Dharmankur Vihara

The Dharmankur Vihara was founded in the year 1903 by the Most Ven’ble Kripasaran Mahasthavir. The objective was to unite the Buddhists living in the metropolis of Calcutta and in the out-skirts to congregate and observe the different rituals and festivals connected with Buddhist calendar especially the different Purnimas, the Buddha Jayanti and the Kathina Dana. These festivals are also held in all the branches like in the Bodhisattva Vihara in Lucknow, Gandhamadan Vihara in Darjeeling, Shillong Buddha Vihara in Shillong, Saptaparni Vihara in Rajgir and the Dharmachakra Vihara in Sarnath.

Jagajjyoti

The Jagajjyoti was first published in the year 1908 by the founder, Ven’ble Kripasaran Mahasthavir for the propagation of Buddhism. Jagajjyoti – meaning the Light of the World has since its inception been published with the same vigour and enthusiasm under the editorship of learned and erudite monks and scholars and is today being published under the editorship of Sri Hemendu Bikash Chowdhury, a poet and writer who also is the General Secretary of the Bengal Buddhist Association. The Jagajjyoti has come out with some very good publications which has received wide acclaim from scholars and readers from all over the world. The Jagajjyoti has just celebrated its centenary year and a special Centenary Volume was published in September 2009 which was well accepted by the reading community. Recently we have published a special volume on Rabindranath Tagore and Buddha, another on Swami Vivekananda and Buddha, and this year it was on Anagarika Dharmapala and Sir Asutosh Mookerjee all on the occasion of the 150th Birth anniversaries of these stalwarts.

Publications

The Bengal Buddhist Association also publishes books on Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy, History in Bengali and English for the benefit of the readers. These publications are those which have run out of circulation and needs to be reprinted and also new books are printed written by scholars on contemporary topics.

Gunalankar Library

The Gunalankar Library was established in the year 1909 and is named under a very learned and erudite monk who was the first Editor of the Jagajjyoti – Ven’ble Gunalankar Mahasthavir. It houses a good collection of books on Buddhism and allied subjects where readers and scholars both cherish the books which is useful for them.

Kripasaran Continental Institution

The Kripasaran Continental Institution was founded in the year 1967 by Ven. Dharmapal Mahathera in memory of the Founder Ven. Kripasaran Mahasthavir. The Founder was very much inclined towards providing education to all and was much concerned for the deprived. He had started and evening school so that people old and young who could not attend school could come and learn in the evening. So concerned was he with education that he had approached the Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University to grant recognition to the many schools in the interior villages and especially for the schools for the girls. This inspired Ven. Dharmapal Mahathera to open a school for the children in the year 1967 where children from all religious communities come to study.

Free Medical Centre

The Dharmankur Free Medical Centre was established by the Association to offer free medical care to the poor and economically weak patients. It has a Homoeopathic Clinic where patients get proper treatment and medicines under the care of an experienced Homoeopath Doctor. Due to lack of funds the allopathic wing of the Centre had to be closed down alongwith the Mobile Clinic.

Dr. B.M.Barua Scholarship Fund

Dr. B.M. Barua was a renowned Indologist from India hailing from the Barua community who also was the first Asian Scholar to receive the D.Litt. Degree from the University of London in the year 1917. He also was the Head of the Department of Pali in the University of Calcutta and also the Editor of Jagajjyoti. To pay our tribute to this great scholar we have initiated a Scholarship Fund in his name and offer scholarships to meritorious students coming from economically weaker sections of the community who otherwise are deprived of a sound education. The reason to have the scholarship fund in the name of Dr. B.M. Barua is that he too went to London with a scholarship granted by the Government of India which helped facilitate his higher education. The Late Rev. Prof. Keiyo Arai, Jutokji Temple, Tokyo, Japan had generously donated to help the Sholarship Fund for which he had also formed the Buddhist Overseas Scholarship Foundation through which he could help the needy children. Since its inception in 1996 we have so far given Rs. 12,86,000/-. We are thankful to Rev. Prof. Ryojun Sato, Professor Emeritus, Taisho University for his generous help in continuing this fund.

Dharmapal Mahathera Welfare Fund

The Dharmapala Mahathera Welfare Fund was started by the Association to offer financial assistance to the families of the economically weak who have been in financial trouble due to natural calamities or in need of medical care and also to help the girls in their time of marriage as it is very difficult to get the daughters married due to financial constraints.