Mro people
 |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Majority populations in Burma. In Bangladesh the Mro reside in Bandarban District, Rangamati Hill District of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In Burma they reside in Arakan. In India, they reside in west Bengal. | |
 Burma
|
40,000 |
 Bangladesh
|
20,000-25,000 |
 India
|
20,000 |
| Languages | |
|
Mru (Dialects: Anok, Dowpreng, Sungma) Bengali |
|
| Religion | |
| Animism, Buddhism and Christianity | |
| Mru Mro, Krama |
|
|---|---|
| Type |
alphabet
|
| Languages | Mru |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| ISO 15924 | Mroo, 264 |
|
Unicode alias
|
Mro |
| U+16A40–U+16A6F | |
Also known as, Mru, Murung, Mrung, the Mro refer to the tribes who on the border with Burma (Myanmar), India, and Bangladesh. They are identified as a sub-group of Chin people. The majority of the people live in western Burma and they're spread around southern Chin State and northern Rakhine State. In Bangladesh, they reside in the Chittagong Hills in southeast Bangladesh. In India, they reside in the districts of west Bengal.
Locally, the Mro are known as Taung-Mros and they claim that their ancestors dwelt at the source of the Kaladan River. However, they are unsure about when they migrated to the region. They have no division of different exogamous clans or groups of clans. Neither do they have a chieftain class or a ruling class. No clear tradition of origin. No one seems to ascertain whether they came from northwestern, northeastern or southern Burma. The origin of Mro cannot be fully depicted without including Khami people. Due to frequent invasions by Shandu people, and eventually the British colonization, Ahraing Khami, migrated to the hilly regions, at the sources of the Kaladan, the Pi Chaung and the Mi Chaung streams in the Arakan Hill Tracts, where Mru and Ahraing Khami, another group of Khami, had been living. In fear of Ahraing Khami, Mro and Awa Khami, migrated to the Chittagong Hill Tracts where they have been inhabiting ever since.
The legend of the tribes in the region states that the hilly region once was reined by Nga Maung Kadon, a giantlike man, who built barriers which form the present waterfall in all the streams and the tributaries that are connected to the Kalapanzin River to prevent the escape of a crocodile which kidnapped his wife.
In Burma, The Mro, along with Ahraing Khami and Awa Khami, live in the Buthidaung Chin Hill Area (Saingdin) along with two other tribes, known as, Chaungthas and Daingnets. However, the Mro and Awa Khamis are the oldest tribes living in the region. Together, they form the largest percentage of the population of Saingdin, which is approximately 230 square miles large. The two main streams that flow though Saingdin are Re Chaung in the east and Sit Chaung in the west. Both streams originate from the northern part of the region which forms the boundary between Buthidaung Township and the Arakan Hill Tracts. The two streams meander between the cliffs and ranges for 30 miles before they finally join near a village, called Tharaungchaung. Floods easily occur in the two streams during the monsoon but the water normally subsides after the rains. Moreover, the streams are filled with huge pieces of rock, which makes the transportation difficult in the region. Canoes and bamboos rafts are the only means of transportation to the interior area of the region. On the sloping banks of the two stream, the Mro grow tobacco in the alluvial deposit after clearly naturally grown kaing grass. Other crops include paddy, cotton, cane and bamboos which they would sell it in a bazaar near the waterfall every Friday if there is excess of harvest.
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Wikipedia