Barua (Mogh/ Buddhist) Tribe Indo-Bangla Subcontinent

Subhasis Barua(Bhikkhu Sumanapal)

Buddhism was the religion of Eastern India. The empire of Asoka spreaded upto Pundrabardhana¹ or North Bengal of North East India. Undoubtedly Buddhism entered Bengal in the 3^rd Century B.C. during the reign of Asoka.² We know about this from the travelogue of the Chinese traveler Xuang Zang. History bears witness to the fact that Buddhism spreaded in Bengal during the life time of the Buddha.³ It is said in the Anguttara Nikaya, the fourth book of the Sutta Pitaka of the Tripitaka that a young man named Banganta Putta came to Buddha and became this disciple. We come across another Bengali monk by the name of Bangisha in Anguttara Nikaya, Thera Gatha and Thera Apadana. So we may conclude that Buddhism was preached in Bengal even in the ancient age.

Now we shall discuss the history of the Buddhist Burma caste. On the way of discussing history we shall try to find out their culture and authentic history. Today in West Bengal almost fifty thousand Bengali Buddhists reside in greater Kolkata and the other districts. Dr. Sukomal Chowdhury⁴ has described the outline of the religion and culture of the newly awakened Bengali Buddhists. The people who are known as Buddhists in West Bengal are not the son of the soil of West Bengal.⁴ They were displaced from Chittagong, hilly Chittagong, Noakhali and Comilla of East Bengal and have settled in West Bengal after coming here. Buddhism is monastery-centered. It is through the monasteries and Buddhist monks that they have established the religious and cultural practices in their new homeland. The number of Buddhists has increased in India during the post-independence period. Attempts have been made to correctly evaluate the Buddhist population of Bengal and their socio-economic conditions.

Buddhists are a minority community recognized by the Constitution. But as a minority community they are neglected. Now we will try to prove that the Bengali Buddhists are included in the “Magh”⁵ Community. Rules and regulations regarding the inclusion of any community as a minority community are included in the Article 341 of the constitution. According to this Principle any class, caste or tribe or its part can be included in the list of Scheduled Caste category or can be deleted from it. But the matter of inclusion of the Barua community is not being discussed here because many of them have objections to be included within the scheduled caste community.

It is relevant to discuss rule no. 15(4) and 16(4) of the Article 340 of the Constitution. According to Article 340(1), the President can set up a commission to analyse the condition of socially and educationally backward classes, the constraints under which they operate and recommend measures to upgrade their condition. By virtue of Article 15(4) of the Constitution, states are empowered to make special arrangement for the development of socially and educationally backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. In this case, in order to be indicated as a backward class that particular class has to be backward both socially and educationally. If any class is not found backward in both these respects, the recommendations under the article will not be effective for them. Backward classes are not considered to be of the same category with the scheduled caste and schedule tribe category though the reasons and nature of their backwardness are the same. It is the duty of the state to determine which caste belongs to the category of the underdeveloped. So the standard of judging whether the Barua Community falls under the underdeveloped category is in different states is different. In the famous case between M.R. Balaji vs the State of Mahisur (AIR 1963, 649) the court observed that social backwardness is the ultimate result of poverty. A questionnaire was distributed in different departments and ministries of the Central Government through the Backward Caste Commission depending upon the framework of poverty-line. In that questionnaire it was asked to frame a guideline to determine the backwardness of non converted and non Hindu population. According to that guideline a worker will be considered as socially backward if the monthly salary of his parents is less than Rs.71/- per head (Rs.71/- was the minimum salary to determine the lower level of poverty line). It is also mentioned in this guideline that a person will be considered educationally backward if both his father and grandfather had not crossed the level of primary education. It may be mentioned in this connection that the social or educationally backwardness of a person will be determined according to the standard of his father's or grandfathers educational qualification. Though his standard is not generally applied, according to this the Buddhist, Barua community falls under the category of backward class. But they should have submitted this claim to the Commission of Backward class (known as the Mondal Commission). Once the Barua Community is declared as backward classes they cannot be included in the list of Scheduled castes unless they prove themselves to be a tribal community. Some states including West Bengal have not so far prepared the list of backward classes. The West Bengal Government formed a committee on 1.8.80 to judge the necessity of applying the power under the State Government under article 15(4), 16(4), 29(2) and 15(4) of the Constitution. The Committee observed in its report, “In our opinion the most important indicator of backwardness should be low standard of living and poverty rather than caste. This Committee expressed its opinion against the reservation of backward classes in government jobs. West Bengal Government has completely accepted this report. West Bengal Govt. has never prepared the list of backward classes. Judging from this angle the claim of some group of the Barua that seats were reserved for them under the OBC category is confusing. However, it is a matter of consideration for the state government to include a particular community under the OBC category.

It is necessary to examine the past in order to judge the correctness of the issue of reservation of the Barua Community. We had discussion with some old and illiterate Barua people and they candidly disclosed some authentic information. According to them the Barua people were known as Magh in the place of their origin,⁶  now they do not use that word in their name without knowing the reason behind it. Following their statement I understood from some very old and rare document of pre-Independent India that the Buddhist Baruas of Chittagong belonged to the Magh tribe.⁷ In the State of Tripura they have been mentioned as Magh.  Various writers have mentioned the Magh by different names e.g., mag>magh> or maghi. Now in West Bengal the Maghas are included in the list of schedule castes.

The history of Barua has an unknown angle which is not known to the young generation, the modern historians have also not thrown any light on it. There is no reason behind not revealing the truth however humiliating it may be.

Some of us may not like the information which has been gathered from government documents. But the information revealed by our ancestors to the writers of that time cannot be disregarded altogether.

Unpublished information

The Suppressed Part.

The Barua Community has been described as Magh in the appendix of the third chapter of Eastern Bengal District Gazetteer of Chittagong published by LSSO Mally ICS. (Kindly refer to Calcutta Bengal Secretariat Press, 1908).

Barua Magh⁸: The religion of the Barua Maghs residing in the southern and eastern part of Chittagong in Buddhism – though they follow some Hindu religious practices. They claim to be a section of the Rajbanshi and the Raj Community. As the cause of this they claim themselves to be the successors of the king of Arakan. Those kings migrated to Arakan from Magadh or modern Bihar. The word ‘Magh' is derived from the original dwelling place of the Baruas, even the illiterate Maghs also claim themselves to be Magadh Kashatriyas – because their ancestors originated from the royal Kashatriya class of Magadh.⁹

The history of their origin: Confusion and Chaos started after the death of King Sri Sudama of Arakan in 1638. Then the Maghas migrated to Chittagong in search of a safe refuge and started to live there. A minister of the king name Narapati or Nagrapati usurped the throne and killed many members of the aristocracy and royal family. According to the King Wang, in the time of this chaos the son of Sri Sundama Nga Tun Khin fled from the city and hid himself. On the other hand, some members of the aristocracy and the royal family fled to a place named Kantha and started living there. Among the one lakh soldier of Mychammy fifty thousand left the capital with a priest named Nga Lut Reen and started dwelling at Kantha under Nga Tun Khin. Gradually the ruler of Kantha came to be known as Marmagri. The Barua Maghs are their successors and even now the Arakanese call them Marmagri¹⁰ or Great Maghs. The word Marmagari has originated from the word Brahmagiri. (The word Marma means Brahma or the first dwelling community of the world). We indicate the citizens of Burma by this name. (The word gri means great).

Following Buddhism: When in 1666 the Moghal emperor annexed Chittagong many Maghs fled to Arakan and took shelter there.¹¹ The remaining portion of the Maghs gradually got separated from the co Buddhists and in course of time adopted many Hindu religious practices. Many years passed after that. 40/50 years ago a famous monk of Arakan named Sangha Raj reached Chittagong on his way back from visiting Buddhagaya. After that he visited Chittagong three/ four times to revive Buddhism. Due to his efforts the Maghs discarded the Hindu religious practices and adopted true Buddhism. The reformation which Sangha Raj started was continued by a Barua Magh named Punyachari Dhammadhari. He is also generally known as Chandramohan Thakur.

According to the East Bengal District Gazetteer the Barua Maghs retained their separate identity from the Bengalese around 125 years ago. It is also said in the Gazetteer that the language of the Baruas residing in Chittagong is a regional from the Burmese language. Even now the Mouha kumar Barua Maghs of Cox's Bazar of Chittagong communicate in that language. However, in the census of 1901 many of them were designated as Bengali speaking. In the language prevalent among the Baruas some words of the Burmese language are used e.g. Phaung, Kyvang, Chheyains, etc. The main religion of the Maghs is Buddhism. It is also stated in the gazetteer that there is a very old colony of the Barua Maghs in Cox's Bazar, Raozan, Rangunia and Patia locality. The Buddhist Maghs are divided into two sections. One of them is the successor of the people migrating from Arakan. They came to Chittagong then. The other is the Barua Maghs. They claim themselves as Rajbanshis.

Many of them are Arakanese and are the successors of the children of Bengali father. Most of the Maghs of this area belong to the Barua Magh Community and a very small section is the hilly Magh who cannot speak in Bengali.

Generally, the offsprings, who generate from a mixed marriage, adopt the mother's religion. This is also applicable in the case of Barua Maghs. They follow Bengali culture in everything except religion.

The Baruas are not the Maghs of Chittagong. The Gazetteer says, “The Baruas of Chittagong have three factions e.g. Jumia Magh, Raang or Rakhain Magh and Rajbansi or Barua Magh. Rajbanshi or Barua Maghs are descendents of Bengali woman and Burmese men. In many cases they are the descendents of an Arakanese mother and Bengali Father.¹² They live in the plain land and have adopted the language of the people living over there. Many of them work in Kolkata as cooks as their religious practices are like the Bengalese and their language is Bengali. In fact they are Bengalese in every respect except religion. Due to the inter caste marriage of the Barua Maghs with the non Aryan Bengalees of Chittagong and Noakhali the Mongolian element has decreased from their appearance. Their complexion is bright black, their hair is curly and they are clean shaven. It may be mentioned here there is a sort of harshness in their conduct and way of speaking – this is completely the opposite of the calm and flexible nature of their Mongolian forefathers. They look like the lower class people of West Bengal. Though the words Rajbanshi and Barua are synonymous, the Magh cooks working in Kolkata are more familiar with Baruas.

CGH Allen ICS in his Final Report of the survey and settlement of district of Chittagong (1988-1998) made the observation that the Baruas are the descendents of Magh. He remarked, The Baruas are mainly of two types. Firstly, they are the descendents of Arakanese and now and then they have come and lived in the southern part of Chittagong. The second type is the Barua Magh who is the descendents of Arakanese mother and Bengali father. Generally the Buddhists of Cox's Bazar subdivisions are purely Arakanese. After the victory of the Burmese over the state of Arakan, Barua Maghs began to migrate to Chittagong. They were donated land free of cost, almost 21995 numbers of persons of the Buddhist citizens began to live in Cox's Bazar area. The east India Company took large scale initiative to install the Buddhist citizens in Chittagong. Perhaps all of them were Arakanese. On the other hand, the 39,620 Buddhists residing in the Head Quarter are mainly Barua Maghs. These data have been derived from the census report of 1891. It is evident that DG W.W. Hunter of the Statistics Department wrote in the report a statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. VI, Chittagong hill tract and Chittagong in 1876.

Even before 40/50 years the Baruas of Chittagong and Calcutta used to call themselves Maghs in various census reports.

In the Volume 5 Bengal part I of the Census report of 1921 it is stated – “All Buddhists of Chittagong are Maghs, but the Maghs are much less in number than the Chakmas in Chittagong hilly region. All the Chakmas are the followers of Buddhism. All the Chakmas and Maghs in the state of Tripura are Buddhists. Among the 3449 Buddhists of Calcutta only a few are Burmese businessmen and the rest are Maghs who work in the houses of the Europeans and in various hotels.”

“The Rajbanshis and Baruas of Chittagong area are descendants of the Burmese but they are not pure Burmese. They are the descendents of the offsprings of Bengali women and Burmese men. They have adopted Hindu religious practices and Bengali language. According to the first registered Census of India in 1872 the report of the Chittagong district says that the numbers of Burmese Rajbanshis are 10852 and that of Barua Maghs are 381.” ¹³

According to the Director General of Chittagong Hilly Region, T.H. Lewin, the Baruas are hilly Maghs. He remarked in “The Hill Tracts of Chittagong and Dwelling therein” – Calcutta 1869 he said while commenting on the Khyoungtha tribes that they are known as the Hilly Maghs to the Bengalees of the plain although his idea is completely erroneous. Col. Sir Arthur Phayre has rightly said, “the Khyoungtha name is related to a tribe residing in the district of Chittagong. They are known as Maghs or Rajbanshis.” ¹⁴They are the offsprings of Bengali women and Burmese men and their descendants. They are equally known in Calcutta as Magh cooks. But the Magh cooks of Calcutta are deficient in the manliness, uprightness, and other positive qualities of the Khyoungtha of the hilly areas. In his report Sir A. Pheyre¹⁵ mentioned the Baruas as Magh or Rajbanshis. From this it is evident that the surname Barua's not known before 150 years.

Some writers and researchers have made the opinion that the nature of the origin of the Baruas and Virgin are identical. Practically, the Virgin was a tribal group. Ajatasatru annexed the tribal group after the Mahaparinirbana of the Buddha. Now the area of the group is a part of Bihar. The word Maga from which the word Magha has been derived, originated from the southern part of Bihar. Many people think that the word Magh has originated from Arakanese and it is not correct what has been mentioned in many Bengali dictionaries regarding this. This word has been added to Arakan for the easy proximity of Arakan group not with the Magadh of the Dist. and part.

Writers and researchers, like Wilson, have indicated the ancient dwellers of Arakan as Maghs – particularly those who resided in the Bengal border near the sea are the people of Chittagong. According to Sir Arthur Phayre the word Magh meant a ruling class of Magadh or South Bihar which ruled for some centuries. The rulers of Arakan are mainly included in this ruling class. Though it is not clearly mentioned in the history of Arakan, we get the information of the rulers of Varanasi reigning in Arakan in some popular stories. In such a history we find the mention of the marriage of a princess with a Brahmin and the long reign of their descendents in the state of Arakan. Megastanes mentioned the principal tribe dwelling in the hilly region and sea coast on the other side of the sanges as Makkokaligae who were indicated later as Maghs. R.L. Snyed Hulchinsen has made the opinion in his research book “Eastern Bengal and Assam District Gazetteers – Chittagong Hill Tracts those who call themselves by a different name e.g. Marmagri, Bhuinya Magh, Jumia Magh etc. A tribe residing in a certain portion of the country is called Maghs. One of their branches coming from Burma is known as Marma. And the tribes who live on the banks of the river are called Kyengsa. The tribe has derived their names from their profession, hilly region, dwelling place on the bank of the river or by some sameness of their ancestors, by Bhuinya Magh the Marmagri or the great Maghs are mentioned as the ancestors of Barua Maghs. Writers like H. H. Risley have presented Mutsuddhys and Singhas as specimens after discussing the structure of the nose and other physical characteristics of the Maghs of Chittagong hilly region. From many old documents of the East India Company and those of the Government of India we come to the conclusion that the Baruas are the descendants of the Maghs and one of the largest sections of Magh tribe.¹⁶

The Baruas are known as Maghs individually or jointly with Jumias or Rakhaings. It is evident that the Baruas are one of the various fractions of the Maghs, they are not the sub-tribes of the Maghs. In spite of the efforts of some people to delete the word Magh from the identity of the Barua Community, the arguments in favor of the separate existence do not hold water. Even today, the old inhabitants of Chittagong knew the Buddhist Barua over there as Maghs.

The Baruas belong to the scheduled caste category as a Magh tribe or the Baruas are Magh – the Baruas have cheated history by suppressing this truth and for this they had to pay the price. Government of India has recognized the Maghs in West Bengal and Tripura as scheduled tribes according to the provision of the Constitution. The Baruas have been mentioned as Maghs in West Bengal vide Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Law 1976, and vide the directive regarding Schedule tribe 1950, and in Tripura vide SL No. 12 – part XV. But undauntedly the young generation of the Baruas in West Bengal and Tripura could not take much advantage of this provision of the Constitution due to their lack of experience regarding the historical background of their origin. Whereas other communities are enjoying the advantage of the reservation as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes – the conditions of the Baruas have not improved much.

Many of the Baruas have raised the question regarding whether the facilities of the scheduled tribes can be obtained by adding the word ‘Barua' and changing the word ‘Magh' in the Constitution. In answer to this it may be stated that this is not possible because there is no existence of a tribe of tribal community in Magh and the term Barua Magh denotes a community under the Magh Tribe. It may be mentioned here that the Barua Magh would not have been included under the Magh scheduled tribes if they were a subgroup of the Magh tribe. In the directives regarding the scheduled tribes and the subsequent amendments the tribe ‘Magh' or ‘Mag' has been included and not any of its subgroups. However, the Barua Maghs have been included along with the Jumia Maghs and Rakhain Maghs in the list of the Maghs.¹⁷ There is no mention of any group of subgroup apart from these three tribal groups. Though these three groups are identical in many respects they have some special characteristics e.g. there is no inter-groups marriage among them. However, the marriage between the offspring's of the Rakhain Maghs and the Barua Maghs is prevalent in Cox's Bazar region. But they do not recognize any marriage with their own group Gushty. Two cases of the Supreme Court can be mentioned regarding the question as to why no subgroups of the Maghs are given the status of scheduled tribes. One of these cases is Bhaiya Lal VS Hari Kishan Singh (AIR, 1965, SC 151) and another of Basabalingappa VS Munichinnappa (AIR 1965 SC 1269). In those two cases the Supreme Court observed in its ruling, for instance, if in the provision regarding the scheduled tribe A is mentioned, even then if tribe B is a part of Tribe A, there is no provision of amending the ruling by citing the instance and include that tribe under tribe A. Under this argument only the Barua, Jamia and Rakhain communities can be recognized as the tribe Magha and not any of kuris subgroups. Today even though the Barua do not use the surname Maghs they belong to the Magh tribe by birth. There is no scope of personal likes or dislikes. According to some people now the Baruas are not any tribe or tribal community. The term tribal has a wider connotation than the term tribe. In Hero VS Johan Ara (1972 SC 1340) case honorable court has remarked that any person can belong to the Munda Community by virtue of his birth. But a woman inspite of not being a Munda by virtue of her birth can be included within the Munda community. Perhaps, non Maghs were included as the Magh tribes by virtue of the same principle a few centuries ago. Their successors are known to be included in the Magh tribe since then.

Notes and References:

1.      Choudhury, Sukomal, Contemporary Buddhism in Bangladesh, Atish Memorial Publishing Society, Kolkata, 1987, pp.2-3.

2.      Ibid. p.2.

3.      Ibid. p.5.

4.      Ibid. p.59.

5.      Risley, H.H., The tribes and castes of Bengal, Vol. II, Firma KLM Privet Ltd., Calcutta, 1998, pp. 28-36.

6.      Ibid.,

7.      Ibid.,

8.      Alln, B. C., Gait. E. A., Allen, C.G.H., Howard, H.F., Gazetteer of Bengal North –East India., Mittal Publication , Delhi, 1979, p.410.

9.      Choudhury, Sukomal, op.cit, Atish Memorial Publishing Society, Kolkata, 1987, p.47.

10.  Ibid.,

11.  Ibid., p.20

12.  Alln, B. C., Gait. E. A., Allen, C.G.H., Howard, H.F., op.cit, Mittal  Publication, Delhi, 1979, p.397. And see also Risley, H.H., op.cit, Vol. I, Firma KLM Privet Ltd., Calcutta, 1998, p. 71.

13.  Hunter, W.W., A Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol.VI, Trubner and company, London, 1876, p.143.

14.  Ibid. p.37.

15.  Choudhury, Sukomal, op.cit, Atish Memorial Publishing Society, Kolkata, 1987, p.46.

16.  Risley, H.H., op.cit, Vol. II, Firma KLM Privet Ltd., Calcutta, 1998, pp. 29.

17.  Ibid, pp. 29-36.

Bibiography:

1.      Barua, Jay Datta., (Article) A Brief Sketch of Magha: As Depicted in old Records, Banglay Bouddha Dharma, Nikhil Bharat Bangali Bouddha Sanghatan, Kolkata2013, pp.43-63.

2.      Choudhury, Sukomal, Contemporary Buddhism in Bangladesh, Atish Memorial Publishing Society, Kolkata, 1987.

3.      Chatterjee, Suniti Kumar, Kirata jana kirti, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, 2011.

4.      Hunter, W.W., A Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol.VI, Trubner and company, London, 1876.

5.      Hunter, W.W., The Annals of Rural Bengal, Indian Studies past and Present, Kolkata, 1965.

6.      Hamilton, Walter, East India, Vol-I, 1828.

7.      I.S. S. O' Mally, Eastern Bengal District Gazetteer, Chittagong, 1908.

8.      Khan, Abdul Mabud, The Maghs, A Buddhist Community in Banglladesh, the University press Limited, Dhaka, 1999.

9.      Lewin, T.H. The Hill I Tracts of Chittagong and Dwellers therein, 1869.

10.  Pati, Biswmoy, Adivasis in Colonial India survival, Resistance and Negotiation, Orient Black Swan, Newdelhi, 2011.

11.  Phyare, Arthur, The History Of Burma, 1883.

12.  Risley, H.H., The tribes and castes of Bengal, Vol. I-II, Firma KLM Privet Ltd., Calcutta, 1998.

13.  Alln, B. C., Gait. E. A., Allen, C.G.H., Howard, H.F., Gazetteer of Bengal North –East India., Mittal Publication, Delhi, 1979.

14.  Sinha, B.B., Society in Tribal India, B. R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 2016.

15.  Thapar Romila, Ancient Indian Social History, Orient Black Swan, Newdelhi, 1966.