BARUA BUDDHIST COMMUNITY : BARUA BUDDHIST COMMUNITY

The Barua Buddhist (Barua, Baruah) ethnic community is Mongoloid chagtai and is closely related with Chakmas, Tancangyas, Marmas, Chagtai, Mugal and Mugh tribes. All this tribes are follower of Theravada Buddhist Religion. During British colonial period and East Pakistan some Baruas are migrated in India and abroad.Now they are inhabited highly concentrated in Chittagong district and Southern part of Bangladesh and some family of Baruas live in large districts of Comilla and Noakhali. In India – Kolkata and it surrounding, Jalpaiguri District Siliguri, Koch Bihar, Durgapur etc in West Bengal, Jamshedpur, Rachi in Jharkhand, Lucknow in UP, Shillong in Meghalaya, Guwahati, Bongaigon, Tinsukia and it surrounding etc in Assam, the Sadar Subdivision of West Tripura District (also known Agartala) the Udaipur Subdivision of the South Tripura District and Delhi. Depending on the occupational, social and economical status although some Barua Buddhist use titles like ‘Mutsuddi’, ‘Coudhuri’,’Talukdar’,’Sikdar’,’Hajari’, ‘Sinha’ etc.

‘Barua’ means:

The surname Barua is derived from two words, ‘bara’ meaning ‘renowned’; and ‘ua’ meaning ‘ruler’. In ancient times, the most highly ranked military ruler of Chattagram under the king of Arakan was a man called ‘Barua’.

Dark days in Buddhism or Buddhist history and its effect in Barua society

"There are periods in history which are known as the dark days and Buddhism or Buddhist history too had to pass through this period in India. Starting with the Muslim invasion when Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji with his marauding soldiers plundered their way to the throne of India, it was a time when the Buddhist Viharas were destroyed and monks fled the place to escape the brutality and later the Brahmins too caused immense damage to Buddhism by killing the Buddhist monks and destroying the very fabric a Buddhism. By the advent of the nineteenth century, Buddhism was almost extinct in the land of its birth save except for a few pockets where it survived with the influence or migration of Buddhist tribes from Myanmar, Thailand and Chittagong (now in Bangladesh)." _{Bhikkhu Bodhipala}

Other historical evident and Social changes in Baruas

Considering the statements of Mr. Hunter and the Bengali Encyclopedia and looking at the history of Buddhist kings in Bengal it becomes clear that Barua-s are the descendants of those kings. Following dynasties of Buddhist kings were said to have ruled Bengal from 6th up till 13th century A.D. Dynasty Period Kingdom

Sinha 6th B.C. to 1st A.D. Banga (presently Faridpur District and Bakargunj)
Barmo 2nd to 5th A.D. Banga (Faridpur District, Bakargunj, and Mymensing)
Shal 5th to 6th A.D. South East Bengal
Kharga 7th to 8th A.D. As above
Pala Empire 8th to 12th A.D. North Bengal
Chandra dynasty 10th to 11th A.D. East Bengal
Candra’s (Deva Dynasty) 11th to 13th A.D. South-east Bengal

The Dev-Pahar of present Chittagong was said to be the capital of Deva kings. The ancient ruins are found here. Mr. Suniti opines that these lineages of king are the ancestors of Bengali Baruas.
The title of Manik candra from the Candra Lineage was ‘Barua’. His subsequent generations dwelt in a place near Lalmai which is named after 'Barua'. At present Barua is a name of a district. The descendents from the Candra-lineage could be see even today. They are the people who use ‘Candra’ after their names such as Satish Candra Barua, Sunil Candra Barua etc.

‘Chittagong’ is said as a misrepresentation introduced by British as they found uneasy to pronounce the original name ‘Caittagram’ (Cetiyagāma – meaning the village of stupas) which suggest how Buddhism once flourished there. The region is also known by many other names among the dwellers therein as – Cattragram, Cottol, Cnatga. Their spoken language is the Chittagong (Chittagnongian) dialect of Bengali – the official language of the country. “However, the two languages are not mutually intelligible, meaning that those who only know how to speak Standard Bengali will not understand Chittagonian speakers”.

They are spread in various divisions known as thanas. Dwellers of various thanas in Chittagong too have distinct differences in their languages. However, they follow the same family or kinship pattern, religious ceremonies, New Year festivals and various celebrations. According to the history of Buddhism in Bangladesh there was once a deformation of the religious system; particularly the role of priests who were not recognized by the State and had no sponsors. As there was no government supports much of their cultural ceremonies and religious festivals were incorporated with Hindu system. Outside they were like Hindus but among themselves they retained the Buddhist identity which is significant mainly by names. Priests were a set of people known as ‘raoli purohits’. The term ‘purohit’ is still used by Hindus to refer to a class of their priests. Ven. Saramedha (Saramitra) who was trained according to Burmese Buddhism played an important role in early 19th century for the revival of this religion and establish in the original form. However, even today, many of their cultural aspects including the form of dresses they maintain Hindu influence. The form of Buddhism among them is according to Theravāda tradition. They believe that every Buddhist male should be ordained as a Buddhist monk at least for a weak. Otherwise, he will never be reborn as a human and hence no probability of his liberation from samsāra. In fact, when such people die their corpses are not carried by shoulders but holding the coffins above the knee level.

Most of the religious festivals among Baruas are common to other Buddhist countries. New Year festival gained religious importance among them. The Kathin Festival (after three months of rainy season) is celebrated and regarded as a joyful event. They also developed a form of unwritten devotional songs known as kīrtan (or samkīrtan singing together) in praise of Buddha and good principles of life. In most of the Buddhist festivals kīrtans are sung either by a single person, in a group or only by two persons who debate taking two roles (popularly Siddhartha and Devadatta) and capturing a historical incident in Buddha’s life. Sīvali pūja – offering of a large number of food and fruit items in name of Arahanth Sīvali is one of the festivals not much popular among Sri Lankan Buddhists. Offerings in name of Ven.Upagupta who appears as a prominent figure in the Sanskrit avadāna literature and believed still living in nāgaloka is significant among the Baruas and Buddhists in Bangladesh as a whole. Ven. Sadhanananda – popular as ‘vanabhante’ (a still living forest monk, who meditated in deep forest for 12 years) from Chakma community is also venerated with great respects by them. There are many great Buddhist scholar monks from Barua community, who played responsible roles for the propagation of Buddhism in and outside the country. Ven. Atisha Dīpamkara srījñāna – the founder of Tibetan Buddhism in 10th century B.C. is interpreted by many scholars as from Barua community. Ven. Karmayogi Kripasaran mahasthavir with many others was a close associate of Anagarika Dharmapala in reviving the Bodhgaya Buddhist Temple and Buddhism in India.

Prehistoric Barua Language and Culture:

During pre and post Arakan period in Bangladesh, Baruas had their own language, culture, traditional costume etc. and it was destroyed gradually during Hindu and Muslim ruling period. Now only Baruas have Buddhist culture & religion and it is link with Buddhist temple.

Modern Barua Language and Culture:

Presently Barua tribes speak Chittagongi Bengali. In India Baruas are adapted with local Indian culture and maintain their old traditional religion equally. Nothing can be denied; the Hinduism has influenced deeply to Baruas social life with passing of time and the value of Buddhism is loosing among in new generation, especially in India.In Bangladesh, the old tradition have been maintained some extend, although Islamic influence is clearly visible in there language and culture.

Migrated Baruas in India:

Most of Baruas are migrated from their ethnic place to India and other countries during British Colonial period and East Pakistan. The main purpose of migration was in search job and religious freedom.

Economic Condition of Baruas:

Buddhist Barua in Assam, India

Economic conditions of Baruas in village (Bangladesh) are moderately lower middle class and depend on agriculture. Most of the Barua youths are migrating toward City or foreign country in search of job. Few of Baruas have well established in Chittagong town. Government of Bangladesh has list bother on minorities for their economic, health and social development. Many of dropout minor students are joining in garment manufacture industry with fist of wages. Their futures are ruining in their early age. After independents of Bangladesh, in Chittagong some villages, few underground Islamic land mafias are forcefully capturing ethic Baruas land and disestablishing Buddhist culture and society. Likely in recent decade some improvements have seen in political arena, where few ministers, belonging to Barua community elected as Local Minister and doing betterment for Barua community.

In India, most of the Baruas are lower middle class although Baruas are consider as minority community without any government economical support, except West Bengal. As an occupation, in India most of the Baruas are engage in retail business, motor mechanic and some of them are serving government job in group C and Group D post. After migration from East Pakistan or British India, unfortunately from Barua community does not have produced even single ICS (Indian Civil Service), MP or head of any PSUs/Banks/Corporate from North East India, except one or two from West Bengal and Northern belt. It is unfortunate and Government of India is silent in this regards. Therefore, it is indicating that the social and economical positions of Baruas are vulnerable stage. Government of India and State Governments from North East India has list bother with this unique Buddhist Barua tribe.

Magh Barua:

Government of West Bengal has been recognized and accepted as special ethic group belongs to Schedule Tribe of Mug[1] in the listed Indian constitution. Unfortunately, just by the name ‘Barua’ not yet separately listed in the constitution.

The Magh Barua Buddhists of Assam have demanded tribal status for the community on the lines of the Magh tribal in West Bengal. The eighth biennial conference of the Federation of Mogh Barua Buddhist Welfare Association of Assam, said the community should be re-enlisted as “Magh” Barua tribe in the Tribe Schedule list of Assam as in Tripura and West Bengal as per the Schedule Tribe Order (1950) Part I rules and other provisions under the Constitution. Unfortunately in other states, Baruas are in muted mood in this subject and some of them are opposing to secure the benefit given by Indian constitutions. According to them, Baruas are from higher clan and does not deserve for listing in ethnic tribe.

References

) Buddhism in Bangladesh [2]
) A case study of Buddhist Social Customs in Bangladesh by BHIKKHU DHARMESWAR[3]

) A Brief Introduction to Barua Community of Bangladesh by Ven. Upali Sramon [4]
) In ‘Rajmala’ [5],
) Barua community in Bangladesh User:BaruaAnurddha
) Buddhanet [6]
) Prof. Bhikshu Satyapala [7]
) Mag [8]

Bibliography

) Biography of "Karmayogi Kripasarn" by Bhikkhu Bodhipala

Commposed by:

Sujit Barua,
Upper Lummawri,
Laitumkhrah,

Shillong, 793003
India

BARUA BUDDHIST COMMUNITY

Thursday, October 11, 2012