History of the Chakmas: Descendants of Sakya

History of the Chakmas: Descendants of Sakya

The Chakmas belong to Tibeto-Mongoloid race, just like the Mizos and majority tribes of the Northeast, but speak a language which is Indo-European. They are one the rarest tribal groups having their own script called Ajha Path which has been found to be closely linked to the Burmese scripts. The community is divided into 46 gozas (clans).

The history of the Chakmas is obscure. They are the descendents of the Sakya race to which Lord Buddha belonged. Some centuries before Lord Buddha was born, a Sakya king/prince named Abhi Raja had left Kapilavastu on the foothills of the Himalayas (in present-day Nepal) and founded the Tagaung kingdom, the first Burmese kingdom, on the banks of Irrawaddy in Upper Burma. Burmese histories namely Maha Rajaweng (or, Great History of Kings) and The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma confirm the arrival of this Sakya king/prince from Kapilavastu. The Burmese chronicles handed down names of three original tribes namely Kanran, Pyu or Pru, and Sak or Thek. Sir Arthur P. Phayre, former Chief Commissioner of British Burma and authority on the Burmese history, opined that “The last [Sak/Thek], however, is not an original native term, but probably an abbreviation of Sakya, and may have been retained by at least a portion of the earliest Indian settlers and their descendants for some time”. A few centuries later and a few years before the death of Lord Buddha, another migration of Sakyas to Burma occurred, this time under the leadership of prince Daza Raja. Both these two great migrations happened because of murderous attacks on Kapilavastu by the ruler of Kosala, a powerful kingdom in north India. Sakyas’ pride which did not allow to marry off their pure-blood women outside the community was responsible for these attacks on them. The second attack had brought near total annihilation of the Sakyas as Kosala king Virudabha had ordered massacre of every Sakya including infants to avenge deceit committed by the Sakyas upon his father, Pasenadi or Prasenajit. King Prasenajit wanted to marry a Sakya princess but the notorious Sakyas thought it beneath their dignity to marry off a pure-blooded Sakya princess to anybody outside their clan. Therefore, Sakya raja Mahanama, a cousin of the Buddha, deceitfully sent his illegitimate daughter Vasabha, born from a slave-woman called Nagamunda, whom king Prasenajit married and Queen Vasabha gave birth to a son named Virudabha. Sir Phayre claimed that the modern Burma race are descendants of Sakyas who had migrated to the valley of Irrawaddy from Kapilavastu.

According to Pamela Gutman, the Saks ruled the Central Burma in the 9th century while the Burmans (Mranma) ruled the plains. The Saks were a powerful and fearful nation but for some reasons they further migrated to Arakan in very ancient times. They had attained “a higher cultural level than any of the other minority peoples in Arakan.” Their descendents, the Loi conquered people of Manipur.

Reading a chapter from Paritosh's "Chakmas: Indigenous Peoples of Mizoram"

The period of migration of the Saks, who came to be known as Chakma in modern sense, to their present territory in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and adjoining parts of Mizoram is not accurately known. But their Arakanese roots are beyond any doubt. All modern historians-scholars tend to agree that at some point of time the Chakmas had lived in Arakan where they are still known as “Daingnets”. Captain TH Lewin stated, “Whatever opinion may be formed of the primal origin of the Thek, or Chukma tribe, no doubt can exist as to their having been at one time inhabitants of the province of Arracan, from whence they have migrated to these hills (Chittagong Hill Tracts).” H.H.S. Hutchinson held that “The Chakmas are undoubtedly of Arakanese origin.  They immigrated into the Chittagong District where they intermarried largely with the Bengalis, whose language they speak.” According to H.H. Risley, “The evidence at present available does not appear to warrant any more definite conclusion than that the Chakmas are probably a people of Arakanese origin, whose physical type has been to some extent modified by intermarriage with Bengali settlers.” Satish Chandra also held the opinion that “That at one point of time they had lived in the Arakan there is no doubt about it. They have been using the scripts imitated (from Arakanese) since then.” Dr Francis Buchanan and B.H. Hodgson also called the Thek (Chakma) “aboriginal” of Arakan.

The Saks (also spelt as Tsak) were also known to the Burmese as “Thet” or “Thek” as the Burmese sometimes pronounced “S” as “Th”. The name “Chakma” is a modern appellation of the tribe name “Sak”. As Lewin stated, “The names of Chukma, Tsak, Thek, and Doingnak, may all therefore be taken as names representing the (Chakma) tribe”. Risley also identified the Chakma as Tsakma, Tsak, and Thek. In 1798, Dr Buchanan stated that “the Sak are the same people with those, who in the Northern parts of the province are called Sakma, or Chakmas.” Dr Buchanan further mentioned, “They call themselves Saksa, which word corrupted has, I suppose, given rise to their Bengalese name Sagma or Chakma.”

In Burmese, “tha” or “tsa” means “son”. Therefore, the literal translation of “Saksa” would be “son of Sak”. Since “Chakma” has been derived from “Saksa”, the accurate meaning of “CHAKMA” is “CHILDREN OF SAKYA”. Or, in other words, they are the descendants of the Sakya tribe to which Lord Buddha himself belonged. Chakmas still call themselves “Sakma” or “Sangma”.

Sadly, the Chakmas do not have a written history. They, however, have carried an oral tradition till today which claims that they are the descendents of Sakya who had ruled a legendary kingdom called “Champaknagar” whose location has yet to be accurately identified. Oral traditions of Chakmas say a prince of Champaknagar named Bijoygiri marched southwards to conquer parts of Chittagong and Arakan with the help of his military commander Radhaman. When he decided to return home after the victorious expedition, news about the death of his aged father and usurpation of the throne by his younger brother Samargiri reached him. Prince Bijoygiri was against the idea of bowing down to his younger sibling who was now the king, and hence decided to settle in the conquered land with his army. Bijoygiri had snapped all the communications with Champaknagar and its people who sank into the oblivion and the modern Chakmas are believed to be the descendants of Bijoygiri and his dewans (chiefs). In 1909, Hutchinson termed the Bijoygiri story as “a myth” but Risley had opined in 1892 that Bijoygiri had invaded the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) about the end of the 14th century. The Chakmas strongly believe that Demagiri (now in Mizoram) abutting the hills of CHT was founded by Chakma prince Bijoygiri.

(Excerpts from Chakmas: Indigenous Peoples of Mizoram, by Paritosh Chakma, ISBN: 978-93-5382-993-3, Price: Rs. 699 INR, Pages: 148)

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