#banderban | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

globalchakmavoice-blog · 5 years

Text

Chakma history then and now

“CHAKMA”

ORIGIN OF THE CHAKMAS

Historians are also silent about the origin of the Chakmas or ancient Chakma history. There are no written historical references to the Chakmas before the 10th century A.D. From the 10th century A.D. Onwards, there are references to the existence of the Chakma people in the Burmese and Arakanese history. The accounts of Hutchinson, Capt. Lewin and others could not give proper light on the origin of the Chakmas. Their accounts also seem to be based on hearsay and manipulated histories as the Hindus tried to show the Chakmas as Hindoos and the Muslims as Mohamedans.

The Chakma history, called BIJOK also seems self-contradictory sometimes. However, all the writers exaggerated of the originality of their manuscripts and that the original manuscript was written in Chakma script Awjhapat (derived from Brahmi) on Palm Leaves which have been handed over to them by their elders stating those were recorded by their forefathers. The legendary folklore singers, Geingkulees also fail to give a consistent account of the origin of the Chakmas. All these historical accounts and the folk songs based on traditional beliefs which have been transmitted from generation to generation. However, all the writers of Bijok and GEINGKULEE singers mostly agree on the following points on the origins and history of the Chakmas that

1. Chakmas are Suryo Vangshi and Khattiya(Kshatriya or warrior clan in Sanskrit), 2. They are the descendants of the Sakyas, 3. Their original capital was Kalapnagar, 4. Their second capital was Champaknagar, 5. They conquered new land to the south-west of Champaknagar (Around 5th CE?) by crossing the river Lohita and named it KALABAGHA after the General. The capital of this new land was also named Champaknagar after the previous Capital. From this Champaknagar the prince and the Governor of Kalabagha, Bijoygiri led expedition against the MOGAL or Moghal (Mongol?) with the help of the Hosui Troops, provided by the King of Tripura.

During this expedition, Radha Mohan and Kunjha Dhan were his commanders and they conquered many countries which include the Magh, Kukis, Axas, Khyengs, Kanchana Desha, and other kingdoms making Chadigang(Present CHT and parts of present Tripura, Mizoram and Arakan) as their base. These expeditions said to have lasted for twelve years for Radha Mohan and Khunja Dhan. Receiving the news of conquering new lands by Radha Mohan and Khunja Dhan, Chakma Prince Bijoygiri went forward up to Safrai Valley to receive the commanders and returned back to Chadigang with them. Here, he learnt the news of his father’s death and of his younger brother ascending of throne. After seven days of mourning for his father, he decided not to return to the Kingdom but establish a new Kingdom at Safrai Valley. He also gave option to his men to return to the old Kingdom or live with him. Radha Mohan is said to have returned and Khunja Dhan remained with him. He also permitted his men to marry girls from the defeated Kingdom. He himself married an ARI girl and thus established a new Kingdom named RAMPUDI (Ramavati?) at the Safrai Valley. Afterwards, Kalabagha Kingdom was annexed by the Tripura King and communication with the old Champaknagar was totally cut off. The capital of the Chakma kingdom was later named Manijgir.

In 1333, Burmese king Mengdi or Minthi with the help of the Portuguese attacked Manijgir or Moisagiri through deceitful means and brought its downfall. He made King Arunjug his captive along with the subjects and settled them in different places. After a hard attempt a group of the Chakmas could somehow make a habitation at MONGZAMBROO. After sometime they had to flee again to CHOKKAIDAO of Kaladan due to unbearable atrocities of the Maghs (Chakmas refer Maghs to Burmese). From Chokkaidao, they sought permission for settlement in Bengal and Nawab Jalaluddin, the son of Raja Ganesh granted them settlement in twelve villages at Chadigang. It was only in 1418 they could flee to Bengal and settle in twelve places leaving behind the group of Doinaks and the followers of the second prince, in Burma. From these twelve villages, after many ups and downs, the Chakma Kingdom was established at Chittagong Hills Tract, which lasted there until the British transformed it into a mere Circle. Then unfortunately Chittagong Hill Tracts was awarded to Pakistan in 1947 during India’s independence, though there were 98% non-Muslims.

#Other names: Changma, Daingnet, Thet. Also Chakmas are classified in three main groups in their different circumstances in the history. They are 1. Anok (First group that migrated to present CHT in 5th-6th CE), 2. Tonchongya (Second group that migrated to CHT in 15th-16th CE. Also known as Ton-Nyongya by Anok Chakmas) 3. Doinak (Those Chakmas who remained in present Myanmar) #Language: Chakma (Indo-Aryan just like other Indian languages such as Pāli, Sanskrit, Hindi, Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali etc.) and almost all Chakmas are multi-lingual. They speak more than 2 languages in average. All Indian Chakmas speak Chakma, Hindi, Assamese, English while CHT Chakmas speak Chakma, Bengali, Hindi, English and Myanmar Chakmas speak Chakma, Rakhine, Burmese. #Literacy: Approximately 65%-80% (Combined India, Myanmar and Bangladesh). Those in overseas are 100% literates. #Ethnicity: Tibeto-Burman #Anthropology: Mongoloid #Script: Chakma Script Awjhapat #Religion: Theravada Buddhism #Native Countries: India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. #Overseas Diaspora: USA, Canada, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, UK, Singapore, Malaysia. #Worldwide Population: 0.8 million.

1. India: 300,000-350,000 (In Northeast India) Tripura: 92,000-100,000 (Their main concentration in Tripura could be located at Belonia, Subroom and Amarpur in South Tripura, Dhalai and North Tripura District at Chamanu, Gandacherra, Kanchanpur, Machmara, Unakoti district, Agartala and other parts of the state. )

Mizoram: 96,000-100,00 (Chakma Autonomous District Council territory and nearby regions)

Arunachal Pradesh: 60,000-70,000 ( Changlang, Papumpare, and Namsai in these three districts respectively of Arunachal Pradesh)

Assam: 20,000-30,000 ( In the Langsilet area of Karbi-Anglang and north Cachar Hills districts and Cachar districts of Assam)

Meghalaya: 500-1000 West Bengal: 500-1000 New Delhi: 200-600 Banglore: 100-500 Maharashtra: 100-200 (Mumbai, Nagpur)

2. Bangladesh: 450,000 (Mostly in Three Hill districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts:- Rangamati, Khagrachari, Banderban)

3. Myanmar: 80,000-90,000 (In Rakhine State)

4. Overseas: 3000-4000 USA: 300-500

Canada: 200-400

Australia: 300-500

UK: 50-100

France: 500-1000

South Korea: 100-400

Japan: 50-150

Singapore: 20-50

Malaysia: 50-100

(Comment below if you have any inquiries, opinions, or anything for discussion)

Chakmas are Indians in mind, in body, in thoughts, in linguistic sense, in cultural value, in religious value. Chakmas are the only community that followed Buddhist since their known history. Chakma is the only Tibeto-Burman ethnic tribe that speak Indian IndoAryan unlike other Northeasteen tribes who speak migrant languages from China, Tibet, Myanmar. Their migration root started from ancient India and Himalayan territory, then migrated to Myanmar via Kamarupa(old name of Assam), in Myanmar they are the ancient Indian descendents with Indo-Aryan language being Tibeto-Burman ethnic group and known as Thet who are descendents of Buddha's Sakya clan of Himalaya, and again due to various political, geographical reasons, they were pushed back to Arakan and CHT, Tripura, Mizoram, Assam at modern time. And again group of them were taken to Arunachal Pradesh by Indian government in 1964.

British ignored Chakma because they didn't embrace their Christianity. And instead being part of Northeast India, CHT was given to Pakistan in 1947. On the other hand, whoever embraced and converted Christianity got a territory or a separate state divided by British. As an example, now Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and many tribes in Northeast India and even Bangladesh and Myanmar were converted to Christianity by British Missionary and that plot is still going on.

Chakmas remained with Indian origin Buddhism because they are devoted to their Sakya root of Buddha and India.

References: 1. Literacy rate of Mizoram Chakmas is only 46.38% compared to 91.33% state's literacy (as per 2011 Census). https://www.cadc.gov.in/cadc-at-a-glance/

2. Literacy rate of Tripura Chakmas is only 47.6% compared to 87.75% state's literacy (as per 2001 Census). http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_tripura.pdf

3. Literacy rate of Arunachal Pradesh Chakmas is only 43.72% compared to 66.95% state's literacy (as per 2011 Census). https://www.census2011.co.in/data/village/266516-chakma-i-arunachal-pradesh.html

4. Literacy rate of CHT Chakmas is 89% compared to 72.89% country's literacy (as per Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2001). http://krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-19-0-000-09-Web/JSS-19-3-000-09-Abst-PDF/JSS-19-3-219-2009-686-Mondal-N-I/JSS-19-3-219-2009-686-Mondal-N-I-Tt.pdf

5. Literacy rate of Assam Chakmas is the worse only 22.4% compared to 72.19% state’s literacy (as per 2011 census) https://tribal.nic.in/ST/ListofScheduledTribes(STs)withVerylowliteracyrate.pdf

6. Literacy rate of Myanmar Chakmas wouldn’t be that better too as only few of them were able to complete graduation due to lack of facilities, poverty and accommodation.

7. Chakma Autonomous District Council https://www.cadc.gov.in/the-chakma-people/

8. Tribal research and cultural institute https://trci.tripura.gov.in/chakma

9. Brittanica Dictionary: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chakma

10. Joshuaproject website https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/11293/IN

11. Voice Of Jummaland http://voiceofjummaland.blogspot.com/

12. CHAKMA – AN ANCIENT TRIBE IN A MODERN WORLD https://www.bangladesh.com/blog/chakma-an-ancient-tribe-in-a-modern-world/

0 notes