Barua (Bangladesh)
Barua (Bengali: বড়ুয়া Boṛua) is the last name of a distinct Bengali-speaking ethno-religious minority clan representing the plain area Buddhist community in Bangladesh.[1] They mainly live in Chittagong Division. The Buddhists of Bangladesh known as the Burua-Buddhist are the ancient peoples of Bangladesh who have lived there for five thousand years according to Arakanese chronology.
Chittagong was once called "Chaityagrama" "town with Buddhist shrines".[2] It was a center of Mahayana Buddhism in the 10th century. Magh was the general term used for Buddhists; Baruas were sometimes termed Rajbansi "of royal descent".
They insist that they came from the Aryavarta or the country of the Aryans which is practically identical to the country later known as Majjhimadesa or Madhyadesa in the Pali texts.[3] They are also known as Magh because of their Magadh origin.[4] Bengali speaking Barua people of Chittagong are all Buddhist by religion, unlike Hindu Barua of Assam who are generally Assamese Brahmins or Ahom people or may belong to any other general caste in India. Barua came from "Baru" "great" and "arya", meaning "noble ones".
A Magh king, Jaychand, ruled the Chittagong region in the 16th century.[5]
Theravada Buddhism
The Baruas used to follow Mahayana Buddhism and followed some of the Hindu customs until the mid 19th century when the Sangha Raja of Arakan, returning from Bodh Gaya, visited Chittagong. In the mid 19th century, the Baruas came into contact with Theravada Buddhists from Burma and Ceylon and are now thus mainly follow Theravada Buddhism.[6]
Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha Buddhist religious organisation founded by Kripasharan Mahasthavir in Calcutta on 5 October 1892. Kripasharan Mahasthavir was its first president and Surendralal Mutsuddi its secretary. The journal of the Dharmankur Sabha, Jagajjyoti, edited by Gunalangkar Sthavir and Shraman Punnananda Swami, was first published in 1908. It was subsequently also edited by Benimadhab Barua.
Noted scholar Dr. Benimadhab Barua(1888-1948), was born in 1888 in the village of Mahamuni under Raozan Thana, Chittagong. He was the son of Kaviraj Rajchandra Talukder. Benimadhab assumed the title of ‘Barua’. In 1913 he obtained MA degree in Pali from University of Calcutta. He also studied law at Calcutta City College and Calcutta Law College. He became one of the pioneers of revitalization of Buddhism in the Barua Community.[7]
Anagarika Dharmapala visited Chittagong in 1917 where he influenced a 9 year old boy, who later became the well known Pali scholar Prof. Dwijendra Lal Barua.[8]
See also
- Barua Buddhist Monks
- Barua Buddhist Institutes in India and Bangladesh
- Barua festivals
- Re-emergence_of_Buddhism_in_India
References
- ↑ The thousand-petalled lotus: an English Buddhist in India, Sangharakshita (Bhikshu), Heinemann, 1976, p. 265
- ↑ The Buddhists of Chittagong, Appendix to Chapter 3, Bengal district gazetteers, 1908, p. 65
- ↑ Buddhism in Bangladesh
- ↑ Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia, Surinder Singh, I. D. Gaur, Pearson Education India, 2008 p. 194
- ↑ Magh raiders in Bengal, Jamini Mohan Ghosh Bookland, 1960p. 55
- ↑ Identity and Organization of Buddhists in India, in Emancipation of Dalits and Freedom Struggle, Gyan Publishing House, Jan 1, 2008, p. 370
- ↑ Dr. B.R. Barua Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume, 1989, Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha, 1989
- ↑ Sugat Barua, The Maha Bodhi,1891-1991, Volumes 98-99; Maha-Bodhi Society, p. 307
