Portal:Bangladesh

Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises ten 500-page volumes. The first edition was published in January 2003 by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, with a plan to update it every two years. The second edition was issued in 2012.

Banglapedia was not designed as a general encyclopedia but as a specialized encyclopedia on Bangladesh-related topics. For the encyclopedia's purposes, Bangladesh is defined as the territory comprising ancient Eastern India, Bengal Subah, Shahi Bangalah, Mughal Suba Bangla, Bengal Presidency, Bengal Province, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and the independent Bangladesh, in historical succession.

The encyclopedia's chief editor is Sirajul Islam. Over 1200 writers and specialists in Bangladesh and abroad helped create the entries. Banglapedia has over 5,700 entries in six editorial categories, each of which is overseen by an expert editor, as well as over 2,000 single and four-colour illustrations and 2,100 cross-references.

The project was funded by the Bangladeshi government, private sector organizations, academic institutes and UNESCO. Though its original budget was 800,000 taka (roughly US$10,000), the Asiatic Society eventually spent 80 million taka (roughly US$1 million) on the project. Despite controversies over entries on the Bangladesh Liberation War and indigenous people, both the Bengali and English versions became popular upon publication.

4 May 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

Cyclone Fani starts affecting Bangladesh, where over a million people have been evacuated from the storm's path. Authorities say the cyclone has killed at least five people in Bangladesh and damaged over a thousand homes. At least twelve people have been killed in total by the cyclone. (Reuters)

3 May 2019 – 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season

Cyclone Fani, an extremely severe category 4 storm and one of the strongest in recent years, makes landfall at the coastal town of Puri in the Indian state of Odisha. Eight people have been killed in India, according to the Press Trust of India, and hundreds more injured. Severe damage and flooding has been reported. One million Indians and 2.1 million Bangladeshis have been evacuated. A storm surge possibly up to 1.5m (5ft) is expected. The storm, weakening as it travels northeast through India, is expected to reach Chittagong in Bangladesh Saturday. (Reuters) (BBC)

28 March 2019 –

A fire breaks out in Dhaka, Bangladesh, at a 22-story tower, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 70 others. (BBC)

1 March 2019 – Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque tells the United Nations Security Council that his country will no longer accept Rohingya refugees fleeing violence across the border in Rakhine State, and accuses Myanmar of "hollow promises" regarding repatriation. (BBC)

24 February 2019 – Biman Bangladesh Airlines Flight 147

Bangladeshi special forces shoot and kill an armed man after he attempted to hijack a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight heading to Dubai International Airport. All 148 passengers and crew members disembarked safely. (BBC)

20 February 2019 – 2019 Dhaka fire

A fast-moving fire has swept through a historic district of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, killing at least 80 and wounding 50 others. (CNN)

Archive of old items

Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium

• ... that Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Kagiso Rabada are the bowlers to take 5 wickets on ODI debut at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium (pictured) making this the only venue where three bowlers have achieved this record?

• ... that in 2010, Bangladesh became only the second country after Malaysia, among the developing nations, to have successfully sequenced a plant genome?

• ...that boats crammed with people from both India and Bangladesh, flying the flags of their respective countries, converge on the Ichamati River, the international border, to immerse the idols after Durga Puja?

• ... that Bangladesh Games, the national multi-sport event of Bangladesh, was previously known as Bangladesh Olympic Championships?

• ...that Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh was also known as Jahangir Nagar?

• ...that the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, a Maoist group, took part in the Liberation War of Bangladesh but continued armed activities after the independence of the country?

• ...that the Bangladeshi musician and composer Samar Das, who composed over 2,000 songs and was the music director of over 50 films, also played a prominent role in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971?

• ... that the Bangladesh Police inherits much of its structure from the police of British India and contributes to U.N. peace-keeping missions?

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana (Bengali: অতীশ দীপঙ্কর শ্রীজ্ঞান; 982-1054 CE) was a Buddhist teacher from the Bengal region of old Indian territory who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma (Glang Darma).

The great Buddhist monk and scholar Atisha is most commonly said to have taken birth in the year 980 in Bikrampur, the northeastern region of Bengal (in modern day Bangladesh). Atisha was ordained into the Mahasamghika lineage at the age of twenty-eight by the Abbot Shilarakshita and studied almost all Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools of his time, including teachings from Vishnu, Shiva, Tantric Hinduism and other beliefs. Famous for his skills in teaching, debate and philosophy, Atisha was appointed to the position of steward, or abbot, at the venerable Buddhist college Vikramasila, established by the King Dharmapala of Bengal. When the Tibet king invited Atisha to visit Tibet to help revitalize Buddhism after its decline following ninth-century persecutions, Atisha accepted the offer. Atisha's arrival in Tibet was one of the seminal events of the "Second Diffusion" of Buddhism and his impact on the practice of Buddhism in the region was enormous.

Atisha remains an important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for several reasons. First, he refined, systematized, and compiled an innovative and thorough approach to bodhichitta known as "mind training" (Tib. lojong), in such texts as A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, and established the primacy of bodhichitta to the Mahayana tradition in Tibet. Second, after King Langdarma’s intolerant reign, the monastic Buddhist tradition of Tibet had been nearly wiped out. Atisha’s closest disciple, Dromtönpa, is considered the founder of the Kadam school, which later evolved into the Gelug, one of the four main school of Tibetan Buddhism. Finally, Atisha mobilized his influence in India towards the goal of reforming the impurities and redirecting the development of Buddhism there, in the native country of the Shakayumi Buddha. For these reasons and more, Atisha remains a central figure in the history and religious study of Buddhism. (more)