The Wheel-Turner and His House: Kingship in a Buddhist Ecumene 9781501757990

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THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

THE WHEEL-TURNER

AND HIS HOUSE

Kingship in a Buddhist Ecumene

Geok Yian Goh

NIU Press I DeKolb, ll

© 2015 by Northern Illinois University Press

Published by the Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, Illinois 60115 All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goh, Geok Yian, author. The wheel-turner and his house: kingship in a Buddhist ecumene I Geok Yian Goh. pages em Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: "Traces the archaeological and historical record of Anawrahta and his seminal position in forming modern Myanmar, based on the few sources that have been recovered. The Great Chronicle, an important history of the country written by the 18th-century Burmese nobleman U Kala, forms the basis for much of the knowledge we have about Anawrahta today. Geok Yian Goh examines U Kala's work in light of the context ofU Kala's own time and points out the bias of his royal court, as well as the scribe's personal views from the elaborate narratives he produced. She looks at other sources as well, including unpublished palm-leaf manuscripts, to disentangle earlier knowledge about Anawrahta and 11th-century Bagan. Placing the overall study of Burmese historical tradition within the larger manuscript culture of Asia, Goh presents a critique of theoretical issues in history, especially the relationship between the past and memory"- Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-87580-716-4 (pbk: alk. paper)-ISBN 978-1-60909-172-9 (e-book) 1. Burma-History-To 1824-Historiography. 2. Anawrahta, King of Burma, active 1044-1077.

3. KuLa'', U'; active 1715. Maha Rajavan' kri". I. Title. DS529.2.G64 2014 959.1 '02-dc23 2014045958

Contents

Lists of Figures & Maps vii List of Abbreviations ix Note on Transliteration xi Preface xi

Introduction

3

PART ONE- The Historical Context 1-The Genesis of the King

17

2- The King and His Ecumene

42

PART TWO- The King in the Story: Orality and Literacy in Myanmar and Southeast Asia 3- The Yazawin: Orality and Literacy 4- U Kala and the Anawrahta Story

73 88

S-Makers of Burmese History after U Kala

134

PART THREE-Reinventing the King 6- The King as Hero: Memory and History in Modern Burma

Postscript-The Narrative Comes Full Cycle Notes 205 Bibliography Index 246

233

197

175

Lists of Figures &Mops Figure 1-Nga Kywe Nadaung Stupa with its exterior glazed bricks, c. 9th-12th centuries 28 Figure 2-An example of a glazed plaque from the Somingyi Stupa, c. 11 and 12th centuries 29 Figure 3-Surface finds in Bagan: Song-Yuan dynasty Chinese green porcelain 50 Figure 4-Examples of Burmese glazed stoneware sherds found in Bagan 51 Map !-Important sites of ancient Myanmar

18

Map 2-Distribution of Anawrahta's votive tablets in Myanmar

19

Map 3-An area map of Bagan showing the locations of the four temples

associated with Anawrahta and the tooth relic, 18 of the 19 "founding" villages of Bagan, and modern towns. Note that Nyaung U is also the location of a modern town. 21 Map 4-Locations of several "known''"Pyu" centers in Myanmar

26

Map 5-Distribution of ceramics found during opportunistic surveys

undertaken within the Bagan Archaeological Zone between 2005 and 2011 49 Map 6-Putative extent of the Buddhist ecumene

64

List of Abbreviations BY-Bagan Yazawin

CV-Culvamsa

Hmannan-Hmannan Yazawindawgyi JKM-/inakalamalipakaranam

Monywe MYG -Monywe Maha Yazawindawgyi

MV-Mahavamsa

MYG-Mahayazawingyi YG- Yazawingyaw YT - Yazawinthit

Note on Transliteration

There are many ways to transliterate Burmese into Roman characters. I have elected to reproduce the Burmese using the following system: title in Burmese script, followed by the phonetic rendering of the Burmese pronunciation of the title, and ending with a translation of the title. I decided not to use diacritics for simplicity's sake. For a similar reason, I used the Library of Congress transliteration system only for book titles in the bibliography, but not in the main body of the work.

Preface

The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. -William of Baskerville, The Name of the Rose

My interest in Anawrahta of Bagan was first aroused when I was an undergraduate traversing Burma in the winter of 1994. My first fieldwork experience was difficult because I did not understand the Burmese language. Little did I expect that five years after completing my Honors degree, I would return to my fascination with the enigmatic story of the 11th -century king Anawrahta. His tales are the stuff that legends are made of, but they remained folk stories until I embarked on my research for my Master's thesis, which covers English translations of primary sources about Anawrahta. With only cursory knowledge of Burmese in 2002, I was merely able to scrape the surface of the reasons why Burmese were interested in the character and feats of this monarch. Language proved to be the most important factor in this research. Only when I developed reasonable proficiency in Burmese did I find myself entering the doors to Burma's past. More importantly, I was entering the vault of Burmese historiography, particularly the world of Burmese writers of chronicles, such as 18th-century private scholar U Kala, Twinthin Taikwun Mahasitthu who was Interior Minister to King Bodawhpaya (1782-1819), the venerable Monywe Hsayadaw Ariyawuntha Adiccayanti, and the compilers of the Hmannan Yazawindawgyi (Glass Palace Chronicle). The Universities Central Library (UCL) in Yangon possesses 16,000 manuscripts (12,000 pe sa and 4,000 paper parabaik), of which more than 10,000 are stored in an off-campus building in Bohtataung township; the remaining 5,000 manuscripts are housed in the UCL building on campus. The Universities Historical Research Centre (UHRC) collection contains 1,950 manuscripts (1,000 parabaiks and 950 pe sa). My research at the British Library was for the purpose of augmenting and checking the materials I examined in the Burmese collections. As I delved into the manuscript libraries in Yangon and the British Library in London between 2004 and 2006, I realized that the works of these three writers comprise only a small portion of the Burmese yazawins (chronicles). Though the earliest extant copies of pe sa (palm-leaf manuscripts) and parabaik (accordion book manuscripts) can only be dated to

xiv

Preface

the 18th century, these manuscripts and their various recensions represent the results of generations of persons who carried on the tradition of writing and copying records of the Burmese past. My work is not about the historicity of Anawrahta of 11th-century Bagan; it is an examination of the evolution of Anawrahta's hagiography. I am interested in historical narratives of the lith -century king and the historical contexts in which these accounts were produced. The theme which eventually emerged from this reading was the importance of the connection between the Anawrahta narrative and the Buddhist ecumene which evolved during his reign in the 11th century and continued for 400 years. I hope that this work reveals to readers the richness of Burmese tradition of history writing, in its varying forms and content. As with any enterprise which represents the culmination of a long period of research, there are many people to acknowledge. I would like to thank first the members of my PhD committee, Leonard Andaya, Michael AungThwin, Jerry Bentley, Nancy Cooper, Liam Kelley, and Lee Siegel. Special thanks go to Saya Michael Aung-Thwin for his valuable comments and support over the years as I struggled to put together this book. I owe a great debt to the late Professor Bentley, who inspired and encouraged me to see the ecumene as an important theoretical framework for examining the Anawrahta narrative. I would also like to thank Geoff Wade, then of the Asia Research Institute, for his invaluable comments on my translations of Chinese historical sources. Learning Burmese is one of the most significant achievements of my life, so it is important to thank the language teachers from whom I acquired this valuable skill. For a range of experiences, from learning how to keep score in table-tennis to remembering the names of cooking ingredients, I want to thank Saya John Okell, Sayama Than Than Win, and Saya U Myint Soe for their inspiring teaching at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) in 2001. It was strange that I fulfilled my desire to learn Burmese at the Midwestern American university town of Madison, Wisconsin; for this reason, Madison always brings back fond memories. My research in Yangon was made possible with the help of several individuals. First of all, I want to thank the then Director of the UHRC, Dr. Toe Hla, for making it possible to do research in the UHRC library. I would like to thank the Deputy Director, Dr. Daw Khin Hla Han, especially for her hospitality and tireless efforts to include me in the activities of the UHRC. I also wish to thank Daw Tin Pon Nwe, UCL, for allowing me to study the UCL manuscript collection. Next I want to thank Saya U Thaw Kaung and his wife Daw Khin Tan, and their son, Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance rendered by various persons at the UHRC

Preface

xv

including Sandar U (Dr. Daw Khin Hla Han's assistant), Saya U Sein Lwin, Ma Mya Mya Thaung, Ma Nyo Mi, Ma Swe Swe Min, Ko Aung Kyaw, and the many research assistants at UHRC who helped me in greater or lesser ways. In addition, I want to thank Ma Nu Nu San, Ma Phyu, Kyi Kyi, and La Pyi from the UCL manuscript library. My opportunity to do research was greatly assisted by a research visa received from the Burmese Ministry of -Education via the Singapore Embassy in Yangon in 2005. For this, I would like to thank Daw Ohn Man from the Singapore Embassy in Yangon for making it possible. On two separate occasions in 2005 and 2006, I conducted research on Burmese manuscripts at the British Library's Oriental and Indian Office Collection. The ease with which I gained access to the materials I required was due to the British Library librarian of Burmese materials, Daw San San May. I would like to thank her for her constant effort to help me locate the relevant manuscripts. In all the time I spent in Myanmar, I have made many friends, and it is impossible to thank every individual who helped and influenced me. In a way this work is dedicated to all the Burmese I have known. I hope that someday I will be able to make a Burmese-language version of this book available as that, I think, will gratify them. For assistance during the prolonged preparation of this manuscript, I am indebted to Sayama Lilian Handlin, Maitrii Aung-Thwin, Kenton Clymer, Mark Heineke, Linda Manning, Shaun Allshouse, and Susan Bean. I would like especially to thank Alicia Turner for copyediting the manuscript for this book. Since 2000, I have spent my time engaged in the rather esoteric study of early Burmese history. My single-mindedness in pursuing a future in academia has perhaps been viewed with a mixture of bemusement and incomprehension by my parents, Goh Ah Tee and Wee Ah Siew, who had no formal education. I want to thank my parents, my brother and sister, and their families for their unceasing moral support which helped me to survive hard times. This book is dedicated to my mother, who passed away in 2009; I know in my heart that she was happy to have seen me achieve my goals. I have also taken comfort in having spent two years with her before she died. Finally, I want to thank John Miksic, a steadfast pillar of support who spent countless hours critiquing my work, discussing with me many issues I faced writing this book, gave me courage to push through all the obstacles which can stymie early career academics, and made me believe that I could do this. This book is also dedicated to him for believing in me. As William of Baskerville states: "The good of a book lies in its being read:' I hope that this work will earn merit by being read by as many readers as

xvi

Preface

possible, not only those interested in Burmese history, but also those interested in the act of writing. Only if this book is read can it enter into dialogue with other works on Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and intellectual and world history. It will become one of the books within libraries which converse with one another not only by existing in the same space, but intertextually through references to each other and other literary works beyond the walls of academe, in monasteries and private collections. Long may this conversation continue. Geok Yian Goh a.k.a. War War Shin Min 2014

THE WHEEl-TURNER ANO HIS HOUSE

Introduction

In 2006, the Burmese government moved the nation's capital from Yangon to a site approximately 320 kilometers north, near Pyinmana. One of the first images published by international news media shows files of soldiers marching on the parade ground in the new capital named Naypyidaw (literally "royal abode of the sun;' a term used to refer to "royal capitals" of precolonial Burmese kings), under the watchful gaze of three giant statues. These images depict Anawrahta (an 11th -century king of Bagan, considered by traditional Burmese historiography as the first unified Myanmar kingdom), Bayinnaung (a 16th -century king of Hanthawati-Taungngu, the second unified Myanmar kingdom), and Alaunghpaya (an 18th-century king of the Konbaung dynasty, Myanmar's third unified kingdom). Through these evocations of Myanmar's glorious precolonial history, the current military leaders are laying a monumental claim to have inherited symbolic legitimacy from three kings whom past generations of Burmese chronicles portrayed as empire builders. This point was made explicit in Senior-General Than Shwe's speech marking the 61st anniversary of the Burmese armed forces. 1 The head of the military junta referred to King Anawrahta as a leader who embodied military values, which the tatmadaw or armed forces claim to perpetuate. This portrayal is exclusively traditional; it involves a transformation in the characterization of the 11th -century king. Anawrahta is better known in Burmese historical chronicles for his religious actions than his military feats, particularly the importation of "Theravada'' Buddhism (considered to be orthodox) to the kingdom of Bagan. Now, however military leaders as well as the wider Burmese public perceive Anawrahta less as a pious Buddhist and more like a warrior who founded the first great kingdom of Myanmar. 2

4

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

This is only the latest example of the transformation of King Anawrahta's image in Burmese history. He has undergone several transmogrifications over time. The king's ascent to the status of one of Myanmar's foremost heroes in the 20th century, however, is striking. His name and supposed exploits are now widely recounted not only in official propaganda, but in many forms of popular Myanmar culture. A discussion of Anawrahta's treatment in a long sequence of historical and literary traditions is relevant to more than just Myanmar history. The evolution of his image over a millennium can be used to explore a much more universal theme: the intricate relationship between history and memory. Anawrahta's role in reflections about Myanmar's past over the centuries is attested in the form of artifacts that bear his name or title. Elaborate narratives of his life began to be compiled and preserved largely in chronicles produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. The reliance on circumstantial material evidence for proof of Anawrahta's existence has significant repercussions for an analysis of the interaction between history and memory. Clay remnants bearing the king's title, representing fragmentary memories of Anawrahta, became the basis on which later compilers of history constructed the historicity of the king. Memory informs history; in this sense, onomastics played a significant role, where the naming of things gives them presence. 3 By examining the origin and formal variations of names and titles, one can demonstrate how memory influences the construction and production of knowledge about specific historical persons such as Anawrahta. At the very least, by creating artifacts bearing Anawrahta's name (or title, Aniruddha) such as inscriptions and votive tablets, the king's existence no longer constitutes a memory or figment of imagination, but becomes tangible. This commission of the king's personal name and later title to stone inscriptions and clay tablets also marks an important connection between memory and writing. Writing has greater staying power and allows commemoration to last for posterity. Similar to the inscriptions and votive tablets, Anawrahta's story in earlier historical sources receives only brief mention. The oldest datable Burmese chronicle, Shin Thilawuntha's Yazawingyaw, can be safely dated no earlier than the 16th century. It does not mention Anawrahta. It took at least two more centuries before extended narrative accounts of the 11th -century king were created. The first of this later generation of texts was most certainly U Kala's Mahayazawingyi, completed sometime in 1720, which contains the first known elaborate narrative account of Anawrahta, founder of Bagan. The relationship between history and memory features prominently in this study of Anawrahta in Burmese historiography, and it illuminates the

Introduction

5

process through which many societies such as those in Southeast Asia have constructed historical memories about early kings and developed elaborate narratives characterizing them as archetypes of exemplary and heroic figures. The relationship between memory and history continues to be a fertile field of study in the discipline of history. Much scholarship has focused on the manipulation and suppression of memory, both individual and collective, and the implications of these actions for the construction of knowledge about the past through the medium of history. 4 "History" in this book is loosely defined as the past, or more particularly, knowledge about the past, which may appear in the form of writing, graphic and symbolic representations, and oral "texts:' Elaborate descriptions of Anawrahta in Burmese historical texts which postdated his reign by seven centuries represent a clear case of manipulation of memory, rather than suppression. Although this book builds to a significant extent on the theoretical works of the past 20 years, it differs in its attitude toward the relationship between history and memory. This relationship between these two sets of ideas about the past need not be antithetical. The skepticism of postcolonial and postmodern scholarship has overemphasized the manipulative aspect of history over memory, particularly collective memory. 5 The idea that history puts flesh on the skeletal framework of memory is now often considered to be naive and uncritical; it is more common in historical scholarship today to highlight the conscious agendas and calculated undertakings of compilers of history and professional historians. The account of Anawrahta's various transformations could theoretically be seen as but another instance of this distortion of the past for the use of people and groups from a different time. The earliest lengthy narratives of Anawrahta clearly flesh out collective memory of the king and reveal little more than superficial aspects of his personality. One can emphasize the inference that the construction of these extended narratives was motivated by the compilers' desire to produce a genealogy of continuous royal reigns for the sole purpose of lending legitimacy to the incumbent leadership. As an alternative, one could use this material for an entirely different, constructive, and therefore a positive rather than negative deconstructive project: to highlight the process of writing and the cross-cultural context and the particular issue of influences during which these texts were produced. Memory is an important theme in this study. This term is used to designate a particular set of literary formulations that depicted Anawrahta as a "heroic figure" centuries after his death. In the case of Greco-Roman and Western traditions, memory evolved in close coordination with the advent and development of writing. 6 The study of this parallelism has been closely

6

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

connected with the wider field of the examination of social evolution and urban development. 7 The key link in the interconnectedness of memory and writing has to do with the "rise of two forms of memory" :8 the first form is represented by a commemorative monument, the second by an inscription. In the case of monuments, temples and other structures represent physical emblems of memory, whereas inscriptions can be found in media ranging from stone and copper to perishable materials such as bone, cloth, clay, bark, or palm leaves. 9 Myanmar (and Southeast Asian societies in general) have long possessed both monumental and epigraphic representations of memory. Even though the advent of literacy and writing, especially in the last five centuries, no doubt brought the representation of narrative to new heights, the concept of memory already flourished in pre-existing oral and semi literate societies. In truth, most societies are not purely literate or purely oral; most societies, including those of Southeast Asia, displayed both oral and literate features for much of the historical period, including the 20th century. The gradual transition from greater dependence on orality to a structure of thought and society more reliant on literacy led to a transformation in the nature of memory, though one could argue that in some cases in Southeast Asia, this transformation was less obvious than in Western Europe, for example. The result of this transformation from oral to written memory is visible in the manner through which memory, in the sense of information about the past, is gathered, selected, stored, and preserved. This is achieved through the examination of content and medium. The "medium'' refers largely to the mechanism and technology employed to store memory, and in the case of collective memory, the practice of preserving and storing memory is undertaken society-wide. Le Goff appropriated the term "mnemotechnology" derived from Simonides of Ceos (c. 556-468 BCE) to refer to the "two principles of artificial memory": remembering images, and dependence on an order or organization of such images. 10 In his study of Matteo Ricci, a 17th-century missionary in China, the historian Jonathan Spence discussed the effectiveness of mnemotechnology, which proved useful in the Jesuit's study of the Chinese language and his ability to teach young Chinese scholars ways to increase their memory. Spence demonstrates how Ricci was able to employ mnemonic techniques, such as the mental creation of a palace with multiple rooms in which Ricci "stored" certain ideas, to help Chinese scholars to improve their rote learning skills. 11 Mnemotechnology employed in oral societies differs from that found in literate societies: the former employ "generative reconstruction;' while the latter rely on "mechanical memorization:' 12 In oral societies, mnemotech-

Introduction

7

nology uses formulas in memorization and emphasizes flexibility and creativity in the process of constructing and preserving memory. There is little concern for word-for-word ("literal") reproduction of any "text"; the concept of an accurate and original text does not exist in oral culture. Literate and semi literate societies rely on mechanical memorization. In them, verbatim reproduction is considered the only acceptable goal, and the idea of an original and authentic text is emphasized. Most theoretical works concerned with the transformation from orality to literacy treat these mental structures as two distinct but related entities and find significant changes in the way oral and literate societies construct, gather, and perceive "texts:' 13 Some scholars, mainly those who work on Southeast Asian "textual" traditions, take a different approach; they emphasize interconnections between orality and literacy and argue that both activities should not be perceived as mutually exclusive. 14 Even if both orality and literacy have coexisted for much of the premodern and modern periods in Southeast Asia, the transition from orality to literacy has certainly altered the way societies construct meaningful relationships between the past, history, and memory. The differences present themselves in technology, media, and the way people, both producers and consumers of the texts, perceive the world. The interplay between orality and literacy is a dynamic process which influences the production of knowledge about the past as history and history as a reproduction of the past in various media. Literacy, and particularly the adoption of writing to record past events and figures, has certain repercussions for collective memory, since written "texts" present complete and fully developed narratives of events, ideas, and people. As Ong argues, writing "restructures consciousness" and encourages introspectivity. 15 Orality is considered a dynamic activity; this refers not only to the exchange between the teller and his/her audience, but also to the process of the recitation of oral accounts. Writing itself is considered introspective; the creation of a written text is a passive activity, and the writer and the reader rarely meet and are only cursorily aware of the existence of each other. Introspectivity also refers to the process via which the writer and reader internalize the written text, without being consciously aware of the objective context of the production of the written text and the world in which such a text was produced. Through writing, accounts presented in a written text become an integral and undeletable part of collective memory. As mentioned above, writing also introduces the twin issues of originality and authenticity through the concept of the first written account or description which is considered the original from which later copies are produced.

8

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

Analysis of the twin processes of orality and literacy and their relationship with memory also involves another related consequence of the memory process: forgetting. Forgetting affects the relationship between memory and history: what gets forgotten and what is supposed to be forgotten through omission. Forgetting, whether deliberate or involuntary, contributes much to the dynamics of writing the history or historiography of the past. Forgetting can result from mnemonic paralysis, which refers to a process of conflation in which characteristics of both real (people whose existence can be verified by reliable evidence) and legendary (people for whom little or no reliable evidence exists) figures are confused and combined into one. This sometimes results from lapses in memory, but it more often results from deliberate attempts made by authors and compilers of texts to alter images of historical figures to serve political, religious, and sociocultural functions. Mnemonic paralysis clearly occurred in the process of Anawrahta's development from a rather obscure and poorly documented figure into a devout Buddhist king, though not without character flaws, and finally into the founder of the first unified Myanmar kingdom and an empire builder. At first glance, Anawrahta's story bears a resemblance to the accounts of Asoka in the avadana tradition, the Mauryan Indian king of 3rd century BCE whose conversion to Buddhism preceded conquests and merit works of great magnitude. It is highly probable that the model king that Anawrahta represents is derived from a mixture of ideal archetypal kings and perhaps some actual rulers who lived during the period between Bagan and the Restored Taungngu periods; the latter represents the time frame when U Kala constructed the earliest extant elaborate account of the lith-century king. In other words, Anawrahta is a composite figure possessing a set of qualities derived from different kings, mythical and real, who were considered to be worthy of note. A study of changing perceptions of this 11thcentury king shows that the largely circumstantial evidence for the original Anawrahta contains none of his personal attributes; instead it highlights his persona as a devout Buddhist king. Extended narrative accounts, most produced in the 18th and 19th centuries, come from a variety of possible sources, ranging from earlier but no longer extant documents, oral traditions, and outside texts to narrative traditions. It is likely that circumstantial testimony of Anawrahta's existence made him an optimal choice for the compilers of Burmese history who wished to construct a narrative tradition about a Burmese Buddhist king who is recognized as a cakravartin (literally "wheel-turner" and often defined as the ideal universal monarch). This book will examine why the 18th century represents an important watershed in the historiography of Anawrahta in great detail. There are

Introduction

9

numerous subsidiary questions to consider, among which perhaps the most obvious but unfortunately impossible to answer is this: were there earlier extended accounts of the 11th -century king which were destroyed in a fire which engulfed the Ava palace sometime after U Kala completed his composition? If there were, it is possible that extended descriptions of Anawrahta were found in one or more sources, among the over 70 texts which U Kala consulted. 16 This point can never be proven as no extant documents remained from the palace fire. Another hypothesis is that U Kala was indeed the first scholar to put together a detailed account of Anawrahta as well as extended descriptions of other Bagan kings, including Kyanzittha and Alaungsithu. Possible reasons that could have influenced U Kala to do so will be addressed in greater detail later in this book, but as a preliminary statement one could say that his composition evolved from both personal views regarding Burmese kingship and history as well as the socio-political and religious circumstances of U Kala's time. It is proposed that U Kala's choice of Anawrahta was not random, but deliberate. U Kala positioned Anawrahta as an important figure in the history of Burmese Buddhism and "the Myanmar nation'' (defined literally as the space and extent of what constituted the Restored Taungngu polity). This portrayal reflects a view of Burmese kingship and Myanmar history which U Kala might well have shared with his contemporaries as well as later generations of writers who were responsible for the "rain of [imperial] chronicles" produced after the MahayazawingyiY Anawrahta's development as a literary icon is closely linked to the importance of literacy and writing in Burmese society. Interestingly detailed descriptions of Anawrahta and his deeds are not confined to Burmese historical texts, but extend to non-Burmese texts. The earliest extant non-Burmese narrative account of Anawrahta is a Pali text compiled in Northern Thailand, the Jinakalamalipakaranam, which dates to the early 16th century. The account of Anawrahta in the Jinakalamalipakaranam is closely linked to the development of writing; it demonstrates that Bagan-Myanmar's literate tradition predated that of Northern Thailand. 18 Anawrahta (as Aniruddhadeva of Arimaddana) was probably mentioned in an earlier Northern Thai text, Bodhiramsi's Camadevivamsa, which was written in the vernacular. However, the section of the work which would have related Anawrahta's presence and activities in Northern Thailand is unfortunately one of several which are missing in the only manuscript recension known. In their translation, Swearer and Premchit inserted the account from the Jinakalamalipakaranam to replace the missing part in the Camadevivamsa, believing that the former text derived many of its indigenous accounts from the latter. 19 If the Camadevivamsa did contain a description of Anawrahta (Aniruddhadeva), it

10

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

would have been the earliest extended narrative account of the 11th-century king: the text dates back to the early 15th century. There is another earlier short description of a Burmese king bearing the title Anuruddhadeva, in the Sri Lankan chronicle, Culavamsa, which can be dated to the 13th century, but additions and revisions continued to be made to this work until the 19th century; there is no means of determining the stage of development of the text at which the account of Anawrahta was inserted. 20 The fact that the earliest extended accounts of Anawrahta came from sources outside Myanmar sets the stage for developing the assertion that a Buddhist ecumene (originating from the Greek term, "oikoumene" which refers to the idea of a shared single "house") existed during a certain point in history: a common Buddhist world within which several flourishing Buddhist centers acted as nodes within a network. Along the paths of this network, information (ideas, ideology, philosophy, religious views disseminated largely through oral contexts), written texts (scriptures, sutras, commentaries), Buddha's relics, and other Buddhist implements (votive tablets, amulets, bells, vajras, etc.) traveled along routes via which traders, pilgrims, and other travelers also moved. The Buddhist ecumene encompassed the South and Southeast Asian regions, in which Bagan-Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Northern Thailand formed the three main centers of Buddhism. The ecumene did include earlier Buddhist polities in India and China, where earlier Buddhism was practiced, traveled and spread. The historicity of a Buddhist ecumene can be measured through a discussion of the extended Buddhist network which ran along commercial and pilgrimage land and sea routes and a comparison of limited contemporary and later textual sources which refer to either the idea of a common world shared by the three major centers or intertextual references to the other contemporary centers. 21 The Buddhist ecumene differs from other ideas that propose interconnectedness among various Buddhist or religious communities. Unlike Collins' Pali imaginaire, 22 for example, which relies on the idea of an imagined community of Pali users, monks and scholars, the Buddhist ecumene embraces religious ideas, not in the intellectual and theological sense, but rather as tools to understand the world, and more significantly, the wisdom derived from religious ideology representing ways to manage this-worldly practices in a righteous manner, much like that of a cakravartin as a world conqueror. 23 The ecumene can be described as a commonwealth comprising rulers, elites, and populations who inhabited lands that were Buddhist or partook of Buddhist lifestyle and practices. Buddhist ideas were transmitted within the ecumene via vernacular languages and although orthodoxy might appear to have been important, variant practices were tolerated. The ecumene dif-

Introduction

11

fers from Collins' model of the Pali imaginaire in the sense that though Pali constituted one of the languages used in the transmission of Buddhist ideas, it was not the main medium of information transfer. A second difference is the difference between an imagined spatial and temporal entity bound by a common shared language (Pali imaginaire) and a geographically bound spatial entity with a common shared system of religious values mitigated by an emphasis on exemplary kingship (Buddhist ecumene). Here the account of Anawrahta of Bagan intersects the reconstructed Buddhist ecumene. It is the historicity of the Buddhist ecumene and its parallel development coinciding with the rise of Anawrahta of Bagan, which laid the foundation for the casting of the king as a "heroic figure" and a cakravartin. Cakravartin and "hero" are two important and potentially controversial concepts. Cakravartin refers literally to the "turner of the wheel" and is closely associated with the idea of a "universal monarch;' a central symbol appropriated by early compilers of South and Southeast Asian history to refer to their kings. The exploration of the etymology of cakravartin will shed more light on the hypotheses being developed in this book, and an explanation of its significance in Buddhist kingship ideology will test the conclusion of whether the antithetical concepts of world conqueror/world renouncer proposed by Tambiah still hold true in the light of subsequent research on early state formation and Buddhist kingship in Southeast Asia. 24 In particular, this book will explore the importance of the cakravartin in the politico-religious traditions of Myanmar, Northern Thailand, and Sri Lanka. It will consider the choice made by early Burmese compilers of history and perpetuated by their descendants to depict Anawrahta as a cakravartin in the Buddhist ecumene, an idea shared by Northern Thai and Sri Lankan histories. Related toI the coveted status of cakravartin is the characterization of the cakravartin as a heroic figure, and in the case of Anawrahta, the transformation of the 11th-century Buddhist king. Anawrahta evolved from a cakravartin into a devout but flawed heroic king who aspired to be a cakravartin, and finally in the 20th century, into a national cultural hero with warlike propensities. The word "hero" itself carries its own baggage of Eurocentric notions of hubris and flawed character. Essential to this discussion is the need to define the "hero" in Burmese and Southeast Asian societies: what constitutes a "hero"? What are the Burmese and/or Southeast Asian equivalents of the Greco- Roman and Western "hero"? A contemporary Burmese characterization of"hero" is thu yei kaung (:>.(~GemS:), which literally means a good soldier or warrior.

12

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

Burmese primary sources and secondary critical works are probed in order to achieve twin objectives: to uncover the equivalents and meanings of the "hero" in Southeast Asia, and to provide a critical account of the transformation of Anawrahta in the Burmese historical and literary traditions_ The Burmese sources are put in historical context through comparison with primary and secondary Chinese texts, and translations of Northern Thai and Sri Lankan texts. Chinese sources consulted include Song Shi, Song Hui Yao, Ke Shu, Yuan Shi, etc; Northern Thai materials include ]inakalamalipakaranam and Camadevivamsa, and in the case of Sri Lanka, various translations of the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, and Culavamsa. Primary Burmese language texts discussed include the principal Burmese chronicles: Shin Thilawuntha's ,p,.o8G,.o8~: Mahayazawingyi (Great chronicle), ca. 1720; Twinthin Taikwun Mahasitthu's '\:>,.o8:x>S Yazawinthit (New chronicle), ca. 1798; and 'i+~~''P,.o8Goo~~: the Hmannan Yazawindawgyi (better known as the Glass Palace Chronicle), completed in 1829. These are all available in print. Other printed works include @:>oo:>Goo~ ~'\:>,.o8 Zatadawpon Yazawin (Chronicle of royal horoscopes), original composition date unknown, and ~~'P,.o8 Man Yazawin (Mon chronicle), original composition date unknown. Many other Burmese works, most of which exist only in the form of palm-leaf manuscripts and fewer in parabaik (accordion-folding books), are used for comparison with the four main chronicles. Examples of these unpublished works include the 'lo'l:>,.o8 Bagan Yazawin (Bagan chronicle), original composition date unknown. Several recensions exist, but the main one used in this study was copied in 1795. Others consist of a range of texts, such as U Azza's Yazawin and Bagan Yazawin Paungkhyup (Anthology of Bagan Chronicles). The palmleaf manuscripts were mainly consulted in the collections of the Universities Historical Research Commission and the Universities Central Library in Yangon, and the British Library's Oriental and India Office Collection in London. Among the palm-leaf manuscripts are several recensions of U Kala's Mahayazawingyi (hereafter MYG) and the Hmannan Yazawindawgyi (hereafter Hmannan). Critical examination of different recensions of the same manuscript is useful in deriving an understanding of the way texts were produced, copied, and used. 25 The variations among these texts range from slight to substantial, and analyzing them allows one to see which text or group of texts contains the first elaborate narrative accounts of Anawrahta, and whether later writers copied these accounts verbatim or altered them, either by focusing on specific aspects of the 11th-century king's reign, or by changing elements of his

Introduction

13

stories. This is standard procedure for the analysis of manuscript culture and traditions, but has not yet been seriously pursued in the historiography of Myanmar. This approach to examining manuscript culture focuses on the recognition and "study of interactions between the language of a text, the manuscript matrix, and the social contexts and networks they inscribed:' 26 Central to this idea of manuscript culture is the view that physical manuscripts are but "part of a continuum of sacred objects" such as buildings and art within the Buddhist milieu. 27 Interestingly, this view of manuscripts as sacred objects which should be revered may only be applied to the Tipitaka, and may not include certain Buddhist manuscripts. Physical manuscripts containing texts of historical chronicles (yazawin and thamaing) and other texts (egyin and pya) are not considered sacred objects in Myanmar. This marks a clear difference between Burmese and other Southeast Asian manuscript cultures where palm-leaf and other manuscript media are revered as objects in their own right, like relics of the Buddha. 28 The advent of print also has some important implications for manuscript culture. It desacralizes Buddhist manuscripts; it "popularizes" history, which had remained an elite enterprise for much of the premodern period until the mass production of texts was made possible; it allows critical analysis and commentary on the text to be presented on the same page; and it encourages private ownership of "texts:' Print also creates a new technology and way of perceiving the world and one's role in it. 29 The introduction of print culture altered the production and consumption of Burmese historical texts, yazawin. Print culture alters the relationship between the producer, the text, and the audience. Print paves the way for the promotion of an "imagined community" in facilitating a sense of shared ideology, experience, or past; 30 this idea has been applied by others in the examination of the impact of the vernacular press and print culture on nationalism. 31 The concept of an "imagined community" and the importance of print for Burmese nationalism are pertinent to studying how this new technology shaped and transformed the role of the individual (Anawrahta as heroic king, for instance) in collective memory. Beyond these, however, there is a need to examine the impact of print on manuscript culture, where changes in the production technology, the ease of mass production, and the appropriation of Western commentarial and editorial techniques of making annotations transform the way people approach the earlier historical sources. These and other issues related to orality, literacy, and print will be examined in greater detail. This book examines how a latent heroic figure, Anawrahta, an 11thcentury king of Bagan, is treated in the specific setting of Burmese historiography, and then compares his treatment in Northern Thai and Sri Lankan

14

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

historical traditions. The examination of Anawrahta as a heroic figure can in turn illuminate a broader geographical and temporal context for understanding interaction between history and memory, and how this relationship influences the historiographical process and provides for the development of different historical traditions of writing. This work is not a superficial appropriation of ideas and concepts associated with the interaction between history and memory. It shows how the construction of narrative accounts of a historical figure should be seen within a wider framework which should not be restricted to nation, region, area, era, epoch, or period. This study presents an interesting example of a case of mnemonic paralysis, wherein a suggestion of what may constitute historical amnesia may be considered to have taken place between the Bagan and the Restored Taungngu periods, after which compilers of history began to construct a national hero from the skeletal remains of a person by putting flesh on his bones, some derived from other historical and heroic persons, some completely manufactured. Whether mnemonic paralysis results from the reality of the unfortunate loss of an important corpus of texts due to the Ava fire, or a hint of loss suggested by the stark contrast between the dearth of information on Anawrahta and his extended narratives presented in U Kala's Mahayazawingyi, the king does appear to have been brought back to life in U Kala's work.

CHAPTER ONE

The Genesis of the King

Anawrahta or Aniruddhadeva (r. 1044-77) reigned in Arimaddana-Bagan, the capital of classical Myanmar between the 11th and the 14th centuries. The site is located next to the Ayeyarwaddi River in the central plains (see map 1). Burmese people traditionally see Anawrahta as the "founder" of the first Burmese empire who also established Buddhism as the national religion at Bagan. He initiated the expansion of the Burmese kingdom southward to the borders of the modern Burmese nation-state. A few extant temples are attributed to Anawrahta's 33-year reign, but votive tablets inscribed with the title "Aniruddhadeva'' (or as ''Anuruddhadeva''), which he used for himself, are found over a large part of Myanmar (see map 2). One contemporary, one near-contemporary, and two to three later inscriptions also mention this king. Narrative accounts of Anawrahta and his reign are found in later Burmese chronicles, at least two Northern Thai texts, and the Sri Lankan Culavamsa (CV). Anawrahta or Aniruddha's characterization as a cakravartin was first made in a 1207 inscription from the Lokananda Pagoda in Bagan. The inscription bears the description: Cakkravatiy Anuruddha. 1 This is an example of references later kings made to Anawrahta, presenting Anawrahta as a cakravartin ("turner of the wheel [of the law]") or universal monarch. Lokananda is one of four Buddhist pagodas said to house the Buddha's tooth relics obtained by Anawrahta from Sri Lanka. The other three are the Shwezigon, Tangyidaung, and Tuywindaung pagodas (see map 3). Whether the events associated with the placement of four tooth relics at these four sites did occur during the 11th century cannot be conclusively established. The accounts stem from the Burmese chronicle tradition, and the earliest extant text bearing this information dates to the early 18th century. Earlier sources were cited in this and

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"""" :oSo:?: ). Ayedawpan are prose accounts usually devoted to a king and his military campaigns, with the best-known example being an account of King Rajadhiraj (1385-1423). Shaukhtan or "decisions/submissions" consist of "collections of brief accounts of famous legendary or historical cases or events, retold in simple narrative style to serve as precedents or guides to action for rulers:' 12 These are usually presented in the form of a dialogue between a king and his trusted minister in a format consisting of questions and answers. Khin Maung Nyunt suggests that the Taungngu period was characterized by two features: the absence of monastic writers and the almost complete elimination of linkar and pya. 13

76

THE WHEEL-TURNER AND HIS HOUSE

As literary culture flourished in the Restored Taungngu (Nyaung Yan) period (1597-1752), the use of prose became increasingly restricted to subjects considered to be of a non-religious nature. These included legal and grammatical texts, chronicles, and interpretive works on Pali scriptures. 14 New literary forms created in this period include lutar (an :em:), tayachin ( 91 ')~8: ), pyazat (~~noS), and yazawin (,p(to8). 15 Lutar are lyrical poems in which each stanza begins with the first part of the last line of the preceding stanza. Tayachin are a kind of classical songs that begin and end on the same musical note. Pyazat are plays, which often appropriated themes derived from the Jatakas, especially the last Ten Jatakas. Yazawin ('l')(to8) (Pali rajavamsa) are chronicles focusing on themes such as the genealogy of kings, successions of kingdoms, dedications to and patronage of Buddhism, and military campaigns. The Restored Taungngu period during which U Kala's Mahayazawingyi was compiled epitomizes the peak of prose writing. 16 Another prose form which became popular during this time was the amedawpon (3dG~:Goo~~ ), a collection of explanations in answer to the king's questions regarding religion, state, and government. The amedawpon very likely originated from the shaukhton form. The Nyaung Yan period also saw the re-emergence of monastic writers. The Konbaung period ( 17 52-1885), during which many older verse forms such as pya and linkar were revived, was renowned for its variety of literary forms. The yazawin compiled during this period are considered the most refined examples of this genre. Thamaing (;:x,~8:) became an important prose form, especially in the 20th century. Thamaing comprises works written in prose that record events such as the foundations of pagodas and monasteries and local histories. During the Konbaung period, Twinthin Taikwun Mahasitthu completed the Yazawinthit (YT), 17 and numerous other important yazawins were produced including the Monywe Hsayadaw's ~G§.'~(J)')'P.:>.,:oo~:" 11s 2 '55'""91s,~ 118 "Th§~.coaS "B"'aS'laS cuS~, jjC""""'coaScm: GC\o:'\aS'II ~:Gro::>.:>~ll \P' 'r'r""'d3'(' I\82'55'""'"9JS09.o8 Goo'>8"68: ~: ~[. G§'>aSO':>aS~~[."/rocS fr®~ 3>Gjj.~cS:[9S~, ai/3>::>.:>~~:::r.>aoSmo8

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Born in Sakkaraj 815 [1453 CE], a Friday son, he was younger than Shin Ottama Kyaw and Shin Ohn Nyo by six days, and older than Shin Khemar by four days. His birthplace, just like that of Shin Ottama Kyaw, was located in the eastern part of Lulin village north of Taungtwingyi city. His father was an athi (free man) U Kyi and his mother was Daw Dwe, the chief natkadaw (nat wife/spirit medium) of that place. His name in his early youth was Maung Nyo. The young Shin Thilawuntha, Maung Nyo, when he was at the age of a schoolboy, was enthusiastic and quick to compose extraordinary verses such as pyo, kabyar, and linka. 2

In 1491, Shin Thilawuntha wrote his first pya, the ulq~r;:ooS•+~l. Paramidaw Khan Pya ("Epic Poem on Episode of Noble Acquired Virtue"), which rendered in verse the stories of Lord Buddha's ten previous lives. Desiring to develop further his poetic skills, Shin Thilawuntha requested permission from the hsayadaw of his monastery to go to Ava's capital a year later, but it was denied. He eventually obtained permission to go to the capital and at the age of 25 became the understudy of Shin Rathasara (Yathathaya). He wrote several mawguns including oooo'J:e:oo~ .. f>ro'JGIDo'5GooS G..s06 +: Tantar Uti Mingalazedidaw Mawgun, a few other pyas including ""/Goo'J8:e+:~l. Hsutaung Khan Pya, and a chronicle, 6'['J"o8r;:.:>~8: (History of Burmese literature) that Thilawuntha translated the Mahavamsa from Pali and used it in his compilation of Yazawingyaw, which is divided into three sections: .. ~ .. 'P"o8 ("Mizzima chronicle;' beginning with the reign of Mahasammata5 and ending with Dhammasoka), o'39'P"o8 ("Ceylon/Sri Lanka chronicle;' from Wijaya until Mahanan), and §+ ..'J6'['J"o8 ("Myanmar chronicle;' beginning with Dwattabaung and covering the period up to the reign of Ava king Maha Thihathu). Thilawuntha called his compilation .. oo'J::>.:>IIoo6::>.:>-o: 1 §8 :moSXJ"il IIO':~:~uStmoS"il""9'""~oSoooSX>"il II:T.>a?~.X>-ooooS "il I 3:>G01JS)3:>GofJ:T.>G01t 3:>01] &oo oSXJ "il llgjl"il~ .a'? G!l_: GOOS)\!~ Xl':l: Jl: "G'f" llaSGQl ')G:T.>-ot ~ .GOOS)\!~"""6 oS 3:> ')O~G~ ')X>~ I

Beginning with the network of good elephants, good horses, warriors and soldiers present in Zinme, the painters, wood and ivory carvers, turners, craftsmen skilled in making decorative work in stucco relief, blacksmiths, gold- and silver-smiths, craftsmen skilled in casting bronze, copper or brass, masons, craftsmen skilled in lacquer-making, mortar or cement makers, physicians of elephant medicine, persons possessing knowledge of elephants (elephant trainers), physicians of horse medicine, persons possessing knowledge of horses (horse trainers), dyers, weavers and curtain-makers; all who were skilled in textile, those skilled in perfume-making, and persons trained in use of bowsaw, making cannons and guns; and skilled in the making of ships and boats were all chosen and together with their wives and sons, were ordered to be sent to Hanthawati and each and every group without mixing was given areas that had been systematically demarcated. 18

The categories of craftspeople abducted in the Zinme campaign are similar to those taken to Bagan from Thaton except for a few categories: mortar or cement makers, dyers and weavers, and lacquer makers. Another interesting difference is the reference to the placement of these craftspeople into separate communes. This suggests that there was already a high degree of segregation of economic and commercial activities in Hanthawati-Taungngu in the mid-16th century. The earlier description of craftspeople taken from Thaton to Bagan indicates an attempt to keep these groups separate during the journey, but there was no mention of settlement of specific groups in specific areas of Bagan.

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The capture of peoples skilled in the arts and crafts and in war was a recurring phenomenon, especially between the early 16th and late 18th centuries when a series of wars occurred between Myanmar (Hanthawati-Taungngu and Ava) and Thailand (Zinme and Ayutthaya). U Kala might have added details taken from more recent examples such as Hanthawati's attacks on Zinme and Ayutthaya and inserted these into the accounts of Anawrahta's campaigns, such as the expedition to Thaton. Writing in the early 18th century, U Kala would most likely have come across Northern Thai accounts regarding an 11th-century king of Arimaddana Pugarama, such as the JKM. Whether he based his narrative of Anawrahta's reign on Northern Thai texts or other sources which might have disappeared as a result of a fire in Ava around the 1730s is impossible to prove. 19 It is possible that both are true: U Kala knew about the Northern Thai texts and that there was indeed a corpus of Burmese language works he used, which was destroyed in the fire. A number of these texts would have included the "quality texts" he collected. The similarity between Hanthawati's seizing of war spoils from Zinme and Bagan's attack on Thaton is peculiar. It would appear that U Kala simply replaced Bagan with Hanthawati and Thaton with Zinme. There are some slight differences between the two episodes. Narrative accounts of Anawrahta's expeditions contain fewer descriptions of actual violence and fighting. The Anawrahta expeditions also emphasized the importance of Buddhist concerns over conquests. Bagan's victory over Thaton was quick and resulted in very little loss of life, but it was not devoid of violence. Interestingly the violent act was commited by the Thaton king who commanded that the body of the captured elder Kala brother, one of Anawrahta's chief assistants, be chopped into four parts. These body parts were then buried at four locations around Thaton's city walls to prevent Anawrahta's forces from entering the city. U Kala's description of the Thaton campaign reveals his literary flair in presenting an account of what could have happened during Anawrahta's conquest of Thaton. 20 Michael Aung-Thwin suggests two reasons why U Kala wrote about Anawrahta's Thaton campaign in the MYG. He argues that since during U Kala's time Ava no longer had control over Lower Myanmar, the story of the Thaton campaign and Bayinnaung's later conquest of western mainland Southeast Asia represented attempts to revive memories of a glorious past when Upper Myanmar was the "center of the universe:' 21 Aung-Thwin also indicates that U Kala might have been influenced by religious reforms undertaken by the kings of the Nyaung Yan period. This religious revival might have inspired U Kala to emphasize the religious aspects of Anawrahta's reign, especially Shin Arahan's role in promulgating Theravada Buddhism in 11th -century

U Kala and the Anawrahta Story

95

Bagan. 22 It is noteworthy that the sections pertaining to Anawrahta's reign in the MYG focus largely on Buddhism and military expeditions undertaken when negotiations failed, whereas the narrative accounts of HanthawatiTaungngu emphasize conquests and warfare. The above discussions point to some larger religio-political circumstances to which U Kala was an eye-witness during the developments in the 1710s, and these might have led him to produce elaborate descriptions of the Bagan kings, beginning with Anawrahta. However, these do not explain U Kala's detailed description of Anawrahta and the specific set of personality traits he gave the 11th-century king. To understand the milieu in which the Anawrahta in the MYG and his story were constructed, one has to look at how the three concepts (loka, dhamma, and yaza!raja) intersect in U Kala's work and thus provide a basis for understanding the motivations of U Kala. The clues to understanding U Kala's meticulous construction of the Anawrahta story lies in the MYG and the sources the 18th-century writer used to produce his work.

Loka in the Anawrahta Story: The Early 18th Century and Arimaddana-Bagan The loka of U Kala can be described as the intellectual, political and social world within which he constructed the elaborate narratives of Anawrahta and other kings of the Bagan period. What were the political and social conditions during the time U Kala was compiling his MYG? To what extent did these factors motivate him to produce the MYG? Lieberman sums up in a single statement: "Tanin-ganwei's reign (1714-1733) was far from the period of harmony pictured in the chronicles' stylized eulogY:' 23 The troubles Taninganwe had were not new, having earlier precedents such as during the reign of Myinyekyawhtin of the second half of the 17th century. A key problem was debt slavery. The king was losing soldiers and guards as these men were declaring themselves slaves to "ministers, princes, and other unnamed patrons" to avoid working for the crown. 24 The loss of such men meant a deficit of ahmudans for the king; these ahmudans played important roles in agricultural production in the irrigated regions of Kyaukse and Mu River. The loss of ahmudans and its impact on agricultural production resulted in "rice shortages at Ava during the latter part of the dynasty" and there were other concomitant factors which contributed to the general decline of the Ava polity. 25 An important factor that was indirectly addressed in the royal edicts of Taninganwe and Restored Taungngu rulers who preceded and succeeded

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him was the problem of ministerial power and abuse. During the latter part of the Restored Taungngu period ministerial power expanded, beginning with the increasing autonomy of the Twinthin Hmugyi. 26 The rivalry between ministers within the royal court contributed to maladministration and general decline in "administrative efficiencY:' 27 For instance, the years prior to Taninganwe's edict of 1715 saw "more intense factionalism that divided the government into opposing camps:' 28 The growing autonomy of the ministers and their ability to draw ahmudans to join their services rather than royal service also resulted in the growing weakness of the kingship. This saw the "wane of royal supervision of the irrigation works;' 29 which also contributed to reduced agricultural production and hence shortage of food. Royal supervision of irrigation works, especially construction and repairs, constituted an important duty of kingship. The failure to fulfil this role was not only symptomatic of weakness, but had a deleterious effect on royal legitimacy. The weakening of Ava kingship alSo extended to the general political situation of the 1710s through 1720s. A large proportion of the political problems Taninganwe faced can be attributed to the reign of his father, Sanei. When Sanei died in 1714, Tan inganwe found himself embroiled in a succession dispute competing against his uncle, the bayin of Bagan. Earlier in 1711, Sanei granted his brother control of Bagan and allowed him to establish "an independent court in the tradition of sixteenth-century bayins, with royal honors and without the usual provincial deputies:' 30 It is not surprising that when Sanei died, the brother contested the throne and this "precipitated a full-scale war between forces at Pagan and Ava." 31 Taninganwe's ahmudans were able to capture Bagan and quelled the rebellion, but the uprising had taken its toll on the reign of the new king. Chiang Mai, possibly inspired by the Bagan uprising and seizing the opportunity when Taninganwe's forces were withdrawn from outlying areas, became one of the first Thai polities to regain its independence during Taninganwe's reign. 32 "[S]uccessful revolts spread from the extreme upland perimeter of the empire to major Tai centers and finally to the Irrawaddy basin:'33 The series of revolts and raids from the periphery of Taninganwe's inherited empire and beyond could also be partially attributed to Sanei's policy toward the peoples of the outlying regions. Sanei did not deem the "elusive hill people, like the Manipuris" important enough to "warrant a further commitment of limited manpower;' and this set the stage for the growing threats which the Ava capital faced during the last decades of the Restored Taungngu period. 34 While some of these threats from extraterritorial regions did not occur in the 171 Os when U Kala was compiling the

U Kala and the Anawrahta Story

97

chronicle, the political problems the Ava court faced were symptomatic of the general decline of its kingship and increasing instability which the Burmese polity faced within the geo-spatial boundary of what it considered Myanmar proper. This describes the context within which U Kala first conceived of his plan to produce a great chronicle, a history not only of kings and religion, but a distinct "nation'': Myanmar. Lieberman suggests that the MYG probably represents the earliest work to contain an idea of a nascent "Myanmar" nation by telling "the story of the western mainland as a whole from earliest times to his own day, complete with an origin myth for the Burman people:' 35 The "format" of this work "became the norm for subsequent authors, including the Twin-thin-taik-wun, whose 1798 chronicle may have been the first to put "Burma'' (myan-ma) in its title:' 36 While the MYG's presentation of a complete narrative of the origin of Myanmar and the historical developments of each of its dynasties indicates the existence of an idea of a Myanmar "nation'' or "country;' there is also present in the work an idea of a larger world within which Myanmar existed. This larger world comprises countries that are Myanmar's neighbors with which the Myanmar nation had continued exchanges. One unifying characteristic joins Myanmar and these other places: Buddhism. By discussing the interactions of the various dynasties of Myanmar with these countries, the Myanmar nation was placed within a larger and overarching idea of a Buddhist loka. The loka that U Kala attempted to re-"construct" or revive was influenced by the sources which he consulted. These included external sources that enabled U Kala to conceptualize a world which extended beyond the boundary of the Myanmar "nation:' References to Anawrahta also played on the imagination of U Kala, who began to conceive of an early golden age of Myanmar supremacy, when a Bagan king was recognized and named in the texts of Ava's neighbors, Sri Lanka and Northern Thai polities which were attempting to regain autonomy from the weakened Restored Taungngu polity in the early decades of the 18th century. What were the sources 0 Kala consulted? Lieberman suggests that U Kala probably created some materials on classical Bagan and relied on existing chronicles for other narrative accounts. He does not specify, however, which materials may have been invented by U Kala and which could have been derived from older texts. 37 According to Pe Maung Tin, U Kala studied a variety of older chronicles including Shin Thilawuntha's chronicle (YG), ooGm'Jt:'f'@ot Tagaung Yazawin, and ~nli]_'J@ot Bagan Yazawin (hereafter BY), 38 inscriptions, egyins, mawguns, and anthologies; he summarized their contents, and edited them for compilation in his "Great Chronicle:' 39

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The History of Burmese Literature gives a list of sources including the different egyins which U Kala used in his compilation of history for the Taungngu and Restored Taungngu periods (15th through mid-18th centuries). Pe Maung Tin did not cite any specific sources, either indigenous or foreign, which U Kala might have appropriated for writing Bagan-period history. He merely states that: 'P'"ot:D~ .,S::r.>ooo5ooo59.~'i :r.>G§'oS:'IJS:oo '!P'~ ~~~GoT~tG=>t G'l':D'>:oo·o:G:D'>

91 s,I9SG:D')G6,? Gjl:G 11:cn "fs~,~G:D') .. s,"1~::D? :D~ :r.>G§'oS:'lP'~ G"6.~m :r.>"1~'0jl'P:D~II ~oS"68::D~ :r.>'llo5G"6.mro~: ill~"~oS

"68:G:r.>'>t oo8§898:a;p~ 9J?'P:D~u

The chronicle is a compilation of writings replete with the stories and events of the kings' reigns, therefore it notes and is supported by the accounts of the kings who ruled in the past. The rise and fall of kings' reigns beginning with Anawrahta are taken and copied. If wrong points are seen, they are now no longer inaccurate because the practice is to consider and compare [the sources]. 40 U Kala certainly knew about and used the Sri Lankan chronicles and the earlier Burmese chronicle by Shin Thilawuntha as sources of information and inspiration in his composition of the MYG. U Kala used the Mahavamsa (MV) to compile his accounts of King Mahasammata, King Asoka, the convening of the Three Buddhist councils, and genealogies of kings in India and Sri Lanka. It is also possible that U Kala used Shin Thilawuntha's chronicle, which contains the history of both India and Sri Lanka, based entirely on the MV. The parallel between Anawrahta and Asoka is remarkable. Asoka and Anawrahta distributed symbols of their support of Buddhism throughout their kingdoms via edict pillars and votive tablets, respectively; this might have prompted U Kala to construct accounts about Anawrahta by using episodes from Asoka's story. Both kings were converted to Theravada Buddhism by novice monks who preached the appamada doctrine. 41 The account of Anawrahta's conversion to Buddhism represents almost a verbatim representation of Asoka's own conversion in the MV. U Kala writing during the 171 Os probably also consulted the Culavamsa and noted the reference made in the Sri Lankan chronicle to Anuruddha and two instances where Arimaddana was described without reference to

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the king's Pali name. The reference to Anuruddha appears in Part I of the Culavamsa and relates the Bagan king's sending of bhikkhus to Sri Lanka. It is possible that U Kala saw the relative importance of Anuruddha and Bagan (rendered as Ramanna country in the CV) Buddhism to Sri Lanka as a further invitation to see and cast the 11th -century king as a cakravartin of sorts. U Kala was probably also aware of the 11th -century Lekthayshay inscription, which mentions a king named Anawradha. U Kala's choice to render the 11th-century king as Anawrahta, in Burmese nomenclature, rather than Aniruddha or Anuruddha, suggests that this was either an allusion to the inscription, or a deliberate comment on the Burmese (Burman) character of the king. This early 18th-century private scholar certainly believed that there had been an 11th -century king named Anawrahta; probably older and lesser-known local chronicles described the king, but no known extant copies survive. A fire at the royal palace in the 1730s is said to have destroyed many earlier manuscriptsY The only document older than U Kala's MYG which describes Anawrahta is the Northern Thai chronicle, the Jinakalamalipakaranam (hereafter JKM). Another Thai text also probably referred to Anawrahta: the Mulasasana, 43 a vernacular source which Ratanapanna might have consulted when he was compiling the JKM. 44 The JKM highlights the supernatural characteristics of Anuruddha (Anawrahta), differing in this respect from accounts in Burmese chronicles. However, both chronicle traditions agree that Anawrahta possessed a horse with supernatural abilities. Both chronicle traditions describe the subject of Anawrahta's expedition to Thaton, which resulted in the transfer of Buddhist scriptures to Bagan. It is curious that Northern Thai compilers should wish to include elaborate accounts of the Burmese king in their histories. Bagan of the 11th through 12th centuries must have become a fairly prominent center for Buddhist learning in order for the author of JKM to suggest that the kingdom of Haripunjaya derived its Buddhist tradition from both Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Aung-Thwin believes it likely that U Kala "had access to sources such as the Jinakalamali, perhaps brought back from the conquest of Chiang Mai'' in order to construct his narrative account of Anawrahta's campaigns. 45 However, he later qualifies his comment by suggesting that Anawrahta's narrative may have been incorporated during the rewriting of the JKM in the late 18th century. U Kala most likely knew about and read the Northern Thai chronicle because the JKM was composed in Pali, which U Kala as an educated scholar would have been able to read.

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U Kala's mother was a descendant of a Shan sawbwa; this could have increased the chance that he had access to the JKM or to sources written in Northern Thai language, such as the Mulasasana. There would have been no language barrier because U Kala's mother and/ or kinsfolk would have been able to read and translate the materials for him, had he not known Shan or Northern Thai language himself. 46 Aniruddha also appears in other recent Thai publications such as Anurut kham chan (Anuruddha in Chan verse) and Bot lakhon anurut roi rueang khong khun suwan (A hundred accounts of Anuruddha) by Khun Suwan, published in BE 2502 (1958) and BE 2503 (1959) respectivelyY Whether these Thai texts have earlier precedents is not definite, and even if these texts could only be traced to the 18th century, this suggests that the nomenclature "Anuruddha'' represents an important link between Myanmar and Northern Thai texts. The monk, Ratanapanna from the town of Phayao (present -day Chiang Rai), wrote the JKM in 2071 BE (1527 CE) based on the concluding passage of the palm-leaf manuscript recension dating back to the Ayutthaya period and written in Cambodian script. 48 In three separate accounts of this work, Anuruddha (Anawrahta) appears as both a powerful king with much supernatural ability, and a king full of religious zeal worthy of being called a cakravartin. Most notable is Anuruddha's possession of supernatural ability that allows him to travel across the sky and conjure magic, which awes the other king into submission. Anuruddha also ordered an Elder named Jotipala to send two pupils to Lanka to learn the scriptures. The two disciples, Ananda and another (unnamed), learned the Vinaya ganthipada and took these back to the city of"Puftftagama'' (Pugam or Bagan). 49 Interestingly, this account does not appear in the Burmese chronicles, except in the Pali-language Sasanavamsa (1861). Even the later description of Anuruddha's taking of the pi takas and the Jewel image from Sri Lanka does not appear in the MYG, where Anawrahta only receives the sacred tooth relic from Sri Lanka. This suggests that U Kala was either very selective in his choice of what to include from the JKM or the JKM was not a source he consulted, which is less likely based on the similarities of the Ramanna (or Thaton) account in the JKM and MYG. The JKM contains three separate accounts of Anuruddha's (Anawrahta of Bagan) exploits in three different places: Sri Lanka, Ramanna Country, and Mahanagara (i.e., Cambodia, the only place not mentioned in the Burmese chronicles). Only the reference to Ramanna or Thaton appears in the MYG. With relation to the account of Anuruddha's expedition against Thaton, this work "mentions for the first time three crucial details: the conquest of

U Kala and the Anawrahta Story

10 1

Manohara's city; his capture, exile, and death in Arimaddana (Pagan); and his building of a colossal recumbent image there:' 50 Aung-Thwin further states that: "Heretofore, no other source, epigraphic or chronicle, domestic or external, contained these three details in the same narrative:' 51 The MYG, as Aung-Thwin argues, does not contain the three details in the same narrative (my emphasis), but the information is divided among different sections. In addition, the Burmese compilers appear to credit Anawrahta with the building of the stupa and the reclining Buddha. The extensive allusions made to Mahanagara in the JKM are intriguing considering the complete absence of references to either Mahanagara or Angkor Thorn in the Burmese sources regarding Anawrahta's reign, except the Zinme Yazawin (ZY), which is the Burmese version of the Chiang Mai Chronicle. The reference to Mahanagara in the JKM is understandable as the region of Northern Thailand was not only much influenced by Bagan, but also Angkor. 52 There is only one reference to Cambodia within the context of Anawrahta's reign and this refers to the gywan (or Cambodians) invasion of Ussa Pegu in the MYG. The passage describes an expedition led by Anawrahtaminsaw's four generals to Ussa Pegu in Lower Myanmar to render assistance to the latter's battle with gywan rebels: 53 oo~G-o"i!a?EliGcuG:x>S "1Jt3: gj)"i(~:~: 9 Go.:noSa?.~t oSco'i' 00~ :=o?:i?.G:x>'OOO~:oo-ooo8 ooSG~"'il~ "".:>-o """'~""~a?.§ §§Gcuor~co'i'u 2=" .. 8'1'"'~ B~"il""d8:a?.""~(\)~: mha?.""~ "i1"~§S~ 'll"'!l"G:x>-oo'ii?"m-oqa?.§~ agoS;SGcu"?~'"'i'" 'dlll:lll~ """~"ooS ~"::D"Of'l"' ::D.,s ;).)~ "m""ros11 ""s"::D" 'It' t2:i31l"\l." ,.,oS,oS~'"i'"::D" """=""3 ::D'""ros 'tru"":x>"""~' """ "roS1,; :x> ~

My lineage is that of the line of Samma-sambuddha (universal Buddha), fully endowed with nine intrinsic virtues beginning with the essence of the three gems, six powers beginning with that rulership, and four incomprehensible truths beginning with incomprehensible wisdom. When you asked me whose

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doctrine do I follow? I accept the beautiful, fine, and subtle though difficult and profound teaching which come from the powerful place where the Lord Buddha who possesses the title of Samma-sambuddha preached.78>

Anawrahta is exhilarated to hear what the arahant has said and in his exuberance, he asks the latter to preach to him the doctrine of the Lord Buddha. Shin Arahan also preaches sermons to Anawrahta starting with the Appamada which Nigrodha gave to King Asoka. It was at this point in the MYG, that the allusion to Nigrodha and Asoka is made: ~8 3>'\m

roe: o3 ~Q~')g:l.)')OJ

t

.. 8: ~: 3>'): "5')QO,)')" gaog\1"'033>Ql~Go.:>'Oo::J')"""il§oo~§rq+®'lll cxii""'l~''lm+:cJ?."""il~? ""::8:::8:96"'?+ ~~~ SScJ?.ooH? G9JS ~') 9~:~~ 9a'?.3oS~ :x>o5

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!JG:>YX>jl~.OJ~g)lo~CJS~!J.CJSG::uS) m':iOCO'f~CJS~~II ll::r,~ ::uaS!JGOJ"O::>j!~.OJ~g)lO~CJS~!l_CJS

GOJS) o~-oth~oSm'f~aS~u g)lo?."'"'~GOJ-:> "lJ1aS"oo'P:GOJ"O '""'':!~.~ "':i"iJ.~ GOO-:>tp:~~~~ d/'toool:CD~: .,,s,,.,.,~GOJ-:>:.>1!:• ,.,.,aS, mCDt• ~'118, 9"~'· 9E]oS, ~~ ::>j!~.OJ"O:::>Jil:~ a%:§-o:S1 OO'L-'~.3>"0: 0~:2:GO:OJ~"il_~ ~2:mc(/::>j!~.:.>ooo?.~.'1"CD~~~~ ~G::u-ooS~~aS~oS'f o8S:§-o:'1G0J"O"il_~~~~ oo'Pm o~:e'""'i?aS :Y3:~ o8S:§-o:o"~"::uS ,.,2~'1JoS::u~lJ1 ~:'8-:>GOJ-:>t:~S~s'1"::u-o"il.~" illlo?. "lJ1aS o:>'P:GOJ-:>3>G6-ot:~.~ t:~:§-o:§8"ool)\l::u~m~GOJS) '1~~:GOJ-:> o1'1~GooS~::u~~S~

;S~~"ooS"Il"

During King Anawrahta's reign, it was called Paukkarama. Generations of kings in that kingdom accepted the doctrine of the 30 Ayegyi [Ari monks] and their 60,000 disciples living at Thamahti, and the wrong belief was established. They trusted unquestionably the beliefs of those Ari monks. They misled and deceived people by appropriating and expressing the people's wishes. The doctrine they taught was: "he who wishes to take another's life can escape karmic retribution if he recites this sutta. Similarly he who wishes to kill his parents would not be held accountable for breaking the five precepts of Buddhism if he recites this sutta." In this manner, they taught, beginning with incorrect and false wrongful beliefs, which they called "dhamma" (righteous law). From then on, the sons and daughters of all starting with and including the king, ministers, generals, village administrators, village officials, rich and wealthy, and common people, at the time when they were preparing to get married, must be sent to the teachers [the Ari monks] at nightfall, "to give the prime of their flower [their virginity]:· It was said that at dawn, they were freed and allowed to wed. The king having matured had become virtuous, and he was disconsolate to hear and observe such wrongful practices. 82

There are two points to note in this account in the MYG: 1) Anawrahta's repentance over his misdeed resonates with that of Asoka even though they committed different errors; and 2) the number of 60,000 is replicated in the Burmese account, but only in terms of the number of Ari monks' pupils; the number "30" referring to the Ari monk leaders, is a Burmese addition. The actual exile and punishment of the Ari monks are described in a different section, following the arrival of Shin Arahan in Bagan. The account deviates considerably from that of Asoka and Mahinda's defrocking of the heretical monks, although the roles of Anawrahta and Shin Arahan are parallel to Asoka and Mahinda respectively. Anawrahta ordered the defrocking of the Ari monks who were then placed in the king's cavalry and were made to do menial tasks such as collecting elephants' and horses' excrement.

U Kala and the Anawrahta Story

Ill

There are some essential differences between the two stories in the MV and MYG: 1) the Burmese chronicles describe in detail the incorrect doctrine and the wrongful practices of the heretics whereas the MV explains that in response to the king's questioning, the heretical monks stated their doctrines including the sassata doctrine, which are in opposition to that taught by the Lord Buddha; 2) the heretics were expelled during a purification ceremony which was conducted in Asoka's court, in contrast to the Burmese case where Anawrahta ordered his sentries to round up the monks and guard them, and 3) in the MV, the heretics did not bear any grudge against Thera Mahinda whereas in the case of Shin Arahan, Anawrahta was worried about the sinister intentions which the Ari monks might have harbored toward the arahant. The MYG, on the whole, possesses more literary elements than the MV, which might have come from another genre of writing, the avadanas. One important avadana is the Asokavadana. The Asokavadana, like the MYG, contains many elaborate descriptions of events and personages in its multiple narratives. The former focuses only on one protagonist, whereas the MYG describes numerous historical and semi-historical protagonists over a long period of time. Offerings to the Lord Buddha is an important trope in Buddhist texts and ordinary persons can become prominent Buddhist monarchs through acts of charity, especially to Buddha. The Asokavadana describes how Asoka's gift of dirt to the Buddha in one of his former reincarnations sets the stage for his becoming a king and a great supporter of the Buddhist religion when he was reborn as Asoka. The MYG describes the Buddha's prophecy that states that the Buddha's law will be established in Bagan during Anawrahta's reign because in Anawrahta's former life, he was a puleilei elephant which made offerings to the Buddha over a span of three months.

The Yaza/Raja in the Anawrahta Story Anawrahta, or Anuruddha as he is known in the Northern Thai, Sri Lankan, and Mon chronicles, possesses all the key characteristics of a formidable but enigmatic heroic king. U Kala can be credited with giving Anawrahta all his attributes. The MYG was perhaps the first work to describe the main source of Anawrahta's prowess: his inheritance of the weapons and royal regalia that Sakka (also known as Thakya Min or Indra) gave his father, Kyaungphyu. Unlike the Anuruddha who possesses super-

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natural ability, including the ability to fly in the Northern Thai chronicles, the Anawrahta in the MYG, and the many chronicles which later appropriated the descriptions contained in the MYG, present a king who is a rather mundane character. Anawrahta in the MYG does not possess unnatural strength or unusual martial skills like Pyusawhti (who slayed the four great enemies of Bagan which included a great boar and a great flying squirrel) or even Kyanzittha (celebrated as a great military general), and even his or+: bhon is said to be less than that of King Manuha of Thaton. Anawrahta's main strength lies in his leadership quality and religious zeal. The MYG presents Anawrahta as a devout religious king who possesses sufficient wisdom and intellect to be a good ruler, but otherwise like all human beings, he has ordinary human flaws. The flattering image of Anawrahta's supernatural status in Northern Thai chronicles presents an interesting contrast to the more human view of the same king in the MYG and other later Burmese texts. These differences in portrayal suggest that Northern Thai compilers of texts in the 15th and 16th centuries saw Bagan as occupying a more elevated position in the Buddhist world. The positive view of Anawrahta suggests that the Northern Thai writers were not averse to seeing Bagan's importance as extending to an earlier historical period in the 11th century. As the 11th and 12th centuries were a time when orthodox Theravada Buddhism was establishing itself in the region, it is possible to see this period as marking the beginning of the Buddhist ecumene (supported by data presented earlier in chapters 1 and 2). The yaza was an important figure in U Kala's perception. The king was the linchpin that connected the Buddhist loka and the Buddha's dhamma. This was the reason behind the elaborate narratives U Kala constructed of various kings from the pre-Bagan through the post-Bagan periods. The Anawrahta story in all its details was not, in this respect, unusual. The kings who received elaborate descriptions in the MYG represent archetypes of both good and bad kings. U Kala's views of kingship presented in the MYG made a lasting impact on later chronicles. By the 19th century, a particular set of views about kingship, focused on the Bagan dynasty, was described in at least three texts. In this construction, Anawrahta is analogous to Thammudaraj, founder of the first Bagan kingdom (see chapter 5). What is unique is the collection of very specific details in the Anawrahta story which gives Anawrahta a central role in the development of Bagan, an important formative kingdom in Myanmar history, into a political and religious empire. While U Kala might have adapted some details from earlier non-extant sources, the narrativity of the episodes contained in the Anawrahta story suggests that U Kala utilized his

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creative license in its entirety in his description of Anawrahta's character, temperament and actions. U Kala's characterization of Anawrahta can be described as personal and dramatic: the text relates the mood, thoughts, and words of a king whom U Kala could only have "regenerated" through his imagination. While some details of Anawrahta's deeds and physical attributes might have been made available during the time when U Kala was writing his magnum opus, the king's mentality, his words, and his feelings must have issued only from the writer's imaginative mind. By examining how U Kala had chosen to describe Anawrahta, it is possible to not only appreciate U Kala's ingenuity in composition, but also to detect the probable influences both in literary and moral sense on this writer. The care U Kala took to provide a complete story of Anawrahta, unknown in the first quarter of the 18th century, also offers an insight into the exigency felt during the growing unstable period of the Restored Taungngu dynasty for particular types of kingship, among which Anawrahta was a desired archetype. This marks the need for a detailed look at U Kala's characterization of Anawrahta in two respects: Anawrahta's performance of his duties as a yaza/raja (king) and his personal character and human attributes. A good Buddhist and Burmese king should possess or attempt to achieve the ten perfections: generosity, virtuous conduct, restraint, wisdom, endeavor, tolerance, truthfulness, resolution, loving kindness, and equanimity.83 How does Anawrahta measure up to this set of criteria for kingship? Anawrahta, as he is characterized in the MYG, possesses the potential to be a perfect king with power, influence, leadership qualities, moral uprightness, and equanimity. He is, however, not a perfect king as he exhibits weakness in a number of areas, particularly in terms of equanimity and restraint. The characterizations of Anawrahta in the MYG will be assessed in tandem with the ten qualities emphasized in Burmese Buddhist kingship and this would be used to determine the desiderata which might have influenced U Kala to portray Anawrahta and other kings the way he did. Descriptions of other Burmese kings are included as comparisons with Anawrahta. Positive characterizations of Anawrahta in the MYG include his display of loving kindness, generosity, and his endeavor to promote Buddhism in his kingdom. Anawrahta's piety and generosity toward his father are demonstrated in his offering his crown to his father after he had successfully defeated and killed Sokkate: 3'>G~SJ')OY.JG,Y)C\O~: GpS GooSJ~Cif00 [§:Go.:JSJ ""~: Ga:JSJGo'Jpt :~.::>g':J: ~ .,s: ~Ga:JSJ\!o1"1 Ga:J':Jt:o+Ga:JSJ'[®lll ""~:Ga:JSJC\0~: c13'>o.:JoS3'>!j_oSE:j:[§ 3'>G.,':Jto.:l':J"t:§.Ga:J?"1 iJ~.Ga:JS)

'[®'lu ::>.:l

Here, Anawrahta (Anawrahtaminsaw) took on the role of a sponsor of the Buddhist religion by building temples and monasteries. Such building projects demonstrate not only the king's devotion to the religion through his own merit-making activities, but also his desire to aid his people in their attempts to make merit for themselves. dlmo:>~ ~t".,~~o?."G'f'oSGoo~¥t9JC ~t"')~~3;l9:§ 9'J?''JG"1J')C: oot Go:>t:"'l&~.J? 3;lt.3;l"S=~='):GooiS\l~ GtB~GooS

Go1w.,'P"BtG'PoSGooS¥t®'i'u

From that before he arrived in Myanmar country, he built the Buddha's temples and monasteries, rest houses and stops all over Myanmar country everywhere without exception and returned to the capital, Paukkarama. 86 >

Anawrahta, like Asoka and other kings who supported Buddhism, built temples, monasteries, and resthouses for monks and pilgrims. The king also undertook wars to acquire Buddhist texts and relics, and this formed the premise for the expeditions to Thaton and other countries that possessed Buddhist texts and/or relics.

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The king's religious zeal is demonstrated in the following proclamation: ·~1~8 •.. clm'J: ~1~8ym01:~§'J:~:06oS't'JGm~§ EJ~c§G:x>'> "'[~.:r.>'>:m~:'lm+:o~t::r.>§SG.,®'lll "8:E3:m~: 3d')~:E3: ~

rr:llo,?ooa,s

OOO~G§'JoSG::D'Jt:~.ci? :r.>oUjlGOOS)'[E]Gm::D~II Ujl~ ')GO'Y)t:§+:J3'[aY.>:

OO:Y.l+Ujl§+

~te!l" -ocr:n.r? §~~GroS\tG:uS:>.>G;S'lco-o: t:G"-otS 6GroS,.,~S: :>.>§-o:m-o: 11 11

:>.>G;:,9.ro-o:m-o:ll 8~'J?'P'"""2'"'r""-o:§2918""§-o:ro~ll :>.>G;:,G§:,Gco-o?9.ro-o:m-o:mo;J,: ; ol:~:G'l"68S91 S:>.>§-o:ro~: 11

G~9.ro-o: =: o~-oro'l-o&ro~ ro'il8§~9JS:>.>§-o:ro~: 11

:>.>Gj): GB:,Gco-o?9.ro-o:m-o: moJro~oioiB" Goo: §~91 S:>.>§-o: ro~: """\\' ~.CD'O: m-o: OldS=:>CD~ o(t)m-o§ecqjt:>.>§-o:ro~: II 3'>Gj):Gro'OtGco'0?9.ro-o:m-o: GOO'OOlCDeoaJil (llJ.}] J?.§~91b§-o:ro~:11

In this way, the country (~Sc) of the hitherto Anawrahtaminsaw endowed with prowess and authority is demarcated. To the west the dividing border is with Kala country named Pitekkaya; to the northwest corner the dividing border is with that which is in Kahtunagakyi water; to the north is divided with Tarup country named Gandhalaraj; to the northeast corner is divided with Panthe [Muslim] country came to be named Kawunti; to the south is the dividing line with Pinka country named Satissa; and to the southeast corner is the border with the gywan (Khmer) country named Yawsa. 99

The first place, Pitekkaya (Pateikkaya), is believed to be somewhere in Bengal, 100 others believed that it was Chittagong, a place near south Manipur or even a location west of Bagan. 101 While the location cannot be firmly established, it was probably in India or Kala country, rather than close to Bagan. It is not certain what water body was referred to as Kahtunagagyi. It is likely an imagined site. Gandhalaraj clearly was a reference to what was believed to be the site where the Buddha's tooth relic resided, somewhere in Tarup country, usually translated as China, but in the 11th century, Nanzhao or Yunnan. 102 By the 171 Os when U Kala was writing the MYG, Tarup was Qing China. To the southeast of Anawrahta's nainngan (,86 country) is Yaws a country, which might have been a reference to the Yuan (one of the Northern Thai groups) and which during Anawrahta's reign was paying homage to Angkor (the 'dl& gywan). This is probably why Yawsa country was considered to be gywan (Cambodian). The polities to the northeast and south were probably places that currently fall within the boundary of modern Myanmar. It is however interesting that a Muslim polity was explicitly mentioned. There were several references made to Muslims, which could be interpreted as a reflection of awareness

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of individuals of the Muslim faith brought into the Burmese court following the reigns of earlier Burmese kings, such as Anaukhpetlun. Muslims connected with the Anawrahta story are: the Kala brothers (presumably Indian Muslims because they did not consume pork), their sons, Shwepyin brothers who similarly were non-pork eaters, and Nga Yaman, Sawlu's tutor's son. Although the MYG does not explicitly describe Nga Yaman as a Muslim, it is probably "Yaman'' (Raman) or "Nga;' which gives an indication that he was a Muslim. The inclusion of Muslim individuals within the ranks of Anawrahta's military and his government can be seen as a reflection of the inclusiveness of Anawrahta's domains as well as recognition of potential Muslim rival influence in places such as Rakhaing, which exhibited influence from Bengali Islam. 103 According to Faria y Sousa, Anaukhpetlun (1578-1628) "obtained the services of Muslim sailors:' who comprised approximately "a thousand sailors and gunners, mostly Indian Muslims, from ships affiliated to de Brito that wandered into the port after Syriam had fallen:' 104 The MYG only contains one section that describes the extent of Anawrahta's kingdom. This contrasts with the descriptions contained in the Hmannan, compiled in 1829, which describes frontier towns established by the king in the section following the public works carried out by Anawrahta. This suggests a difference between the perceived territory of Bagan or Myanmar nainngan or pyay (country) in 1710s and 1720s and that of the Burmese compilers during the late 1820s after the loss Konbaung suffered to the British. In line with the vamsa tradition, U Kala illustrated Anawrahta's ability to act as a king by discussing the public works he carried out during his reign. These included the creation and renovation of dams, irrigation canals, and rice fields. In particular, the MYG highlights Anawrahta's establishment of eleven villages in the rice growing regions. The eleven villages are: 1) Pinleh, 2) Myitmana, 3) Myittha, 4) Myinkhontaing, 5) Yamon, 6) Panan, 7) Makkhara, 8) Tapyektha, 9) Thintaung, 10) Tamokhso, and 11) Khanlu. 105 These eleven villages show the extent of rice fields and hence sustainable resources Bagan had. Anawrahta's military ability is similarly demonstrated in the MYG through the descriptions of his successful military campaigns, especially his expedition to Thaton, which resulted in the conquest of Thaton and the taking of the Tipitaka, relics, the Mon king and his family, and various groups of people of varying occupations. The Thaton account is an iconic episode in Anawrahta's life history: this event signifies the transformation of the king from being a king of Bagan to one who was the king of kings of Myanmar. This particular event also marks the point at which Anawrahta's

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story parallels the history of the Buddhist religion in Myanmar. In a way, Thaton to Anawrahta is like Kalinga to Asoka and the campaign with the Damilas to Dutthagamani, except that little blood was spilled and few lives were lost in Thaton. Patrick Pranke suggests that Anawrahta's career "is largely patterned after that of Dhammasoka with some elements taken also from the legendary life of his Sinhalese counterpart and contemporary King Devanampiyatissa:' 106 While this may explain some parallels between Anawrahta on one hand and Asoka and Devanampiyatissa on the other, Anawrahta bears characteristics that had been constructed by U Kala, which go beyond what had been used to describe Asoka and Devanampiyatissa. Interestingly, these comprise largely human personality traits, not necessarily desirable in a king, such as the lack of equanimity and envy. The difference between Burmese and Northern Thai textual accounts of Anawrahta is the numerous references made to Anawrahta's human flaws and his less than perfect temper. Clearly the 11th -century king portrayed in the Burmese chronicles has a major flaw: he is quick to anger. For example, Anawrahta's inability in controlling his anger led to a rift between himself and his most trusted general, Kyanzittha. Kyanzittha fell out of favor with Anawrahta following his return from Ussa Pegu. The former and three other generals went to assist Ussa Pegu following the order of their king. To repay Anawrahta for his assistance, the Ussa Pegu king gave his daughter Manisanda in marriage to the king. En route to Bagan, Kyanzittha had an affair with the princess. When the other three generals reported to Anawrahta what had transpired between Kyanzittha and Manisanda, he became extremely angry, and ordered the capture and punishment of Kyanzittha. toS §8 '""~ 9 ,m,nSa?.ro~:"a/3.,~-o"c ::>:>1!:~ """'?c§"'?c§""ro:c\'>:,=cun~"?+'"'1" a:>1l:t8,;ol:>:>~Sd5..,'1, ~~.,;ol:>:>~S"ro"""S) .,¢,:>:>1!:~ ~~ ":>:l'J§"::>?'\1b3'>GC\:l::D~ G~l~:>Il:~oSGooS)GC\:l:dS"6-oc:~a>S"'jl~: ~ "m-onS a?. o3§CGroG:>:>S) S:>:>-o:Ga>'>?C\j'c§C'6c"""'J3'>G6-oc:~ 3'>G,S)6)00'>'J3'>'J:,'J:GooS) GCI:Jpd.>Gro~ll """'S)6jOO'>'Jro~: cl~.G:>:>-:>Ujl~

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When they [Anawrahta and the Burmese] got to Maw, the sawbwa who governed the Maw union of nine polities respectfully laid out five golden mats. When Anawrahtaminsaw uses his Areindama cane to strike the mats, the five mats form a stack one atop another demonstrating his prowess and glory. The great king is happy with the mats. When the sawbwa witnesses this, he offers the king his daughter Sawmunhla replete with the five virtues. The great king accepts the marriage offer and he returns with his army by water and land. 5 2 The passage clearly establishes a link between the Shan chieftaincy of Maw, and by extension the Shan areas with Bagan and hence Myanmar. The reference to Maw and the Shan does not end here. After the next part of the narrative which describes the Shwepyin brothers' deaths, their transformation into evil spirits, the establishment of a nat shrine for the brothers at Taungbyon, and Anawrahta's taking of the Emerald (Green) Buddha to his capital to worship, there is another long extended description of Sawmunhla, the sawbwa's daughter. In the Hmannan, the Shan princess is considered one of Anawrahta's queens. The description of Sawmunhla in the Hmannan extends over two whole pages in the published edition. The narrative begins with the request that Sawmunhla leaves the palace and returns to her home because she radiates a glow, which leads the queens and court ladies to call her a witch (zawgani G@?o~) and fear her. The glow emits from the relic that the Shan princess wears in her earring. The king, trusting the women's talk and having seen Sawmunhla's radiant glow, orders Sawmunhla to return to her home village. Sawmunhla, having paid obeisance to the great king and the guardian nats of the country and the palace, leaves for home. Sawmunhla travels through several villages and places before she comes to the site of the Shwezayan Pagoda where her earring containing the relic falls into the water. Seeing the noble Buddha's relic hovering in the sky, Sawmunhla desires to build a pagoda there for the worship of the relic, and Thakya Min, seeing that the temple will be a site where people will worship the religion for 5,000 years, causes a heap of bricks to be revealed and seen by her [Sawmunhla] "GID?~+orru~: d/G~GO?Sl§o'Jd? Of'[?:O?~~G::m £oiJ§C\jjt ::B6?:11t:ru~: :::mo:>~? cl:GcmSo?tG3'nto.nGolS:9. ci?:o;soSq? ~S~~~ci? §S~ ~aS~ ~oSctt3SHl""~~"0'5. §8 ... :' 53

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The Shan princess' success in establishing a grotto shrine at the site of the Shwezayan Pagoda also leads Anawrahta to send a mission to observe what she has done. G?l!t"i'"'~' a?""'l8"68 G?m ohoei! ".!l."ISt~ 9 'loot:J?,3'>?: c:l"1t:Go:mS:~ "T'f''O?~ §G6?8:d? 3'>G~S)'lco?8:G?G6?~ """"'il· G?'ilS:J?. !f"-?. 'tJoSp~cf.) oco?:lt""'?~t"i'd? o:>oS~ c1~ "~B~"O?s; '1"1'!"""-?. ~caS~hoSo "'il.'il~\t 'j]S:o:>?G" ""St."ooS)t~ 8:Gootct?. ~?:'l~' 8:GootJ?.N~: 2:;~0?"'f""""1 "'PaS""'~ ""St."ooS) "oSBt"~~9J8"?~t"i'"'~' ~:Go:>?oS'j' ~?e'lo1~ """~8:t~ 8:GJ?.d?"'?"'?oS m~: o'it'?Go:~ Gm?8:\ltl!? GoaJ:Gj!:~:'j' G'!J?8:~:m:o.o?l!? ~"68 8:GJ?EJt"B?~ G?l!t"i'"""§?8:~l:d? ::S98 ::S§?: "'9""'?moh? :x>~?Goo ~oSJ?,3n:

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King Manuha was 18 years old when he became king. Aware of Manuha's power and glory, King Pabhawana consulted his ministers and officials about the advantage of marrying his daughter to Manuha after which he summoned his daughter to court. In order to establish a tie [with Manuha], the powerful and glorious king gave his daughter to the two great heroes of Manuha who possessed glory and power. The king loved this daughter the most for she had virtue. Fearing that every lineage would successfully come to an end when three communities83 are obliterated, when the named daughter was in audience with her parents, [she was told that] when she was raised to the position of queen she will know great love and kindness. The princess also listened attentively to the story about how the three communities would be destroyed. When the three communities were destroyed, Thudhammawati town's glory and power would lessen and the worn-out hamlet, village, and country would become sparse of people. Then the Ariya Sangha would put on various clothing. At that time, a novice obtained communication from a hunter that it was the reign of King Anuruddhadeva in Pugam [Bagan] Arimaddanapura town. The hunter also communicated that despite the fact that the king was fond of the three treasures [of the religion] he did not know the truth of the study of the Pitakas and Buddhist religion. He received the teachings embraced by the Azzi [Ari] monks therefore he did not get to know or hear about the place where the religion will shine. This king was educated but he did not yet know about the truth and the novice when he arrived [at Pugam] explained to the former about the history and lineage of the religion. He told the king about the establishment of the religion in Thaton city, the monks who trained in the Buddhist monk's regimen of meditation of gandhadhura [control of the four bodily senses?], the presence of many sacred relics, and the monks learned in the Pitakas. When the king knew all these, he made plans to establish the religion of the Buddha and with soldiers and troops on four sides, he rode his Theindhawa horse 84 and reached Thudhammawati city. The troops besieged and surrounded the city for the duration of a month and destroyed it. King Anuruddhadewa captured King Manuhadewa and bound him with iron shackles; officials were also firmly and properly put together, [Anuruddhadewa also took] the monks who carried out their training of the meditation of gandhadura; monks who had silawukki; monks who knew the Pitakas; Brahmins who understood the tradition; medical practitioners versed in the five suttas of herbal medicine and other medical treatises; people educated and knowledgeable about mantras; people trained in skills; wealthy persons; and the sacred and noble three Pitakas carried with reverence well on strong elephants. King Anuruddhadewa with his many troops, a sovereign king compared to the likes

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of Thakya Min returned to his pleasant kingdom of Arimaddana. When the religion had existed for 622 years, 85 because the religion was established in Pugam city, the capital became the site of royal proclamation. Complete with many pagodas, stupas, statuary, golden monasteries, gold-lacquered places; and the conglomeration of monks, Brahmins, wealthy persons, and the people of the kingdom, it was pleasant like Thuwannabhumi city that Thakya Min created with his supernatural powers. This city (refers to Thaton) beginning from King Thiha Yaza was destroyed within five dynasties until the Prince Upadewa established a capital on the site of the old city that was called Thaton. The so-called Thaton was said to be called Thudhammawati. Thudhammawati began from the time when Upadewa became king until the end of 47 consecutive kings. The golden cave in which the lion king resided which enemies could not destroy and enter was however taken at 1622 years of the religion after the time of the noble Buddha's parinibbana because King Manuha disregarded everything that every past king had successfully practiced. In going to Myanmar country the practitioners of sorcery were rejected while he himself and every one of his country people were bound in large and small shackles. The royal capital of Thudhammawati was assigned the status of a large village after which Nawrahtasaw gave it to his general, Lekweithuya ... 86 The description of the Thaton account in the Man Yazawin is matter of fact and simply provides religious motivations for the conquest. The characterizations of both kings are balanced; there is no description of the envy, connivance, or angry words exchanged between the two kings, all of which appear in the MYG and Hmannan. The destruction of Thudhammawati hence is interpreted primarily on the basis of whether the Buddha's religion was upheld. The onus was on Manuha to demonstrate that he was capable of maintaining the Buddhist religion at Thaton, but he failed because he had "disregarded" former kings' practices, presumably duties. The prophesized end presented in the first part of the description conforms to the general milieu of the Buddhist tradition in Myanmar (Burman, Mon and other areas) which emphasizes the importance of prophecies, especially those of the lord Buddha. The importance of Buddhist elements is also exhibited in the description of the peoples taken. The contingent of monks is described in great detail in a passage where the writer focuses on the texts and special skills of the monks. In contrast, there are no descriptions of other types of individuals and groups, such as craftsmen. The monks were also treated with respect, whereas the king was bound in iron shackles. The original composition date of the Man Yazawin is not given in the palm leaf; presumably it was produced sometime in the 18th century or possibly

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the first half of the 19th century. This is probably a copy of a Burmese version of a Man-language chronicle. Luce and Pe Maung Tin mentioned "the Talaing [Man] Chronicles;' but did not go on to provide any more information about these, except that they "were generally translated from the Talaing:'87 Another work, Mon Yazawin hnin Zedi taw Thamaing Paunkhyup ("A Compendium of the Man Yazawin and Histories of Religious Shrines"), provides a discussion of accuracy, errors, and variations in several accounts of Anawrahta and his conquest of Thaton and seizure of the Tipitaka presented in several Burmese chronicles. 88 In the main work, no detail is provided except that the city was called Thaton when Anawrahta attacked and that it was destroyed during Manuha's reign. 89 Another interesting palm leaf manuscript, a recent recension dated to 1895 rather than an original, is the Bagan Yazawin (BY). This is probably a copy of The New Bagan Chronicle, mentioned by Luce and Pe Maung Tin said to "have been written in 1785:'90 The author was described as someone who "possesses literary gifts" and "displays his literary taste in the selection from various poetical sources, of sumptuous passages with which he adorns his narrative:' 91 The BY contains many embellished accounts and is a more probable copy of the Bagan Yazawinthit (New Bagan chronicle) than the Bagan Yazawin Haung (Old Bagan chronicle) which was believed to be first compiled in the 16th century. 92 There is however no means of verifying the dates of the Bagan Yazawin Haung, except for its omissions of accounts considered to be important in the context of the early 19th century, such as the Sakiyan migrations (of Abhiraja and Dhazaraja). Another recension copy of the Bagan Yazawin examined in this study is S\\811 """'1"G'5{'f'~~m'1""~'t'J!'""8'"11S"roS~."'i s')()CUY.l~Q)~:~E3:ll')(Y.)~'19J811 ~oS C\jl3'>"o18 :~.Ji:'"'2uS\l""S'1"BS"~"Ts~. GroS'il~ 1 ""oS"roS"II"roSlluS"roS .o .. roSooE: or"roS ~.Ji 1 '[OJ~-:Jo~: Go::>-:J8:fY6Eo.oroE :"-?'""'i' 1 ooE Bll"roSrooS'1ro't"~mo::>8'i'cilBil'1o::>'P"=8 :91oS

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From there he went upstream and reached his kingdom, then he consulted his educated ministers and officials starting first with Shin Arahan and those trained in the study of classical literary works. They advised, "Build a great stupa and enshrine the noble statue and Buddha's tooth relic from Gandha[ra] division, the Buddha's hair relic from Ussa division, and the sacred whorl of the Buddha's forehead from Tharehkettara [Sriksetra] so that all gods and people will be able to worship and pay obeisance to them:' That having been said, the noble sacred tooth and hair relics, and statue were placed on a bejeweled ornamented basket; and this was raised and placed on the bejeweled saddle of the white elephant and sheltered by a gem-studded white umbrella. Once the sacred noble hair and tooth relics had been raised together with

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the basket, King Nawrahtasaw stood in awe. When he let loose the elephant, it carried the relics to the Thehzeyyagon which stood at the riverside landing place; this being the place where starting from the time Phyuminhti ascended the throne, his mother the Naga Winthamidaw and his father Nenattha met. Then Nawrahtaminsaw uttered with unhappiness and anxiety, "having toestablish a stupa to enshrine the noble Buddha's sacred tooth and hair relics that would be worshipped by both gods and people at this Thehgon to which the white elephant brought us cannot be permanent:' When Thakya Min came to know of this, that very night near the time of dawn he explained in a dream, "Great king do not hinder your intention to enshrine the noble sacred relics where they are needed. Like this Zeyyagon next to the water bank was the location of a prophecy and counsel at the time of our noble Buddha's descent that is why because of the power of the relics, the white elephant carried them here:' Thakya Min explained in the given dream that this Thehgon will not only adhere firmly to the religion through 5000 of this-worldly years placed into the location at which stand firm the 240,000 stones that were given to the Nagas. Then after he [Nawrahtasaw] had pondered with a new perspective upon waking from these dreams, in order to worship the noble Buddha's relics with rubies, he invited Ashin Arahan and the noble theras from the sangha to the royal palace where meals were offered to them. After [the feast] was completed, [he] brought along the ministers, officials, and scribes, to the site of Zeyyagon where the white elephant had gone [earlier], at that time King Nawrahta planned the building of a 80 cubits square lower foundation. That having been done, [they placed on the foundation]1,000 thick bricks which had been inserted with white crystal quartz, 1,000 thick iron plates, above these were 1,000 thick brass plates, above these were 1,000 thick silver plates, and above these 1,000 thick gold plates. The four plates of alexandrite stone brought by Shin Arahan from Webulakaung were also set up at the four walls. Nawrahtasaw said to have the images of his father King Kyaungphyu, his mother the queen, himself, his three chief queens, his son Sawlu, and the four heroes, Kyanzittha, Nyaung Ok Bi, Ngaloun Lekphay, and Nga Htwe Yu cast in pure gold mold. The images of the 40 kings beginning with Phyuminhti were also cast in pure silver mold. He ordered the names to be inscribed and these were appropriately placed [in time] at the walls of the structure. Other than that, the seven places to where the Buddha sojourned for seven days each after his enlightenment were also cast in pure gold. The continuum of the 80 monks, his eminent disciples, and his two chief disciples starting with Shin Sariputtara and Shin Moggalan were also cast in pure gold mold. The attawisa statues (28 Buddhas) were also cast in pure gold. The images of the noble Buddha's father Sudhodhana, his mother Mahaya Midwe Pazapati Gautami, his younger

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brother Min Nan, his younger sister Bad~akalyani, his consort Yathawdaya, his son Yahula, his younger brother Ananda were also cast in pure gold mold ... 94

The description of the construction of the Zeyyagon (Shwezigon) is expanded from a sentence in the Hmannan to almost three sides of palmleaves (approximately a page in printed publication). 95 In the Hmannan, it is simply stated that: "Sakra strengthened the ground with solid rock, two hundred and forty thousand times thicker than before, and clamped it all round with iron plates:' 96 The reason for doing so is that the Shwezigon is located on a sandbank, and stronger foundations were laid to ensure that the structure would stand (for 5,000 years). The description in the BY is greatly embellished. The description of materials used for the construction of the shrine and the amount of gold images produced are meant to reflect the king's wealth and prowess and the strength of his religious devotion. This recension, which may indeed be a copy of the Bagan Yazawinthit (New Bagan Chronicle) which was composed in 1785 emphasizes not only the continuation of the Buddha's religion, which should ideally last 5,000 years at the sites the Buddha prophesized, but also alludes to the continuity of Myanmar rule from Bagan through Konbaung, paralleling Bagan's own continuation of the worship of Buddha's relics from Bago and Tharehkettara. The gathering of relics from different parts of Myanmar and scriptures from Thaton can be likened to the same process of gathering manuscripts and histories in the abovementioned examples of Makassar and Southern Thailand in that Anawrahta's actions can be characterized as a means not only to unify Myanmar, but also to create a capital at Bagan where a national history could be produced. The casting of the images of 40 kings, Anawrahta's family, 80 monks, the Buddha's four disciples, and his father and family, and the installation of these at the Zeyyagon, also symbolize the king's assertion of his legitimacy. Interestingly, in the MYG, YT, and Hmannan, only one image, that of a person embracing a gem-embroidered casket containing the relic, was cast in gold and placed in the shrine. Such an image can be likened to the bronze sculpture of Anawrahta reverentially holding a tray upon which is an embroidered casket; this image was in the courtyard of the National Museum in Yangon as of 2010. The BY's description of the Thaton campaign contains a longer description but neglects to include a detailed list of the people who were taken back to Bagan. Another key difference is the word used to refer to Anawrahta's taking of Manuha, the sangha, and the rest of Thaton. The word used here is o3S:~S:/~: (thein youn) which means "to unite or rally" people or forces. 97

Makers of Burmese History after U Kala

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Usually only the first word (thein) is used which means "to seize or to confiscate:' Though it is possible to argue that this results from a misspelling, it is also likely that the author wishes to depict the campaign in a favorable light, emphasizing Anawrahta's ability to rally the people of Thaton to go to Bagan rather than capturing and forcing them to move. Similar to the BY, the Bagan Yazawinthit highlights the abrasive and rude attitude of King Manuha toward Anawrahta's requests. The description of the taking of the peoples and objects is however different. This manuscript copy is probably another recension of the same work dated to 1785. The 1833 date given probably referred to the first copying date, unless this is a completely different work, which is unlikely. Other texts copied during the 19th century also provide interesting snippets of information. For instance, the :x>':l:x>.,o:x>p\'S::>GooG'l_':loSG:x>':l:>.lO>l C~~~:G:x>':l:>.lG6':lS: 91P'B~ Xl':l:AJ.,':lGOOS§aSc»~oS~+:roS:1?':lGXl':l'l_':JQ~9S:E3::x>~ B~~p~ orcmoS G:x>':l::>.jt~G::J':l: 1 G~;;SCJSG'l_':lrll,~Oj(GX>':l:>.lOO~.,lG::J':l: 1 @CJSj!aS§c: G::J':l: 1 :AJ':l:AJ.,':lGOOI) ~ ':l6J?+::>.jt:x>~Go:J:9~B~ t8c»oSGro6)m':l: II 3:l':l:.,~:1?':lBS~~~~

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Thamuddaraj in the beginning, Nawrahta in the middle, and Kyaswa as the last. Phyusawhti in the beginning, Thinlaykyaung in the middle and Kyanyittha at the end. Beginning with Sale Ngakhwe, Kalakya in the middle and Narathihapate in the end. These are the three lines of kings in Bagan. 105

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In this text, Anawrahta is placed in one group of kings that begins with Tharnuddaraj and ends with Kyaswa. Thamuddaraj established the first Bagan capital at Yonhlut island by rallying together people from 19 villages. Kyaswa, the son of Zeyyatheinka, was known as the philosopher king and named "dhammaraja:' A single element connects these three kings: they are representative of philosopher kings rather than military heroes, and possess leadership qualities such as the ability to unite country and people. Anawrahta was purportedly the founder of the Buddhist religion in Bagan much like Thamuddaraj who was the founder of the first Bagan kingdom. Like Anawrahta, Kyaswa was a devout sponsor and supporter of the Buddhist religion, having read the Pitakas six times. There is an additional connection between Anawrahta and Kyaswa. According to U Kala's MYG and the Hmannan, Anawrahta makes an oath on Mount Pyekkhaywe that he would become king one more time when the palmyra tree sprouts. 106 In Kyaswa's reign, the palmyra tree grows and this represents the fulfillment of the prophecy that Anawrahta will become king again reborn as Kyaswa. This theme of reincarnation does not run counter to the two other lines of kings. The second line of king consists of Pyusawhti, Thinlaykyaung, and Kyanzittha who share a common characteristic: they are kings with martial skills and they are also associated with supernatural beings. Thinlaykyaung does not appear to possess any unusual military strength, and Pyusawhti and Kyanzittha possess more similarities being endowed with great physical strength and martial skills. Both these kings are intimately related with the Nagas, while Thinlaykyaung is closely linked with nats ("spirits and devas"). 107 The last line of kings of Sale Ngakwe, Kalakya, and Narathihapate represents the line of weak illegitimate kings whose authority had been usurped by another. A cucumber farmer killed Sale Ngakwe and usurped the throne; Kalakya fell to the Indians, and Narathihapate fled from the Tarup (Chinese) and lost his kingship. The reincarnation argument is presented more strongly in the second example that describes the three lines of kings. The kings listed in each line are the same person reincarnated three times. In the Minlekkhain Yazawin Lekkhan Kyan, one of four texts contained in a white parabaik in the UHRC collection: 108 :x>~l'P&.,¢:11 "'lS'loo?lolt:ll "oo8:>.:>~11 cf/"8:rodJoodJ~dJ .;;o1G:>.:>'>Ujl®~ll cf/,;;oo8 .;;o1.;;EJ:>8rq§-,:.;;ooS)\!9J8" oS.;;~dJoS:>.:>-,~GooS\!®~"" 'lo~~~cf:, "T'T"1l8 I oof6~.GOJ')8"1p:OJdJII 'lJ'>%:>.:>'J:GOJ>.il!"""')3'>t>111 3'>8:>.:>dJ~~8rqll c8:~l~"T'P'1l8 ""'>'"'m'>"fl'"""'>"OJ'>8GOJ'>? d3:"i(:rq" '1"~~068"8: ~oocfJ~Srooo'-'i'" 'll-,8 Soo-,:Goo>.i\1~""~ t~" ""~" ""ro"li'=~S, orro1:91"8:oo ~S" oo~8"B"8:oo~Sgj)~~S~S"i'-,"""'>Ujl®~"" :>.:>~~'f&.,S,.;;;>_i')OO'>"S, 9J!i'>"S, gj)"8:~ .:>~CO~II OJGW?OJ~II g])'/o~~ 068~~S.,8:~S"""'>u;(®~"" '1lll"8""-,c8'"""~ro~"6-,8" 91f"S""-,'" 2Jl"8:~o1:~.ro~:" OJGW?OJ~: I ~~S~S"i'1 G:D'>G~S) ')CXY>"t GQ>')OJ~ GOO'Ot:ndlrouSo;Jtoo§t ~.Q>dl3aSm~OJ~ 11 cx?"68 ~"i!C)?~CXl'O:Gnloo"§oS~')"i''P'OJ~ I ~GOOS)3>;p;~ G'jOJ:n8 OJ~'OuSGooS)'[GOJ'OG>lll ;nl: cii~

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'riP'"'m8,1:o~ 06 8:="§')8:~:~S""~ ~:ru')""~"oo')8~"c8""')"""')"'l~s""e" 9 ')aS""~~~ "ts:, '100')"8 ')mru~ 11 ""~"'lm~t&:Go:o:>~ 3d~8: G ,.s3daoS ,;;o1p8:o:>'):::>.jtcoSm~n" (Now it is made known in our established constitution that like soldiers learning on their own under close supervision, young students starting from the age of six years can now study together.)" 11 U Thein Maung's introduction asserts that in 1930, at a meeting of the working committee of the Council of National Education, the chairman U Maung Gyi requested:"§~"'')"!!')' CDS~oS ~oS§8:,_~ CD8 91 e:Go:>') CD')3f8G'l:o:>'):CX?oSGo'lf' (Write and publish a book relating Myanmar's wars). 12 In these two sentences, the reference to military concepts is unmistakable. The book is designed to focus on famous battles, militant kings, and renowned generals. Anawrahta does not fit into this structure because his narrative is sprinkled with accounts of his religious zeal. Though the chronicles refer to his large military force, he does not distinguish himself as a warrior. His only noteworthy battle is his joust with Sokkate, a one-on-one combat that does not earn him a place in the military hall of fame. Two other tworks also exclude Anawrahta as a Burmese hero. These are: U Pho Kyar's §~"'??a8'l~Ojt~Gm')8:"!1')' Myanmar Gounyay Thureikaung Myar (Myanmar's ranked heroes") (2001) and Shwe U Daung's rooSoooS~;;oo~~: Lek Htekdaw Gyi (Great reign) (2004)Y Myanmar Gounyay Thureikaung Myar, now in its 13th edition and having its title changed twice before, offers: "rooS ~''l~ O~')'l~ t9''l~~.,.~ 3d~~:3d"!J')' ~~~61;;0)')