'Rajpunnah' celebrated in Khagrachhari
Saching Prue Chowdhury, the eighth raja (king) of the Mong community, is showered with flowers during Rajpunnah on Rajbari premises in Khagrachhari district yesterday. Rajpunnah is one of the oldest traditional festivals in the Chittagong Hill Tracts where headmen (mouza chief) and karbaris (village chief) pay annual taxes to their king.Photo: STAR
The traditional "Raj-punnah" of Khagrachhari Mong circle was celebrated with much gaiety and colourful programmes yesterday. Saching Prue Chowdhury, the eighth Raja (king) of the Mong community, inaugurated the royal festival of the indigenous people in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) on Rajbari (the king's house) premises in the morning. The CHT is divided into three circles--Chakma circle, Bomoung circle and Mong circle. Several hundred people from different communities, including Marma, Chakma, Tripura and Bangali gathered there. In his speech, Saching Prue urged the people to maintain communal harmony and cultural diversity. Along with traditional gifts, the circle's 88 headmen (mouza chief) and 450 karbaris (village chief) paid their annual taxes of Tk 500 and Tk 300 respectively to the king. CHT Development Board Chairman Bir Bahadur Ushoi Shing, MP attended the programme as chief guest while CHT Affairs Ministry Secretary Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, Khagrachhari Region Commander Brig Gen Kazi Shamsul Islam, Khagrachhari Hill District Council acting chairman Kujandra Lal Tripura also attended the function.
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