Bilal9
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How do you know what they know or what they don’t?
Ami shob jaani. Bilkul samajhta hai
On a more serious note, Bangladeshis as Muslims are probably more aware of Hindu/Buddhist culture and parampara (as much as Nepalese) among subcontinental Muslims because Eastern Bengali culture was originally Buddhist before Muslim conversion.
In fact the Sinhala culture is sourced on Ancient Eastern Bengali Buddhist culture I believe. @Godman do you know about this?
Higher form Bengali to this very day uses a lot more Sanskrit and Pali words in common usage, especially in literary treatises and poetry. Other than in West Bengal, we Muslims in Bangladesh are probably more proudly regional in cultural refinement than most areas of India.
Atisha (Atiśa) Dipankara Srigyan was one of the famous Bengali Buddhist sages who established the Sarma lineages of Buddhism in Tibet. He was born in the year 980 in Bikrampur, Pala Empire (now in Bangladesh) which was one of the Buddhist culture strongholds in Asia.
Tibetan sources assert that Atisa spent 12 years in Sumatra of the Srivijaya empire and he returned to India in 1025 CE which was also the same year when Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty invaded Sumatra.[10] Atiśa returned to India. Once back, the increasingly knowledgeable monk received much attention for his teachings and skills in debate and philosophy.
Bikrampur Vihara is an ancient Buddhist vihara at Raghurampur village, Bikrampur, Munshiganj District in Bangladesh which was one of the thirty viharas built by Emperor Dharmapala during his regime c. 820 as the second emperor of the Pala Empire. It is connected to Atiśa. 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.[2][3][4]
The ruins of the university were discovered in 2013 and are still being excavated. The other large Vihara, Somapura Mahavihara (Bengali: সোমপুর মহাবিহার Shompur Môhabihar) aka Paharpur Vihara in Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon District, Bangladesh is among the best known Buddhist viharas in the Indian Subcontinent and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It dates from a similar time period to the nearby Halud Vihara and to the Sitakot Vihara in Nawabganj Upazila of Dinajpur District.[1]
Reconstruction
In the area about 100km south of Dhaka, there is Mainamati Vihara which contains 50 or so Buddhist sites spread among rolling hills,
Mainamati is named for the Chandra queen of the same name, mother of Govindachandra.
Recently - another Vihara was found, Jagaddala Vihara
There are many, many other Viharas all over Bangladesh which part of our cultural heritage. Most of the larger viharas were overrun in 1200 AD By invaders and destroyed.
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