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Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Bangladesh, covering more than 8.2% 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. In nature, Bangladeshi Hinduism closely resembles the forms and customs of Hinduism practised in the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal, with which Bangladesh (at one time known as East Bengal) was united until the partition of India in 1947. 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'' or incarnation 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 (''shomaj''). Both use the language of earthly love to express communion with the divine. In both traditions, the Bengali language is the vehicle of a large corpus of mystical literature of great beauty and emotional impact. In Bangladeshi Hinduism ritual bathing, vows, and pilgrimages to sacred rivers, mountains, and shrines are common practice. An ordinary Hindu will worship at the shrines of Muslim ''pirs'', without being concerned with the religion to which that place is supposed to be affiliated. Hindus revere many holy men and ascetics conspicuous for their bodily mortifications. Some believe that they attain spiritual benefit merely by looking at a great holy man. The principle of ''ahimsa'' is expressed in almost universally observed rules against eating beef. By no means are all Bangladeshi Hindus vegetarians, but abstinence from all kinds of meat is regarded as a "higher" virtue. Brahmin (''Bram-mon'') or "Upper-caste" Bangladeshi Hindus, unlike their counterparts elsewhere in South Asia, ordinarily eat fish and chicken. This is similar to the Indian state of West Bengal, which has a similar climate to that of Bangladesh where Hindus also consume fish. ==Demographics== According to the 2001 census there are 11,379,000 Hindus in Bangladesh. 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 literature were far in excess of their numerical strength. In politics, they had traditionally supported the liberal and secular ideology of the Awami League and other left wing parties such as Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD). However, barring the fundamentalist Islamist parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, all the major political parties have fielded Hindu candidates. In the current Jatiyo Sangshad, out of 345 members, there are only 33 Hindus: 32 are from the Awami League, and 1 from the Jatiyo Party. 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 Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar (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 to India.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bangladesh: Wave of violent attacks against Hindu minority )〕 In present-day Bangladesh, Hindus became a minority only in mid-thirteenth century of the Gregorian Calendar. In 1941 the Hindus formed about 28% of the population, which declined to 22.05% in 1951, as rich and upper caste Hindus migrated to India after Partition of India in 1947. The wealthy Hindus who migrated lost their land and assets through the ''East Bengal Evacuee Act'' and the poor and middle-class Hindus that were left behind became targets of discrimination through new laws. At the outbreak of the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the ''Defense of Pakistan Ordinance'' and later the ''Enemy (Custody and Registration) Order II'', through which the Hindus were labelled as the "enemy" and their property expropriated by the state.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Door out of Dhaka Rema Nagarajan )〕 Since then, it has dropped by about half. Through a combination of mass exodus and genocide in the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities by the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War, this represents a loss of around 20 million Bangladeshi Hindus and their direct heirs, and reflects one of the largest displacements of population based on ethnic or religious identity in recent history. 1974 census of Bangladesh showed that the population of Hindus had fallen to 13.5%. Even after independence, the Hindus were branded "Indian stooges" and untrustworthy citizens.〔 A significant driver of Hindu emigration has been the Enemy Property Act, later renamed as the Vested Property Act, through which the Bangladesh Government has been able to appropriate the property of around 40% of the existing Bangladeshi Hindu population (according to Dr Abul Barkat of Dhaka University). A significant portion of the middle-class Hindu population left the region that is now Bangladesh immediately after the partition in 1947 when East Pakistan came into existence. Many of these East Bengali refugees went on to contribute actively to Indian society after their migration. In 1971, during the Liberation War of Bangladesh from Pakistan, a similar scenario happened. ''Source: Census of India 1941, Census of East Pakistan, Bangladesh Government Census'' Despite their dwindling numbers, Hindus still yield considerable influence because of their geographical concentration in certain regions. They form a majority of the electorate in at least two parliamentary constituencies (Khulna-1 and Gopalganj-3) and account for more than 25% in at least another twenty. For this reason, they are often the deciding factor in parliamentary elections where victory margins can be extremely narrow. It is also frequently alleged that this is a prime reason for many Hindus being prevented from voting in elections, either through intimidating actual voters, or through exclusion in voter list revisions (e.g., see ''Daily Star'', 4 January 2006). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hinduism in Bangladesh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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