The hilly region comprising of three hill districts viz: Rangamati, Bandorban and Khagrachari

The Chittagon Hill Tracts (CHT)
Indigenous People and Culture

Introduction:
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), covers an area of 13,190.17 square kilometers (5,093 square miles), constituting about one tenth of the landmass of the country, is the southeastern part of Bangladesh. From the time immemorial the CHT have been the home of 11 indigenous ethnic indigenous minority groups. They collectively identify themselves as the Jumma people, the first peoples of the CHT. They are Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Mro, Lushai, Khumi, Chak, khyang, Bawm and Pankhua. The Jumma people are distinct and different from the majority Bengali population of Bangladesh in respect of race, language, culture, religion and ethnicity. The introduction of different minority indigenous people in the CHT is given below:

The Indigenous People in the Chittagong Hill Tracts:
The Chakma:
The Chakma is the largest ethinc minority group in Bangladesh. Although Bengalis number more than Chakma in the CHT, there are more Chakma in the CHT than all the other Indigenous peoples put together. A large number of Chakma also live scattered about in the states of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in India. They are estimated to number about 150,000. Besides, a small number of Chakma also live in Cox’s Bazar district and in Myanmar. According to the census of 19991, the total number of Chakma in the CHT was 239,417. It is unlikely that the 19991 Census accounted for the more than 50,000 refugees from the CHT were in refugee camps in India. The vast majority of these refugees is Chakma. Even otherwise, many indigenous groups in the country believe that their number is actually far higher than is recorded in the official government estimates. It is not know how far this belief is true, but there is no doubt that the actual number of Chakma who are residents of the CHT is far higher than the figure recorded in the Census Report of 1991.

The Chakma language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and has close links with Pali, Assamese and Bengali. The Chakma have their own script in wich their ancient religious litarature is preserved in palm leaves. The script has similarities with Mon Khmer and Burmese. Although many elderly Chakma still sign their names in the Chakma script, most Chakma youths no longer use the script. At school, the Chakma study in Bengali and in English. The Chakma have perhaps proved to be the most adaptive and innovative of all the indigenous peoples of the CHT. By nature, most Chakma are down-to-earth and socially shy, but nevertheless romantic, although they will seldom admit it. The head of Chakma society is the Chakma Chife who is descended from the general who led the resistance movement against the British East India Company’s forces in the 1770s.

The Chakma have been followers of Gautama Buddha for long but the Chakma brand of Buddhism always had room for indigenous gods and spirits, including some from the Hindu pantheon. Today, the Chakma are almost 100% Theravada Buddhist.

The Marma:
The Marma is the second largest indigenous ethnic group in the CHT.They have been Theravadan Buddhists, like the Burmese, Thai and Sri Lankan, for many centuries. The Marma have their own script and speak a language which is almost identical to that of the Rakhine or Rakhaing of Cox’s Bazar and Patuakhali districts in Bangladesh and Arakan stats in Myanmar(Burma).The 1991 census puts the total number of Marma in the CHT as 142,334;59,228 in Bandarban , 42,178 in Khagrachari and 40,868 in Rangamati.

The Marmas are great lovers of music and drama. Before the advent of the cinema and television throngs of Marma youth in their best attire would pass the better part of a night watching folk dances and operatic performances.The Marmas are very fond of fairs. They have the peculiar knack of converting even their religious festivals into occasions of fun and gaiety. Traditionally, both men and women are fond of smoking pipes and cigars, all locally made. Rice beer or distilled rice spirits are very popular among the men. Among the Marma, there are both swidden agriculturists and sedentary rice farmers. Of the hill peoples of the region the Marma usually make the best traders although the Chakma are also trying hard to become retail traders. The Marma language is soft and poetic and even people who do not understand Marma love to hart marma songs.
The Marma in the southern CHT, including all of Bandarban, owe traditional loyalty to the Bohmong Chiea, Bohmongri who traces his lineage from Burmese generals. The Bohmong is the supreme arbiter on the personal laws of the indigenous peoples in his territory.

Today, apart from farmers, many Marma are traders, service-people and professionals such as doctors, engineers, etc. As with the Tripura and other peoples speaking a Tibeto-Burman tongue, The Marma also start out with a disadvantage with the medium of instruction in schools being in the Bengali language. Introduction of primary education in the Marma language is believed to be a necessary step for the progress of education among the Marma. They have a beautiful language. It certainly deserves official recognition.

The Tripura:
The Tripura, most tripura call themselves Tipra, the Tripura have about 36 sub- groups or dafas,the most well known of which are the Fatung, Jamatia, Nationg,Noatia, Ryang and Usui. The Tripura language belongs to the Bodo branch of the tibeto-Burman family of languages. Although many Tripura follow their own gods, They also venerate such tindu gods and goddesses as Lakshmi, Ganga, Sartaswati, Kali and Shiva.

According to the Census of 1991, the total number of Tripura in the CHT was 61,129 out of which more tham three quarters lived in the Khagrachari district alone, bordering Tripura state of India. There are more than half a million Tripura in Tripura State, India. A very small number of Tripura also live in the districts of chittagong, Comilla, Noakhali. Before they were marginalized from their lands, a significant number of Tripura used to live in these districts. Like the Tanchangya, the Tripura too were traditionally swidden cultivators although they have now diversified into many occupations. The Tripura have many university graduates nowadays, but their language is so different from Bengali that they face Disadvantages in studying in Bengali from their earliest years. The introduction of primary education in the Tripura Language will most likely lead to a vast improvement in the rate of literacy of the Tripura.

The Tanchangya:
Most of the Tanchangya live on the borders between the Rangamati and chittagong districts and between the borders of the Rangamati and Bandarban districts. A small number of Tanchangya also live in Cox’s Bazar district. The Tanchangya are in number 19, 221 in the CHT according to the Census of 1991. In Arakanese, the word “Taung” or “Tong” means hill and “Taungya” means hilltop swidden cultivation know locally as jum. The word Tanchangya or Tanchangya is believed to mean hill swidden farmer. The Tanchangya are traditionally Buddhist.

Despite the fact that the Tanchangya are known traditionally to be swidden farmers, they were in factone of the first of the CHT peoples to take up wet- rice cultivation by the plough in lieu of swidden cultivation. Today, there are many Tanchangya graduates, both men and women, holding private and government jobs.

The Tanchangya are known to be very romantic and artistic. They traditionally attired Tanchangya women will always wear her turban that Chakma women used to a generation or two ago, and the pattern on the border or her homespun skirt will usually be far more intricate than the Chakma skrit. It is said that in many cases the Tanchangya groom is younger than his bride. This was common until about a few decades ago. The Tanchangya are very musical. Love and romance are therefore never far away.

The Khumi:
The Khumis maintain that in their khumi language kha means man and mi means best race. They are therefore “Khumis” i. e. The best human race (Sattar 984:336). (Lewin 1869:88) on the other hand tells us that in the arakanese language “Khe” means “dog” and “Mi” is race the Khumis therefore are the dog race. Dog is a favorite item of food of the Khumis, so they might have derived this name from this (Bernot 1964:166). According to their oral tradition human kind owes its creation to a dog. Dog was the first creation, and it had saved humans from total annihilation, They accordingly pay homage to it. In 1869 their population was 2000. They owed their allegiance to the Marma Bohmang chief and paid a yearly tribute to him through their village headman (Lewin 1869:87-88). They head come to the hills of Chittagong from the hills of Arakan and Akyab in the seventeenth century.

The Khumis live on the ridges of hills and build their houses on tree-tops. Their villages are surrounded by bamboo walls. They were a ferocious race who were mostly engaged in warfare. They are renowned for their loyalty to their chiefs they take the oath of loyalty by touching the blood of a goat, Which they have killed with a sharp weapon; they vow that a similar fate would befall them if they break the oath of loyalty.

The Khumis claim to be Buddhists, but their beliefs and religious rites are animist. Their chief god is pathian. They also pay homage to “Nadog” the household deity, and “Bogley” the water deity. They are divided into “wife-giving” and “waif-taking” clans. The eldest son inherits all the property. They have an oral language which belongs to the southern branch of the kukish section (Shafer 1955:105). They believe that if they learn any other language they will loose their power to resist evil.

The Mro:
The Mro in1869 their population was 1,500. They had no chief of their own and owed their allegiance to the Marma Bohmang chief of Banderban. Each village had a chief who collected tributes from each head of the family for the Bohmang chief. The village chief’ s position was hereditary (Lewin 1869:86-88).

The Mors are animists. Their creator is “Turai”, they have two other gods: “Oreng and “Sungtiang”. They do not have any priesthood or religious books. They believe that a bull which was sent by God Turai to carry the religious book for them had eaten up the book on the way. They therefore hold a speical ceremony called “ Nasyat pa” or “Kumlong” in which a bull is ceremoniously killed. They have an oral dialect which belongs to the Tibeto- Burmese linguistic family (Bernot 1964:159) (Shafer 1995:103) however considers it to be a category by itself.

The Lushai
The Lushai they migrated into the Chittagong hills from the lushai hills of India some 150 years ago. Before the British conquest of the Lushai hills in 1892, the Lushais were extremely ferocious. They choose mountain tops as their abodes. Entrance to the village was heavily guarded. They are animists, “Pathian” is their chief god; he does no harm to people. The Lushais are divided into different sects. It is a patriarchal society. the youngest son inherits burn nor bury their dead. The body clad in beautiful clothes is kept in a sitting position inside a bamboo cage. A fire is lit beside they body for a period of three months. After this the bones are removed and then buried. They have a language of their own known as “Lushai” or “Dolne” (Shafer 1955:107). During the British administration missionaries were active among them, as a result most of them took to Christianity. Their language too can be written in Latin script.

The Khiang:
In 1869 the Khiangs were a small group of people. Their social organisation was similar to those of the Mros and Khumis. They owed their allegiance to chiefs in Burma. The Khiangs call themselves “Hyou”. They believe that some 200 years ago their chief had sought refuge from war in the hills of chittagong from Burma. His younger wife who was pregnant accompanied the chief. But he left behind this wife of his and some other soldiers and went back to Burma. The Khiangs believe that they are descendants of those soldiers left behind (Chowdhury 1983:56). They have no sub-castes or sects. They are Buddhists but they also pay homage to “Nada Ga” (household deity) and “Bogley” (water deity). Their language belongs to the Kuki-Chin group (Chakma 1993:92).

The Bawm & Pankhu:
The Bawm and The Pankhu. These two groups were offshoots of two brothers who belonged to a Lushai group. Their population in 1869 was about 3000. They owed their allegiance to the Bohmang chief and paid tribute to him through their elected Headman. The Bawms and Pankhus believe that they are descendants of the “Shan” nation of Burma (Grierson 1927:144).

Formerly they were a ferocious people who built their houses on mountain tops. Their villages were very heavily armed and guarded. They lost their military skills after their annexation by the British. They were animists. Their main gods were “Pathian” and “khozing”. But due to missionary activities during the British period most of them took to Christianity. One can differentiate between the Pankhus and Bawms by their hairstyles.

The Bawms both men and women tie up their hair at the centre of the head. The Pankhus on the other hand tie up their hair at the back of their head (Sattar 1984:312). Their language has strong resemblance to Lushai. It belongs to the “Kuki-Chin” group.

The Chak:
The Chaks are considered to be a sub-group of the chakma (Lewin 1869:65). But loffler maintains that the saks living in Arakan and the chaks in CHT. Descended from the same people as the chakmas. The Chaks call themselves “Asak”, The Sak population in Arakan also calls itself “Asak”. Their language resembles Kadu which is spoken in Myitkhyina district of northern Myanmar, and also with Andro and Sengmai languages of Manipur district in India. The Chaks are divided into two sects: Ando and Ngarek. They are Buddhists. This all about the identity o indigenous people in the CHT in Bangladesh.