বাঙালি বৌদ্ধ Bangali Bouddho | |
|---|---|
 Buddha Dhatu Zadi, a Buddhist temple in Bangladesh | |
| Total population | |
| 1,290,366 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Bangladesh | 1,007,468 (Bangladesh Census 2022) |
 India (West Bengal) | 282,898[1] |
| India (Tripura) | 125,182[1] |
| Languages | |
| Bengali | |
| Religion | |
| Buddhism (Theravada Buddhism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bengali Muslims, Bengali Hindus, Bengali Christians | |
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| Buddhism |
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Bengali Buddhists (Bengali: বাঙালি বৌদ্ধ) are a religious subgroup of the Bengalis who adhere to or practice the religion of Buddhism. Bengali Buddhist people mainly live in Bangladesh and Indian states West Bengal and Tripura.
Buddhism has a rich ancient heritage in Bengal. The region was a bastion of the ancient Buddhist Mauryan and Palan 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, Bengali Buddhists are followers of Theravāda Buddhism.[2]
- ^ a b "C-01: Population by religious community, India - 2011" (XLS). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022.
- ^ Bechert, Heinz (1970). "Theravada Buddhist Sangha: Some General Observations on Historical and Political Factors in its Development". The Journal of Asian Studies. 29 (4): 761–778. doi:10.2307/2943086. JSTOR 2943086. S2CID 154554678.