Published: 12:17 AM, 09 May 2026
Art Exhibition Marking Buddha’s Spiritual Enlightenment inaugurated in Alliance Francaise
An art exhibition and a cultural soiree were held in Alliance Francaise at Dhanmondi in Dhaka city on 28 April 2026. It was hosted by Buddha of Bengal: Our Sacred Community. The event brought about an outstanding confluence of senior and young artists. The program aimed at paying homage to the spiritual legacy and enlightenment of Buddha and coincidentally the holy Buddha Purnima was celebrated on the same day. 91 artworks were displayed at the exhibition underscoring lofty themes like interreligious harmony, kinship with nature and the interconnectivity among human beings from all walks of life irrespectively.
A total of 80 Bangladeshi painters contributed to this exhibition. Students and faculty members from University of Dhaka, University of Chittagong, Jahangirnagar University, Khulna University, Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts and art enthusiasts from Yunnan Art University, China made the program an illuminated one. The best painters will be awarded and prize money ranging from BDT 35,000/- to BDT 80,000/- will be paid to the winners.
Dr. Malay Bala, Professor of Department of Oriental Art, University of Dhaka and Curator of the exhibition Mikhail Idris spoke on the occasion. Director of Alliance Francaise, M. Francois Chambraud gave the welcome speech at the inaugural ceremony.
Buddhist theology lays emphasis on loving all creatures on earth. Gautam Buddha’s life and works illustrate the monumental form of dedication he had for the establishment of peace, fraternity and humanistic values. Gautam Buddha’s lessons on philanthropy and altruism heavily influenced the American Age of Enlightenment and the English Romantic Movement in which equity and justice for all was stressed resembling Gautam Buddha’s universal precepts. Gautam Buddha once said “Three things cannot be hidden for long—the sun, the moon and the truth”. In alignment with this epistle, Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his autobiography “I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth, justice and nonviolence are as old as the hills”.
Gautam Buddha’s devotion for the prevalence of truth and amity is reflected through the ancient proverb “Amor Vincit Omnia” which means “Love conquers everything”. The lessons of reciprocal honour and cross-ideological affinity arising from Gautam Buddha’s discourses have perpetual significance in human life.
While the term Buddha is used in the Agamas and the Pali Canon, the oldest surviving written records of the term Buddha is from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, when several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 269–232 BCE) mentioned the words Buddha and Buddhism. Today we are craving for messages of brotherly bonds and embracing each other with love and dignity while this timeless appeal came from Gautam Buddha’s tutelage thousands of years ago.
Nobel Prize winner German author Hermann Hesse’s classical book Siddhartha depicted the biography of Gautam Buddha in a moving portrayal. The word Buddha means “Awakening”. Gautam Buddha’s thoughts and visions teach us to be all the more respectful and tolerant to the views and beliefs of people from all religious backgrounds and to never ever hold antagonism to anyone. While concluding, a few words from famed French philosopher Francois Voltaire can be quoted “I can disapprove of what you say but I will give away my life to defend your right to say it”.
May Gautam Buddha’s benevolent endowments light up the pathways ahead of us and dispel all darkness of ignorance and animosity.
Mahfuz Ul Hasib Chowdhury is a contributor to
different English newspapers and magazines.
