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Revision as of 20:55, 16 May 2017 by 166.2.99.128 (talk) (Added link to Bengali in the description.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the Barua surname of Assam Valley, India and the Bengali-speaking Barua, an ethnic minority. For other uses, see Barua (disambiguation). Ethnic group| Languages | |
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Barua (Template:Lang-as; Template:Lang-hi) which is also spelled as Baruah, Barooah, Baruwa, Baroova, Barooa, Baroowa, Borooah, Boruah, Baroa; is a common Assamese surname. The surname Barua is usually associated with someone who is an Assamese or Asamiya, much like Aroras of Punjab. Barua is also associated with the distinct Bengali-speaking Indo-Aryan ethno-religious minority group native to Chittagong Division in Bangladesh who are strictly Buddhist by faith.
In Assam Valley
Originally the title was conferred for most of class of officers in the Ahom kingdom of medieval Assam. The Ahoms appointed officers with various titles, and Barua meant a "Leader of 3000 men".
The Baruas from Assam are Hindus by faith and have been a key contributors to the growth of Assamese community. Being a conferred surname, it is widely found to be used across various groups within Assamese community however, with subtle distinctions relating to a group. For instance,
- Assamese Brahmin Baruas or may even Kalitas are classified as General, as opposed to Ahoms and Sutiyas falling under Tibetan and Tai families and are OBC
- Brahmin Baruas may additionally carry middle names / prefixes such as, Bez, Bujar, Govinda, Ranjan, etc., traditionally not or less likely present among Kalitas, Ahoms and Sutiyas.
Notable Baruas
- Kanaklata Barua: Indian freedom fighter from Assam.
- Birinchi Kumar Barua (1908 – 1964): Scholar, educationist, writer, historian, linguist, folklorist.
- Padmanath Gohain Baruah (1871 – 1946): First president of Assam Rhetorical Congress, novelist, poet, dramatist, analyst, and a thought provoking writer.
- Lakshminath Bezbaroa (1868 – 1938): Assamese author, essayist, playwright, poet, and satirist.
- Hemchandra Barua (1836-1897): Prominent writer, social reformer of Assamese of the 19th century.
- Hem Barua (1915 – 1977): Prominent poet, politician from Assam.
- Hem Barua (Tyagbir) (1893 – 1945): Indian independence activist, social worker, writer from Sonitpur district of Assam.
- Jnanadabhiram Barua (1880 – 1955): Notable writer, dramatist, translator of Assam, and a participant in India's freedom struggle.
- Gunabhiram Barua (1837 – 1894): An enlightened Assamese intellectual, ushered in new ideas about social reform in the early years of colonial rule in Assam.
- Amulya Barua (1922 – 1946): Pioneered modern Assamese poetry.
- Chandradhar Barua (1874 – 1961): Eminent writer, poet, dramatist and lyricist from Assam.
- Kanaklal Barua (1872 – 1940): Prominent writer (mainly in English language), essayist, historian, and politician from Assam.
- Ananda Ram Baruah (1850 – 1889): Sanskrit scholar, sixth Indian Civil Service officer of India, and the first from Assam.
- Ananda Chandra Barua (1907 – 1983): Writer, poet, playwright, translator, journalist, an actor from Assam.
- Binanda Chandra Barua (1901 – 1994): Noted Indian writer, poet of Assamese literature
- Jahnu Barua - Internationally acclaimed film-maker.
- Siva Prasad Barooah: Pioneer tea planter, path-breaker in Assamese journalism, renowned philanthropist, politician and humanist.
- Parvati Prasad Baruva: Famous Assamese music composer, poet, lyricist, dramatist: an icon of Assamese literature.
- Pramathesh Chandra Barua (1903 – 1951): Famous actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era.
- Pratima Barua Pandey (1935 – 2002): Famous folk singer and daughter of Pramathesh Chandra Baruah.
- Dev Kant Baruah: President of the Indian National Congress at the time of Emergency (1975–1977).
- Rudra Baruah (1926 – 1980): Actor, composer, lyricist, singer and musician.
- Bhubanmohan Baruah (1914 – 1998): Novelist, short story writer from Assam. He wrote many novels under the pen-name of Kanchan Baruah.
- Navakanta Barua (1926 – 2002): Prominent Assamese novelist and poet.
- Joi Barua - Singer, musician, and lead vocalist from Assam.
- Radha Govinda Baruah (1900 – 1977): Founder of the The Assam Tribune Group, sports enthusiast, introduced Assam to the culture of sports.
- Swargajyoti Barooah: First few Assamese/Indian Film actresses.
- Debo Prasad Barooah (1930 – 2013:) Eminent intellectual, academician, author, historian and the former Vice-Chancellor (the Chief Executive) of Gauhati University.
- Beauty Sharma Barua (1951 – ): Assamese singer.
- Paresh Baruah: Vice-chairperson and the commander-in-chief of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent).
In Bangladesh
Barua (Template:Lang-bn Boṛua) is the last name of a distinct Bengali-speaking Indo-Aryan ethno-religious minority group native to Chittagong Division in Bangladesh, Rakhine State in Myanmar, where they are known as the Maramagyi, and parts of Tripura in northeast India. The Buddhists of Bangladesh known as the Burua-Buddhist are the ancient peoples of Bangladesh who have lived there for five thousand years according to Arakanese chronology.
Chittagong was once called "Chaityagrama" "town with Buddhist shrines". It was a center of Mahayana Buddhism in the 10th century. Magh was the general term used for Buddhists; Baruas were sometimes termed Rajbansi "of royal descent".
They insist that they came from the Aryavarta or the country of the Aryans which is practically identical to the country later known as Majjhimadesa or Madhyadesa in the Pali texts. Bengali speaking Barua people of Chittagong are all Buddhist by religion, unlike Hindu Barua of Assam who are generally Assamese Brahmins or Ahom people or may belong to any other general caste in India. Barua came from "Baru" "great" and "arya", meaning "noble ones".
A Magh king, Jaychand, ruled the Chittagong region in the 16th century.
Theravada Buddhism and the Baruas
The Baruas used to follow Mahayana Buddhism and followed some of the Hindu customs until the mid 19th century when the Sangha Raja of Arakan, returning from Bodh Gaya, visited Chittagong.
In the mid 19th century, the Baruas came into contact with Theravada Buddhists from Burma and Ceylon and are now thus mainly followers of Theravada Buddhism.
Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha Buddhist religious organisation founded by Kripasharan Mahasthavir in Calcutta on 5 October 1892. Kripasharan Mahasthavir was its first president and Surendralal Mutsuddi its secretary. The journal of the Dharmankur Sabha, Jagajjyoti, edited by Gunalangkar Sthavir and Shraman Punnananda Swami, was first published in 1908. It was subsequently also edited by Benimadhab Barua.
Noted scholar Dr. Benimadhab Barua(1888-1948), was born in 1888 in the village of Mahamuni under Raozan Thana, Chittagong. He was the son of Kaviraj Rajchandra Talukder. Benimadhab assumed the title of ‘Barua’. In 1913 he obtained MA degree in Pali from University of Calcutta. He also studied law at Calcutta City College and Calcutta Law College. He became one of the pioneers of revitalization of Buddhism in the Barua Community. Benimadhab joined Mahāmuni Anglo-Pāli Institution as headmaster in 1912. From 1913-14 he worked as a lecturer in the Pāli department of the University of Calcutta. He went to England on a government scholarship in 1914. He earned an MA in Greek and Modern European Philosophy from the University of London. In 1917 he was awarded a D.Litt. by the University of London. He was the first Asian to do so. After returning to India in 1918, Benimadhab rejoined Calcutta University and was promoted to professorship. He improvised the syllabus of the MA course in Pali, apart from his work in the departments of Ancient Indian History and Culture (1919–48) and Sanskrit (1927–48) in the same university.
Anagarika Dharmapala visited Chittagong in 1917 where he influenced a 9-year-old boy, who later became the well known Pali scholar Prof. Dwijendra Lal Barua.
See also
- Barua Buddhist Monks
- Barua Buddhist Institutes in India and Bangladesh
- Barua festivals
- Re-emergence_of_Buddhism_in_India
References
- "639 Identifier Documentation: aho – ISO 639-3". SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics). SIL International. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
Ahom
- "Population by Religious Communities". Census India – 2001. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
Census Data Finder/C Series/Population by Religious Communities
- "Population by religion community – 2011". Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015.
2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01 MDDS.XLS
- The thousand-petalled lotus: an English Buddhist in India, Sangharakshita (Bhikshu), Heinemann, 1976, p. 265
- https://books.google.com.au/books?id=OzEOKNPsv2EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
- http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/bangladesh-txt.htm
- The Buddhists of Chittagong, Appendix to Chapter 3, Bengal district gazetteers, 1908, p. 65
- Buddhism in Bangladesh
- Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia, Surinder Singh, I. D. Gaur, Pearson Education India, 2008 p. 194
- Magh raiders in Bengal, Jamini Mohan Ghosh Bookland, 1960p. 55
- Dr. B.M. Barua Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume, 1989, Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha, 1989
- Sugat Barua, The Maha Bodhi,1891-1991, Volumes 98-99; Maha-Bodhi Society, p. 307
