History of Buddhists of Chittagong

Bangladesh is the country of multi-religion, race and population. Beside Hindu-Muslim community Buddhist community is a small community and the number of this population is above 1 million. The history and heritage have enriched and differentiated Bangladesh. So, Buddhists are an important community for this country. From 7th to 12th century, it was a dark age for Buddhists and Buddhism in Indian Sub-Continent. At this time the whole India was stirred up by the religious revolution. Then in many parts of India Hindu or Vedic religious preachers appeared. From 7th century Vedic religious preachers Sankaracharya, Kumarilbhatta etc. forced the Buddhists to be converted into their religion to Hinduism by crucial torturing with the help of Kings of India. And with the spread of Hindu culture many Buddhists religious books, Stupas and temples ect. had been burnt. They also tortured many renowned Buddhist monks. Within these five hundred years there was also oppression of Muslims in India. They too forced both Hindus and Buddhists to convert them to Muslim by taking the Quran in one hand and the sword in other hand. Actually, at the end of 11th century the Muslims established their reign in India. Before that, Muslims used to come to India and after destroying the temples and preaching their religion took away riches and resources from India. About this incident Sir Charles Elliot wrote- “But where as Hinduism was spread over the country, Buddhism was Concentrated in the great monasteries and when these were destroyed there remained nothing outside then capable of with standing either the violence of the Muslims or the assimilative influence of the Brahmins.” At this time, falling in the opposite stream of Brahmin & Muslim religion, Indian Buddhists were not able to maintain their own religion. Most of them were converted into either Muslims or Hindus. The whole of the West and South India became the area of Hindu and Muslim. For this reason at the last part of the 11th century the original Buddhists, who wanted to remain in their own religion e.g. Buddhism, took shelter in Bodhgaya by advancing Eastward of India gradually. Seeing the same aggression there also, a group of pure Buddhists along with their family and some amount of precious jewels they possessed ran away towards Assam through present Rajshahi division. In that group there were also some learned Buddhist monks. At that time, in present Gauhati province and in surrounding places there was the power of Brahmin religion. The next priests and their followers caught hold of those fugitive pure Buddhists near Gauhati and forced them to be converted into Hinduism.

The other Buddhists, who were not caught, disguised themselves and gradually advanced towards Chittagong Magadha or Bihar through Assam. Many of them died due to disease, being attacked by ferocious animals and starvation for a long time. The present Chittagong division was then ruled by the Arakanese Buddhist King. His Capital was in Mihong City of Arakan. The Chittagonians call it Pathorikilla. The ruins of East Palace surrounded by 7 strong walls can still be seen here. As ruled by Arakanese King, there lived many Arakanese and Mughs in Chittagong, Dhaka and Presidency division. The Buddhists who came form Bihar started to live with Mughs as they were also from the same religion. Here they had no fear of taking away their religion and gradually they made good friendship with Arakanese. Arakanese or Mughs used to call “Marmagree” to the people from Bihar or Magadha. The word “Marmagree” means high caste and it can also be said that the people of Bihar were the high caste because they came from that place where the Buddha gained his Enlightenment and became the Buddha. In the North side of Aburkhil village in Chitagong there is Mughdai canal and in South is Bariakhali. The Mughs dug the canal so it named Mughdai canal. On the both sides of that canal the Mughs lived. The name Bariakhali came from Baruakhali where on both sides of that river Baruas might lived there. There are also many places like- Khulna, Cox’s Bazar, Ramu, Harbang, Palong, Teknaf and Bandarban where many Arakanese Mughs are still living. The people of Magadha or Bihar who now live in Chittagong are known as “Barua”. In this Barua group there were many pure Buddhists. They are so-called because they are mainly from Bihar and also from different parts of India.
The word “Baura” means “Boro Arya”, that is highly respectable caste. Most of the Chittagonian Bauras used to say many Pali words which prove that they were form Bhihar and no one of Chittagonian uses Pali words. The Bauras of Bihar used to live in Chittagong after ran away from Bihar. The monks started to establish monasteries and temples and from those old monks many people took initiation and started to take wandering asceticism. Living together with Mughs, a good relationship was built up and sometimes marriage bond between these two communities was seen to a little extent. Thus in relationship Baruas and Mughs have become one. For many years Chittagong was a frontier region. There were many battles among Portuguese, Mughs, Muslims and Hindus took place. Anderkilla of Chittagong city is the trace of that history. Because of living closely with each other Arakanese language began to be practiced in Baura community. Specially, Arakanese language is the language of king. Till now the people of Baura community use most of that language. Beside this language similarity there are many similarities between Baruas and Arakanese. But still Baruas and Arakanese are not the same community. In Barua community there is no discrimination of caste. There is appreciation of quality. In the field of education the Barua Buddhists are in a very advanced position in Bangladesh. At the time of Arakanese reign Barua Buddhists used to do high official jobs. They also took different jobs in the reign of Indian Muslim Kings and gained several titles- Chowdhury, Mutsuddy, Talukdar etc. Some Sthavirs and Mahasthavirs were in the group of that people from Bihar or Magadha. Gradually from those monks more people took wandering asceticism. This way, somehow Baruas were saving their religion. As they were fugitive Buddhists, they were not able to bring the Holy Tripitaka which was then written in Palm leaves or bark of Birch tree. They mainly tried to rescue or save themselves. So, the only source of practicing religion was their memorized religious words. For that reason, the monks were not fully able to understand the substance of the Buddhism and later started to forget that also. Similarly, not been able to understand any substance of the Buddhism, people began to attract by Hinduism in the 7th century. Because of this, Buddhism was somewhat faded from the mind of the Buddhists. In this auspicious moment Sangharaja Saramedha Mahasthavir of Arakan Sangharaj Vihar came to Chittagong and started to pour the bright light of Buddhism in the Buddhist community. He came here in 1864. Before that, for the lack of religious education the Buddhist monks of this region were not able to lead themselves by abiding the rules of monk life. They used to eat food after 12 p.m. Then there were 3 classes of monks and they were continuously breaking the rules of monkhood. Like this there was disorder of rules among the followers of Buddhism. After the arrival of Sangharaja Saramedha Mahasthavir from Arakan to Chittagong, he leered about the rules which the monks were following and told them to take Upasampada (ordination) according to the original rule and follow them properly. From this Sangharaja, some received initiation newly. They are at present the “monks of Sangharaj group” of Chittagong. And those who did not receive initiation are now the “monks of Mahasthavir (Mathe) group”. At the time of Magadha Emperor Asoka the learned Buddhist monks divided monks into eight groups for propagating Buddhism in all over the world. Among them, Mahendra, Hattiya, Uttiya, Sambal and Vaddasal these 5 monks were sent to Burma or Myanmar. At first they propagated Buddhism in the Thatan region of Burma. At that time the King of Thatan was King Manhua. Having a war with him the King of Pegan region King Anawratha brought the Holy Tripitaka from the capital of Burma to the Pegan City riding on the back of the elephant. After that the real Buddhism spread all over Burma. Near the Pegu City there was a large university named “Kaliyani Chong” or “Kalyani Vihara” like Nalanda. From here the Burmese civilization flourished and the Arakanese monks gradually initiated in Buddhism. And from these Arakanese Sangharaj monks the monks of Chittagong Sangharaj group re-initiated. Before Sangharaja’s going to Chittagong, the Baruas were very greateful to the monks who were then present in Chittagong. Because, those monks saved the forefathers of the Barua Buddhists of present Chittagong and whole Bangladesh from many unfavorable situations. Presently the Buddhists not only live in Chittagong but also in different regions of Bangladesh like- Rajshathi, Dhaka, Sylhet divisions etc. But mainly Bangladeshi Buddhists are residing from Chittagong division.