The Barua are a distinct Indo-Aryan-speaking indigenous tribal ethnic group native to Chittagong Division in Bangladesh, Rakhine State in Myanmar, where they are known as the Maramagyi or Maramagri, and parts of Tripura in northeast India. According to Arakanese chronology, the Barua Buddhists are the ancient peoples of Bangladesh who have lived there for five thousand years. They are commonly identified by their last name, "Barua". In Myanmar, the Barua are classified as one of the seven groups that make up the Rakhine nation. Chittagong was formerly known as "Chaityagrama" "town with Buddhist shrines". It was a center of Mahayana Buddhism in the 10th century. Magh was the general term used for Buddhists; Barua's are also termed Rajbansi "of royal descent". They insist that they came from the Aryavarta or the country of the Aryans which is practically identical to the country later known as Majjhimadesa or Madhyadesa in the Pali texts.< Barua came from "Baru" "great" and "ua", meaning "noble rulers". A Magh king, Jaychand, ruled the Chittagong region in the 16th century.
The Baruas used to follow Mahayana Buddhism and followed some of the Hindu customs until the mid 19th century when Saṅgharaj Sāramedha Mahāthera of Arakan, returning from Bodh Gaya, was invited to Chittagong in 1856. In the mid 19th century, the Baruas came into contact with Theravada Buddhists from Burma and Ceylon and are now thus mainly followers of Theravada Buddhism. The first Pāli school in modern times was stated at Pahartali, Chittagong by Ācarya Punnācāra with the financial backing from a zamindar, Haragobinda Mutsuddi in 1885. Bauddha Dharmankur Sabha Buddhist religious organisation founded by Kripasharan Mahasthavir in Calcutta on 5 October 1892. Kripasharan Mahasthavir was its first president and Surendralal Mutsuddi its secretary. The journal of the Dharmankur Sabha, Jagajjyoti, edited by Gunalangkar Sthavir and Shraman Punnananda Swami, was first published in 1908. It was subsequently also edited by Benimadhab Barua. Noted scholar Dr. Benimadhab Barua, was born in 1888 in the village of Mahamuni under Raozan Thana, Chittagong. He was the son of Kaviraj Rajchandra Talukder. Benimadhab assumed the title of ‘Barua’. In 1913 he obtained MA degree in Pali from University of Calcutta. He also studied law at Calcutta City College and Calcutta Law College. He became one of the pioneers of revitalization of Buddhism in the Barua Community. Benimadhab joined Mahāmuni Anglo-Pāli Institution as headmaster in 1912. From 1913-14 he worked as a lecturer in the Pāli department of the University of Calcutta. He went to England on a government scholarship in 1914. He earned an MA in Greek and Modern European Philosophy from the University of London. In 1917 he was awarded a D.Litt. by the University of London. He was the first Asian to do so. After returning to India in 1918, Benimadhab rejoined Calcutta University and was promoted to professorship. He improvised the syllabus of the MA course in Pali, apart from his work in the departments of Ancient Indian History and Culture and Sanskrit in the same university. Anagarika Dharmapala visited Chittagong in 1917 where he influenced a 9-year-old boy, who later became the well known Pali scholar Prof. Dwijendra Lal Barua.
