Akter Faruk Shahin, Barisal
Rakhines, an ethnic Buddhist sect with independent social and cultural heritage, were driven out of Akyab, about 400 years ago by Mughals, who after conquering new territories failed to subjugate them.
Some Rakhines settled in Teknaf and Bandarban and some sailed in fleets of Sampans -- indigenous rowboats -- to the coasts of Patuakhali. The uninhabited stretch of land with rare scenic beauty attracted them and they began digging wells to find out sweet water. They built their first settlement around the first well that gave them sweet water. Hence the name Kuakata -- the place where the well was dug.
Since then, digging wells inside homesteads became a Rakhine tradition that is practised even today. The unique customs and costumes of Rakhine families and a century-old Buddhist temple at Kuakata bear testimony to the traditional Rakhine religious and cultural heritage that contributed to the social and cultural diversity in the region.
After landing on Kuakata coast, these Arakanese Buddhists established homesteads in Rangakhali, Baliatali, Amtali, Kuakata and Tiakhali in Barguna and Patuakhali.
According to a 1997 census, 472 Rakhine families with 2,642 members lived in 45 villages in the areas. Among them, 29 villages were at Kalapara-Kuakata and three at Galachipa in Patuakahli, and 12 at Taltali-Amtali and one at Sadar in Barguna.
Typically, every Rakhine village has a pagoda style temple housing several images of the Lord Buddha cast out of metal or carved out of stone or wood. At least 50 big and 20 medium-sized images of Buddha were worshiped at these temples. These precious images apart, there were also crockery, bells, lamps and other typical temple items made of valuable metal or stone for use during religious rituals. Kalapara-Kuakata Rakhine settlement was listed by the census as the largest in the region with 29 villages and 1,166 members.
The generally peace-loving, honest and hospitable Rakhines were once a majority in these areas. But a persecution similar to which their ancestors had once suffered at the hands of Mughal rulers of Arakan has visited upon their descendants in recent times. Local musclemen and gangsters have grabbed Rakhine land and property through forged documents and false lawsuits, forcing many Rakhine families out of their ancestral homes and into destitution. In one way or the other, police and local administration have always sided with the usurpers, alleged Rakhine eviction victims.
The other aspect of this repression has been aimed at making the Rakhines culturally bankrupt by targeting their religious sites, destroying or stealing religious icons and desecrating Rakhine graveyards. On April 10, miscreants broke the tombstone on the grave of Rakhine patriarch Wang Master, but local authorities took no action to arrest the criminals. Priceless artifacts including images of Lord Buddha revered and worshipped by the devout Rakhine men and women have been destroyed or stolen. There have also been incidents of Rakhine priests being verbally abused or beaten up by miscreants. Police have been utterly indifferent in dealing with these crimes, which are clear acts of minority repression.
Rakhines are probably passing through the worst time of their lives during the last few years or so. During this time, miscreants stole or looted more than 30 images of Lord Buddha from the three temples of Thakurpara, Kuakata. Eight images were stolen from Laxmipara temple on January 14 this year and another two from the Baliatali-Haripara area within the last six months. One image was stolen from Chhatain Para Mandir in May 2002 and one from the house of Babu Ang Jan Rakhine in June 2002. On August 4, 2002, a three-foot-five-inch image of Buddha weighing nearly 150kg was stolen from another temple.
The same year, two bells weighing 20kg and 15kg were stolen from the central temple of Kalapara municipal area. Another two bells from Keranipara and several stone images from Misripara and Betkata Rakhine Palli Mandir were also stolen. Overall, more than 70 images were stolen from different Rakhine temples of this region in the last 18 months or so. Except for one, none of the other images was recovered, nor was a single criminal case filed, said secretary of the Patuakhali branch of the Rakhine Buddhist Welfare Association Babu Nou Mang Se and Rakhine leader Babu U Su.
Officer-in-charge of Kalapara police station acknowledged the incidents of looting and theft but denied allegations of police inaction, saying police had already recovered four of the stolen images and were doing their best to recover the remaining artifacts and arrest the culprits.
Apart from the irreparable loss of these sacred relics from the past, the extremely poor Rakhine community is in no position to bear the cost of repairing their temples most of which are in a state of dilapidation. Homeless, destitute and deprived of their cultural inheritance, Rakhines now only have a heritage of poverty and suffering to pass on to their posterity.
For the Rakhines, the fight against this repression and injustice has been a losing battle. Evicted from their ancestral homes, systematically dispossessed of nearly all their land and property, and bullied into submission to the tyranny of the oppressor, many Rakhines have already left the country for Myanmar at the height of persecution.
Thus, the once dominant ethnic group has now been reduced to a fragmental minority teetering on the edge of extinction. Today, the few thousand Rakhines of Kuakata and Taltali represent the last vestiges of an ancient culture that once found acceptance, in what was a more hospitable land in the days of yore.
In their struggle for survival as a community, the Rakhines will most likely
lose out to the overwhelming power of vested interest groups. But names like
Amtali, Taltali, Rangakhali, Tiakhali and the famous Kuakata will always be
associated with the smiling Rakhine faces that have greeted travellers here
for a long time. And every time these names are mentioned or every time we explain
to a traveller how Kuakata got its name, would it not prick our conscience that
we were silent spectators of the relentless persecution these Rakhines were
subjected to, that our indifference to the plight of these colourful people
eventually led to their banishment from these breathtakingly beautiful shores
they called their home?