The volume reopens the chapter of ‘Bengali Literary Renaissance’ at the court of Mrauk-U (Bengali: Rosanga) during the fifteenth-seventeenth centuries. The problem of the Rohingyas cannot be ubderstood without taking note of the spread of the Bengali language and the polymorphism accommodating Buddhism, Vaishnavism and Sufi-dominated Islam in various parts of South Asia. Yet, going beyond the Buddhist-Muslim dichotomy, the volume takes up dichotomies which both existed (and were party created) in the form of hill versus plains, tribal versus non-tribal, urban versus rural, original bona fide residents versus immigrants, etc.
No earlier work has dealt with the policies followed by U Nu and Ne Win governments towards this particular State within the context of regional politics in South Asia. Another important aspect of this work is its look at how India’s security was threatened (1960-mid 1980s) due to the MNF movement, which, in collaboration with the BCP, used the corridor from South Mizoram via CHT-Rakhine state up to China.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Swapna Bhattacharya
Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti), b. 1952, M.A. Double, completed her Ph.D. (1985) in South Asian History from Sudasien Institute., University of Heidelberg, Germany. She is a Reader (former Head), Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies, University of Calcutta. She teaches Colonial and Post Colonial History and Politics of South & Southeast Asia with special reference to Myanmar, N.E. India and S.E. Bangladesh. She taught in various other Departments/Universities as well. Currently, being on leave, she is working as a Fellow at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, on a project on Myanmar from South Asian Perspective with special reference to the Rakhine State (Arakan). She was invited in several International Conferences including Conferences at Universities Historical Research Centre, Yangon University. In addition to numerous articles published in various national and international journals and books/volumes, her books include: Landschenkungen and Staatliche Entwicklung im fruhmittelalterlichen Bengalen (5. bis 13 Jh. N. Ch.) and Parbatya Chattagramer Kaumasamaj Ekti Arthasamajik Itihas (Bengali translation of Wolfgang Mey's German book on Chittagong Hill Tracts).
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