VognoDuut1018
2007-01-23 02:28:47 UTC
The Tanchangya Tribe- Chittagong Hill Tracts ( CHT)
Monday January 22 2007 15:27:31 PM BDT
By Sujan Tanchangya, Thailand
This article is primarily in response to a couple of emails that I received
from readers who wanted to know more about the Tanchangya people. This is
despite the fact that there are a number of fragmented articles appearing on
the online webs and of course a number of books, booklets and magazines
about the Tanchangyas and their life have been published in the recent time.
However, given its holistic nature of the article - though it may not be the
perfect in every sense - it wouldn't be far from the truth to claim that
this article is probably the first of its kind to be circulated over the
internet world. Therefore, it is our humble hope that this article will shed
some light on the Tanchangya Tribe for those who are yet to know who or what
'Tanchangya' is.
'Tanchangya' is an indigenous tribal community living in the greater
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of South-eastern part of Bangladesh. Tanchangya
is one of the thirteen tribal communities of the CHT, namely, Chakma, Marma,
Tripura, Tanchangya, Mro, Ryang, Khumi, Chak, Murung, Khyang, Bunjugi,
Pankhu and Lushai. The members of all these thirteen indigenous communities
are also collectively known as 'Jumma', a national ideology that gave birth
after the independence of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) from West Pakistan in
1971.
Recent researches into the history of the Tanchangya people have suggested a
more fascinating story of the reason behind the historical migration of the
Tanchangya people from the Arakan hills to the CHT.
It has been (mythically) suggested that the Tanchangyas were forced to flee
their ancient kingdom due to a war between their kingdom and another
neighboring kingdom, in which their king was defeated. In order to escape
the onslaught of the advancing invading king, the Tanchangyas took temporal
shelter in deep jungles and forests while some fled their kingdom and took
refuge in CHT.
Even up to now, Tanchangyas, who had been scattered in various parts of that
region due to the above mentioned war, have still been living in the
southeastern regions of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur States of India, as
well as in the Arakan region of Burma. The number of Tanchangyas living
outside the CHT region could far exceed the number living in the CHT. In
Arakan, the Tanchangyas are known as 'dounnak', the undefeated.
Tanchangyas have their own form of language which, in actual sense, is more
of a dialect. It is a mixture of Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Bengali with
some English terminologies included. Tanchangya language has no written
script. However, recently, some Tanchangya writers and intellectuals and a
handful of non-natives have been trying to put into script the grammar
structure of the Tanchangya language using the Bengali script in an
organized and easy-to-reference format. It has been a tough job though due
to its complex spoken structure.
Like many of the tribal communities, Tanchangyas also have a very organized
social and family structure. A Tanchangya family usually consists of 5-10
members but generally the sons who get married choose to live separately in
a separate house. When the parents are old, usually the youngest or the
eldest son is supposed to look after them. However, any son has the right to
look after the parents if he so desires, so do the daughters.
A Tanchangya village generally consists of not more than 60-70 households,
the largest of which may consist of may be 100 and the smallest of which may
consist only of 5-10 households. Tanchangyas are well known for their choice
of building their houses and huts on hill-slopes and green hill valleys,
often in remote part of dense jungles. The Tanchangya hierarchical system
states that only the sons are entitled to receive a portion of father's
wealth and daughters cannot claim any. Since hill cultivation also known as
Jhum cultivation is the main source of income, lands and hills are vital in
the survival of the Tanchangya people.
Traditionally, Tanchangyas have an extensive lineage system. The entire
Tanchangya tribe consists of seven 'gocha/gosha' which can be well
translated as 'clan', of which the Karwa-gocha, the Mua-gocha and the
Dhunya-ghocha are the main and leading clans. These three clans dominate the
larger Tanchangya tribe. The majority members and the most educated, with
some exception of course, belong to either of these three clans.
Moreover, each of the seven clans also has its own sub-clans locally known
as 'guit-ti'. The extensive Tanchangya lineage system becomes important when
it comes to the linguistic and some behavioral points and matters. The
dialects, dressing, behaving and some social norms differ from clan to clan
and even to a lesser extent from sub-clan to sub-clan. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the Tanchangya language, as a whole, is a combination or
encompasses the slightly-different dialects of all these seven clans and
thus the larger Tanchangya tribe is a combination of slightly-different
cultures, dressing, social norms and customs of all the seven clans.
However, it is also to be noted that all the Tanchangyas do not introduce
themselves by name of clans or sub-clans but by the common designated title
'Tanchangya'.
As to the marital relationship, traditionally three kinds of marriages can
be found within the Tanchangya social structure:
1. A pre-arranged marriage in which the bridegroom brings the bride in his
parents' home. This is the most accepted, approved and prevalent marital
system in the Tanchangya society. This kind of marriage is arranged by the
help of a third party between the parents of both parties with the prior
approval of the would-be bridegroom and the bride. In this kind of marriage,
the parents are the decision-makers.
2. A pre-arranged marriage in which the bridegroom goes to live with the
bride in her parents' house. This is the rarest practice among the three.
3. A marriage in which the would-be husband and wife elope as lovers and
decide to live as legal couple. This can be called from modern context as
'love marriage'. Traditionally this kind of marriage is also accepted but
not approved specially by the conservatives. The decisions of the couple
play the most vital role in this kind of marriage. Nowadays, this third kind
of marriage i.e. choosing one's own life partner is the most chosen criteria
for marriage, the influence of which can be partially due to the Western
influence of so-called modernization.
Tanchangyas are also quite famous for the husband being younger in age than
his wife, a practice which can not be found in other communities. And this
practice is quite commonly seen in the Mua-gocha clan of the larger
Tanchangya tribe. A Tanchangya marriage does not in any way come under the
influence of Buddhism. However, it is also customary for the new couple to
go to the village temple for blessings of monks and listening to the
chanting of the 'Mangalasutta' (A Buddhist Holy Scripture). The entire
marriage ceremony is generally conducted by village elders who are expert in
traditional values. In Tanchangya marriages, pigs, hens and fishes are
killed in order to entertain the guests and well-wishers with delicious
dishes. More interestingly, there is a special sacrificial offering called -
shumulang - without which a couple is not considered as legally married. In
this special sacrificial offering which must be conducted by a village
physician [a village physician known as 'Boiddo' in the Tanchangya language
acts as a doctor in Tanchangya villages. In most cases, these particular
'boiddos' also have black magical powers to drive away evil spirits and they
even have powers to kill people or bring immense disasters by means of their
black magical charms], two hens or cocks are killed in the name of the
protecting house guardian for happiness and prosperity for the new couple.
The traditional clothing attire of the Tanchangya women in particular is yet
another spectacular outlook to be observed. It is said that the Tanchangya
women excel all other hilly women in wearing colorful dresses and ornaments.
Like some of their counterparts of other tribes, the Tanchangya women weave,
sew and make their own clothing by means of traditional handicrafts.
Traditional Tanchangya women also wear lavish jewelries over their clothing.
Usually these lavish jewelries - ear-rings, hand-rings and foot-rings,
necklace, bracelets and many different varieties of neck-garlands made of
ancient coins and beads - have come down from many generations from mother
to daughter. These jewelries are the only wealth daughters get from their
mothers mostly at the time of their marriage and these jewelries become
precious treasures for the daughters.
A Tanchangya woman-attire basically consists of five main sets:
1. Pinoin or skirt: this is the main set which is weaved with mere threads
of different colors, arranged and decorated with colorful lines of designs
2. Jumo shalum or blouse: this is a piece of cloth also weaved and then
later on sewn with hands with traditional designs in the form of a blouse
3. Paa-duri or waist belt: this is a piece of long cloth weaved with
traditional designs and worn over the waist to support the tightness of the
pinoin or the skirt
4. Mada-habong or head scarf: this is quite similar to (but not the same as)
the paa-duri but is of different designs worn over the head to protect the
head from sunshine and to escape from dust and it also helps to carry heavy
stuff on the head
5. Hadhi or scarf: this is also similar to the paa-duri but it is a bit
bigger and weaved with elaborate designs of different shining silk threads
and worn over the body hanging from the shoulders up down below the waist.
Sometimes it is also worn around the chest. This hadhi is a vital clothing
set of decoration especially for young girls
However, due to the rapid globalization and continuous evolution of
so-called modernization, nowadays the Tanchangya women of the younger
generation are neglecting their traditional dress of which their mothers and
grandmothers were once proud of. These days, the so-called modernized
Tanchangya girls hardly even know how to weave her set of traditional
clothing. Traditionally it had been very hard for a Tanchangya girl to get a
husband if she didn't know how to weave her own set of clothing.
The Tanchangya men, on the other hand, only wear two sets of clothing, a
sarong/ lung-gi or a dhoti and a shirt. Usually they buy these from markets.
Probably because of Arakanese Buddhist influences, Tanchangyas also have
been Buddhists from the inception. Nowhere in their history were they
recorded as followers of some other organized form of religions other than
Buddhism and of course a little bit of animistic influence were inevitable.
Tanchangyas are followers of Theravada form of Buddhism. However the form of
Buddhism the Tanchangya people follow is very much mixed with some animistic
and tribal cults, some of which even include animal sacrifices to gods of
various kinds and purposes, which are not Buddhistic in nature. Broadly
speaking, these practices can be said of the influences from early Brahmanic
civilization. Nevertheless, the Tanchangya people do not consider these
practices as Buddhist but more of social and traditional and this makes the
argument fair. Generally, there is a Buddhist temple in every Tanchangya
village known in their language as 'khyong'. They observe religious rites
such as worshipping Gotama Buddha, listening to Buddhist sermons on
auspicious occasions, celebrating the Buddhist Pravarana and Kathina
festivals, Full Moon Days and many other Buddhist related festivals and
celebrations.
Somehow or other, up to date, Tanchangyas have not been converted into
Christianity as in the case of Lushai indigenous community and few others.
Thus the term Tanchangya also implies a Buddhist. But at least a half or
more of the Tanchangya population, given their practices and influence of
animistic rituals, can not be considered Buddhists in the strict sense of
the term either. As is the case, any indigenous community is not exempted
from some sort of animistic rituals and so are the Tanchangyas.
There are a number of animistic rituals which can be observed in a
Tanchangya society. Some of these animistic rituals contain elaborate rites
in which pigs, goats and a huge number of hens and cocks are sacrificed in
the name of gods and spirits of various purposes. Tanchangyas also have some
bloodless animistic rituals like candle and flower offering to the spirit of
the village river and offering of cooked-rice mixed with red chili to the
spirit of sunshine, to name but a few.
Hunting with spears, bows and arrows along with hand-made nets in the deep
and dense jungles up the green hills is also a part of Tanchangyas' daily
activity which, in a way, is also a means of their survival especially in
the remote jungle areas where modernity has not yet found a footing.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned animistic ritualistic elaborate sacrifices
and hunting for wild animals have almost come to a stop due to the
relentless efforts of some socially engaged Buddhist monks who have been
trying hard to bring a stop to all these non-Buddhist ritualistic practices.
Apart from this, however, the most celebrated festival of the Tanchangya
people is the 'bishu' festival which corresponds to the Bengali New Year of
the month of April. Bishu is celebrated for a lengthy period of four to five
days, during which Tanchangya people also go to temples to pray for a better
and prosperous beginning of the New Year and say good bye to the old year
and also pray for a better agricultural harvest. All the Tanchangyas
decorate their houses and temples with wild flowers and creepers. During the
bishu festival, all the Tanchangya people shun all form of daily activities
but enjoy it with their heart-fill followed by elaborate traditional
entertaining concerts. This is the day of family union. This is the day of
exchanging visits among friends and relatives. This is the day of enjoyment
and merry-making. This is the day of happiness for all Tanchangyas.
The Tanchangya people also have a long oral history in which many
interesting and elaborate traditional or even historical incidents and
stories are recorded. As recorded in the oral history, [the Tanchangya oral
history is still being preserved without being committed to writing in any
form. There are some special groups of people known locally as 'ging-guli'
who are preserving the history orally. These people are invited in
traditional festivals and weddings to relate the history of the Tanchangya
people and even love stories. They only use a violin and relate in poetic
form which may continue the whole night non-stop. But sadly due to
modernization, the young generation, nowadays, hardly pay attention to this
invaluable traditional form of entertainment. As a result, only a handful of
'ging-gulis' can be found nowadays], the story of Radhamon, the
commander-in-chief of King Bijoy-giri and his fiancée Dhonpudi is worth
mentioning. Radhamon and Dhonpudi were lovers. And this traditional love
story is one of the most well-known told stories among the Tanchangya people
but most popular among the older generation. This love story is pretty much
like the Roman love story of Romeo and Juliet.
Besides these, there are also many traditional songs known as 'uba-git' and
folktales known as 'kit-ta' and moral-related stories known as 'poshon'
preserved in the Tanchangya oral history. No doubt, if the entire Tanchangya
oral history is put into writing, it will form yet another large volume of
fine world literature.
However, in spite of having some unique traditional and cultural values and
a rich literature, the Tanchangyas still lag behind some of the larger
contemporary indigenous communities in the region of the CHT in respect of
modern education, regional politics and cultural awareness. The 1991
national statistics showed that not even one third of the Tanchangya
population is educated in its modern sense. Nevertheless very lately, quite
a large number of Tanchangyas have been holding some government civil posts
in the fields of education, health and to a lesser extent regional politics.
During the past two decades or so, a considerable number of Tanchangyas also
have undergone and have been undergoing higher educational training locally
and in abroad. But still the majority of the Tanchangya population is yet to
get the smell of modernity.
Lately many books, articles, magazines and leaflets have been published
about the life and culture of the Tanchangya people. In them, the Tanchanya
people have been described by many anthropologists and writers as - 'shy,
modest in nature, honest, easily approachable and hospitable'.
Existence and survival of any human society is a continuous flux of
evolution, transformation and preservation. Many distinct human races have
been uprooted from this world or at least on the brink of complete
annihilation and destruction. The Tanchangya Tribe is no exception. And this
realization has given birth to a thing called 'cultural awareness' in the
minds of the modern educated Tanchangya people. These people have formed a
number of societies and organizations in the CHT for the re-evaluation,
transformation and preservation of the Tanchangya cultural and traditional
values. Hopefully, this cultural awareness of the Tanchangya people would
help maintain and persist the existence and survival of the Tanchangya Tribe
in the long run.
*****************************************
* This article, written by Sujan Tanchangya who is currently engaged in
undergraduate research studies in Thailand, is basically for general
reference. The writer wishes to stress the point that the lifting of ideas
and information from this article is not copyrighted provided he/she is
responsible for any outcome of his/her action. The ideas and information in
this article are based purely on the personal knowledge, experience,
observation and research reading of the writer. Any misinformation in this
article is therefore open to creative criticism and correction; and any
feedback, suggestions and recommendations are cordially welcomed.
The writer can be contacted at: ***@hotmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Monday January 22 2007 15:27:31 PM BDT
By Sujan Tanchangya, Thailand
This article is primarily in response to a couple of emails that I received
from readers who wanted to know more about the Tanchangya people. This is
despite the fact that there are a number of fragmented articles appearing on
the online webs and of course a number of books, booklets and magazines
about the Tanchangyas and their life have been published in the recent time.
However, given its holistic nature of the article - though it may not be the
perfect in every sense - it wouldn't be far from the truth to claim that
this article is probably the first of its kind to be circulated over the
internet world. Therefore, it is our humble hope that this article will shed
some light on the Tanchangya Tribe for those who are yet to know who or what
'Tanchangya' is.
'Tanchangya' is an indigenous tribal community living in the greater
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of South-eastern part of Bangladesh. Tanchangya
is one of the thirteen tribal communities of the CHT, namely, Chakma, Marma,
Tripura, Tanchangya, Mro, Ryang, Khumi, Chak, Murung, Khyang, Bunjugi,
Pankhu and Lushai. The members of all these thirteen indigenous communities
are also collectively known as 'Jumma', a national ideology that gave birth
after the independence of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) from West Pakistan in
1971.
Recent researches into the history of the Tanchangya people have suggested a
more fascinating story of the reason behind the historical migration of the
Tanchangya people from the Arakan hills to the CHT.
It has been (mythically) suggested that the Tanchangyas were forced to flee
their ancient kingdom due to a war between their kingdom and another
neighboring kingdom, in which their king was defeated. In order to escape
the onslaught of the advancing invading king, the Tanchangyas took temporal
shelter in deep jungles and forests while some fled their kingdom and took
refuge in CHT.
Even up to now, Tanchangyas, who had been scattered in various parts of that
region due to the above mentioned war, have still been living in the
southeastern regions of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur States of India, as
well as in the Arakan region of Burma. The number of Tanchangyas living
outside the CHT region could far exceed the number living in the CHT. In
Arakan, the Tanchangyas are known as 'dounnak', the undefeated.
Tanchangyas have their own form of language which, in actual sense, is more
of a dialect. It is a mixture of Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Bengali with
some English terminologies included. Tanchangya language has no written
script. However, recently, some Tanchangya writers and intellectuals and a
handful of non-natives have been trying to put into script the grammar
structure of the Tanchangya language using the Bengali script in an
organized and easy-to-reference format. It has been a tough job though due
to its complex spoken structure.
Like many of the tribal communities, Tanchangyas also have a very organized
social and family structure. A Tanchangya family usually consists of 5-10
members but generally the sons who get married choose to live separately in
a separate house. When the parents are old, usually the youngest or the
eldest son is supposed to look after them. However, any son has the right to
look after the parents if he so desires, so do the daughters.
A Tanchangya village generally consists of not more than 60-70 households,
the largest of which may consist of may be 100 and the smallest of which may
consist only of 5-10 households. Tanchangyas are well known for their choice
of building their houses and huts on hill-slopes and green hill valleys,
often in remote part of dense jungles. The Tanchangya hierarchical system
states that only the sons are entitled to receive a portion of father's
wealth and daughters cannot claim any. Since hill cultivation also known as
Jhum cultivation is the main source of income, lands and hills are vital in
the survival of the Tanchangya people.
Traditionally, Tanchangyas have an extensive lineage system. The entire
Tanchangya tribe consists of seven 'gocha/gosha' which can be well
translated as 'clan', of which the Karwa-gocha, the Mua-gocha and the
Dhunya-ghocha are the main and leading clans. These three clans dominate the
larger Tanchangya tribe. The majority members and the most educated, with
some exception of course, belong to either of these three clans.
Moreover, each of the seven clans also has its own sub-clans locally known
as 'guit-ti'. The extensive Tanchangya lineage system becomes important when
it comes to the linguistic and some behavioral points and matters. The
dialects, dressing, behaving and some social norms differ from clan to clan
and even to a lesser extent from sub-clan to sub-clan. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the Tanchangya language, as a whole, is a combination or
encompasses the slightly-different dialects of all these seven clans and
thus the larger Tanchangya tribe is a combination of slightly-different
cultures, dressing, social norms and customs of all the seven clans.
However, it is also to be noted that all the Tanchangyas do not introduce
themselves by name of clans or sub-clans but by the common designated title
'Tanchangya'.
As to the marital relationship, traditionally three kinds of marriages can
be found within the Tanchangya social structure:
1. A pre-arranged marriage in which the bridegroom brings the bride in his
parents' home. This is the most accepted, approved and prevalent marital
system in the Tanchangya society. This kind of marriage is arranged by the
help of a third party between the parents of both parties with the prior
approval of the would-be bridegroom and the bride. In this kind of marriage,
the parents are the decision-makers.
2. A pre-arranged marriage in which the bridegroom goes to live with the
bride in her parents' house. This is the rarest practice among the three.
3. A marriage in which the would-be husband and wife elope as lovers and
decide to live as legal couple. This can be called from modern context as
'love marriage'. Traditionally this kind of marriage is also accepted but
not approved specially by the conservatives. The decisions of the couple
play the most vital role in this kind of marriage. Nowadays, this third kind
of marriage i.e. choosing one's own life partner is the most chosen criteria
for marriage, the influence of which can be partially due to the Western
influence of so-called modernization.
Tanchangyas are also quite famous for the husband being younger in age than
his wife, a practice which can not be found in other communities. And this
practice is quite commonly seen in the Mua-gocha clan of the larger
Tanchangya tribe. A Tanchangya marriage does not in any way come under the
influence of Buddhism. However, it is also customary for the new couple to
go to the village temple for blessings of monks and listening to the
chanting of the 'Mangalasutta' (A Buddhist Holy Scripture). The entire
marriage ceremony is generally conducted by village elders who are expert in
traditional values. In Tanchangya marriages, pigs, hens and fishes are
killed in order to entertain the guests and well-wishers with delicious
dishes. More interestingly, there is a special sacrificial offering called -
shumulang - without which a couple is not considered as legally married. In
this special sacrificial offering which must be conducted by a village
physician [a village physician known as 'Boiddo' in the Tanchangya language
acts as a doctor in Tanchangya villages. In most cases, these particular
'boiddos' also have black magical powers to drive away evil spirits and they
even have powers to kill people or bring immense disasters by means of their
black magical charms], two hens or cocks are killed in the name of the
protecting house guardian for happiness and prosperity for the new couple.
The traditional clothing attire of the Tanchangya women in particular is yet
another spectacular outlook to be observed. It is said that the Tanchangya
women excel all other hilly women in wearing colorful dresses and ornaments.
Like some of their counterparts of other tribes, the Tanchangya women weave,
sew and make their own clothing by means of traditional handicrafts.
Traditional Tanchangya women also wear lavish jewelries over their clothing.
Usually these lavish jewelries - ear-rings, hand-rings and foot-rings,
necklace, bracelets and many different varieties of neck-garlands made of
ancient coins and beads - have come down from many generations from mother
to daughter. These jewelries are the only wealth daughters get from their
mothers mostly at the time of their marriage and these jewelries become
precious treasures for the daughters.
A Tanchangya woman-attire basically consists of five main sets:
1. Pinoin or skirt: this is the main set which is weaved with mere threads
of different colors, arranged and decorated with colorful lines of designs
2. Jumo shalum or blouse: this is a piece of cloth also weaved and then
later on sewn with hands with traditional designs in the form of a blouse
3. Paa-duri or waist belt: this is a piece of long cloth weaved with
traditional designs and worn over the waist to support the tightness of the
pinoin or the skirt
4. Mada-habong or head scarf: this is quite similar to (but not the same as)
the paa-duri but is of different designs worn over the head to protect the
head from sunshine and to escape from dust and it also helps to carry heavy
stuff on the head
5. Hadhi or scarf: this is also similar to the paa-duri but it is a bit
bigger and weaved with elaborate designs of different shining silk threads
and worn over the body hanging from the shoulders up down below the waist.
Sometimes it is also worn around the chest. This hadhi is a vital clothing
set of decoration especially for young girls
However, due to the rapid globalization and continuous evolution of
so-called modernization, nowadays the Tanchangya women of the younger
generation are neglecting their traditional dress of which their mothers and
grandmothers were once proud of. These days, the so-called modernized
Tanchangya girls hardly even know how to weave her set of traditional
clothing. Traditionally it had been very hard for a Tanchangya girl to get a
husband if she didn't know how to weave her own set of clothing.
The Tanchangya men, on the other hand, only wear two sets of clothing, a
sarong/ lung-gi or a dhoti and a shirt. Usually they buy these from markets.
Probably because of Arakanese Buddhist influences, Tanchangyas also have
been Buddhists from the inception. Nowhere in their history were they
recorded as followers of some other organized form of religions other than
Buddhism and of course a little bit of animistic influence were inevitable.
Tanchangyas are followers of Theravada form of Buddhism. However the form of
Buddhism the Tanchangya people follow is very much mixed with some animistic
and tribal cults, some of which even include animal sacrifices to gods of
various kinds and purposes, which are not Buddhistic in nature. Broadly
speaking, these practices can be said of the influences from early Brahmanic
civilization. Nevertheless, the Tanchangya people do not consider these
practices as Buddhist but more of social and traditional and this makes the
argument fair. Generally, there is a Buddhist temple in every Tanchangya
village known in their language as 'khyong'. They observe religious rites
such as worshipping Gotama Buddha, listening to Buddhist sermons on
auspicious occasions, celebrating the Buddhist Pravarana and Kathina
festivals, Full Moon Days and many other Buddhist related festivals and
celebrations.
Somehow or other, up to date, Tanchangyas have not been converted into
Christianity as in the case of Lushai indigenous community and few others.
Thus the term Tanchangya also implies a Buddhist. But at least a half or
more of the Tanchangya population, given their practices and influence of
animistic rituals, can not be considered Buddhists in the strict sense of
the term either. As is the case, any indigenous community is not exempted
from some sort of animistic rituals and so are the Tanchangyas.
There are a number of animistic rituals which can be observed in a
Tanchangya society. Some of these animistic rituals contain elaborate rites
in which pigs, goats and a huge number of hens and cocks are sacrificed in
the name of gods and spirits of various purposes. Tanchangyas also have some
bloodless animistic rituals like candle and flower offering to the spirit of
the village river and offering of cooked-rice mixed with red chili to the
spirit of sunshine, to name but a few.
Hunting with spears, bows and arrows along with hand-made nets in the deep
and dense jungles up the green hills is also a part of Tanchangyas' daily
activity which, in a way, is also a means of their survival especially in
the remote jungle areas where modernity has not yet found a footing.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned animistic ritualistic elaborate sacrifices
and hunting for wild animals have almost come to a stop due to the
relentless efforts of some socially engaged Buddhist monks who have been
trying hard to bring a stop to all these non-Buddhist ritualistic practices.
Apart from this, however, the most celebrated festival of the Tanchangya
people is the 'bishu' festival which corresponds to the Bengali New Year of
the month of April. Bishu is celebrated for a lengthy period of four to five
days, during which Tanchangya people also go to temples to pray for a better
and prosperous beginning of the New Year and say good bye to the old year
and also pray for a better agricultural harvest. All the Tanchangyas
decorate their houses and temples with wild flowers and creepers. During the
bishu festival, all the Tanchangya people shun all form of daily activities
but enjoy it with their heart-fill followed by elaborate traditional
entertaining concerts. This is the day of family union. This is the day of
exchanging visits among friends and relatives. This is the day of enjoyment
and merry-making. This is the day of happiness for all Tanchangyas.
The Tanchangya people also have a long oral history in which many
interesting and elaborate traditional or even historical incidents and
stories are recorded. As recorded in the oral history, [the Tanchangya oral
history is still being preserved without being committed to writing in any
form. There are some special groups of people known locally as 'ging-guli'
who are preserving the history orally. These people are invited in
traditional festivals and weddings to relate the history of the Tanchangya
people and even love stories. They only use a violin and relate in poetic
form which may continue the whole night non-stop. But sadly due to
modernization, the young generation, nowadays, hardly pay attention to this
invaluable traditional form of entertainment. As a result, only a handful of
'ging-gulis' can be found nowadays], the story of Radhamon, the
commander-in-chief of King Bijoy-giri and his fiancée Dhonpudi is worth
mentioning. Radhamon and Dhonpudi were lovers. And this traditional love
story is one of the most well-known told stories among the Tanchangya people
but most popular among the older generation. This love story is pretty much
like the Roman love story of Romeo and Juliet.
Besides these, there are also many traditional songs known as 'uba-git' and
folktales known as 'kit-ta' and moral-related stories known as 'poshon'
preserved in the Tanchangya oral history. No doubt, if the entire Tanchangya
oral history is put into writing, it will form yet another large volume of
fine world literature.
However, in spite of having some unique traditional and cultural values and
a rich literature, the Tanchangyas still lag behind some of the larger
contemporary indigenous communities in the region of the CHT in respect of
modern education, regional politics and cultural awareness. The 1991
national statistics showed that not even one third of the Tanchangya
population is educated in its modern sense. Nevertheless very lately, quite
a large number of Tanchangyas have been holding some government civil posts
in the fields of education, health and to a lesser extent regional politics.
During the past two decades or so, a considerable number of Tanchangyas also
have undergone and have been undergoing higher educational training locally
and in abroad. But still the majority of the Tanchangya population is yet to
get the smell of modernity.
Lately many books, articles, magazines and leaflets have been published
about the life and culture of the Tanchangya people. In them, the Tanchanya
people have been described by many anthropologists and writers as - 'shy,
modest in nature, honest, easily approachable and hospitable'.
Existence and survival of any human society is a continuous flux of
evolution, transformation and preservation. Many distinct human races have
been uprooted from this world or at least on the brink of complete
annihilation and destruction. The Tanchangya Tribe is no exception. And this
realization has given birth to a thing called 'cultural awareness' in the
minds of the modern educated Tanchangya people. These people have formed a
number of societies and organizations in the CHT for the re-evaluation,
transformation and preservation of the Tanchangya cultural and traditional
values. Hopefully, this cultural awareness of the Tanchangya people would
help maintain and persist the existence and survival of the Tanchangya Tribe
in the long run.
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* This article, written by Sujan Tanchangya who is currently engaged in
undergraduate research studies in Thailand, is basically for general
reference. The writer wishes to stress the point that the lifting of ideas
and information from this article is not copyrighted provided he/she is
responsible for any outcome of his/her action. The ideas and information in
this article are based purely on the personal knowledge, experience,
observation and research reading of the writer. Any misinformation in this
article is therefore open to creative criticism and correction; and any
feedback, suggestions and recommendations are cordially welcomed.
The writer can be contacted at: ***@hotmail.com
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