Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality.

Publication by Arakan Action Association (AAA.)

Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.

 

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Arakan Action Association (AAA)

Chotana Road , Chaing Mai ( 50301 ), Thailand.

Email : arakanactionassociation@walla.com , +66—089-637-4383, +66—053-409-577

THE MAGHS

 

Magh

 

The Arakanese residents of both the hill and the plain areas of Bangladesh are generally known as the Maghs; with exception to this rule, two names they carry are the 'Marma' and 'Rakhaine'. As to the generic nomenclature 'Magh', which is of uncertain origin, it is to be noted that it is applied to the Buddhists of Arakan and those residing in the eastern part of Bangladesh. According to Phaye, the name 'Magh' originated from the ruling race of Magadha, and relying on a Burmese oral tradition, he says that they were originally a Kshatriya tribe of north India and migrated from Magadha to Burma through eastern Bengal. Subsequent they spread over Arakan from Burma.

 

In ancient times several groups of Hindu and Buddhist missionaries went to Arakan for preaching their respective faiths and in course of time, some of them settled there. In the struggle among different religious groups that followed, only the Buddhists survived with the support of the ruling class of the land. Probably a section of the Indian immigrants, who were merged into the local population were from Magaha, the land of Buddha's Enlightenment. And they asserted themselves as superior in status to the ethnic nomenclature 'Magh' which ultimately became a generic appellation of the coastal regions of Arakan cannot be ruled out. Harvey, for example, says that Indian immigrants in Lower Burma came by sea from Madras and seeks to connect Talaing from Telingana, a region of Andhra Pradesh.

 

The movement of Indian culture to the coastal regions of Arakan seems to have started before the Christian era. Among the old testimonies regarding Arakan's association with Magadha is that of Daulat Kazi (1622-38), a well-known poet in his Sati Mayna frequently uses the terms Magadher pati and Magadha-raja to signify the kings and the 'kingdom of Arakan ' respectively.

 

The kings of Arakan might have traced their ancestry from Magadha, but the connection of the whole population of  Arakan with Magadha is uncertain. The Arakanese were primarily of the Mongoloid origin and lately had intermixture of the Austaloid and other ethnic elements , but not any element which can be ethnically called 'Magh', their ancestors who came from Arakan can never be termed as such. They further vehemently protest to be designated as 'Magh' which they regard as highly derogatory on its being synonymous with piracy, depredation and lawlessness. They point out that a small segment of the Arakanese in the middle ages adopted piracy as a means of livelihood with the Portuguese collaborators but not the entire people. And viewed as a whole, the Arakanese are among the civilized nations of the world. Historically, this claim of the Arakanese is attested by cultural attainments and monumental relics. Besides the association of the Arakanese with marauding activities extends from about the beginning of the fourteenth century to the first quarter of the eighteenth century, i.e., up to the death of Murshid Quli Khan in June 1727. And further as said above, only a small segment of the Arakanese participated activities.

 

Again, they argue that sometimes appellations given by the outsiders to a tribe is misunderstood. For example, the Indian immigrants residing in Burma known as Kola (i.e., Kula), derived from the Indian (Sanskrit and Sanskritic) word Kula which the Burmese take to mean a man of higher status. But the Indian immigrants do not the black complexion of their body. Similarly, the Arakanese residents of Bangladesh, as noted above, take the term 'Magh' as derogatory, although originally it denotes a person of higher status having his Kshatriya and Magadha origin.