The Bohmong Circle ( my, ဗိုလ်မင်းထောင်) is one of three hereditary chiefdoms (or "circles") in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...

of modern-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. The jurisdiction of the Bohmong Circle encompasses parts of

Bandarban District Bandarban ( bn, বান্দরবান, Chakma: 𑄝𑄚𑄴𑄘𑄧𑄢𑄴𑄝𑄚𑄴) is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of the Chittagong Division. It is one of the three hill districts of Bangladesh and a part of ...

. The chiefdom's members are of Marma descent and are known as ''ragraisa''. Most inhabitants of the Mong Circle settled in the south during a migration wave from the

Kingdom of Mrauk U The Kingdom of Mrauk-U ( Arakanese: မြောက်ဦး နေပြည်တော်,) was a kingdom that existed on the Arakan littoral from 1429 to 1785. Based out of the capital Mrauk-U, near the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, ...

(modern-day Arakan State in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

) between the 16th and 18th centuries, while inhabitants of the other Marma chiefdom, the

Mong Circle The Mong Circle ( my, ဖလံထောင်) is one of three hereditary chiefdoms (or "circles") in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of modern-day Bangladesh. The jurisdiction of the Mong Circle encompasses parts of Khagrachhari District. The chiefd ...

, settled in the northwest and are known as ''phalansa'' (ဖလံသား).

Leadership

The Bohmong Circle is led by a hereditary chieftain called a "raja." The Bohmong chieftains appoint and oversee headmen called ''mouza'' and village chiefs called ''karbaris''. The incumbent chieftain is Chaw Prue (ချောဖြူ), an engineer by training. The Bohmong chieftain leads an annual three-day festival called "raj punnah," which has been held since 1875. The Bohmong chieftain also sits on the Advisory Council for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs and the

Bandarban Hill District Council Bandarban Hill District Council is the regional government body responsible for the administration of Bandarban Hill District in Bangladesh. Kyaw Shwe Hla is the chairman of the council. History The Bandarban Local Government Council was establ ...

. In 1975, Circle King

Mong Sue Rru Chowdhury Maung Shwe Prue Chowdhury () is a Jatiya Party (Ershad) politician and the former Member of Parliament of Bandarban District. Career Chowdhury was appointed the Governor of Bandarban District during Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League rule. ...

was appointed governor of

during

Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ কৃষক শ্রমিক আওয়ামী লীগ "Bangladesh Worker-Peasant's People's League"; বাকশাল) was a political front comprising B ...

government.

History

The Bohmong chieftains claim descent from

Tabinshwehti Tabinshwehti ( my, တပင်‌ရွှေထီး, ; 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550) was king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest ki ...

and

Nanda Bayin , image = , caption = , reign = 10 October 1581 – , coronation = 15 October 1581 , succession = , predecessor = Bayinnaung , successor = Nyaungyan , suc-type = Successor , reg- ...

of the

Toungoo Empire The First Toungoo Empire ( my, တောင်ငူ ခေတ်, ; also known as the First Toungoo Dynasty, the Second Burmese Empire or simply the Toungoo Empire) was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the ...

. During British rule, the Chittagong Hill Tracts were administratively divided into three circles in 1884, namely the Chakma Circle, the Bohmong Circle, and the

s, each presided over by a hereditary chief from the

Chakma Chakma may refer to: *Chakma people, a Tibeto-Burman people of Bangladesh and Northeast India *Chakma language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them **Chakma script ***Chakma (Unicode block) Chakma is a Unicode block containing characters for ...

and

Marma people The Marma ( my, မရမာလူမျိုး), formerly known as Moghs or Maghs, are the second-largest ethnic community in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, primarily residing in the Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati Hill District ...

s. The circles were codified into law with the Chittagong Hill Tract Regulations, 1900, eased revenue collection and administrative burdens on British authorities by delegating tax collection, land administration management and social arbitration responsibilities to the chieftains. In 1901, the Bohmong Circle extended . This administrative structure remained in place until 1964, when the introduction of local self-government abolished the special status of these circles and brought local administration under the control of the central government.

References

{{Bengal Zamindars Bandarban District Dynasties of Bengal Subdivisions of British India Quasi-princely estates of India Lands inhabited by indigenous peoples History of Chittagong Division Bangladeshi families Chakma people