Rich Buddhist History of Bangladesh

By 

Venerable Mangala Priya

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University

Bangladesh is the most potential destination for Buddhist culture since Buddhism was originally spread from here and enlightened the whole world. The most important literary sources about Buddhism in India and Bangladesh could be traced from the travel report of great Chinese pilgrims. The most prominent ones were Fa-hien who traveled overland between 399-414 AD, Huen Tsang traveled between 629-645 AD and I-Tsing traveled between 671-692 AD.

From the account of the most prominent Chinese pilgrims Tahien and Hiuen Tsaug mentioned that Lord Buddha with his 500 disciples visited Pundravardhana which is presently Mahasthangarh (in Bangladesh) and preached his new Gospel at SAMATATA (South Eastern part of Bangladesh) including the Lalmai and Moinamoti range. According to Arakanese book Rajoang that Buddha visited BURMA (Mayanmar) with his disciple and from there in his return journey he visited Hastigram, Amragram and Chandranath which is very near to Chittagong hilldistrict of Bangladesh. The holly hair relics and foot prints of Lord Buddha have been preserved in the Nandan Kanan Buddhist Temple, Chittagong. From this valuable reserves some portion were donated to Srilanka in 1957, to Japan in 1964, to Thailand in 1979 and again to Srilanka in 2007. The Chandrnath Buddhist temple also has the rare footprint of Lord Buddha.

Sonargaon formerly known as Suvarnagram was a part of Buddhist Empire of Pala dynasty at the 7th Century AD. The main attraction of Sonargaon of today the ruins of old Panam city, some monuments and beautiful mosque of Muslim Sultante period (1399-1409 AD can be visited.

More than 50 ancient Buddhist relics of 7th-8th century A.D can be found at Mainamoti- Lalmai ridge. These are mostly monasteries, temples and stupa. The most important findings from the excavations are Salban vihara, Kotila Mura, Vasu Vihara, Ananda vihara, Charapatra Mura, Itakhola Mura and Repbau Mura. The most spectacular Buddhist Shampura Vihara at Paharpur is the largest Buddhist monastery in the sub-continent and the world heritage site.