Final Individual Assignment

ID- 1811836630
Course- His101: History and Culture
Section- 01
Submitted to- Dr. Prof. Sharif Uddin Ahmed (Sfn)
Department of History & Philosophy.
Submitted by- Jarin Tasnim
Date- 21-05-21
The Ethnic Minority of our Country

Introduction
There are ethnic minorities living in different areas of our country. There are twenty-seven ethnic
groups in Bangladesh. Chakma, Marma, Tripuri, Tanchangya, Mrus, Santals, Khasi, Jaintia,
Garo, Manipuri are some ethnic minority groups of our country. Among them, the Chakmas are
the largest ethnic group of our country. Then, Marmas are the second largest ethnic group. The
total population of indigenous people of our country is over two million. The indigenous people
mainly located in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sylhet division, Rajshahi division, Mymensingh district
of Bangladesh. Before the British period, the indigenous people migrated into Bangladesh from
modern Burma. [ CITATION Ind21 \l 1033 ]. Some of them migrated from Central India. This
Indigenous people have their tradition, culture, languages, lifestyles, religion.

Different Minor Ethnic Groups

There are different types of ethnic groups and all the indigenous people follow different lifestyle
from the Bengali people. Chakma, Marma, Tripuri, Santals, Manipuri are different types of
ethnic groups. These groups have similarities and also dissimilarities in their lifestyle.

Chakma
Chakmas are the largest and privileged ethnic group among other ethnic groups. They migrated
to Bangladesh in the 15th century. The Chakma tribe mainly belongs to their tribal chief. They
called their tribal chief as Chakma Raja or Sardar. They mainly speak in Chakma language. It is
an Indo-Aryan language. Chakma women loves to wear pinon and khadi. They always wear
handmade clothes. Pinon and Khadi are also handmade clothes. Chakma men loves to wear
dhuti. Agriculture is their main occupation. They produce crops following Eco-friendly way
called " Karpas Jhum cultivation".

Marma
Marmas belong to Burmese (Myanmar) ancestry. The They are the second largest ethnic group
in our country. Marma ethnic groups were established from the period of Bengal Sultanate. They
live in the region they that was part of the Kingdom of Mrauk U. Before the region was taken
control by the Bengal Sultanate. Since then the region was dominated by Bengali rulers. Their
cultural traits are mainly based on their ancestral heritage. They wear thumbui. Thumbui is the
lower part of cloth and wear angi which is the upper part of cloth. They love to eat spicy, sour
food. Their traditional songs mainly based on Burmese script and they also love music. They
use kappya, jjea, and kharra as musical instruments. Their language is Marma and the majority
of the Marma people are Theravada Buddhist. That means, their religion is Buddhism. They have
many festivals during the year, but Sangrai is the biggest celebration among them. Sangrai is
mainly a water festival. Through the Buddhist lunar calendar, they welcome the new year. It is
their tradition to welcome new year through water festival. This festival held for three days.
They believe that the water takes away all the sorrow and pure up the soul and the whole body,
so one must to greet others even that strangers by splashing water on them. Marma is unique foe
their culture, own language, tradition etc.

Tripuri
The Tripuris are one of the major ethnic group living both in the plains and the Chittagong Hill
Tracts in Bangladesh. During the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the state of Tripura was
merged neither into India nor Pakistan. So, it was merged with India in 1949. The peoples of
Tripura, both in Bangladesh and the India, shared common culture, history, tradition, and way of
life. The name of the Tripuri language is called Kokborok. There are more than one million
speakers of this language. The main festival of Tripuri’s is Buishu.

Tanchangya
The Tanchangya people are one of group of indigenous ethnic communities. They mainly reside
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Tanchangya people have been living in Chittagong Hill Tract since
its prehistoric age. Nowadays, they live in Rangamati, Bandarban, Roisyabili & Sadhikyabili,
Ukhia and Teknaf areas of Bangladesh.

Mrus
The Mru tribe is also considered as Mro and Moorang). They mainly live in the Chittagong Hills.
They migrated from Arakan of Burma in the 14th–15th century. They lived on valleys. They had
no written language of their own, but some people can read the Burmese and Bengali scripts.
Most of the Mru people are Buddhists. Some of them are also animistic.

Khasi
The Khasi people are a group of tribal people. The Khasi people call themselves Ki Hynñiew
trep that means "the seven huts". The Khasi language comes from northernmost Austroasiatic
language. The Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of
Meghalaya. The Khasi people follow their tribal religion. The name of their religion is Ka Niam
Khasi and Ka Niam Tre. The Khasi people mainly live in the hilly areas of Sylhet. Their main
occupation is agriculture. They produce betel leaf, areca nut and oranges. The Khasi people
maintain matrilineal society.

Lifestyle of Ethnic Minority Groups

The ethnic minority groups lead a colorful life style and they are engaged in various professions
and crafts. The maximum people considered agriculture as their profession and they also love to
work in land. The earliest lifestyles are also seen among most of the ethnic group. The tribal
women are more hard working than men. The indigenous people are highly self-reliant. They
lead a very miserable life. they are peace seeker and hospitable. In any critical condition, they go
forward with one another. The situation in the lifestyle is not satisfactory at all. They follow the
tribal kings.

Language
Bangladesh has two to three million tribal people speak their own languages. The well-known
tribal languages are Chakma, Garo, Khasia, Magh, Manipuri, Munda, Oraon, and Santali. Other
tribal languages are Kachhari, Kuki, Tipra, Malpahadi, Mikir, Shadri and Hajang. Each of the
tribal group has its own language. However, over the time some of the languages have
disappeared and some of the languages are also threatened. Most of the indigenous people have
accepted Bangla as their language as they forgot their own language. The languages of these
people are the intangible cultural heritage of Bangladesh and they need to be safeguarded and
preserved. Oraon, Chakma, Garo, Magh, Manipuri, Munda, Hajang, Tipra and other languages
are spoken by a large number of people. However, except for Chakma and Magh, no other
indigenous language has a script. Chakma language is more the most advanced of the tribal
languages. Some old puthis are extant in this language. he alphabets of the Chakma language are
similar to the alphabets of Thailand's Ksmer, Annam Laos, Cambodia, Syam and South Burma.
Tara, the scripture of the Chakmas, is written in the Burmese script. [ CITATION Tri16 \l
1033 ]. When spoken, the Chakma alphabet has a soft sound. Then, Garo language is,
undoubtedly, an unwritten language. This is a very rich language and full of proverbs, idioms,
songs, rhymes, oral narratives, folk-tales, palagan, etc. This language bears most of the history of
the Garo people and their religious and cultural codes. Its vocabulary contains words borrowed
from many different languages. Khasia language is part of the Austro-Asiatic group of
languages. It has no alphabets nor is it written. Magh language is the language of the Magh
people. It a spoken form of Arakanese. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family, but also contains
some elements of the Austro-Asian family. Magh is a hybrid of Arakanese and Bangla. The
Magh language has a limited number of words to mean relations. As a result, the same words are
applied with derivatives to denote different relations. Munda language belongs to the Austro-
Asian group of languages and is more ancient than the Aryan language. It was the basis of the
Oriya, Assamese and Bangla languages. It has links with Khasia, Garo, Santal, Kol and other
similar tribal languages. Then another language is Oraon language. Oraon language is  the
language of the Oraon tribe. This language is known as Kurukh. It is a spoken language and has
no written form. Santali language is a member of the eastern group of the Austro-Asiatic
languages. The Santali people speak Bangla fluently and have adopted many Bangla words for
their own language. The origin of both Santali and Munda languages is the same and both are
interrelated. The Santali language has two dialects - Nahili and Korku. The Santali language has
no script of its own. [ CITATION Tri16 \l 1033 ]

Land
The tribal people respect the land very much and observe various rituals during the preparation,
sowing and reaping of the harvest. Men and women together work in the field. In farming, the
women play a significant role as they are considered as symbols of fertility.

Religion
Except some members of the indigenous peoples most of them do not have any religion but
follow their ancient beliefs, rites and customs. However, even this is gradually disappearing and
the indigenous peoples are accepting new religion particularly Christianity. Therefore, it is
urgent that these ancient rites, beliefs and customs should be safeguarded and preserved as
intangible cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples and for that matter of Bangladesh.

Festivals
Dancing and singing are the most common and important features of the cultural life of the
indigenous peoples. These are also parts of various festivities. Gopi dance of the Manipur’s for
example, is very popular which celebrates the love of Radha and Krishna. Holy is also common
among many indigenous peoples when they throw and smear color among each other. Festivals
are held on various occasions. Some of them are listed below:

Baisabi Festival
Baisabi festival commonly celebrated as “Biju” by the Chakma and Tanchyanga, “Shangrai” as
Marmas and “Baisuk” by Tripuras — is the main social festival of the tribal people in the hill
districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari. Each tribe has their own way of celebrating
this festival. For example: Biju is celebrated for three consecutive days by the Chakmas and
Tanchyangas on the last two days of Chaitra and the first day of Baishakh. They refrain
themselves from killing any living creatures during this festival. The last day of Chaitra is
considered as the main festival day. On this special day they cook a mixed curry with five types
of vegetables, which they call Pachan. The Marinas celebrate Shangrai for four days. They all
carry the image of Lord Buddha to the river front and set down the image on a floating bed.
Afterwards, they complete the bathing of the image in milk or sandalwood water and return with
it to set it in the Temple or in their homes. In every locality, the water throwing festival starts
with people throwing water at each other so that the previous year’s sorrow will be washed
away. The Baisuk festival of the Tripura tribe is celebrated by worshipping the god Shiva and
asking for his blessings. [ CITATION Fes \l 1033 ]

Kothin Chibor Dan Utsab

Kothin Chibor Dan’ is the greatest religious festival of the Buddhist community where ‘viksus’
are given ‘chibor’ or cloth to wear which the Buddhists believe as the best of all gifts. Chibor,
the cloth that viksus wear, may be of any six colors: those of a tree’s roots, trunk, bark, dry
leaves, fruit or flower. This utsab or festival is celebrated with religious fervor at Rangamati
Rajban Bihara in the Rangamati hill district. Buddhist community from all three hill districts as
well many visitors and tourists from home and abroad gather at Rangamati Rajban Bihara area to
participate in the festival. The elaborated schedule of this program includes Buddha puja, Ful
puja, Sibli puja, feeding the monks, astaporiskardan, taking Panchshil and Astashil and praying
for world peace.

Songs and Dances

Dance performed by tribal people based on their customs and beliefs. Tribal dance evolved
through the experience. They had to fight ferocious beasts of the jungle and hunt animals and
birds for their survival and existence. Before going out for a hunt, hunters would draw pictures of
their prey and dance in a body, imitating a hunt. People danced to placate or defeat evil spirits, to
prevent decay and diseases, to cause rainfall for production of crops, or to prevent drought or
famine. With the evolution of society, human activities have undergone many changes resulting
in differences in dance styles.[ CITATION Tri \l 1033 ]
Most tribes perform in dances, songs and music on religious festivals, births, deaths, marriage
ceremonies, and other festivities. They perform dances individually or collectively, in traditional
dresses, along with their own songs. They make their own musical instruments. Their dances are
named after their tribes, eg Santal dance, Garo dance, Manipuri dance etc. They perform dances
not only on the occasion of construction of houses, cultivation and fishing, but also to celebrate
the creation of man. They perform dances desiring rainfall in time of drought. The bamboo-
dance of the Chakmas is very popular. Locally it is known as Cheralam. In this dance two groups
of men or women hold two bamboos on each side of the group of dancers. 

Wedding
Wedding is also very colorful occasion though there are many differences in the rites of various
groups. However, the marriage takes place mostly on the basis of love matches, the boy and girl
get to know each other before wedding through various means. Marriage generally takes place
within the same tribe. There are some common rituals before marriage like Panchini or
confirmation of the wedding, and Gaye Halud or using turmeric paste on the bodies of both
groom and bride. Songs are rendered on the day of wedding. Where the wedding takes place a
colorful pandle is set up and in it the bride and groom go through a number of rituals. At this
time special songs are rendered and music played. Special foods are offered in the names of gods
during the wedding ceremony to bring blessings for the couple. The bride and groom wear
special dresses on the wedding day. Sumptuous feasts are arranged to mark the wedding.

Food Style
The indigenous people take various kinds of food including animal meat. Some of them like the
Chakmas and the Maghs take sour food. They like hot, fresh and food. Alcohol which is
prepared of fermented rice is the most favorable drink of the indigenous people. They are also
fond of smoking.

Conclusion
The "ethnic communities" or "ethnic groups," refer to the people whose linguistic and cultural
backgrounds are different from those of the mainstream population of the country. The Bengalis
owe their origin to the various types of communities that came and settled in the region at
different points of time in history. Ethnic minorities have become vulnerable to human rights
violations in different parts of the country. So, the government needs to take concrete steps and
development initiatives for confidence building among the ethnic communities of the hill
districts. Recently, government has undertaken various development projects that were resisted
by the ethnic groups.

Reference

Bibliography
Festivals. (n.d.). Retrieved from Tribal Life in Bangladesh: http://bdtribals.blogspot.com/p/blog-
page_12.html

Indigenous People in Bangladesh. (2021, May 05). Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Bangladesh

Tribal Dance. (n.d.). Retrieved from Dhaka Holidays: https://www.dhakaholidays.com/tribal-

dance-bangladesh.html
Tribal Languages. (2016, May 09). Retrieved from Banglapedia:
http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Tribal_Languages