History of Burma, including Burma Proper, Pegu, Taungu, Tenasserim, and Arakan : From the earliest time to the end of the First War with British India

327 Pages·1883·7.872 MB·English

by  Arthur Purves Phayre

TRUBNER'S
ORIENTAL SERIES.
BALLANTYNE, HANSON ANDCO.
EOINBURGH AND LONDON
HISTORY BURMA
OF
INCLUDING
BURMA PROPER, PEGU, TAUNGU,
TENASSERIM, AND ARAKAN.
iFram tj&e ffiarlfest Eime to ti^e ffinti of tl)e Jirgt OTar initlj
JSriti'sJ 3Entifa.
LIEUT.-GENEEAL SIE AETHUR P. PHAYEE,
G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., AND C.B.
MEMBRECORRESPONDANTDELASOCIETYACADiSmIQUEINDO-CHINOISE
DE FRANCE.
LONDON:
TEUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1883.
[Allrights reserved.'^

PREFACE.
Towards the end of last century, Dr. Francis
Buchanan, who accompanied Colonel Symes on his
mission to Ava, remarked that the histories of the
Burmas might throw some light on a part of the
world little known, and he hoped soon to be able
to produce a translation of the Maha E^j§,weng, or
Great History of Kings.^ Some years later, Dr. Ley-
deu, in an essay on the languages and literature of the
Indo-Chinese nations, which shows extensive know-
ledge of a subject then little regarded in Europe, men-
tioned the historical works to be found both in Arakan
and Burma, on the importance of which he observed
:
"Supposing them to be strictly historical, it is needless
to dilate."^ Buchanan never carried out his intention,
and though he had collected many Burmese manu-
scripts, it is not known what became of them. After
his return to Europe, he published several papers on
Burma in the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," but
they referred only to the geography of the country.
Colonel Henry Burney, who was Eesident at the court
of the king of Burma for several years up to 1837,
published numerous papers, being translations of por-
tions of the Mah^ Eajg,weng,moreparticularlypassages
relating to the early kings and to the wars between
Burma and China.^ He observes that the Burmese
1 SeeBuchananonthe religion ' AsiaticResearches, vol. x.
and literature of the Burmas. ^ JournaloftheAsiaticSociety
AsiaticKesearches, vol. vi. Oal- ofBengal, vols, iv., v., vi.
cutta.
vi PREFACE.
chronicles "bearstrong internal marks of authenticity."
The Eev. Father Sangermano, who was in Burma as a
missionary from 1782 to 1806, has written an abridg-
ment of Burmese history in his valuable work/ The
Most Eeverend Bishop Bigandet, Vicar Apostolic in
Ava and Pegu, in his interesting "Legend of the Bur-
mese Budha," recounts the salient points of history
which concern the establishment of Buddhism in
Burma. The Eev. Dr. Mason has contributed much
to a knowledge of the history of Burma and of Pegu
;
and the late Captain Forbes, whose early death is a
great loss to the cause of Burmese research, has pub-
lishedvaluable observations onthehistoryandlanguage
of the country.
Professor Lassen, who, more than any other of the
great scholars .of Europe, studied Burmese history,
has observed "The Burmese have lengthy historical
:
writings, in which not only their own history, but that
of Arakan, Pegu, Zimmay, Labang, and other neigh-
bouring lands is given. These writings deserve on the
whole the praise of credibility, as their authors relate
not only the favourable events of their history, but
also the unfavourable. Their inscriptions help to con-
firm their statements."^
Notwithstanding the many articles by competent
authors which have appeared on the history of Burma,
no one has yet published in any European language a^
continuous history of the country, whereby the rise
and progress of the monarchy, and of the people, might
be traced, and the succession of the events recorded,
with their relation one to another, explained. In
the Gazetteer of British Burma, lately published by
authority at Eangoon, the full history has been nar-
rated in a more connected form than had been done
1 Description of the Burmese ^ Indische Alterthumskunde
Empire. TranslatedintoEnglish vol. iv. p. 369. MS. translation
byTandy. Rome, 1833. intoEnglish.
;
PREFACE.
vii
before. But there still remain blanks to be filled in
the history of Arakan, and the other countries which
formed the empire of Burma up to the early part of
the present century.
The chief authorities which have been followed in
this little book are theMahS,Eaj^weng,a copy of which
was obtained from the library of the king of Burma
a history of Arakan written by Maung Mi, a learned
Arakanese Hsaya and a history of Pegu in the Mun
;
language by Hsayl dau AthwS,, a Taking Buddhist
monk, which was translated into Burmese. The last-
named work is little more than a fragment, as the
materials for a full history of the Mun people either do
not exist, or are not now available in Pegu.
Early in the sixteenth century Europeans began to
visit Burma in considerable numbers, and their narra-
tives have been used to supplement or correct in some
particulars the nativehistories. ColonelMichaelSymes,
in a historical memoir prefixed to his "Account of an
Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava," gives a trustworthy
account of events commencing from the re-establish-
ment of the kingdom of Pegu under Binya D^a in a.d.
1740 until the time ofhis own embassy in 1795. This
narrative has evidently been chiefly derived from per-
sons whom the writer met in Eangoon, some appa-
rently Armenians in the Burmese service, who had
been actors or eyewitnesses in most of the events
described.
The general fulness of the national historical records
of the countries which comprised the Burmese empire
is remarkable. They present a marked contrast to the
scantiness, or total absence of such writings, among the
ancient Hindu kingdoms. Forthough, as remarked by
Professor Horace Wilson, "genealogies and chronicles
are found in various parts of India, recorded with some
perseverance if not much skill," still they are few in
comparison with the number and variety of states which
viii PREFACE.
have existed in India, and in value fall below what
might be expected from the degree of civilisation and
literary eminence which had been attained at an early
period. The methodical writing of annals of events in
the countries of Indo-China has probablyresulted frOm
the practical difference between Brahmanism and Bud-
dhism which was gradually developed after the time of
Goadama. While the former was exclusive, and sought
to subordinate kings and rulers to the sacred race, the
latter gave the first place in worldly affairs to the civil
power, and held out honour and reward, secular and
religious, to all who worshipped the three treasures
and observed the moral law. Buddhism favoured the
general extension of education, and appealed to the
masses through the vernacular tongues and thus, in
;
spite of its tenets as to the worthlessness of worldly
objects, and the inherent misery of being, induced a
general interestinthe affairs of life. The resultis seen
in the EijS, Wanso of Ceylon, and, it may be added, in
the Eaja Taringiru of Cashmir. The latter, Wilson
observes, is an exception to the total want of historical
inc[uiry by the Hindus.^ May not this work with pro-
bability be referred to a Buddhist original, adapted to
Hindu readers after the triumph of Brahmanism ?
The annals of Siam do not appear to have been kept
with the sameregularity and fulness as those of Burma,
though they furnish an outline of prominent events.
Of the ancientnative histories of Anam, Cambodia, and
Tonquin, we have as yet no detailed account available
to the European student. Butthis deficiencyis rapidly
beingsuppliedbythe Socidt^Acad^mique Indo-Chinoise
of France.
The chronicles of Burma are well supplemented by
ancient stone inscriptions, generally those whichlrecord
the building of pagodas, andJiiclude historicare'vehts
1 Essay on the Hindu History of Cashmir, Asiatic Researches,
vol. XV.
PREFACE.
conagfited.therewith./ The inscriptions upon bells cast
for religious purposes,and suspended in the precincts of
monasteries and pagodas, in many instances furnish
importanthistoricalinformation. Each principalpagoda
has also a "Thamaing," which purports to give the his-
toryof thefounderof thebuilding, and of its subsequent
benefactors. Such documents include noticesof secular
events.
In preparingthe presentlittle book, where the annals
of the adjoining countries have been available, they
have been compared with the statements as to contem-
porary events found in the chronicles of Burma. This
is especially the case as regards China and Siam. The
accounts of Burma and of Pegu in the narratives of
European travellers, commencing with Marco Polo in
the thirteenth centuryTTiave been summarised in a
supplementary chapter. It is usefulto compare their
statements as to some historical facjs, with those given
in the native chronicles.
In order that the sequence of events may be as little
confused as possible, all dates have been reduced to
the eras B.C. and A.D. The attainment of Nirv§,na
by Goadama Buddha is assumed to have occurred B.C.
543,inaccordancewith Burmesechronology,thoughthis
date is now supposed to contain an error varying from
sixty to the extent of a hundred and thirty-one years.^
The present Burmese era commences in a.d. 639, at the
time when the sun enters the sign Aries. It may at
once be admitted that there are numerous events re-
corded in the histories of the countries thatonce formed
the Burmese empire which no doubt are historically
true, but which in the several chronicles have been
hopelessly deranged in time.
Inwriting Burmese proper names, the rules proposed
by Mr. H. L. St. Barbe, late Eesident at Mandalay, for
1 Mr. Rhys Davids in Ancient temationalNumismataOrientalia.
Coins andMedals of Ceylon. In- London, 1877.
—
X PREFACE.
expressingin Eoman charactersthe sounds ofthe spoken
language, have been generally adopted.i But in the
case of well-known places, as Eangoon, Pegu, Bassein,
&c., the ordinaryspelling has beenfollowed. The vowel
system as adopted is as follows:
a as