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Buddhism in Bangladesh
Sile
Veteran
Some interesting history on Buddhism in Bangladesh:
"A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura Mahavihara, Odantapurā, and Jaggadala. The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them . . it seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somapura_Mahavihara)
Somapura Mahavihara, Bangladesh
"A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura Mahavihara, Odantapurā, and Jaggadala. The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them . . it seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somapura_Mahavihara)
Somapura Mahavihara, Bangladesh
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Comments
"The plain Buddhists of Bangladesh known as the Burua-Buddhist are the ancient peoples of Bangladesh who have lived here for five thousand years according to Arakanese chronology. They insist that they came from the Aryavarta or the country of the Aryans which is practically identical to the country later known as the Majjhimadesh or Madhyadesh in Pali literature.
Lord Buddha preached Buddhism during the 6th century BC in the Majjhimadesh...
According to the Anguttaranikaya and Majjhimanikaya Buddha came to Kajangal and gave two discourses to His followers there. But there is no record that Buddha came to any part of Bangladesh during His life to deliver any discourses. It may be assumed that the fragrance of Buddhism spread in Bangladesh during the lifetime of Buddha as we had one or two monks of Bengal who approached the Buddha to learn about His teaching.
Again we have no direct evidence to show that Buddhism was preached in Bangladesh during the lifetime of the Mauryan Emperor Asoka. According to traditions after the 3rd Buddhist Council in Pataliputra, Sonak and Uttara went to the Suvarnabhumi i.e. South-East Asia to propogate Buddhism. Recently one of the research scholars came from India and told me that he found one Asokan Pillar in Damrai near Dhaka and he is trying to find out how it came to Bangladesh. There are one or two other instances such as two Votive inscriptions found at Sanchi recording the gifts of two inhabitants of Purnavardhan (Pundravardhan) to guess the existence of Buddhism in Bangladesh before the Christian era."
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/bangladesh-txt.htm
The size, stone, location, evident age, and the panel of script, are all characteristic of these rare but famed pillars. This may well prove to be the only such pillar still standing in the lands of Bangladesh. If it should prove to be so, it would be the first tangible evidence of the place of these ancient lands around the very ancient Southwest Silk Road, in the unique history of the Buddhist faith. (http://bangladeshunlocked.blogspot.com/2012/03/ashokan-pillar-in-bangladesh.html)