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Buddhism in Arakan :Theories and Historiography of the Religious Basis of Ethnonyms
Michael W. Charney — School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS], University of London
Interest in Rakhaing (Arakan), has resurged after a considerable period in which few studies appeared outside of Myanmar (Burma). This newly found interest, at least newly found in terms of foreign scholars, is indicated in the numerous studies which have appeared since the early 1990s and in the holding of the present workshop. One frequently discussed topic that has not yet yielded a satisfactory conclusion, is the association between religious identity and local ethnonyms, which is the subject of the present paper.
“Rakhaing” (Arakanese) used as both an ethnonym and as a geographical and political name for the littoral and the district on the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, has become inexplicably associated in the prevailing scholarly and popular literature with a Buddhist identity. As one Rakbaing scholar, U Tha Hla, has recently explained: The Rakhaings are Buddhists who have embraced Theravada discipline….The Buddhist cultnre forms the main fabric of the society and dominates the attitude of the people. No Rakhaing professes any other religion but Buddhism.
Further, Literally embodiment of Rakhaing is an ethno-religious affiliation. Ethnicity is Mongoloid and religion is Buddhism. Neither race nor faith alone constitutes the unique breed of Rakhaing. Of Mongoloid Stock, the Rakhaings sprung from the Tibeto-Burman group along with the Burmese and other Proto-Burmese races who migrated from Central Asia.
The contemporary wedding of ethnonyms with connotations of exclusive religions affiliation is frequently read backwards. When the term presently used as an ethnonym is encountered in earlier historical documents, this religious affiliation is then read, and transposed, backwards in time, providing ’evidence’ for the existence of some religious identities and excluding of hers. Thus, understanding Rakhaing’s religious past correctly, requires separating religious from ethnic and other connotations bundled together in contemporary referents.
This approach is also necessary because of the peculiarities of the multicultural strands (not quite syncretic) of Rakhaing statecraft. While an entirely separate issue, the Rakhaing reading of political court culture in ways that have made it appear that religious identities were at work created substantial historiographical problems regarding Rakhaing religion. Thus, the Rakhaing borrowing of certain Islamic ate motifs, including Muslim regnal names, as well as Persian numismatic incriptional styles (such as the inclusion of the Kalima) was viewed as evidence of a Muslim presence in the court or of the later, its religious identity. The implications of the possibilities of this interpretation were profound for two reasons. First, those who accepted this view, linked this evidence to a later Rohingya Muslim identity and projected the Rohingya presence in Rakhaing backward in time to the early fifteenth century (and earlier), drawing back a religious identity and more recent ethnonym anachronistically.
Numerous stories – whether or not they are myths remains to be seen — were mobilized to fill in the ’dark spaces’ across the chronological map were used to demonstrate these early origins and their continuity to the present. As one summary of Rakhaing history from the Rohingya point-of-view explains: Arakan was a Hindu kingdom in the distant past … The Mongolian [Burmese-speaking Rakhaing] invasion of 957 put an end to the Chandra dynasty and Hinduism in Arakan. The Mongols later assimilated with the locals-the Rohingya Muslims and the Magh [Bengalis, according to this account] Buddhists. In the 15th century, a number of Muslim Kings ruled Arakan, which was a golden period in the history of Arakan. During this period, Rohingya Muslims played a dominant role in the political life of Arakan … Burmese rule of Arakan [atter 1784] was short lived but bloody and brutal. Historically, the Rohingya’s association with Arakan is much older. The ancestors of the people, now known as the Rohingyas, came to Arakan more than a thousand years ago. They became [an] integral part of the Arakan [Littoral] socially, politically and economically. On the other hand, the Burmese have always been identified as the plunderers and despoilers.
