Venerable Kripasaran Mahathera (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

:- কৃপাশরণ মহাস্থবির, Kṛpāśôrôṇô Môhāsthôbirô) was a 19th and 20th century Bengali Buddhist monk and Indian

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...

, best known for reviving Buddhism in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Kripasaran led a renaissance of Buddhist thought and culture in nineteenth century India.

Early life

He was born in the village of Unainpura,

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

(in modern-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

), on 22 June 1865. His parents were members of the

Barua Barua (also spelt as ''Baruah'', ''Barooah'', ''Baruwa'', ''Baroova'', ''Barooa'', ''Baroowa'', ''Borooah'', ''Boruah'', or ''Baroa'') is a common Assamese surname. In Assam Valley History Originally, the ''Barua'' surname was used as a milit ...

Magh community, a group of mixed

-speaking Arakanese who had migrated north to southern Chittagong after the Burmese conquest of Arakan in 1785.

Career

Kripasaran was ordained at the age of 16 and then became fully ordained as a

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...

at the age of 20 under Candramohan, the respected elder of the Sangharaja Nikaya. He founded Buddha Dharmankur Sabha (

Bengal Buddhist Association Bengal Buddhist Association ( bn, বৌদ্ধ ধর্মাঙ্কুর সভা, Bôuddhô Dhôrmāṅkurô Sôbhā) is a Buddhist organisation based in Kolkata. History This institution was established by Kṛpāśaraṇa Mahāsthabira ...

) in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in October 1892. He authored ''Sakpura Bauddha Batak Samity'' in 1908 and ''Satbaria Mahila Sammelani'' in 1917. At his insistence, higher studies in

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

were introduced in the Calcutta University by Sir Ashutosh. He opened Gunalankar Library in 1909. In 1907, he established branches at Simla and

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. In 1908, he opened Dibrugarh and

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

. He started a facility in

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

in 1915 and in 1922. He renovated Buddhist templates such as the Vihara of Noapara in 1913, ''Unainepura'' in 1921 and Rangamati in 1921. He organised a World Buddhist Conference from 6 Dec 1924 at Nalanda Park, Calcutta. He died on 30 April 1926. His 150th birth anniversary was celebrated by Bangladesh Bauddha Kristi Prachar Sangha.

References

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Early life

Career

References

See also