page_title: Hinduism in Bangladesh
section_title: Hindu temples
hierarchical_section_title: Hinduism in Bangladesh / Hindu temples
caption_attribution_description: বাংলা: কান্তজির (কান্তনগর) মন্দির, দিনাজপুর, বাংলাদেশ English: Kantaji (Kantanagar) Temple Dinajpur Bangladesh
context_page_description: Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh, covering about 8.7% of the population, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics for 2011 Bangladesh census. In terms of population, Bangladesh is the third largest Hindu state in the world after India and Nepal. According to an estimate from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there were 17 million Hindus in Bangladesh as of 2015.
  In nature, Bangladeshi Hinduism closely resembles the forms and customs of Hinduism practised in the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal, with which Bangladesh was united until the partition of India in 1947. The vast majority of Hindus in Bangladesh are Bengali Hindus.
  The Goddess – 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 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.
context_section_description: Hindu temples and shrines are more or less distributed all across the country. The Kantaji Temple is an elegant example of an 18th-century temple. The most important temple in terms of prominence is the Dhakeshwari Temple, located in Dhaka. This temple along with other Hindu organizations arranges Durga Puja and Krishna Janmaashtami very prominently. The other main temples of Dhaka are the Ramakrishna Mission, Joy Kali Temple, Laxmi Narayan Mandir, Swami Bagh Temple and Siddheswari Kalimandir. The famous Ramna Kali Temple in Dhaka was destroyed by the Pakistani Army during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, and Bangladeshi Hindus have been actively petitioning successive governments since independence to rebuild the temple on the site, where a massacre of around 100 devotees also took place.
  Built in the early 19th century, Kal Bhairab Temple at Brahmanbaria holds the largest deity of Shiva in the country. Other notable Hindu temples and ashrams  of Bangladesh are Chandranath Temple, Adinath Temple, Sugandha, Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple, Pancha Ratna Govinda Temple, Bhabanipur Shaktipeeth, Chatteshwari Temple, Dhamrai Jagannath Rath, Puthia Temple Complex, Kantajew Temple, Comilla Jagannath Temple, Kaliyajeu Temple, Shri Shail, Bishwanath Temple, Boro Kali Bari Temple, Muktagacha Shiva Temple, Shyamsundar Temple, Chandrabati Temple, Lalmai Chandi Temple, Jorbangla Temple, Sonarang Twin Temples, Jagannath Temple, Pabna, Temple of King Kangsa Narayan, Barodi Lokenath Ashram, Sri Satyanarayan Seva Mandir, Sri Angan, Wahedpur Giri Dham, Ramkrishna Sevashram at Chittagong, Ram Thakur Ashram etc.
  Many Hindu temples have suffered from implementation of the Vested Property Act through which land and moveable property has been confiscated by agents acting on behalf of successive governments. Hindu temples are also high risk areas during communal disturbances (most recently in 1990, 1992 and 2001) when it has often been necessary to call the army to protect sensitive locations.
caption: Kantajew Temple in Dinajpur, Bangladesh
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