The Mru people, also known as the Mro, Murong, Taung Mro, Mrung, and Mrucha, refer to the tribes who live in the border regions between Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, and India. The Mru are a subgroup of the Chin people, a few of whom live in western Myanmar and are also found in the northern Rakhine State. In Bangladesh, they reside in the Chittagong Hills in southeast Bangladesh, primarily in Bandarban District and Rangamati Hill District. In India, they reside in West Bengal.
The Mru people are divided into five distinct linguistic and cultural sub-groups: the Anok, Tshüngma, Dömrong, Dopteng, and Rümma. Mru are one of the seven recognized ethnic groups of Rakhine State.
Subgroups The Mru of the Chittagong region divide themselves into five culturally and linguistically distinctive groups. These are the Anok, Dömrong, the Dopreng and the Rümma.
Anok means "West". They are located in the northern group south of Bandarban. The northern group of the Tsüngma have joined the Anok, while the southern Anok have largely adopted Khumi practices in the Songu Valley adopting the name "Longhu" (an exonym by the Khumi for the Mru). The Dömrong reside in the lowlands at the home north of the Matamuri. The Dopreng and Rümma (forest people) live in the far south and so on into Arakan.
Origin The Mru claim that their ancestors lived at the source of the Kaladan River, but are unsure about when their people migrated to the region. They have no division of different exogamous clans or groups of clans, nor do they have a chieftain class or a ruling class.
According to the Arakanese chronicles, the first king of Arakan married the daughter of Chief of Mru people and later founded the city of Dhanyawadi.
The origin of the Mru people cannot be fully depicted without including the Khami (Khumi) people. Due to frequent invasions by the Shandu and subsequent British colonisation, the Khumi left their homeland. They migrated to the hilly regions surrounding the headwaters of the Kaladan River, as well as to the Pi Chaung and Mi Chaung streams in the Arakan Hill Tracts, where other Khami (Khumi) communities, along with the Mru, resided.
According to legend, the hilly region was once ruled by Nga Maung Kadon, who built the barriers that form the waterfalls in all the streams and tributaries connected to the Kalapanzin River. He did this to prevent the escape of a crocodile that had kidnapped his wife.
History The Mrus were one of the ancient tribes of Arakan that primarily lived on the surrounding hills of Kaladan and Lemro river valley and jungle. The Arakanese Chronicles mentioned the founding of Arakanese ancient city-states that included the Mro tribe. The legendary King Marayu was raised by the Chief of the Mru tribe and married his daughter, who went on to become the King of Dhanyawadi.
From the 9th century, the declining power of Waithali and the death of King Sulataing Chandra. His queen searched for the worthy heir to the throne, so that anyone whose finger fits the ring of her former king shall become the ruler of Waithali. The three Mru tribesmen on Mee Chaung stream tributary to Kaladan River were taken to the capital, where three men each ruled the kingdom till the last Mro ruler, Pe Phyu, was ousted by an invasion from the east.
The Khumi tribe defeated the Mrus and ousted them from Arakan. They moved to the Chittagong Hill Tracts sometime between the 17th and 18th centuries. Many, however, believe that this happened in the 14th century. Mrus living in the district of Khagrachari are in fact a clan of the Tripura. There is a linguistic affinity between the two groups of people. In the Indian state of Tripura, the counterparts of Mrus are known as Riangs. However, on many occasions, Mrus are contemptuously called Mro-Dang or Myawktong, meaning a lower type of animal being. But Mrus introduce themselves as Mro-cha. The word Mru means man and cha stands for being.
Geography
Mrus mainly live in Bandarban District(10.69%).
They are the second largest ethnic group in Alikadam Upazila (23.77%), Thanchi Upazila (23.57%) and Ruma Upazila (22%). On the sloping banks of the two streams, the Mru grow tobacco in the alluvial deposits after clearing naturally grown kaing grass. They also grow cotton, cane, and bamboo to sell in a weekly bazaar near the waterfall.
Demographics As of 1931, the Saingdin area consists of 90 hamlets and each hamlet contains between two and twenty bamboo houses. The population, according to the 1931 Census is 3,390, of which 1,779 are males. Currently, about 70,000 Mru live on the border of Myanmar with India and Bangladesh. Approximately 12,000 Mros live in Myanmar within the Yoma District and the Arakan Mountains in western Myanmar. These figures are, however, just rough estimates as the last census was conducted in 1931 when the country was under the colonial rule. At that time, the total number of Mru people was estimated around 13,766. Around 200 more villages making up of between 20,000 and 25,000 people are located in the Chittagong Hills of southern Bangladesh. Another 2,000 Mrus inhabit the districts of West Bengal, India. It is estimated that the population will grow to 85,700 by 2020.
By 2024, the Mros are the second largest ethnic group in Bandarban district, mainly living in Lama, Alikadam, Thanchi and Naiksyangchhari upazilas.
Language and script
The Mru people primary speak the Mru language, a Mruic language of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan family. Dialects of Mru include Anok, Downpreng and Sungma.
The language is considered "Severely endangered" by UNESCO.
Traditionally, the Mru have had no written script for their spoken language though some Mru can read and write Burmese or Bangla. The Mru language is written in both Latin and the Mro alphabet, created in the 1980s by Man Ley Mru. An estimated 80% of Mru are literate in the Mro alphabet.
Until the 1980s, the Mro language did not have an alphabet. It was only a language of oral communication. In 1982, a Mro teenager named Kramadi Menle introduced the alphabet of this language.
Religion
Buddhism The majority of the Mru follow Theravada Buddhism, however, many self-reported Mru Buddhists also practice Animism. Several scholars also observe that many of the religious practices and rituals of the Mru often lack explicit Buddhist characteristics.
Krama religion
In 1984, Manlay Mro (also known as Manlay Mru/Murong) established the "krama" faith. Krama is currently the first most followed religion among the Mru. The central text of the faith, known as the Reyung Khiti ("Good Ethics"), builds on the teachings of the Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist faiths. At age twelve, Krama boys and girls participate in a coming-of-age ceremony.
Christianity Despite the efforts of European missionaries to convert the Mru people, only a small fraction of the Mru have converted, the rest remaining Buddhists. Christianization efforts have been hindered by ongoing political turmoil within the region. In recent years, a large fraction of the Mro are now Christians.
Islam A small community of Mru people in Bangladesh have adopted Islam as their faith.
Cosmology The Mru people hold a number of traditional beliefs regarding cosmology.
Among the Mru, the sun is associated with femininity and the moon is associated with masculinity. Mru folklore holds that the earth is carried upon the shoulders of a Nāga; earthquakes are brought about by the Naga's tremors, testing whether humans remain on the earth. Other traditional beliefs hold that rainbows are bridges by which Nats descend upon the earth and eclipses are caused by the divine imprisonment of the sun and moon.
Taungya The Mru, like other ethnic groups from the hilly regions of Southeast Asia, practice taungya cultivation. They cultivate on the hillsides after cutting down the trees, which usually takes a month. This process usually occurs in January or February. Around March, they burn the trees that are taken down for taungya paddy cultivation, and they start sowing in April. When they sow the seeds separately in pits, they use spades, which are made with a long handle from an old taungya-cutting-dah (knife) that is no longer usable.
Traditional rites and rituals
Birth After the birth of a child, four short bamboos are placed on the bank of the stream. A chicken is then killed in honor of the nats, and its blood is poured over the bamboos that are put close together. A prayer is then made for the well-being of the child. The chicken is then dumped.
New Taungya Cutting Before the start of a new taungya cultivation, the villagers collectively buy two goats, and two fowls are gathered from each household. One of the goats is put in front of the hut closest to the stream, and the other near the second hut. The fowls are then placed between the two huts. After the villagers pray for good health and the abundance of crops for the coming taungya cultivation, both the goats and fowls are slaughtered one after another, starting from the goat nearest to the stream. The blood of the animals is then sprayed over the small huts and the flowing water. The villagers then cook the goats, and the fowls are reclaimed by their respective owners. With the meat and khaung, they make an offering to the nat before they begin the feast. Meanwhile, the village is shut down for three days, and the villagers fix up bamboo arches over the village path. If anyone enters the village during this time period, compensation has to be paid to cover all the expenses incurred. This ceremony is celebrated once a year and after the ceremony, they can start their taungya cultivation for the year.
Beginning of Taungya Harvest After the taungya fruits and vegetables are ready for the harvest, household members go into their taungyas and collect several different vegetables and fruits with a few plants of paddy. The vegetables and fruits are then put into a big basket and paddy into khaung pot. A fowl is then killed and its blood sprinkled over the khaung pot and the vegetable basket. Another fowl is cooked using rice flour mixed with salt and ginger. Then the rice is mixed with the khaung and together with the fowl, they made an offering in various different baskets to the nats who live in the staircase of the house. Neighbors are then invited to enjoy the rest of the meat. This natpwe is held on the same day by different households in a village. Villagers can harvest their produce after the ceremony.
End of Taungya Harvest After all the crops have been harvested, every household kills a pig or two and cooks some pieces of pork in a bamboo tube. The household members then take the meat along with rice and khaung to their taungya. Once they arrived at their taungya, offerings are made to various nats roaming near the streams close to the taungya. They then pray to the nats for their physical well-being. After they returned home, they threw a feast with the rest of the pork and khaung. This pwe is also celebrated on the same day by all the villagers.
Funeral Upon the death of a Mru individual, their body is put in a coffin made of split colored bamboo and, in some cases, rugs and blankets. The body is then cremated, and the remaining unburnt pieces of bones are collected; after being stored in the village for 2–3 months, they are stored in a small hut constructed above the location at which the body was cremated.
In the case of death by contagious disease (especially small-pox and cholera) the deceased individual is buried immediately and no hut is constructed.
Marriage law