Bhot Bagan Moth popularly known as Mahakal Math is a Tibetan Buddhist Temple located at Ghusuri, Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the first Tibetan Buddhist Temple in the plains of India. [1] [2] The Moth is a unique monastery with rare combination of Shaiva and Tibetan Buddhist culture. [3]
The third Panchen Lama wanted to restore the connections between Tibet and India, he asked English representative George Bogle to make arrangements. Bogle reported the issue to the then Governor General of India Warren Hastings. Hastings donated huge lands to Puran Giri (1743–1795), the representative of Panchen Lama and the Moth was founded in 1776. [4] Puran Giri, the famous Dashnami Saint later worshipped Shaivas, Hindu Buddhist mixed religious rituals in the Moth. [5] In 1795, Moth was attacked by armed dacoit and Puran Giri was killed to resist them. Since 1905, the Moth became abandoned and presently the Moth complex is under the supervision of the West Bengal Heritage Commission. [6] The Moth complex includes number of brick built dilapidated temples and Vaishnava Mahanta Graveyard. [7]
Media related to Bhot Bagan Math at Wikimedia Commons
The Panchen Lama is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he is in charge of seeking out the next Dalai Lama. Panchen is a portmanteau of Pandita and Chenpo, meaning "great scholar".
Samzhubzê District is a district in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the China, and the administrative center of the prefecture-level city of Shigatse. Prior to 2014 it was known as the county-level city of Shigatse. It was the ancient capital of Ü-Tsang province and is the second largest city in Tibet with an estimated population of 117,000 in 2013. Samzhubzê is located at the confluence of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the Nyang River, about 250 km (160 mi) southwest of Lhasa and 90 km (56 mi) northwest of Gyantse, at an altitude of 3,840 metres (12,600 ft).
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Lobsang Palden Yeshe (1738–1780) was the sixth Panchen Lama of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet. He was the elder stepbrother of the 10th Shamarpa, Mipam Chödrup Gyamtso (1742–1793).
George Bogle was a Scottish adventurer and diplomat, the first to establish diplomatic relations with Tibet and to attempt recognition by the Chinese Qing dynasty. His mission is still used today as a reference point in debates between China and Tibetan independence activists.
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The Tibetan diaspora are the diaspora of Tibetan people living outside Tibet.
There is a small Mongolian community in India, comprising mostly Buddhist monks and scholars as well as international students from Mongolia.
The Shigatse Dzong, also known as Samdruptse Dzong, is located in Shigatse, Tibet, China. It is spelt Rikaze Dzong.
Samuel Turner FRS was an English Asiatic traveller and a cousin of Warren Hastings, the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal).
Ghusuri is a locality of North Howrah in Howrah district of Indian state of West Bengal. It is under 170-Howrah Uttar and 25-Howrah. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Bhot Bagan Moth, Indian oldest Tibetan Buddhist monastery outside the Himalayas situated at Ghusuri.
Antireligious campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are a series of policies and practices, including the promotion of state atheism, coupled with its persecution of people with spiritual or religious beliefs, in the People's Republic of China. Antireligious campaigns were launched in 1949, after the Chinese Communist Revolution, and they continue to be waged against Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and members of other religious communities in the 21st century. State campaigns against religion have escalated since Xi Jinping became Chinese Communist Party general secretary in 2012. For Christians, government decrees have mandated the widespread removal of crosses from churches, and in some cases, they have also mandated the destruction of houses of worship. In Tibet, similar decrees have mandated the destruction of Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers, the destruction of sacred Buddhist sites, the destruction of monastic residences, the denial of the Tibetan people's right to freely access their cultural heritage, the ongoing persecution of high Buddhist lamas, and the ongoing persecution of Buddhist nuns and monks.
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Puran Puri was an 18th-century sanyasi monk and traveller from India, who travelled from Central India to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Middle East, Moscow and Tibet. He was a Khatri or Rajput, born c.1742 in the city of Kannauj in what is now the modern-day state of Uttar Pradesh in India.
The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet is a nonfiction book by Kate Teltscher, a historian and academician at the University of Roehampton.