Asian Art

Bengali Buddhists

Bengali Buddhists (Bengali: বাঙালি বৌদ্ধ) are a religious sub-group of the Bengalis who adhere to or practice the religion of Buddhism. Bengali Buddhist people mainly live in Bangladesh and Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. Buddhism has a rich ancient heritage in Bengal. The region was a bastion of the ancient Buddhist Mauryan and Pala empires when the Mahayana and Vajrayana schools flourished. South-eastern Bengal was ruled by the medieval Buddhist Kingdom of Mrauk U during the 16th and 17th centuries. The British Raj influenced the emergence of the modern community. Today, majority Bengali Buddhists are followers of Theravāda Buddhism.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Cizhou ware
• ▸HMS Bramble (J11)
• ▸Lion dance

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.