Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi Hinduism closely resembles the forms and customs of Hinduism practised in neighbouring West Bengal, with which Bangladesh was united until the partition of India in 1947.

Deities and other religious aspects

The Goddess (Devi) – usually venerated as Durga or Kali – is widely revered, often alongside her consort Shiva. The worship of Shiva has generally found adherents among the higher castes in Bangladesh. Worship of Vishnu (typically in the form of his avatars Rama or Krishna) more explicitly cuts across caste lines by teaching the fundamental oneness of humankind in spirit. Vishnu worship in Bengal expresses the union of the male and female principles in a tradition of love and devotion. This form of Hindu belief and the Sufi tradition of Islam have influenced and interacted with each other in Bengal. Both were popular mystical movements emphasizing the personal relationship of religious leader and disciple instead of the dry stereotypes of the brahmins or the ulama. As in Bengali Islamic practice, worship of Vishnu frequently occurs in a small devotional society (samaj). Both use the language of earthly love to express communion with the divine. In both traditions, the Bangla language is the vehicle of a large corpus of erotic and mystical literature of great beauty and emotional impact.

Bangladeshi Hinduism admits worship of spirits and patron deities of rivers, mountains, vegetation, animals, stones, or disease. Ritual bathing, vows, and

The principle of ahimsa is expressed in almost universally observed rules against eating beef. By no means all Bangladeshi Hindus are vegetarians, but abstinence from all kinds of meat is regarded as a "higher" virtue. High-caste Bangladeshi Hindus, unlike their counterparts elsewhere in South Asia, ordinarily eat fish.

Demographics

Hindus in Bangladesh in the late 1980s were almost evenly distributed in all regions, with concentrations in Chittagong, Khulna, Jessore, Dinajpur, Faridpur, and Barisal. The contributions of Hindus in arts and letters were far in excess of their numerical strength. In politics, they had traditionally supported the liberal and secular ideology of the Awami League. Hindu institutions and places of worship received assistance through the Bangladesh Hindu Kalyan Trust (Bangladesh Hindu Welfare Trust), which was sponsored by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Government-sponsored television and radio broadcast readings and interpretations of Hindu scriptures and prayers.

Since the rise of more explicitly Islamist political formations in Bangladesh during the 1990s, many Hindus have been intimidated or attacked, and fairly substantial numbers are leaving the country.

Hindu Temples

Hindu temples are more or less distributed all across the country. The Kantaji Temple is an elegant example of a 18th century temple. The most prominent temple in recent times is the Dhakeshwari Temple, located in Dhaka. This temple along with other Hindu organizations arrange Krishna Janmaashtami very prominently.

Issues in the Community

Hindu community has many similar

These Islamists sects have always been persecuting the Hindus right after the creation of Pakistan. Because Pakistani government endorsed Islamists, the Hindus directly faced state sponsored persecutions during that time. However, during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the Hindus and Muslims united under one banner to liberate the nation. Therefore, in the starting state, the Hindus and Muslims were living quite happily. The situation started to become worse as Ziaur Rahman and other rightwing groups tried to Islamize in order to destroy strong political oppositions in the country. In their initiative in Islamizations, a lot of power was given to the Islamic fundamentalists sects while isolating the secularits and Hindus.

Hindus were first attacked in mass on 1992 by the Islamic fundamentalists. More than 200 temples were destroyed and many were raped and killed; the events are widely seen as a repurcussion against the razing of the Babri Mosque in India. Taslima Nasrin wrote her novel Lajja (The Shame) based on this persecution of Hindus by Islamic extremists. The novel centers around the suffering of the patriotic anti-Indian and pro-Communist Datta family, where the daughter gets raped and killed while financially they end up losing everything.

After the election of 2001, many Hindus and liberal secularist Muslims were attacked by a section of the governing regime. Girls such as 14-year-old Purnima was raped allegedly by the members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (the governing party), but rapists were not prosecuted. Intellectuals such as Gopal Krishna Muhuri also killed by the members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. According to the human rights organizations, around 200 women were raped and 1000 people were killed.

The fundamentalists often portray Hindus as being sympathetic to India, and transferring economic resources to India. Also, the right wing parties claim the Hindus to be backing the Awami League.

After recent bombings in Bangladesh by the Islamic fundamentalists, the government has taken steps to strengthen the security during various minority celebrations.

See also

• Islam in Bangladesh
• Christianity in Bangladesh
• Buddhism in Bangladesh
• Hinduism by country

This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Study on Bangladesh.