Chakma Culture, Social System and Religions

                                              Chakmas Culture:

Culturally, the Chakmas are in many ways more south-east Asian than South Asian. The traditional dress for women called “Pinon and Hadi” and for men “Dudi and special shirt made by women”.

Chakma folk literature is quite rich. It has many folklores and fables. A traditional folk song of the Chakmas is “Ubha-geet”. Proverbs and traditional sayings are a unique feature of the Chakma language. These sayings mainly centre on farming, animals and birds, nature, society, religion and the mystery of the human body. These sayings in the Chakma language are called “Dagwa Kadha”. The popular form of dance is characteristic of the Chakma community is Called “Bizu”. The “Bi” means bye and “Zu” welcome. It means that they farewell the old year and welcome the new year. Its denotes that end of the Chakma calendar year. During this period, the Chakmas organise joins as well as individual festival in their own home. The perform singing and dancing competition to bid good-bye to the year just being ended and welcome the new year. The dance is beautifully orchestrated with the rhythm playing of what is known as “Henggarang, Baji, Singya and Duduk” sorts of flutes

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                                           Social System of Chakmas

Chakmas of AP distinguish themselves from surrounding groups as Khamtis, Tangsa and Simpos by their language. Although there are indications that Chakmas used to speak a Tibeto-Burman language, their present language is Indo-European. It is closely related in structure to Assamese from which it differs by a distinct vocabulary. Most Chakmas are bilingual and speak Chakmas, Hindi, English and Assamese. The Chakma language has its own script, although today this is not commonly used. In AP, they are studying both English and Hind i in the school. Chakma literature runs from the oral traditions of the “Genghuli” singers through literary periodicals to modern poetry. Another modern art form in which Chakmas made their mark 

                                              ChakmasReligion:

The vast majority of Chakmas are Buddhists, and they form the largest Buddhist population in AP. The Buddhist population is the second largest groups in the state including Chakma, Khamti, Simpo and Tibetan. Integrated in their Buddhist practice are older religious elements. One of their annual highlights is the “Bizu festival” held in April as observed as “New Year Eva”. The religious festival they observed as Lord Buddha birth anniversary which called “Buddha Purnima, Ashari Purnima, Madu Purnima, Katincivor Dhan”, etc. Some spiritual Buddhist monks are Late Venerable Gyanajyoti, Late Venerable Pandita, Late Venerable Vipassi, Venerable Priyojoti and so on.