The article is taken from the book ‘The Chittagong Hill Tracts-Living in a Borderland’, jointly compiled by Willem van Schendel, Wolfgang Mey & Aditya Kumar Dewan, Published by The University Press Limited in 2001.

Three chiefs of the Chittagong hills were recognized by the British as administrators under the colonial state. Henceforth they were known as the 'tribal chiefs' of the Mong, Chakma and Bohmong circles, or simply as the Mong, Chakma nd Bohmong chief. The Government of Bengal did not recognize them as hereditary Indian princes, however, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts did not become one or more Princely (or Native) States.
T.H. Lewin, the first British Deputy Commissioner, 'saw as his first and paramount task the need to crush and extinguish the power of these chiefs,' and proceeded to restrict their military, political and financial powers. The Bohmong and Chakma chiefs opposed him by means of appealing against his court decisions, complaining to his superior about malad-ministration, and presenting petitions to the government. Lewin managed to replace Kong Hla Nyo, the Bohmong chief, by a more accommodating cousin, but he was no match for the formidable Chakma chieftainess, Kalindi Rani, an energetic, ambitious and clever widow who was described as 'a thorn in the side of government' (Hutchinson, 1906; Whitehead, 1992).
After Kalindi Rani's death in 1847, the Government of Bengal conferred the Government of Bengal conferred the personal title of raja on the new Chakma chief, Harish Chandra, in order to underline his dependence on 'the pleasure of the paramount authority.' He was given a dress of investiture but no photographs of him survive. The first Chakma chief to be depicted in ceremonial dress was Bhuban Mohan Roy at the time of his investiture in 1897. In his brocade tunic, feathered turban and patent leather shoes, leaning lightly on one leg and a ceremonial sword, he presents himself to the camera as a self-assured colonial Indian prince, completely at ease in a late-Victorian photo Studio. Latter pictures show him in similar costume.
It was Raja Nalinaksha Roy, Bhuban Mohan's son and successor; however, whose style of dress became the family hallmark. Latter his son would describe this photograph as follows:
'When [Father] had that photograph taken-with reluctance for he was shy and retiring but was unable to withstand his sisters-in-low's insistence-he was in his early thirties. He was dressed in his full regalia, sword, turban, aigrette on emerald and diamond diadem, gold achkan, diamond and emerald necklace and the gold necklace given by the Rajguru with a pali mantra in bold letters. It was in 1937. He had gone to Government House, Kolkata, in durbar dress for his investiture' (T.Roy,n.d.)
Nalinaksha was Chakma chief from 1935 to 1951. He was succeeded by his eldest son Tridiv Roy who was deposed by the Bangladesh government in the 1970s after choosing to remain in Pakistan (where he proceeded to become a government minister and ambassador). The Government of Bangladesh, honouring the tradition established with the investiture of Raja Harish Chandra in 1874, then installed his eldest son Devasish Roy as Chakma chief.
During the British period, the Chakma chiefs presented themselves publicly as Indian princes. They took the South Asian nobleman as their role model, stressed a myth about their North Indian origins, became considerably Hinduised and established marriage links with prominent families of Bengal. For them, to be a raja was to be seen as member of the Bengal aristocracy.
The Bohmong and Mong chiefs chose a different style. Their role model was the Burmese nobility. Which was hardly surprising in view of the close historical, religious and linguistic links between the Marma and Burma? Moreover, Burma was an integral part of British India, ruled from Kolkata till the late 1930s.
In a photograph published in 1906, the Bohomong Raja, Cho Hla Prue Chowdhruy, is seen dressed all in white at a gathering in Bandarban.
The fourth Mong chief, Ne Phru Sain, died in 1936 and his niece, Rani Nanoimah Devi, was installed as the fifth Mong chief. Shortly afterwards she posed for a studio portrait dressed in a sari-like garment.
She was married to a son of the Bohmong chief, Raja Cho Hla Prue Chowdhury. In a photograph of 1926, her husband, Kong Zaw Phru, presents himself to the studio photographer as a dandy, complete with Burmese silk lungyi, elegant piped velvet coat, walking stick and polished European shoes.
This gala picture probably was taken on the occasion of the coronation of King-Emperor George V in 1911. The Chittagong chiefs are seated close to the representative of the 'paramount authority' and his picture-hatted wife, and they are surrounded by other aristocrats and princes of India-all dressed in their most imposing finery.
The Bohmong chief, Cho Hla Prue Chowdhury (in white dress, centre of second row from the front in sits next to (wearing a plumed white turban); the Mong Raja could not be present.
Commemorates the visit of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, Sir Lancelot Hare, to the Chittagong Hill Tracts in 1909. On the Bohmong Raja and his entourage are entertaining unidentified British officials in Bandarban, about 1910.
Incorporation into the colonial state also entailed the development of new symbols of aristocratic position which the Chittagong chiefs adopted were the family crest. Introduced at the time of Raja Bhuban Mohan.