Priyo Ratana Mahāthera was a Buddhist

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

entitled the Rajguru in Chakma Raj Bihar and the first known Tanchangya monk who went abroad for Buddhist studies in Sri Lanka in 19th century.

Early life

He was born named Palak Dhan in 1879 to a poor family in Tanchangya tribe. Tanchangya belong to multiple sects Mahāthera belonged to Karva Ghosa. During his childhood his mother died, and he was raised by a Chakma family. His name became Palak Dhan Tanchangya which implies a foster child in Tanchangya. He became a novice at Chittagong Buddhist Temple. He was an intelligent and obedient student and continued both general and religious study. He traveled to

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

for further Buddhist studies.

Royal Patriarch

In 1935 after the passing away of Chakma King Bhuvan Mohan Roy, prince Nalinakha Roy was appointed to the throne and Piyaratana was received as a Royal Patriarch.

Career

While he was Royal Patriarch,

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 be ...

practices proliferated. The numbers of monks were fewer than the Luri in the northern part of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Luri were religious preachers who had left Buddhism. Their lives were like those of laymen, with wives and children. They had become monks to avoid the torture experienced by non-Buddhist rulers, later adopting it as their practice. They followed a "debased" Buddhism, possibly

Tantric Buddhism ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emp ...

. Their texts deviated from the original Buddhist texts. The Chakma queen

Benita Roy ''Rajmata'' Benita Roy (born 18 August 1907, date of death unknown) was a Bangladeshi aristocrat, litterateur, diplomat and minister. She was the forty-ninth Rani of the Chakma Circle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Roy served as the Rajmata duri ...

was a Hindu and practiced Hindu religious ceremonies. The entire palace worshiped the

Sanātana Dharma Sanātana Dharma (Devanagari: , meaning "eternal ''dharma''", or "eternal order") is an endonym for certain sects of Hinduism, and used as an alternative term to the exonyms of Hinduism, including ''Hindu Dharma''. The term is found in Sansk ...

. Due to the strong practise of Hinduism, Venerable Bhante could not propagate Buddhism there.

Death

He died as a king preceptor in 1954.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahathera, Rajguru Priya Ratana Buddhism in Bangladesh Indian Buddhists 1879 births 1954 deaths Bangladeshi Buddhist monks