok� ...

at the age of 20 under Candramohan, the respected elder of the Sangharaja Nikaya. He founded Buddha Dharmankur Sabha ( Bengal Buddhist Association) in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in October 1892. He authored ''Sakpura Bauddha Batak Samity'' in 1908 and ''Satbaria Mahila Sammelani'' in 1917. At his insistence, higher studies in

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

were introduced in the Calcutta University by Sir Ashutosh. He opened Gunalankar Library in 1909. In 1907, he established branches at

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

and

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. In 1908, he opened

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh () is a city in the Indian state of Assam, located 435 kms east of the state capital Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of the Dibrugarh district in Upper Assam. Dibrugarh also serves as the headquarters of the Sonowal Kach ...

and Shillong. He started a facility in Ranchi in 1915 and in 1922. He renovated Buddhist templates such as the Vihara of Noapara in 1913, ''Unainepura'' in 1921 and Rangamati in 1921. He organised a World Buddhist Conference from 6 Dec 1924 at Nalanda Park, Calcutta. He died on 30 April 1926. His 150th birth anniversary was celebrated by Bangladesh Bauddha Kristi Prachar Sangha.

Early life

Contribution

References

See also