The Magh (
Mog
Mog may refer to:
Entertainment Characters
* Mog (''Final Fantasy VI''), in the game
* Mog (Judith Kerr), a cat in Kerr's children's books
* Mog, a half-man/half-dog in the film ''Spaceballs''
* A cat in the Meg and Mog children's books by Helen ...
) is the term used in history of Bengali and others people of South Asia for the
Marma and
Arakanese/Rakhine of
Arakan. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the meaning of Magh represent the people belongs to magadha (bihar) part of the indian state of Bihar. During the rise of Shunga dynasty & the fall of buddhism in the country of Moghs/Maghs or Magadha many of Local Buddhist people migrated towards east of Bengal, they established a Kingdom between chittagong & Arakan Yoma Mountain in Burma.
the
Mrauk U Kingdom of Arakan expanded its territories to the
Chittagong
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
area of
Bengal. The navy of the kingdom of Arakan or rather Magh sailors along with the Portuguese had plundered along the coast of Chittagong; as well as in the rivers of Bengal; and captured many
Bengalis and sold them in the slave markets that were run by the
Dutch East India Company, VOC in
Batavia. For those notorious activities in the past, the Arakanese were called Magh
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
by the people of Bengal. Another alternative suggestion for the term ''Mog'' suggests that the word is derived from ''Mongol''. That country is mentioned in the Arakanese Chronicles as the original residing place of the ancestors of the Arakanese kings who were the relatives of the Buddha.
In his memorise, the Mughal emperor
Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
described a group of Maghs who visited him, accompanying Hushang, son of
Islam Khan. He gives the date of the visit as 1 April 1613 (14th of
Farvardin on the Iranian calendar, 1022). He describes the group as hailing from a Magh controlled territory near Pegu (capital of the
Mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* An ...
kingdom) and
Arakan. Jahangir considered the Maghs unrestrained in their diet ("They eat everything there is either on land or in the sea, and nothing is forbidden by their religion") and their marital habits ("They marry their sisters by another mother"). He described their language as "that of Tibet," and their religion as neither Muslim nor Hindu.
["The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri or Memoirs of Jahangir", Translated by Alexander Rogers (Low Price Publications, reprinted 2017)]
During the hey days of the Arakanese kingdom, many Arakanese people who were called as Mogs lived in Chittagong region of Bengal. As
Chittagong
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
, what is now in Bangladesh, was part of Arakan in the past, the Arakanese Magh governors ruled part of Bengal by residing in that city as the capital of the colonial region of Arakan. The Arakanese king also appointed Bohmong Chiefs to rule in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in
Bohmong Htaung. 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 ...
(Thaik people) region of CHT and the kingdom of
Tripura were also part of Arakan at that time. Those people living in CHT, especially in
Bandarban
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 ...
were still ruled by Bohmong Chief until now since Arakan's rule of Bengal. The Arakanese who have been living in CHT, Bengal, since the ascent of Arakanese kingdom in the 16th century were also known as the
Marma people. Those Marmas are known as Mog to the people of Bengal as they are the Arakanese descendants. Arakanese people living in Hill
Tripura state of India since that ancient time, are also called as
Mog
Mog may refer to:
Entertainment Characters
* Mog (''Final Fantasy VI''), in the game
* Mog (Judith Kerr), a cat in Kerr's children's books
* Mog, a half-man/half-dog in the film ''Spaceballs''
* A cat in the Meg and Mog children's books by Helen ...
or Magh by the local people of Tripura State.
References
{{reflist
Needs to be incorporated into article
* ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (s.v. Magh, updated March 2000)
* Amiram Gonen (ed.), ''The Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the World'' (Henry Holt, 1993)
Ethnic groups in Myanmar
Ethnic groups in Bangladesh