Chakma people edit
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Chakma people edit
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| Chakma |
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| Total population |
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0.7 million |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Majority populations in Bangladesh and India
In Bangladesh the Chakma's reside in the Chittagong Hill Tracts area. Mostly found in the following Indian states: Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura |
| Languages |
| Changma or Chakma |
| Religion |
| Theravada Buddhism |
The Chakma (চাকমা), also known as the Changma (চাংমা), are a community inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, and India. History says that people of Chakma origin (called দৈংনাক Doingnak) are living in Burma, where they are known as Sak/Thet or Thek. It is said that they were taken by the Arakan king after a war with the Chakma king. A tribal group called Tangchangya (তঞ্চংগ্যা) are also considered to be a branch of the Chakma people.
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Ethnically, the Chakmas are Tibeto-Burman, and are thus closely related to tribes in the in the foothills of Himalayas. Their ancestors came from the Magadha Kingdom (now Bihar, India) to settle in Arakan and most of them later moved to Bangladesh known as Cox's Bazar, Korpos Mohol and Tega-Toyong-Borgang area of present Mizoram. The Chakmas were historically the rulers of Chittagong Hill Tracts under the control of a king. Today, however, the power of the Chakma king, Raja Debashish Roy, is merely symbolic.
Before the emergence of British East India company in the 18th Century, the Chakmas had been in series of wars with the Mughals for the coveted port of Chittagong. After British East India company defeated the Mughals, the East India Company tried to acquire Chittagong. Chakmas fought with the British East India Company for 10 years and finally signed a peace treaty with British in 1786.
Like in India,the Chakmas have lived in the modern state of Bangladesh much before it gained its independence. However, recent migrations of ethnic Bengalis into traditionally Chakma regions of Bangladesh, then Chakma Kingdom have raised tensions in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Successive governments have used a brutal iron fist to deal with Chakma uprisings, interrupted by short-lived ceasefires, and finally ended the conflict with The 1997 Peace Treaty. The only seat of political power & identity is known as CADC(Chakma Autonomous District Counsil) under the India, though it merely covers 35% of the Chakmas living in Mizoram State.
The vast majority of the Chakma are followers of Theravada Buddhism, a religion that they have been practising for centuries. Of late, reports surfaced that several foreign and local missionaries have been trying to convert the Chakmas in to Christianity without success. This created resentment and upset among some Chakmas.12
Originally speaking a language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family, some of the Chakmas have been influenced by neighboring Chittagonian, an Eastern Indo-Aryan language closely related to Bengali. Many linguists now consider the modern Chakma language (known as Changma Vaj or Changma Kodha) part of the Southeastern Bengali branch of Eastern Indo-Aryan language. Changma Vaj is written in its own script, known as Ojhapatt.Chakma language is written in an alphabet which allowing for its cursive form, is almost identical with the Khmer character , which was formerly in use in Cambodia, Laos, Siam and atlast Souhern parts of Burma.
The Chakma's are a people with their own culture, folklore, literature,traditions.The Chakma women wear an ankle length cloth around the waist which is also called phinon and also a hadi wrapped above the waist.The phinon and the khadi are colourfully hand weaved with various designs, the whole designs being first embroided on a piece of cloth known as alam.