Kripasaran was a 19th and 20th-century Buddhist monk and yogi, best known for reviving Buddhism in British India.[1] Kripasaran led a renaissance of Buddhist thought and culture in nineteenth century India.
He was born in the village of Unainpura, Chittagong (in modern-day Bangladesh), on 22 June 1865.[2] His parents were members of the BaruaMagh community, a group of mixed Bengali-speaking Arakanese who had migrated north to southern Chittagong after the Burmese conquest of Arakan in 1785.[3]
Kripasaran was ordained at the age of 16 and then became fully ordained as a bhikkhu at the age of 20 under Candramohan, the respected elder of the Sangharaja Nikaya.[3] He founded Buddha Dharmankur Sabha (Bengal Buddhist Association) in Calcutta in October 1892.[3] He authored Sakpura Bauddha Batak Samity in 1908 and Satbaria Mahila Sammelani in 1917. At his insistence, higher studies in Pali were introduced in the Calcutta UniversitybySir Ashutosh.[4] He opened Gunalankar Library in 1909.[3]
In 1907, he established branches at Simla and Lucknow. In 1908, he opened Dibrugarh and Shillong. He started a facility in Ranchi 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.
