Burma Terminology, Definitions Required.

Good afternoon all,

I am currently researching for a book I am part way through writing about the 99th (R.B.Y.) Field Regiment R.A.

I am up to the first Arakan Campaign and am struggling to find definitions for two words which pop up rather frequently, and I though some of you might be able to assist me as Google has thus far failed me.

The first is "CHAUNG"
I think it must be some sort of lowland/valley judging by the nature of the terrain on the maps associated. This is only a guess, however.

The second is "MUGH". It refers to an an anti-British group of native Burmese. Again, if I was guessing, I would associate them with the remnants of the defeated Mughal Empire, though I am not sure. British journals from the 1800's say there were around 60,000 'Mughs' in Burma. The Regiment I am researching spent some of their time shelling Mugh villages rather than the Japanese positions as they were also a 'hostile enemy'.

No doubt more of these anomalies will crop up, but for now any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Adam.

 

Chaung is usually interpreted as a small river/stream/creek, often implying steep banks.

Mugh isn't a term I've come across but it could simply be a 'tribal' name cf. Kachin and Karen.

 

Idler has it perfectly, a Chang, pronounced Chung is a small river or stream.

 

Super, thank you. That makes sense regarding the chaung. I didn't realise they were as small as that, I was thinking larger.

Yes, I'm sure Mughs were a tribe, I'd just really like to know which as they seem to disappear from the records without a trace after the war.

Thank you all.

 

Thanks for the pronunciation, I've been saying "chorng!"

 

That’s pretty close Adam, sounds the same really.

 

The Mughal Empire did not extend into Burma

 

One of the key features of a Chaung is that the stream in the steep sided valley can be a mere trickle or completely dried up for nine months of the year. During the monsoon it can contain an impassible raging torrent.. The Grand Canyon in the U.S. would be an extreme example of a Chaung, everyone seems not to notice that it got that wide and that deep due to the flow of water.

 

The Maughs or Mughs were/are a "tribe" of the Arakan and are Buddhist. They were, before and during WW2, oppressors of the Muslims, who today we know as the Rohingya. The Maughs were generally regarded as pro-Japanese.

The above from "The Raiders of the Arakan" by C.E. Lucas Phillips. The book is about Major Denis Holmes who fought with "V" Force in the Arakan.

Steve

 

From a House of Commons debate on Burma 12 Dec 1944
The Governor himself has quoted a figure of 4,000 as being definitely hostile and actively supporting the enemy, but out of a population of 16,000,000 that is not a very large number. The fact that we were able to extricate ourselves hardly bears out that the people were hostile. I would like to quote what the Governor said on this question: I am not going to pretend that no Burmese fell to the blandishments of the Japs, even to the extent of taking up arms against us. Some did, but they represented a minute proportion of the Burmese people

However there are accounts of Indian Army sepoys deserting during the Japanese invasion and heading Northwards and establishing themselves as bands of brigands

 

That makes sense, as one of the memoirs I've been referencing mentions that they hid guns (3.7" Howitzers) in a chaung. This would have been before the Monsoon season too as that was a contributing factor to the Japs not pressing on after Arakan.

 

Interesting, would you be able to give me the source for this please?

 

Thanks for the extract, I shall look for that book.

Have we any idea what name they go by today as cannot find a modern reference?

 

I didn't think so either, my line of thinking was perhaps a migration of people's from India into the Arakan after the Mughal defeat by the British.

 

Found it! The Maugh are the same as the "Magh/Mog" people of today. Funny that Google didn't offer me a 'did you mean' when I was looking for 'Maugh Burma'.

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

A very historically complicated area in the late 18th/19th Centuries but I think you are on the right track.
When the Burmese invaded/annexed the Arakan (Arracan) large parties of Mughs fled from the Arracan to Chittagong.
Ref: Page 103 The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany
When the British later took over the Arakan as part of Burma Province large numbers from Chittagong moved to the Arakan, whether this included Mughs I cannot discover.
Another reference to the Mughs extracted from WW2 Stories - The Banzai Hunters by Peter Haining

Tim

 

I am coming to the conclusion that the Mughs come from Maghs/Mogs, who as in the above quote were Buddhist and oppressed the Muslim Rohingya. They are now known as Rakhine and were pro-Japanese in WW2, fighting as the Arakan Defence Force against the Allies until changing sides in 1945.

Tim

 

Yes that seems to match the information I found too. Mind you, I'd have changed sides in 1945 too if I was them!

 

are these one of the same different spelling
Magh people - Wikipedia

 

Yes they are, I suppose that's the trouble when translating from a foreign script into our Latin alphabet. There seem to be many similar spellings for a lot of words I've come across and that's half the trouble!