How Jaladasyu, the pirates of the East, shaped history and culture of present-day Bengal

via News Nine, 21 September 2022: Not often I get to post something from Bangladesh, but this story about pirates in the Bay of Bengal in the 16th century have a connection with the Kingdom of Arakan.

By the time the Mughal Emperors got their first taste of piracy, the people and traders of Bengal had already been reeling under frequent attacks and wanton destruction and plunder of a varied group of pirates for over a century. These pirates had been given the Bengali moniker of Jaladasyu (water-brigands).

The most powerful among the pirates in the east were once again the Portuguese. But these men who terrorised the Bay of Bengal were largely made up of renegades and mercenaries. There was no system to their plunder, and no cartazes existed. Attacks were random and brutal.

The pirates operated from Chittagong and Sandwip, where the King of Arakkan (modern Myanmar) had allowed them to settle. From here they were joined by the Arakkanese, who the people of Bengal called the Moghs.

Source: How Jaladasyu, the pirates of the East, shaped history and culture of present-day Bengal