Chakmas of Rangoon by Kulottam Chakma
Photo: Rangoon by Kulottam Chakma (August 2009)
Recently I have been on a short visit to Burma, I arrived there on 17 August 2009. I met members of the Chakma community in Rangoon. They mainly come from the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Last time I visited Burma was almost 10 years ago in 2000.
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After I checked into the hotel, my first aim was to find out the Chakma temple I visited 10 years ago. The temple is located in the northern Rangoon, not very far from the airport. However finding a place in Rangoon is not an easy feat. The street numbers are allocated randomly and have no relationship with the physical location. After persistent attempt by the taxi driver and after asking many locals, finally I found the temple. The temple had vastly improved since my last visit. It’s now a two storey building. I met 4 monks from Rakhine state. The chief monk whom I knew from my last visit was not there. He went for a retreat to Mergui, a coastal city in Mon state. I chatted with the monks. I was specially interested to know the methods of travel to their towns and villages in Rakhine state, the number of Chakma population, the names of their towns and villages etc. Apart from their mother tongue, the monks were very fluent in Burmese and Arakanese.
Chakma community in Rangoon now has a 2nd temple. They built a second temple with much larger space in Mingladon village north of Rangoon city. On 2nd day I visited the temple. I knew the chief monk from my previous visit. The temple is set on a land about 2500 sqm. The temple has many resident novice monks. They mainly study Buddhism. I chatted with the chief and novice monks.
Chakmas in Rakhine state are known as Daignets (or Dainets). Daignet is an Arakanese term for ‘warrior with shield’. Centuries ago the Arakanese kings recruited the Chakmas as soldiers. The Chakmas had shown their mastery in armoured warfare and the name stuck. However they name themselves and their language as ‘Changmas’ and ‘Changma kodha’.
According to the monks in Rangoon temple, their are 100,000 Chakmas in Rakhine state. According to the chief monk of Mingladon, the number is 60,000. There was no reliable census conducted since Burma’s independence from Brittain in 1948. The last reliabe census was conducted in 1931 by the British. According to the 1931 census, the Chakmas were classified as ‘Saks’ and they were about 30,000. Chakmas in Burma are still far behind in terms of education compared to their cousins in Bangladesh. Most of them rely on agriculture for livelihood. Chakma men and women usually marry early and have many children. They have high birth rate. From my interview with the novice monks at Mingladon temple, I found boys with 4 to 9 siblings. They have the ability to double their number every 30 years. In my view both 60,000 and 100,000 are plausible.
Though their language is Burmanized, they still retain original Chakma words. I was very glad to find out that they still use original Chakma words for kinship terms like ‘Bay’ for elder sister and ‘Daa’ for elder brother. They are also familiar with common Chakma proverbs. They are just as pround and keen to keep their language and culture alive.
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