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115-773: The Rakhine people ( Burmese and Rakhine  : ရခိုင်လူမျိုး ) or Arakanese are a Southeast Asian ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) forming the majority along the coastal region of present-day Rakhine State (formerly called Arakan ), although Rakhine communities also exist throughout the country, particularly in the Ayeyarwady and Yangon Regions . They constitute approximately 4.61% or more of Myanmar's total population. Rakhine communities exist in Bangladesh 's Chittagong Hill Tracts and in India, where they are known as

230-565: A pitch-register language like Shanghainese . There are four contrastive tones in Burmese. In the following table, the tones are shown marked on the vowel /a/ as an example. For example, the following words are distinguished from each other only on the basis of tone: In syllables ending with /ɰ̃/ , the checked tone is excluded: In spoken Burmese, some linguists classify two real tones (there are four nominal tones transcribed in written Burmese), "high" (applied to words that terminate with

345-645: A subject–object–verb word order. It is a member of the Lolo-Burmese grouping of the Sino-Tibetan language family . The Burmese alphabet is ultimately descended from a Brahmic script , either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabets. Burmese belongs to the Southern Burmish branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages , of which Burmese is the most widely spoken of the non- Sinitic languages. Burmese

460-528: A centre of commerce and became the capital of Magadha after Ajatashatru's death. The Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shishunaga dynasty . The last Shishunaga ruler, Mahanandin , was assassinated by Mahapadma Nanda in 345 BCE, the first of the so-called "Nine Nandas", i. e. Mahapadma and his eight sons, last being Dhana Nanda . In 326 BCE, the army of Alexander approached the western boundaries of Magadha. The army, exhausted and frightened at

575-555: A dialect of Burmese. The Rakhine people display a notable range of physical appearances, featuring both South Asian and Mongoloid traits. Despite this diversity, all identify as Rakhine, a community comprising seven ethnic groups. The Rakhine have embraced Buddhism since the era of The Buddha . Some legends suggest that they are descendants of the Sakya Kingdom, which faced downfall, leading many to escape and establish themselves in present-day Rakhine. The Rakhine are one of

690-550: A lesser extent, Burmese has also imported words from Sanskrit (religion), Hindi (food, administration, and shipping), and Chinese (games and food). Burmese has also imported a handful of words from other European languages such as Portuguese . Here is a sample of loan words found in Burmese: Since the end of British rule, the Burmese government has attempted to limit usage of Western loans (especially from English) by coining new words ( neologisms ). For instance, for

805-674: A monk]", Lower Burmese speakers use [sʰʊ́ɰ̃] instead of [sʰwáɰ̃] , which is the pronunciation used in Upper Burma. The standard dialect is represented by the Yangon dialect because of the modern city's media influence and economic clout. In the past, the Mandalay dialect represented standard Burmese. The most noticeable feature of the Mandalay dialect is its use of the first person pronoun ကျွန်တော် , kya.nau [tɕənɔ̀] by both men and women, whereas in Yangon,

920-514: A part of independent Burma from 1948. Dhanyawadi is considered the first Kingdom of Arakan. Established around the 1st century CE, it served as a significant cultural and political center in the region. The kingdom is known for its flourishing trade, connecting Southeast Asia with the Indian subcontinent . Dhanyawadi's influence laid the groundwork for subsequent kingdoms in Arakan, contributing to

1035-633: A royal camp in Pataliputra . The Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya referred to themselves as Magadhādipati and ruled in parts of Magadha until the 13th century. The territory of the Magadha kingdom proper before its expansion was bounded to the north, west, and east respectively by the Gaṅgā , Son , and Campā rivers, and the eastern spurs of the Vindhya mountains formed its southern border. The territory of

1150-466: A stop or check, high-rising pitch) and "ordinary" (unchecked and non-glottal words, with falling or lower pitch), with those tones encompassing a variety of pitches. The "ordinary" tone consists of a range of pitches. Linguist L. F. Taylor concluded that "conversational rhythm and euphonic intonation possess importance" not found in related tonal languages and that "its tonal system is now in an advanced state of decay." The syllable structure of Burmese

1265-700: A unique dialect through which they could communicate. The Rakhine people were able to preserve their culture, language, and religion in Bengal. Rakhines observe Rakhine festival such as Sanggreng and Nai-chai ka. The last Rakhine language school in Kuakata closed in 1998 due to shortage of funds, In January 2006, Chin Than Monjur, opened a Rakhine language community school which expanded into three news schools and used Rakhine language books from Myanmar. The schools were forced to close due to shortage of funds. In summary,

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1380-628: Is mutual intelligibility among Burmese dialects, as they share a common set of tones, consonant clusters, and written script. However, several Burmese dialects differ substantially from standard Burmese with respect to vocabulary, lexical particles, and rhymes. Spoken Burmese is remarkably uniform among Burmese speakers, particularly those living in the Irrawaddy valley, all of whom use variants of Standard Burmese. The standard dialect of Burmese (the Mandalay - Yangon dialect continuum ) comes from

1495-458: Is C(G)V((V)C), which is to say the onset consists of a consonant optionally followed by a glide , and the rime consists of a monophthong alone, a monophthong with a consonant, or a diphthong with a consonant. The only consonants that can stand in the coda are /ʔ/ and /ɰ̃/ . Some representative words are: Magadha (Mahajanapada) Magadha , also called the Kingdom of Magadha or

1610-471: Is a small community of Rakhine people inhabiting the coastal areas of Patuakhali , Borguna and Cox's Bazar , having migrated to Bangladesh from Myanmar before the formation of these two contemporary countries. The total population of the community as of 2020 is 16,000. But according to the Joshua Project, the total population is 20,000. The Rakhine people and the local Bengali population developed

1725-710: Is called "Sankran". "Sankran" in Thai means change. Sangrai actually means saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year. At the same time, the new Jhum farming season in the Chittagong Hill Tracts begins after Sangrai. Not only Jhum farming, the Marmaras do not get married again after the Maghi full moon until Sangrai, which means that the Marmaras in Sangrai mean to start anew by throwing away all

1840-548: Is inextricably linked to the uncertain chronology of the Buddha and Mahavira . According to historian K. T. S. Sarao , a proponent of the Short Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was c.477–397 BCE, it can be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning c.457–405 BCE, and Ajatashatru was reigning c.405–373 BCE. According to historian John Keay , a proponent of the "Long Chronology," Bimbisara must have been reigning in

1955-551: Is known that he ruled the Launggyet Dynasty of Arakan from c. 1279 to 1373/74. All the Arakan kingdoms has always been predominantly Buddhist, with the majority known today as the Rakhine people. Although some of the kings had Muslim titles (nicknames) during the Kingdom of Mrauk U , as it was under Bengal Sultanate influence, none of them adopted the religion; they remained as Buddhists. The Kingdom of Mrauk U

2070-518: Is much uncertainty about the succession of kings and the precise chronology of Magadha prior to Mahapadma Nanda; the accounts of various ancient texts (all of which were written many centuries later than the era in question) contradict each other on many points. Two notable rulers of Magadha were Bimbisara (also known as Shrenika ) and his son Ajatashatru (also known as Kunika ), who are mentioned in Buddhist and Jain literature as contemporaries of

2185-533: Is now West Bengal . King Bimbisara was killed by his son, Ajatashatru . Pasenadi , king of neighbouring Kosala and brother-in-law of Bimbisara, promptly reconquered the Kashi province. Accounts differ slightly as to the cause of King Ajatashatru's war with the Licchavi , a powerful tribe north of the river Ganges . It appears that Ajatashatru sent a minister to the area who worked for three years to undermine

2300-467: Is observed on the full moon day of the month of Vaisakha (usually in May). Pavarana is a Buddhist holy day which is also celebrated by the Rakhine people on Aashvin full moon of the lunar month . This usually occurs on the full moon of the 11th month. It marks the end of the three lunar months of Vassa , sometimes called "Buddhist Lent." The day is marked in some Asian countries where Theravada Buddhism

2415-427: Is popular across Myanmar . They have a rich cultural heritage that reflects their history, beliefs, and way of life. Despite facing challenges, including political and social strife, they continue to celebrate and preserve their rich cultural heritage, contributing to the diversity of Myanmar. Almost all Rakhine people are followers of Theravada Buddhism. Rakhine State is also home to many Buddhist temples, reflecting

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2530-454: Is practiced. On this day at night, lanterns are blown into the sky to honor the heritage of Gautam Buddha . The Rakhine language is closely related to and generally mutually intelligible with Burmese . Notably, Rakhine retains an /r/ sound that has become /j/ in Burmese. Rakhine utilises the Burmese alphabet . It is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in western Myanmar , primarily in

2645-442: Is pronounced [mõ̀ũndã́ĩ] . The vowels of Burmese are: The monophthongs /e/ , /o/ , /ə/ , /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ occur only in open syllables (those without a syllable coda ); the diphthongs /ei/ , /ou/ , /ai/ and /au/ occur only in closed syllables (those with a syllable coda). /ə/ only occurs in a minor syllable , and is the only vowel that is permitted in a minor syllable (see below). The close vowels /i/ and /u/ and

2760-542: Is the contemporary ethnonym and name of the region in Rakhine, Burmese, and English today. The word is extant to the mid-11th century, appearing on a pillar inscription at Shite-thaung Temple , and also appears in European, Persian, and Ceylonese accounts by the 15th century. U Kala 's Maha Yazawin traces the word's etymology to Alaungsithu 's conquest of the region during the Pagan era, but epigraphic evidence to support

2875-584: Is the value of the four native final nasals: ⟨မ်⟩ /m/ , ⟨န်⟩ /n/ , ⟨ဉ်⟩ /ɲ/ , ⟨င်⟩ /ŋ/ , as well as the retroflex ⟨ဏ⟩ /ɳ/ (used in Pali loans) and nasalisation mark anusvara demonstrated here above ka (က → ကံ) which most often stands in for a homorganic nasal word medially as in တံခါး tankhá 'door', and တံတား tantá 'bridge', or else replaces final -m ⟨မ်⟩ in both Pali and native vocabulary, especially after

2990-638: Is the word "moon", which can be လ la̰ (native Tibeto-Burman), စန္ဒာ/စန်း [sàndà]/[sã́] (derivatives of Pali canda 'moon'), or သော်တာ [t̪ɔ̀ dà] (Sanskrit). The consonants of Burmese are as follows: According to Jenny & San San Hnin Tun (2016 :15), contrary to their use of symbols θ and ð, consonants of သ are dental stops ( /t̪, d̪/ ), rather than fricatives ( /θ, ð/ ) or affricates. These phonemes, alongside /sʰ/ , are prone to merger with /t, d, s/ . An alveolar /ɹ/ can occur as an alternate of /j/ in some loanwords. The final nasal /ɰ̃/

3105-527: The Arakan Army . The Rakhine people have a variety of appearances, showing a mix of traits from both South Asian and Mongoloid backgrounds. They have range of skin tones , typically ranging from light to medium brown. Rakhine men mostly wear a sarong called lungyi , while the women also wear a sarong called thabein ..The Rakhine people celebrate several key festivals inlcuding Sangrain and Buddha Purnima. "Rakhine" (less commonly spelt Rakhaing )

3220-594: The Atharvaveda , where they are found listed along with the Angas , Gandharis and Mujavats. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges ; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern day Rajgir ), then Pataliputra (modern Patna ). Rajagriha was initially known as 'Girivrijja' and later came to be known as so during the reign of Ajatashatru . Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with

3335-491: The [ ɹ ] sound, which has become [ j ] in standard Burmese. Moreover, Arakanese features a variety of vowel differences, including the merger of the ဧ [e] and ဣ [i] vowels. Hence, a word like "blood" သွေး is pronounced [θw é ] in standard Burmese and [θw í ] in Arakanese. The Burmese language's early forms include Old Burmese and Middle Burmese . Old Burmese dates from

3450-588: The /l/ medial, which is otherwise only found in Old Burmese inscriptions. They also often reduce the intensity of the glottal stop . Beik has 250,000 speakers while Tavoyan has 400,000. The grammatical constructs of Burmese dialects in Southern Myanmar show greater Mon influence than Standard Burmese. The most pronounced feature of the Arakanese language of Rakhine State is its retention of

3565-605: The Bengali script . However, these inscriptions are not ancestral to Arakanese epigraphy, which uses the Mon–Burmese script . While some Arakanese have coined the term "Rakkhawunna" ( Rakkhavaṇṇa ) to describe a script that predates the usage of written Burmese, there is no contemporary lithic evidence to support the existence of such a script. Burmese language Burmese is a tonal , pitch-register , and syllable-timed language , largely monosyllabic and agglutinative with

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3680-473: The Burmese alphabet began employing cursive-style circular letters typically used in palm-leaf manuscripts , as opposed to the traditional square block-form letters used in earlier periods. The orthographic conventions used in written Burmese today can largely be traced back to Middle Burmese. Modern Burmese emerged in the mid-18th century. By this time, male literacy in Burma stood at nearly 50%, which enabled

3795-618: The English language in the colonial educational system, especially in higher education. In the 1930s, the Burmese language saw a linguistic revival, precipitated by the establishment of an independent University of Rangoon in 1920 and the inception of a Burmese language major at the university by Pe Maung Tin , modeled on Anglo Saxon language studies at the University of Oxford. Student protests in December of that year, triggered by

3910-740: The Kīkaṭa tribe—mentioned in the Rigveda (3.53.14) with their ruler Pramaganda—as the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as synonym for Magadha in the later texts; Like the Magadhas in the Atharvaveda, the Rigveda speaks of the Kikatas as a hostile tribe, living on the borders of Brahmanical India, who did not perform Vedic rituals. The earliest reference to the Magadha people occurs in

4025-895: The Magadha Empire , was a kingdom and empire , and one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period, based in southern Bihar in the eastern Ganges Plain , in Ancient India . Magadha was ruled by the Brihadratha dynasty (1700-682 BCE), the Haryanka dynasty (544–413 BCE), the Shaishunaga dynasty (413–345 BCE), the Nanda dynasty (345–322 BCE), the Mauryan dynasty (322–184 BCE),

4140-547: The Marma and Magh peoples respectively. Rakhine people consist of seven different ethnic groups, namely Rakhine, Kamein , Kwe Myi, Daingnet people , Maramagyi , Mru people and Thet.  Among them, Rakhine group are the majority ethnic group in Rakhine State and have long been influenced by their proximity to India and have formed trading links with the sub-continents. Thet, Kamein, Daingnet and Marma people are

4255-812: The Mauryas , Magadha became a pan-Indian empire, covering large swaths of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan . The Magadh under the Gupta Empire emerged as the most prosperous kingdom in the history of Ancient India. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism . It was the core of four of northern India's greatest empires, the Nanda Empire ( c.  345  – c.  322 BCE ), Maurya Empire ( c.  322 –185 BCE), Shunga Empire ( c.  185 –78 BCE) and Gupta Empire ( c.  240 –550 CE). The Pala Empire also ruled over Magadha and maintained

4370-723: The Mon people , who until recently formed the majority in Lower Burma . Most Mon loanwords are so well assimilated that they are not distinguished as loanwords, as Burmese and Mon were used interchangeably for several centuries in pre-colonial Burma. Mon loans are often related to flora, fauna, administration, textiles, foods, boats, crafts, architecture, and music. As a natural consequence of British rule in Burma , English has been another major source of vocabulary, especially with regard to technology, measurements, and modern institutions. English loanwords tend to take one of three forms: To

4485-534: The Myanma Salonpaung Thatpon Kyan ( မြန်မာ စာလုံးပေါင်း သတ်ပုံ ကျမ်း ), was compiled in 1978 by the commission. Burmese is a diglossic language with two distinguishable registers (or diglossic varieties ): The literary form of Burmese retains archaic and conservative grammatical structures and modifiers (including affixes and pronouns) no longer used in the colloquial form. Literary Burmese, which has not changed significantly since

4600-579: The Nanda Dynasty (345–321 BCE) that followed was mostly Jain. These Sramana religions did not worship the Vedic deities , practised some form of asceticism and meditation ( jhana ) and tended to construct round burial mounds (called stupas in Buddhism). These religions also sought some type of liberation from the cyclic rounds of rebirth and karmic retribution through spiritual knowledge. Among

4715-850: The Puranas . There is little certain information available on the early rulers of Magadha. The most important sources are the Buddhist Pāli Canon , the Jain Agamas and the Hindu Puranas . Based on these sources, it appears that Magadha was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for some 200 years, c. 543 to 413 BCE. Gautama Buddha , the founder of Buddhism , lived much of his life in the kingdom of Magadha. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya , gave his first sermon in Sarnath and

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4830-614: The Pyu language . These indirect borrowings can be traced back to orthographic idiosyncrasies in these loanwords, such as the Burmese word "to worship", which is spelt ပူဇော် ( pūjo ) instead of ပူဇာ ( pūjā ), as would be expected by the original Pali orthography. The transition to Middle Burmese occurred in the 16th century. The transition to Middle Burmese included phonological changes (e.g. mergers of sound pairs that were distinct in Old Burmese) as well as accompanying changes in

4945-832: The Rakhine Minrazagri Ayedaw Sadan and the Dhanyawaddy Ayedawbon . The word, which is also cognate with Bamar and is the Rakhine pronunciation of "Myanmar," continues to be used by their descendants in Bangladesh, who are known as the Marma . By this period, the Bamar began to call the Rakhine the Myanmagyi (မြန်မာကြီး; lit.   ' great Mranma / Myanma ' ), as attested by contemporaneous Burmese and foreign sources. The ethnonym reflected their common ancestral kinship ties with

5060-573: The Rakhine State . Closely related to Burmese , the language is spoken by the Rakhine and Marma peoples; it is estimated to have around one million native speakers and it is spoken as a second language by a further million. Rakhine State is home to Sanskrit inscriptions that date from the first millennium to the 1000s. These inscriptions were written in Northern Brahmic scripts (namely Siddham or Gaudi ), which are ancestral to

5175-409: The Shite-thaung and Htukkanthein Temples . The Rakhine State and its people are predominantly Theravada Buddhist . This religious tradition plays a central role in the cultural and social life of the Rakhine community, influencing their festivals, rituals, and daily practices. Buddhism in Rakhine is characterized by its rich history, unique interpretations, and a blend of local customs, reflecting

5290-420: The Shunga dynasty (184–73 BCE), the Kanva dynasty (73–28 BCE), the Gupta dynasty (240-550 CE) and the Later Gupta dynasty (490–700). Kanva dynasty lost much of its territory after being defeated by the Satavahanas of Deccan in 28 BCE and was reduced to a small principality around Pataliputra . However, with the rule of Gupta Empire (240-550 CE), The Gupta Empire regained the Glory of Magadh. Under

5405-471: The State Administration Council junta in 2024. The ideology of the Arakan Army is centered on the following: The Rakhine Army has significantly challenged the Burmese junta's military might, often achieving surprising victories that showcase its strength and strategic prowess. The AA's operational capabilities were notably highlighted during Operation 1027 , a coordinated offensive aimed at key military targets in Rakhine State. This operation demonstrated

5520-425: The first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha . The Hindu Mahabharata calls Brihadratha the first ruler of Magadha. Ripunjaya, last king of Brihadratha dynasty, was killed by his minister Pulika, who established his son Pradyota as the new king. Pradyota dynasty was succeeded by Haryanka dynasty founded by Bimbisara . Bimbisara led an active and expansive policy, conquering the kingdom of Anga in what

5635-441: The śramana culture arose in " Greater Magadha ," which was Indo-Aryan, but not Vedic . In this culture, Kshatriyas were placed higher than Brahmins , and it rejected Vedic authority and rituals. He argues for a cultural area termed " Greater Magadha ", defined as roughly the geographical area in which the Buddha and Mahavira lived and taught. With regard to the Buddha, this area stretched by and large from Śrāvastī ,

5750-413: The 11th to the 16th century ( Pagan to Ava dynasties); Middle Burmese from the 16th to the 18th century ( Toungoo to early Konbaung dynasties); modern Burmese from the mid-18th century to the present. Word order , grammatical structure, and vocabulary have remained markedly stable well into Modern Burmese, with the exception of lexical content (e.g., function words ). The earliest attested form of

5865-457: The 13th century, is the register of Burmese taught in schools. In most cases, the corresponding affixes in the literary and spoken forms are totally unrelated to each other. Examples of this phenomenon include the following lexical terms: Historically the literary register was preferred for written Burmese on the grounds that "the spoken style lacks gravity, authority, dignity". In the mid-1960s, some Burmese writers spearheaded efforts to abandon

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5980-410: The 19th century, in addition to concomitant economic and political instability in Upper Burma (e.g., increased tax burdens from the Burmese crown, British rice production incentives, etc.) also accelerated the migration of Burmese speakers from Upper Burma into Lower Burma. British rule in Burma eroded the strategic and economic importance of the Burmese language; Burmese was effectively subordinated to

6095-409: The 20th century to 2,561 in 2014, with Rakhines leaving Bangladesh due to illegal land-grabbing and persecution. Lands owned by them in the districts decreased by 81%. Rakhine land is also being taken over by politicians in Patuakhali District. Recognizing their situation is important for promoting their rights and improving their lives. The Rakhine are predominantly Theravada Buddhists and are one of

6210-444: The 9th century Rakhine people have founded Le-Mro, Le-Mro in the Rakhine language means "four cities," which refers to the four ancient Rakhine cities. In 1103, they had consolidated control of the region, becoming a tributary state of the Pagan Empire until 1167. In 1406–1429, Kingdom of Ava occupied the Northern Rakhine. Southern Rakhine was not occupied by the Bagan Empire and the Ava Kingdom. In 1429, founder of Kingdom of Mrauk U ,

6325-407: The AA is the military wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It is currently led by Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing and vice deputy commander-in-chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng . The Arakan Army states that the objective of its armed revolution is to restore the sovereignty of the Arakan people. It was declared a terrorist organization in 2020 by Myanmar, and again by

6440-458: The AA's ability to mobilize effectively, utilize guerilla tactics, and leverage local support, leading to significant setbacks for the junta. The operation underscored the AA's determination and skill, establishing it as one of the strongest ethnic armed forces in Myanmar. With a focus on defending their homeland and securing rights for the Rakhine people, the Arakan Army has garnered considerable support among local populations. Their success against

6555-460: The Arakanese-controlled Chacomas of the Northern Arakan Mountains . After his initial military successes against Bengal and Tripura (1532–34), Min Bin began to regard himself "as a world conqueror or cakravartin ", and in commemoration of his victory in Bengal he built the Shitthaung Temple , one of the premier Buddhist Pagodas of Mrauk-U . His expansionist drive was to run into serious obstacles however. His control of Bengal beyond Chittagong

6670-471: The British in the lead-up to the independence of Burma in 1948. The 1948 Constitution of Burma prescribed Burmese as the official language of the newly independent nation. The Burma Translation Society and Rangoon University's Department of Translation and Publication were established in 1947 and 1948, respectively, with the joint goal of modernizing the Burmese language in order to replace English across all disciplines. Anti-colonial sentiment throughout

6785-454: The Buddha and Mahavira. Later, the throne of Magadha was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda , the founder of the Nanda Dynasty ( c.  345  – c.  322 BCE ), which conquered much of north India. The Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya , the founder of the Maurya Empire ( c.  322 –185 BCE). Furthermore, there is a "Long Chronology" and a contrasting "Short Chronology" preferred by some scholars, an issue that

6900-501: The Buddhist clergy (monks) from the laity ( householders ), especially when speaking to or about bhikkhus (monks). The following are examples of varying vocabulary used for Buddhist clergy and for laity: Burmese primarily has a monosyllabic received Sino-Tibetan vocabulary. Nonetheless, many words, especially loanwords from Indo-European languages like English, are polysyllabic, and others, from Mon, an Austroasiatic language, are sesquisyllabic . Burmese loanwords are overwhelmingly in

7015-437: The Buddhist sites currently found in the Magadha region include two UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya and the Nalanda monastery. The Mahabodhi temple is one of the most important places of pilgrimage in the Buddhist world and is said to mark the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Beginning in the Theravada commentaries, the Pali language has been identified with Magahi ,

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7130-400: The Buddhist-professing Bamar, with whom the Rakhine identified. By 1585, European, Persian, and Bengali accounts began describing the Rakhine and Buddhist groups like Barua people as the Magh and its derivatives (e.g., Mogh, Mugh, Mog, etc.). The word's etymology is likely to derive from Magadha , the name of an ancient Buddhist kingdom. By the late 19th century, British authorities adopted

7245-450: The Burmese language into Lower Burma also coincided with the emergence of Modern Burmese. As late as the mid-1700s, Mon , an Austroasiatic language, was the principal language of Lower Burma, employed by the Mon people who inhabited the region. Lower Burma's shift from Mon to Burmese was accelerated by the Burmese-speaking Konbaung Dynasty 's victory over the Mon-speaking Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom in 1757. By 1830, an estimated 90% of

7360-407: The Burmese language is called Old Burmese , dating to the 11th and 12th century stone inscriptions of Pagan . The earliest evidence of the Burmese alphabet is dated to 1035, while a casting made in the 18th century of an old stone inscription points to 984. Owing to the linguistic prestige of Old Pyu in the Pagan Kingdom era, Old Burmese borrowed a substantial corpus of vocabulary from Pali via

7475-450: The East India Company government. They settled in Patuakhali District and Barguna District in the 19th century. Rakhine descendants spread as far north as Tripura state in India , where they are known as the Mog . Historically, all Rakhine monarchs practiced Buddhism . It can be difficult to distinguish a Rakhine person from a Bamar person, the predominant ethnic group in Myanmar , based solely on physical appearance, unless

7590-483: The Gupta Empire remained Pataliputra in Magadha. During the Pala-period in Magadha from the 11th to 13th century CE, a local Buddhist dynasty known as the Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya ruled as tributaries to Pala Empire. Several Śramaṇic movements had existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying

7705-432: The Irrawaddy River valley. Regional differences between speakers from Upper Burma (e.g., Mandalay dialect), called anya tha ( အညာသား ) and speakers from Lower Burma (e.g., Yangon dialect), called auk tha ( အောက်သား ), largely occur in vocabulary choice, not in pronunciation. Minor lexical and pronunciation differences exist throughout the Irrawaddy River valley. For instance, for the term ဆွမ်း , "food offering [to

7820-571: The Marmas, the Rakhine also celebrate the New Year with their own rules. In the case of the Marmas, it is celebrated according to their Burmese calendar . The main attraction of Sangrai is the water sport called Marmara "Ri Long Poye". This water sports festival is held on the last day of Sangrai festival. Sangrai water sports are performed not only by the Marmas, but also by the Dai tribes of Southeast Asia, Myanmar , Thailand , Laos , Cambodia and China in mid-April. In Myanmar, such events are called "Thingyan" and in Thailand and Laos this ceremony

7935-431: The OB vowel *u e.g. ငံ ngam 'salty', သုံး thóum ('three; use'), and ဆုံး sóum 'end'. It does not, however, apply to ⟨ည်⟩ which is never realised as a nasal, but rather as an open front vowel [iː] [eː] or [ɛː] . The final nasal is usually realised as nasalisation of the vowel. It may also allophonically appear as a homorganic nasal before stops. For example, in /mòʊɰ̃dáɪɰ̃/ ('storm'), which

8050-460: The Rakhine people mainly resides in Cox's Bazar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Their presence reflects a rich culture but also highlights the challenges they face, such as issues with identity. The 150-year old Khaddya Song Chansai Rakhine cemetery in Taltali Upazila , Barguna District , was forcefully taken by local land grabbers in 2017. The Rakhine population in the Barguna and Patuakhali Districts decreased by 95%, from 50,000 in

8165-417: The Vedic Aryans dominated the eastern Gangetic plain during the early Buddhist period. Orthodox Vedic Brahmins were, therefore, a minority in Magadha during this early period. The Magadhan religions are termed the sramana traditions and include Jainism , Buddhism and Ājīvika . Buddhism and Jainism were the religions promoted by the early Magadhan kings, such as Srenika, Bimbisara and Ajatashatru , and

8280-491: The adoption of neologisms. An example is the word "university", formerly ယူနီဗာစတီ [jùnìbàsətì] , from English university , now တက္ကသိုလ် [tɛʔkət̪ò] , a Pali-derived neologism recently created by the Burmese government and derived from the Pali spelling of Taxila ( တက္ကသီလ Takkasīla ), an ancient university town in modern-day Pakistan. Some words in Burmese may have many synonyms, each having certain usages, such as formal, literary, colloquial, and poetic. One example

8395-430: The capital of Kosala , in the north-west to Rājagṛha , the capital of Magadha, in the south-east". According to Bronkhorst "there was indeed a culture of Greater Magadha which remained recognizably distinct from Vedic culture until the time of the grammarian Patañjali (ca. 150 BCE) and beyond". The Buddhologist Alexander Wynne writes that there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to suggest that this rival culture to

8510-525: The close portions of the diphthongs are somewhat mid-centralized ( [ɪ, ʊ] ) in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɰ̃/ and /ʔ/ . Thus နှစ် /n̥iʔ/ ('two') is phonetically [n̥ɪʔ] and ကြောင် /tɕàũ/ ('cat') is phonetically [tɕàʊ̃] . Burmese is a tonal language , which means phonemic contrasts can be made on the basis of the tone of a vowel. In Burmese, these contrasts involve not only pitch , but also phonation , intensity (loudness), duration, and vowel quality. However, some linguists consider Burmese

8625-451: The concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to the permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Magadha kingdom was the nerve centre of this revolution. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira , the last and the 24th Tirthankara , who synthesised and revived

8740-564: The conquest of Vajjika League and Anga , respectively. The kingdom of Magadha eventually came to encompass Bihar , Jharkhand, Orissa , West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh , and the areas that are today the nations of Bangladesh and Nepal . The ancient kingdom of Magadha is heavily mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts . It is also mentioned in the Ramayana , the Mahabharata and

8855-604: The country. These varieties include the Yaw , Palaw, Myeik (Merguese), Tavoyan and Intha dialects . Despite substantial vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there is mutual intelligibility among most Burmese dialects. Below is a summary of lexical similarity between major Burmese dialects: Dialects in Tanintharyi Region , including Palaw, Merguese, and Tavoyan, are especially conservative in comparison to Standard Burmese. The Tavoyan and Intha dialects have preserved

8970-453: The development of its unique cultural identity, which blends various influences from neighboring regions. The remnants of Dhanyawadi's architecture and artifacts offer insights into the early history and society of Arakan. King Min Hti is one of the famous Arakan king known for being the longest reigning monarch in the whole world history , although the exact length of his reign is unknown. It

9085-669: The early post-independence era led to a reactionary switch from English to Burmese as the national medium of education, a process that was accelerated by the Burmese Way to Socialism . In August 1963, the socialist Union Revolutionary Government established the Literary and Translation Commission (the immediate precursor of the Myanmar Language Commission ) to standardize Burmese spelling, diction, composition, and terminology. The latest spelling authority, named

9200-519: The ethnonym Arakanese . After 1991, the Burmese government changed the official English name of the ethnic group to Rakhine , as part of a broader effort to indigenize the country's English ethnonyms and place names. The Rakhine State , also known as Arakan , in Myanmar is the home to the Rakhine people. The history of Rakhine is divided into seven parts - the independent kingdoms of Dhanyawadi , Waithali , Lemro , Mrauk U , Burmese occupation from 1785 to 1826, British rule from 1826 to 1948 and as

9315-642: The first king of the Mauryan Empire with the help of his mentor Chanakya . The Empire later extended over most of India under King Ashoka The Great , who was at first known as 'Ashoka the Cruel' but later became a disciple of Buddhism and became known as ' Dharma Ashoka'. Later, the Mauryan Empire ended, as did the Shunga and Khārabēḷa empires, to be replaced by the Gupta Empire . The capital of

9430-598: The form of nouns . Historically, Pali , the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism , had a profound influence on Burmese vocabulary. Burmese has readily adopted words of Pali origin; this may be due to phonotactic similarities between the two languages, alongside the fact that the script used for Burmese can be used to reproduce Pali spellings with complete accuracy. Pali loanwords are often related to religion, government, arts, and science. Burmese loanwords from Pali primarily take four forms: Burmese has also adapted numerous words from Mon, traditionally spoken by

9545-717: The four main Buddhist ethnic groups of Burma (the others being the Burman , Shan and Mon people ). Rakhine culture is similar to the mainstream Burmese culture but with more Indian influence , likely due to its geographical isolation from the Burmese mainland divided by the Arakan Mountains and its closer proximity to India . Traces of Indian influence remain in many aspects of Arakanese culture, including its literature, music, and cuisine. The traditional Rakhine kyin wrestling also plays an important role in its culture. Rakhine mont di , consisting of rice vermicelli noodles,

9660-524: The individual is wearing traditional Rakhine clothing or speaking the Rakhine language . The Rakhine language is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family and shares a close relationship with the Burmese language . Among the various Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in the country, Rakhine stands out for its strong similarity to Burmese . Some experts contend that the Rakhine language itself might be just

9775-560: The initial Magadha kingdom thus corresponded to the modern-day Patna and Gaya districts of the Indian state of Bihar . The region of Greater Magadha also included neighbouring regions in the eastern Gangetic plains and had a distinct culture and belief. Much of the Second Urbanisation took place here from ( c.  500 BCE ) onwards and it was here that Jainism and Buddhism arose. Some scholars have identified

9890-522: The introduction of English into matriculation examinations , fueled growing demand for Burmese to become the medium of education in British Burma; a short-lived but symbolic parallel system of "national schools" that taught in Burmese, was subsequently launched. The role and prominence of the Burmese language in public life and institutions was championed by Burmese nationalists, intertwined with their demands for greater autonomy and independence from

10005-664: The junta not only boosts their reputation but also inspires other ethnic groups in Myanmar, as the AA continues to assert its influence and military strength in the ongoing struggle for autonomy and justice. Outside of Myanmar, a sizable Rakhine community exists in the southeast districts of Bangladesh, namely in Khagrachari, Rangamati, Bandarban and southern Cox's Bazar, with the Mong circle in Khagrachari having administrative duties. There

10120-481: The king Min Saw Mon reclaimed the Arakanese throne with the help of the Bengal, and ruled the kingdom. But as a vassal of Bengal 1429 to 1430. Rakhine oral traditions and written records also describe several alternative origin myths, including one that traces the Rakhine back to an intermarriage between a highland Mro and a lowland queen, and another that traces the ancestry of Rakhine monarchs back to Mahasammata ,

10235-546: The language of the kingdom of Magadha, and this was taken to also be the language that the Buddha used during his life. In the 19th century, the British Orientalist Robert Caesar Childers argued that the true or geographical name of the Pali language was Magadhi Prakrit , and that because pāḷi means "line, row, series", the early Buddhists extended the meaning of the term to mean "a series of books", so pāḷibhāsā means "language of

10350-401: The late 5th century BCE, and Ajatashatru in the early 4th century BCE. Keay states that there is great uncertainty about the royal succession after Ajatashatru's death, probably because there was a period of "court intrigues and murders," during which "evidently the throne changed hands frequently, perhaps with more than one incumbent claiming to occupy it at the same time" until Mahapadma Nanda

10465-695: The legendary first monarch of the world. After the Kingdom of Mrauk U was annexed by the Konbaung Kingdom in 1784, Rakhine refugees began settling in Cox's Bazar and Patuakhali District . The British colonial officer of the East India Trading Company , Captain Hiram Cox , was given the task of providing land to the refugees in 1799. An estimated 100,000 refugees were settled in Cox's Bazar, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Patuakhali by

10580-515: The literary form, asserting that the spoken vernacular form ought to be used. Some Burmese linguists such as Minn Latt , a Czech academic, proposed moving away from the high form of Burmese altogether. Although the literary form is heavily used in written and official contexts (literary and scholarly works, radio news broadcasts, and novels), the recent trend has been to accommodate the spoken form in informal written contexts. Nowadays, television news broadcasts, comics, and commercial publications use

10695-522: The major ethnic groups in Myanmar. Some Rakhine people can be recognized by their mixed backgrounds, which often show South Asian features or Skin colors , or both. The Rakhine people are known to be not related to Bangladeshi backgrounds. Their names are typically in Rakhine, often resembling Burmese names . The Arakan Army is ethnic armed organisation predominantly composed of Rakhine people who follow Theravada Buddhism . Founded in April 2009,

10810-466: The minority ethnic groups and they live in the hills. The Arakanese are predominantly Theravada Buddhist .  Their language has some similarities with Burmese language and also very similar to Burma in culture and traditional dress. They have developed their own kingdoms, dynasties, scripts, coins, costumes, culture, and dialects, showcasing a rich and distinct heritage. They also have their own ethnic armed group in Myanmar's Rakhine State known as

10925-552: The old things, including the beginning of the new year. And so the Marmaras celebrate the New Year with a joyous ceremony in the hope of blessings and good wishes. The Rakhine People also observe the Buddha Purnima or internationally known as Vesak . It is also known as Buddha Birthday worldwide. This is the anniversary of three important events in Buddha's life—his birth, his attainment of enlightenment , and his death. It

11040-535: The other hand, they might be mixed with Indo-Aryans and Tibeto-Burman. Kanyans of Irrawaddy Valley with later integrated into Arakanese race. Rakhine and Burmese are very closely related languages, which both descend from Old Burmese . 3000 or 2800 years ago, The Chandra dynasty that ruled Dhanyawadi and Waithali was more likely Indo-Aryan in origin. Arakanese legends claim that the Unknown ethnic are founder of Dhanyawadi. Now they are mixed with Rakhine people. By

11155-512: The philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. Buddha founded Buddhism which received royal patronage in the kingdom. According to Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst , the culture of Magadha was in fundamental ways different from the Vedic kingdoms of the Indo-Aryans . According to Bronkhorst,

11270-649: The population in Lower Burma self-identified as Burmese-speaking Bamars; huge swaths of former Mon-speaking territory, from the Irrawaddy Delta to upriver in the north, spanning Bassein (now Pathein) and Rangoon (now Yangon) to Tharrawaddy, Toungoo, Prome (now Pyay), and Henzada (now Hinthada), were now Burmese-speaking. The language shift has been ascribed to a combination of population displacement, intermarriage, and voluntary changes in self-identification among increasingly Mon–Burmese bilingual populations in

11385-712: The prospect of facing another giant Indian army at the Ganges, mutinied at the Hyphasis (the modern Beas River ) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer Coenus , was persuaded that it was better to return and turned south, conquering his way down the Indus to the Ocean. Around 321 BCE, the Nanda Dynasty ended with the defeat of Dhana Nanda at the hands of Chandragupta Maurya who became

11500-563: The region's diverse cultural heritage. The Arakan king Min Razagyi (1593–1612) conquered the areas and styled himself as the highest and most powerful king of Arakan, Chacomas, and Bengal in a 1607 letter to Portuguese mercenary Filipe de Brito e Nicote . In 1546 CE, while the Arakanese king Min Bin was fighting a battle with the Burmese, the Sak king attacked Northern Arakan Roma and occupied

11615-530: The region's strong spiritual heritage. Buddhism is the majority religion and a central part of their identity. Rakhine people those who live in Bangladesh, mainly residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts who are also known as the Marma people follows Buddhism. In India, there may be a small minority following Hinduism or Christianity as well. Sangrai is one of the main traditional ceremonies of

11730-425: The region. Standardized tone marking in written Burmese was not achieved until the 18th century. From the 19th century onward, orthographers created spellers to reform Burmese spelling, because of ambiguities that arose over transcribing sounds that had been merged. British rule saw continued efforts to standardize Burmese spelling through dictionaries and spellers. Britain's gradual annexation of Burma throughout

11845-510: The said pronoun is used only by male speakers while ကျွန်မ , kya.ma. [tɕəma̰] is used by female speakers. Moreover, with regard to kinship terminology , Upper Burmese speakers differentiate the maternal and paternal sides of a family, whereas Lower Burmese speakers do not. The Mon language has also influenced subtle grammatical differences between the varieties of Burmese spoken in Lower and Upper Burma. In Lower Burmese varieties,

11960-764: The spoken form or a combination of the spoken and simpler, less ornate formal forms. The following sample sentence reveals that differences between literary and spoken Burmese mostly occur in affixes: Burmese has politeness levels and honorifics that take the speaker's status and age in relation to the audience into account. The suffix ပါ pa is frequently used after a verb to express politeness. Moreover, Burmese pronouns relay varying degrees of deference or respect. In many instances, polite speech (e.g., addressing teachers, officials, or elders) employs feudal-era third person pronouns or kinship terms in lieu of first- and second-person pronouns. Furthermore, with regard to vocabulary choice, spoken Burmese clearly distinguishes

12075-459: The texts". Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as Māgadhisms . Magadhi Prakrit was one of the three dramatic prakrits to emerge following the decline of Sanskrit. It was spoken in Magadha and neighbouring regions and later evolved into modern eastern Indo-Aryan languages like Magahi , Maithili and Bhojpuri . The history of Magadha region is very vast, it can be divided into many periods as: There

12190-448: The traditional homeland of Burmese speakers. The 1891 Census of India , conducted five years after the annexation of the entire Konbaung Kingdom , found that the former kingdom had an "unusually high male literacy" rate of 62.5% for Upper Burmans aged 25 and above. For all of British Burma , the literacy rate was 49% for men and 5.5% for women (by contrast, British India more broadly had a male literacy rate of 8.44%). The expansion of

12305-425: The underlying orthography . From the 1500s onward, Burmese kingdoms saw substantial gains in the populace's literacy rate , which manifested itself in greater participation of laymen in scribing and composing legal and historical documents, domains that were traditionally the domain of Buddhist monks, and drove the ensuing proliferation of Burmese literature , both in terms of genres and works. During this period,

12420-469: The underlying theory remains scant. Arthur Phayre traces the etymology to the Sanskrit or Pali words for 'monster' or 'demon' ( rākṣasa and rakkhasa ) respectively, which is more likely. Some Rakhine inhabitants now prefer the alternative spelling of ရက္ခိုင်. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Rakhine began calling themselves Mranma (မြန်မာ) and its derivatives, as attested by texts like

12535-541: The unity of the Licchavis. To launch his attack across the Ganges River, Ajatashatru built a fort at the town of Pataliputra . Torn by disagreements, the Licchavis fought with Ajatashatru . It took fifteen years for Ajatashatru to defeat them. Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons: a catapult, and a covered chariot with swinging mace that has been compared to a modern tank. Pataliputra began to grow as

12650-527: The verb ပေး ('to give') is colloquially used as a permissive causative marker, like in other Southeast Asian languages, but unlike in other Tibeto-Burman languages. This usage is hardly used in Upper Burmese varieties, and is considered a sub-standard construct. More distinctive non-standard varieties emerge as one moves farther away from the Irrawaddy River valley toward peripheral areas of

12765-466: The wide circulation of legal texts, royal chronicles , and religious texts. A major reason for the uniformity of the Burmese language was the near-universal presence of Buddhist monasteries (called kyaung ) in Burmese villages. These kyaung served as the foundation of the pre-colonial monastic education system, which fostered uniformity of the language throughout the Upper Irrawaddy valley,

12880-410: The word "television", Burmese publications are mandated to use the term ရုပ်မြင်သံကြား (lit. 'see picture, hear sound') in lieu of တယ်လီဗီးရှင်း , a direct English transliteration. Another example is the word "vehicle", which is officially ယာဉ် [jɪ̃̀] (derived from Pali) but ကား [ká] (from English car ) in spoken Burmese. Some previously common English loanwords have fallen out of use with

12995-469: Was largely nominal and he, like the sultans of Bengal before him, never solved Tripuri raids into Bengal. Moreover, his interference in Lower Burma (1542) against Toungoo provoked Toungoo invasions in (1545–47) that nearly toppled his regime. He survived the invasions and later provided military aid to Ava , hoping to stop Toungoo's advance into Upper Burma. Arakanese legends and some Rakhine people claim that they are Aryans came from Shakya in India. On

13110-658: Was the fifth of the Sino-Tibetan languages to develop a writing system, after Classical Chinese , Pyu , Old Tibetan and Tangut . The majority of Burmese speakers, who live throughout the Irrawaddy River Valley, use a number of largely similar dialects, while a minority speak non-standard dialects found in the peripheral areas of the country. These dialects include: Arakanese in Rakhine State and Marma in Bangladesh are also sometimes considered dialects of Burmese and sometimes as separate languages. Despite vocabulary and pronunciation differences, there

13225-594: Was the largest kingdom of the Arakan (Rakhine) Kingdom, encompassing the Chittagong region of Bangladesh and the Rakhine State of Myanmar . Arakanese chronicle records that more than six million shrines and pagodas flourished in Mrauk-U. A British archaeologist, Emil Forchhammer noted that "in durability, architectural skill, and ornamentation the Mrauk-U temples far surpass those on the banks of Irrawaddy." Illustrative examples of Mrauk U period architecture include

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