Tradition

Rites of Birth, Marriage and funeral of the Chakmas in the light of Heritage

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By Niranjan Chakma                                                                                                                                                        Introduction                                                               

As per Bijok, a chronicle of the Chakma community, the Chakmas are the descendents of the clan Sakya, to which Gautam Buddha himself was born. According to modern anthropology the Chakmas are mongoloids and the sakyas too are indo-mongoloids as well. But these descendents of the Sakya clan speaks Indo-Aryan languages and Pali is the name of the language spoken by them. The Pali language, which has its roots in Magadhi Prakrit, which gave birth to the language used by the Chakmas. As such, certain similarities of the language with Bengali and Assamese can be observed naturally. However, it is not a dialect or sub dialect of neither Bengali nor Assamese.

Etymology

The name chakma is derived from the word sakya. Following the passing away of Bhagawan Gautama Buddha, Bidudabha the prince of the Kingdom of Kaushal executed killings of members of the Sakya clan in large numbers. To save their lives from the mass killing, a section of the sakya clan took shelter in North Bengal, the northern bank of the river Ganga. From there at different points of time, they started spreading eastwards via Kamrup, Sylhet and Manipur into North Burma and by ninth-tenth century, they established kingdom in Pegu-Arakan of Burma. These sakyas were referred to as sak by the locals of Burma at that time. In course of time, the word sak began to be coupled with the Burmese word Ma becoming sakma. Later, around 1428, they came to South Chittagong, which is to the west of Burma. In the 17th – 18th century, they migrated to Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts and towards the end of eighteenth century, a conflict broke out between them and the British and from then on, the latter in their documents started to refer to the Sakmas as Chukma initially and as Chakma in the later period. Thus, the term Chakma began to be in vogue.

Regions with significant Chakma population

As mentioned earlier that the major section of the Sakya clans or the Chakmas of North Bengal / Bihar settled in North Burma and after that in 1428, a large number of them migrated to South Chittagong and Chittagong regions. However, few of them stayed back in Arakan (or Rakhain) and Pegu regions of Burma and they are known as Doinyak or Doingnet in the present times. Chakmas, who settled in the South Chittagong and Chittagong regions, soon began to spread in the Chittagong Hills in the 16th – 17th century. By the end of the 18th century, their populace extended to Demagiri, a bordering region of the Kuki Kingdom located to the east of Chittagong. The region which was under the Chakma Kingdom of Chittagong Hills became a part of Lushai district of Assam province in 1891 prior to the demarcation of the western borders of the district by the British. Accordingly, the Chakmas of Lushai district in the following period started to settle in Cachar first and later in few region of the Mikir Hills (present day Karbi Anglong district). Post independence in 1964, about 40 thousand immigrant Chakmas from Chittagong Hills of the then East Pakistan had been rehabilitated to Tirap and Subansiri districts of the then NEFA (present day Arunachal Pradesh) by the Government of India. In Tripura the Chakmas have been living since 1772 at the pleasure of the Maharaja of Tripura.

Structure of Society

The Chakmas living in Chittagong Hills and Bangladesh have a Raja or King who continues to occupy a prominent place among them. On the other hand the Chakmas in Myanmar and in the Indian states of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh do not have kings. They form village level social institutions with the village headman as the chief and resolves all kinds of conflicts as per their customary law.

Chakma society is patrilineal and therefore it considers the working senior most member of the family as the head of the family. The practice of monogamy is widely present among the chakmas and sometimes for the purpose of securing the ancestry, polygamy is also accepted. However, polyandry or marriage of a women with multiple man is never accepted. It is worth mentioning that the whole village extends their support and cooperation to any family of the particular village in the conduct of customs such as marriage, funerals etc. in line with prescribed rules and tradition. Especially, in marriages, an offering consisting of a betel leaf “Paan Bata” is presented on behalf of the family.

Grouping

The Chakmas can be grouped as follows:- 1) Anokya, 2) Tonchonya and 3) Doinak. They started settling in the southern Chittagong region after migrating from Myanmar in 1826. This region is located to the west of Rakhain province of Myanmar. In the Burmese tongue, the term Anok refers to west, and thus the chakmas of South Chittagong came to be known as Anokya. On the other hand the Tonchonya group is named after the river Toin of south Chittagong, as they inhabited the hill areas close to the river. Besides, natives of Arakan or Rakhaine use the word tong to refer to hills and chonya to mean inhabitants. On the other hand, during their stay in Myanmar, those of the Chakmas who were part of the Burmese force and were known for their use of shield in battlefield, came to be known as Doinak among the Burmese. The terms Dai and Dainak or Doinak refer to shield and shield bearer, respectively.

Among the Chakmas, the Anokya group has 44 ‘gajha’ sects and 146 ‘gutthi’ or clans. Gajha is named after the region or place of inhabitance and similarly the clan is derived from the idea of totemism. Such systems of sects and clans are found among the Tonchonya and Doinak as well. As per the gutthi or clan system, for generations chakmas have been connected by their bloodline and therefore marriage inside their own clan is prohibited among the three clans. Even when the marriage is a result of mistake or unavoidable circumstances, it still stands a taboo and despised of.

Social Custom:

Birth

Despite performing of rituals after birth of a child being a family occasion among the chakmas, it holds equal significance in society as well. It needs to be conducted adhering to principles prescribed by society. As per norms married women are allowed to bear child at her own place or her in-laws and her maternal house as well. However unmarried woman giving birth to child at her father’s place goes against rule. Therefore in such cases, a temporary house is built at her father’s place to bear the child. During labour, a midwife ‘Padu Ajha’ is required to observe and take care of the woman. As her labour pain gets intense, the husband, or in his absence some other elder member of the family has to dig out some soil from outside and make a temporary burner with the soil inside the labour / maternity room and other women inside the room set fire in the burner. The more water is made lukewarm on that burner, the sooner the mother recovers from fever caught during her labour. Soon, the newborn child experiences the earth’s light and air for the first time and mother earth along with the God of fire bear witness to this. Besides assisting the mother in her childbearing, the padu ajha cuts the umbilical cord connected to the belly button of the newborn, with a sharp bamboo stick. Then she embraces the child and dances in joy and when the baby cries, she hands it over to the mother. Later within a fortnight after of the birth of the baby, a ritual for purification called Ghila Kajoi Paani is performed. Mentionable that until this ritual is performed, both the newborn child and the mother stays in a taboo period and therefore they are not allowed to visit their neighbours. Ghila is hard-shelled seedling of a wild plant on the other hand Kajoi is a variant of tamarind found in the wild. As part of the purification ritual, the midwife purifies the newborn and the mother by sprinkling water mixed with ghila kajoi on their heads and takes them to a nearby river or stream. A small altar dedicated to Goddess Ganga is set up beforehand on the bank of that river or stream. The mother is required to bathe in the river, after which the midwife lights earthen lamps on the altar and again purifies her by sprinkling Ghila Kajoi water on her head. After returning back from the stream, the mother along with her newborn child offer prayer to the midwife and present her with a bottle of country wine, a full grown rooster, clothes, an amount of money, fruits including coconuts etc. In return the Padu Ajha takes up few grains of rice towards her mouth, makes spitting sounds and sprinkles the rice on the child’s head. She then blesses the child and wishes his or her sound health, prestige, good luck, and a long life. Moreover the Padu Ajha pronounces the words Phat Turu Turu (may almighty bless you) and hand the child over to the mother’s lap. The event is attended by guests and relatives who are served meals by the host. Mentionable in this regard that as per tradition, with a view to ensure a quick recovery as well as improvement of health of the women post-maternity, relatives and neigbours on a rotation basis offer to her healthy and nutritious food items referred to as bhat moja, usually with rice for a certain period of time. No doubt, the motive behind this tradition is to deepen neighbourly love and harmony. Another point worth mentioning here is that no separate name giving ceremony is organized in chakma society. This task is usually entrusted with the padu ajha or the midwife and accordingly she proposes a name of her choice for the newborn. However, in case parents and family members of the new born do not like the name, wise and elderly people are consulted for the same. But, parents cannot name their own child and if they do so, it is believed that the future of the newborn will be abundant with sorrow and misfortune.

Marriage

The three things that tend to shape the course of people’s lives are birth, marriage and death. However, among these three prominent chapters of life, people are destined to feel and experience only one. Excluding birth and death, marriage is the only natural chapter of life that human beings can enjoy in their life and thus it stands the most important and enjoyable moment for all.

Despite marriage being an exclusively familial affair, it is nonetheless a social institution with inextricable relationship with society since time immemorial. In chakma society the task of conducting marriage ceremonies is entrusted with members of society by the families of the marrying couple. And accordingly society members agree to take the responsibility of conducting the marriage conforming to traditional norms and rituals while maintaining discipline. In that reference, families of the marrying couple at the beginning of marriage ceremony, present an offering ‘paan baada’ to the village headman. This offering consists of a bottle of country liquor, a few beetle leaves, areca nuts and an amount of 5-10 rupees.

It is necessary to mention a few important topics regarding marriage and norms and rituals related to it. For example, 1) time limit to conduct a marriage is two and half days in chakma society. Of the two and half days, the bride’s family enjoys a day to perform necessary rituals on their part. The groom’s family is required to perform their rituals within the remaining period of one and half days. It is said that if this time period exhausts, the bride’s family gets deprived of royal fortune and respect. 2) In chakma marriages, it is not required to get a match maker to arrange the marriage between the couple as friends and relatives from both sides are there to finalize this part. 3) Polyandry of marriage of a woman with multiple men is not permitted, however, in some rare instances where it is necessary to keep up the ancestral lineage, polygamy or marriage of a man with more than one woman may be permitted by society. 4) Marriage resulting out of extra marital affairs / illegitimate relationships between members of the same clan is prohibited. 5) Marriage cannot be conducted in the month of Bhadra and Pausha. 6) Whereas a girl is born on Wednesday, she is not supposed to leave for her in-laws’ place on the day of her marriage and has to spent a night at her father’s house. 7) There is no tradition of engagement in chakma society. 8) There is no concept of mass marriage or marriage of multiple couples simultaneously under one roof. Therefore, in circumstances when a family has a son and a daughter who are eligible for marriage, the daughter is married first even if she is younger to her brother. 9) Due to certain taboos, marriage cannot be conducted even if the couple belongs to different clans. For example friendship is not possible between a snake and a frog.

10) Child marriage is not practiced nor does dowry exist in chakma society. Instead, the bride’s family is entitled a minimal sum of five to hundred rupees which is referred to as Dava. 11) The practice of widow marriage has been in vogue in chakma society since a long time. 12) Regarding divorce, village councils-panchayats (Saliji) are entrusted with the task of decision making.

It is necessary in this context to talk about few important rituals of marriage. For example before starting of some rituals it is required to request for approval of society and accordingly after elder members from both the bride and the groom’s family accords their approval verbally, which is then considered as an approval from society.

Following are few rituals performed at the bride’s house as part of wedding: 1) welcoming of bridegroom, 2) showering of blessings to the wedding rings of the marrying couple, 3) dressing of the bride, 4) jadan or establishment of marital bonding between the couple, 5) wedding feast, 6) sebbasta or blessings coupled with certain amount of money (sigoli) as a gift, 7) seeing off of the bridegroom. On the other hand, following rituals are performed at the bridegroom’s house: 1) members of the fetching of water in a pitcher for the newlywed bride, 2) performing of a wedding puja called chumulang, 3) welcoming of the bride’s family, 4) serving of refreshments including liquor to the bride’s family, 5) wedding feast, 6) offering of sebbatta and sigoli to the bride and the bridegroom, 7) khana sirana or family lunch, 8) offering of bridegroom to the bride, 9) bidding adieu to the bride’s family. Among the rituals mentioned above, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th performed at the bride’s house and the 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th performed at the bridegroom’s house are required to have society’s approval. A brief discussion on these rituals is given below:

The ritual of blessing the wedding rings of both the bride and bridegroom is a significant one. As per beliefs, the wedding rings keep the wedlock of the couple strong and sustaining and in case any of the rings gets stolen or lost, the martial bond is disposed to break apart. Chumulang puja is performed at both the bridegroom and bride’s house and as par traditions three deities are worshipped during the puja – chumulang, parameschari and biyatra. An altar is dedicated to Chumulang and parameschari. Following items are offered to chumlang during the puja- paddy weighing about 500 grams in a basket made of cane, a small boat made of cane, and few cups of ajuro or rice beer. For parameschari, a basket of rice, an egg and a cup of rice beer is arranged. As per beliefs the deity Biyatra does not participate in the puja. The deity acts as an ojha or purohit in weddings of the Gods. A pig, a rooster and a hen are sacrificed for the three deities. The puja is performed by the ojha or purohit and the newlywed couple is required to offer prayers to the gods. The ojha ties a sacred thread attached to earthen pitchers used for the puja, around both the hands of the couple.There are certain dress codes that the marrying couple is required to abide by. The bridegroom wears shilum or white kurta / shirt coupled with a white dhoti and a khorong (turban), while the bride’s dress would include, kogoi (white blouse), pinon khadi and a white bridal crown. Another thing worth mentioning here is that an event called khana sirana is organised at the bridegroom’s house, which is basically a feast enjoyed together by both the families of the newlywed couple. This special occasion is attended by parents of the bride and the bridegroom, their family and relatives, chief representatives of both the societies as well as elderly and eminent persons. The feast starts with washing of hands of elderly and eminent persons by the bride and the bridegroom. All the attendees are served little portions of rice, meat and khada (drink made with sweets and seasoned fruits, which is a prime item of the feast). One of the important persons present there at the feast is the ojha of chumulong puja who during the event itself foretells about the couple’s marital life ahead, their first child etc. As part of the event is performed another ritual called bou gajana or bou sampradan. A folk singer, gengkhuli or kadhogi, an artist with excellent public speaking skills graces the event. One of them, or both sometimes, play their role in the sampradan ritual by singing folk songs or through their delicate speaking skills. It is important to mention that those who do not conduct the ritual of khana sirana, upon their death, their dead bodies are not carried on shoulders on the way to crematorium. Instead their lifeless bodies are carried hanging below the knees. Thus society reserves the right to dishonour a person even after his or her death. However, this is not the case in reality. In such circumstances, family members of the deceased pay a fine consisting of a bottle of rice beer and an amount of rupees five immediately and thus the offence is forgiven. Another important ritual conducted as part of the wedding is byasud bhanga. Few days after their marriage, the bridegroom along with his wife is required to visit his in-laws’ place, where they performed this ritual. It is mandatory for the married couple to perform this particular rituals and in case the in-laws’ places are too far, they may perform it by offering a bottle of rice beer under a massive leafy tree.

It is the responsibility of the society to conduct a marriage ceremony of a particular family in a disciplined and smooth manner. Villagers, especially the youth comes forward with a helping hand to perform various works and arrangement necessary for the wedding such as cleaning and recreation of house, cooking and serving food, hosting of guests, shopping etc. Therefore, to ensure a smooth conduct of all the necessary works with proper direction, an experienced person with is entrusted with overseeing of all the tasks as a muktiyar and another person is selected as bhandali who is required to ensure no wastage of various items and products used during the wedding. With the cooperation of villagers and youths these two persons are entrusted with the task of successfully conducting the marriage with discipline.

Funeral

Upon the death of someone in village, the body of the deceased person is covered with a white cloth and a container with burning chaff is kept nearby. A drum is struck in a particular note so as to let the villagers know that someone has died. After hearing sound of the drum, villagers starting appearing to the deceased person’s house and one by one they offer blessings or prayers and put rupees five to ten each on the chest of the deceased person.

Wednesday is considered fortunate in chakma society. It is the day when Maa Lakshmi came to on earth. Therefore if someone dies on Wednesday, funeral activities are not performed on that that day and are postponed to the afternoon of next day which is Thursday. Cremation is conducted only in the afternoon period, not during the early hours. In chakma society, deceased people are usually cremated. However, if the person died due to drowning in water, injuries, diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy, vitiligo or pox etc., the dead body is buried. In chakma language, the ritual of burial is called gor. Moreover, burial is also conducted upon the death of a child who was too young to develop teeth and it is referred to as Puokaba. Royals, dewans, khisa title holders and wealthy families may prefer not to cremate their kith and kins soon after their death and instead apply herbs and medicines to the lifeless body to keep them inside wooden craters for a year or a year and a half, while ensuring that the body does not decompose in course of time. Such dead bodies are cremated after a rath yatra festival. Shraddha is performed on the seventh day following cremation. Sometimes due to financial hardships, people perform shraddha on the ninth, eleventh or fifteen- twenty first day after death and no objection is raised by society on that.

Although cremation is conducted during the afternoon period, but for distant relatives to arrive, it can be postponed to the following two-three days. In the night following death, a meal is dedicated separately to the deceased in a pot. It is believed that this is the last meal the deceased person enjoys at his house and it is called kanjaba bhat.

The cremation is to be performed through a set of certain rituals. The dead body is bathed before it is taken to crematorium. White coloured new clothes are put on the deceased and is shrouded with a white cloth. To carry the dead body to crematorium, a long container or vessel of bamboo or cane is made and it is called Shammeng ghar. With the dead body inside, the Shammeng ghar is then installed on two bamboo poles and is carried on shoulders. Around the four corners of the shammeng ghar, four certain structures symbolising ambassadors of Yamraj are designed using cane sticks and feathers of dove. Part from this shammeng ghar, another quadrangular lidless container is constructed and it is called along ghar. Around the along ghar, Bouddha dharma sangha is inscribed on leaves decorating the structure. The dead body is put inside this along ghar, which is then installed on the shammeng ghar. Thus, a group of four or six man, who are usually family members of the deceased, carry the shammeng ghar on their shoulders to the crematorium. They tap one of the pillars of the deceased person’s house with the shammeng ghar five times if the deceased was man or seven times if the deceased was woman. At that time they also cut off seven strands of a yarn attached to the shammeng ghar. This ritual is a symbolic of the ending of relationship of the deceased with his family. On their way to the crematorium, people sprinkle grains of parched paddy, so that evil forces can feed on them.

At the crematorium a pyre is prepared and it is made with five layers of firewood if the deceased was a male and seven layers if it was female. Accordingly depending on the gender of the deceased, the dead body is circulated around the pyre for five or seven times before being finally put on the pyre for cremation. Now as the dead body is placed on the pyre, it is now fed for the last time. Little amount of food, followed by paan or betel leaf is served to the deceased and after that people tidy up the hair of the deceased. Four poles of bamboo are installed at the four corners and a chandratap or canopy made of white cloth is raised covering the pyre. Notable that a hole parallel to the chest of the deceased is made on the canopy. So as to bear with the grief, people stick to having vegetables only, as they return from crematorium. The next day elder son of the deceased visit the crematorium ground along with a couple of his relatives and they together clean off the resulting ash and ember. They also collect few bones of the deceased and later immerse them during shraddha or pilgrims. A wall of cane wicker is raised around the pyre and in the centre a banana tree is installed. Apart from that, a tobacco hookah, an old knife, a pitcher of water, a caned basket etc. are placed inside. On the day of cremation itself it is announced whether the shraddha will be conducted on the seventh day or any of the following odd days. On the day of shraddha apart from villagers, distant relatives of the deceased pay visit. A repast or reception is arranged as part of shraddha and both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food are offered at the ceremony. Buddhist monks are also invited to the shraddha. As per tradition as well as Theravada Buddhist norms, adhara meal and rice beer are offered at the pyre of the deceased.The family members of the deceased along with relatives hang up ‘tangon kani’ by the upper end of a bamboo pole. As per Buddhist traditions, a thousand lamps are lighted and fadana or sky lanterns are launched into the air as well. Thus a traditional funeral ceremony comes to an end.

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