Venerable Kripsaran :

Epitome of Indian Buddhist revival

Rohan L. Jayetilleke

‘ Ven. Kripsaran (1865-1927) was not bent on accolades or flowers, but was determined to take the tears off the long suffering Buddhists. He with the begging bowl went to the richest, field owners, governors and even paupers and all helped him according to their own standing’

For centuries past Buddhism in India suffered immensely on account of obstructions imposed by orthodox Brahamanas and later in 712 AD, a young boy of 17 years, named Muhammad Bin Qasim, joined Sindh and stormed the city of Mult with giant catapults, stone slings and poisoned arrows and Sindh passed on to the Arabs Sindh for 300 years. About this time a Muslim ruler called Mahmud ruled Ghazini in Afghanistan.

He knew of India’s great wealth and his only desire was to obtaining the riches of India. Between A D 1000 and 1026 he raided India 17 times. On the each occasion Rajputs of Rajasthan failed to stop him.

His soldiers were good horsemen and fierce fighters. On every visit they destroyed the Buddhist Viharas and carried back cart loads of gold and jewels. Even famous shrine Somnath in Kathiawar then holiest and richest shrine of Hindus was not saved. Most of the wealth was used in building mosques and, libraries in Ghanzani, under the misconception all that he was doing was for the good of Islam.

The magnificient gates of the shrine were taken out and carried off to Ghazani and set up in Mahmud’s palace. Then in A D 1191 another Turkish invader called Muhammad of Ghor invaded India. He too destroyed mostly the Buddhist shrines. With the Mughals capturing Delhi, the worst was get to come. In fact the Nalanda University (Bihar State) with stirred ibraries and monasteries and granaries were torched and 1500 monk teachers and 15,000 student monks of the university were killed.

Previously in the third century B C Emperor Asoka (269-232 BC) invaded Kalinga an independent kingdom on the North-Eastern sea board, in order to gain control of the sea port of Puri (new Paradjur) as the Asoka Empire was land - locked and without a harbour.

In his eighth reignal year he took 150,000 people as prisoners-of-war, killed 100,000 people and devastated the entire Kalinga kingdom.

This war was on the bank of the Daya river. Having met the novice monk Nigrodha and through with the Mahathera Upagupta, (Maha Moggaliputta Tissa, who chaired the Third Buddhist Council) embraced Buddhism and became remorseful of his genocidal war and set up his Rock Inscription at Dhauli in Kalinga.

He felt miserable over his misdeeds and was turning over a new leaf as a Righteous Buddhist king. He built 84,000 stupas, all over India, having opened seven of the eight stupas that had enshrined Buddha’s Sacred Relics and the eighth stupa which was at Ramgan in Nepal, under the care of Naga kings who did not yield to the request of Asoka to permit him to open the stupa.

This was the Buddhist heritage of India that was destroyed by the Muslim invaders from Afghanistan. The present genocidal war in Afghanistan is certainly the ‘Ditta Dhamma Vedaniya Kamma’ (Karmic effects in this life itself).

Amidst the Brahmanic opposition to Buddhism, Ven. Kripsaran was born in the village of Unainepura, in the district of Chittagong, (meaning hill of Chaityas) the then undivided India (now in Bangladesh) on 22nd June 1865 in the pious Buddhist family of Ananda Kumar Barua, his father and Aradhana Barua, his mother’s parents were devout Buddhists despite being illiterate but inspired their children to be devoted Buddhists.

When Kripsaran’s father passed away, in order to keep the family fires aglow, Kripsaran had to engage himself in manual labour. At the age of sixteen Kripsaran was ordained as a bhikkhu by the renowned monk Ven. Sudanchandra Mahathera of Unainpura, who was inspired by young Kripsaran’s calm and quiet temperament and reflective stance.

During his period as a novice, the preceptor trained him in Vinaya and Dhamma. Within a few months Kripsaran became one of the best among the rest of the novices.

At age 20, in 1885, he was granted upasampada (higher ordination) under the precentorship of Ven. Acharya Purnachar and was given the bhikkhu name Chandramohan, he came to be known as Kripsaran, the name given by his parents.

Prior to this period Bengal Buddhism was an amalgam of trantricism and superstition and the monks had divested from the Vinaya laid down. Ven Saramedha Maha Thera, the first Sangharaja of Rangoon (Burma) came to Bengal to redeem Buddhism from these trantric and superstitious beliefs. He toured backward areas with Acharya Purnachar Dharmadhary Chandramohan Maha Thera.

The Queen Kalandi of Rangamati patronized Saramedha in these difficult tours. On the departure of Saramedha to Burma, it was left to Achatya Purnachar the arduous task of purifying the Sangha and Dhamma practices. However, Saramedha would visited Bengal from time to time to monitor the work done by the Acharya.

Acharya Purnachar on his pilgrimage to Buddha Gaya, the place of Enlightenment, Deer Park, Saranath, Varanasi, the place where the first dicourse was delivered by the Buddha and Kusinara, the location of the Maha Parinirvana and in this pilgrimage of 1885 be brought with him young Kripsaran, which proved to be the turning point in the career of young Kripsaran. Having seen the places in utter neglect Kripsaran was inspired to devote his life to give back to the world what the greatest son of India ever Gautama Buddha gave to the world in the 6th century BC.

Standing under the Sri Maha Bodhi tree at Buddha Gaya, Ven Kripsaran made a silent resolve to dedicate his life to Buddhism in India. On his return from the pilgrimage he lost mother Aradhana Barua. Kripsaran was now 21 years of age and arrived at Calcutta and built a residence at the Mahanagar Vihara at Bow Street, which was in a rented building used by a few hundred local Buddhists, who had migrated to this city to earn their living performing different jobs.

Calcutta was the British capital of India then. There was a certain segment of intelligence too in the city. Kripsaran commenced his task with a group of Buddhist workers and he was ridiculed by the Hindus, saying Kripsaran is swimming against the gigantic waves. However, with the bare necessities of life, Kripsaran continued with utmost fortitude to reach his life’s ambitious goal.

There is a Bengal saying “OHOOL NEBONA, ASHRU NEBO” meaning I will not take your flowers, I will take your tears. Ven. Kripsaran was not bent on accolades or flowers, but was determined to take the tears off the long suffering Buddhists in India, through Muslim persecutions and marginalization by the orthodox Hindus. The golden day dawned in Bengal on the 5th day of October 1892. The Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha (The Bengal Buddhist Association) was established by him to be the means to his life-committed end.

With the establishment of association the construction of a Vihara and a Rest House for pilgrims commenced. Kripsaran with the begging bowl went to the richest, field owners, governors and even paupers and all helped him according to their own standing.

In 1900 he purchased land in Calcutta for the Dharmankur Vihara. It took him eight years to purchase this land. With the Vihara established at Calcutta in order to reach a larger spectrum of Buddhists he established many branches of the Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha all over India.

Even in Chittagong he established the Sakpura Bauddha Balak Samity in 1908, Salbaria Mahila Sammelani in 1917 for women devotees. He also undertook the reconstruction the Noapara Vihara in 1913, Unainepura 1921 and Rangamati in 1921.

The ground floor of the Dharmankur Vihara was completed in 1903. At the age of 37 he was conferred the title of Mahathera by the Sangha at the Sakyamuni Vihara in Chakma kingdom. This Chakma, is a part of Shakya, of the Shakyans who migrated from Magadhadesha and it is the present Chittagong Hill Tracts (now in Bangladesh, where Buddhists are being severely persecuted by the majority Muslims and the Islamic Government of Bangladesh.) It was from here that the sacred hair relics of the Buddha were donated to Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara Mahathera, the chief incumbent of Gangarama, Hunupitiya Colombo.

The young monks of the contemporary India gravitated to Ven Kripsaran to join him in his laudable adventure of revival of Buddhism in India. scholar Ven. Gunalankar Mahathera, came to Calcutta in 1903 and worked for the Dharmankur Sabha.

The Hindu Swami Purananda became a samanera under Kripsaran in 1903, who later became the renowned scholar and Professor of the Calcutta University in 1907. Bhikkhu Kalikumar joined Kripsaran and built the Bodhisatva Vihara in Lucknow. In the year 1920, a Hindu Sanyasi (wandering ascetic) Sibananda Bhrati too was ordained under Kripsaran at Lucknow under the name Prajnanda Bhikkhu, who too became a scholar of great repute.

To be continued