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The Magh ( Mog ) is the term used in history of Bengali and others people of South Asia for the Marma and Arakanese/Rakhine of
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
. 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 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, t ...
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 Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
. 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 Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...
and sold them in the slave markets that were run by the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
, VOC in
Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
. 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 Farvardin ( fa, فروردین, ) is the Iranian Persian name for the first month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran, and corresponds with Aries on the Zodiac. Farvardin has thirty-one days. It is the first month of the ...
on the Iranian calendar, 1022). He describes the group as hailing from a Magh controlled territory near Pegu (capital of the Mon kingdom) and
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
. 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 (Thaik people) region of CHT and the kingdom of
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...
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 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 Districts. ...
. Those Marmas are known as Mog to the people of Bengal as they are the Arakanese descendants. Arakanese people living in Hill
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...
state of India since that ancient time, are also called as Mog or Magh by the local people of Tripura State.


References

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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