golden temple banderban bangladesh

Golden Temple Bandarban Bangladesh

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Buddha Dhatu Jadi

The Buddha Dhatu Jadi also known as the Bandarban Golden Temple is located close to Balaghata town, in Bandarban City, in Bangladesh. Dhatu means material remains of a holy person and in this temple the relics belong to Buddha. It is the largest Theravada Buddhist Temple with the second largest Buddha statue in Bangladesh

The Bandaban Golden Temple belongs to the Theravada Buddhism order, which is practiced by the Marma tribal people, a dominant ethnic group of Bandarban. It was built in 2000 in Arakanese architecture, an adoption of South East Asia style.
Geography
The Buddhist temple is known in local language as kyang. It is located in the remoteBandarban Hill District in South-Eastern Bangladesh, which is part of the Chittagong Division of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The temple is ensconced in the hill town of Bandarban, which has two of the highest peaks with rolling hills, namely, the Tajingdong (4,000 feet (1,200 m)) and the Keokeradong (4,632 feet (1,412 m)) covered with dense forests with lush vegetation. Sangu river flows through the town. There is also a waterfall nearby. The temple is built on top of a 60 metres (200 ft) high hill, which is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the Balaghat town, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Banderban city. Chittagong, known as a "picturesque part of Bangladesh that is referred to as the rooftop of the country", is about 92 kilometres (57 mi) away. Within the Bandarban town, the notable structures are the Tribal Cultural Institute and a Museum.[1][2][4][5] There is also a lake on the hill known as the Debota Pukur (meaning:"pond of the God").

History
Bandarban has a large ethnic population of Buddhists. Buddhism is practiced by a small percentage of 0.7 in Bangladesh which is predominantly an Islamic country. Buddhism is the third largest religion in Bangladesh and the practice is of Theravada Buddhism; most Buddhists are from the south-eastern district of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In Bangladesh, the Theravada Buddhism, now practiced as "Sangharaj Nikaya", was introduced in the late 19th century, replacing many of the old forms of Buddhism practiced till then. The credit for this is given to Ven. Saramedha, known popularly as "Sangharaj".[9]

The ethnic population of the town belongs mostly to Marma, a tribal group of the Chittagong hill region on the eastern end of the country, also known as Magh. They are of Arakan descent and Buddhists by religion, and are the second largest ethnic tribal group in the hill districts of Bangladesh.

Ven. U Pannya Jota Thera is the founder and chief priest of the temple. He belongs to Royal Bohmong family of Bandarban. He is a Theravada monk since 1991. He had served the Government of Bangladesh for 8 years as a Senior Assistant Judge. The Buddha’s Dhatu (relic), which is enshrined in the temple, was a gift given to Ven. U Pannya Jota Thera in 1994 by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee of Myanmar.