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Epistles Written on the Eve of the Anglo-Burmese War PDF

57 Pages·1968·1.402 MB·English
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EPISTLES WRITTEN ON THE EVE OF THE ANGLO-BURMESE WAR EPISTLES WRITTEN ON THE EVE OF THE ANGLO-BURMESE WAR Translated and /ntroduced by MAUNG HTIN AUNG Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V. 1968 ISBN 978-94-017-7156-6 ISBN 978-94-017-7171-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-7171-9 © 1968 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands in 1968. All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form PREFACE Buddhism became the national and official religion of the Burmese people in the 11th century, and one of the consequences was the advent of the village monastery as the religious, cultural and social centre for all villagers. At the monastery the villagers learned to read and write, but until modern times they never acquired the habit of writing letters to their friends and relations or to business associates. The village was almost a complete economic unit by itself, and the average villager did not have any business reason to travel far from his village. During eight months of the year, he was tied down to his work in the fields, and in the remaining four months which marked the hot season, he with his family travelled to the nearby towns and villages, taking part in the pagoda festivals and meeting friends and rela tions at those places. Moreover, there was no postal service. On those rare occasions when it became necessary for him to write a Ietter he considered hirnself inadequate for the task and wou1d approach a monk to compose an epistle, couched in elegant prose and full of maxims and wise sayings. The epistle was called the Myittazar or Ietter of loving-kindness. The epistle was written on dried palm leaf with a stylus, and before it was actually sent to the addressee, it was passed round the village to be read and admired. The recipient of the epistle also read it aloud to his friends and acquaintances. Some of the epistles written by famous monks were copied, collected and preserved. The epistles given in the following pages were written by a Burmese monk affectionately called Kyeegan Shingyi, "The Elderly Novice ofthe village ofKyeegan Lake." He was born in the year 1757 at that village which was in Ahlone District of North W estern Burma. His personal name was Maung Nu and like all VI PREFACE Burmese boys he entered the village monastery at the age of six to receive his elementary education. When he attained the age of sixteen years he took the Lower Ordination and became a novice so as to pursue his higher studies. He acquired the ecclesia stical name of Nanda Daza and won great distinction as a scholar, but four years later, deciding not to take the Higher Ordination, he left the Order and the monastery. With a view to becoming an administrative official or a judge, he apprenticed hirnself to an advocate and travelled all over the country, even visiting Ran goon, which was swiftly becoming a busy seaport and commer cial centre. Mter some four or five years of moving in business, legal and official circles, he came to the conclusion that lay life had nothing more to offer, and returning to his native village he became a novice again. In spite ofhis great learning, he repeated ly declined to take the Higher Ordination, maintaining that he was unworthy. He soon became farnaus as a teacher ofthe script ures. Although he was but a novice, fully ordained monks and even abbots came to Kyeegan village to study at his feet. To wards the end of the century The Elderly Novice had become so famous that King Bodawpaya (1782-1819) invited him to come and teach at one of the monastic universities at the capital of Amarapura. Accepting the invitation he joined the monastery of the King's Teacher, the Maungdaung Sayadaw, still as a novice, and became the latter's disciple and colleague. Kyeegan Shingyi died soon after the first Anglo-Burmese war of 1824. In composing the epistles, Kyeegan Shingyi used his own wit and learning, but at the same time he always endeavoured to convey to the recipient the actual Sentiments and thoughts of the person on whose behalfhe was writing the Ietter. Although he introduced into the epistles epigrams and sayings of his own, he was careful to include also homilies and pithy sayings with which the average Burmesevillager was familiar. In spite ofhis erudite learning in the scriptures, he confined his references to the Jatakas, the Buddhist layman's bible. Above all, he carefully refrained from turning the epistles into moral discourses. Apart from their litera ry worth and human interest, the epistles are also valuable histor ical documents, illustrative of the social and economic changes that were taking place in the country at the close of the 18th century as a result of the impact of the west. They belonged to PREFACE VII that period ofhistory when the third Burmeseempire founded by Alaungpaya (1752-1760) seemed to stand solid and solitary against European penetration into mainland Southeast Asia. When the first epistle was written, Bodawpaya (1782-1819) was on the throne. He introduced a strong, centralised and stable government, changing the democratic character ofthe monarchy into a benevolent despotism. The strength and stability of his government resulted in the expansion of trade, both internal and external. His predecessor and brother Hsinbyushin (1763-1776) had won a series of victories against China, and although the treaty which was forced on the defeated Chinese commanders remained officially unratified by the emperor of China, there was a free flow of trade between the two countries. The Indian pro vinces of Manipur and Assam were now Burmese protectorates and although Siam and Laos were no Ionger in the Burmese empire, Burmese influence and Burmese power were still strong enough to maintain a lion's share in their trade. It was the Europeans who were the most eager to trade with the Burmese. Burmese teak was in great demand in the building of ships, and the two warring nations, the English and the French, wooed the Burmeseking for his goodwill and maintained dockyards at the port of Syriam near Rangoon. It was also the time of British "country vessels" which under licence from the English East lndia Company, plied an extremely profitable trade in opium with China. Those ships were built in lndia, but the teak for them had to be bought in Burma. As a result, the ports of Lower Bur ma teemed with dockyards and ships. Many villagers in Upper Burma left their homes in quest ofwealth at the Chinese border, in the Shan States and in Lower Burma. Rangoon specially was considered to be the place where a man could get rich in a few days by sawing timher for the teak-hungry dockyards. This sudden expansion of trade must have resulted in some economic upheaval. Bodawpaya was succeeded by his grandson, Bagyidaw (1819-1837), as war clouds gathered on the Burmese horizon. England was now triumphant over France, and the East India Company held lndia under its sway. The Company häd also won Penang and Singapore, and looking across the Bay of Bengal, it saw Burma lying in its path of dominating Southeast Asian trade. On the borders of Manipur and Assam where the vm PREFACE two empires, Burmese and British Indian, met, there were clashes of arms. All these events and happenings served as the back ground of the last epistle of this collection. Department of Sociology, Wake Forest College, MAUNG H TIN AuNG Winston-Salem, North Carolina. June 10, 1967. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . V A Mother and Her Sons 1. Epistle from the Mother to her Son in Lower Burma. 1 2. Epistle to her other Son in the Shan States . 2 3. Epistle advising her Son in Lower Burma 4 4. Epistle consoling her Son in the Shan States 7 Four Epistles from Rangoon 5. Epistle from the Quester after Silver, Mr. Fashionable to his wife and family . 9 6. Epistle from a disgruntled Son-in-law . 11 7. A Second Epistle from the Son-in-law . 15 8. Epistle from Mr. Shorty to his Mother-in-law and Wife 16 Epistles to Royal Officials 9. Epistle from the Ab bot of a monastery to the Governor ofa Town. 19 10. Epistle from an Ab bot to a Viilage Headman. 20 11. Epistle from the Headman and Elders of a village to the Secretary to the King's Treasurer . 22 12. Epistle from the Head of an Ecclesiastical District to the Primate. 23 Epistles dealing with opportunities and dangers oJ Royal Service 13. Epistle from a Father to his courtier Son. . 27 14. Epistle from the courtier Son. . . . . . . 31 15. Epistle from the Mother to her courtier Son 33 16. Epistle to a Royal Official from his Younger Brother . 36 17. Epistle from an anxious Father to his Son . . . . . 38 Bibliographical Notes. 46 Index ...... . 47 A MOTHER AND HER SONS 1. Epistle from the Mother to her Son in Lower Burma (Many young men from villages in Upper Burma went to the far north to the Chinese border, the Shan States and Lower Burma, where trade was rapidly developing, hoping to amass fortunes.) Putting The Three J ewels1 on the crown of my head, I, your mother, from the peaceful and pleasant village near the golden Iake, pining to see you again after long months of absence and heaping Iove upon Iove, write this letter to you, my beloved son, my ingot of gold, my handsome, my lordling. Words spoken by their parents to their children are ever sweet and fresh as new bloomed flowers, and just as you wear the love liest flowers in your ears, wear these words of mine in your ears and give heed to them constantly. Like the Brahmin mother in theJataka story,2 whose four sons spurning the splendours of the palace, departed for the forest hermitage, I am weak with Ionging and weary with sorrow, for I have but two sons, and one is gone to the far north and the other to the far south, to travel and to wander in search ofwealth. The distance is great, and months have passed, and I think of my sons and consider the dangers to which they are exposed in strange towns and villages among strange peoples. Sometimes I call out their names, and other times I sit and dream. I refuse to Iisten to those who try to console me with soothing words that surely no mishap could have befallen my golden sons. Anxiety has sapped my body of its suppleness and strength and often I 1 The Buddha, His Teachings, and His Order of Monks. 2 Hatthi-Pala Jataka, No. 509 in E. B. Cowell, The Jataka, Vol. IV, Garnbridge University Press, 1907. The many references to the Jatakas found in the epistles illustrate the fact that the average Burmese of those days were well-acquainted with these Buddhist Birth stories.

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