Indians in Burmese History

Indians have a long and active history in Burma. Indians have actively engaged in Burma for over 2,000 years in all spheres of life i.e. politics, religion, culture, arts and cuisine and the effect can be seen today.
India and China are the world’s biggest ancient cradle of civilizations. High, snow peaked, rough and steep Himalaya mountain ranges block the direct interaction or travelling between the two of them except for the virtual highway through Myanmar/Burma. So there were a lot of travelers, migrants, victims of disasters and famine, war refugees and etc moving along this Burma Highway and some of them settled in Burma.

In the official Thailand History books, they even claim that all of the Tibeto-Burman groups including Tibet came down from Yunnan stressing that Tibet had made an almost U turn and climbed beck onto the Tibet Highlands.
There was the Burma Road which linked Burma and China. Its terminals are Kunming in China and Lashio in Burma. The road is about 1,130 kilometres (700 miles) long and runs through rough mountain country. General Merrill and General Stilwell built during the colonial times under British. When the Japanese overran sections of the Burma Road the Allies built the Ledo Road, also later known as the Stilwell Road. Ledo Road was built from Ledo in Assam into the Hukawng Valley as an alternative to the Burma Road. It was completed in January 1945 and was renamed Stilwell Road by Chiang Kai-shek. Now China and India are negotiating with Myanmar to build a modern high way liking their countries through Burma including to lay natural gas pipe line from Rakhine to India, Yunnan, China.
Pyu and India
Pyu settlement
Pyu arrived in future Burma area in the 1st century BC or earlier and established village kingdoms at: Hanlin, Kutkhaing in the north, Thanlwin coastal line in the east, Gulf of Martaban and its coast in the south, Thandwe in the southern west and Yoma in the west.
Pyu had built towns in: Sri Ksetra (Pyeh) 4-8 AD, Maingmaw, Beikthano. (Actually VISHNU from Hindi god) (Khmer troops occupied AD 210-225), Taung Dwin Gyi AD 1-4, Hanlin (Wet Let) AD 2-9, (Halingyi), Tagaung (Thabeikkyin), Waddi (Nga Htwoe Gyi), Maingmaw (Pinlay)(Myittha), Beinnaka (Pyaw Bwe), and Bilin township (Mon state)
Pyu chronicles speak of a dynastic change in AD 94. Sri Ksetra village was apparently abandoned around AD 656 it was sacked by the Nan Cho Chinese Shan in the mid-9th century, ending the Pyu's period of dominance.
Pyu language started in AD 5 in Southern Rakhine. At famous Mya Zedi Pagoda stone inscriptions were written in Pyu, Mon, Bama, and Pali in AD 1113. Pyu had written records, dated from 1st century AD and Mon from 5th century AD and Bama had its own written records only in 11th century AD.
Pyu Kings are Maharajas
In Chinese Chronicles they recorded Pyu as ‘P’aio’. But Pyu Called themselves Tircul. There are records of Nan Cho and Tibet alliance in 755 AD to defeat Chinese. Nan Cho king Ko-lo-fen communicate with Pyu. Pyu Kings were called Maharajas and Chief ministers were called Mahasinas.
Nan Cho conscripted Pyu soldiers to attack of Hanoi in AD 863. In AD 832 Nan Cho looted Han Lin village from Pyu.
Pyu kings named Vishnu as in Gupta, India
Inscriptions in Pyu language using a South Indian script, showed a Vikrama dynasty ruling there at least from AD 673 to 718.
The Tagaung dynasty is explicitly incorporated into the story of Duttabaung’s mother and father; the lineage of the Queen of Beikthano is less consistent, but always intertwined with that of the Sri Kestra village rulers. In all of these, links are made between territorial control, royal patronage of Hindu or Buddhist sects and supernatural events.
Thamala and Wimala
Two princes named Thamala and Wimala (Myanmar version of Indian names-Thalma and Vimala.) established the town Bago in 573 AD. Tabinshwehti (Taungoo Dynasty) conquered it in 1539 AD.
Andhra Dynasty
Hindu colonists, of Andhra Dynasty, from middle India (180 BC) established Hanthawaddy (Mon town) and Syriam (Ta Nyin or Than Lyin) in Burma.
Kan Raja Gyi ruled Arakan
Elder brother Kan Raja Gyi (elder King Kan) went down the Ayeyarwaddy River, ascended the Thallawadi River, arrived Kelataungnyo and ruled there as Rajagaha. He ruled the ancient Arakan.
Kan Raja Gyi's son Muducitta

His son Muducitta became king of the Pyus (ancestors of modern Myanmar). He founded the city of Kyauppadaung. He conquered the Dhannavati (built by king Marayu).
Bhinnaka Raja
The invading Chinese from the north destroyed Tagaung. The last king of Tagaung, Bhinnaka Raja run away and died later. His followers split in to three divisions.
One division founded the nineteen Shan States at the eastern part.
Muducitta, grand son of Abi Raja
Another division moved down Ayeyarwady River and combined with Muducitta (second generation migrant, grand son of Indian Abi Raja) and other Sakiyan (Indian) princes, among the Pyus, Kanyans and Theks.
Naga Hsein, a Sakiyan Indian
The third group stayed in Mali with the chief queen Naga Hsein, a Sakiyan.(Indian) She was the queen of the Sakyiyan king Dhaja Raja migrated from India. On the way he founded Thintwe’. Then they founded the upper Bagan(Pagan).
Dahnnavata captured Thambula, queen of Pyus. But Nanhkan (China) queen of Pyus had driven out the Kanyans, who lived in seven hill-tracks beginning Thantwe’.
King Dwattabaung from Indian Royal Family
King Dwattabaung, direct descendent of Abi Raja (Indian Migrant) founded Thare Khit Taya in 443 BC. It was said to be self-destroyed in 94 AD. The history is half -mystical at that time.
Talaings
Mons or Talaings, an Ethnic Minority Group of Myanmar, migrated from the Talingana State, Madras coast of Southern India. They mixed with the new migrants of Mongol from China and driven out the above Andhra and Orissa colonists.
Those Mon (Talaings) brought with them the culture, arts, literature, religion and all the skills of civilisation of present Myanmar. They founded the Thaton and Bago (Pegu) Kingdoms. King Anawrahta of Bagan (Pagan) conquered that Mon Kingdom of King Manuha, named Suvannabumi (The Land of Golden Hues).
The conquest of Thaton in 1057 was a decisive event in Burmese history. It brought the Burman into direct contact with the Indian civilizing influences in the south and opened the way for intercourse with Buddhist centres overseas, especially Ceylon.
The evidence of the inscriptions, Luce warns us, shows that the Buddhism of Pagan ‘was mixed up with Hindu Brahmanic cults, Vaisnavism in particular.
India and Arakan
The Arakanese chronicles claim that the Kingdom was founded in the year 2666 BC.
Wesali founded by Hindu Chandras
"The area known as North Arakan had been for many years before the 8th century the seat of Hindu dynasties. In 788 AD a new dynasty, known as the Chandras, founded the city of Wesali. This city became a noted trade port to which as many as a thousand ships came annually; the Chandra kings were upholders of Buddhism, ... their territory extended as far north as Chittagong;---- Wesali was an easterly Hindu kingdom of Bengal --- Both government and people were Indian. So far as Arakan is concerned, the inscriptions show traces of two early dynasties holding sway in the north. The earlier one, a Candra dynasty, seems to have been founded in the middle of the fourth century A.D. Its capital was known by the Indian name of Vaisali and it maintained close connections THE PRE-PAGAN PERIOD 9
with India. Thirteen kings of this dynasty are said to have reigned for a total period of 230 years. The second dynasty was founded in the eighth century by a ruler referred to as Sri Dharmavijaya, who was of pure Ksatriya descent. His grandson married a daughter of the Pyu king of Sri Ksetra.
Hindu statues and inscriptions in Wesali
The ruins of old capital of Arakan - Wesali show Hindu statues and inscriptions of the 8th century AD. Although the Chandras usually held Buddhistic doctrines, there is reason to believe that Brahmanism and Buddhism flourished side by side in the capital.
Chittagong is from Tsit-ta-gung
The Arab chief was the Thuratan, in the Arakanese utterance whom the king of Arakan Tsula-Taing Tsandra (951-957 AD.), claimed to have defeated in his invasion of Chittagong in 953 AD. In memory of his victory the Arakanese king set up a stone trophy, in the conquered land. And inscribed on it the Burmese word, "Tsit-ta-gung" meaning "there shall be no war". And from this remark of the monument, according to Burmese tradition, the district took its name, Chittagong.
Chittagong under Arakanese rule
Nearly a century, from about 1580 till 1666 AD Chittagong was under almost uninterrupted Arakanese rule. Arakanese captured and sent numbers of the inhabitants of Bengal into Arakan as agricultural and slave labours.
Arakanese known in Bengal as Maghs
The Buddhists Arakanese, known as Magh or Rakhine are descended from Aryans of Maghada, India Mongolians mixed with the Tibeto-Burmans.
They carried a large number of men, women and children from the coastal districts of Bengal, as captives and the Maghs (Arakanese) employed them as agricultural labour. It is well known that the Kingdom of Arakan was a sparsely populated area, which required huge amount of human labour for agriculture. With this intention the Arakanese employed a large number of captives in the villages of land on the bank of the Kuladan river to the Naf. This Kula population of the country form about 15 percent of the whole population. A.P.Phayre mentions, "the Kolas or Mossalmans, are of an entirely different race. They being of Bengalee descent.
Burmese settlement in Arakan
“The Burmese do not seem to have settled in Arakan until possibly as late as the tenth century AD. Hence earlier dynasties are thought to have been Indian, ruling over a population similar to that of Bengal. All the capitals known to history have been in the north near modern Akyab”.
Arrival of Arab Muslims

The Arab Muslims first came into contact with Arakan through trade and commerce during the 8th century AD and since then Islam started spreading in the region. In those days the Arabs were very much active in sea-trade, they even monopolized trade and commerce in the East.
Dr. Mohammad Enamul Haque introduces another Arakanese chronicle, which informs us of an Arab settlement, in the tenth century AD extending from the mouth of the Meghna to the North of the Naf riverin the East.
With the passing of time, the number of Muslims in Arakan began to increase. Gradually these Muslims have established very good and cordial relations with the local people and intermixed by marrying local women.
"They differ but little from the Arakanese except in their religion and in the social customs which their religion directs; in writing they use Burmese, but amongst themselves employ colloquially the language of their ancestors".
Even, a Russian merchant, Athanasius Nitikin, who travelled in the East (1470) mentions regarding activities of some Muslim sufis of Pegu (Bago). The Merchant pictured Pegu as "no inconsiderable port, inhabited by Indian dervishes.
Ships wrecked at Ramree Island
In the history of the Arakanese kings, it is recorded that during the reign, of Arakanese king Mahat-y-ing Chandayat (780-810 AD) several Kula or foreign ships were wrecked upon the island of Ramree, and the people who boarded on them were said to be Muslims. The Arakanese king ordered them to be settled in the villages of Arakan.
Narameikhla alias Solaiman Shah
However, Islam made its first major political and cultural impact during the early 15th century through Narameikhla, king of Arakan. He lost the war,run to India Mogul Empire for help. With the help of Muslim soldiers he was restored as a king and Narameikhla, took the title Solaiman Shah. and established a new dynasty, known as Maruk-u-dynasty, with its capital at Mrohaung.
Arakan coins with Islamic features
With effect from the year 1430 the kingdom of Arakan became tributary to Bengal and the kings assume a Muslim name and struck coins with Kalima (The declarition of Islamic faith of the single God, Allah and believef of His messenger Mohammad)
"It is common for the kings, though Buddhist, to use Mohamedan designations in addition to their own names, and even to issue medallions bearing the Kalima, the Mohammedan confession of faith, in Persian script".
This practice was prevalent among the Arakanese kings till the first half of the seventeenth century. This was because they not only wished to be thought of as sultans in their own rights, but also because there were Muslims in ever larger numbers among their subjects. A.P.Phayre observes that the practice of assuming Muslim name and inscribing Kalima in their coins was probably first introduced in fulfilment of the promise made by Mung-Somwun but was continued in later time as a token of sovereignty in Chittagong.
He also mentions that "these they assumed as being successors of Mussalman kings, or as being anxious to imitate the prevailing fashion of India.
Muslim influence in Arakan since 1430
So the Muslim influence in Arakan may be said to date from 1430, the year of Narameikhla's restoration.During his reign an unexpected development took place, which paved the way for a period of Muslim domination in the land of Arakan.
From this time onwards the relation of Muslims with the Arakanese became more intimate and for about two centuries Arakan was united in a bond of friendship with Islamic lands. As a result of the impact of the civilization of the Muslims, Arakanese culture also progressed and thus began the 'Golden Age' in the history of Arakan.
Muslims Massacred in Arakan
The next and last event was the flight of Shah Shuja, the brother of Aurangzeb, to Arakan in 1660, which brought a new wave of Muslim immigrants to the kingdom of Arakan and also caused political changes. Later on the prince and some of his soldiers
were murdered on Feb., 1661.
Kaman or Kamanci
But “who escaped the massacre were later admitted into the king's bodyguard as a special archers unit called Kamans or Kamanci”.
From 1666 to 1710 the political rule of Arakan was completely in their hands, during which the Muslim Kaman units played a decisive role of king makers and king breakers. Their numbers were increased from time to time by fresh arrivals from upper
India.
Buddhist Arakan Kings with Islamic names
All the kings of Arakan were said to be Buddhist. However to rule the 12 towns in the Bangal smoothly seven kings decided to have Arakanese and Mogul Islamic names. The interference of Ava and Pegu in the affairs of Arakan had important consequences for that country. The Ava king placed his son-in-law on the throne of Arakan. The Mons in return invaded the country, killed the Burmese nominee and replaced him with a ruler chosen by Razadarit. In 1430, however, with the assistance of Bengal, the exiled king, Narameikhla,returned and was reinstated as the vassal of the Mohammedan king of Gaur. He founded Mrohaung as his capital, and his, Mohammedan followers built a mosque there. From this time onwards the Arakanese kings, although Buddhists, used Mohammedan titles in addition to their own names, They even issued medallions bearing the Kalima, the Mohammedan confession of faith. The connection between Arakan and India became even more pronounced when in 1459 an Arakanese king occupied Chittagong.
The Islamic-names of Arakan Kings
No- - -Name- - - - - - - - - - - year
1 Min-kha-ri (Ali Khan)- - - 1433
2 Ba-saw-phru (Kalama Shah)- -1459
3 Dolay (Mokhu Shah)- - 1482
4 Ba-saw-min-nyo (Maha Moshah)- -1492
5 Min-raza-kri (Ili Shah)- - - 1501
6 Saw-min-o (Jal Shah)- - - 1515
7 Thazata (Itsli Shah)- --1515
Summarized History of Arakan
Independent Kingdom --- 266 BC- 1782 AD
Burmese ruled ----------1783 - 1815 AD
British ruled ----------1815 - 1942 AD
Japanese ruled ----------1942 - 1945 AD
British ruled ----------1945 - 1947 AD
Burmese rule -----------1948 till present.

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