Chakma’s and Their Lifestyle in Bangladesh: Part-I

Chakma is the name of the largest tribe found in the hilly area of eastern Bangladesh known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Their name was first used by British census-takers to describe certain hill people.At the point when the British were driven from India in 1947, the land was partitioned into two nations, Pakistan and India. The general population who lived in the Chittagong Hill Tracts locale anticipated that would turn out to be a piece of India. Rather, the locale was given to Pakistan. This brought on hatred in light of the fact that the general populations, for the most part Chakma, are essentially Buddhist. They saw themselves all the more socially like the Hindu people groups of India than the Muslims of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s two areas were known as East Pakistan (where the Chakma lived) and West Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan battled effectively to win autonomy from West Pakistan. East Pakistan then turned into the country of Bangladesh. The Chakma felt similarly as distanced from the Bangladesh government as they had from Pakistan. In 1973, theShanti Bahini(Peace Force) started to arrange rough assaults against the legislature to attempt to win freedom for the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Guerrillas assaulted government powers and the Bangladeshi Army reacted with assaults on regular citizen tribal people groups. As of the late 1990s, this contention proceeded.

3.2: POPULATION:
The Chakma populace is evaluated to be around 550,000. It is spread more than three unique nations. The lion’s shares (around 300,000 individuals) are situated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. There are additionally around 80,000 Chakmas in Mizoram State in India, and 20,000 in Burma (Myanmar). The Chakmas are a Mongoloid people identified with individuals of southwestern Burma. The Chittagong Hills shape some portion of the western edge of the mountain districts of Burma and eastern India. The area has warm temperatures, storm downpours, and high moistness.
3.3: LANGUAGE and FOLKLORE: The Chakmas talk a vernacular of Bengali (Bangla) and utilize the standard Bengali letter set. The myth that portrays the cause of the Chakma follows the tribe to the antiquated kingdom of Champaknagar. One of the ruler’s children walked east with a huge armed force in the expectation of vanquishing new terrains. He crossed the “ocean” of the Meghna River and caught the kingdom of Arakan in Burma, where he settled. His kin intermarried with the Burmese and bit by bit embraced the Buddhist religion. The last lord of this tradition was a ruler named Sher Daulat. He was credited with heavenly powers and should clean himself from transgression by drawing out his digestion tracts to wash in the waterway. His significant other, to clear something up, shrouded herself and watched him do this one day. Sher Daulat discovered her keeping an eye on him and, in an attack of wrath, slaughtered her and all his family. His eroticisms and oppression developed so incredible that at last his kin executed him. Dreading the outcomes of this, the general population left the Arakan kingdom, moving north into the range of the Chittagong Hills they possess today.
3.4: RELIGION
The Chakmas are Buddhists. Chakmas authoritatively take after the Southern, or Theravada, type of the Buddhism. In any case, their type of Buddhism has parts of Hinduism and customary religions too. Practically every Chakma town has a Buddhist temple(kaang).Buddhist ministers or friars are calledBhikhus.They manage at religious celebrations and functions. The villagers bolster their friars with sustenance, endowments, and offerings to Buddha. The Chakmas likewise revere Hindu divinities. Lakshmi, for instance, is adored as the Goddess of the Harvest. Chakmas offer the yield of goats, chickens, or ducks to quiet the spirits that are accepted to bring fevers and sickness. Despite the fact that creature yield is absolutely against Buddhist convictions, the Chakma Buddhist clerics disregard the practice.

3.5: MAJOR HOLIDAYS
Chakmas celebrate different Buddhist celebrations. The most critical is Buddha Purnima.This is the commemoration of three imperative occasions throughout Buddha’s life—his introduction to the world, his accomplishment of illumination, and his demise. It is seen on the full moon day of the time of Vaisakh (as a rule in May). On this and other celebration days, Chakmas put on their best garments and visit the sanctuary. There, they offer blooms to the picture of Buddha, light candles, and tune in to sermons from the clerics. Donations (offerings) are given to poor people, and devours are held for the clerics. The three-day celebration known as Bijhu, which agrees with the Bengali New Year’s Day, is praised with much energy. Houses are embellished with blossoms, youthful youngsters give careful consideration to the elderly to win their gifts, and merry dishes are set up for visitors.
3.7: RELATIONSHIPS
Chakma neighborliness is flooding. Visitors are given home-prepared alcohol and thehukka(hooka) pipe. The hukka is a pipe utilized for smoking tobacco. It has a long adaptable tube connected to a water bottle. The smoke is cooled by ignoring the water before being breathed in by the smoker. Chakmas welcome each other with the customary cry, Hoya!This overflowing yell is additionally used to express joy at triumph in games, for example, pull of-war that go with the various slope celebrations held consistently. In the wake of living for such a large number of years close Muslims, some Chakmas utilize the Muslim greeting,Salaam.

3.8: LIVING CONDITIONS
Chakmas construct their homes on slants close to the banks of a waterway or a stream. A couple related families may expand on a similar plot of land, making a homestead(bari).Baris group together to shape hamlets(para)and various villas make up a village(gram). The customary Chakma house is made of bamboo. It is built on a bamboo or wooden stage around two meters (six feet) over the ground. The house is based on the back of the stage. Tangle dividers isolate the house into particular compartments. A patio in the front of the house is isolated in two by a tangle parcel. One territory is utilized by men and young men and the other by ladies and young ladies. Little compartments might be worked for capacity of grain and different belonging. Family unit objects going from wicker container to funnels for smoking tobacco are made out of bamboo.
> Alma Siddiqua