Bandarban

Bandarban (Bengali: বান্দরবান) is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of the Chittagong Division and Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bandarban (meaning the dam of monkeys), or in Marma or Arakanese language as "Rwa-daw Mro" (ရြာေတာ္ျမိဳ႕) is also known as Arvumi or the Bohmong Circle (ဗိုလ္မင္းေထာင္) (of the rest of the three hill districts Rangamati is the Chakma Circle (သက္ေထာင္) and Khagrachari is the Mong Circle (ဖလံေထာင္)). Bandarban town is the home town of the Bohmong Chief (currently King, or Raja, Aung Shwe Prue Chowdhury ဗိုလ္မင္းၾကီး ဦးေအာင္ေရႊျဖဴ) who is the head of the Marma population. It also is the administrative headquarter of Bandarban district, which has turned into one of the most exotic tourist attractions in Bangladesh since the insurgency in Chittagong Hill Tracts has
Geography
One of the three hill districts of Bangladesh and a part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bandarban (4,479 km²) is not only the remotest district of the country, but also is the least populated (population 292,900). The three highest peak of Bangladesh - Tahjindong (1280 meters, also known as bijoy)[* The height of Tahjindong is 829.66m +/-3m as per a recent measurement with Garmin GPSMAP60CSX GPS], Mowdok Mual (1052 m), and Keokradong (1230 m) [* The height of Keokradong is 986m +/-3m as per a recent measurement with Garmin GPSMAP60CX GPS], - are located in Bandarban district, as well as Raikhiang Lake, the highest lake in Bangladesh
Chimbuk peak and Boga Lake are two more highly noted features of the district. The newly reported highest peak of Bangladesh
Saka Haphong (3488 ft) is also here in Thanchi upazila
Bandarban Sadar, Thanchi, Lama, Naikhongchhari, Ali kadam, Rowangchhari, and Ruma are the administrative sub-districts of Bandarban. Major road routes are:

    * Bandarban-Rowangchhari-Ruma
    * Bandarban-Chimbuk-Thanchi-Alikadam-Baishari-Dhundhum
    * Chimbuk-Ruma
    * Chimbuk-Tangkabati-Baro Aoulia
    * Aziznagar-Gojalia-Lama and
    * Khanhat-Dhopachhari-Bandarban.
Inside Bangladesh, Bandarban is bordered by Cox's Bazaar, Chittagong, Rangamati and Khagrachari. On the other side of the national border lies Myanmar provinces of Chin and Arakan. The district also features river Sangu, also known as Sangpo or Shankha, the only river born inside Bangladesh territory. The other rivers in the district are Matamuhuri and Bakkhali. Meranja, Wailatong, Tambang and Politai are the four hill ranges here. Parts of the biggest lake in Bangladesh - Kaptai Lake - fall under the area of Bandarban

Tourism
Bandarban lies, by bus, eight hours away from Dhaka, two hours from Chittagong and three hours from Cox's Bazaar. It is also possible to get there by a six hour bus ride from Rangamati.

The Buddha Dhatu Jadi, the largest Buddhist temple in Bangladesh, located in Balaghata, 4 km from the town, is one excellent place to visit. This Theravada Buddhist temple is made completely in the style of South-East Asia and houses the second largest statue of Buddha in Bangladesh. The waterfall named Shoilo Propat at Milanchari is also an excellent site.
The hanging bridge at Meghla.

The numerous Buddhist temples, known as kyang in local tongue, and bhihars in the town include the highly notable the Rajvihar (royal vihar) at Jadipara and the Ujanipara Bhihar. Bawm villages around Chimbuk, and Mru villages a little further off, are also lie within a day's journey from the town. Prantik Lake, Jibannagar and Kyachlong Lake are some more places of interest. And, a boat ride on the river Sangu is also an excellent proposition.
Bandarban Town
A nearly 52 km² hill-town housing about 32,000 people, of which the majority are Marma. There is a Tribal Cultural Institute here, which features a library and a museum. The town also features Bandarban Town Hospital (offering the best medical service in the district), the District Public Library, Bandarban Government College, the District Stadium, banashri, the solitary movie theatre, the royal cemetery, and, of course, the Royal Palace (two of them since the 11th and 13th royal lines both claim the throne). Apart from the numerous kyangs and mosques, there is a temple dedicated to Kali, the most revered goddess of Hindus is Bangladesh, as well as a centre maintained by

History
In the early days of 15th century, Arakanese kingdom, where Mrauk U was the capital, expended its territories to the Chittagong area of Bengal. After the victory of Arakan on Burma's Pegu kingdom in 1599 AD, the Arakanese king Mong Raja Gree appointed a Prince of Pegu as the governor of newly established Bohmong Htaung (Circle) by giving the title of "Bohmong" Raja. That area was mostly populated by the Arakanese descendants and ruled by the Burmese (Myanmar) noble descendants who started to call themselves in Arakanese language as Marma. Marma is an archaic Arakanese pronunciation for Myanmar. As the population of the Bohmong Htaung were of Arakanese descandants, these Myanmar-descendants Bohmong chiefs (Rajas) of the ruling class took the titles in Arakanese and speak a dialect of the Arakanese language.
Bandarban Hill District was once called Bohmong Htaung since the Arakanese rule. Once Bohmong Htaung was ruled by Bohmong Rajas who were the subordinates to the Arakanese kings. Ancestors of the present Bohmong dynasty were the successor of the Pegu King of Burma under the Arakan's rule in Chittagong. In 1614, King Mong Kha Maung, the king of Arakan appointed Maung Saw Pru as Governor of Chittagong who in 1620 repulsed the Portuguese invasion with great valour. As a consequence, Arakanese king, Mong Kha Maung adorned Maung Saw Pru with a title of Bohmong meaning Great General. After the death of Maung Saw Pru two successors retained Bohmong title. During the time of Bohmong Hari Gneo in 1710, Arakanese King Canda Wizaya recaptured Chittagong from the Mughals. Bohmong Hari Gneo helped King Canda Wizaya in recapturing Chittagong and as a mark of gratitude the later conferred on Bohmong Hari Gneo the grand title of Bohmong Gree which means great Commander in Chief.