History

The name Chakma derives from the Sanskrit word Sakthimaha, which means powerful and great.[6] This name was given to Chakmas by one of the Burmese kings during the Bagan era. Burmese kings hired Chakmas as ministers, advisers, and translators of Buddhist Pali texts.

The Chakma possess strong genetic affinities to Tibeto-Burman groups in Northeast India and to East Asian and populations. They also have high frequencies of mainland Indian genetic ancestry.

Chakmas, as per their oral history, are believed to have migrated to Arakan from the ancient kingdom of Magadha which is part of the present Bihar state of India. They believe they are also part of Buddha's Sakya clan from Himalayan tribes. After many struggles to survive, they gradually migrated to Arakan, and spread their territory to the nearby hills of Chittagong Hill Tracts. 

The Chakma people, are a native group from the easternmost regions of the Indian subcontinent, they are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region in southeastern Bangladesh, and in Mizoram, India (Chakma Autonomous District Council), they are the second largest ethnic group, and in Tripura, India, they are the fourth largest ethnic group, and having sizable population in other parts of Northeast India, such as, around 50 thousand Chakmas in Arunachal Pradesh, India, whose first generation had migrated there in 1964 after the Kaptai dam tragedy, and 20-30 thousand Chakmas are in Assam, India.