Bengal Buddhist Association

About

The Bengal Buddhist Association stands as one of the oldest formal Buddhist bodies in modern India, rooted in the city of Kolkata and dedicated to keeping the flame of the Buddhadhamma alive in a region where it had long receded. Known also by its Bengali name, Bôuddhô Dhôrmāṅkurô Sôbhā, the organisation has served generations of practitioners, scholars, and seekers drawn to the Buddha's path.

The association's mission has always been threefold: to revive the living practice of Buddhism, to support its study and propagation across the subcontinent, and to provide a gathering place for the faithful. In 1903, it gave Kolkata a dedicated sanctuary when the Dharmankur Buddhist Temple was established in the Bow Barracks neighbourhood — a place where devotees could observe rites, offer pūjā, and find community.

The organisation has also served as a voice for Buddhist thought through the written word. In 1908, it began publishing its journal Jagajjyoti, a platform that brought Buddhist teachings and discussions to a wider readership and helped sustain intellectual engagement with the tradition long before such resources were easy to find.

History

The Bengal Buddhist Association was founded on 5 October 1892 through the vision and effort of Kṛpāśaraṇa Mahāsthabira. It emerged at a moment of considerable cross-cultural intellectual ferment, drawing inspiration from modernist Buddhist currents then gaining strength in Sri Lanka as well as from Western Oriental scholarship and spiritual movements including Theosophy. These influences shaped an organisation that looked both inward — to classical Dharma — and outward, engaging with contemporary ideas about reform and revival.

From that founding impulse grew a series of concrete institutions. The Dharmankur Buddhist Temple was consecrated in the Bow Barracks area of Kolkata in 1903, giving the community a physical home for worship and congregation. Five years later, in 1908, the association launched its journal Jagajjyoti, extending its reach beyond those who could gather in person and embedding Buddhist discourse more deeply into Bengal's intellectual life.

Significance

The Bengal Buddhist Association occupies a quiet but important place in the story of Buddhism's renewal on the Indian subcontinent. By establishing an institutional home for Buddhist practice and scholarship in Kolkata during the late nineteenth century — a period when such structures were rare in India — it helped lay the groundwork for the broader Buddhist revival that gathered momentum through the twentieth century. Its temple, its publications, and its sustained commitment to the Dharma have made it a point of reference and belonging for Buddhist communities in Bengal and beyond.