Rakhines

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Rakhines

PRONUNCIATION: rah-KINES
LOCATION: Western Myanmar (Burma)
POPULATION: Estimated 3.5 million
LANGUAGE : Rakhine dialect of Burmese
RELIGION: Buddhism

INTRODUCTION

Living in Western Myanmar (which was known as Burma until 1989), the Rakhines are descended from the Pyu people of ancient Burma and peoples of India. Their coastal land gave rise to the powerful empire of Arakan around the 4th century. They built the fortified capitol of Mrauk-U, which had streams and canals for streets and artificial lakes. A great variety of goods, including precious stones and metals, incense, indigo, and forest products, were bought and sold there. Seafarers and traders from much of Asia frequented Mrauk-U, while Portuguese pirates raided the coast. The kings of Arakan repelled many invaders until a ruthless Burmese ruler, King Bodawpaya, took advantage of internal disorder in Arakan and conquered it in 1784. Bodawpaya took the Rakhine king captive and had many of his subjects massacred. The Rakhines' most cherished treasure, a 12.5 foot bronze Buddha statue called the Mahamuni, was carried off to the Burmese city of Mandalay, where it remains today. The Rakhine capitol, Mrauk-U became an abandoned ruin, eventually replaced by a new city, Akyab, founded by British colonizers.

Resentment of British colonization was strong among the Rakhines, and an articulate Buddhist monk from Akyab named U Ottama organized a pro-independence movement in the first three decades of the 20th century. During the 1930s and 1940s, ethnic tensions grew between the Buddhist Rakhines and the Rohingya Muslims of Arakan. World War II brought fierce fighting to the area and increased inter-ethnic conflict.

Violence continued when Burma became independent following the war. Rakhine and Rohingya insurgent groups were formed to fight the central government. The Rakhine rebels mostly aligned themselves with Burma's Communist underground and hoped for an independent, or at least autonomous, Arakan State. Their ranks increased with the military take-over of Burma in 1962, then waned in later years, dividing into many factions. Some Rakhine rebel groups signed ceasefire agreements with the government in the 1990s. Th ose that are still active are small in numbers and have few weapons. A Rakhine rebel group, the Arakan Army, attempted to buy arms in 1998 on an island belonging to India, but its leader was killed and 34 of its members have remained in India's prisons ever since.

Numerous Rakhine political dissidents are now in prison in Myanmar or in exile for espousing the cause of democracy for Myanmar and their home state. During the September 2007 "Saffron Revolution," thousands of Buddhist monks and other people participated in mass nonviolent street marches in Akyab and other Rakhine communities. Rakhine students were arrested in 2008 for opposing the regime's constitutional referendum, which was designed to legitimize the role of the military in government.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

The Rakhine population of Myanmar has been estimated at around 3.5 million, but there are no reliable recent census figures. A few thousand more Rakhines live in border villages and cities in Bangladesh and in India. There are many Rakhines in Myanmar's largest city, Rangoon, as well. Because their language and religion are very similar to those of Myanmar's ethnic majority, the Burmese (Burmans), Rakhines have sometimes been considered just a Burmese sub-group. Th erefore many Rakhines fear complete assimilation into the ethnic majority. Their pride in the rich history of their people leads them to resent such a cultural absorption. They feel that the Burmese (Burmans) took Arakan by force, and have continually mistreated the Rakhines, so that becoming indistinguishable from the conquering nation would be the ultimate defeat.

Arakan is a long, narrow state, following Myanmar's Western coastline on the Indian Ocean's Bay of Bengal. It shares a northern border with Bangladesh, and Tripura State of northeast India is not far away. The mountain range called the Arakan Yoma runs through the state and separates it from the rest of Myanmar. The coastline is rugged, and rivers including the Kaladan and Lemro flow down from the mountains. Many islands, large and small, lie offshore. Most Rakhines live in villages, on the mainland, or on the islands. Akyab, also known as Sittwe, is the main city, and there is a beach resort town called Sandoway. Some tourists visit the beaches and the ancient ruined city of Mrauk-U.

In 2003 immense natural gas reserves were discovered in deep water off the coast of Arakan, and India competed with China for drilling and export rights, which would be granted by Myanmar's military government. The Shwe Gas Movement, a group formed by Rakhine exiles, voiced concerns that the revenue from gas sales would benefit Myanmar's regime instead of the people, and that transport of the gas might involve pipelines across Arakan to India, Bangladesh, or China. Port facilities in Arakan were upgraded by China and India to facilitate natural gas extraction and shipment.

LANGUAGE

The Rakhines speak a language that is considered a dialect of Burmese. The Rakhine alphabet has 33 letters, which are the same as the Burmese alphabet. There are some significant differences, mainly in pronunciation, such as the fact that Rakhines pronounce the letter "r," while Burmese do not (they use "y" in its place, calling the Buddhists of Arakan "Yakhines").

The Rakhine greeting is Nay Kaung pha laa ("How are you?"), and "thank you" is Chyee zu thon ree.

FOLKLORE

The pre-Buddhist culture of the Rakhines survives in a widespread belief in Nats, which are spirits of the sky and earth. Locations such as villages, fields, and bodies of water can have resident guardian Nats who may behave beneficially or harmfully. Ancient temples of Arakan are said to still be a place where rites of yattara, magic to ward off misfortune, are performed by spirit-mediums called Nat kadaws.

RELIGION

The Rakhines are an overwhelmingly Buddhist people. Buddhism seems to have appeared in Arakan around the 6th centurybc. The Rakhines were Animists prior to conversion to Buddhism and were also influenced by India's Hindu Brahmanism. Buddhist missionaries from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) are thought to have brought the faith that now pervades Rakhine culture.

The ancient kings of Arakan built huge temple complexes and fortified them against invaders. Rakhines have continued to build Buddhist monasteries and pagodas and to maintain many of the old ones. Each Rakhine community has a Buddhist monastery that shelters a population of monks, including those putting on the robes for a short period of time. Rakhine Buddhism is very close to that of the Burmese, including study of Buddhist scriptures, respect for life, the importance of feeling compassion, and the inevitability of a cycle of reincarnations.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

Rakhines celebrate festive occasions at least once each month, using the lunar calendar. Gatherings are held at temples, with food booths and theatrical entertainments. Some festival features are: boat races on the river (April and September), watering banyan trees (May), a tug-of-war between men's and women's teams (February), a contest of weaving robes for monks (October), parades of elephants and horses (January), and honoring the elders (October).

A festival of lights occurs in October, with people's houses lit by candles or (for those who can afford it) strings of electric lights.

The Rakhine New Year, Thorn Garan, is the highlight of the festival calendar. At the height of the hot season, usually in April, this Buddhist New Year is celebrated for a week with singing, dancing, and feasting. Buddha statues in monasteries are bathed in scented water on the first day. Later, boys and girls meet to splash each other with water. A girl may dress up in her best outfit, only to end up soaked with water thrown by a boy who has been admiring her. Rakhines who live overseas like to gather as a community for the major traditional holidays such as the New Year water festival.

RITES OF PASSAGE

The Rakhines have several taboos for pregnant women: they should not attend weddings or funerals, or even send gifts or donations to them. A pregnant woman is advised not to sit in the doorway, plant trees, or bathe after dark. After giving birth, the mother stays by a fire for seven days in the room where she gave birth. Then a naming ceremony is held. A female elder carries the baby out of the house and shows it the earth, the sun, and the moon. Baby girls then have their ears pierced.

Between age seven and the early teens, all Rakhine boys become monks for at least a few days. An elaborate feast is held, and the boys are dressed like ancient princes and paraded to the monastery. Then their heads are shaved and they put on the unadorned red robes of Buddhist monks.

When Rakhines die, they are cremated or buried. Accident victims or those who died from violence are traditionally buried in separate cemeteries, away from the village. The most elaborate funerals are those of senior monks, whose bodies are kept, embalmed, at their monastery, until an auspicious (according to astrology) day when they are cremated.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Rakhines shake hands when they meet. Guests are welcomed into a house with tea or a cold beverage. People always remove their shoes when entering a home or a Buddhist temple.

Young people meet at festivals, religious occasions, and at school. Friends introduce boys and girls to each other, or a boy who is interested in a girl may visit her at her parent's house. Traditionally, he'll stay outside and try to talk to her; she may ignore him or she may show that she likes him by deciding to converse with him. Few people have telephones, so love notes, passed along by friends, are a typical way for a couple to communicate. Rakhines have a special vocabulary called zaam, which is used only for romance.

LIVING CONDITIONS

The Rakhines suffer from a lack of health care, due to a shortage of trained doctors and nurses and a lack of medical facilities. In Arakan's hot, rainy climate, malaria (spread by mosquitoes) and other tropical diseases are common. Malnutrition is serious in the countryside and even in the cities, where workers struggle to earn enough to buy rice, the staple food. As a worldwide food crisis took hold in 2008 and the price of rice soared in Asia, Rakhines found it harder and harder to feed their families. The May 2008 Cyclone Nargis disaster in Myanmar affected Arakan indirectly with drastic increases in the price of rice, other foods and fuel.

Traditional Rakhine houses are built above the ground on stilts. They are usually made of bamboo, many varieties of which grow in Arakan, or of wood. The houses generally have a shaded verandah in the front and sleeping quarters in the back. Those who can afford it use mosquito nets to keep away the carriers of malaria. Meals may be prepared and eaten in the cool area under the elevated house.

Living standards for the Rakhines tend to be low. Farmers are harassed by the Burmese government forces to turn over major quotas of their rice crop. Whole villages are forced to relocate, sometimes to predominantly Muslim areas that the military wants to surround with Buddhist "settlers." The inland and coastal forests of Arakan are under some threat from logging enterprises, and new shrimp farms set up by the government along the coast cause pollution and the destruction of mangrove forests.

Travel within Arakan is mainly by riverboat. Arakan has no railway, and few road links exist to the rest of Myanmar. To travel to regions outside of Arakan, Rakhines usually go by boat. There are some airplane flights in and out of Akyab and Sandoway, but plane tickets are too expensive for most Rakhines. There are few roads in the state, although the Burmese government has used Rakhines and Rohingyas as forced laborers to build more.

FAMILY LIFE

Families with five or more children are the norm among the Rakhines, who tend to marry in their late teens or early twenties. Parents often arrange marriages, but unarranged "love matches" are very common as well. The groom's family gives a dowry, and the couple's horoscopes must be found compatible. Before the wedding, Buddhist monks recite prayers at the homes of the bride and the groom. A well-off married couple with children is asked to perform the actual wedding ceremony by tying the hands of the bride and groom with a thread. Then the newlyweds bow to their parents. Gifts of money are put in a silver bowl by parents, relatives, and other guests. A feast follows, with the married couple eating food in pairs: two prawns, two eggs, and so on. The couple afterwards lives at the bride's parents' house for a while. If a couple has problems, they may be counseled by village elders. Divorce is permissible, but rare.

Rakhine families sometimes have cats and caged songbirds as pets, and dogs are kept outside to guard the house.

CLOTHING

Rakhines wear an ankle-length sarong called a cheik thamein . For men it is knotted at the waist, and women wrap it tightly and tuck it in at the side. The fabric is heavy cotton or silk, woven in a thick, brocade-like pattern. Men wear shirts or T-shirts, and women wear traditional or modern blouses or T-shirts. Women's clothing is often vividly colored, especially at festival times, and they decorate their hair with orchids and other flowers. For formal occasions, a long jacket of thin material is worn. Girls wear lipstick, nail polish, and thanaka, a sunscreen and face powder made from a fragrant wood. People often carry umbrellas as shelter from the sun as well as from the monsoon rain. They wear flip-flop sandals made of velvet and straw, or plastic or rubber.

FOOD

Rakhine cuisine is closely related to that of the Burmese and has strong Indian influences. The Rakhines eat two or three rice-based meals a day. Soups, vegetable dishes including string beans, squash, and baby eggplant, and curries accompany the rice. Popular curries include chicken, beef, fish, and prawns, but these ingredients are becoming increasingly hard for most people to afford. Unlike the Muslim Rohingya people of Arakan, the Rakhines eat pork in the form of curry, pork chops, meatballs, or sausage. Rakhines use chilies, garlic, ginger, and fish-paste for flavoring. They eat rice dishes by scooping up mouthfuls with the fingertips of the right hand. For a snack or dessert there are tropical fruits such as mangos and sweet cakes made of flour or sticky rice, served with tea. Rakhines who are strict Buddhists avoid alcohol, but others drink toddy palm wine or beer.

EDUCATION

The Rakhines have traditionally been a learned people, valuing intellectual and artistic achievement. Ethnic discrimination and the general decline in educational standards have made it hard for Rakhines to pursue higher learning elsewhere in Myanmar, and schools in Arakan have often been shut down as a measure by the Burmese government to curtail student unrest. During Myanmar's pro-democracy uprising of 1988, Rakhine and Rohingya students took over government of most of Arakan's towns and cities for several months, until their movement was brutally suppressed by the military.

Elementary to high school education is in bad condition as well. Teachers and teaching materials are in short supply. Buddhist monasteries provide some education, mainly for boys. Some Rakhine student refugees from the 1988 uprising founded and staffed schools for refugee children and poor villagers in India and Bangladesh. Others, including young Buddhist monks, continued their studies at universities and colleges in India, and have documented the human rights situation and history of Arakan.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The ancient palaces and temples of the Rakhine kings at Mrauk-U and elsewhere were built with elaborate stonework, much of which remains. Stone terraces and bell-shaped pagodas overlook the landscape, along with remains of old fortification walls. These had been surrounded by dwellings made of bamboo or more costly materials, such as fragrant sandal-wood. Large Buddha images and carved-stone reliefs abound in these archeological sites, and frescoes depicting Buddhist stories and daily life in past centuries can still be seen.

Rakhine dance, poetry (the lyrical E-gyin style), and music are derived from performances at the ancient royal courts. The Rakhines have a variety of songs composed for specific occasions, from courtship to weddings to lullabies. Rakhine orchestral music is similar to Burmese classical music and emphasizes percussion instruments including xylophones, drums, and cymbals. A particularly Rakhine instrument is the hne, a shawm (metal horn) with a double reed. Such orchestras play for dramas, comedies, marionette theater, and classical dance. Rakhine dance, influenced by India, includes large ensemble pieces such as the "spider" dance with as many as 40 dancers, and the Don Yin dance with as many as 100. There is also a dramatic Rakhine dragon dance.

WORK

Most Rakhines make their living as farmers, fishermen, or as shopkeepers and traders in towns. Women often travel by riverboat to bring goods to and from central Myanmar for sale. A highly educated Rakhine elite, including doctors, teachers, and other professionals, lives largely outside of Arakan. Th ose who have attempted political action within Arakan have been in considerable danger. U Tha Tun, a noted Rakhine historian, died in 1991 in prison in Akyab, where he had been sent while a pro-democracy political candidate. A Rakhine dissident helped to found "Green November," Myanmar's first environmental action group. Rakhine exiles operate the Narinjara News online information service, and several overseas Rakhines have blogs about political, cultural, entertainment, and personal topics.

SPORTS

The Rakhines enjoy playing and watching soccer, volleyball, and chinlone , a fast kickball game played with a woven rattan ball. Young men sometimes stage a contest to see which team can climb highest up a pole or tree by standing on each other's shoulders. A traditional form of wrestling, kyun ("quick like a tiger") can be seen at festivals. Karate, judo, and other martial arts are popular with young people in the towns and cities.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

Rakhine young people enjoy listening to pop songs from Western countries or Myanmar and singing them with guitar accompaniment. Towns and cities have movie theaters or "video parlors" where foreign or local video discs are played. Students are avid readers, sharing books, which are in short supply, and many play chess. Satellite television has limited availability, so shortwave radios are an important source of information onlocal and foreign news and cultural developments. Internet access is often censored and few people own home computers, but the urban centers have cyber-cafes where computer games are popular.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

The Rakhines are known throughout Myanmar for their woven, brocade-textured fabrics. Basketry and pottery are other Rakhine crafts.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Forced relocation and forced labor at the hands of the Burmese government military have disrupted traditional Rakhine society in the countryside, while suppression of dissent and economic decline have created a climate of fear and frustration in the towns and cities. In addition to these ongoing problems, ethnic friction between Rakhines and Rohingyas continues. While the groups worked together for the democracy cause in 1988 and afterwards, the Burmese military has played one off against the other, through actions such as moving Rakhines onto confiscated Rohingya land. Animosities from the period around World War II, and farther back into ancient history, have been allowed to resurface. Many, if not all Rakhines will insist that the Rohingyas are an alien people with no real right to live in Arakan. In this matter alone, they agree with the Burmese central government. The Rakhines have their own insecurity, which hinges on the fear of assimilation by the much larger Burmese ethnic group, to which they are so closely related. Many real and perceived wounds will have to be healed before the Rakhines can live in peace and security with all their neighbors.

GENDER ISSUES

In the Buddhism practiced by Rakhines, women are considered an inferior incarnation to men, and Rakhine families are dominated by the father, who makes important decisions. Rakhine women are, however, very active in the life of their communities. Rakhine women are active in business as entrepreneurs and market vendors. They own and run shops and travel great distances to trade in rice and consumer goods, often while their husbands stay at home. Rakhine women are also involved in health care, education, and underground pro-democracy political activities. In exile, Rakhine women participate in political life, more often in leadership roles than women from other ethnic groups of Myanmar. A Rakhine women's rights activist, Mra Raza Linn, won the 2007 Yayori Award for human rights. Although Rakhine society is somewhat conservative, gay and transgender individuals are treated with tolerance. Sometimes transgender people perform as Nat kadaw spirit-mediums.