New Salban Vihara and Prayer Hall

To carry out the religious activities of the Bangladesh Buddhist Cultural Academy, we have built a Buddhist monastery on Plot 1, to the west of the historic Salban Vihara, which has stood the test of time. The name and architecture of the new monastery draw on the ancient Salban Vihara, and we named it New Salban Vihara. We want future generations to come here and learn the glorious story of their ancestors, which is written into every brick of the ancient Salban Vihara’s walls.

Once it was unimaginable that a community of monks, successors of Acharya Shantarakshita and Pandit Shilabhadra, would walk this ground again, and that from dawn to dusk the air would ring with the Three Refuges: Buddham saranam gacchami, Dhammam saranam gacchami, Sangham saranam gacchami. New Salban Vihara is the fruit of the tireless work and wisdom of Srimat Shilabhadra Mahathero, one of the founders of YMBA.

On 8 September 1995, Cumilla’s own Lt Colonel (Retd.) Akbar Hossain, Bir Protik, MP, then Minister for Environment and Forests, laid the foundation stone together with the Most Venerable Jyotipal Mahathero, at a ceremony held in a religious atmosphere with hundreds of Buddhist devotees. Speaking as chief guest, he said that the ruins of the Buddhist viharas around the venue are the legacy of the Buddhist people of the country, and that the Bengali language, literature and culture emerged from these institutions. He also hoped that the Buddhist community would continue to work for the welfare of humanity and keep communal peace and harmony in the region, following the great Gautama Buddha. We have tried our best to carry out his vision.

Today the holy courtyard of New Salban Vihara is beautifully arranged for devotees, and it has become a special place for pilgrims and tourists from home and abroad.