Islam in Arakan: An interpretation from the
Indian perspective:
History and the Present
Dr.
Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti)
Introduction
and Problematic: Reflections from Indian Perspectives
The
history of Arakan or the Rakhine
State
Further,
to estimate the nature of Islam in Arakan in the medieval period, we have to
place Arakan in the context of Bengal-Delhi ( Bengal regionalism versus Mughal
imperialism) tussle for power in the Bay of Bengal
region. The epic Padmavati by poet Sayyid Alol has so far been read as a
masterpiece of a romantic literature of A class; however,
it has been studied mostly by
literature experts from West Bengal , and discussed in the context of Bengali
literary tradition only. It is often stated in the numerous books ( all written
by literature experts) that the Padmavati is unique since in this epic for the
first time, the change of theme—from religious to secular ( romance) - is
directly visible. The theme of divine love between Ratnasena of Chitor and
Padmavati of Simhala makes a landmark, besides all others, alone for the
selection of the theme. Prior to that, Gods and Goddesses and religious matters
made the bulk of the Bengali literature. According to my understanding,
thestory otPadmavati is only an occasion. The complex political background
behind its translation in the Arakanese court, however never attracted any
attention of scholars. In my earlier contribution " Myth and History of
Bengali identity in Arakan " (Amsterdam 2002) I tried to discover the
political implication behind this so called Bengali Renaissance at the court of
Arakan, under Arakanese patronage. It is strange that in India
Now
coming back to the subject of flourishing of Bengali literature in Arakan, I
have to tell that we should not miss the fact that Padmavati is a work of
translation of a very important Hindusthani epic written by Malik Mohammed
Jayasi— an eminent Chisthi Sufi poet from North India. Jayasi' s name is always
remembered in great respect
since he was
the first to have used
Persian script for writing Hindusthani. This he did in
Padumavat itself. We will go into the details of symbolism and syncretism drawn
from the religious -cultural milieu of Indian tradition as reflected in this
work. The same kind of symbolism is visible in the work Sati Mayna 0 Lor
Chandrani written by Daulat Quazi,
another court poet who enjoyed similiar patronage in the Arakanese court.. The
later part of Sad Mayna 0 Lor Chandrani was written by Alol. The scope of my
contribution is wide, covering the medieval period, the British period and also the present
crisis. I will argue that lack of knowledge about Bengal's contact with Arakan
among the Myanmar India
as well as in Myanmar
It
is interesting to note that even as late as in early 1990s, quite often, Muslims of Arakan (northern Arakan) were
described as "Indians". Occasionally they were described as
"Bengalis", and from time to time as "Chittagongians".Further,
the name, "Rohingya", is quite justifiably "rejected" by
the Myanmar people and
Government, as there exists no such minority in Myanmar Myanmar Myanmar
among the erudite audience have seen that the Muslims in various parts of Myanmar Burma Burma Burma
permanently and joined their relatives in India Burma Burma , in spite of the fact that they were (like
in British India) not awarded any special status, they peacefully, were
accepting their positions within the Union .
Even then, in the case of Arakan, as we will see, things took a different turn.
As
the organization of the present seminar itself speaks for, the Muslims of
Arakan makes a special case. In all the British sources, Arakan's historic link
with Bengal, and Chittagong Chittagong Burma Bangladesh Bangladesh ,
Fleischman saw a formidable genesis of, whether or not, a large scale conflict
in this area where South Asia meets Southeast Asia .
True, such no conflict has broken out in last 25 years, but this entire region
remains one of the most sensitive areas of South and Southeast Asia in terms of
refugee generation, poverty, arms smuggle,
trafficking of human beings
and goods (
rice in particular).Twice in
recent past, in 1977-78 and again in 1992-96 the north Arakanese townships saw
exodus of an unprecedented nature ( S. Bhattacharya, 2002) Interestingly, the
historical backdrop of such a spectacular reftigee problem has remained little
studied, just like the origin of the Rohingya language and culture has also
remained shrouded in mystery. In his otherwise very informative and well argued
article " The Origin of the name Rohingya" , U Khin Maung Saw vehemently
rejected the name. staling that Ba Tha is the only cultural advocate for this
rather marginal group of people, who are
actually in large part "illegal immigrants" from Bengal (now Bangladesh Burma Burma
In
this writing I do not intend to support one view against the other, as every
contribution that fell to my attention has some kind of truth and is
helpful towards understanding of this
remote region of Myanmar Southeast Asia have
come a long way in their struggle for survival as individual nation. Cultural
plurality and religious diversity have made the
foundation of all the nations, rich or poor, solid. No one wants to go
back to the colonial past, nor any one wants to ignore the factor " peace
" and "stability". The relations between the nations ( though
ASEAN may be seen more successful than the SAARC) , is extremely cordial. No
country wants to loose her integrity. As a result, the parallel existence of
tensions and peace is perceived as more natural than unnatural. The periodic
exodus of people from north Arakan to Bangladesh's Cox Bazar remains to me as
problem to be dealt by the Governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar bilaterally
and if they want, with involvements of other countries and agencies. I am much
more interested to deal with certain neglected facts of Indian history which are
equally important for Bangladeshi and Myanmar Myanmar Bengal , the closest neighbour of Arakan, absorbed the
best out of the Indian traditions. Orthodoxy in any religion had been and will
continue to be "a man-made" trouble. And all the orthodox schools
from all three religions. Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism, were challenged by
their own co-religionists. Therefore the
mantra of Reconciliation was found immediately, since over thousands of years,
the people of Southern part of Asia have been
living in peace and prosperity. Unless
one hears this message, one will be searching for a black cat in a dark room
only.
In Bengal , various Sufi saints preached the message of their
simple "love to the next" and "Finding of the universal soul
within". Their wide acceptance made the religion Islam acceptable to a
wide range of people in Bengal . The word
"Sufi" is synonymous to “mystic", though the derivation is still
debated. It is however widely accepted that the word comes from "Suf
(wool). The Muslim ascetics used to wear rough woolen cloth in imitation of
Christian hermits. Apparently in the beginning there was no difference between
the Sufis and the orthodox Mahommedans. However, the Sufis attached extra
importance to the certain Koranic doctrines. Reynold A Nicholson, one of the
leading authors on Sufism has stated that the "Before the Mohammedan
conquest of India in the
eleventh century, the teaching of Buddha exerted considerable influence in Eastern Persia and Transoxania. We hear of teaching of
flourishing Buddhist monasteries in Balukh, the metropolis of ancient Bactria Bactria
In
view of the above discussion our present engagement with Buddhist Bengal and
Buddhist Arakan get a special dimension. The Bauls are an unique descendents of
the mixed Bengali tradition, to which I had already stated my opinion above.
When Islam first appeared in
Bengal in the
13th -14th centuries, it could
meet Hinduism (Vaishnavism and
Saiva-Sakta Nath traditions) and Buddhism (Mahayanism) in the fertile ground of
Buddhist Arakan. One may also argue it other way around, which is perhaps more
appropriate: Hinduism and Islam met most successfully on the borderland of
unorthodox popular cults arising out of the ghost of late Buddhism, Tantricism,
Mahayanism and such other liberal lines, which were not only preached and
practiced in Bengal, but also in Arakan. Scholars like Enarnul Huq and Kalika
Ranjan (Enarnul Huq 1972, K.RQuannungo, 1968,) argue in more or less same way.
Had there been a very orthodox thinking and priesthood controlling all social
and economic orders, there would never have been such creative traditions as Arakan patronized in the 16th -17th century. In the recent years Pamela Gutman's
works have established it before the entire scholarly world that Arakan cannot be
understood unless the region's close contact with Indian civilization is
properly followed. Arakan's importance within the realm of the Indian Civilization-influenced
Bay of Bengal
region has also been taken note of by scholars like Michael Chamey, Jacque
Leider, Katherin Remond and Don Stadtner. Among the scholars of Bangladesh
In
this part of Bengal (West Bengal, India),
Arkan has been lost in the memories of the people. It is brought to the notice
of the Indian people only in recent years when there was coverage in the
newspapers about the "Rohingya Refugees" or "Rohingya
Separatists" . The general public in India
who have very little knowledge about Myanmar
in general are informed that there is a religious/linguistic minority with the
name "Rohingya" who for some political and economic reasons crossed
over to Bangladesh and
occasionally extremists sneaked or tried into India India
Least
known is the fact that the Bengali Vaishnavas migrated from orthodox Vaishnav
centers like Navadvipa, to Arakan, not only driven by the Islam invaders, but
with genuine impulse. Nevertheless, we should not forget that once widely read
Bengali journals like Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Patrika and Pravasi and Bengal
Past and Present published articles on the Bengali influence in Arakan.
However, for me Arakan has been immortalized through poet and philosopher
(Nobel Leurate in 1913) Rabindrariath Tagore through his writings, especially,
the short story, Dalia. Of all the Indians, it was Tagore who saw in the
history and civilization of Arakan a tremendous potentiality for unifying the
three religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Who else could otherwise it be?
After all, it was Tagore who heard the core of Bengal and felt the pulse of
Bengal and India as a whole in the songs of Bauls of Bengal, the only surviving
school of Bengali religious traditions,
which successfully crashed the futility
of Hindu-Muslim chasm. No one
else in this world has understood Islam in the context of Buddhism and Indian
traditions of Vaishnavsim and a numerous Sahajiya faiths, better than Tagore.
In my earlier writing on Arakan 'Myth and History of Bengali Identity of
Arakan' I have stated very clearly that the history of Arakan offered Tagore
the necessary inspiration to understand strong regionalism of Bengal
within the Indian context. One of the objectives of my present contribution is
to uphold the spirit in which Tagore looked at Arakan, especially its religious
traditions. It would however be wrong on my part if I do not state here that a
number of Bengali writers, both from East (Bangladesh )
and West (Indian State
of West Bengal ) have estimated the
civilization of Arakan in the same way. These researches, details into which I
will come later, should be taken up as complementary to what historian Tagore
had to say about Arkan. In tagore's yet another work Mukut ( Crown) the strong
message of the Arakanese pride has been upheld.
The
emergence of nation states with their boundaries is a modern phenomenon. The
river Naaf which separates Arakan from Chittagong Bengal .
Ohidul Alam in his book Chattagramer Loksahitya ( Ohidul Alam, 1985) quotes how
the young boys from Chattagram seeing the beautiful Burmese and Arakanese women
used to forget their partners at home. The hymns he quotes say that the mothers
of Chittgaongian youth were discouraging their sons to go to Rangon and Arakan.
Obviously for the mother, the separation was as painftil as it was for the
newly married wives. The Burmese women knew the art of attracting the youth,
and, thus come the lamentation (Ohidul Alam, 8-9). The association of Arakan
with Bengal is also very apparent in the Ballad tradition of Eastern
Bengal . For generations these ballads were sung in the remotest
villages of Eastern Bengal . One such ballad
Suja Tanayar Vilapa - i.e. lamentations of Suja's daughter – has been included
in the benchmark work of Dinesh Chandra Sen ( D.C Sen, 1930, 495-513). The
daughter of the Mughal Prince Shah Suja who was apparently forcefully married
to the king of Arakan, had to eat ngapi, a strong flavoured fish paste, which
she apparently did not like (Sen, 1930, 504-505). It sounds that the idea of
forcible marriage of Suja's daughter and therefore lamentation by the people of
Bengal was widely spread among the rural population of present Bangladesh Chittagong
folk poems, and indeed across entire Bengal ,
may be seen as another indication of the central role of Arakan in the
construction of Bengali identity. Interestingly, the mood of Vilapa is just the
opposite to what Tagore wanted to say in his Dalia. Instead of interpreting the
usual story that Suja was murdered by the Arakanese king, Tagore drew a love
story of an unprecedented character the prince of Arakan and the daughter of
Suja, who actually wanted to take revenge of her father's death. Those who are
interested to know the details of this short story can refer to my earlier
contribution. Suffice to say that the spiritual atrophy in Bengal and India in
general so deeply disturbed Tagore that he shaped his own way the Shah Suja
legend where he drew a love story between Dalia (his given name to the prince
of Arakan) and Tinni (his given name to one of the two daughters of Shah Suja
Ameena or Julekha). Here one sees that
Buddhist Arakan gave him the mantra of solution of ever growing Hindu-Muslim
schism in colonial India Siam ,
Burma , Island Southeast Asia,
Japan and China was to bind
those countries deeper with India
During
1950s there was a resurgence in the consciousness about Arakan in India, where
people of our country after reaching a point of political and social stability,
looked back at their history, perhaps with a feeling of detachment, and also
lamentation for the partition, for the religious discords among Hindus and
Muslims, for mental separation between India and Burma (large scale exodus of people
of Indian origin from Burma) and for all other wrongs of history for which they
alone could not be made responsible. In those days, again Dalia was played to
remind the people of India India London staged that drama even in the
soil of London
Glimpses into Bengali religion and political lives
placing Arakan in the middle
As I
have repeatedly stressed, Islam in Arakan, no matter how little influence it
has within the Buddhist dominated Arakan, has to be interpreted within the
larger context of Indian civilization. It hardly needs to be stressed that
towards achievement of that goal. North Arakan has to be placed within the
historical orbit of Bengal . Bengal 's
religious tradition has always been unorthodox. Neither good quality Buddhism,
nor first quality Islam, nor pure Hinduism could set its foot upon Bengal . The reason was obviously political,
topographical, social and economic. The dynastic rulers' political boundary was
interrupted by numerous rivers. The political centers had to be shifted
frequently due to constant threat of invasion from various from various parts
of India S. Bhattacharya 1985) I have shown that the political
structure of the great Buddhist Pala kingdom was so fragile that the capitals
of the Palas had to be shifted from one corner to the other. Though preaching
and teaching Buddhism, the monasteries across Bihar and Bengal
allowed liberal practices, highly esoteric in nature, to grow relentlessly. The
Buddhism could not be confined within the yellow robes of the Theravada monks.
It had to cross the boundary of the orthodoxy.. Was the penetrating influence
of Islam as a political force in other parts of India
The
bearers of such traditions of esoteric Buddhism were me Siddhacaryas. All the
Gurus had the title pa, indicating Tibeto-Burmese origin of these Gurus.
TheCharyapadas, the hymns written by them are regarded as the oldest specimens
of the Bengali language. The discovery of these manuscripts go back to 1915
when the famous Buddhist scholar Mahamahopadhyay Haraprasad Shastri discovered
the manuscripts from the Darbar library of Nepal Bengal . But,
interestingly the period of writing of such Buddhist hymns were covering the
entire range from 9th to 14th centuries. This includes the pala period
substantiating thereby that the Thervada and Mahayana Buddhism existed side by
side in eastern India Bengal .
The
word Sahajiya comes from Sahaja, meaning
simple, and thus the work Sahajiya connotes "of simple
nature". A large majority of the names of these Sahajiya sects (
Charyagurus) are seen as ofTibeto-Burmese origin. They are described to be in
union with women from lower castes of Bengali society. According to Huq Chaudhuri a large number of
the words of the Charyapadas are also found in the Chittagongian dialect a
sign, attesting to the unrestricted movements of the Siddhyacaryas across Bengal . The Chittagong
The
political history of Hindu-Buddhist Bengal came to an end when the last Hindu
king Lakshman Sena of the Sena dynasty of Bengal
surrendered to the invading army of the Turkish ruler Baktiar Khilji. It was a
very easy and spontaneous event; Bengal's political defeat to the Muslim
conquerors however did not indicate end of social interactions between various
people who came to Bengal . As Richard Baton has described in his book Rise of Islam
and the Bengal Frontier, spread of Islam was a very smooth and natural process;
certainly transfer of ownership of land and emergence of local Muslim gentry
gave the fillip. Initiatives were then taken to clear jungles, built mosques,
and to establish Trustees. Introduction of money into the Bengali economy additionally brought necessary social
movements. According to Eaton ( Baton, 252), there were "three means by
which the religious gentry acquired their land rights: donation, purchase, and
pioneering" . The title of these
gentry classes were Chaudhuri, Sardar and Zamindars. Quite often Hindus
patronized mosque building while Muslims patronized temple building. As Eaton
states, quite often gentry class emerged out of the remained Mughal troopers
who came to Bengal whenever sent by the
respective Mughal rulers. A turning point in the history of Bengal is the
conquer of Chittagong Bengal was concerned. It is quite natural
that north Arakan which is an extension of Bengal
from geographical point of view, received the impact of this social
transformation.
In
my earlier work I raised a point regarding the justification of patronization
of the Bengali talents in the court of the Arakanese kings. The Arakanese kings
wooed the Bengali regional sentiments to counter the Mughal expansion in Bengal . The bearing of Islamic names and using of Kalima
in their coins by the Arakanese kings had already been in practice. The
dimension of this regional Bengali sentiment can only be appreciated if we turn
to the event of translating the Padumavat of Malik Mohammed Jayasi by Alaol
into Bengali Padmavati. Have we ever thought under whose patronage Jayasi wrote
Padumavat? It was Sher Shah Sur ( 1472-1545) who not only ousted the Mughal Emperor Humayun from
Bengal, but dared to capture the throne of Delhi ,
causing a break in the continuity of the Mughal rule in North
India . Sher Shah, rose from a local ruler to the emperor of India India Bengal . I may mention here that when former East Pakistan was fighting for her autonomy trom west
Pakistan, it was the language ( Bangla) which became the real weapon for the
Bengali/Bangladeshi nationalism. The king Ratnasena of Chitor symbolized the Hindu
rule, while Padmavati, Princess of Sri
Lanka, symbolizes the Buddhist rule, while the story itself is full of Indian (
sufistic , Hindu and Buddhist) thoughts, legends from Mahabharat, Ramayan, and Purana. Actually it champions
the cause of love between a Hindu prince and princes from Buddhist land. The
siege of Chitor by Alauddin and the downfall of the Hindu kingdom are very
symbolically projected in the work of Jayasi. One of the last verses of
Jayasi's Padumavat is:
Jauhar
bhaim saba istiripurusha bha e samgrama
Badsah
gara cura chitour bha Islam
Women
did Jaharbrato, men fought the wars, Badshah destroyed the fort and Chitor
became an Islamic State.
Scholars
have rightly said that Arakan saw waves of Muslim immigration from an early
period. For example it is said that the
Kaman Muslims of present Arakan are descendants of those archers ( soldiers )
who accompanied Shah Suja in his flight to Arakan. It is no wonder that the
prudence of the Arakanese kings led them to woo the Bengali Muslims against
perhaps Muslims of north Indian origin living in Arakan.
We
have just to connect the oft quoted imprisonment of Alol in the hands of the
Arakanese king, the reason for which was alleged involvement of Alol in an
apparent conspiracy to dethrone the king. Suja legend has so much of versions
that it is better not to enter in to it; nevertheless it has to be accepted
that Arakan had a wide number of population of ethnic Bengalis, no matter we
call them Muslims or Hindus or of a intermediary stage who believed in all
sorts ofyogic and eclectic practices, indulged in various psycho-physical
practices and magic. We encounter in both,
Padamavati, as well as in Sati Mayna, on several occasions the word
Yogi. In fact Ratnasena took the appearance of a Yogi, left Chitor to find out
Padmavati. In similar way Lor also took the Yogi dress and aimed at uniting
with Chandrani. In both the works the constant struggle between Bhoga (
enjoyment) and Tyaga ( sacrifice) went on, ultimately however the message of
Tyga, though in an unique way exceeded.
Daulat
Quazi was a contemporary of the Arakanese king Sirisudhammaraja (1622-1638).
Daulat Quazi composed Sati Mayna otherwise known as Lor Candrani, at the
request ofAsharaf Khan, the lashkar Wazir of the king. This was a period in
which the Arakanese dominance over Chittagong Bengal are not really descendants
of the Brahmins! ( N. Bose, 1994, 166). Ashraf Muslims' attitude towards the
fish-eating rural masses of Bengali Muslims strengthens Bose's theory about the
origin of Ashraf Muslims. It is believed that the Muslim converts in Bengal were recruited from the poor masses of the low
caste Hindu society. Ashraf Khan however was extremely tolerant towards all the
communities who flocked to Arakan:
Sayyids, Shaikhs, Mughals and Pathans (Sukumar Sen, 1975, 283). Ashraf
Khan was described to be well acquainted with Niti Vidya (Hindu Science in
Polity) and Kavy Shastra (Classical Science of Literature). Even, low caste
Hindus were welcome in the court of Arakan. All castes and classes sat side by
side.
It is stated that the necessity of translating
the Indian folk tales into Bengali was created by the fact that a large number
of indigenous people wanted to hear the romantic love stories in the Desibhasa
and also in the Panchali form. Ashraf Khan, for example, having heard the story
of Lor and Chandrani written in Gohari, ordered Magan Thakur to translate it
into Bengali Panchali style so that it could reach the lowest strata of the
resident Bengali society in Arakan. I quote Sukumar Sen from his Bengia
Sahityer Itihasa (Sen, 1975, 284):
Thetha
caupaiycl doha
No
bhuJhe gohari bhasa kono konoJane
Deshi
Bhase kaha takapanchaUr chanda
Sakale
shuniyajena bujhaye sananda
(Thetha
caupaiya Doha
This
particular style made a deep impact on the Bengali society, no matter, Hindu or
Muslim, to maintain the rich oral tradition by generations. It was a style
developed as a result of the Vaishnava influence in Bengal .
Vaishnaism flourished in Bengal during the
period of the independent Sultanat of Bengal (14th_16th century). For example,
Sree Chaitanya (1486-1533) enjoyed the patronage of Sultan Hussain Shah. Vijaya
Gupta wrote Mansha Mongol during the same period. Hymns in praise of Lakshmi
(Goddess of wealth), Satya Narayan, Satya Pir and such other Gods and Goddesses
were written in this form. The Panchali in praise of Satya Pir is still read by
Muslims and Hindus alike, even today.
So,
Bengali was widely spoken in Arakan in the 16th and 17th centuries. This
corroborates the view of S. Subramaniam when he states "Whether or not the
early Mrauk U rulers brought back Muslim troops from Bengal to aid them, it is
certain that the spread of Firdausi and Qadifi sufi practices in the coastal
regions of Arakan can be witnessed from the fifteenth
century"(Subramaniam, in J. Gomman & J. leider eds, 2002, 11).
However, the Bengali milieu in Arakan should not be seen restricted to orthodox
Muslims. A large number of Deoole believed in a "religion" which was
highly mixed in characters. This particular Islamic culture was deeply committed
to Yogic Sufism and Vaishanvism. Enarnul
Haque explains this mixed character of Islam in his book History of Sufism in Bengal . For example he mentions about a work called Yoga
kalandar ( Yoga of the Sufis). The author of this Muslim Yoga is Sayyid
Martaza. One Sayyid Murataza was also the composer of many lyrics on vaishanva
themes. Murtaza was an inhabitant ofChittagong ( Huq, 1975, 374).
As
Subraminam like my other scholars, rightly pointed out, the most visible sign
of a mixed religious culture along the coastal regions is the building of numerous symbolic tombs
(badr maqam) from Assam Bay of Bengal
scholar. In various parts of Bengal , the Pir
Badr is known by various names. Pandits differ about whether they all indicate
the same person or they were different persons. However, suffice to add that
the wide range isms that developed during the period between the fall of
Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Bengal and
consolidation of Islam show remarkable similarities in ideas. A person is
believed to be the envoy or ambassador of the God - no matter Allah, Lord
Buddha or Vishnu.
Quite
often we ignore the fact that the religious plurality opened the door for
linguistic interactions between various people, giving rise to birth of mixed languages, like the Rohingya
Bengala. Existence of three languages, Bengali, Persian and Arakanese is not a
new phenomenon in the region of Chittagong-Arakan. All three languages were
used in the coins of the provincial Governors of Chittagong functioning under
the administration of Arakanese governors. They used the title anauk-bhuran-
meaning 'king of the west' on their trilingual coins (Chaudhury 1997,150). Using
of Bengali, besides Arakanese and Persian, indicates the importance of the
Bengali language (Bhattacharya, 2002). About this language Ba Tha wrote in as
early as in 1960s that it is lost language. Ba Tha, to whom I had mentioned
before, referred to a book with the title Keyamatnama. He said that he had
received it from his father. Ba Tha printed a page from this book in his
article Rohingya Fine Arts.(The Guardian, Rangoon, February 1961, vol. 8,
20-22), The script shows the popularity
of Nask stile. Ba Tha deplores that the Rohingyas lost their language, their
art, their music and many other elements of their cultural life.
We
have to understand the writing of the Bengali literature by Alaol, Magan or
Daulat Quazi in the context of the Mughal quest for subduing Bengal and
Arakan's hold over the Twelve landlords (Baro Bhuiyas) of Bengal .
After all, it was these Twelve Lords who dared to oppose the Mughals. Alol's
landing at Arakan was also the same tragedy as that of Suja's. Alol's father
was a Minister of Majlis Qutb, one of the Baray Bhuyans of Bengal
(Mirza Nathan, 1936, 2: 799-800). He was ruling in Fatehabad which is described
as a city of Gaur Bengal ,
Alol's father was defeated and killed by the Portuguese freebooters. Alol also
translated Sikandernama. It is a translation of Nizami's lskandarnama.
Nizamai's another work Sapta Paykar was also translated by Alaol. The Bengali
title became Sapta Paykar. Five years later Tuhfa-i-Nasa'ih of the Indo-
Iranian poet YusufGoda was translated into Bengali. Goda wrote this on the
Islamic social and religious norms in the year 1393-94 (Ahmed Sherifs
translation of Tuhfa 1977). Tuhfa is the only work on Islamic social norms. It
was one Sayyid Musa from Arakan who inspired Alol to translate Tuhfa as well as
the incomplete part of Daulat Quazi's Sati Mayna. Sayful Muluk Baduizzaman and
Ragatalanama, in two more works of Alol, Alol praised the Muslims of Rosanga as
seekers of knowledge and trainers in the arts. Alol said that he trained sons
of many elite families of Rosanga.
Rosangete
Musalmanayatheka achanata
Talim
alim bali adar karanta
Bahu
mohanter putra maha maha nara
Patha
gita sangita suikhailam bahutara
(Muslims
of Rosanga were patronized as seekers of knowledge and as trainers in the arts.
I (Alol) have educated sons of many elite families of Rosaga (Sarif 1958, 1958,
111). One of the leaders of this sect, Muhiuddin, had been Jayasi's Guru. The
popularity of this Guru of the Chisthi sects among the Bengali Muslims can be
witnessed even today.
British
and the Muslim of Arakan
When
the British occupied Arakan they divided the people of Arkan into four
categories. Muslims. Hindus, Buddhists and Hill Tribes. The Hindus were
described as the descendants of the Brahmans and astrologers who were brought
by the Arakanese kings. Their origin was traced in Indian state of Manipur
while other Brahman descendants in Arakan are said to be the descendants of the
"colonists" from Bengal . The Doms
(one of the lowest castes among the Hindus) were brought from Bengal
to act as Phra Ky\von (bhoora Kywon) or Pagoda slaves. Later, the British
administrators released them from their perpetual servitude and were then
employed as cultivators (Gazetteer, vol. 2, 16-17). As for the Muslims or
Mahomedans, there had always been an attempt to create aloyal class from among
the Muslims of Arakan. The Gazetteer, vol. 2
says that out of the 58,255 Mahomedans many are seasonal workers who
came down from Chittagong Sundeep
Island
The
Indian population in Arakan, a large part of which were Muslims from Southeastern Bengal , saw a steady rise, as is evidenced
in the works of many scholars. Nalini Ranjan Chakravarty is one of them. The
following table taken from his book indicates the usual trend in rise. In 1911,
the Indian population ofAkyab town was 63.6% of the total of 37, 893. In
Rathedaung it was 18.9% of a total of 56,789. Remarkably high was the figure
53.2% in Buthidaung out of 63,673 and in Maungdaw 77% out of 101,134. In 1917,
Smart was describing the situation in Maungdaw as having 77 percent of the
population as Chittagongians. He warned, if the immigration of Muslims
continued, then the whole of Akyab would be in the hands of the Chittagongians
as it happened in the case of Mungdaw
Township
Mr.
J.J. Benison in his Census report of 1931 said that in parts of Akyab District
Indians were so numerous that they should perhaps be regarded as indigenous
(N.R. Chakravarty, p. 18). By the term "Indian" Bennison meant Moslem
residents of the bordering areas. The Baxter report of 1941 gives the following
detailed picture of Indian population in Arakan (U. Mahajani, 9) :
Chittagongian, Bengalis, Hindusthanis and Tamils. Whereas the Chittagongian
unskilled labour was 12, 877, in the same year,
the Chittagongian unskilled
labour was 29,684.
According to Baxter Commission recommendation, the Government of India
sent Girija Shankar Bajpai as its sole delegate. The Burmese government wanted
a termination of Indian labour migration
to Burma , but in the case of
Arakan , Burma East Bengal .
The
1940s makes a sad chapter for Arakanese history. A region of Burma Burma Burma India
The
year 1942, when the British withdrew from Burma Northern
Arakan formed peace committees with the help of the Japanese
(Bhattacharya, 1995, 545). Field Marshall Viscount Slim gave a very grim
picture of Arakan in which he said that it was only total chaos that reigned in
Arakan. This was also the time when Indians in thousands were living Burma Eastern Bengal . But, later went back. They
found their land occupied by the Arakanese. When the British reoccupied Arakan,
they got extreme support from the northern districts of Buthidaung and
Maungdaw. Muslims of northern Arakan had already started dreaming of their
Homeland.
If
we look at the process of emergence of nation states and the positions of Muslims
in the 20th century, we find that it is
only in south Asia that the Muslims have
succeeded in recording successfully their claim that as a minority community
they must have their own state to fulfill their political, social, cultural
aspirations. The Enzyclopaedia of Religion (Macmillan, 1987, . 391) notes that
this is a contribution of the South Asian Muslims to world Islam. However, this
opinion can be a subject of debate. In the case of Burma ,
though it was part of the British Empire of India until 1937, development never
showed any such trends, though a large number of Muslims had been living in Burma India
Moshe
Yegar in his book Muslims of Burma has mentioned about his interview with a
Rohingya leader whom he met while in Burma Union State ,
Autonomous State
The
post colonial period saw in Burma Burma Chittagong Pakistan and Burma Burma and Pakistan Bangladesh
These
and many other developments made Arakan an extremely difficult state. The Prime
Minister of Burma U Nu had lot of trouble with Arakan and had to postpone the
demand for separate statehood. Like in India
or any other country of South Asia , the ethnic
and religious upsurge gets fragmented by its own weakness. So was the case with
the Muslims of Arakan. Suddenly there appeared a schism between the bona fide
residents ( Rohingyas) and the Chittagongian immigrants. The mayu Frontier
Administrative area had to be created so that the bona fide residents felt
protected by the Rangoon Government and not swamped over by the immigrant
Chittagongians. The Rohingya leaders pleaded for such an arrangement ( M.
Yegar, 105). When the military Government took charge in 1962 the Mayu district
was a part of the central administration. The statehood of Arakan was also
delayed again. In one of the recent books on Southeast
Asia , the author Beeson sees a formidable potential for a large
scale conflict in this region. We can only hope that the Muslims of Arakan will
learn from their past and discard the path of confrontation and conflict.
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This
paper was submitted by Dr. Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti),
Reader
& Head, Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies, Calcutta University , India
At
"Arakan History Conference", Bangkok
23.11 - 25.11.2005, organised by the Institute
of Asian Studies , Chulalongkorn University ,
Bangkok , Thailand
(Draft
only. Please don't quote)
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