About Arakan
Arakan is situated among India in the North, Burma in the East and People's Republic of Bangladesh in the West. To the south, it extends up to Haigri Island and is bounded on the southwest by the Bay of Bengal.
Arakan is comprised of the four provinces of Dhanyawady (Mrauk-U), Maegawady (Man Aung), Dwarawady (Sandway), Rammawady (Rann Bray) and 12 Bengal cities including Chittagong (now in Bangladesh). Decca (present capital of Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka) area as far a field as Mushidabad (near present day Calcutta) was most of the time under Arakanese rule. Arakan''s second largest port city, Chittagong was invaded and occupied by the Moghul in 1666 AD and subsequently Arakanese territory of 12 Bengal cities were lost to the Maghul.
The kingdom of Arakan lost its sovereignty to the Burmese after it was invaded and annexed by the Burmese king Boe daw Maung Wyne in December, 1784.
The area of Arakan was about 20,000 sq. ml. till the British period. But, Burmese ruler, without the Arakanese people''s consent, split up a north western Arakan Hill Tracts area bordering India and a southern most part of Arakan (from Kyauk Chaung River to Cape Negaris) from the Arakan mainland. Due to these partitions, the present day total area of Arakan was reduced to 18, 500 sq. ml and it comprises less than half of historic Arakan.
In 1974, the Rakhine state, consisting 17 townships was created but it was done by the Burmese for administrative purposes. It is presently located between Lat. 16'' 00" N- Lat. 21'' 20" N and Long. 92'' 20" E- Long. 95'' 20" E as one of the poor states under so called Union of Burma with its official name, Rakhine State. Arakanese, however, use the term "Arakan" to mean the area which was historically and traditionally known as Arakan before the 1784 Burmese invasion.
Despite over 200 years of Burmese occupation of Arakan, the Arakanese peoples refuse to be conquered and subjugated by the Burmese. Arakan independent movement started just after it lost independent and is carrying on until now.
Today, Arakanese peoples under the military junta of Burma are at the most risky point of losing its national identity under Burmese junta''s programmatic policy of ethnic cleansing.
Arakan at a Glance
Arakan is situated among India in the North, Burma in the East and People''s Republic of Bangladesh in the West. To the south, it extends up to Haigri Island and is bounded on the southwest by the Bay of Bengal.
Arakan is comprised of the four provinces of Dhanyawady (Mrauk-U), Maegawady (Man Aung), Dwarawady (Sandway), Rammawady (Rann Bray) and 12 Bengal cities including Chittagong (now in Bangladesh). Decca (present capital of Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka) area as far a field as Mushidabad (near present day Calcutta) was most of the time under Arakanese rule. Arakan''s second largest port city, Chittagong was invaded and occupied by the Moghul in 1666 AD and subsequently Arakanese territory of 12 Bengal cities were lost to the Maghul.
The kingdom of Arakan lost its sovereignty to the Burmese after it was invaded and annexed by the Burmese king Boe daw Maung Wyne in December, 1784.
The area of Arakan was about 20,000 sq. ml. till the British period. But, Burmese ruler, without the Arakanese people''s consent, split up a north western Arakan Hill Tracts area bordering India and a southern most part of Arakan (from Kyauk Chaung River to Cape Negaris) from the Arakan mainland. Due to these partitions, the present day total area of Arakan was reduced to 18, 500 sq. ml and it comprises less than half of historic Arakan.
In 1974, the Rakhine state, consisting 17 townships was created but it was done by the Burmese for administrative purposes. It is presently located between Lat. 16'' 00" N- Lat. 21'' 20" N and Long. 92'' 20" E- Long. 95'' 20" E as one of the poor states under so called Union of Burma with its official name, Rakhine State. Arakanese, however, use the term "Arakan" to mean the area which was historically and traditionally known as Arakan before the 1784 Burmese invasion.
Despite over 200 years of Burmese occupation of Arakan, the Arakanese peoples refuse to be conquered and subjugated by the Burmese. Arakan independent movement started just after it lost independent and is carrying on until now.
Today, Arakanese peoples under the military junta of Burma are at the most risky point of losing its national identity under Burmese junta''s programmatic policy of ethnic cleansing.
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What is Arakan: Rakhine, Rakhaing or Rakhaing-pray?
The land that is known as Arakan by the foreigners is called "Rakhaing-pray" by its own peoples, Rakhaing-thar (Arakanese). The Arakanese history records the early Arakanese to migrate in Arakan and settled down in their true land since time immemorial.
According to the Arakanese chronicles, the name Rakhaing (Rakhine) was originated from Pali word Rakhapura meaning the land of the people of Rakhasa (Rakhasa > Rakkha > Rakkhaing > Rakhaing) who were titled this name in honour of preservation on their national heritage and ethics or morality (Sila).
Arakanese: Enslaved Nation in its own Country
For more than five thousands years, Arakan has been flourished and developed their own culture, religion and literature. But, today Arakan is an illegally occupied country and its peoples are outnumbered by Burman invaders, its national heritages; historical monuments, culture, literature are systematically destroyed and Burmanized by the series of Burman rulers. Besides,the Burman obviously importing the Bangladeshi Chittagonian Muslims in to Arakan in order to minimize the Arakanese population on their own land.
The Burman king Nga Wine (Bodaw Maung Wine) invaded and occupied Arakan in 1784. During one year period of 1785 alone, twenty million Arakanese including infants and women were brutally killed by the Burman forces. Ten million Arakanese fled to British India in order to avoid the ethnic cleansing of Arakanese people by the Burman. Tens of thousands of Talented Arakanese including the last king Mahathamada Raza and his family were brought to the Amarapura of Burman capital and there Mahathamada Raza was beheaded by the Burman King and his queen was forced to marry to Burman king Nga Wine. But, the brave Arakanese Queen show her faith to her husband and to her nation by starving herself to death.
By the mid 1980s, over 1.2 million Arakanese died of starvation, forced labour and execution; thousands of Arakanese including Pandit U U Tha Tun (a noted historian and candidate of 1990 General election from ALD), Dr. Saw Mra Aung (Chairman of Arakan League for Democracy, ALD) and U Aye Tha Aung (General Secretary of ALD) were imprisoned and tortured for their active activities before the elections was held. Among them, U U Tha Tun was assassinated during his imprisonment in Akyab jail on August 14, 1989. Many other political prisoners were also persecuted to death by the MI of Burmese junta without any proper trial.
Of over five millions Arakanese population inside Arakan of present Burma, reportedly, at least five hundred thousand Arakanese were forced to leave their native land in order to avoid the various terror mentioned above. But, today''s Arakanese migration have mainly tendency towards only to the east because all available accesses to India and Bangladesh were totally blocked by many battalions and their outpost as well as by totally difficult geographical and religious differences. Nowadays many thousands of Arakanese young men were compelled to leave their beautiful land for Kachin and Shan states, Rangoon (Yangon) and middle Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan where they find themselves free from forced labou, forced portering and various tortures under the terror of the evil Burmese army. Due to lack of boys in every Arakanese villages throughout the country abundance of socio-economic problems are coming to arise in present Arakan.
