The Barua Buddhists

Download or read book The Barua Buddhists written by Aparna Chatterjee and published by Shhalaj Publishing House. This book was released on 2022-11-28 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where do the Baruas stand in Buddhist religious universe? Could they be categorized as Bengali Buddhists? Such intriguing questions are addressed headlong here and answers are ferreted out of the troves of history. A large swathe of these frankly devout people is now found settled in and around Siliguri town, a gateway to the North-Eastern hinterland. But their antecedents are immensely spectacular, yet problematic. As settlers, how far their religious moorings carry them through the alienated environs of a majoritarian Hindu society? How proficient they are in border maintenance and syncretism? This ethnographic study of Bengali Barua Buddhists gives the reader a critical insight into everyday sociological practices of these struggling survivors of an ancient religion.