Arakan had been an independent kingdom for over four millennium and its relations with Bengal was very intimate, specially Chittagong, the southeastern part of Bangladesh, which derived its name in consequence of the victory

The history of Rakhaing abounds ups and downs. The centuries-long sovereignty over portions of Bengal heightened the Rakhaing power to a climax it had never before or ever since attained. However, the ancient Rakhaing conquerors might not have foreseen that centuries later the flood of Bengali Muslims

More than 3 million Muslim devotees from 52 countries gathered along the banks of the Turag river, 30 kilometers north of Dhaka in Bangladesh at Tongi, Gazipur, for the three-day annual Biswa Ijtema (World Congregation) between December 14 and 16.

For more a millennium the policy we know as Arakan existed as a culturally strategic border state, the only state in Southeast Asia to be connected to India by both land and sea routes. The study of its culture is of particular interest as it reveals which elements of Indian cultural were adopted in Arakan

Paper presented at the Arakanese History and Religion Seminar, London, August 2009

1. Introduction:

Among the 7 Union States of Burma the Rakhine State or the Arakan is the immediate neighbour of the Subcontinent. There might have been some contacts between Arakan and the Subcontinent since the first dynasty of the Arakanese.

Historical Conference On Seventeenth Century Southeast Asia in the Context of Autonomous History

The last chapter of the time-honoured Rakhaing realm had come to a close and there lay ahead the valley of ill fortune to pass through. Gone was the sovereignty and so was the dignity. The kingdom was demeaned to a provincial state and a Burmese viceroy was installed to administer it

The 3rd article of the Treaty of Yandabo of 1826, which sealed the end of the First Anglo-Burman War (1824-1826), stipulated that, besides the southern province of Tenasserim, "the British Government will retain the conquered province of Arracan including the four divisions of Arracan, Ramree

Introduction

D.G.E. Hall, the eminent historian of Southeast Asia, in his 'Studies in Dutch relations with Arakan', was the first to point out the importance of the Dutch language sources for a study on the history of Arakan.

The Arakanese were a daring and turbulent people, a terror at once to themselves and to their neighbours. They fought among themselves and changed masters at will. Peace at home under a strong ruler signaled danger for neighbours, especially the undefended frontier districts of Bengal.

Brother Manrique gave us two glimpses of Thiri-thudhamma, the dignified figure at the window of the audience-hall at the Paragri, and the fond father joking with his children in the palace gardens of Mrauk-U, while the elephents squirted the crowd with water from the royal tank.

The site is on flat marshy land, surrounded by paddy fields, and northeast of the place in the centre of the Mrauk-U. Tradition has it that the Koe-Thaung was struck by lighting because the king attempted to build a pagoda of 90,000 images to out do his father's Shite-Thaung Shrine of 80,000 images.