Chakma people in the context of "Chakma language"

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⭐ Core Definition: Chakma people

The Chakma or Changhma people (Chakma: π‘„Œπ‘„‹π‘„΄π‘„Ÿπ‘„³π‘„¦, π‘„Œπ‘„‡π‘„΄π‘„Ÿ), are an ethnic group and nation native to the Indian subcontinent and Western Myanmar. They are the largest indigenous group as well as the second largest ethnic group of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of southeastern Bangladesh. They also form the majority in Chakma Autonomous District Council of Mizoram. Significant Chakma populations are found in the northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Assam and Rakhine State of Myanmar.

The Chakma possess strong ethnic affinities to Tibeto-Burman-speaking groups in Northeast India. Due to a historical language shift aimed at consolidating intertribal power, the Chakma adopted the Indo-Aryan Chakma language, which is closely related to Pali and to the Chittagonian language spoken in adjacent regions. Most modern Chakma people practice Theravada Buddhism, due to 19th-century reforms and institutionalisation by Queen regnant Rani Kalindi. In Myanmar, Chakma people are known as Daingnet and are one of the 135 officially recognised ethnic groups in Myanmar. They are also referred as "Saks", "Sakmas" or "Tsakmas".

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πŸ‘‰ Chakma people in the context of Chakma language

Chakma (/ˈtʃɑːkmΙ™/; autonym: π‘„Œπ‘„‹π‘„΄π‘„Ÿπ‘„³π‘„¦ π‘„žπ‘„Œπ‘„΄) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language in the branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family, whose speakers are known as the Chakma or the Daingnet people. It has nearly 1 million speakers, with 60% residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh and 35% spread across Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Tripura in India. The remaining 5% live in Myanmar. The language has it own script, the Chakma script or the ajhapat (π‘„Œπ‘„‹π‘„΄π‘„Ÿπ‘„³π‘„¦ 𑄃𑄧𑄏𑄛𑄖𑄴), which is an abugida similar other South-east Asian scripts. It is mutually intelligible with the Chittagonian language.

Similarities of the Chakma language with Sanskrit, Maghadi Prakrit and with Pali is visible referring it to be a classical language. This suggests that the Chakmas have been present in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. Cultural exchanges with neighboring communities have led to the adoption of Indo-Aryan and Arakanese terms. Studies suggest that the language may have originally been a Tibeto-Burman language before transitioning into an Indic language. However, there are abundant of vocabularies used in the Chakma language that do belong neither to Indo-Aryan nor Tibeto-Burman linguistic group, likely originating from their ancestral language. Historically, a Mongoloid group that settled in the Himalayan foothills spoke a Tibetan-related language but gradually incorporated Aryan vocabulary.

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Chakma people in the context of Tibetan refugees in India

Since its independence in 1947, India has accepted various groups of refugees from neighbouring countries, including partition refugees from former British Indian territories that now constitute Pakistan and Bangladesh, Tibetan refugees that arrived in 1959, Chakma refugees from present day Bangladesh in early 1960s, other Bangladeshi refugees in 1965 and 1971, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from the 1980s and most recently Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. In 1992, India was seen to be hosting 400,000 refugees from eight countries. According to records with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as on January 1, 2021, there were 58,843 Sri Lankan refugees staying in 108 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and 54 in Odisha and 72,312 Tibetan refugees have been living in India.

India does not have a national refugee law, but it has always accepted refugees from neighbouring countries using the principles enunciated by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959: refugees will be accorded a humane welcome, the refugee issue is a bilateral issue and the refugees should return to their homeland when normalcy returns.Despite the lack of a formal law, the Supreme Court of India has used the Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to uphold the obligation of refugee protection by the government.

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Chakma people in the context of Daingnet people

The Daingnet people (Burmese: α€’α€­α€―α€„α€Ία€Έα€”α€€α€Ία€œα€°α€™α€»α€­α€―α€Έ), also known as the Chakma people (Burmese: α€žα€€α€Ήα€€α€™) are an ethnic group indigenous to northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to their own internal census in 1995 they numbered about 60,000. In 2011, the number is estimated to be around 80,000. From appearance they are indistinguishable from the Rakhine people; however, the Daingnet people have a distinct language and culture. Ethnically, they are closely related to the Chakma people of Bangladesh and Northeast India. The languages of the Daingnet and Chakma people are mutually intelligible. Daingnet people are one of 135 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Myanmar government as indigenous to Myanmar. Daingnets are one of the Tibeto-Burman tribes. Genetically they are closely related to the Tibetans, Burmans and Rakhines.

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