Bangladesh has more than 54 different indigenous communities yet if you ask your indigenous friends they would have a similar story to share where they were assumed of being a Chakma each time they met new people. Why is it so? Is it because the other communities are less in number or due to a lack of acknowledgement about their existence? However, the Indigenous Exclusive team is here to get you to know about yet another community that is not the Chakma community. Let's get to know about the Tanchangyas!
The Tanchangya people mainly live in the CHT and they are the 5th largest tribal group of Bangladesh in terms of the population according to the census report of 2001. The Tanchangya language is one of the 11 indigenous languages in CHT and the Indian state of Tripura and Mizoram as well as Rakhine state in Myanmar. It is categorized as an Indo Bryan language despite some scholars having the opinion of it being Tibeto-Burman language. It is often mistaken to be Chakma and Chittagonian because of its similarity.
Moreover, the traditional attire of Tanchangya women is exceptionally unique. And the attire has 5 parts in total namely: -Shaloom (the full sleeve blouse)
-Mada-Khabong (cloth wrapped around the head)
-Pinuen (seven coloured handloom fabric in stripes woven by them )
-Faduri (a cloth used as a belt)
-Khadi (a cloth used as a scarf)
They use minimum amount of white yarn to make the cloth. Tanchangya men wear Dhutis and long sleeve shirts. They weave their clothes. The use of ornaments is also exceptional and all have spare names. Traditional ornaments of the Tanchangya women include earrings (raijju and janga), various types of bracelets (boghore, kochikharu and kiaingshik, armlet tajjur), and necklaces (chandrahar, halchuli and shikichhara).
Traditionally,
Family structure: Patriarchal
Religion: Buddhism
Cultivation system: Jhum cultivation
Main festival: Bishu
The wedding ceremony is called Sanga. Love marriages are termed as dhe-jana sanga and widow marriage is termed as rani melar sanga. The wedding ceremony of Mo goja is very fascinating. Tanchangya culture is very rich and their folk songs like ubageet, barogeet and modern songs are equally popular. Musical instruments which they play are flute, violin, and indigenous dhurukw and khengkhong. They also make instruments like the violin. The prevalence of songwriters and artists among them is also much notable as, Ratikanta Tanchangya.
The Tanchangyas are divided into 12 gojas and 7 clans. Some of the gojas are Mo goja, Karwa goja, Dhanya goja, Melong goja, Lang gonja, Lapuisa goja, Mulima goja, Aungo goja, Rangi goja, Wa goja and Tashi goja. In Tanchangya society, both males and females can perform the responsibilities of a healer(baidya) in different religious occasions involving their beliefs. They actively celebrate and participate in Buddha purnima, Shanghadana, Astaparishkara Dana, Kathinchibor Dana, Prabarana Purnima, Maghi Purnima and mass rallies on Falguni Purnima.
With time, the traditional costumes and language are not in use like before, but the cultural involvement of artists, social workers are playing a significant role in preserving the culture.
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