In search of the Karen king: A study in Karen identity with special reference to 19th Century Karen evangelism in Northern Thailand (Studia missionalia Upsaliensia) 9150607375, 9789150607376

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Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia XLIX

ANDERS P, HOVEMYR

In Search of the Karen King A Study in Karen Identity with Special Reference to 19th Century Karen Evangelism in Northern Thailand

Uppsala 1989

Doctoral Thesis at the University of Uppsala 1989 Anders P. Hovemyr

i

ABSTRACT

Hovemyr, A: IN SEARCH OF THE KAREN KING. A Study in Karen Identity with Special Reference to 19th Century Karen Evangelism in Northern Thailand. Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia XLIX 201 pp. Uppsala. 1989. ISBN 91-506-0737-5. If one studies the religious map of Southeast Asia, it is interesting to note that the percentage of Christians is small, but in certain areas, concentrated in spe­ cific environments, the number of Christians is quite considerable. If one looks more carefully, with reference to ethnic classifications, one soon realizes.that Christianity has a greater affiliation among ethnic minorities, which tend to be marginalized in regard to the general national development. The Karen Chris­ tian community in Burma and Thailand is a case in point. Modem historical and anthropological studies on the Karen emphasize the com­ plex issue of Karen identity, or Karen-ness, in the midst of a multi-ethnic environment. An important element of this Karen identity is the sharing of com­ mon historical experiences - exploitation, persecution and marginalization. In studies of Karen identity formation, which give due attention to this historical dimension, exploration of the formation and role of the Karen Christian com­ munity becomes significant. The present study focuses on the formation of a representative Christian mi­ nority within the Karen community in Thailand. It traces an indigenous mission­ ary and ecclesiastical development by following the formation of one distinct feature within Karen identity, rather than investigating only a purely insti­ tutional development.

Chapters I and II outline the wider historical and religious changes in the region in the 19th century, paying special attention to the influence of political Bud­ dhism and millenarian movements in the face of external and internal colonial expansion. The second part of the study gives a historical survey of different missionary attemps to reach the Karen in Thailand from the 1820s through the late 1870s (chapter III). The focus is on the ensuing process of the establishment, rise and subsequent stalemate of the Christian community among the Karen in northern Thailand (chapter IV). The final section (chapter V) is a summary assessment, which gives special attention to the interaction of Karen identity and Karen Christian identity. As such, it relates the findings of this study to a wider discussion on the role of religious identity among ethnic minorities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 1

INTRODUCTION.............................................................

Karen Identity and’’Karen-ness” .............................................................

1

i. Who are the Karen?.......................................................................... ii. The issue of methodology and perspective....................................... iii. Differentiation in subrgfoups ..........................................................

1 4 7

2:

Karen Christian Identity......... :.....................................

9

3.

My Objective and Interpretive Perspective..............................................

11

i. ii. iii.

Objective . . ..................................................................................... Previous research .............................................................................. Interpretive perspective ....................................................................

H 12 13

4.

Sources.........................................................................................................

14

5.

Notes on Terminology andRomanization.................................................

19

Terminology........................................... Romanization.....................................................................................

I9 20

Plan of Presentation...................................................................................

23

Notes to INTRODUCTION.................................................................................

24

CHAPTER I: Religion and Politics in 19th Century Burma, Siam and the muang nua .................................................................................

29

1.

i. ii. 6.

A.

A CENTURY OF POLITICAL CHANGE............................................

29

1.

Colonial Advance in Burma ______ ■.........................................................

29

i. Mon-Burman antagonism,and the Karen......................................... ii. Burmese-Siamese conflicts ............................................................... iii. Extended British infiltration............................................................. iv. Burma under the British Raj.............................................................

29 31 31 33 vii

Affirmation of Autonomy in Siam

2.

i. ii. iii. iv. 3.

.........................................

Reconstruction after the Burmese destruction of Ayutthaya Interaction with Western intruders Modernization of independent Siam The tributary system and the muang

Bangkok Imperialism and the muang nua

i. British and Siamese pressures on the muang nua ii. The issue over McGilvary iii. The Chaing Mai Treaty iv. From tributary to colonial control B.

THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICAL BUDDHISM

1.

Buddhism and Socio-Political Involvement in Burma Prior to the 1880s

2.

The Buddhist Protest in Burma Following the British Conquest

3.

The Sangha in 19th Century Siam and the muang nua

..........

i. A time of reconstruction ii. The advance of modernism iii. The confrontation of modernist and traditional Buddhism in the muang nua

iv. The features of the Yuan sect v. The Sangha Act of 1902 and its implementation vi. Local protests in the muang nua

4.

Millenarian Dreams i. Millenarian features in Buddhism? ii. Millenarianism in Burma iii. Millenarianism in Siam......................................................................

5.

"

55

Conclusion

Notes to CHAPTER I CHAPTER H: TOWARDS AN EXPRESSED KAREN IDENTITY

A.

1.

THE KAREN IN BURMA; SIAM AND THE MUANG NUA: THE HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction

viii

63 63

The Pre-history of the Karen ...................................................................

66

i. ii.

Reminiscences of the ’’golden age”.................................................. Early frustrations in Burma, Siam and the muang nua......................

66 69

3.

The Karen in 18th and 19th Century Conflicts in Burma and Siam ....

70

4.

Divided Loyalties in the muang nua

2.

Integration under Chiang Mai........................................................... Under increasing Siamese pressure..................................................

72 74

B.

CHANGING KAREN RELIGIOUS EMPHASES...............................

75

1.

Introduction................................................................................................

75

2.

Features of Traditional Karen Religion....................................................

75

3.

An Alternative Reading of the Controversial Y’wa Tradition...............

77

C.

THE ’’MEN OF PGHO”: RELIGIOUS PROTEST AND

i. ii.

MILl.ENARIAN DREAMS..............................................................................

81

1.

Impact of Political Buddhism ...................................................................

81

2.

The Telakhon Sect .....................................................................................

86

3.

The Rise of Karen Nationalism in Burma................................................

88

D.

CONCLUSION......... '...............................................................................

90

Notes to CHAPTER II.........................................................................................

91

CHAPTER ni: Missionary Ventures and the Affirmation of a Wider Karen Identity -...................................................................................................................

96

The Burmese Base and Additional Missionary Agencies........................

97

The rise of Karen Baptism in Burma................................................ a. Early American ventures ................................ b. Karen Christians in Burma and the move towards the east .... ii. Additional agencies............................................................................ a. Early Baptist ventures in Siam .................................................... b. The American Presbyterian Mission........................................... iii. Summary ............................................................................................

97 97 98 100 100 101 103

1.

i.

ix

Towards the East with Different Objectives ............................................

103

i. Early Karen evangelism .................................................................... ii. Towards the Karen governor in Sangkhlaburi ................................. iii. Different visions.................................................................................

103 105 106

The Burma Baptist Missionary Convention ............................................

109

From foreign to national mission....................................................... The Karen mission - a first priority.................................................. The first mission to the mwang nua........................................................ Carpenter’s survey and its follow-up............................................... The Maritime Baptists of Canada ....................................................

109 112 114 117 119

Conclusion..................................................................................................

122

Notes to CHAPTER in.......................................................................................

124

CHAPTER rV: Maung Htwe’s Mission and the Rise of a Christian Community among the Karen in the m«««g nua ......................................................

129

The Issue over Maung Htwe......................................................................

120

i. Renewed ventures in the east ........................................................... ii. Conversion or fraud? ........................................................................ iii. Into the muan^ .............................................................................................. iv. The first breakthroug ........................................................................ V. .. .and its aftermath............................................................................

130 131 122 122 125

Assessments of the First Breakthrough.....................................................

127

i. By American Baptist missionaries in Burma................................... ii. By the American Baptist Missionary Union ................................... iii. By the American Presbyterian missionaries in Chiang Mai ........... iv. By the Karen Oiristians in Burma.................................................... V. An additional issue; who were the proper missionary agents? ....

137 138 138 139 140

Reinforcements and Continued Strife.......................................................

142

i. Alternative strategies ........................................................................ ii. Reinforcements of Maung Htwe’s mission....................................... iii. A Swedish connection........................................................................ iv. A new missionary base in the muang nua ............................................

143 144 145 146

1.

3.

i. ii. iii. iv. V. 4.

1.

2.

3.

X

Local Church Developments in the muangnua............................................

147

i. The rise of the Zimmay Karen Association..................................... ii. Issues in local evangelism ................................................................. iii. Ecumenical problems ........................................................................ iv. A series of severe blows ...................................................................

147 148 150 151

The Unavoidable Decline..........................................................................

153

i. ii. iii. iv.

A time of testing................................................................................. Missionary diplomacy and local self»reliance................................... Emerging political pressures and new ventures in Mae Sariang ... Conclusion .........................................................................................

153 154 155 157

Notes to CHAPTER IV.......................................................................................

158

CHAPTER V: FAILURE OR SUCCESS? SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS

166

1.

Development of Karen Identity inBurma, Siam and the muang nua ..

166

2.

The Impact of the Karen Christian Community in the muang nua..........

168

2.

China in the background.............................................................................

172

Notes to CHAPTER V.........................................................................................

173

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................

174

4.

5.

xi

LIST OF MAPS ANO ILLUSTRATIONS

1.

Location of Karen Populations in Southeast Asia (map published with the kind permission of Charles F. Keyes) •

2.

Karen Settlements in Northern Thailand .. (map published with the kind permission of The International Mission of the Baptist Union of Sweden)

3.

Front page of The Morning Star, vol. 47, no. 8 (August 1888)

4.

Front page of .the Minutes of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Siam Karen Christian Association

j!

xii

PREFACE

Between 1976 and 1983 I have lived and worked with the Karen people of Thailand. Serving as a missionary in different capacities (both in the Mae Sariang area and as lecturer at Payap University in Chiang Mai) I had a rare opportunity to observe the process of identity formation in the Karen Christian communities. The impulse to undertake this study was strengthened and clarified during these years. I wish to express my most profound gratitude to my advisor Professor Carl F. Hallencreutz who has given me much support and encourage­ ment in the course of the preparation of this thesis and has worked through it chapter by chapter. His understanding and patience made this work possible. I wish to thank Dr. Jonas Jonson, Dr. Sigbert Axelsson and Dr. Axel-Ivar Berglund who at different stages of this work supervi­ sed my research, giving most valuable comments. I would like also to thank Dr. Ron Renard, Dr. Roland Mischung and J. Edwin Hudspith for their generousity in sharing with me not only their stimulating com­ ments and suggestions, but also extensive research material dealing with the Karen.

I am much obliged to the staff of the Baptist Historical Society at Roc­ hester, the Library of the American Baptist Churches in the USA, at Valley Forge, the Library of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, the Library of the Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen, the Library of Betelseminariet in Bromma and the Payap University Archives in Chiang Mai - particularly Herbert Swanson - for their kindness and immediate service. My thanks also to Richard Stet­ son for his revision of the final draft of this thesis.

My indebtedness to the Karen people of Thailand and Burma is too great to be satisfactorily acknowledged. Finally, my deepest gratitude to Maria and Mikael for enabling me to devote myself to this research. It is our common wish to dedicate this

xiii

book to those who have given a special meaning to our lives the Karen people of Thailand and Burma.

Stockholm, March 1989 Anders P. Hovemyr rn

xiv

INTRODUCTION

If one studies the religious map of Southeast Asia, it is interesting to note, that the percentage of Christians is small, but in certain areas, con­ centrated in specific environments, the number of Christians is quite considerable. The Karen community in Burma and Thailand is a case in point.

If one looks more carefully, with reference to ethnic classifications, one soon realizes that Christianity has a greater affiliation among ethnic groups which are identified and/or identify themselves as minorities or tend to be marginalized in regard to the general national development.

Studies in ethnic identities have advanced considerably and it is interes­ ting to note a preference for arguments in terms of structural differentia­ tion. In the case of Southeast Asian studies, this perspective was first applied in Edmund Leach’s pioneering study in 1954, where he convin­ cingly argued that ethnic groups can not be understood merely in terms of a culture of a social system.^ This approach has since been adopted in Karen studies as well. In studies of ethnic minorities and of how local identities are conceived and expressed,"however, the problem of religious affiliation or change of religious affiliation have not always been sufficiently highlighted. In this regard Karen studies reflect a general feature in the scholarly discussion.^ That is one of the reasons for this dissertation.

1. Karen Identity and ”Karen-ness”

/. Who are the Karen? If one explores Karen identity today from the point of view of religious affiliation it is interesting to note that in Burma it is often asserted by the Burmese majority that ”the Karen are Christian” likewise the Christian Karen in Burma may affirm that ”to be Karen is to be Christian”. To a

1

lesser extent, local government officials in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province may say the same of the Karen there. What is interesting is the fact that Christians among the Karen have always been a minority - in fact a fairly small minority in most cases. The influence of the Karen Christians, or perhaps, the Christian community among the Karen, has been much greater than warranted by their numbers.I will come back to this special issue in due course.^

At this introductory stage it suffices to underline that the role of the Christian minority within the Karen population in Burma and Thailand does play a characteristic role in the way in which the issue of Karen identity is defined. This may in actual fact say more of the prejudices and preconditions of the ethnic and religious majorities in the respective countries than about religious conditions among the Karen. As evidenced in the celebration of the First Centenary of the Karen Baptist community in Thailand in 1982, the issue of Karen Christian identity as part of Karen-ness is alive within this Christian minority as well. It does inform continuing reflections on the history and characte­ ristics of the Karen Christian community in Burma and Thailand.

The Karen are a people geographically distributed between the 10th and 21st degrees north latitude and between the 94th and 101st degrees east longitude, i.e. scattered between the Shan Plateau in the north and the Malay Peninsula in the south, between the Irrawaddy to the west and the Mekong to the east. They are surrounded by the far more numerous inhabitants of lowland Burma and Thailand and other minority groups (see the map below).

Most Karen live in hilly regions, from 1,000 meters in altitude down to the plains. The combined Karen population in Southeast Asia today is around 3,5 million.^ Due to incomplete census data the number of Ka­ ren in Southeast Asia at the end of the 19th century, the period most relevant to this dissertation, cannot be estimated with certainty. Inas­ much as The Burma Census of 1921 recorded a Karen population of close to 1.3 million, what can be said is that an upper limit of one million at the turn of the century seems most reasonable for the combined Ka­ ren population, but there are no records to substantiate a more accurate guess 2

1. Location of Karen Populations in Southeast Asia

3 2

a. The issue of methodology and perspective The traditional way of defining Karen identity has been in terms of a group of people who speak a common language, share a common cul­ ture and have a sense of belonging to a common society? What makes all these attempts problematic is the fact that they try to define Karen identity in terms of a cultural pattern, but there is no such uniform cultural theme upon which this identity rests. Since Edmund Leach published the pioneer study, previously alluded to, there is gene­ ral agreement among scholars of anthropology that an ethnic group can­ not be narrowly defined in terms of a group of people who speak a com­ mon language, share a common culture and have a sense of belonging to a common society, but rather ethnic groups are to be understood as social units, ’’whose definition is a function of structural opposition to other such entities”.®

The question of ethnic identity, as far as the Karen are concerned, is further complicated when one considers the fact that when one group of people identify themselves as Karen, one cannot immediately assume that the people with whom they interact make that same identification. Historically speaking, in the case of the Karen, incongruity between self-identification and assigned identity has been a rare, but not an un­ known phenomenon. Particularly in the fast changing post-World War II environment, the deficiences of the traditional way of defining ethnic groups have become obvious. It is thus not surprising that in the last decade a,few historians, anthropologists and linguists have raised the question ’’Who are the Karen? and if So, Why?” and ”Do the Karen Really Exist?”’ Following Edmund Leach’s pioneer study, Frederick Lehman and Fred­ rik Barth have developed a theory of ethnic identity that does not take its point of departure from a cultural theme, but rather from structural differentiation between .interacting groups, following structural opposi­ tion between these groups. In case of the Karen this implies that Karen identity, or Karen-ness, rests on the acceptance by the Karen themsel­ ves and the ascription by others of a given position in the multi-ethnic environments they live in. Based on this, it is then possible to give a general description of this position in society to all those groups who

4

identify themselves and are identified as Karen. These groups, defined as Karen vis-^-vis their neighbours, share then common historical expe­ riences as well “as some basic traits. As already noted, in certain areas Christian affiliation is ascribed as one characteristic of Karen identity.

The common historical experience that has had by far the most signifi­ cant influence on determining Karen identity was the persecution, ex­ ploitation and marginalization, which the Karen have suffered at the hands of their more powerful neighbours in the course of the centuries.” It was most probably this oppression that has formed that firm sense of identity - a sense of ”us” over against the ’’others” - which is characteris­ tic of the Karen, though not necessarily unique in a Southeast Asian context. Based on this common historical experience then, the Karen developed that ’’otherness” that sets them apart from their neighbours. Elements of these cultural expressions of ethnic identity are not easy to define and thus the following list is by no means exhaustive:*2 - A sense of being orphans. Both in a historical perspective and in a com­ parative setting the Karen share a conviction that they, as a group, are orphans. Karen folklore in different forms bears witness to this concep­ tion, i.e. that once the Karen were powerful and privileged, but they lost that position and are now orphans.The theme, in itself, is not uni­ que among oppressed ethnic groups, but the degree and intensity of ela­ boration is unparallelled in the region. - A general sense of moral superiority. The traditional law and custom of the Karen have been maintained in such fashion that it stresses the ’’ideological introversion of the village community”.This traditional unwritten code of law, preserved by the elders of the village, has also given rise to a general sense of moral superiority, over against their neighbours, among the Karen. This is illustrated particularly in the worship of the ’’lords of the land”, which is treated in detail below. - An extraordinary ethnocentrism. As a result partly of the general

sense of moral superiority, not only is intermarriage with other people rare among the Karen, but practically all ethnological and anthropologi­ cal research has taken note of the fact that the Karen tend to divide their

5

environment into ”us” and ’’them” and avoid contact with the ’’other entity” as much aS possible?^ - Autonomous, loosely structured villages. The largest socio-political

unit of the Karen is the village, led by a headman. At times of crises daughter villages may break off and form their own community, main­ taining a close relationship with the parent village.^’ In his research in the western parts of Chiang Mai province David Mar­ lowe found that certain clusters of villages, due to joint descent, formed a regional subdivision, the g’waw. This, however, does not negate the fact that the Karen do not have a socio-political organization above the village level. Marlowe himself asserted: ’’The g’waw is primarily a unit of identity; it is rarely a functional sociological unit in the sense of invol­ ving its members in corporate activity”.’® - Ability to speak a Karen dialect. The Karen themselves often ref^r to

this ability as a minimum prerequisite to be considered a Karen. Several scholars have argued for considering language as the oniy means of iden­ tifying Karen-ness.” The problem is, however, that the Pa-6 people in Burma speak a Karen dialect, but are not thought of as Karen by their neighbours, nor do they consider themselves Karen.^® - Observance of ’’proper Karen etiquette”. A most important form of

expression of this etiquette is acquaintance with traditional Karen songs and folk-tales in the form of poetry. The Karen form of this poetry, hta, is a seven syllable couplet, where the last word of each couplet rhymes.^’ When young Karen men fall in love, they talk to their loved ones in this poetic form and the young ladies respond in hta as well. As Loo Shwe, a Karen historian observed, ”the success of his love affair will culminate in his ability to out-talk her in the poetic language”.^ A further element of this etiquette is the obligation to offer hospitality to any visitor under all circumstances.

This list could be lengthened, but these elements are perhaps the most important.^ Apart from these common characteristics the Karen share also a body of myths and religious concepts. These will be treated in detail below.

6

Taken one by one, none of these elements are satisfactory to define Karen-ness. Taken together, however, they point to an underlying common denominator: ”a vague feeling of people being in the same situation, of being deprived, a feeling of having a common past”.^

Hi. Differentiation in sub-groups A similar issue of incongruity between self-identification and assigned identity arises when one considers the most important sub-groups of the Karen. Throughout this dissertation the two major sub-groups are refer­ red to as Sgaw and Pwo. These are the Burmanized forms of Karen words used by both Sgaw and Pwo in Burma as terms of self-identifica­ tion and are the most widely accepted terms in anthropological and his­ torical literature dealing with the Karen. In Thailand the Sgaw refer to themselves as pakanyau and the Pwo as phlong. Both words translate into English as ’’human being” These two sub-groups represent an overwhelming majority of all Karen. There are no reliable statistics av­ ailable, but taken as a whole, the Pwo probably slightly outnumber the Sgaw?’

Of these two sub-groups the Pwo consider themselves the more bold and most Sgaw tend to agree. Although no systematic study has been made, this difference in character comes to expression in a number of ways. While the Sgaw tend to live far from lowland dwellers, the Pwo villages often adjoin lowland settlements and in Burma the Pwo consti­ tute large communities in the delta area. The Sgaw are generally more reserved while the Pwo tend do be more open to interaction with other ethnic groups.^ A third sub-group of the Karen is the Kayah. The people identify them­ selves as Kayah or Kaya-li, which means ’’red Karen”.The Kayah are not scattered over a wide geographic area, like the Sgaw and the Pwo, but rather live along the Salween river. The number of Kayah at the turn of the century was estimated to around 20,000.^

Sgaw, Pwo and Kayah or Kaya-li are then, terms of self-identification, but when it comes to assigned identity, there is a wide variety of terms and categories. 7

Pwo Karen

Sgaw Karen

2. Karen Settlements in Northern Thailand

8

Kayah

The most common assigned definition of the Karen sub-groups is based on the assumed uniformity of the colour of the dress within the sub­ group, e.g. nyang khao and nyang daeng in kham muang, the language spoken in the muang nua, which translate into English as ’’white Karen” and ’’red Karen” respectively?^ The inadequacy of these definitions is obvious when one considers that most traditional Karen dress include red and that most Karen women change from a predominantly white outfit to a red-dominated one upon getting married. Residents of the muang nua, i.e. khon muang, have had a long tradition of distinguishing between Karen groups according to their place of resi­ dence or presumed degree of adaptation to lowland society, e.g.

in kham muang nyang biang nyang ban nyang pa nyang doi

in English plains Karen house Karen forest or jungle Karen hill Karen

A third form of assigned definition is common in Burma where one sub­ group of Karen is called ’’Talaing or Mon Karen” while another is refer­ red to as "Burmese Karen”.These definitions are based on the course of interaction between these ethnic groups and certainly do not imply exclusiveness. A fourth form of assigned definition is also common in Burma and so­ metimes in literature dealing with Siam, namely the reference to "Southern Karen” and ’’Northern Karen’’. These are, however, more of a definition based on geographic distribution than definition of a sub­ group.

2. Karen Christian Identity Although they play a remarkable role in the way in which Karen identity and Karen-ness are defined, particularly in Burma, Christians are just a small minority among the Karen, relatively more sizeable in Burma than in Thailand.^’ They are furthermore unevenly distributed geographi-

9

cally. In certain areas, often those more accessible to the lowland popu­ lations, there is a heavy concentration of Christians, with large villages where all, or nearly all the inhabitants are Christians. However, Chris­ tian Karen tend to be more visible than other Karen groups. Those Ka­ ren, who have adapted Buddhism embark on a long process of integra­ tion into the dominant lowland societies and thereby become less visible as the process of adaptation proceeds. The Karen groups who adhere to traditional Karen religious beliefs tend to live.in isolated areas, far from lowland societies and interact much less with these. Consequently, both in Burma and in Thailand the Karen Christian minority has been more distinct than other Karen groups.’^

Furthermore, primarily in Burma, but to a lesser extent also in Thai­ land, Karen Christians tend to identify themselves as representatives of all Karen. In the 1970s and early 1980s, when the Thailand Karen Bap­ tist Convention increased its membership significantly, one of the strongest arguments used in the evangelistic outreach was to set an ex­ ample for other Karen, in e.g. education, health care, literacy, to see the Christian community as ’’the first fruit” or as ”a foretaste of things to come to all Karen”. The Christian community among the Karen in Burma as well as in Thai­ land has filled a unique role in that it has provided a platform for social organization above the village level. In Thailand even today the Chris­ tian community among the Karen is the sole sphere where Karen lite­ racy is upheld and promoted on a large scale and where Karen from dif­ ferent parts of the country can meet with eachother and compare expe­ riences and share common concerns.

Furthermore, in an even wider perspective, being part of the Christian community has also implied being members of a much larger commu­ nity. From the very beginning there has been a natural interaction, though no formal collaboration, as will be shown below, between the Christian community in the muang nua and the Presbyterian churches in and around Chiang Mai, whose members were almost exclusively khon muang.^^ These elements mentioned above together make up the most important dimensions of Karen Christian identity. In them all there is an indication

10

of ’’otherness”, though not necessarily exclusivity, and this "otherness” has been perhaps the most formative factor of Karen Christian identity. In studies of Karen identity, which give due attention to the historical dimension, to explore the formation and role of the Karen Christian community, thus, becomes quite important. It is such an exploration that I venture in this study.

3. My Objective and Interpretive Perspective

i. Objective I do not claim to give a complete account of Karen church history. In­ stead I limit myself to one specific process within this ecclesiastical de­ velopment, which so far has not been sufficiently appreciated in the study of the formation of the Karen Baptist community in Thailand. Having been established among the Karen in Burma through American missionary initiatives and independent indigenous ventures, the Baptist community among the Karen in Burma did not want to enjoy their new faith on their own. Instead, deliberate attempts were made to communi­ cate the Christian message to related Karen communities in Siam and the muang nua. At the same time there were also more established Wes­ tern missionary programmes geared towards the muang nua, some wan­ ting to stay in Chiang Mai and its environs, while others may have aimed even further north - into China.

My primary focus in this dissertation is on the indigenous missionary at­ tempts by Karen Baptists from Burma to encourage religious change in the muang nua. Such attempts had been tried more tentatively from as early as the late 1820s until there was more coordinated advance from 1880, which becomes a distinct terminus a quo for my investigation, though I do examine in detail the earlier attempts as well.

For various reasons the Karen missionary venture in Siam reached a sta­ lemate in the early 20th century, to be more precise in 1906.1 have cho­ sen that year as terminus ad quern. My study, thus, is a qualified attempt 11

to explore early Karen church history as a contribution to the scholarly discussion on the formation and features of Karen identity. s

a. Previous research So far there has not been ventured any coherent attempt to investigate in depth the early history of the Karen Baptist community in Thailand. In the light of significant achievements in contemporary Karen studies, however, time is ripe for such an attempt. The results of these studies provide significant insights into the general framework within which in­ digenous evangelistic attempts and subsequent religious change in the muang nua took place. As such, they do inform my own interpretative perspective. Let me highlight three contributions which I have found particularly helpful.

The most important of these has been Ronald Renard’s dissertation ’’Kariang: History of Karen - T’ai Relations from the Beginnings to 1923”, which was completed in 1980.^® In this study Renard documents carefully how the Karen in Siam and in the muang nua have been slowly drawn into interaction with and participation in their respective lowland environments, partly as a result of their increased geographic and politi­ cal significance in the face of colonial expansion in the 1800s. As the strategic significance of the Karen areas diminished and the Siamese go­ vernment’s control over the muang nua became more established, the Karen became once again a marginalized people.^’

Renard does not particularly deal with the formation of the Christian minority among the Karen in the muang nua, though he shares some observations mainly in line with U Zan’s Karen church history.'”’ The most recent contributions in this field are Philip Hughes’ doctoral disser­ tation ’’Christianity and Culture: A Case Study in Northern Thailand” from 1982 and Herbert Swanson’s most readable and provocative study of the Presbyterian community in the muang nua, Krischak Muang Nua from 1984.'” However, neither of these studies explore in depth the pre­ conditions and achievements of the Karen Baptist evangelists from Burma among the Karen in what is today Thailand.

As already implied, I will trace an informal and indigenous evangelistic attempt among the Karen in this study. However, I do try to see related 12

processes within their general historical framework. This is hecessary as the process ! follow relates immediately to certain features in the forma­ tion of modern Karen identity. In this venture I have found one additio­ nal dimension of modern Karen studies particularly suggestive. That is the exploration of millenarian movements in the 19th century among different peoples in parts of Burma, Siam and the muang nua, the Karen included.

As early as 1968 Theodore Stern published a lengthy article in the Jour­ nal ofAsian Studies (fAriya and the Golden Book”) where he identified some characteristics of millenarian movements among the Karen in wes­ tern Siam.'*2 Kirsten Evers Andersen in her thesis ’’The Karens and the Dhamma-Raja: Historical Studies in Karen Millenarianism” enlarged the scope of studies to include anthropological studies among two Pwo Karen communities in present day western Thailand, whose millenarian practices can be traced back to the 1800s.Also in the volume edited by Charles Keyes Ethnic Adaptation and Identity: The Karen on the Thai Frontier with Burma there are several articles dealing with the impact of millenarianism.*** I will try to explore, to what extent the formation of a Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua was affected by these developments and vice versa.

Hi. Interpretive perspective My interpretive perspective, thus, is informed by characteristic empha­ ses in contemporary Karen studies. I intend to contribute to the conti­ nuing discussion on Karen identity and Karen-ness by highlighting a perhaps limited, but highly significant process in the formation of a re­ presentative Christian minority within the Karen community in Thai­ land. I trace an indigenous missionary and ecclesiastical development by fol­ lowing the formation of one distinct feature within Karen identity, rat­ her than investigating only a purely institutional development. I relate my study of the formation of an indigenous Christian community among thQ Karen in the muang nua to the wider framework of historical and religious change in the region. In this way I will illustrate how the forma­ tion of a Karen Christian identity affected the continued development of

13

a distinct Karen-ness. In this venture I try, as already noted, to explore whether there are any relations to the rise of the millenarian movements on the one hand and the formation of the Karen Baptist community on the other.

4. Sources The sources that form the basis of this dissertation have been secured primarily by means of comprehensive archival research. No previous scholar has had the opportunity to carry olit such a systematic study of sources relating to the history of the Karen Christian community in Thailand. Apart from material in English, printed and non-printed sour­ ces were consulted in Swedish, Danish, German, Portuguese, French, Thai, Sgaw Karen, Pwo Karen and Burmese. In case of documents in the last three languages I have been assisted by reliable friends and collegues. That which might be claimed to be the uniqueness of this disser­ tation lies in the comprehensive collection of sources on early Thai church history, on which it draws. Of the archives consulted the following call for special mention: * The Official Archives of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society at Rochester, N.Y. has the most important collection of missio­ nary as well as Karen sources. The most significant portion of this con­ tains letters from Baptist missionaries in Burma to the Board of the American Baptist Missionary Union as well as their reply back to the missionaries. From the late 1820s through the first decade of the 1900s they document the interest in extending the missionary work among the Karen across the border to Siam and the muang nua. A portion of this correspondence, particularly during the earlier decades, has been pub­ lished in The Baptist Missionary Magazine.Most works on the Karen in Burma that address themselves to the issue of extending Christianity among the Karen in Siam and the muang nua are based on this selection of published sources.* Most of the correspondence, however, has not been published and thus has not been utilized by previous researchers in the field.

In the course of a reorganization of the archives at Rochester N.Y., the originals of the missionary correspondence have been transfened to the

14

Archivespf the American Baptist Curches at Valley Forge, Pa., but the full collection is microfilmed-and preserved at both places. Apart from missionary correspondence, this archive houses also the sole surviving series of The Morning Star as well as the minutes of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention and a rich collection of books dealing with Burma and Siam printed in the 1800s. * The Archives of the American Baptist Churches at Valley Forge, Pa, house apart from the originals of the missionary correspondence men­ tioned above also the files and records of all the Baptist missionaries that have served in Burma and Siam, giving all the personal data as well as details of their assignements - information that otherwise is uite diffi­ cult to compile.

* The Archives of the Presbyterian Historical Society at Philadelphia, Pa. have been the depository of the Presbyterian missionary sources from Siam and the muang nua. The original correspondence, however, is no longer available as these have been destroyed after they have been microfilmed. I have made use of this microfilmed material in my re­ search. * The Archives of Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, have de­ veloped in the course of the past few years a unique collection of mate­ rials dealing with the history of the Presbyterian mission in Siam and the muang nua. There is also a growing collection of some of the most important sources on the Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua and following the completion of this dissertation I will do­ nate my collection of documents to that archive. * Apart from these archives the British Library in London and the Li­ brary of the University of London have been visited on two occasions, as these house a number of valuable books and unpublished disserta­ tions that form the core of the more specialized literature, which is rele­ vant for this dissertation. * In Scandinavia the library of the Scandinavian Institute of Asian Stu­ dies in Copenhagen and the library of Betelseminariet in Bromma, Stockholm, where there is an unbroken series of The Baptist Missionary Magazine have been most helpful, when trying to get access to relevant secondary sources and literature.

15

These archival and libraryfindings were augmented by comprehensive field-studies in Thailand and by visits to Burma between 1976 and 1983 when I was working in Thailand. In the-course of these years I persued a number of interviews with leaders of the Karen Christian communities in different parts of Thailand as well as in Burma. These interviews have added valuable personal perspectives on many of the emerging issues. However, I was not able to gain access to any new or previously un­ known detailed information on the early Karen missionary venture in the muang nua. The contemporary archival Sources, which I have identi­ fied, contain the most accurate detail information on developments

from 1880 to 1906.

The most important sources that form the foundation of this dissertation

can be divided into three categories. i. The first one is the large body of missionary correspondance, American and Karen, preserved in the Baptist and Presbyterian archi­ ves as described above. ii. The second category consists of the minutes of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention. These minutes preserve a blend of both missio­ nary and Karen sources of immediate significance for the study of Karen church history. They do contain much unique information not forwar­ ded in correspondence to the American Baptist Missionary Union. The sole series, covering the crucial years of the 1870s through the 1890s, that could be located, however, was imcomplete.'*’’ This loss was partly compensated for by the discovery of loose copies of the minutes in Bur­ mese, most importantly for the years 1881 and 1882, among the miscel­ laneous unsorted materials relating to Burma at the qj'chives in Roches­

ter, N.Y. iii. The third and perhaps the most significant category contams so­ lely Karen materials. These have been preserved in three forms: - letters and reports from the Karen, dealing with the attempts to es­ tablish a Christian community in Siam and the muang nua, which are now preserved in English translation along with other missionary corre­ spondence in the relevant archives; - The Morning Star in Karen, to which I attach great significance and devote more specialized introductory notes; and - printed minutes of the "Zimmay [i.e. Chiang Mai] Karen Associa­ tion”, of which only a couple survived from the crucial decades follo­ wing 1880.'*®

16

oo THE M.ORNING STAR. "^C(. Vol. xLvn.

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ggS^ii o2ooio5©ixboDi«c'lo3^p»oSBa3C|fgB©pc»8fx(i)c8xcQ^coioo58oij 83. »3S ox8!5£»boop^pc8xf^xc9iOT^anooc8f^pboooxa)jSOT5xooo88,coc|p 3. Front Page of an Issue of The Morning Star [Hsa tu hgaw]

17

Of the Karen sources The Morning Star deserves special mention. It was started as a monthly publication in 1842 in Sgaw Karen.'*’ It contained articles of a general nature - even one on Gustavus Adolphus!! - as well as theological discourses and above all, news from the different Karen areas. It was in The Morning Star that letters from Karen evangelists were published - in Karen and in all likelihood unedited.^o por this rea­ son it is an extremely valuable source but due to the language barrier and the scarcity of surviving copies, one that has been unavailable to all previous researchers in the field. One broken series of The Morning Star has been located in the USA and according to experts on missionary archives this is the sole surviving series.^* Unfortunately, some of the most important issues covering the early 1880s are missing, but their content referring to Siam or the muang nua is, as a rule, summarized in the minutes of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention or in a few instances articles have been translated into English and published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine. The material in The Morning Star that re­ fers to Siam or the muang nua during these decades - all in all some 50 letters and reports - have been translated from Sgaw Karen into English as an integral part of the research for this dissertation. Due to my parti­ cular ministry among the Pwo Karen in Thailand, I had to give prefe­ rence to learning their language. That is why I decided to utilize reliable translation when dealing with material in Sgaw Karen. The translation has been carried out largely by Phi and Phu Ler Say in Mae Sariang and in part by Mala Kankaeow in Chiang Mai and by Maria Hovemyr.

The dissertation is the first to use the material contained in The Morning Star in Karen studies. Although only articles relating to Siam and the muang nua were translated into English for the purposes of this re­ search, a quick glance at the contents of the other articles in The Mor­ ning Star revealed a wealth of information also on different facets of Ka­ ren life in 19th century Burma, documented from a perspective hitherto unutilized by scholars of history and anthropology. Apart from the information contained in these three categories, unpub­ lished material as well as printed sources, e.g. U Zan’s and Loo Shwe’s accounts, in Sgaw Karen and English respectively, as well as Brayton’s book on the Pwo Karen mission in Pwo Karen were consulted.^^ As partners in my attempt at writing Karen church history, however, U Zan

18

and Loo Shwe present a particular challenge as they explicitly explore a distinct Karen perspective in their own historiography.

5. Notes on Terminology and Romanization Although most terms that call for clarification are dealt with at the ap­ propriate moment in the footnotes, there are a few that need a more detailed treatment in this introduction.

L Terminology Firstly, the area that is today northern Thailand was brought under the firm control of the Siamese central government in Bangkok only to­ wards the end of the 1800s and the beginning of this century. During the period which this dissertation deals with, the primary unit of political and social organization in Siam as well as the areas that were about to be integrated into Siam, was the muang. The semi-independent princi­ palities in the north were jointly referred to as muang nua (^northern muang) in contemporary sources. Muang, thus, may refer equally to, for example, the town of Chiang Mai or to the area under the control of the traditional leader of Chiang Mai. The leader of the muang was the chao muang (=lord of the muang), while the rest of the aristocracy was referred to as chao. As David Wyatt has so aptly pointed out the term muang cannot be rendered into English as ”it denotes as much personal as spatial relationships”.5** Consequently, apart from this introductory chapter and the concluding one, the term Thailand is used exclusively to refer to present day Thailand.

Secondly, throughout this dissertation the term ’’Christian community” is used when referring to the Karen Christians in the muang nua. The reason is that the Karen themselves are restrictive in using the term ’’church”. Within the framework of the Thailand Karen Baptist Conven­ tion, which organizes the Karen churches in present day Thailand, in order to be called a church, a community of Christians need to meet certain requirements, which in the 1970s included - at least 30, or some other fixed number of, baptized believers 19 3

- the ability to pay the salary of an ordained minister “ a functioning Bible study/Sunday school group - active role in the evangelizing of other groups. In the course of this research the exact nature of requirements in the 1880s could not be identified, but circumstantial evidence suggests that two or more of those listed above could.liave been in practice. When churches, as such, were established, they were collectively referred to as an association, rather than.the Karen Baptist church/churches in the muang nua, and in fact an association was founded at an early stage in the muang nua.^^

For this reason, throughout the dissertation the term ’’Christian commu­ nity” is used as an inclusive designation, applying to the Karen Christian community in its entirety regardless of organizational forms. Conse­ quently, the term includes even those Karen Christian families that were scattered in isolated areas of the muang nua, far from the area where the first Karen Christian community was established in muang Lampang. When, however, reference is made to a particular congregation, i.e. the church at Ban Nok, then the term ’’church” is applied. Thirdly, throughout the dissertation, the term ’’Karen”, as well as other terms designating ethnic entities are used only in singular form. The term is an Anglicization of the Burmese word kayin and in accordance with international standards among scholars of anthropology it is used only in the singular form.

Finally, in accordanpe with Karen Baptist usage, a distinction is maintai­ ned between ministers/pastors and evangelists/preachers. "Ministers/ pastors” refer always to ordained pastors, while ”evangelists/preachers” refer to those not ordained to the ministry. In Karen sources the term thra refers to both, but in most cases the context clarifies which category is implied.

a. Romanization Throughout this dissertation the romanization of Thai words follows the rules established by the Thai Royal Academy’s ’’General System of Pho­ netic Transcriptions”. 20

MINUTES OP TUB

NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OP THE

Siam Karen Christian Association Held in lift- Haik'ivci,

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RANGOON ambhican baptist mission press

J. L. SNYOBR, kCT'Q SOFT. 1909.

4. Front Page of the Minutes of an Association Meeting in the muang una

21

Geographic nomenclature follows the standardized forms of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Whenever a location is only referred to by an archaic name in quotations, the modern equivalent is identified in the footnotes. The romanization of Karen terms has presented a problem. The Karen community in Burma and the Karen refugees in western and northern Thailand (an ever increasing flow during the past four decades in the wake of the on-going civil war in Burma) are familiar with the system of transcribing words from the Karen script based on Burmese characters. A study of missionary correspondence and an analysis of translation of Karen sources into English, however, reveals that neither the missiona­ ries nor the Karen apply these rules for romanization with any amount of consistency. The Karen community in Thailand romanize Karen terms in a hapha­ zard fashion. The exception is the community of Roman Catholic Ka­ ren, who are acquainted with Fr. Edward Caljnon’s system for romanizing Sgaw Karen terms, which was invented in the 1960s.Inasmuch as during parts of the 1970s and the early 1980s the Thai government loo­ ked upon attempts to write ’’tribal languages” with Roman characters with much suspicion, few Karen apart from the literate Catholics, which may have numbered perhaps 1,000-2,000, have learned this system. For these reasons, Karen terms in this dissertation are romanized in the way they are found in the original English translation. In case of a va­ riety of forms, the most common occurance is followed, e.g. Maung Htwe, Myat San, Ko Tha Byu, and consistency is maintained through­ out. When alternate romanization occurs in direct quotes and the refe­ rence is not obvious, the standard transliteration is given in the footno­ tes.

Although I mainly deal with Burmese, Thai and Karen material and ter­ minology, due to the impact of Buddhism in the region, necessary refe­ rences had also to be made to distinct religious concepts in Sanskrit and Pali. As far as romanization is concerned, I follow the transcriptions of Gosta Liebert’s Iconographic Dictionary of the Indian Religions (Lei­ den: E.J. Brill, 1976).

22

6. Plan of Presentation After this Introduction, which has spelled out the aims and objectives of this dissertation. Chapter I gives a summary of the general historical framework, which is relevant for my study. The objective is to illustrate the political and religious developments from the early 19th century, which provide the background for the establishment of the Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua. It is in this chapter also, that I illustrate some relevant features of Buddhist history, more parti­ cularly the 19th century millenarian movements in Burma, Siam and the tnuang nua. Chapter 11 deals exclusively with the Karen. It traces the development of the Karen in a wider historical perspective in Southeast Asian deve­ lopments and ventures an attempt to interpret traditional Karen religion within the predominantly Buddhist context. Particular attention is given in this chapter to the interaction of the Karen and the lowland peoples of Siam and the muang nua in the 19th century.

Against this fairly broad background, chapter III gives an historical sur­ vey of different missionary attempts to reach the Karen in Siam and the muang nua from the early ventures in the 1820s through a period of more tentative pioneering until the late 1870s, when the more consistent Karen initiatives were launched. There were basically three agencies in­ volved. Besides the Karen Baptist community in Burma, to which I give primary attention, there were the American Baptist Missionary Union operating from Boston and Burma and the American Presbyterian Mis­ sion,- which early on established itself in Bangkok and moved northward towards Chiang Mai. I try to identify the similarities and differences in missionary dynamics, strategy and methods of these three agencies.^’ Chapter IV will focus directly on developments among the Karen in the muang nua. It illustrates the establishment, rise and subsequent stale­ mate of the Christian community in this environment. It is based solely' on material, which so far has not been utilized in scholarly studies and relates Christian developments to contemporary changes of the Karen community and Karen identity in Thailand, which have been spelled out in chapter 11.

23

Chapter V, finally, is a summary assessment of my findings, where I give special attention to the issues, which are highlighted in this introduction and concerns the interaction of Karen-ness and Karen Christian iden­ tity. As such, it relates my findings to a wider discussion of the role of religious identity among ethnic minorities.

Notes to INTRODUCTION ’ Leach, Edmund Polilical Systems of Highland Burma (Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1954). 2 An exception is Roland Mischung’s Religion und Wirklichkeitsvorstellungen in einem Karen-Dorf Nordwest-Thailands (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984). On the Karen Christian community in Thailand the only comprehensive work so far has been done by James Conklin, but his dissertation ’’Worldview Evangelism: A Case Study of the Karen Baptist Church in Thailand”, (Pasadena: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1984), has a diffe­ rent focus than mine. The history of the Christian community in Siam and the muang nua plays a secondary role in his study. ’ What is said in this section is basfed on the situation of the Karen Baptists, which are by far the largest group in the Karen Christian community in Burma as well as Thailand, but with minor modifications it applies also to the Roman Catholics among the Karen. * Infra, pp. 88ff. For figures concerning Burma sec Marshall, Harry The Karen People of Burma: A Study in Anthropology and Ethnology (Colombus: Ohio State University, 1922), Addenda, p. 3. For Siam and the muang nua see Stem, Theodore "Karen on the Khwae Not in the Nineteenth Century” (Eugene: University of Oregon, 1971), unpublished manuscript, p. 42. For particular reasons contemporary official estimates in Burma and Thailand report an interestingly lower figures. ® Marshall, Harry op. cit., Addenda, p. 3. ’ Practically all literature dealing with the Karen, published before the 1970s follows this line of reasoning, e.g. Marshall, Harry op. at. arid Young, Gordon The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand (Bangkok: Siam Society, 1962). Although accepting the arguments for structural differentiation in the introductory chapter in LeBar, Frank M. ct.al. Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia (New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1964), for practical purposes the individual articles, including the article on the Karen, follow the earlier approach. ® Cf. Leach, Edmund Political Systems of Highland Burma and Keyes, Charles (ed) Eth­ nic Adaptation and Identity (Philadelphia: Institution for the Study of Human Issues, 1979), p. 3. ’ See Keyes, Charles (ed) op. cit. and particularly the article by Frederick Lehman "Who Are the Karen, and if So, Why? Karen Ethnohistory and a Formal Theory of Ethnicity” in it. pp. 215-253 and the article by Peter Hinton "Do the Karen Really Exist?" in McKin­ non, John & Bhruksasri, Wanat (eds.) Highlanders of Thailand (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 155-168. Lehman, Frederick ’’Ethnic Categories in Burma and the Theory of Social Systems” in Kunstadter, Peter (ed.) Southeast Asian Tribes, Minorities and Nations, vol. 1 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), pp. 93-124 and Barth, Fredrik ’’Introduction” in

24

Barth, Fredrik (ed.) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference (Oslo: Universitets Ferlaget, 1969), pp. 9-38. ** Infra, pp. 29ff. Items 2-^ follow closely the elements identified by Roland Mischung in his research among the Sgaw Karen op. cit., pp. 17-21. One of the many examples is recorded by Francis Mason in his book The Karen Apostle (Boston, Gould. Kendall and Lincoln, 1843), pp. 127ff. This feeling of being orphaned is present among the Karen in the 1960s and 1970s. Peter Hinton has documented it in his research ’mre Pwo Karen of northern Thailand - a preliminary report" (Chiang Mai: Tri­ bal Research Center, 1969), mimeographed manuscript, p. 25. See also Hudspith, Edwin J. "Tribal Highways and Byways: A Church Growth Study in Northern Thailand” (Pasa­ dena: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1969), unpublished M.A. Thesis, p. 263.1 have en­ countered it on numerous occasions both in northern Thailand (e.g. field notes from De­ cember 1977 and January/February 1978) and in Burma (interviews with leaders of the Pwo Karen community - Christian as well as non-Christian - in Rangoon and with Pwo Karen from Moulmein and Bassein, January 1979). Cf. "Ideologische Introversion der Dorfgemeinschaften” in Mischung, Roland op. cit., p. 19, cf. Lehman, Frederick "Kayah Society as a Function of the Shan-Burman-K^ren Context” in Steward, Julius H. (ed.) Contempqrary Change in Traditional Societies (Ur­ bana: University of Illinois, 1967), pp. 32ff. A selection of this traditional law and how it was administered is found in Mason, Fran­ cis "On Dwellings, Works of Art, Laws, & of the Karens”, part II in Journal of the Asiatic Society (of Bengal), vol. 37, no. 3 (October 1868), pp. 131-149 and Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp, . 143-151 and 192. On the feeling of moral superiority see for example Kunstadter, Peter ’’Ethnic Group, Category, and Identity: Karen in Northern Thailand” in Keyes, Charl.es (ed.) op. cit., pp. 157-161. Even in the early 1980s the Sgaw Karen in the Mae Sariang area considered intermar­ riage with khon muang as most unfortunate and unsuitable. This applied even to well edu­ cated Karen who otherwise interacted frequently with khon muang in the course of their daily activities. Field notes from December 1982 and January/February 1983. Peter Hin­ ton in his article "Do the Karen Really Exist?" in McKinnon, John & Bhruksasri, Wanat (eds.) op. cit., pp. 164-165 gives examples of Pwo Karen intermarriages, but those are rather the exception than the rule among the Karen. This pattern of founding new villages, with or without maintained ties to the parent village, particularly at times of religious crisis, has played a significant role in the spread of Christianity among the Karen in the muang nua. Roland Mischung has correctly pointed out that this demographic flexibility was at least partially aided by the independence of the Karen nuclear family: Sie konnte sich jederzeit von der Dorfgemeinschaft trennen und sich einer anderen anschliessen bzw. ein neues Dorf grundcn. Mischung, Roland op. cit., p. 19. Marlowe, David "Upland-Lowland Relationships: The Case of the S’kaw Karen of Central Upland Western Chiang Mai” in Hinton, Peter (ed.) Tribesmen and Peasants in North Thailand (Chiang Mai: Tribal Research Centre, 1969), p. 55. As to the Karen not having socio-political organization above the village level see Marshall, Harry op. cit., p. 127, Hinton, Peter "The Pwo Karen of Northern Thailand - a preliminary report”, pp. 27f and Hamilton, James Pwo Karen: At the Edge of Mountain and Plain (St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1976), f>. 44. See for example Renard, Ronald "Kariang: History of Karen-Tai Relations from the Beginnings to 1923” (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1980), unpublished Ph. D. disser­ tation, p. 4 and the introductory chapter in LeBar, Frank M. et.al. op. cit.

25

Hackett, William ’’The Pa-O People ofihe Shan State, Union of Burma: A Sociological and Ethnographic Study of the Pa-O (Ikungthu) People” (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1953), unpublished Ph.D. thesis. On the hta see Mischung, Roland "Warum Singen besser ist als Sprechen: Ethnologische und musikethnologische Aspekte uberlieferter Karen-Verslyrik, mit Analyse einiger Hochzeitsgesange der Sgaw-Karen in Nordwest-Thailand”, unpublished manuscript 1988. Loo Shwe, Thra "The Karen People of Thailand and Christianity” (Chiang Mai, 1962), unpublished manuscript, p.4. This phenomenon can still be observed among the Karen in northern Thailand today. Several Pwo Karen young men in Thung Phraw village outside of Mae Sariang have lea?ned to read and write Sgaw Karen solely for the purpose of being able to read and write hia. Field notes from March/April 1978. 231 have observed this obligation to provide the visitor - in fact any visitor under all cir­ cumstances - with a place to sleep, usually on the porch, and a meal early the following morning on numerous occasions between 1976 and 1983 (e.g. field notes from April 1978). The readiness to offer the visitor a meal is extended beyond the host family and following an overnight stay the visitor may be invited to several households to eat. Up to 5 or 10 such invitations io the course of an hour, beginning around 5 AM or so, are not unusual and in extreme cases the number may reach 15 to 20. Even villages badly hit by poor harvests extend this hospitality to the visitor. Cf. Kunstadter, Peter "Ethnic Group, Cate­ gory, and Identity: Karen in Northern Thailand” in Keyes, Charles (ed.) op. cit., p. 140 and Hudspith, Edwin J. op. at., p. 259. A significant element of those not mentioned, but one that cannot be treated here in detail, is the matrifocal conception of family, cf. Mischung, Roland op. cit., pp. 20f, Ha­ milton, James op. cU.. pp. lOOff, Hinton Peter "The Pwo Karen of Northern Thailand a preliminary report”, pp. 14ff and by the same author "Matrifocal Cult Groups and the Distribution of Resources amongst the Pwo Karen” in Mankind - Special Issue (Spirit Cults and the Position of Women in Northern Thailand), no. 3 (August 1984), pp. 339347. 23 Interview with Roland Mischung at the Frobenius Institut in Frankfurt am Main on February 13, 1989. 2® For pakanyau see Wade, Jonathan & Binney, Joseph The Anglo-Karen Dictionary, re­ vised and abridged by Geo Blackwell (Rangoon: Baptist Board of Publication, 1954), p. 221 and Mason, Francis "Religion, Mythology, and Astronomy among the Karens”, part II in Journal of the Asiatic Society (of Bengal), vol. 24, no. 4 (February 1866), p. 241. For phlong see Morris, James; Hudspith, Edwin et.al. Karen-English Dictionary: Pwo Karen Hod Dialect (Chiang Mai: n.p., n.d.), p. 227 and Liljestrflm, Sten-G6ran et.ai. EnglishPwo Karen Dictionary (Mae Sariang: n.p., n.d.), p. 196. 22 Marshall, Harry op. cit.. Addenda, p. 3. 2® This description applies to both Sgaw and Pwo in their traditional environments. It is thus not surprising to find that most Karen groups that adopted Buddhism in the muang nua were Pwo. Likewise, the first Karen community that became Christian was a Pwo village. However, in areas where the Pwo Karen today, for historical reasons, are in rela­ tive isolation (e.g. southeast of Mae Sariang) interaction with other groups is limited, even when the opportunity arises. Fo'l the description of the Pwo Karen as "bold” see Renard, Roland op. cit., passim. 2’ Lehman, Frederick "Ethnic Categories in Burma and the Theory of Social Systems" p. 99. See also Knudsen, Jens En rejse i r^dkarenernes land (Kjdbenhavn: V. Pontippidan, 1889) and Rastorfer, Jean Karenni: Une courte bibliographic avec des commentaires (Lau­ sanne: Centre d’etudc et de documentation sur le Karenni, 1984).

26

Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 3f. By the time of the Burma Census for 1921 the number of Kayah reached some 33,000, cf. ibid., Addenda, p. 3. The majority of the Kayah live in Burma and have not had an active role in the events that led to the establishment of the Christian community io the muang nua. See the section on terminology at the end of this chapter. Stern, Theodore ”A People Between: The Pwo Karen of Western Thailand” in Keyes, Charles (ed.) op. cit., p. 64. ” Karen Christians in Burma number not more than 375,000, which is around 10% of the total Karen population of about 3.5 million. Io Thailand, the number of Karen Christians is somewhat in excess of 10,000 in a total Karen population of about 300,000, Infra, pp. 88f. ’’ Interviews with S’Aye (Aye Myat Kyaw) in Rangoon 1981 and 1986 and with Thra Alliday (Thong Laklaem) in Chiang Rai in 1982 and 1983. Infra, p. 157. ” See for example Swanson, Herbert Khrischak Muang Nua (Bangkok: Chuang Printing Press Ltd., 1984), pp. 117ff. Renard, Ronald op. cii. Infra, pp. 74f. Renard, Ronald op. cit., pp. 160ff. ** Hughes, Philip "Christianity and Culture: A Case Study in Northern Thailand” (Chiang Mai: South East Asia Graduate School of Theology, 1982), unpublished Ph.D. thesis and Swanson, Herbert op. cit. Stern, Theodore "Ariya and the Golden Book” in Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 27, no. 2 (February 1968), pp. 297-327. Andersen, Kirsten Evers "The Karens and the Dhamma-Raja: Historical Studies in Karen Millenarism” (Copenhagen: Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology at the Uni­ versity of Copenhagen, 1976), unpublished "konferensopgave”. ** Keyes, Charles (ed.) op. cit. The publication The Baptist Missionary Magazine has a considerable pre-history. In 1803 The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine started publication and in 1817 it was replaced by The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer. In 1836 the name of the publication was changed to The Baptist Missionary Magazine. This is reflected e.g. in Andersen, Kirsten Evers op. cit. and Stern, Theodore "Karen on the Khwae Noi in the Nineteenth Century". This series is to be found at the Official Archives of the American Baptist Foreign Mis­ sionary Society in Rochester, N.Y. All three categories are to be found at Rochester, N.Y. As mentioned the original cor­ respondence from the Geld to the Board of the American Baptist Missionary Union has been trarjsferred in the course of my research from Rochester, N.Y. to Valley Forge, PA. Though the publication was in Sgaw Karen, the official name was The Morning Star, followed by the Karen equivalent [Hsa tu hgaw] as illustrated by the reproduction of the front page of an issue in this chapter. The form and content of the letters follows Karen patterns of thought and etiquette and the terminology very "idiomatic Karen”. On the whole the letters and documents publis­ hed bear no signs of a missionary editing. Interview with William Brackney of the American Baptist Historical Society. In spite of the fact that The Morning Star was printed in Rangoon, the climate of Burma and the destruction of World War II made that no surviving copies of The Morning Star from this period (i.e. the last two decades of the 1800s) could be located in Rangoon (or for that reason in Thailand).

27

Loo Shwe op. ci!.; Brayton, DurlinX Few Facts about the Pwo Karen Mission,'in Pwo Karen (Rangoon; American Mission Press, 1899) and Zan, U ”A History of Thai Karen Work” (n.p.: ca. 1955), unpublished Sgaw Karen manuscript, translated by Thra Melvin (Thongkham Songsaeng). The pagination in references to U Zan’s work refer to the trans­ lation. 55 Infra, pp. 74f. 5'* Wyatt, David Thailand: A Short History (London; Yale University Press, 1984), p. 7. 55 Infra, pp. 147ff. 5^ This system is explained in Fr. Joseph Seguinotte’s leaflet Ylix HkaufHtiv (Bangkok: n.p., 1974). 5’ Roman Catholic missionary activity among the Karen in northern Thailand is of fairly recent date, i.e. post World War II and, thus, falls outside the framework of developments treated in this dissertation. On 20th century Roman Catholic missions to Thailand see Pro Mundi Vita Thailand in Transition: The Church in a Buddhist Country (Brussels: Pro Mundi Vita Centrum Informationis, 1973).

28

CHAPTER I

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN 19TH CENTURY BURMA, SIAM AND THE MUANG NUA The political changes of 19th century Southeast Asia profoundly shaped the environment in which Karen identity, and more specifically Karen Christian identity developed. The Karen in Burma, Siam and the muang nua were drawn into the rising tensions and subsequent confrontations between the majority populations and the colonial powers in their re­ spective geographic area. In presenting this survey I use the standard works available to scholars of this field, augmenting these with some field observation.t The first part of the chapter focuses on the expansion of the colonial forces - both that of the Western powers and of ’’Bangkok imperialism”. In the se­ cond half I consider the impact of political Buddhism and differences in the local response in Burma, Siam and the muang nua to these colonia­ list measures.

A. A CENTURY OF POLITICAL CHANGE

1. Colonial Advance in Burma i. Mon - Burman antagonism and the Karen The Mon inhabited parts of Lower Burma, eastward of the Irrawaddy. Their first kingdom known by name, Dvaravati, flourished from the sixth century A.D. onwards. Extending their political influence west­ ward by devastating the Pyu capital at Sri Kshetra, the Mon established themselves as the rulers of Lower Burma by the early 9th century. In all likelyhood they encountered some Karen along their way as historical references to Karen presence in Southeast Asia come from this period

29

and reflect the Karen assertion that they entered the region before the Burman? I will return to this issue at greater length in the next chapter?

The Burman migrated in a southward direction and established their ca­ pital at Pagan in the middle of the 9th century. Under King Anawrahta (1044-1077) Burma was politically united, in other words ’’Burma” had become Burma. The Mon kingdom of Thatbn in Lower Burma was cap­ tured by the Burman forces in 1057 and its entire population was depor­ ted to Pagan. For other Mon areas in Lower Burma it was the beginning of centuries of rivalry with the Burmese kingdom in the north. In 1539 the Burman captured the independent Mon kingdom of Pegu and a ma­ jor decline of Lower Burma started, leaving the region depopulated and deserted until the early 18th century.

The Mon - and Karen - reaction to extended Burman domination came in the early 1700s. Mon uprisings challenged the Burman power and in the 1730s Mon troops even threatened Upper Burma. One of the most striking features of this series of uprisings, from our point of view is that one of the leaders of the insurrection was a Burman of royal descent, who had been adopted by the Karen and was brought up among them but one who had more far reaching objectives. In 1740 he was raised to the throne of Pegu and in that capacity was called Smin Htaw Buddhaketi (the equivalent of the loaded Sanskrit term Dharmaraja = Law king, or more appropriately, righteous king), a name with distinct Budd­ hist apocalyptic applications.** At this stage in Karen scholarship it is not possible to assess in how far Smin Htaw Buddhaketi’s previous links with the Karen community might have informed the Karen expectations of the coming king. I will explore this issue further in the next chapter.

This period of Mon or Mon/Karen affirmation was crushed in 1755, when King Alaungpaya, of the Konbaung dynasty, captured Lower Burma. A systematic oppression of the Mon was implemented. This led to a massive exodus of Mon and Karen refugees to Siam, leaving the delta area once again deserted and depopulated.

30

ii. Burmese - Siamese conflicts In Siam the refugees were well received as they represented a welcome addition to the agricultural labour force. The reaction of King Alaungpaya to this exodus, however, came in the form of an attack on Siam. The campaigns from 1760 to 1767 against Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam, were partly aimed at subjugating an ancient foe. They also inten­ ded to bring Mon and Siamese captives back to depopulated Lower Burma. Ayutthaya was captured in 1767, sacked and reduced to a heap of ruins. Tens of thousands of captives were deported to Burma. The Burmese army, however, could not follow-up its victory. An invasion by Chinese armies threatened Ava.® The Burmese army withdrew from Siam, leaving only small garrisons behind.

Under the Burmese King Bodawpaya, who reigned 1782-1819, repea­ ted efforts were made by the Burman to reconquer Siam, but these at­ tempts backfired. King Bodawpaya had to surrender most of his claims to Siamese territory. Within Burma these developments increased the pressure on the Mon and Karen minorities. In Lower Burma such heavy burdens were imposed on the Mon and the Karen that the exodus of refugees to Siam continued.’

Hi. Extended British infiltration During the first two decades of the 19th century relations between Burma and the British East India Company became strained. The bor­ der between India and Burma ran through an area where clear demarca­ tion was difficult and where neither the Burmese, nor the British go­ vernments had firm control over the local leaders. The Burmese further­ more entertained territorial claims and aimed at the annexation of Chit­ tagong and eastern Bengal. After the death of King Bodawpaya in 1819, the actual power in Burma did not rest with King Bagydiaw, but was in the hands of general Maha Bandula. Bandula persued an expansionist policy and forced Burma into a direct confrontation with the British interests over the issue of Bengal and other frontier territories (e.g. Manipur and Assam). War broke out in February 1824. Geneal Maha Bandula died in the war and

31

the British forces managed to make significant territorial gains. It is worth noting that in the war the Mon and the Karen assisted the British forces against their own traditional enemies. In the Treaty of Yandabo the cession of Arakan, Tenasserim, Manipur and Assam Io Britain was confirmed. In the last phases of the war and during the chaotic period immediately after the Treaty of Yandabo the Burmese lost their grip on the Irra­ waddy delta, where Rangoon and Bassein were the major towns. This region was decupled by Mon and Karen rebel forces.® Soon after the Treaty of Yandabo came into force, however, the British reduced their stationary troops in Burma to an absolute minimum due to heavy losses because of disease. The Burmese under King Bagydiaw took the opportunity to reassert their authority over the delta. The Mon and Karen forces were crushed violently and the entire area was rava­ ged. Once again tens of thousands were forced into exile. The Mon fled to the British controlled areas east of Moulmein and Tavoy, towards the Three Pagodas Pass. The Karen population was divided. Some sought refuge in the swamp around Bassein, while others fled toward the east­ ern mountain ranges along the border with Siam.’

Within Burma the authorities aimed at forced assimilation of the ethnic minorities with the Burmese population. In 1838 the Mon revolted in a desperate attempt to stop assimilation. This revolt, however, was unsuc­ cessful and Burman supremacy was confirmed. The Karen reaction to these attempts of forced assimilation came partly in form of millenarian movements, which I will look into in greater detail in the next chapter. This continued Burman oppression brought the Mon and the Karen clo­ ser to each other. This was particularly the case with the Pwo Karen who lived side by side with the Mon on the plains. Thus, it was from the Mon on the Burmese plains that the Pwo Karen picked up spoken Burmese as well as Buddhist influences. After the accession of King Pagan Min to the Burmese throne in 1846 Burmese-British hostilities in Lower Burma increased. War erupted again in April 1852. Rangoon and Martaban were occupied by the Bri­ tish. Later in the same year Pegu was annexed. King Pagan Min was

32

deposed and his successor, Mindon Min, sought a negotiated settlement with the British. Boundary agreements were reached; the delta with the outlying areas, i.e. Lower Burma, came under British control. Jo sim­ plify the administration of the annexed territories,.the Province of Bri­ tish Burma was formed in 1862. Its capital became Rangoon, whose Chief Commissioner reported directly to the Governor-General in Calcutta.

Following this Second Anglo-Burmese War, Upper Burma, which in the 1860s remained under the control of King Mindon Min saw a cultural and religious revival. Within the existing political framework, King Min­ don Min cultivated as good a relationship as possible with the Western powers. This allowed him to concentrate on cultural and religious mat­ ters in his area. The Buddhist Sanghs was revitalized and it did indeed flourish. This development reached a peak in 1871, when the Fifth Buddhist Council was held in Mandalay, at the court of King Mindon Min. King Mindon Min died in 1878 and was succeeded by Thibaw. Already durihg the last few years of Mindon Min’s reign the relations with Bri­ tish-India were once again strained. Under Thibaw direct communica­ tions between the two governments were cut off. At roughly the same time, business interests in Rangoon and in Britain were pushing for Bri­ tish control of Upper Burma, partly with a view to open way for a direct route to southern China.Similar commercial interests guided France when a French consul was stationed in Mandalay in 1885. These ventu­ res were launched after the explorations of Francis Gamier in the course of the 1866-1868 Mekong expedition when it became evident that the Mekong was not navigable to southern China.^^ Now both France and Great Britain were looking for an alternate route into southern China.

iv. Burma under the British Raj Before the French could establish themselves in Mand.alay, however, the British forces in Rangoon seized the first available opportunity and marched northward. On November 15, 1885 they captured Mandalay. At this point the Kingdom of Burma ceased to exist. On January 1,1886 Burma was formally annexed to British-India.

33

For obvious reasons the Burman reacted strongly to the British occupa­ tion, which included the abolition of the monarchy and the removal of the king as well as other significant elements in the traditional way of government. The British were unprepared to deal with this dissatisfac­ tion. In fact, different groups joined hands in opposing the new British rule. Apart from remnants of the Burmese Army which had fled to the jungle, as well as traditional local leaders and dethroned princes of the royal family, this opposition also consisted of a number of politically ac­ tive members of the Buddhist Sangha. Not only did they join the opposi­ tion, but a number of the Buddhist monks even participated in armed struggle against the British. With the abolition of the Burmese mo­ narchy, Buddhism became the rallying point which united all opposing elements. It also provided a platform to express and affirm Burman identity vis-^-vis the British over against non-Buddhist ethnic minorities in Burma. Later on in this chapter I will look more closely into this selfconscious Buddhist participation in the protest against the definite Bri­ tish take over of Burma. For little more than a year the British made use of Burman recruits and the police force to fight the rebels, but this practice was discountinued in 1887. Instead, Burman recruits were replaced by Karen volunteer units. Later more than 40,000 Indian troops were ordered to restore law and order in Burma. It took the British about five years to totally subdue the country. Due to previous conflicts with the Burmese authorities, the Karen in Burma obviously stood to gain by the subjugation of Burma by the Bri­ tish. It is not surprising that the Karen nationalist movement, which will be treated in more detail below, grew in strength in the wake of the abo­ lition of the Kingdom of Burma.^^ Yet, the position of the Karen in Burma improved unevenly. In many areas where Burman officials ser­ ved in the employment of the British colonial administration, cases of revenge and injustice towards the Karen were frequent. This became even more explicit, when the British officials expressedly favoured well educated Karen instead of local Burman in areas where they had direct influence.^’

After the local unrest had been suppressed, Burma’s new borders were defined. Agreement with Siam was reached in 1892. The Mekong be­

34

came the demarcation line between French and British interests and the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1886 paved the way for an agreement with China.’® It is, thus, within Burma under the British Raj that we have to trace continued Karen developments. Conditions differed in Siam.

2, Affirmation of Autonomy in Siam

i. Reconstruction after the Burmese destruction of Ayutthaya One might have expected that Siam would have faced disintegration af­ ter the Burmese destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767.’’ Developments, however, took another course. Under the military leadership of the go­ vernor of Tak province, Phraya Taksin, the Burmese stationary forces in Siam were defeated. Taksin himself became the king of Siam, estab­ lishing a new capital at Thonburi. But alas, he turned, out to be a much more competent military commander than ruler of a kingdom. By the late 1770s, what is reported as his erratic and paranoid behaviour paved the way for a new era in Siamese history - the rule of the Chakry dy­ nasty, i.e. Ratanakosin. In 1782, King Rama I founded Krungthep Mahanakhon... or Bangkok.^® The following decades mark the peak in the Chakry policy of reconstruction of Siam after the devastating destruc­ tion by the Burmese in 1767.

a. Interaction with Western intruders In the early 1800s Siam had to tackle new intruders. It was increasingly exposed to mounting pressure from the British and French colonial inte­ rests in Southeast Asia. What distinguished Siamese developments from those in Burma, and indeed in the rest of Southeast Asia, however, was the fact that Siam managed to maintain her independence. That was very much the achievement of the successors of King Rama I.

In 1818, during the reign of Rama II, the Governor of Macao sent a mission to sign a commercial treaty with Siam on behalf of Portugal. 35 4

This was the first official Siamese contact with any Western power after the destruction of Ayutthaya. However, no rights or privileges were conceded by King Rama 11 to the Portuguese?’ This Portuguese venture was soon followed by several British missions. In 1826 a treaty was sig­ ned between Great Britain and Siam. Agreements in the treaty were in fact fully reciprocal. The United States of America signed a similar treaty with Siam in 1833. By 1850, however, the Western powers wanted more advanced negotia­ tions in order to protect their growing economic interests in the region. The government of Siam was not prepared to make concessions and at this time the attempt failed, although developments implied the possibi­ lity of ’’gunboat diplomacy” on the part of the colonial powers. An American envoy to Bangkok suggested that the ’’proper way to nego­ tiate with the Siamese is to send two or three men-of-war...”.^ At this crucial juncture, when Western powers were ready to force une­ qual treaties on Siam, King Rama III died and was followed on the throne by King Mongkut (Rama IV). Mongkut recognized that his op­ tions were substantially limited. Siam either had to open her borders deliberately to Western influence or else be forced to do so at gun­ point.^

At the death of Rama III Siam held at least nominal control of an enor­ mous geographic area, incorporating most Tai speaking peoples and a number of others as well to the north and east of Bangkok. Western colonial advance was to alter this situation completely by enforced nego­ tiations. The first in a long line of unequal agreements, the Bowring Treaty, was signed by Siamese and British representatives in 1855. It granted extraterritorial rights to the British, but did not yet contain ter­ ritorial concessions.2“’ The French on their part, however, made claims on large areas in the north, which were nominally under Siamese cont­ rol. In five separate treaties between 1867 and 1907 Siam ceded most of what is today Kampuchea and Laos to the French colonial empire. It was only this kind of ’’Realpolitik” by King Mongkut and his successor King Chulalotigkorn, who reigned 1868-1910 as Rama V, that preserved Siam as an independent state - though her territory had been reduced. In 1896 Britain and France agreed to accept Siam as a neutral buffer zone between their respective spheres of influence in Southeast Asia. 36

Throughout this entire period the Karen in western Siam, along the bor­ der with Burma played a most significant role in the ongoing develop­ ments. In the next chapter I will highlight what this implied for the iden­ tity of the Karen in Siam.^^

Hi. Modernization of independent Siam Siam thus escaped colonial rule, but did not avoid the modernizing in­ fluences of the extensive Western presence in the region. Foreign advi­ sors were employed at the highest levels of the administration, e.g. in the departments of foreign affairs, internal revenue, education, police. In this way ’’Chulalongkorn adopted certain practices of colonialism pri­ marily in order to escape colonialism”. The second half of the 19th century brought along significant changes in the socio-economic scene in Siam as well. Up to the middle of the 19th century the economy of Siam had been self-sufficient. Food production was quite stable and the small, local industries provided for the needs of the peasants,^ All this was radically altered when outside factors forced Siam to turn to commodity production. After Siam had opened her borders for commerce with the outside world on a large scale, local products were becoming increasingly ex­ pensive and could not compete with cheap imports. To pay for these imports, rice exports rose rapidly and the Siamese agriculture turned from self-sufficiency to commodity production. Along with rice, tin and teak production played an increasingly important role. While rice pro­ duction was entirely in the hands of Siamese farmers, the teak industry, to a large extent, was financed by British capital and employed almost exclusively Shan, Burman and Karen labourers, who had gained expe­ rience in similar jobs in Burma.^’ From the central administration’s point of view this development was alarming in at least two respects. The teak industry was located in peripheral areas, where the Bangkok authorities had a limited direct influence. Furthermore, as a direct con­ sequence of the Bowring Treaty, most labourers employed in the teak industry could also be classified as British subjects, or in the case of Khmu workers from the Luang Prabang area, as French nationals.

37

The impact of modernization extended to the Buddhist Sangha as well. King Mongkut and Chulalongkorn allowed the Sangha to play a signifi­ cant role in bringing about the social and political changes needed to preserve the independence of Siam. By means of encouragement, persuation and legislation the Sangha was itself modernized.^^

Another item in the modernization policy was, that Protestant Christia­ nity was allowed to expand in Siam from the 1830s, and the scope and extent of the older Catholic presence increased as well.^ The history of Protestant Christianity in Siam in the 19th century is well documented elsewhere.’’ In this context, however, it is important to underline the connection between mission and modernization. In other words, the spread of Christianity was tolerated or perhaps even encouraged to the extent - and only to the extent - that it served the modernization of Siam.’^

iv. The tributary system and the muang nua Rather than conceiving of 19th century Siam as a scalar and linear bu­ reaucratic hierarchy, Stanley Tambiah has suggested that Siamese stra­ tegies reflected a ’’galactic polity”, which had its roots in Hindu-Budd­ hist cosmological concepts.” Geometrical or topographical formulas fu­ sed with cosmological principles have often provided the design for the organization and administration of communities in Southeast Asia. The galactic polity can be described graphically by means of a concentric circle, where the capital and thus the king is at the center, surrounded by a circle of provinces, headed by princes. A third concentric circle re­ presents the series of tributary states. The very nature of this cosmologi­ cal model implied that entities, which are furthest from the center are contained and encompassed by those nearer the center. The center ulti­ mately represents the totality and the unity of the whole. There is furt­ hermore an inner dynamic force in the system, whereby the power of the center effects - to an increasing or diminishing degree - its territorial control. Relations between the center and the periphery are based on other than legalistic or bureaucratic authority, e.g. personal and kinship ties. It was by means of this "galactic polity” that the Siamese authorities claimed to exert their control of the tributary muang nua.

38

There were five muang north of Siam proper which from the 16th cen­ tury onward were under Burmese rule?® Following the restoration of Siam under King Taksin the Siamese had taken advantage of BurmeseChinese hostilities and recaptured Chiang Mai in 1774. The local chao had demonstrated clear anti-Burmese sentiments and sided with the Sia­ mese. Within a year all five muang had come under Siamese control.

When these muang declared their independence from the Burmese and allied themselves with Siam, they were drawn into the sphere of the Sia­ mese galactic polity. It was within this system that the nature and scope of the tributary relationship developed and changed during the course of the 19th century. This entire process will'be illustrated in greater de­ tail in the next section.^’ According to classical galactic principles, the Siamese authorities in Bangkok allowed the muang nua to operate in their own ways - within certain limits. The chao muang of Chiang Mai was, for example, free to conduct relations with the Shan States in Burma, but only as long as the outcome of these relations did not run contrary to the interests of Bangkok.

In the provinces around Bangkok, the ruling elite was to perform the Water of Allegiance ceremony as a sign of due respect for the king of Siam. The chao of the muang nua were required to do likewise in their respective capitals - twice yearly.^ The Siamese rulers, furthermore, had the right of approving appointments of the ruling princes and to in­ tervene when succession disputes or quarrels between the rulers got out of hand. As a recognition of the alliance, the chao of the muang nua were also obliged to send symbolic tributes to Bangkok triannually and to aid Siam with manpower in times of war.

Thus, the tributary system imposed certain limits on the autonomy of the muang nua. Bangkok reserved the right to interfere when it saw it fit. But Siamese authorities in the 18th century used that right with ex­ treme caution. During the first half of the 19th century the Siamese con­ tinued to respect the policies of the muang nua. Bangkok also accepted that the political structure and administration of the muang nua differed significantly from that of the central government. Poor communications and the lack of strong economic ties favoured the status quo. 39

For the Karen living in the muang nua the galactic polity and the tribu­ tary system had wide ranging implications. Inasmuch as groups of Karen had come to establish tributary relationship with the ruling elite in the muang nua, any change in the relationship Bangkok vis-^-vis the muang nua was to effect significantly the living conditions of the Karen. This would prove to be even more the case if the change was in favour of Bangkok. Continued developments clearly illustrate this fact.^^

3. Bangkok Imperialism and the muang nua

i. British and Siamese pressures on the muang nua The first half of the 19th century was a relatively calm period in the his­ tory of the muang nua. Apart from occasional man-hunting raids from Burma and regularly recurring epidemics, the lack of manpower was the most pressing issue. It occupied much of the time and energy of the ru­ ling elite. However, Bangkok slowly tightened its control by occasional interventions, but by and large the status quo was maintained well into the 1850s. Two new factors suddenly altered the relations between Bangkok and the muang nua in the 1850s and 1860s. The first was Siam’s enforced signing of the Bowring Treaty with Britain in 1855, which was touched upon previously.'^ Because of the territorial gains of the British in Burma, the Bowring Treaty placed an obligation on the central govern­ ment in Bangkok to assume a direct responsibility for the affairs of the muang which bordered on Burma. Border incidents were no longer an issue to be delt with only by the local authorities. In a very real sense they called for direct intervention by Bangkok.

Secondly, as a direct consequence of the Bowring Treaty, the muang nua were confronted with a new problem, that of foreign residents. The Shan, Burman, Karen etc. suddenly became British subjects whose rights were guaranteed by the king of Siam.^^ The 1860s also saw the arrival of the first permanent Western residents of Chiang Mai. They happened to be Christian missionaries. 40

Interestingly enough, when the first real conflict arose between the.cAtio muang of Chiang Mai and the central administration in Bangkok, it cen­ tered around a Christian missionary, Daniel McGilvary, who, however, did not in the first place aim at the Karen?^

ii. The issue over McGilvary In fact, trouble was brewing before the coming into the muang nua of the missionaries from Bangkok and later on from Burma. British fores­ ters stationed in Moulmein had leased some areas along the Burmese border which were formally owned by the chao muang of Chiang Mai, Kawilorot. Ill-defined maps and unclear leasing contracts gave rise to local attacks on Burman workers, which led to an official British protest. In August 1866 the British consulate in Bangkok became involved and issued an ultimatum to the Siamese government. The British consul re­ quested that chao muang Kawilorot be disciplined by Bangkok or, if Bangkok was unable to do so on the basis of the tributary status of muang Chiang Mai, it had to face the fact that Britain would consider Chiang Mai an independent state and would ’’have to act accordingly”.*^ The matter was temporarily settled when chao muang Kawilorot, in the course of his triennial visit to Bangkok in 1866, gave some assurances that the harassments would not continue.

At about at the same time the American Presbyterian Mission, already established in Bangkok since 1840 was in the process of expanding northward. McGilvary arrived in Siam in 1858. After working some years at Bangkok and Phetburi, McGilvary in the company of his fellow missionary, Jonathan Wilson, made an exploratory tour of the muang nua in 1863-1864. The result of the tour was that McGilvary wanted to open a mission station in Chiang Mai, but King Mongkut in Bangkok could not sanction these plans as he had no formal right to do so. Howe­ ver, in connection with the tributary visit to Bangkok in 1866, McGil­ vary sought and received the approval of chao muang Kawilorot. In 1867 McGilvary reached Chiang Mai and started to preach there among the khon muang. In the first few months he was free to work as he wished. But following the baptism of the first few converts, one of whom was the chief herdsman of the chao muang, and another a former

41

Buddhist abbot, the chao muang changed his mind. Direct and indirect efforts were made to force the missionaries leave Chiang Mai - on the pretext that their presence offended the protecting spirits of the town. The first two converts were murdered and their sympathisers were per­ secuted. When the sad news reached Bangkok, the representative of the Ameri­ can Presbyterian Mission contacted high level government officials and King Mongkut appointed a Royal Commissioner to investigate the mat­ ter. The chao muang received the Commissioner but made him under­ stand that in muang Chiang Mai it was he, Kawilorot, and no other who was the ultimate authority.**^ Before the matter concerning the missiona­ ries’ safety was settled, chao muang Kawilorot had died. His successor chao muang Inthawichayanon adopted a more conciliatory position.

Hi. The Chiang Mai Treaty With their commercial interests, however, the British were not satisfied with the status quo in the muang nua. During a state visit to Calcutta in 1872 King Chulalongkorn was asked to permit the stationing of a British vice-consul in Chiang Mai in order to guarantee the safety of the British foresters. For obvious reasons the Siamese authorities were most unwil­ ling to go along with these suggestions. Instead King Chulalongkorn made the dealings of the chao muang of Chiang Mai with these foresters subject to approval from Bangkok. To follow up this tightening of control from Bangkok over the affairs of the muang nua, the commissionership of Chiang Mai was created in 1874, according to the terms of the Anglo-Siamese ’’Chiang Mai Treaty” of the Same year. The extent of the power of the Siamese commissioner was not clearly defined. He was mainly to act as a judge or arbitrator. But it was at the same time understood that he had royal authority to implement - though with much discretion - administrative changes in Chiang Mai.'*^ The taxation system was reviewed and some new taxes were introduced in order to put the finances of the chao muang on a more sound foundation. At that time Chiang Mai was much in debt to King Chulalongkorn.

42

In 1877 the authority of the commissioner of Chiang Mai was extended to include all five muang in the north. In 1880 the rules regarding taxa­ tion were made more uniform. Collection of taxes was then entrusted to Chinese tax-farmers. Thus, an important part of the administration of the muang nua was put in the hands of people outside the traditional structure of government in the region.

A British vice-consulate was established in Chiang Mai in 1883, though without a special court with extra-territorial rights. Rather, the Siamese permanent commissioner in Chiang Mai was supposed to act as head of the local international court. Obviously, the chao of Chiang Mai were to object to such arrangements. The agreement, however, was reached between Britain and Siam with­ out evenj:onsulting the chao in the muang nua. Thus, a clear shift took place in the policy of Bangkok towards the muang nua. This shift is well illustrated by King Chulalongkorn’s letter to the commissioner of Chiang Mai in 1883: We consider Chiang Mai as still not belonging to the Kingdom proper because it still is a tributary state, but we do not plan to destroy the (ru­ ling) families so as to abandon the tributary (status). We only want to maintain and hold to the real power; that is to say whatever will be, let it be only that which we allow it to be ... To put it briefly, we want (them) to be like a machine which we will wheel forward or backward as we wish ... but it is necessary to do this with brains and intelligence more than power and force. Do not let (them) think that it is force and oppression. (You) must point out what is benefi­ cial and what is not."*^

iv. From tributary to colonial control These new instructions implied that the traditional form of government in the muang nua was replaced by a council of ministers, thus, giving increasing power to Siamese officials. Additional taxes were levied to cover these increased administrative expenses. Not surprisingly, these measures gave rise to resentment. By 1889 resentment errupted into re­ bellion. A subordinate of one of the chao in Chiang Mai led an uprising in three districts east of Chiang Mai. The revolt was directly aimed at the Siamese and Chinese.Though the chao themselves also had serious

43

grievances, none of them sided with the rebels and the insurrection was quickly suppressed by Siamese troops.

With the administrative reforms of King Chulalongkorn in 1892 the muang nua was formally incorporated in Siam proper. Much of the fi­ nancial power was transferred to Siamese officials.**® At that point the remainders of the traditional form of government could have been abo­ lished. That, however, was not the intention of Chulalongkorn^ Instead he wanted all the formalities associated with the tributary system to be continued as before.

The innovations contained in the reforms of 1892 were further cemented by the ’’Regulations for the Administration of the North-western Circle”, which were implemented in 1900. The participation of the tradi­ tional elite in government was maintained on formal grounds. But the authority of the chao was further reduced. Instead Siamese rule was ex­ tended to include the countryside as well. These reforms led to a new wave of resentment. One group that was particularly affected by these new regulations were the Shan traders. The Shan made up large segments of the population in some cities of the muang nua. Their commercial activities and freedom of movement became considerably restricted by the implemented changes in the ad­ ministration. Their grievances received a sympathetic hearing from the chao as well as the other residents in muang Phrae. In 1902, some 300 Shan seized Phrae town and with the help of the townspeople and pea­ sants killed as many Siamese officials as they could find.*’ From Phrae they attacked Lampang, but - partly because their rebellion did not re­ ceive support from the chao in the other muang - they were defeated. The Siamese blamed the local chao for instigating and actively aiding the rebels, an accusation that could not be substantiated. The chao muang Qi Phrae fled to Luang Prabang. Others were exiled or impriso­ ned. A thorough purge of officials took place. In a quick damage-cont­ rol operation, the chao who were not implicated in the rebellion and the chao Qi the other muang were given a raise in salary in order to assure their personal loyalty to King Chulalongkorn.

The Shan rebellion demonstrated that in spite of thirty years of exten­ ded Bangkok involvement, the process of transformation was still not 44

successful in the muang nua. There was still determination in soijie areas of the north to return to the previous order. But as far as the central government was concerned, the process of centralization and moderni­ zation was irrevocable.

It took some five years to restore order in the muang nua following the Shan rebellion. In the course of the next decade the right of the chao to elect the chaq muang was transferred to the Siamese High Commissio­ ner. Practically all chao were removed from the decision making pro­ cess. Finally in 1908, it was agreed that, the triannial tributary visit of the chao muang to Bangkok, where he was to present the king with gold and silver trees would be discontinued. This was a costly affair and the chao muang, no longer having a source of income on his own, was forced to request a special appropriation from Bangkok to cover these expen­ ses. Therewith, the formal tributary relationship was also terminated. I will come back to what this implied for continued Karen developments in the muang nua.^^ Already at this point, however, it is important to note that the increasing influence of Bangkok in the muang nua for most Karen resulted in a reduction of the comparative acceptance and secu­ rity they had enjoyed under the tributary system.

B. THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICAL BUDDHISM^^ As already implied. Buddhism, and more specifically the Buddhist Sangha, played a most important role in the national protest against co­ lonial subjugation in Burma. At the same time in Siam the Sangha be­ came a decisive means in the process of national integration. This was made possible as Buddhism did not simply provide the religious back­ ground or the religious legitimation of nationalism. In a very real sense it proved to provide the very foundation of ethnic and national identity within the majority populations of both Burma and Siam. Even today it is fairly common to hear in Burma and Thailand that ”to be a Burman is to be a Buddhist”, respectively ”to be a Thai is to be a Buddhist”.

45

1. Buddhism and Socio*Pontical Involvement in Burma Prior to the 1880s The doctrine of karma, whereby the king exercised his authority on the basis of accumulated merit in previous existences, gave a unique posi­ tion to the Buddhist kings. As an outcome of this position the king was looked upon as the promoter and upholder of Buddhism. The kings’ ac­ ceptance of this unique position gave rise from time to time, to special claims which are highly relevant to he issue of political Buddhism.

When Burma was politically united in the middle of the 11th century, there was a religious pluralism in the unified nation, which remained for at least a couple of centuries.Along with Theravada practices Ma­ hayana Buddhist cults flourished.® In due course the Mahayana cults were eliminated and Theravada Buddhism was firmly established. Some Mahayana elements, e.g. belief in the Maitreya (Pali Metteyya) or bod­ hisattva Maitreya (Pali bodhisatta Metteyya = the Buddha to come) were, however, deliberately preserved. The coming of the Maitreya was conceived to occur after five aeons of decline (verbatim: disappearances) in the worship of the Buddha. The combined duration of these aeons had often been identified as 5,000 years. The arrival of the Maitreya was to inaugurate a state of ideal so­ ciety where people will be liberated from the wheel of rebirths.^^ The coming of Maitreya was conceived to be preceded by the appearance of a cakravartin (Pali cakkavattin = ruler with universal ambitions). These concepts came to play an important role in Burmese history. Spe­ cially from the 18th century onward Burmese kings tended to assume the title of cakravartin. King Alaungpaya, who ruled between 1752 and 1760, for example saw himself as bodhisattva Maitreya. His name in Bur­ mese means ’’the future Buddha”. In a similar fashion King Bodawpaya (ruled 1782-1819) also saw himself as "the future Buddha”.“ In due course I will examine how these claims informed millenarian move­ ments within Burmese Buddhism.^^

At times also the Sangha or individual monks were employed or made use of in the service of the country towards political ends. A most dra­ matic example from 1406 is recorded in Harvey’s History of Burma, 46

where a Burmese monk, is described heading a delegation of ”300 fas­ ting elders robed in white and 300 old men bearing presents” with the purpose of averting an invading Mon army and thus preventing bloodshed?’ In less dramatic circumstances the Sangha in Burma throughout the cen­ turies acted as an agency of social control on the countryside where the influence of the central government was ineffective.

It was this centuries’ old tradition of unique position of the king and the socio-political involvement of the Sangha that paved the way for a Buddhist protest against the British rule of Burma.5® As will be illustra­ ted later on, this protest did not shy away from making use of violence.

2. The Buddhist Protest in Burma Following the British Conquest While mobilization of militant resistance against an external enemy, may at first sight run contrary to Buddhist teaching, what occured in Burma in the late 1880s is not without parallell in previous Buddhist his­ tory. There are recorded occurances from both Ceylon and Burma of violent acts against specifically defined targets, which were approved from within the mainstream of local Buddhism.^’ Consequently, it is not entirely surprising that in Burma the British conquest and the abolition of the monarchy gave rise to a militant nationalism where Buddhist monks played a significant role. King Thibaw partly paved the way for such an activist role for the Sangha by proclaiming in the mid-1880s, in the face of the impending Third Anglo-Burmese war, that defense of Buddhism and the traditio­ nal way of government was to be rewarded by attainment of nirvana (Pali nibbana). It is of interest to illustrate how in fact he deliberately used religious motifs in order to encourage political resistance. In a let­ ter to the headmen under his rule in Upper Burma King Thibaw wrote: Those heretics, the English barbarians, having most harshly made de­ mands likely to impair and destroy our religion, violate our national cus­ toms and degrade our race... if these heretic barbarians should come and

47

attempt to molest or disturb the state in any way, His Majesty the King, watchful that the interests of religion and of the state shall not suffer, will himself march forth ... and with the might of his army will efface these heretic barbarians and conquer and annex their country. To uphold the religion, to uphold the national honor, and to uphold the country’s inte­ rests will bring about threefold good; good of our religion; good of our Master; and good of ourselves, and will gain for us the notable result of placing us in the path to the celestial regions and to Nirvana, the eternal rest.®

Facing foreign aggression, Buddhism in Burma provided the bond that could hold the nation together. At the same time though, it would dis­ tinguish even further the Burman from most other ethnic groups in Burma, such as the Mon, Karen, Kachin or Chin. Against this background it is fully understandable that the British vic­ tory in the Third Anglo-Burmese war led to an explicit Buddhist protest among the Burmese. The abolition of the monarchy and customary law signalled to the Sangha that the previous relationship between the Sangha and the traditional hierarchical authority was terminated. With­ in the Sangha this development paved the way for individual monks to lead the protest against the British. It also inspired politically active lay­ men to don the yellow robe and thereby add legitimation to the protest.®^ Between 1886 and 1897, throughout Upper and Lower Burma Buddhist monks led the armed rebels against the British forces. A contemporary British civil servant observed: ’’There were few more pertinacious and dogged opponents to the British rule in the new territory than the wea­ rers of the yellow robe”.®^ gy the turn of the century the active Buddhist resistance was suppressed. It will be illustrated in due course, that these events were of extreme significance to the Karen Christian community in Burma.®

3. The Sangha in 19th Century Siam and the muang nua It may at first seem surprising, that while in Burma the Sangha, or more specifically individual monks, fought British imperialism, in Siam the Sangha.came to serve Bangkok imperialism. For a proper understan­

48

ding of Karen developments in the muang nua, the role of Siamese Buddhism has to be explored further.

i. 4 time of reconstruction The destruction of Ayutthaya and the erratic reign of King Taksin, which was discussed previously in this chapter, led the Siamese Sangha into a crisis, which was quite serious by the time of the establishment of the Chakry dynasty in 1782.^ As already noted, the process of restora­ tion started under Rama I. He encouraged a revision of the Tripitaka and the compilation of a new Traiphumikatha, i.e. ’’sermon on the three worlds” - a cosmological treatise, which was originally compiled in 1345 by phya Lithai.^ Monastic discipline was reinforced with a series of new laws governing the Sangha as a whole. The major reorganization of the Sangha, however, was initiated by Mongkut. Before ascending to the throne Mongkut had spent 27 years in saffran robes and was deeply influenced by orthodox vinaya ideals. In 1829, he founded an order, the Thammayut (= those faithful to the law), within the Sangha, which was based on the vinaya ideals.“ Not only was this an attempt to purify the Sangha, but it also encouraged the ensuing revival of Pali studies, textual criticism and modernism, which profoundly influenced the Siamese Sangha. There was furthermore a conscious movement initiated to reconcile the dharma with modern science in the intellectual sphere as well as in practice. As a leading spo­ kesman of Buddhist modernism, Mongkut led this move to integrate ap­ propriate Western ’’-isms” into Buddhism.^’

«. The advance of modernism Mongkut’s early moves were followed up by a complete reorganization of the Sangha when he ascended to the throne as Rama IV in 1851.6® The most striking result of the reorganization was the reinforced posi­ tion of the Thammayut sect.^ It had a very narrow base with a few mo­ nasteries in Bangkok. But because of its extremely tight discipline, its high academic standing and above all its royal patronage, it became most powerful. The rest of the Sangha remained very much decentrali-

49

zed and Bangkok’s religious control of the outlying areas was still mini­ mal. In this respect the Sangha reflected the same pattern of galactic polity as was found in the legal and administrative sphere. When Chulalongkorn ascended to the throne as Rama V he saw the po­ tential of the Sangha, particularly that of the Thammayut sect, to aid actively the centralization and modernization of Siam. In a nationwide programme of primary education in the 1890s, monks selected from the Thammayut sect were sent to the provinces to start schools. The experi­ ment was abandoned aftqj^ja few years as it became obvious that the Sangha was not a proper agency to carry out a nationwide programme of secular elementary education. However, in the course of the experi­ ment it was clearly demonstrated that these monks could and did serve as agents of civil administration, particularly in the outlying provinces. This gave rise to a closer relationship between the state and the Sangha, which became an important factor in the modernizing efforts of Chulalongkorn.™

Hi. The confrontation of modernist and traditional Buddhism in the muang nua Already before the arrival of the Tai people Buddhism had been estab­ lished in the muang nua. According to tradition Queen Cammadevi in­ troduced the Theravada tradition when she became ruler of the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya (=Lamphun) in the 7th century.’^ In 1369 the Theravada tradition, was officially established in the muang nua. In the 15th century monks from Chiang Mai went to Sri Lanka to gain wider knowledge of the Lankan practices. Back in the muang nua they initiated a movement to conform to Lankan scholarship and disci­ pline in Chiang Mai and its environs. The Sangha reached its golden age in the north during this period. The Burmese rule that followed, which I have referred to previously, led to a long decline of the Sangha in the muang nuaJ^ In the course of centuries of socio-political upheaval, the Sangha in the muang nua developed certain characteristics that put them apart from the Siamese Sangha. By the time the muang nua became tributaries of

50

Siam at the end of the 18th century, these traits were so marked and the independence of the Sangha in the north so well established that the form of Buddhism practiced there was given a special name, namely the Yuan sect?^ It is important to note that it is exactly this conflict between a local, tra­ ditional form of Buddhism on the one hand and an expansive, modernist Buddhism on the other that provides the direct religious background for the changes that effected the Karen community in the muang nua.

iv. The features of the Yuan sect The administrative reform of the Siamese Sangha, which was initiated by King Mongkut did not immediately affect Buddhism in the muang nua. The local abbots in the muang nua remained the administrative heads in their respective monasteries. This independence vis-^-vis Bangkok came to expression also in local ritual and devotion. The specific Yuan features of praxis were of marginal importance.In devotion, however, the worship of the chao ton bun (= the sacred one) was characteristic and indeed very important. The chao ton bun was re­ vered as a sacred person not because of his learning, but rather through possession of extra-ordinary powets such as extreme strictness of disci­ pline or other unique characteristics.’’^ Such chao ton bun, who were po­ pularly referred to as khru ba (= revered teacher), gained wide follo­ wing in the north.’® It is significant to note here that a particular cosmological treatise, simi­ lar to the Traiphumikatha referred to earlier, was composed in the north.” The Phra Malay Sutta is more limited in scope than the Traiphu­ mikatha. Its soteriology, however, is very distinct. It is focused on the Maitreya and the specific millenarian expectations associated with it.’® This treatise had been composed sometimes in the 15th century and was the subject of renewed interest in the muang nua in the 19th century.

51 5

V.

The Sangha Act of 1902 and its implementation

In the light of the administrative efforts of King Chulalongkorn to ex­ tend control to the muang nua, which I have illustrated above, it is hardly surprising that parallel efforts were made to expand his brand of Buddhism in the muang nua as well.™ In this way the Yuan sect was to be integrated into the established Siamese Sangha.

Prince Damrong and another brother of the king surveyed the Sangha in the tributary states, and with reference to their recommendations the Sangha Administration Act was proclaimed in 1902. One of the most important objectives of the Act was to bring all the monks in the country, including those in the muang nua, together under a central ad­ ministration, thereby achieving a unified Siamese Sangha.^

The proclamation of this Sangha Administration Act practically coinci­ ded with the Shan rebellion in the muang nua. The occasion was hardly an auspicious moment for the introduction of further measures aimed at forced integration. Consequently, the Act was not enforced in the north until 1910. At that time it gave rise to different reactions: - At a few places transition was smooth and members of the Siamese Sangha were transferred to the north, while abbots from the north were sent to Bangkok for further training;

- At most places there was some initial resentment, but the Siamese practices slowly pushed the Yuan sect into the background. In Mae Sariang, for example, this shift occurred in the 1930s;

- In a few cases the Yuan abbots were simply not prepared to submit to the Bangkok hierarchy. The most celebrated case being that of khru ba Si Wichai, who deserves special attention.®^

VI.

Local protests in the muang nua

khru ba Si Wichai was an abbot in the Yuan tradition. On account of extra-ordinary powers ascribed to him he was revered by a large group of followers as chao ton bun.^ When the Sangha Administration Act was enforced in 1910 he simply refused to fall in line and continued or­

52

daining monks according to the Yuan tradition without approval from the Siamese Sangha. Among those ordained were primarily khon muang, but also some Karen and others. Many did not know enough Pali and Sanskrit to qualify for ordination according to the Act of 1902. Due to the wide support khru ba Si Wichai had gained in the muang nua it took some years before the central administration dared to take issue with him. However, in 1915 (or 1916) he was held in confinement by the authorities. This turned his case into a cause celebre. khru ba Si Wichai was hailed as a champion of the distinctiveness of Buddhism in the muang nua.

It was in this connection and during the years that followed that several Karen groups, mostly Pwo Karen living near or on the plains, identified themselves with the cause of khru ba Si Wichai. On several occasions, most notably in 1919-20 he was ordered to Bangkok for interrogation. But Si Wichai persevered until a compromise was reached, whereby khru ba Si Wichai agreed to abide by the law of the land, i.e. he submit­ ted to the hierarchy of the unified Siamese Sangha in exchange for a promise that the Siamese Sangha would refrain from oppressing Yuan practices in the north.®*

Though no formal agreement existed, both sides respected these stipula­ tions, even after thf death of khru ba Si Wichai in 1939. Though most Karen ordained by khru ba Si Wichai or his disciples left the Sangha upon his death and returned to traditional Karen religion, the Pwo Karen community on the plains generally remained faithful to khru ba Si Wichai’s movement. As late as the 1980s one of his disciples was still revered by Pwo Karen villagers south and southwest of Chiang Mai.®^

4. Millenarian Dreams

i. Millenarian features in Buddhism? In both Burma and Siam Buddhism became increasingly involved in po­ litical developments during the 19th century, although the role it played

53

vis-^-vis the political authorities differed widely, due to significant diffe­ rences in colonial and imperialistic developments in the two countries. This is important to note for a relevant underetanding of Karen condi­ tions in the two countries. However, the political role of Buddhism in mainland Southeast Asia raises a further issue. What role did traditional political Buddhism play as a formative factor when Buddhist monks be­ came exceedingly involved in nationalistic politics? I have already refer­ red to the loaded concept of Maitreya as a significant part of Buddhist apocalyptics. In how far did this motif allow the developments of a millenarian orientation of local Suddhism? '

At first glance, the two most important concepts of Theravada Budd­ hism in Southeast Asia, i.e. nirvana and karma, preclude such a millenarian orientation.®^ Religious and anthropological studies in Theravada Buddhism, however, imply that the picture is not as simple as that. There are at least three closely related concepts, which carry potential millenarian aspirations within the Theravada Buddhist framework.®’ In the sacred Buddhist tradition it is the classical cosmological treatise Traiphumikatha, referred to earlier in this chapter, which provides a re­ cognized basis for millenarianism within Buddhism.®® When this tradi­ tion was adopted within Siamese Buddhism, there emerged a specific emphasis in the legacy of millenarian Buddhism. Special attention was given to the more general idea of phu mi bun, which means ’’person who has achieved extraordinary merit”, phu mi bun was not limited only to the Siamese kings, although as we have noted, they were able to pursue a distinct Buddhist policy. The role of phu mi bun could be claimed also by others who were considered to have gathered so much’merit in past lives that they were in the position to cause immediate improvements in the living conditions of those who followed them.®’ As such the idea also proved to be compelling even among those who did not necessarily ag­ ree to the religious policies of the Siamese kings. As will be explored further in the next chapter, the concept of phu min bun also informed Karen millenarian expectations.’’^

The other two concepts are the more loaded cakravartin and bodhisattva or more specifically bodhisattva Maitreya, who is supposed to be prece­ ded by the cakravartin, which 1 have discussed above.

54

a. Millenarianism in Burma Buddhism in Burma during the latter decades of the 19th century delibe­ rately took on itself an explicitly anti-colonial mission. In this-context, belief in Maitreya, which even previously played a significant role, gai­ ned increasing appeal.^ There is evidence of this in the way in which King Bodawpaya activated the Maitreya motif in order to reinforce his position in critique of the British pressure. Bodawpaya declared himself to be the Maitreya and his rule as the aeon of the Maitreya. In this way millenarian sentiments were allowed to inspire uprisings led by cakravartin or Maitreya claimants.^’

Hi. Millenarianism in Siam Conditions differed in Siam and the muang nua. Here it was the more general idea of phu mi bun, which inspired resistance to the modernist measures of the established Siamese Sangha with its center in Bangkok. However, the distinct protest of the Yuan sect had its pre-history in the muang nua. The first known occurrence of phu mi bun uprising in Siamese history was in the 1690s. A certain Lao man, Bun Kwang, led a rebellion in the northeast, around Khorat. He gained a large following on account of reputed magical powers and was revered as phu mi bun. Only a concer­ ted effort of the Siamese army could crush that rebellion.’^ Millenarian dreams, however, persisted on the Khorat plateau. In a tense political and social situation they came to the surface with force in 1902.In the course of a year more than 100 people who claimed to be phu mi bun and led rebellions against the central government were arrested by the authorities in northeastern Siam.

Summing up, historical and anthropological studies suggest then that millenarianism was much in evidence among Theravada Buddhists in Burma in the 18th and 19th centuries and their expectations centered on the belief in the Maitreya. In Siam and the muang nua millenarian movements did occur in times of political and social upheaval and at those times revolved around the phu mi bun. 55

5. Conclusion This chapter has outlined the dramatic political and religious develop­ ment in Burma and Siam in the 19th century. It is within this framework that Karen identity developed further and the Karen people encounte­ red Christianity. In the course of the 19th century the socio-political and religious situa­ tion altered radically in Burma, Siam and the muang nua. In Burma, the advance of British colonialism provided a new environ­ ment, within which Buddhism presented itself as a means of expressing national identity and provided a platform for anti-colonial protest. For non-Buddhist ethnic minorities, particularly the Karen, the British rule opened up alternate ways of affirming themselves vis-^-vis the Burman. At the same time it distanced them even further from the majority popu­ lation of the country. In Siam, the threat of Western colonial expansion paved the way for a thorough modernization of the nation. The Sangha, being one of the few nationwide institutions, played a significant role in affirming a dis­ tinct Siamese identity. At the same time the Sangha itself was subjected to a rigorous modernization, which was facilitated by the ruling elite as a means of fostering national integration. For the Karen in western Siam along the Burma border, this modernization and the increased control of the new national center in Bangkok included new opportunities as well as new threats. I will explore this issue in the next chapter.^

The muang nua was brought into the sphere of colonial interests in the 1800s primarily by the British advance in Burma. Threats first from the British, and later from the French, were contained, but only at the ex­ pense of the subjection of the muang nua to an extended expansion and increasing influence of the central government in Bangkok. In the reli­ gious sphere these expansionist policies of Bangkok, and not the least the Sangha Administration Act of 1902, led to a confrontation of the modernized Siamese Sangha and the more traditional, local form of Buddhism in the muang nua.

As will be evident from the continued discussion, some Karen in the north, namely those who due to their ties with Burma could consider 56

themselves British subjects, gained initially from the colonial advance in Burma. For the majority, however, it was more advantageous to pre­ serve the status quo and integrate themselves within the socio-political context of the muang nua. Consequently, these Karen felt threatened by increased control from Bangkok. They joined local protest movements against expansionist policies from the centre.

Notes to CHAPTER I * I draw particularly on Hall, Daniel G. A History of Southeast Asia (London: Macmillan, 1975); Htin Aung, U A History of Burma (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), Harvey, Godfrey History of Burma from the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824 the Begin­ ning of the English Conquest (London; Longmans, Green & Co., 1925), and Cady, John A History of Modern Burma (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1958). 2 The usaje of the terms "Burman” and "Burmese” needs clarification. "Burman” is used primarily as an ethnic designation, whUe the term "Burmese” is used to denote both the people of Burma and as an adjective, e.g. the Burmese Army or Burmese politics ■’ Infra, p. 68. * Harvey, Godfrey op. cit., p. 212. 5 Infra, p. 80. * Wyatt, David Thailand: A Short History (London; Yale University Press 1984) p 139 ' Cady, John op. cit., p. 35. ® Ibid., pp. 74-75. ’ Ibid., pp. 72 and 75. Infra, p. 81ff. " During the period of "pacification” there was an additional group of Karen who sought refuge from Burman oppression in the territories under British control see Cady John op. cit., p. 88. *2 On this issue see the study of Dorothy Woodman The Making of Burma (London- Cres­ set Press, 1962), pp. 171ff. » On the expedition and its ramifications see Osborne, Milton River Road to China: The Mekong river Expedition 1866-1873 (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1975) ** Infra, pp. 47ff. ’ Cady, John op. cit., 132-137. Infra, pp. 88f. ” This is particularly highlighted in Francis Mason’s Burman, Its People and Natural pro­ ductions... (Rangoon; Thos. Stowe Ranney, 1860), pp. 610-618 *« Infra, p. 40. Supra, p. 31. The standard work on the history of Siam in the 19th century is Wyatt, David op. cit., which I have already repeatedly referred to. Teixeira, Manuel P. Portugal na Taildndia (Macau: Imprensa Nacional de Macau 1983), pp. 472ff. ’ “ Quoted from Martin, James "A History of the Diplomatic Relations between Siam and the United States of America 1833-1929”, in Dhiravegin. Likhit Siam and Colonialism (1855-1909): An Analysis of Diplomatic Relations (Bangkok: Thai Watana Panich 1974) p. 11.

57

S TeiSiori JLmcessions were granted in 1909, when the four provinces north of Malaya

(Kelantan. Trengganu, Kedah and Palis) were ceded. See for example Dhiravegin, Likhit

op cil. 26 On^he^Ltent of foreign advisors in the Siamese administration see Siffin, Thai Bureaucracy: Instituiional Change and Development (Honolulu: East-West Center

” Girling, John Thailand: Society and Politics (Ithaca; Cornell University Press, 1981), ^^AVood documentary collection covering this period is Nartsupha, Chatthip * ^asartset, Suthy (eds.) Socio-Economic Institutions and Cultural Change tn Siam, 1852 1910 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1977). » The tin industry was in a similar fashion in Chinese hands, financed by Chmese capita , see Nartsupha, Chatthip & Prasartset, Suthy (eds.) The Political ^^onomy of Siam, 1851 1910 (Bangkok: The Social Science Association of Thailand, 1978), pp. 91. 3® At the same time the structure of Siamese society was going through a marked change. Chinese labourers appeared on a large scale, -me traditional division of labour^was^upse and new patterns for the distribution of manpower came into existent. On the effects of these changes on social structures spe Akin Rabibandana’s classic study Th^ Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1782-1873 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

1969).

32 On history of early CathoUc missions to Siam see Teixeira, Manuel op ci/., pp. 271-409. For an account of Catholic missions to Siam after the ascension of kmg Mongkut see Pro Mundi Vita Thailand in Transition: The Church in a Buddhist Country (Brussels. Pro Mundi Vita Centrum Informationis, 1973). ,o9g_/os« » See for example Wells, Kenneth History of Protestant Work tn Thailand 1928-1958 (Bangkok: Church of Christ in Thailand, 1958). w A good illustration is Herbert Swanson’s article ’’Advocate and P^ner: Missionaries and Modernization in Nan Province, Siam, 1895-1913” in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies vol 13 no. 2 (Spring 1982), pp. 59-79. j 35 Tambiah, Stanley World Conquoror and World Renounces A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background (Cambridge; Cambridge Umversity Press, 1976), pp. 102—131. m. 36 The term “muang" is explained in detail in the introductory chapter, supra, p. 19. The ruler of the muang was the chao muang, while members of the ruling elite were referred to as chao The standard sources consulted for the following section are Prach^it Korachak Phongsawadan Yonok (Bangkok: Khlang Withaya, 1964); Brailey, Nigel The Ori^ns of the Siamese Forward Movement in Western Laos, 1830-1892” (London; London Umversitv 1969) unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, and Ramsey, Ansil Modemizabon and Cent­ ralization in Northern Thailand, 187S-1910” in/onmn/ of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 7,

no. 1 (March 1976), pp. 16-32. 38 O^lhePdrilking of the Water of Allegiance see Wales, Q^raritch Siamese State C^emo-

nies. Their History and Function (London: Bernard Quantch Ltd., 1931), pp. 193-198. 3’ Infra, pp. 72ff. Supra, p. 36. implications of this altered situation and the strains put on the relationship between 41 The • Bangkok and the muang nua can be clearly seen from a letter written by Sir Robert Schomburgk. the British consul in Siam (and one of the first Westerners who travelled

58

from Bangkok to Chiang Mai) to King Mongkut: I wish to be clearly understood that up to the present time I have considered the chief of Xiengmai as tritiutary to Siam, and as H.M. Consul, I have looked to Your Majesty, the Suzerain of Xiengmai, to obtain redress for any British Subjects who have valid complaints against that Chief. If it is necessary that I should look to the Chief himself for redress, then the relations between Great Britain and Xiengmai must be put on an entirely different footing, and Xiengmai will have to be considered as an independent state. Quoted by Brailey, Nigel op. cil., p. 134. The following section on the events in Chiang Mai is based on McGilvary’s biography A Half a Century among the Siamese and the Lao (New York: Flemming H. Revell Comp., 1912) and correspondence between McGilvary and the Presbyterian Board in America. Consul Knox to the Siamese government, August 1866, quoted by Bristowe, William Louis and the King of Siam (London: Chatto & Windus, 1976), p. 62. ** It was probably in this connection the chao muang made a statement with the effect that only the lack of salt in the muang nua made him to keep his allegiance to the king of Siam. Quoted by Bristowe, William op. cit., p. 61. Ramsey, Ansil ’’Modernization and Centralization in Northern Thailand, 1875-1910” in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 7, no. 1 (March 1976), pp. 16-32. King Chulalongkorn to phraya Ratsampharakon, Bangkok, July 12,1883 (translation by M.R. Rujaya Abhakom). Ramsay, Ansil ’’Modernization and Reactionary Rebellions in Northern Siam” in Jour­ nal of Asian Studies, vol. 38, no 2 (February 1979), pp. 287ff. From this point on the muang nua was referred to in official Siamese sources as monthon lao chiang (« "North-western Lao Circle" - i.e. one of the newly created administra­ tive units of Siam). For a detailed account of the reforms and their consequences see Bun­ nag, Tej The Provincial Administration of Siam lS92~19i5 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford Uni­ versity Press, 1977). For an account of the Shan rebellion see Ramsay, Ansil "Modernization and Reactio­ nary Rebellions in Northern Siam" op. cit., pp. 290ff and Bristowe, William op. cit., pp. 107-121. Infra, pp. 52ff. I use the term "political Buddhism” in the widest sense possible, meaning that traditio­ nal political objectives are formulated in a Buddhist context, even to the degree where political objectives are upheld to be an integral part of Buddhist teachings. For this defini­ tion I am indebted to Hellman, Eva "lYadition och modernism i Anagarika Dharmapalas buddhismusuppfattning” (Uppsala: University of Uppsala, 1988), unpublished thesis, p. 51. For a general survey of political Buddhism in Burma see Sarkisyanz, Emanuel Buddhist Backgrounds of the Burmese Revolution (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1965); von der Menden, Fred Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Madison: University of Wis­ consin Press, 1968), where a third of the book deals with Burma and Smith, Donald £. Religion and Politics in Burma (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965). For a contemporary Burman Qiristian assessment of the issue of Buddhism and nationa­ lism see Win, Kanbawza "Colonialism, Nationalism and Christianity in Burma” in Asia Journal of Theology, vol. 2. no. 2 (October 1988), pp. 270-281. Supra, p. 29. ® See the references to the Mahayana Buddhist cults led by the Ari priesthood in Harvey, Godfrey op. cit., pp. 17-18 and 26. See the references to the Maitreya in the post-canonical work Anagata-varttsa, edited by J. Minayeff in the Journal of the Pali Text Society for 1886 (London: Pali Text Society.

59

1886), pp. 33-53. An English translation of the Pali text is available in Warren, Henry Clarke Buddhism in Translations (New York: Atheneum, 1970), pp. 481-486. Sarkisyanz, Emanuel op. cit., pp. 93ff. “ Infra, p. 55. ’’ Harvey op. cit., pp. 87-88. The mission succeeded and the Mon invasion led by King Razadarit was averted. ” Heinz Bechert summed up the characteristic elements of this strengthening political Buddhism in Burma in this manner: Man kan die neucre Geschichte Birmas in ihren Grundzugen als Auswirkung der Auseinandersetzung zweier Haupttendenzen verstehen: die eine Tendenz is durch das Bestreben, Birma zu einem modernen Staatswesen umzugestalten, gekennzeichnet; auf der anderen Seite steht das Bestreben, durch eine Restauration die alte staatiiche Ordnung widerherzustellen... Dieser Auseinandersetzung entspricht in der Religionspolitik das Nebeneinander der Tendenz, in einem sakuleren Staatswesen Staat und Religion zu trennen, und anderscits der Tendenz, eine enge Verflechtung zwischen Staat und Staatsreligion herzustellen. Diese Gegensalze bestimmten das Bild der birmanischen Politik bis in die Gegenwart... Buddhismus, Staat und Gesellschaft in der Ldndern Theravada-Buddhismus, vol. 2 (Wies­ baden: Otto Harrassowitz Veriag, 1967), p. 95. ® See for example The Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon, translated by Wil­ helm Geiger, Pali Text Society TYansIation Series No. 3 (London: The Pali Text Society, 1912), p. 25,104-111. For further discussion on this particular case see Obeyesekere, Gananath A Meditation on Conscience (Colombo: Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka, 1988), p. 25 and Peter Schalk’s review of Obeyesekere’s book in Lanka: Tidskrift om lankesisk kultur, no 1 (September 1988), pp. 69-71. On a parallel occunence in Burma see Bechert, Heinz Buddhismus, Staat und Gesellschaft in der Ldndem Theravada-Budd­ hismus, vol. 1 (Frankfurt: Alfred Metzner Verlag, 1966), pp. 185-186. Quoted by Foucar, E.C. V. They Reigned in Mandalay (London: Dennis Dobson, 1946 pp. 133-134. Infra, p. 89. Census of India, 1901, vol. 12 (Rangoon: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, 1902), p. 33. “ Infra, p. 89. ** Supra, p. 35. Coedes, Georges & Archimbault, Charles Les Trots Mondes: Cosmogonic siamoise (Paris: Publications de I’Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient, 1973). " Tambiah, Stanley World Conquorer and World Renouncer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 20911and Griswold, Alexander/IingMongkuto/Siam (New York: Asia Society, 1961). On Buddhist modernism in general see the section on "Definition und Voraussetzungen des Modernismus” in Bechert, Heinz op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 37-42; on king Mongkut’s reform see Moffat, Low Mongkut: The King of Siam (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1961) and Lanezkowski, Gunter "Das sogenannte Religionsgesprach des Kdnigs Mongkut” in Saeculum, vol. 17, no 1-2 (March 1966), pp. 119-130. On the details of this reform see Wuttichan, Chamluang ’The Sangha Administration in Thailand" in Chandrangaam, Saeng et.al. (ed.) Buddhism in Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai: Thippanetr Publishing Company, 1981), pp. 4ff and cf. supra, p. 36. ® The term sect is used here in a wide sense, meaning a religious movement, especially a minor group, that has broken away from a larger established religious group or tradition.

60

See Wyatt, David The Politics of Reform in Thailand: Education in the Reign of King Chulalongkorn (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1969), pp. 236ff andBechert, Heinz op. cit., vol. 2, chapters 39 and 40. ’* Griswold, Alexander ’’The Old Architecture and Sculpture of Northern Thailand” in Chandrangaam, Saeng et.al. (ed.) op. cit., p. 31. Supra, p. 39. ’3 ’’Yuan” means ’’northern” and in this connection refers to the muang nua. The best example is that while the salutation formula to the triratna (= "Triple Gem”) was uttered three times in Siam, only once in the muang nua. Infra, p. 54. It is of special interest to note that several of these khru ba were also venerated by Karen communities, not necessarily Buddhist Karen communities. Cf. infra, p. 53. Supra, p. 49. Supra, p. 46. Supra, p. 49. Wuttichan, Chamluang "The Sangha Administration in Thailand" op. cit., pp. 5-7. Supra, p. 44. Though the events related to khru ba Si Wichai took place in the 1910s-1930s and thus, strictly speaking fall outside the framework of this dissertation, this case nevertheless is explored here as it illustrates a general attitude towards centralization and integration in the muang nua, which was present in the earlier decades too. Furthermore, khru ba Si Wichai gained wide respect and following among particularly certain Pwo Karen commu­ nities and thus is of special interest here. “ The case of khru ba Si Wichai has previously been considered in Charles Keyes’ "Budd­ hism and National Integration in Thailand" in Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 30, no. 3 (May 1971), pp. 556ff. Ibid. Based on field observation in amphoe Li, changwat Lamphun in early 1983. The term "millenarian” is not used here as a reference to the Christian expectations of the messianic kingdom on earth in accordance with Revelations chapter 20, but rather as a terminus technicus adopted by anthropologists and sociologists describing religious, not necessarily Christian, movements inspired by a dream of or yearning for salvation, which is to be a. collective, in the sense that it is to be enjoyed by the faithful as a group; b. terrestrial, in the sense that it is to be realised on this earth and not in some otherwordly heaven; c. imminent, in the sense that it is to come both soon and suddenly; d. total, in the sense that it is utterly to transform life on earth, so that the new dispen­ sation will be no mere improvements on the persent, but perfection itself; e. accomplished by agencies which are consciously regarded as supernatural. Cohn, Norman ’’Medieval Millenarianism: Its Bearing on the Comparative Study of Mil­ lenarian Movements” in Thrupp, Sylvia (ed.) Millennial Dreams in Action: Essays in Comparative Study (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1962), p. 31, cf. the article by Yonina Talraon on ’’millenarism" in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 10 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968), pp. 349-362. Keyes, Charles "Millennialism, Theravada Buddhism, and Thai Society” in Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 36, no. 2 (February 1977), pp. 285ff. Apart from works that will be referred to below, the article of Yoneo Ishii "A Note on Buddhistic Millenarian Revolts in Northeastern Siam” in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 6, no. 1 (March 1975), pp. 121-126 should be mentioned here. Coedes, Georges & Archimbault, Charles op. cit.

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For a discussion on phu mi bun seeTambiah, Stanley J. The Buddhist Saints ofthe Forest and the Cult of Amulets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 294. Kings of Siam were considered phu mi bun, see for example the chapter on Taksin in Wyatt, David Thailand: A Short History, p. 140. Infra, pp. 81ff. Supra, p. 46. Supra, p. 46. An excellent account of millenarian Buddhist aspirations in Burma is Michael Mendel* sohn’s ”A Messianic Buddhist Association in Upper Burma” in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 24, no. 3 (October 1961), pp. 560-580. ** Cf. Wyatt, David Thailand: A Short History (London: Yale University Press, 1984), p. 125. The best treatment of this issue is found in Bunnag, Tej (Khabot phu mi bun phak isan r.s. 121” in Sangkhomsat Parithat (Social Science Review), vol. 5, no. 1 (June-August 1967) pp. 78-87 and by the same author The Provincial Administration of Siam 1892-1915 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1977), pp. 151ff. * Bunnag, Tej "Khabot phu mi bun phak isan r.s. 212”, op. cit., p. 84. Infra, pp. 70ff.

CHAPTER n

TOWARDS AN EXPRESSED KAREN IDENTITY Chapter I has explored the historical background in Burma, Siam and the muang nua, against which the formation of a distinct Karen identity and more specifically a distinct Karen Christian identity in the muang nua is to be understood. In this chapter I will focus on the Karen them­ selves, their early history, the story of their reduction to the status of a marginalized people and how these developments led to religiously motivated protests and the rise of Karen nationalism. I will continue to trace developments in Burma, Siam and the muang nua. In subsequent chapters I will explore the rise of an indigenous Christian community in the muang nua.

A. THE KAREN IN BURMA, SIAM AND THE MUANG NUA: THE HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK

1. Introduction In trying to reconstruct early Karen history we are confronted with the special nature of Karen oral tradition.’ Ron Renard has suggested that ■the Karen view the past as something which lacks continuity and coherence.2 A better way of expressing this phenomenon, is perhaps to stress that the very distant past and the history of the past few genera­ tions together form the historical horizont of the Karen. Thus, Karen recollections of the past fall int two or more specifically three categories: - an extensive tradition of cosmology and views of the creation as well as traditions relating to the shift in the position of the Karen from a situation of prosperity to a state of poverty and orphanhood, still inclu­ ding certain hopes and dreams of restoration; and - oral traditions that relate the migration of the Karen to Southeast

63

Asia, their initial position of strength, and their subsequent loss.of pow­ er to neighbouring peoples. Then there is a gap in the oral traditions. The next stratum, or the third category of Karen oral tradition, deals with developments since the 1800s.

This gap in the traditions is attributed by the Karen to the fact that noth­ ing of importance happened between the Karen settlement in Burma and Siam, on the one hand, and developments in the 19th century, on the other, which profoundly altered the condition of the Karen.’

Looking more closely into the pre-1800 traditions, however, one soon finds that these can be divided into two sub-categories. Firstly, there are the traditions dealing with the pre-Southeast Asian past of the Karen, as well as those referring to the Karen in Southeast Asia, and more specifically in Burma and Siam. Secondly, there are traditions, which in various ways assert that the Ka­ ren were the first settlers in their particular areas. Many of these tradi­ tions deal with the way in which the Karen were forced out from their places of residence and retreated to the mountains.Like the first set of pre-1800 traditions, even these are most difficult to verify or date. There is, however, circumstantial evidence to back up these traditions.

On the basis of these oral traditions, what has been written so far on Karen pre-history, follows two distinct lines of progression. First of all, in the wake of rising Karen nationalism some Karen histo­ rians have made courageous attempts to reconstruct the Karen past in Southeast Asia and beyond. Aung Hla’s history of the Karen is a good example of this uncritical collection of Karen tradition, Loo Shwe’s his­ tory is another. Aung Hla, for example, identified the ancient rulers of Upper Burma as Pwo Karen, while Loo Shwe tentatively translated the name of the town of Chiang Mai as ’’Karen principality”.^ U Zan’s church historical studies adhere to this nationalist tradition as well.® The result is obviously most tendentious, but these writers take Karen oral tradition seriously.

64

Secondly, there are more critical studies done by Western scholars, such as Charles Keyes. In his studies on Karen history Keyes simply dismisses the idea of a Karen presence in Siam and the muang nua prior to the 18th century. Thus by implication he dismisses the Karen oral tradition.’ In his dissertation, Ronald Renard is also critical of Karen oral tradition although he assesses more carefully the sources referring to the Karen in Burma, Siam and the muang nua.^ In this study I will venture a somewhat different approach to Karen oral tradition. In exploring Karen pre-history I do not have any new, hit­ herto unavailable material at my disposal. But I will try to'use the avail­ able material in two ways: - as a source, i.e. as a possible basis of information on early Karen history; and secondly - as expressions of a deliberate Karen understanding and interpreta­ tion of th^r own history. The second aspect is the most important.

My contribution to the scholarly discussion on Karen pre-history and early history in Southeast Asia, as well as on Karen religious develop­ ments is the giving of an independent interpretation in terms of Karen self-understanding of these traditions where myth and history are inter­ twined. There are, of course, significant differences of opinions also in the study of traditional Karen religious emphases. Earlier studies in this field fall basically into two categories: - 19th century and early 20th century studies carried out almost ex­ clusively by missionaries®, and - modern studies - from the 1950s and onward - done by ethnologists and anthropologists.^® The basic difference between these two schools of thought is that most missionary writers tended to view traditional Karen religion primarily as a background against which the achievements of Christian missions were to be interpreted. Contemporary ethnologists and anthropologists study traditional Karen religion as a phenomenon in its own right, with­ out any a priori links to Christian missionary ventures.

65

In this study I will venture a fresh look at the sources and interpret them also against the background of the longstanding Karen - Buddhist inter­ action in Burma, Siam and the muang nua, which I have illustrated in my previous chapter?’ In this way I will also deal with the religiously motivated protests and millenarian dreams among the Karen in the 19th century, which later informed a distinct Karen nationalism. In this con­ nection I will focus particular attention on a subordinate, though in this context a most significant theme, i.e. the Karen expectation of the co­ ming of the Karen king and its bearings on the Karen evangelism in the muang nua.

2. Pre-history of the Karen

Z. Reminiscences of the ''golden age". Myth and history are intertwined in the traditions referring to the ear­ liest history of the Karen and these traditions may be divided according to contents into three sub-groups. Firstly, Karen cosmology, including the Karen version of a story or crea­ tion is expressed partly in the Y’wa tradition. The chronology of the Y'wa tradition is a crux interpretuum in Karen studies. As I will illust­ rate more closely later on, these traditions in hia form date back at least to the early 19th century, when they were first recorded by American missionaries, not least by Francis Mason.

The major elements of the cosmology of the Y’wa tradition are: i. the story of creation, where it is asserted that Y’wa, who has the cha­ racteristics of a ’’high god”, created the earth with the assistance of a termite and a black bird: When first the earth was made, Who worked and built it? When it was formed, Who was the creator? ...

When first the earth was formed, It was Y’wa who formed it.

66

When first the world was fashioned. It was God who fashioned it?’

ii. the story of a fall of man and more specifically the story of the fall of the Karen from a privileged position of grace, describing how the jung­ le’s large serpent deceived the Karen and made them subject to suffe­ ring, sickness and death; furthermore it relates how a "book of silver and gold” was entrusted to the Karen but they lost possession of it: Y’wa gave us the leather book ... The book disappeared before dark; White ants and red ants took it away. Y’wa gave us the white book ... The book disappeared before evening; White ants and red ants carried it away. Found again the bits and pieces; - Thrust them in above the ridge pole. A yellow hen chanced to fly by; The book dropped down and was destroyed. Pigs rooted it, chickens scratched, buried it. Don’t know what to do. Only the cover remains above the ridge pole. The chickens have the good part in their bones. The pigs have the good part in their gall bladders. Henceforth observe the ancestral rites.

iii. prophecies concerning the future whereby the Karen will repossess the book with the aid of their younger, white brother; they will prosper and the Karen king and probably also Y’wa will appear. I will return later on in this chapter to what these traditions contain in terms of Karen eschatology.

The second sub-group of traditions focus on the story of Hfaw Meh Pa, the founder of the Karen race.^® These traditions too can be claimed to date back from at least the earliest 19th century and tell how the Karen left their overpopulated original homeland and moved southward. The original homeland was near mount Thaw Thi Kho, which, of course, cannot be geographically located. En route the Karen crossed the Hti Seh Meh Ywa, which may mean ”a river of running sand” and perhaps refer to a desert area. It may, however, also be translated as ”a river of water flowing with sand” and then refer to an unidentified sandy river.

6

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Archeology has not offered any clues which would identify an ancient Karen site. All that can be asserted with certainty from these traditions is that the Karen claim that they entered Southeast Asia from the north before the Tai and the Burman peoples had come, i.e. in the early centu­ ries A. D. Their traditions suggest that the early Karen may have come in small groups and were fleeing from more powerful people, who also were migrating towards the south. For decades linguists had been widely divided in their views on the Ka­ ren languages. Though they had agreed on the distinctive nature of the Karen languages, they were unable to link them conclusively to any oth­ er language. More recently a majority view has been that the Karen languages are certainly members of the family of Sino-Tibetan langua­ ges, but their position within that language group is yet to be clarified. This lack of hard evidence has inspired a long line of 19th century writers to offer more or less ingenious solutions to the riddle of the origin of the Karen. The most advanced - and at the same time most fantastic theory was that the Karen might be one of the lost tribes of Israel.Al­ bert Fychte, a British Chief Commissioner of Burma suggested that the Karen were in fact remnants of the Huns.^ Others have ventured that the Karen might be related to the Kayans of Kalimantan, or the Tek (or Tok) tribes of Central Asia, or the Hmong, or Yao of Yunnan in south­ ern China. Finally, the third sub-group of traditions refer to the earliest times of the Karen in Southeast Asia. These traditions illustrate how the Karen claim that they were early or the earliest rulers of areas which today be­ long to other ethnic groups. In present day northern Thailand as well as in Burma traditions abound about the Karen being evicted from their areas by more powerful or more cunning people. What can be said with historic certainty is that when the Mongol invasion of southwestern China put an end to the Tai kingdom of Nan-chao, the Tai peoples migrated southward and displa­ ced the Karen in the lowland areas in the Ping and Salween watersheds.A similar development occurred in Burma. Thus, while there is a probable reference to the Karen in The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, which suggests that the Karen were a powerful

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group in the Sth century, this same people is referred to as temple slaves by the 13th century.^^ The traditions on the Karen, thus, convey explicit references to a ’’gol­ den age”. In a sense, despite the fall of the Karen from their position of grace, this ’’golden age” extends to the earliest times in Southeast Asia, until the Karen are subjected to more powerful and above all literate people. In this way they confirm the subordinate status of the Karen as a people who ’’lost the book” or as a people who ”have no book”.^-* Per­ haps it is this entire process of subjection to the Burman and Tai peop­ les, which is described in the myth, which I have already quoted: The book disappeared before dark; White ants and red ants took it away. Y’wa gave us the white book ... 'The book disappeared before evening; White ants and red ants carried it away.^

a. Early frustrations in Burma, Siam and the muang nua As already noted, references in Karen oral tradition to developments prior to the 18th century are indistinct. In fact references to the Karen in Burmese and Siamese sources between the 13th and 18th centuries are scarce. They are indeed so scarce that it has been suggested that there were no Karen in Siam and the muang nua during this period.It seems to me, however, that this scarcity of references is explained more appropriately in terms of the subordinate status of the Karen. In my first chapter I have already illustrated how in Burma, subsequent to the southward migration of the Burman and the ensuing disputes as to who owned the land, the Karen were forced to accept a more subordi­ nate position. Many moved to the open land along the frontier between the Mon and the Burman in Lower Burma. Further north the Kayah maintained their semi-independence vis-^-vis the Burman and the Shan, but were subject to frequent Burman incursions.^^ In western Siam as well as in the muang nua, too, the Karen were living in scattered settlements. They became an enclave between Siamese and Burmese interests, subject to incursions and oppression from both sides.

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In the course of the centuries, during the migrations and expansion of the peoples who came to make up the majority population of Burma, Siam and the muang nua, the Karen, in a very real sense, were reduced to a marginal people by their increasingly more powerful neighbours. Yet, as hinted at above, it was exactly this marginalization that brought them to the foreground in the 18th and 19th centuries in the wake of the Burmese-Siamese, Burman-Mon and Burmese-British conflicts.^

3. The Karen in 18th and 19th Century Conflicts in Burma and Siam From the 18th century, what so far has been called Karen pre-history, is transformed and the Karen present themselves as a distinct actors in the dramatic historical developments in Southeast Asia. As already noted, the Karen in Burma sided with the Mon in the Bur­ man-Mon conflicts in the early 1700s, which led to a massive exodus of refugees to Siam from what had become Burma.^’ Consequently, there were numerous Karen settlements along the Khwae Yai and Khwae Noi, particularly in Si Sawat already before the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767Following the restoration under King Taksin of Siam, additional groups of Karen settled in Sangklaburi. This, in fact, affected Siamese policies vis-^-vis the strategic Three Pagodas Pass. Sometimes around 1785-, the Siamese authorities named one of these recently settled Karen to head Sangkhlaburi. In due course the refugees from Burma became Siamese subjects. Under the rule of King Rama II Sangkhlaburi was then governed by a Karen council. Karen from both Si Sawat and Sangkhlaburi served as spies and guards along the border in the service of the Siamese government.’^ In this way Si Sawat and Sangkhlaburi became fairly early formal vassals of Bangkok. The local rulers performed the Water of Allegiance cere­ mony and the ruler of Sangkhlaburi presented the king of Siam with gifts and two small silver trees.

Following the First Anglo-Burmese War, the strategic importance of Si Sawat and Sangkhlaburi increased even more.” Rama III raised the sta­ tus of these provinces in 1827. He bestowed honorific titles on the ruler 70

of Sangkhlaburi - at that time a Karen called Phuwapho - who now be­ came Phra Si Suwannakhiri (=Lord of the Auspicious Golden Mountains),^

Following continued border incidents between Siam and Burma in the 1840s, the Karen were given the duty of border surveillance from Tak in the north to Ratburi in the south. The western border of ^iam-, thus, was to a large extent under Karen control during the Second Anglo-Bur­ mese War. The importance of the Karen for the defense of Siam was also acknowledged in that King Mongkut formally added to his many titles that of the ’’King of the Karens”This, however, does not mean that he was considered such by the Karen. It is highly unlikely that King Mongkut’s claim in any way informed Karen views of a great Karen king in the east. To the Karen along the Khwae Yai these decades were a time of econo­ mic expansion. A majority of Siamese exports - raw cotton, sappan­ wood, hides, horn, skins etc. - in the mid-1800s were produced by the Karen and other minority groups.’^ However, this relative prosperity among the Karen was unevenly distributed. Even though most, if not all, of the Karen were better off in Siam where they had taken refuge after decades of oppression in Burma, only the boldest groups - most notably the Pwo in and near Sangkhlaburi - rea­ ched the status of recognized civil servants in the Siamese government’s service. The Pwo dared to establish trade links with the Siamese and gained most from the economic expansion.” Some of these Pwo adop­ ted also Buddhism, in its millenarian form, during this same period - a development I will treat more in detail in due course.^® Most Karen, however, were not in this position. Particularly the Sgaw were uncertain of their status in Siamese society. They lived in hiding, carrying on a highly mobile swidden cultivation. Only towards the 1880s did they settle in permanent villages. Even then their contact with the Siamese remained fairly limited and fragmented.

Just when some Karen in western Siam had attained prosperity, and when Karen products began to become significant for Siamese exports, the situation changed suddenly for the worse. As has been noted al71

ready, the signing of the Bowring Treaty in 1855 laid the foundation for a complete transformation of the Siamese economy?^ Around 1850 Siam was a self-sufficient economic enterprise where foreign trade was regionally oriented and where luxuory products supplied by the Karen and other minority groups played a significant-role. By the turn of the century, however, the economy of Siam was a money economy where foreign demand led to specialization in a few products (rice and teak) for bulk export to Europe.*’ The Karen in western Siam were ill prepared to meet these changes in the mode of production. They lacked experience as well as capital to make necessary adjustments. The time of prosperity for the Karen in western Siam thus came quickly to an end. Following the Siamese border demarcation with Burma in the 1890s the strategic importance of the Karen in the relevant regions decreased significantly. Those who were already on their way to assimi­ lation continued to interact with Siamese society. But the majority of the Karen in western Siam returned to a more secluded existence on the margins of Siamese society.

4. Divided Loyalties in the muang nua

i. Integration under Chiang Mai As already noted the Siamese recaptured the muang nua from the Bur­ mese in 1774.“’ In the process of being drawn into the sphere of the Sia­ mese galactic polity, the most serious issue that faced the chao muang of Chiang Mai was the shortage of manpower, chao muang Kawila, whom we met as the ruler of Chiang Mai between 1781 and 1813, made repeated attempts to bring in all kinds of ethnic groups and settle them in the Chiang Mai area and along the western border.“^ Methods of car­ rying out this policy varied from negotiations and gentle persuation to man-hunting raids. In 1802, Kawila’s troops captured a large number of Pwo in the Zwei Kabin hills near Pa-an in Burma. These were forced to settle near Chiang Mai and became known to the khon muang as suai kabang.^^ Other groups of Karen from west of the Salween river migra­ ted to the muang nua voluntarily and founded villages south of Mae Sariang.

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For obvious reasons the chao muang was anxious to encourage the Sgaw, and to a lesser extent also the Pwo, who resided along the Bur­ mese border to pledge their allegiance to him and assume border patrol duties in his service. During the lifetime of chao muang Kawila this po­ licy met with success and the position of Chiang Mai was strengthened considerably.'*^ By the early 1800s as the Burmese threat declined the muang nua had become less dependent on Bangkok for defense. With increased Karen settlements the chao of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, the two muang that bordered on Burma, assumed the role of over­ seers of the Karen in their respective regions. As highlighted in Chapter I, the expanding teak industry employed a number of Karen who gained experience from similar jobs in Burma as teak officials. These Karen were subject to a system of taxation according to financial status rather than at a uniform rate. This system may have been abused by some un­ scrupulous khon muang officials, but on the whole worked satisfacto­ rily.

The unclear demarcation of the border with Burma which had led to some arguments with the British in the 1830s, was temporarily resolved when an agreement was reached with the British to recognize the Moei river as the boundary. This, however, did not prevent a resurgence of occasional man-hunting raids from Burma into the muang nua. Those who suffered most from these raids were the Sgaw and Pwo living on the eastern side of the river Salween and Moei. Mae Sariang was so raided in 1856.‘*5 Thereby the regional authority of Chiang Mai was directly challenged. Chiang Mai forces were dispatched to expel the Burmese intruders. In the following decades the chao of the muang nua had to adopt the practice of gaining the loyalty of the Karen by signing treaties with them. In fact, the Karen were granted limited self-rule in certain areas. In exchange they had to present the chao muang with nominal gifts as tokens of their loyalty.

The sense of security and self-esteem derived from the treaties with the chao muang made an enormous difference to the life of the Karen in the muang nua. This improvement of their status was further reinforced by the fact that at about the same time Daniel McGilvary made smallpox vaccine available in the north. In spite of the language barrier between

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McGHvary and the local Karen, a relationship of trust was established and McGilvary inoculated large groups of Karen around Chiang Mai?®

These improvements effected the lives of the Karen unevenly, of course. Those who lived near Chiang Mai enjoyed the protection of the chao muang and gained self-assurance, which reminds one of the conditions of their fellow Karen in western Siam a few decades earlier. However, those who lived at greater distance from Chiang Mai along the border with Burma, were still subject to occasional man-hunting raids and due to the still undefined^border were uncertain of their legal status. In this’situation several of the more prosperous Pwo moved eastward and occupied lowland areas in muang Lamphun, Lampang and Phrae. Among these were the^uai kabang, mentioned above.'’’ Even the Karen who lived in isolated areas between Chiang Mai and Mae Sariang began to adopt a more permanent way of living. Just as in western Siam, the Karen in the muang nua were better off in the mid-1800s than they had been for at least a century. The boldest groups of Karen were well on the way to assimilating into lowland society under the patronage of the chao muang. Some of these Pwo Karen, particularly among the suai kabang, adopted also Buddhism during this period, thereby making their assimilation into lowland society even smoother.*®

a. Under increasing Siamese pressure But conditions continued to change in the muang nua. As Siamese offi­ cials took over more and more of the administrative positions in the muang nua the very foundations of Karen security, self-esteem, and par­ ticipation in society were undermined Not only did the Karen view the Siamese officials with suspicion, some Karen did in fact participate in anti-Siamese movements.^ I

The Siamese officials in the muang nua did little to convey a positive impression to the Karen. They were unable or unwilling to appreciate the multi-ethnic composition of the muang nua and treated the Karen and other minorities simply as foreigners. While the attempts of King Chulalongkorn to integrate all the minorities in Siamese society - in or­ der to unify the nation - were probably well intended, the way in which 74

they were implemented was less than successful. As hinted already, things that made a difference to Karen life were associated with people or groups other than the Siamese. Security and self-esteem among the Karen were derived mainly from the patronage of the chao muang. Freedom from epidemics was associated with McGilvary and the subse­ quent missionaries.^’ To the Karen in western Siam however, the poli­ cies of Bangkok for a while tended to increase Karen participation in wider Siamese society. In the muang nua Bangkok and the king - at least in the perception of the Karen - did not have that positive an image.

Towards the end of the 19th century the situation on the whole was very sensitive for the Karen. While most Karen in western Siam were prepa­ red to participate in the process of integration, or at least to give the central government the benefit of the doubt, some of the Karen in the muang nua clearly demonstrated their mistrust of the central govern­ ment. Generally speaking they avoided the integrating measures of the government, such as schools. The Karen, who sought education tended to prefer mission schools. Even those Karen who became Buddhists marked their distance to the Siamese by adhering to the Yuan tradition. A few decades after the turn of the century, as we recall from Chapter I, several Karen participated actively in the protest movement around khru ba Si Wichai.^^ Most Karen, however, adopted an attitude of passivity and returned to their previous secluded existence. After a few decades of prosperity, se­ curity and interaction, the Karen in the muang nua became once again marginal to the society they lived in. Some, however, nurtured distinct nationalist aspirations. Karen religious sentiments informed this devel­ opment.

B. CHANGING KAREN RELIGIOUS EMPHASES

1. Introduction Having outlined the historical framework of the Karen communities in Burma, Siam, and the muang nua, religious developments among the 75

Karen now call for a closer examination. The purpose of this section is, thus: - to reconstruct the major components of Karen religious life as they had evolved before Christian missionaries began to interact with the Ka­ ren in the 19th century, and - to illustrate how traditional religious motifs - possibly influenced by Buddhist claims - had been instrumental in the self-definition of the Karen as a deprived and oppressed minority.

2. Features of TVaditional Karen Religion As far as sources for a reconstruction of traditional Karen religion are concerned, I refer to the material I have already introduced in the gene­ ral introduction and the discussion on Karen pre-history in this chapter.As already noted, the tradition concerning Y’wa as the crea­ tor of the universe as well as the first man and woman is found in one form or another among all Karen groups. Even so, anthropological re­ search suggests that Y’wa has not played a major role in the daily reli­ gious life of the Karen.According to the traditional Karen world-view, since the Karen followed the deceptive advice of Mu kaw U, the evil one, Y'wa left the Karen, for the time being, to their own fate.^^

The two most important categories of spiritual beings according to Ka­ ren traditions are the ancestral spirits and the "lords of the land”.

While the Sgaw and the Pwo view the ancestors somewhat differently, positively/ambivalently or negatively respectively, the worship of them in both major sub-groups of the Karen is the sphere of the female, i.e. worship is persued under the supervision of a female rebgious leader. Furthermore, the Karen worship the ’’lords of the land”, which do not only control the fertility of the soil, but also sustain in a wider sense or­ der in the cosmos of the Karen. While the worship of the ancestors be­ longs to the female sphere, the worship of the ’’lords of the land” is the sphere of the male in the Karen community. These ’’lords” may be of friendly predisposition, furthering the prosperity of a given village. They may however, also be irritated or hurt, causing natural disasters, crop failure, epidemics etc. The Cause for irritation is usually the breach 76

of Karen law and tradition in certain respects by a member of the village community, the most severe transgression being illegitimate sexual in­ tercourse. It is the role of the socio-religious leader of the village to per­ form public rituals in order to maintain the friendly predisposition of the ’’lords of the land” or, if circumstances call for it, placate them for the transgressions of the villagers.^’ The Karen also grant personal attributes to the powers and forces around them, may they be - the life principle or k’la of the individual, as well as that of rice and animals, over which the Karen try to gain control in order to assure phy­ sical and socio-economic well-being^ or - the impersonal power of pgho, that can be called on by those who have established a special personal communication with the supernatu­ ral sphere.

It is worth noting that due to the very nature of Karen social organiza­ tion all traditional Karen religious ceremonies were performed either by members of a given matrilineal cult group, by household members or by the village community as a whole. Consequently, there was no national or ethnic religious hierarchy.

As already noted, the matrilineal ceremonies among the Karen were as­ sociated with the female sphere.® Village politics and relations with the outside world, as well as village feasts and ceremonies were a male sphere of responsibility. The village socio-religious leader was assisted in his function by a local council of elders. His primary role was to propi­ tiate the spirits on behalf of the village community. These socio-religious leaders were usually married men, often entrusted with an assistent, who attended to their everyday duties, such as agriculture, just like all the other villagers. They held their office for life-time. The function was hereditary within the family of the respective socio-religious leader.^*

3. An Alternative Reading of the Controversial T’w Tradition As has been shown above, practically all studies concerning Karen so­ cial and religious developments note the presence of the Y’wa tradition. 77

Yet the role, which these traditions played for the Karen in the 19th cen­ tury is very difficult to ascertain. In the writings of the American Baptist missionaries and of nationalistically inclined Karen church historians, such as U Zan, these traditions have been given a most prominent role.“ Others, however, practically deny the probability that these traditions reflect elements of authentic Karen concepts and beliefs.® In addition to the problems of the cosmological references of the Y’wa tradition, which I have alluded to, these traditions also contain a re­ markable apocalyptic anticipation of the restoration of the Karen in the future. These traditions are problematic for at least two reasons: i. the earliest records of the Y’wa tradition came from missionaries and the translation into English was much coloured by the terminology of these missionaries, most notably those of Francis Mason®, and ii. the content of some of these traditions has been traditionally inter­ preted by missionaries in such way that it made the coming of the Ame­ rican missionaries a partial fulfillment of Karen prophecy.

The most pregnant portion of the Y’wa tradition in this regard reads as follows according to Mason’s translation: Book of silver, book of gold, Book that God the Father told Lost, it will again appear When a white man brings it near. A floating duck on waters broad, Come they bringing Father God Come to worship, one and all, Bring your gifts, both great and small. A white swan on waters clear, See, our Father God appear. Men and women as is meet. Bring your offerings to His feet.

With buffalo horn Ywah sounds the note, A white man steers the golden boat; Father calls with trumpet tone. Of itself the boat comes on. O children and grandchildren! The Karens will yet dwell in the city with the golden palace.

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If we do well, the existence of other kings is at an end. The Karen king will yet appear, and when he arrives there will be happiness. When the Karen king arrives. Everything will be happy; When the Karen king arrives, The beasts will be happy; When the Karens have a king, Lions and leopards will lose their savageness.

The fact that American missionaries arriving in Burma in the early 1800s used these traditions for their own purposes is neither surprising nor uni­ que. Rejecting these traditions out of hand only because they have been recorded by the missionaries, seems to me to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater and thereby ignoring possible dramatic features in Karen religious developments. Actually, at a closer look there seem to be at least three possible ways of explaining the Y’wa tradition and the remarkable apocalyptic featu­ res in it, such as references to the ’’book of silver and gold” and the co­ ming Karen king. One, of course, is that these references reflect interpolations of Chris­ tian motifs into traditional Karen cosmology, which are either based on sheer misunderstanding or on deliberate misinterpretations by Ameri­ can missionaries, who were the first to put the Y’wa tradition in writing. This is, perhaps, the most popular notion among critical anthropologists or historians.^

Secondly, the Y’wa tradition may reflect early Karen interactions with Jewish minorities - possibly in China. There is clear historical documen­ tation to prove the probability of such interaction.^’ Francis Mason was one of the first who suggested influences on the Karen by Jews in south­ ern China.^

A third possibility, which so far has only been partially explored, would be to suggest that the Y’wa tradition reflects Buddhist influences on tra­ ditional Karen religion.® Given the historical interaction of Karen mi­ norities in Burma, Siam and the muang nua with majority populations who adhered to Buddhism, which I have illustrated in chapter I and the 79

earlier sections of this chapter, it would not seem to-be too far-fetched to read parts of the Y’n'a tradition against a Buddhist background. Later on I will illustrate certain connections between Buddhist millenarianism and traditionalist expressions of Karen protests in the 19th cen­ tury. As far as the Y’wa tradition is concerned, however, its explicit refe­ rences to the ’’book of silver and gold” are difficult to interpret in terms of a direct Buddhist influence. Although the authoritative tradition from the Buddha is undergirded by significant symbolism, explicit refe­ rences to the ’’book of silver and gold” sound more Judeo-Christian or possibly Islamic, than authentically Buddhist.

References to the coming king, however, may be Karen attempts to arti­ culate a similar eschatological expectation as is conveyed in the Budd­ hist concept of MaitreyaJ^ With reference to the extreme village struc­ ture, which is characteristic of Karen communities, it is highly unlikely that this precious idea of the ’’Karen king to come” was originally Ka­ ren.

An even more striking parallel is found in one of the traditional songs, recorded by American missionaries, predicting the return of Y'wa'. The Lord his messengers doth send, And he himself will quickly come; The priests of Boodh, whose reign is short, Must leave the place to make them room.’^

These expectations are strikingly similar to the description of the times preceding the coming of Maitreya in the Buddhist tradition. The post canonical work Anagata-vamsa asserts: Now as time goes on the last of the priests will carry their robes, their bowls, and their tooth-sticks after the manner of the naked ascetics... And as time goes on a priest will say, ’What is the good of this yellow robe?* and cut a small piece of yellow cloth, and tie it around his neck, or his ears, or his hair, and devote himself to husbandry or trade and the like, and to taking care of wife and children... As time goes on the priests will say, ’What do we want with this?’ and they will throw away the piece of yellow cloth and persecute the wild ani­ mals and birds of the forest...

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As far as the chronology of the Y’wa tradition is concerned, it is at this point worthy to note that according to Mason’s and other missionaries’ reports this tradition preceded the Christian encounter with the Karen in Burma, Siam and the muang nua. Francis Mason thus recbrds a Ka­ ren tradition, strongly coloured by missionary terminology, which he claims to be pre-Christian: O Lord, we have had affliction for a long succession of generations- have compassion, have mercy upon us, O Lord. The Talaing kings have had their season, the Siamese kings have had their season, and the foreign kings, all have had their season; the Karen nation remains. Let our king arrive, O Lord. Thou, O Lord, whom we adore, to whom we sing praises let us dwell within the great town, the high city, the golden palace. Give to us, have compassion upon us, O Lord.’’

Here certainly there is a most conscious use made of the concept of the Karen king. U Zan in his work on the Karen conveys local tradition according to which the Karen in the muang nua interpreted their encounter with Christianity as a fulfillment of the Fwa tradition.’^ A most interesting support of U Zan’s claim can be found in the original-Sgaw Karen of the report of the first Karen evangelists from Burma to the muang nua in the early ISSOs.’’ Here the encounter with Christianity is reported to have been experienced as a more appropriate fulfillment of Karen ex­ pectations than the millenaristic message of Maw Lay.’^ In due course I will explore these interesting developments at greater length. Now it is high time to illustrate the role of religion in the rise of a more explicit Karen identity in the 19th century.

C. THE ’’MEN OFPGfl^O”: RELIGIOUS PROTEST AND MILLENARIAN DREAMS

1. Impact of Political Buddhism? As noted above, some Karen claimed to have established a special per­ sonal communication with the supernatural sphere and thereby were

81

considered as ’’men of pgho"7' Most of these charismatic personalities exercised the authority thereby conferred on them within the traditional Karen religious sphere. But there were exceptions, who reflect delibe­ rate interaction with political Buddhism.

As mentioned above, some Karen in Burma and western Siam joined the Buddhist Sangha, most often at Mon temples. In a similar fashion, in the muang nua, there were also Karen, who entered the Buddhist monkhood of the Yuan sect.’® It is only natural that these Karen came to be considered as "men of pgho” in the Buddhist sense of the word, i.e. phu mi bun."^ These Karen were, however, few and when some of them in due course were integrated into lowland Buddhist society, they did so partially and imperfectly. There was, however, one additional area where "men of pgho”, played an important role in the late 1700s and the 1800s. Early missionary sour­ ces have made references'to Karen prophets, called wi, some of whom had dealings with the power of evil, while others were considered to be prophets of Y’wa.^ These prophets or bu kho (=head of religion, or perhaps more appropriately, head of merit) gathered around themselves a group of followers and their movement is documented in contempo­ rary missionary and travel accounts from the first half of the 19th century.®’

With the increasing oppression of the Karen in Burma, the stage was set for religiously motivated protest from within traditional Karen religion, where traditionalist Karen bu kho, i.e. ’’men of pgho” assumed leader­ ship. Some oflhese movements had clearly millenarian undertones, oth­ ers did not. Based on what has been said about millenarian aspirations among the Burmese in the 19th century, it would be surprising if the Karen living in Burma had not been influenced by millenarian concepts.

Francis Mason has described the role and function of the bu kho in this way: There is another class of persons, called Bukhos, who are more directly connected with the worship of God, and who often unite the character of extraordinary religious teacher with that of prophet. These Bukhos usually, if not uniformly, condemn the practice of making offering to de­ mons; and represent to the people, that God is, in some way or other, about to appear for their salvation.®^

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This short reference suggests a number of important issues: - the bu kho was in all likelyhood perceived as a man of pgho - the message of the bu kho had millenarian implications and called for a break with the previous religious order - the office and function of the bu kho were in some way connected with Y'wa worship and -the appearence of ’’the coming one” was expected to be immanent. Mason himself mentioned more in detail two bu kho around whom reli­ gious protest movements developed. The first movement occurred in Lower Burma, south of Tavoy and Mason described the bu kho and his movement in this way: He commanded the people of Mergui and Tavoy, saying, ”Come and worship with me. Happiness will return, but those who neglect worship when happiness arrives, will not be allowed to participate in it.” Great numbers, old and young, male and female, came from every direction, and worshipped with drums and gongs, and singing of every description. He made himself a great man, and compelled others to prostrate themsel­ ves before him. He had men go before and behind him with swords and spears; while others beat drums and struck the cymbals. In the zayats where the people worshipped, he had two divisions made, one for the women and another for the men; and there he taught them to sing and pray to God. The people made him offerings of white cloth, and silver in considerable quantities; and he would take the latter and throw it into the streams, saying, ’’The flowered silver, the ingots of silver will flee. The white silver, the round silver I see.” This he called making an end of Burman silver. The people, however, continued to bring him money, notwithstanding he threw it away in the manner he did. In later years he came and worshipped at Shenmouktee, near Tavoy. There the Karens of Mergui and Tavoy assembled with him in great numbers. They walked around the image night and day, and worshipped standing, and worshipped sitting, and worshipped lying down. This was the way, he said, to bring the worship of the image to an end.®3

In due course this bu kho was arrested by the Burmese authorities and charged with inciting rebellion. While in prison he obtained two books. It is not clear how the books were obtained, but they became objects of veneration. According to Mason both the bu kho and his Karen follow­ ers prostrated themselves before these books twice daily. One of these books was confiscated by the authorities, but the other was venerated

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even after the bu kho's release from prison, which was achieved after the intercession of an unnamed Karen chief The bu kho then left for Palaw where he again encountered difficulties with the authorities and the movement was probably disbanded. I have not been able to identify any further reference to this local Karen religious protest in Burma.

Commenting further on Mason’s account I would like to make the fol­ lowing observations. In the first place, the message of the bu kho and the movement that developed around him did voice a religious and so­ cio-political protest. The implied claim was that the current dispensa­ tion, both in the religious sphere (suggested by the reference to the worship of the image) and in the socio-political sphere (implied in the reference to Burman silver) was coming to its end. Furthermore, in his capacity as a ’’man of pgho", the person of the bu kho was central to the movement. When he was removed from the scene the movement suffered an irreplaceable loss. Finally, the concept of the ’’book”, which in all likelyhood was influenced by awareness of the sacred books of Buddhism, played an important role in the movement. The second movement Mason referred to occurred in the Yunzalin val­ ley, the area closest to the muang nua, in the 1830s.Adoniram Judson was the first missionary to reach that area. A bu kho, who gained follow­ ing as far to the south as Moulmein, asked that the missionaries come to visit him. In 1832 Judson - at the time busy proof-reading the Burmese translation of the New Testament - sent a distinguished Mon Christian, Nai Myat Kyaw and some other evangelists to call on the prophet, who assumed the tiliQAreemaday, i. e. Maitreya. Upon their return they re­ ported that the bu kho was ”an extraordinary young man of twenty, who, while pretending to hold communication with the invisible world, wanted also to find the true God and become acquainted with this true religion”.^ The Christians stayed with him for three days and preached to his followers. One of his disciples went with the evangelists and enrol­ led in a Christian school at Moulmein. Mason visited this same bu kho in the Yunzalin valley in 1837 and found him ’’without any settled principles, unless a heterogeneous mixture of old Karen traditions and Boodhism can be called such. His leading object, as with most of his class, seemed to be, to give himself impor­ tance, and acquire an influence over the people”.^’

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Around 1841 this bu kho declared himself a king-to-be, i. e. ”an embryo king”.«8 With his followers he claimed the independence of the Karen and went from words to deeds by enforcing the claim. In the beginning of the rebellion the Burmese were on the defensive and the rebels num­ bered up to 10,000 Karen. Eventually, the more powerful Burmese army crushed the movement, killed the bu kho and dispersed his follo­ wers.

The following observations can be made on this movement: - the message of the bu kho clearly reflected some Buddhist millenarian features as well as traditional Karen elements, - Karen independence was the central issue and local aspirations for such independence were tied up with the religiously motivated hope for the ”king-to-be”.

The issue of the ”king-to-be” calls for a closer examination. The concept of ’’embryo king” or ”king-to-be” was widely known in 19th century Burma.Indeed, historical pretenders to the Mon or Burman throne would style themselves as ”king-to-be” and then claim cakravartin status. Interestingly enough, within the Karen context, the charismatic leader­ ship of the bu kho in some instances could be related to the motif in the Y’wa tradition, which referred to the coming of the Karen king. Francis Mason, thus, gives an interesting example of how Karen charismatic lea­ ders can transcend the role of bu kho and in actual fact be seen as pre­ cursors of the coming king: The Karens of the Yunselon have been remarkable, for several genera­ tions, for the impostors that have successively risen up among them who with religious pretentions cover political projects. They begin as Bookhos, heads of leaders of worship, and exhort people to meet together for singing and prayer. The Boo-kho teaches them to pray that the long oppressed Karen nation who have no books, no king, no government may speedily be delivered from their enemies. If he succeeds in gathering together a sufficient number of followers, his next step is to declare him­ self, what the Burmese denominate, a Men-loung, an embryo king or ruler.’**

A third movement that calls for attention is only fragmentarily docu­ mented. I am thinking of the movement of Maw Lay, which I have al85

ready alluded to.^ Maw Lay, a Karen form PH hta village, north of Shwegyin was the founder of another messianic movement in Burma in the middle of the 19th century?^ In it the Y'wa tradition played an im­ portant role and the founder proclaimed that while he appeared to the "white men” as Jesus, when revealing himself to the Karen, he was known as Maw Lay. The movement gained wide following in Burma, reaching practically every area in Burma where the Karen were living. Several similar movements occurred in Burma during the first half of the 19th century. A number of bu kho initiated movements of religious and socio-political protest. A few of these developed along the lines of the movements described above. Some bu kho and their followers per­ ceived a glorious future for the Karen to be at hand and the bu kho assu­ med the role and title of a ”king-to-be”. All of these movements with religious and rebellious undertones were decisively crushed by the Bur­ mese or British authorities and failed to achieve their goals.’** A vast majority of these protest movements, however, considered the arrival of the millennium to be in the distant future. These non-rebellious movements, to which I will turn now, were the ones that most pro­ foundly effected the religious scene among the Karen in Siam and to some extent in the muang nua, in the 19th century.

2. The Telakhon Sect The movement among the Karen in Burma that had the most significant influence on the Karen in western Siam was the Telakhon sect.’^ Unfor­ tunately, the records preserved reveal very little of the 19th century his­ tory of the sect. According to an undocumented tradition referred to by Theodore Stern, the movement originated in Burma, in a village east of Moulmein, sometimes before 1850. The founder of the sect, Con Yu, was said to have established strong ties with a Karen monk in a Mon monastery and was thereby strongly Buddhist influenced. The leader of the sect was called phu gyaik (^grandfather Buddha). He as well as his succes­ sors, were hermit monks clad in yellow robes and dedicated much time to meditation and fasting.’^

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The 1901 census of the Government of India gave a different account as to the origins of the movement.’’ The subdivisional officer at Kawkareik commenting on the census returns dated the origins of the sect back to the 1750s. According to his sources the movement originated in western Siam and after the death of the first phu gyaik, split into Pwo and Sgaw sections. The latter moved to an area east of Moulmein, while the for­ mer remained in western Siam.®^ Even the tradition recorded by Stern asserts that the successors of Con Yu, the firstphu gyaik, founded their own sects. One of them extended to the Pwo Karen areas along the Khwae Noi in western Siam in the middle of the 19th century.”

According to the Census of 1901 the Histphugyaik. Con Yu, harboured aspirations as ”king-to-be”. On at least two occasions, he was threat­ ened with imprisonment by the authorities for inciting rebellion among the Karen.™ After the death of Con Yu and the split of the movement into two branches, there was however, a clear tendency to fix the future golden age of the Karen at a distant future, i.e. in the lifetime of the seventh phu gyaik. The millennium was to be inaugurated by the return of the ’’golden book” to the Telakhon by Ariya (Maitreya)

This form of religiously motivated protest gained wide following in west­ ern Siam. When the American missionary, Chapin Carpenter passed through the area in 1872, he found the sect firmly established and the Karen governor of Sangkhlaburi being a devout follower: The governor professes to be a Buddhist, and supports quite a large mo­ nastery, in which his son is one of the noviates. The people pride themsel­ ves on a strict observance of the Buddhist law. They drink no arrack, and keep no fowls or pigs for slaughter. But observation here, as below, con­ vinces me that the Siamese Pwos profess Buddhism mainly because it is the King’s religion. Even the priests do not understand the tenets of Buddhism well enough to defend it. They have no brick or stone pagodas, no idols, so far as we saw, save half a dozen small ones about a finger long. The Sgaus quite generally retain their primitive superstitions with­ out adopting Buddhism.*®

One of the most important features of the sect was the introduction of Karen script among the Pwo. The script, based on a modified Burmese alphabet, was attributed to Phu Ta Maik, who was believed to be the

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first Karen who was admitted to the monkhood in Burma?®^ Though literacy was limited to men connected with the movement of the phu gyaik, most Karen living in the area, where the movement spread, could nonetheless pride themselves in the fact that they also had ’’books”.

The Telakhon sect had followers among the Karen in the muang nua as well, but probably on a very limited scale. One of the few references is to be found in The Morning Star from 1890, where a Karen evangelist in the muang nua, describes his experiences from a preaching tour: ’’...there was a man, who believed in the Telakhon, a kind of belief, which is usually found near the Burma border”. Though records concerning this movement in Burma and Siam are most fragmentary, it is clearly indicated that the followers considered them­ selves Buddhists. In the Census of 1901, the compiler of the statistics remarked concerning the Telakhon that in the tabulations they are re­ turned as Buddhists because they profess Buddhism also”.’®^

The Telakhon sect represents a moderate form of a more traditional protest in a new colonial situation.»» There also emerged a modern form of Karen nationalism in Burma.

3. The Rise of Karen Nationalism in Burma The activities of the American Baptist missionaries in Burma, which I will explore more fully in the following chapter, was probably the most important factor in the development of Karen nationalism. From the very outset the missionaries were committed to promote literacy by re­ ducing the Karen languages into writing, by means of an adapted Bur­ mese alphabet.In the wake of increased literacy there came an exten­ ded missionary education programme, where the Karen were taught Burmese and English as well as a wide variety of subjects enabling them to seek employment outside of the village environment. Another consequence of the increased literacy was the enormous lite­ rary production in the vernacular. Apart from the Bible and classics of Western Christian literature, e.g. Pilgrim’s Progress, this included seve­ ral plays of Shakespeare, works on the history of Europe and more ge­

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nerally the ’’Western Civilization” as well as the four volumes of The Karen Thesaurus, an encyclopedia of the Karen language and customs?®® Apart from The Morning Star, which has been referred to earlier, the Karen published also a number of weekly and bi-weekly pa­ pers, the most notable being Dawkula (= the whole race, although the official English name of the paper was Karen National News})^ All these developments have given the Karen access to a world, which was until them beyond their reach. This renewal was further strengthe­ ned by the international connections of those who brought the Christian message. The Karen were brought into a network, which widely excee­ ded the frameworks of the traditional Karen community.

This raise in Karen self-consciousness in Burma led to the formation of the Karen National Association in 1881. The aim of the Association was to promote economic and educational interests, but there were also clear pan-Karen aspirations implied. Although the Association as well as the Karen nationalist movement as a whole was dominated by Chris­ tian Karen, or more specifically by Karen Baptists, there were also many non-Christian Karen brought into the movement. Karen nationalism reached its peak following the Third Anglo-Burmese war and the annexation of Burma to British-India.^’® Aggravated by the Burman opposition to the British rule, which was at times both inspired and led by Buddhist monks, many Karen were stirred to fight the an­ cient foe. They were inspired to do so by both religious and nationalistic motifs. A letter of Justus Vinton, whom we will meet more frequently later on, illustrates this complex situation: I am warning Karens everywhere that the fight has not yet begun. Mr. Bernard told me he would arm the Karens in any threatened district if they would volunteer. I can put any number of Karens in the field... The strangest of all is the presence of poongyees on the battlefield. This is unheard of in history. The Karens universally interpret this as God’s sign that Buddhism is to be destroyed forever. They say the challenge of Thebaw could be answe­ red by the British government, but the challenge of the fighting poon­ gyees can only be taken up fitly by Karens under their own missionaries... This is ... welding the Karens into a nation...’”

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I will return to related issues when I look more closely in subsequent chapters into the rise of a local Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua.

D. CONCLUSION In this chapter I have traced the history of the Karen up to the late 1800s. I have identified the reasons and forms of expressions of a defi­ nite Karen experience of being an oppressed, deprived and orphaned minority. This survey has also illustrated the increasing differences in the conditions of the Karen in Burma, Siam and the muang nua. In Burma, Karen religiosity, which was influenced by Buddhism, be­ came more and more articulate in expressing aspirations of indepen­ dence and future liberation. On the basis of reinforced oppression by the majority Buddhist population, these aspirations among the Karen were expressed in a traditionalist millenarian language. By the late 1800s this search culminated in the rise of a Karen nationalist move­ ment - a movement which failed to lead to Karen independence.

In western Siam, strategic interests led the central government to pro­ mote the integration of parts of the Karen population into the Buddhist dominated Siamese society. When the strategic importance of these Ka­ ren populations decreased, some who were already on their way to assi­ milation in to the Siamese way of life, continued to interact with Siamese society. Most of the Karen in western Siam, however, returned to a life on the margins of Siamese society. In the muang nua, the Karen found protection and recognition within the framework of the traditional form of government of the chao. With the advance of ’’Bangkok imperialism”, the Karen joined the local tradi­ tional protest against Bangkok. When developments further undermi­ ned the position of the Karen by the end of the 1800s and onwards, the local Karen also articulated a religiously motivated protest against this ’’Bangkok imperialism”.

These developments in Burma, Siam and the muang nua could not but strengthen the Karen self-understanding of being a deprived, oppressed

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and orphaned minority. It is within this framework that we can assess the preconditions and effects of local Karen ventures from Burma to reach their fellow Karen in western Siam and the tnuang nua, with the Christian message.

Notes to CHAPTER 11 * For a more detailed study on Karen history see Renard, Ronald "Kariang: History of Karen - T’ai Relations from the Beginnings to 1923” (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1980), unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Furthermore, there is the work of AungHIa The Karen History in Sgaw Karen (Bangkok: n. p., n. d.), to which I adopt a critical position, as discussed below. Renard, Ronald op. at., p. 31. Ibid, pp. 31ff. * To this category belongs for example the story how the Karen lost Chiang Mai to the Tai peoples after having been tricked at a banquet. See Aung Hla op. cit., pp. 138-140. Aung Hla op. cit., and Loo Shwe op. cit., p. 2. A good example of the style of this litera­ ture is the following sentence in the introduction of Loos Shwe’s work: To every son and daughter of the Karen race, it is a joy and revelation to learn that at least, the Karen were once in actual physical possession of a vast piece of land in northern Thailand and had established a kingdom of their own more than 2500 years ago”, Loo Shwe op. cit., p. 2. Zan, U op. cit. ’’ Keyes, Charles ’’The Karen in Thai History and the History of the Karen in Thailand” in Keyes, Charles (ed) Ethnic Adaptation and Identity, (Philadelphia: Institution for the Study of Human Issues, 1979), p. 32. ® Renard, Ronald op. cit. His treatment of Karen oral tradition is more balanced than of those before him, yet even he ends up with statements like this: Sau Au La ... wished to elevate the oral tradition of the Karens to the credible level of written literature. The nature of oral tradition, though does not warrant such faith no matter how much authority the traditions might have to the Karens. Ibid., p. 44. ’ Perhaps the most representative works of this period are Francis Mason’s "Religion, Mythology, and Astronomy among the Karens”, part I and II in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 34, no. 3 (October 1865), pp. 173-188 and vol. 34, no. 4 (February 1866), pp. 195-250 respectively and Harry Marshall’s book op. cit. There is a fairly good bibliography on this literature in Keyes, Charles (ed) op. cit., pp. 255-267, Since the publication of that volume the doctortd dissertation of Roland Mischung has come out in print and is the best available treatment on this topic Religion and Wirklichkeiisvorstellungen in einem Karen-Dorf Nordwest-Thailands (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984), Supra, pp. 29ff. This summary is largely based on excerpts of the Y'wa tradition in the works of Harry Marshall op. cit., Gilmore, David "Karen Folk-lore, 11 - The Fall of Man” in Journal of the Burma Research Society, vol. 1, no. 2 (December 1911), pp. 36-42 and to some extent on Thra Bu Mu’s ”A Study of the Karen Bronze Drums", unpublished typescript, transla­ ted from Karen to English by Robert B. Jones, (n. p., 1947).

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‘3 Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 211-212. The Karen form of this poetry, hta is a seven­ syllable couplet, where the last word of each couplet rhymes. For at detailed study see Mischung, Roland "Warum Singen besser ist als Sprechen”. Bu Mu, Thra op. ci!., p. 6. Infra, pp. 77ff. . The tradition is recorded in English translation for example tn Gilmore, David Karen Folk-lore, I. The Legend of Taw-me-pa” in Journal of the Burma Research Society, vol. 1 no. 1 (June 1911), pp. 75-82 and another version in Loo Shwe op. cit., pp. 20f. 1’ See Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 5ff and Gilmore, David op. cit., pp. 80-81. For a wider discussion see Jones, Robert B. Karen Linguistic Studies, Description, Comparison, and Texts, (Berkley: University of California Press, 1961); UBar, Frank et al op. cit., pp. 58ff; Renard, Ronald op. cit., pp. 36ff; HamUton, James W. Pwo Ka­ ren- At the Edge of Mountain and Plain (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1976), pp. 8ff and Mischung, Roland Religion und Wirklichkeilsvorstellungen in einem Karen-Dorf Nord-

wesi-Thailands,p.li. .vn ” Mason, Francis The Story of a Working Man’s Life, (New York: Oakley, 1870), p. 227. Later on Mason modified his position, suggesting that the Karen probably were influen­ ced by Jews in southern China. Fychte, Albert Burma, Past and Present, vol. 1 (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1878), p. 340. Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 14-15. , 22 Fairbank, John et. al. A History of East Asian Civilization. Volume One. East Asia: The Great Tradition (Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company, 1958), pp. 177 and 272. Cf. Wyatt, David Thailand: A Short History, pp. 38ff. 22 Luce, Gordon & Tin, Pe Maung (eds.) The Class Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma: A Translation of the Earlier Parts of the “Hmannan Yazawin” (London: Oxford University Press, 1923, pp. 27-28. 2^ Infra, p. 80. 22 Cf. supra, p. 67. . , 2^ Keyes, Charles ’’The Karen in Thai History and the History of the Karen in Thailand in Keyes, Charles (ed) op. cit., pp. 26-31. 22 Supra, p. 7. 2® Supra, pp. 29ff. 2’ Supra, pp. 29ff. 20 For a thorough treatment see Renard, Ronald op. cit., pp. 66ff. 2’ Renard, Roland op. cit., pp. 71ff, particularly p. 112, footnote 21. 22 Supra, p. 39. 22 Supra, pp. 31f. 2* Renard, Ronald op. cit., p. 77. 22 Ibid., p. 85. 22 Ingram, James Economic Change in Thailand Since 1850 (Stanford: Stanford Univer­ sity Press, 1955), pp. 21-24, particularly table on p. 22. 22 Stern, Theodore ’’Karen on the Khwae Noi in the Nineteenth Century” (Eugene: Uni­ versity of Oregon, 1971), unpublished manuscript. 28 Renard, Roland op. cit., p. 1^ and infra, pp. 86. 2^ Supra, p. 36. Ingram, James op. cit., pp. 33-43. , ** Supra, p. 39. ‘‘2 phraya Prachakit Korachak in the Chronicle of the North has noted: At that time Chiang Mai lay in ruins, because of Burma’s tyrannical oppression ... it was impossible to find people to build a country”, in Phongsawadan Yonok (Bangkok: Khlang Withaya,

1964), p. 455.

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Renard, Ronald op. cii., p. 132. Ibid., pp. 126ff. Brailey, Nigel ’’The Origins of the Siamese Forward Movement in Western Laos, 183092” (London: London University, 1968), unpublished Ph. D. thesis, p. 120. Annual Report of the "Chiang Mai Mission” to the Executive Com. Pres. Board For. Missions, Chiang Mai North Laos, September 30, 1868, BFM, reel no. 182, doc. no. 90. Supra, p. 72. Renard, Roland op. cit., p. 160. Supra, p. 73. See for example the reference to Karen participation in killing the first Siamese instal* led village headman at Hot, south of Chiang Mai sometimes in the first decade of the century, Hamilton, James W. op. cit., p. 34. Supra, pp. 41ff. Supra, pp. 52ff. 55 Supra, pp. 66ff. 5^ See for example Hinton, Peter "The Pwo Karen of Northern Thailand - A Preliminary Report” (Chiang Mai: THbal Research Center, 1969), unpublished manuscript, p. 33. 55 Marshall, Harry op. cii., pp. 211ff; Hinton, Peter op. cit.,pp. 33ff and Mischung, Ro­ land op. cit., pp. 255-259. 5® Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 248ff and Hinton, Peter op. cit., p. 36. 52 Stern, Theodore "The Cult of the Local ’Lord’ among the Karen”, (paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle on No­ vember 23,1968) and Mason, Francis "Religion, Mythology, and Astronomy among the Karens”, part II in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 34, no. 4 (February 1866), pp. 212ff. The term "socio-religious leader” is somewhat awkward and the term "village headman" would be much more satisfactory. For readers acquainted with modem northern Thai­ land, the use of ’’village headman” would, however, imply a reference to the administra­ tive head of Karen villages, i. e. "phuyai ban". In order to avoid such misunderstanding the term "socio-religious leader” is maintained throughout the dissertation. 5® See for example Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 193ff and 210ff; Hinton, Peter op. cit., pp. 33ff and Mischung, Roland op. cit., pp. 122ff. 5^ Marshall, Harry op. cit., p. 210 and Thesaurus of Karen Knowledge, in Sgaw Karen, edited by Jonathan Wade (Tavoy, Karen Mission Press, 1847-1850), vol. I, pp. 455ff and vol. Ill, p. 489. Supra, p. 76. 5’ Mischung, Roland op. cit., pp. 89ff. 52 See for example Francis Mason’s The Karen Apostle: or, Memoir of Ko Thah-Byii, the First Karen Convert, with Notices Concerning His Nation (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1843); Wylie, Maclead The Gospel in Burmah (Calcutta: G. C. Hay and Co., 1859); Thra Loo Shwe’s work op. cit.; Ko San Lone’s "Karen Folk-lore: An Unwritten Bible”, unpublished typescript, translated by H. Armstrong, (Rangoon, 1913) and the collection of Karen traditions in Htoo Hla, Thra The Golden Book, in Sgaw Karen (Rang­ oon: The Karen Baptist Convention, 1955). 55 For example Andersen, Kirsten op. cit., p. 78. 5* For this reason the summary above was not based on Thra Loo Shwe’s or Ko San Lone’s works. 55 Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, pp. 120ff. 55 See for example Andersen, Kirsten op. cit., pp. 78f and Renard, Roland op. cit., p. 41. 52 Cf. White William C. The Chinese Jews: A Compilation of Matters Relating to the Jews of K’ai-feng Fu (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1942), pp. 9-28.

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Mason, Francis The Story of a Working Man's Life, p. 227. ® See Stern, Theodore "Ariya and the Golden Book: A Millenarian Buddhist Sect Among the Karens” in Journal of Asian Studies”, vol. 27, no. 2 (February 1968), pp 297328. ™ Supra, p. 46. Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 133. Anagata-vapisa, translated from Pali into English by Henry C. Warren in Buddhism in Translation, (New York: Atheneum, 1970), p. 484. A careful linguistic analysis and detailed comparison with Buddhistic apocalyptic litera­ ture, which was qualified by increasingly militant millenarian speculations, in Mon and Burmese could shed light on this issue, but lies outside the framework of this dissertation. I limit rayself to suggesting this alternative as a likely interpretation. Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 131. Zan, U op. cil., p. 4. ’5 ’’Report of the Karen preachers Maw Klo, Shway Myat and Saw Kay sent by the con­ vention to the Zimmay territories”, undated (April 1881] Sgaw Karen manuscript, transla­ ted by Justus Vinton. Infra, pp. 85ff. Cf. Keyes, Charles The Golden Peninsula (New York: Macmillan, 1977), pp. 54f. ’8 Supra, p. 51. ’’ Supra, p. 54. 8® Marshall, Harry op. cit., pp. 268f. For a short discussion on the distinction between the two categories of these prophets see further Lewis, James L ’’The Burmanization of the Karen People: A Study in Racial Adaptability” (Chicago; University of Chicago, 1924), unpublished M. A. thesis, pp. 270ff. See for example the description of Durlin Brayton from 1851: • ... and somewhere on these mountains lives the spiritual despot whose rod will move the whole community of Karens. He has his ’holy of holies’ and there remains, while only a select few are permitted the privilege of beholding the face of ’his holiness’. We can get no information whatever of his whereabouts. He is said to live very abste­ miously, eating no animal food whatever, not even fish, but living on rice and oilseed, and occasionally a few vegetables. His religion is a curious compound, made up of Siamese, Taling, Burman and Karen customs, intermingled with his own fooleries and superstitions. Entry in the journal of Durlin Brayton for February 1,1851, ABFMS, group 1, box 4. 8* Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 145. ® Ibid, p. 146-147. Mason based his account on information received from Quala, a pro­ minent Karen convert and augmented it with references from Geo Boardman’s journals. The parallels to the relevant apocalyptic passages in the Anagata-varpsa, are striking. 8^ Entry in the journal of Geo Boardman, September 7, 1828, ABFMS, group 1, box 3. The accounts of Boardman and Mason are at a variance at this point. In all likelyhood the book of the bu kho, in Mason’s account was not the one brought to Boardman and thus Mason, writing some 15 years later made the wrong idehtification. ” Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 145. 8^ Shwe Wa, Maung Burma Baptist Chronicle, book 1 (Rangoon: Board of Publications of the Burma Baptist Convention, 1963), p. 98. 8’ Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 145. 88 Infra, p. 85. 8’ See for example Harvey, Godfrey History of Burma from the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824 the Beginning of the English Conquest (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1925), pp. 264-266.

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5® See the discussion in Mendelson, Michael E. ”A Messianic Buddhist Association in Up­ per Burma” in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 24, no. 3 (Octo­ ber 1961), pp. 568f. The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 42, no. 2 (February 1862), p. 66. Supra, p. 81. For a short description of the movement see Marshall, Harry op. cit., p. 264. The sole exception was the movement that led to the formation of the Kayah statelets in Burma. For details on the Kayah see Frederick Lehman’s "Kayah Society as a Function of the Shan-Burman-Karen Context” in Steward, Julian H. (ed.) Contemporary Change in Traditional Societies (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1967), pp. 1-104, Stern, Theodore "Ariya and the Golden Book: A Millenarian Buddhist Sect Among the Karens” in Journal of Asian Studies”, vol. 27, no. 2 (February 1968), pp 297-328. Ibid., p. 314. Government of India Census of 1901, Imperial series vol. 12, Burma report no 1 (Ran­ goon: Government Printing,J19{E), pp. 37f. As at the time of the census the fourth phu gyaik was leading the movement, an origin as early as the 1750s is practically excluded. Early 1800s is a more likely date. Kirsten Andersen argues in her thesis that the area in which the Telakhon originated in western Siam was the area of the chief of the Mae Klong river (’’Pramklaung” being identified as ”Pra-Mae-Klong”), "The Karens and the Dhamma-Raja”, pp. 82-83. Stern, Theodore "Ariya and the Golden Book: A Millenarian Buddhist Sect Among the Karens” op. cit., p. 314. Government of India op. cit., p‘. 38. In the lifetime of the seventh phu gyaik, in the middle of the 20th' century, Christian missionaries made an effort to reach the Siamese branch of the Telakhon. Their mission in 1962 failed, partly because the ’’book of silver and gold” the missionaries brought along was not the book of magic the phu gyaik expected. A repeated mission in 1969 found the Telakhon disillusioned following the death of the phu gyaik, who was to be the final one and in whose lifetime the millennium was to appear. In 1986, one of the participants of the 1969 mission to the Telakhon, Allan Eubank, has generously shared with me all his material relating to the trip to the Telakhon. I intend, at some later stage, to analyse this material and make it available to scholars in this field. Carpenter, Chapin ”A Tour Among the Karens of Siam” in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 53, no. 1 (January 1873), p. 11. Stem, Theodore ’’Three Pwo Karen Scripts: A Study of Alphabet Formation” in An­ thropological Linguistics, vol. 10, no. 1 (January 1968), p. 2. The Morning Star, vol. 49, no. 3 (March 1869), p. 42. Government of India op. cit., p. 38. There was at least one more Karen protest movement that gained some following among the Karen in Siam - the Leke. Similarly to the Telakhon, they awaited the return of the Ariya. The movement originated in the 1860s, but had much less impact on the Karen in Siam than the Telakhon. For a short introduction to the Leke see Marin, G. ”An Old Pwo Karen Alphabet” in Man, vol. 43, no. 5 (January/February 1943), pp. 17-18. For the results of this increased Karen literacy and educational opportunities see Shwe Wa, Maung Burma Baptist Chronicle, book 1, pp. 211ff. On literary production see Shew Wa, Maung op. cit., pp. 124ff. Marshall, Harry op. cit., p. 310. Supra, p. 33. Quoted by Smeaton, Donald The Loyal Karens of Burma (London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co, 1887), pp. 13-14.

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CHAPTER III

MISSIONARY VENTURES AND THE AFFIRMATION OF A WIDER KAREN IDENTITY In my discussion on the evolution of a more distinct - and more articu­ late - Karen identity in 19th century Burma and Siam in chapter II, I have already touched upon certain aspects of the emerging encounter of Christian missionaries and Karen minorities in Burma, Siam and the muang nua since the 1820s. In the first place I illustrated how American Baptist missionaries - and not least Francis Mason! - recorded Karen traditions, to which they were introduced. These traditions both expres­ sed distinct Karen claims and then, having been recorded, contributed to the on-going formulation of an explicit Karen self-understanding. Se­ condly, I noted how the missionary involvement in higher Christian edu­ cation for promising Karen students provided a base for the formation of Karen nationalism in a more modern sense. Both of these develop­ ments for obvious reasons were particularly decisive in Burma. In this chapter Lwill focus more deliberately on the missionary encoun­ ters with Karen societies in Siam and the muang nua. I will pay particu­ lar attention to the interaction of American Baptist ventures from estab­ lished bases in Burma on the one hand, and very distinct, more sponta­ neous ventures on the part of the emerging Christian communities among the Karen in Burma to share the Gospel'with related communi­ ties in the east, on the other.

These evangelistic efforts on the part of the Karen Christians in Burma are interesting as such. In this context, however, they take on an additio­ nal dimension. They are in fact expressions of an extended Karen iden­ tity and they are inspired by more articulate views on the expectation of a future encounter with a powerful Karen king in the east. In my discussion I will pay attention to the interaction of missionary ven­ tures and the continuous formulation of distinct Karen claims. After a

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necessary survey of the Burmese base for missionary attempts to reach the Karen in Siam and the muang nua, I will follow the more decisive Karen and American Baptist missionary initiatives in their chronologi­ cal sequence from Ko Tha Byu’s pioneering efforts in l§29-1830 to frustrated Canadian ventures in the late 1870s. Although this appealing series of missionary initiatives seemingly led to meagre results, they did provide the background and base for the lasting Karen venture in the muang nua from 1880 onwards.

1. The Burmese Base and Additional Missionary Agencies Although the Karen Christians of Burma were the principal forces be­ hind and the most decisive agents of spreading the Christian message among the Karen in western Siam and the muang nua, the American Baptist missionaries in Burma played an important role in this missio­ nary enterprise. To a lesser extent the American Baptist missionaries in Bangkok as well as the American Presbyterian missionaries in Siam and subsequently in the muang nua were drawn into these events that ulti­ mately led to the establishment of a self-reliant Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua. These missionary agencies differed considerably in their intentions and attitudes to the Karen in western Siam and the muang nua as well as in their missionary objectives.

i. The rise of Karen Baptism in Burma a. Early American ventures From the arrival of the Judsons in 1813 up to the First Anglo-Burmese War, Baptist missionary work in Burma was limited to the Burman and Burmese speaking Mon. Following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826 the center of activities was transferred from Rangoon to Moulmein and the Christian community was reaching out to the Mon, Indians, the British soldiers in the ceded territories and to the Karen.*

The first Karen convert was Ko Tha Byu.^ He had been a robber and murderer, who was rescued from slavery and for a while lived with the Judsons and thus was introduced to the Christian message. He was bap-

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tized in May, 1828, and was instrumental in the establishing of a new mission station at Tavoy? While the missionary in charge, Geo D. Boardman, started both boys’ and girls’ schools and ministered to Bur­ man and Chinese at Tavoy, Ko Tha Byu was preaching in the Karen vil­ lages nearby - and met with remarkable success.

The first of those who became Christians as a result of Ko Tha Byu’s ministry was Quala, who later became one of the most prominent Karen Christian leaders in the 19th century.

Following the death of Boardman in 1831 Jonathan Wade and Francis Mason became the key missionaries attached to the Karen mission. In 1831-32 Wade reduced the Sgaw Karen language to writing, using a mo­ dified Burmese alphabet. Almost instantly it was adopted by the most able Karen Christian leaders, above all Quala, and Mason started a long-term work of translation into Sgaw Karen.** A printing press was set up at Tavoy in 1837 and by 1853 the entire Bible was published in Sgaw Karen, as well as primers, readers, text-books etc. The sum of printed pages added up to about 20 million, in Sgaw Karen only - all within 25 years of the baptism of Ko Tha Byu.^ Transla­ tion work into Pwo Karen met with some technical difficulties, but the New Testament was translated by 1852 and the entire Pwo Karen Bible

was completed in 1878. The missionaries of the American Baptist Mission in Burma throughout this entire period had to face a series of difficulties, not unlike those encountered by their Presbyterian collegues in Siam and the muang nua - they lacked primarily personnel, but also financial resources. However, in one respect there was a significant difference. Compared to the Burman response, missionary work among the Karen met with considerable success and at times the role of the missionary was not that of the pioneer only. He was as likely to be a co-ordinator of local Karen initiatives.

b. Karen Christians in Burma and the move towards the east After Ko Tha Byu’s pioneering ventures new areas of Karen work were initiated in the 1840s and 1850s. Perhaps the most striking feature of this

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expansion was partly its eastward orientation and the role played by Ka­ ren preachers and evangelists, which superceded that of the American missionaries. Bassein, one of the most prominent areas of Karen Chris­ tian work is a good case in point. Due to political developments missio­ naries could not reside there prior to 1852. Two ordained Karen minis­ ters moved to the area in 1843. Within two years they baptized over 3000 Karen. By the time the missionaries arrived there a sizeable Christian community had emerged in the area, even though the Second AngloBurmese War disrupted the life of the church and scattered the Karen Christians.® Much the same happened at Toungoo. Soon after establishing the sta­ tion in 1853, Mason had to leave due to poor health. Quala took full responsibility and with the aid of three Karen associates founded some 30 churches and baptized over 2,000 Karen within two years.’

Active participation in the growth of the Karen Christian community was not limited to preachers and evangelists. Already in the 1840s seve­ ral Karen Christian villages built their own churches and schools. As po­ litical developments and lack of personnel often left wide areas without missionary supervision, the Karen initiative was reinforced in the 1850s and gave rise to a conscious movement towards self-reliance among the Karen, i.e. local funding of the emerging churches. In this regard as well Bassein was in the lead.® In 1854 it was resolved that the Karen churches would support their pastors, evangelists and their own missionaries to other language groups in Burma without assistance from the American Baptist Missionary Union. This policy of deliberate self-reliance in Bassein caused a good deal of misunderstanding and irritation among the missionaries on the field and at the home office in Boston. The Bassein Sgaw Karen churches broke partially with the American Baptist Missionary Union and took full re­ sponsibility of their own work. They even took care of the expenses of the American missionaries in the region. In due course I will return to the Karen Christian community in the Bassein area, inasmuch as pastors and evangelists from the Bassein Karen churches took an active part in the establishing of the first Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua.^

99 8

Thus, by the beginning of the 1860s the growing Christian community among the Karen in Burma developed a number of characteristics that were to have direct bearing on the course of events that led to the estab­ lishment of a Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua: - Karen pastors and evangelists, rather than missionaries, led the evangelistic outreach of the Christian community; - there was a marked movement towards self-reliance and individual districts and churches were prepared to support their own work as well as an evangelistic outreach to hitherto unreached areas; and - the production of literature in Sgaw and Pwo Karen - promoting and/or presupposing the spread of literacy - was a most important factor in the spread of Christianity among the Karen.

ii. Additional agencies In order to fully appreciate the missionary ventures of the Karen Chris­ tians of Burma in Siam and the muang nua, it is important also to illust­ rate the wider network of missionary co-operation within which these played such a distinct role. u

a. Early Baptist ventures in Siam The first permanent Protestant presence in Siam was that of the Ameri­ can'Baptist Mission from 1833?° The first missionary couple, John and Eliza Jones, were designated to work in Burma, but after some time in Moulmein they learned that there were Mon living on the other side of the border. Thus they left for Siam. Settling in Bangkok in 1833 they studied Siamese and ventured transla­ tion work. In 1835 they had translated the Gospel of Matthew into Sia­ mese. By 1843 they had concluded the entire New Testament and produ­ ced a Siamese - English dictionary as well. The first responses to their missionary labour, however, came from among the Chinese minority. Within a year four Chinese were baptized and in 1837 a Baptist church was formed in Bangkok. The nucleus was made up by the Chinese con­ verts. In fact this community has the distinction of being the first Chi­ nese Protestant church in the Far East.“ For shorter periods between

100

1835 and 1842 and later on from 1865 and nearly 20 years onward Wil­ liam Dean was the missionary in charge of this work among the Chinese.

Baptist work among other ethnic groups than the Chinese was less suc­ cessful. Initially there was some response from the Mon residing around Bangkok, but in due course the Joneses focused their attention on the Siamese. Although Eliza Jones was among the missionary wives who, following the ascension to the throne of King Mongkut, were invited to teach English in the royal palace, it took many years until a small Sia­ mese Baptist Church could be organized in 1861. Even following the foundation of this church with a handful of members progress remained slow. In 1868 the work among the Siamese was in fact abandoned all together. Although the missionary work among the Chinese in Siam was much more fruitful, the American Baptist Mission in Siam suffered from the fact that from the outset Siam was treated as a “stepping stone” to China. Although great many missionaries were sent to Siam, within a few years most of them were transferred to China. For long periods Wil­ liam Dean laboured alone and in 1893, the last Baptist missionary left Bangkok. The American Baptist missionaries in Bangkok were very much aware of the attempts made by the Karen Christians and fellow missionaries in Burma to reach the Karen in western Siam and the muang nua. They were drawn into the process indirectly. However, inasmuch as'they were unable to maintain their own work in Bangkok due to lack of personnel and dwindling financial resources, they were not able to be actively in­ volved in the missionary activity among the Karen.

b. The American Presbyterian Mission As already noted in chapter I, the American Presbyterian Mission was established in Bangkok in 1840. during the first 20 years of its exist­ ence, the Siam Mission, as it was referred to, had its centre in Bangkok. The number of converts was small. Nonetheless, by the early 1860s the foundations of the Siamese Presbyterian church were laid and a period of cautious expansion began. With the arrival of the Wilsons and the McGilvarys in 1858 the first Presbyterian mission station outside of

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Bangkok could be opened. Phetburi was the new centre. Following an exploratory tour to the muang nua during 1863/1864, the McGilvarys moved northward and settled in Chiang Mai in 1867. Acknowledging the distinctness of the muang nua as well as the distan­ ces involved, the work in the north became a special entity, the so called Laos Mission. While in Bangkok the Presbyterians were one among se­ veral missionary agencies, in the muang nua, however, the Laos Mission

was the only permanent Protestant agency. As already highlighted, McGilvary soon became involved in a contro­ versy with the local chao and the first few gains of his missionary out­ reach were followed by hardships and slow growth. Nonetheless, by the end of the 1880s there were five congregations and some 700 members

in the muang nua. The American Presbyterian missionaries of the Siam Mission did occa­ sionally encounter Karen around Phetburi, but had neither the inten­ tion, nor the possibility of working among them. The matter was very different in the muang nua. There, for a long time, the Laos Mission was the sole missionary agency. At the same time it had difficulties finding adequate personnel and funding to meet its obligation among the khon

muang, who were the prime objective in this missionary venture. From time to time McGilvary and his collegues as well as the Presbyte­ rian Christians in the muang nua encountered Karen pastors and evan­ gelists from Burma as well as the American Baptist missionaries from Burma, who made periodical visits to the muang nua. These encounters encouraged a Presbyterian interest in missionary outreach among the Karen in the muang nua. It also raised the more complex issue of the principle of comity - i.e. the issue of reconciling possible conflicting mis­

sionary interests.

Already before the establishment of the Laos Mission McGilvary had clearly stated his conviction that Chiang Mai, and indeed the entire muang nua was a distinctly Presbyterian responsibility. A geographic application of the principle of comity placed all the Karen in the muang nua in the sphere of mission of the Presbyterians. In due course I will return to this issue and illustrate how it was resolved in a most pragmatic manner. 102

Hi. Summary The base for the outreach to the Karen in Siam and thejwwwjg nua was. principally among the Karen Christians in Burma. This Karen Christian community, as a distinct and enterprising minority within the larger Ka­ ren community in Burma provided incentives for the continued forma­ tion of Karen identity. Their missionary ventures with a view toward extended interaction with Karen relatives in the east are significant evi­ dences in this regard. The American Baptist missionaries assumed more and more the role of co-ordinators of Karen initiatives. The Presbyte­ rian Laos Mission was in a key geographic position, but, for a number of reasons, played a subordinated and maybe a supportive role, rather than an active one. The role of the American Baptist Mission in Bang­ kok was, in this context, merely marginal.

2. Towards the East with Different Objectives

i. Early Karen evangelism As already hinted at, the first attempt to reach the Karen in Siam with the Christian message dates back to 1829.. Ko Tha Byu, the first Karen convert in Burma spent much of 1829 in the Karen villages around Tavoy.^5 On December 20, 1829 in the course of a worship service he expressed an intent to go to Siam and preach to the Karen there. Unfor­ tunately there are no recordings, which convey Ko Tha Byu’s motifs for this pioneering missionary venture. Geo Boardman, the missionary at Tavoy, approved the idea and supplied Ko Tha Byu with a letter of rec­ ommendation in English and Burmese. On December 22, only two days after the suggestion was brought forward. Ko Tha Byu left for Siam in the company of some other Karen Christians. Reaching the border Ko Tha Byu attempted to enter Siam together with some Mon, who were acquainted with the trade routes. However, they refused to take him along “on account of his religious character”. Ko Tha Byu then tried to enter Siam together with some Karen friends, but after five days he was turned back by frontier guards because he lacked written permission from the governor of Tavoy. 103

In the wake of the First Anglo-Burmese War the Siamese authorities were obviously apprehensive about movements across the border. One interesting evidence is provided by Francis Mason, who in his missio­ nary journals records in an entry from January 1834 a conversation with ■ Siamese Karen who asserted that

the Siamese governors compel all the people on the frontier to swear most solemnly that they will not leave the country without permission; and the oath is repeated every three or four months, to keep its penalties fresh in their minds. Some Siamese Karen, however, did visit the Tavoy area and in mid-1834 two young men stayed at Matah wanting to learn to read and write Ka­ ren and get some books. One dropped out, but the other completed a short course in literacy, became acquainted with the Christian message and returned to Siam where his father was a village headman. In March 1835, a Siamese Karen on his way to Tavoy brought news of him saying:

that the young man has read his books to all people where his father lives and tells them how the Christians at Matah live, and that there are ten who believe, and have given up their old superstitions, and worship only the true God, and Jesus Christ.’’

During the 1830s and 1840s these informal contacts with the Karen in Siam continued and in the Karen churches nearest the border, particu­ larly in Matah, there was a growing interest in and awareness of the Ka­ ren in Siam. Missionaries, however, were effectively banned from ex­ tending their work eastward. At times this gave rise to frustration, as can be seen from the journal of Lapham Wade; It is only three days’ journey through the jungles from this place, to the commencement of the Siamese Karen settlements, but the government strictly prohibits any foreigners from entering Siam on this side, and our Karen Christians would be in much danger of government difficulty, so that we are deterred at present from doing anything for... them.^ In at least two respects the Karen in Siam developed much the same way as their kin in Burma during this early period of incipient Karen church history.

Firstly, there was an equal interest on both sides of the border in litera­ ture in Karen and a book or a leaflet in Karen script could become the

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prized possession of a Karen community. Lapham Wade provides an il­ lustrating evidence in her journal. On January 31, 1836 she records: A Siamese Karen is now on a visit to this place, and says... they have a Karen tract among them which they highly prize, and though unable to read it, they have thrown away their old customs of worshipping nats, and now worship the book.2*

Secondly, as already discussed, in the 1830s there were prophetic move­ ments growing forth among the Karen also in Siam. Francis Mason re­ corded in his journal a conversation with a village headman from Siam where the latter stated that “twenty persons in his neighbourhood have abandoned offering to Nats, throu^ the preaching of a prophet that has lately arisen-among them”.22 This means that Mason refers to another bu kho, which informed his general discussion on the subject in The Ka­ ren Apostle. Eight years later Mason met another Siamese Karen chief who told him that he had abandoned offering to demons, and that he prayed to God, who made heaven, and earth, and all things, every morning and night; that he had ceased to use obscene language and imprecations, that he practiced every moral duty, and used his influence with his people for them to do so too.23 This clearly reflects that a process of religious transformation was going on among the local Karen. One possible way of reading Mason’s report is to see it as an evidence of a millenarian sect.

a. Towards the Karen governor in Sangkhlaburi Although the early achievements from the 1830s were impossible to maintain, the move towards the east gained momentum after the First Anglo-Burmese War. The increased importance of Si Sawat and Sangkhlaburi and the ensuing improved condition of the Siamese Karen in these areas did not pass unnoticed among the Karen in Burma.^^ Their concerns were shared by the missionaries, who were particularly eager to meet the Karen governor in this part of Siam. Cephas Bennett and Edmund Cross belonged to this enterprising band of Baptist missionaries. They visited a Siamese Karen village near Ma105

tah in January 1848. Though they did not make any effort to proceed further eastward, in their journals they recorded in detail a bu kho-\ed traditional Karen ceremony, providing one of the earliest written ac­ counts of the religious scene among the Karen in western Siam.^^

The first recorded trip further east into Siam by a missionary took place in December, 1848 - January, 1849.^ Durlin Brayton, who had worked among the Pwo Karen in Burma since 1838, started out from Matah “to proceed to Prat-thoo-wan, which is a Pwo Karen city” in Siam.^’ After a few days’ travel in the jungle, however, smallpox broke out among the Karen who accompanied him. The expedition was halted for five weeks at that place. While Brayton was thus tied down, his personal assistant Myah Oo, a Karen preacher, left for a tour of the area, preaching in Pwo Karen villages for about a month. In early February however, the plans to proceed further had to be abandoned. The group returned to Burma. Encouraged by the example of Brayton, Norman Harris, a missionary stationed at Moulmein, launched his first plans to go to Siam. In a letter to the Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union he wrote in April 1849: “’If the Lord will’, I hope to take a tour among the Karens bordering on the mountains and Siamese country”.^ Whether these immediate plans were in fact realized or not is not recor­ ded. But Harris did make an extended trip to Siam with Brayton in 1851. In the company of Myah Oo and another Karen assistant they reached Sangkhlaburi on January 31 that year. The Pwo Karen governor was not at home and the missionary party got a rather cold reception. They were told to leave after a day. According to reports, the people who cared to listen to their preaching were either indifferent or explicitly hostile.^®

iii. Different visions These attempts to reach Sangkhlburi deserve some further analysis. They do reflect some interesting differences of objectives and visions of the American Baptist and Karen missionaries.

To the American Baptist missionaries in Burma, the person and institu­ tion of the Karen governor in Sangkhlaburi was important inasmuch as 106

he/it was a possible means of facilitating missionary outreach among the Pwo Karen across the border.

To the Karen in Burma however, the Karen governor - both as a person and as an institution ~ hinted appealingly at a coordinated Karen pre­ sence that was wider than the traditional social organization at the vil­ lage level and perhaps even wider than the emerging Christian fellow­ ship they themselves were nurturing in Burma. The very presence of a Karen governor in Siam foreshadowed the probability of meeting the Karen king to the east - a strong motif of Karen evangelism in the muang nua during the decades to come. There must have been stories circulating about Sangkhlaburi and its ru­ ler among the Karen in Burma. Following his trip to Siam Brayton gave the following illustration:

There are only some fifteen houses here; still there is a foundation for the report that it was once a large city, i.e., to a Karen mind. And also, that it is a naturally fortified place. Here is a small plain sunounded by moun­ tains, with only one ravine by which they may be penetrated. I should not think it a very difficult matter to keep at bay an invading enemy. Here, in times of former political difficulty, the Karens of this region were col­ lected together, so that there must have been a considerable city. But now they are scattered to the distance of some six or eight days’ journey in different directions, leaving only a few houses around the governor’s. Yet this is the center of influence.

Upon returning to Burma Brayton summed up his experiences and im­ pressions in this way: Former reports have been greatly exaggerated in regard to numbers, but still there is a goodly number of Karens in the field we have traversed, though they are very much scattered, and cover an immense territory.’ Whoever enters that field, must not go expecting to find Karens, with ears and mouth wide open to receive the truth, and ready on the first proclamation to flock about the standard of the cross, but he must make up his mind to labor hard and with untiring zeal.’’ These missionary accounts of visits to the Karen in Siam around 1850 are most interesting for a number of reasons.

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Firstly, they confirm the earlier information supplied by Karen travel­ ling in the area. The fact that Karen informants probably overestimated the number of Karen living in the area can be given a plausible explanation?’’

Secondly, these missionary records contain a wealth of information on traditional Karen religious practices and the growing prophetic and millenarian movements in western Siam.

Thirdly, these records are most revealing as to the role of the Karen preachers and evangelists. As already mentioned above, during Bray­ ton’s first trip the only one who went on an extensive tour of preaching was a Karen evangelist. During the second trip the missionaries got a cold reception practically everywhere, the sole exception being a village where Myah-Oo, one of the Karen assistants, had prepared the way for the coming of the missionaries.This may not necessarily reflect the general course of events, but it is worth noting that while Brayton and Harris were turned away at Sangkhlaburi, the following report was for­ warded by William Moore, a missionary at Moulmein to the Correspon­ ding Secretary in Boston: One of the older pupils of br. Binney, who is accustomed to spend the dry season in preaching in the jungle, returned from a seven weeks’ tour in Siam, a few days ago. He brings a favourable report of that country as a missionary held. Karen magistrates, under the Siamese king, rule over a large district. Their government is lenient, and the people are happy. The assistant spent a week at Prat-thoo-wan, the point br. Brayton tried to reach last year. He was well received by the head magistrate, and indeed by all the inhabitants; and could usually collect an audience to preach to, every evening, that filled the house. He says: “They listened with inte­ rest, but whether they listened aright I cannot tell”. During the seven weeks the assistant visited ten Pwo and two Sgau villages, besides the scattering houses between. He could have reached many more villages, but from the prevalence of cholera the inhabitants were so scattered and in such confusion that it was useless.’’ Finally and most importantly, these missionary accounts of visits to the Karen governor at Sangkhlaburi reflect the Karen expectations of po­ werful groups of Karen to the east - in a rather unintentional manner. Generally speaking, up to the 1850s the American Baptist missionaries tended to play down the importance of Karen settlements to the east, as 108

the report of Brayton illustrates. Francis Mason, in 1843 in his book on Ko Tha Byu has categorically stated that “there are no Karens in Siam except pn the western side of the Meinam”?6 Yet,-to the Karen, the very fact that the missionaries went to visit the Karen governor to the east, reaffirmed the possibility of a wider and co-ordinated Karen presence. In Loo Shwe’s account “The Karen People of Thailand and Christia­ nity” there is a tradition ,recorded that illustrates these dreams and vi­ sions:

If not for the river Mekong, Brothers and sisters would go along; If not for the Mekong rivers, Sisters and brothers would go together. When road is built from Thaung-yin to Salween and Mekong, Brothers and sisters from Salween will marry those across Mekong, Fish swim to and from the sources of Salween and Mekong, The orphans trap fish and catches dragon.^’

3. The Burma Baptist Missionary Convention^®

i. From foreign to national mission In the 1820s most decisions effecting the course of the mission and assignement of personnel were made on the field, subject to approval from the American Baptist Missionary Union. In the early 1830s when the number of missionaries increased significantly, such procedure led to personal conflicts. Most matters were directly submitted to the Board of the Missionary Union in Boston.

I

In 1852, the Second Anglo-Burmese War broke out and when the “paci­ fication” of Lower Burma was completed the American Civil War was at hand, leaving the American Baptist Missionary Union extremely short of funds and personnel. Thus it is not surprising that for the next 15 years there were no recorded attempts on the part of the American missionaries to reach the Karen in Siam. In all likelihood Karen preac­ hers and evangelists continued to make sporadic trips to Siam, but no one cared to record these ventures. In any case they did not manage to establish a Christian community there.

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According to established rules and regulations the American missiona­ ries had to report their ventures into Siam back to Boston. Karen Chris­ tians were freer to move. Prevailing patterns of missionary administra­ tion presented additional problems in a situation when shortage of per­ sonnel and funds called for strict prioritization. In practice, by the 1860s each missionary unit in Burma was independent of the others and di­ rectly responsible to the Executive Committee in Boston.'’^ The fact that even relatively minor matters were referred to the Missionary Union for consideration and an exchange of letters took 6 to 12 months, made the whole system untenable. Time was ripe for change. And change came. In 1864 the Executive Committee of the American Baptist Missionary Union, thus, adopted a resolution calling for the formation of a

Baptist General Convention for Burmah, corresponding with similar as­ sociations in this country, to be without disciplinary prerogative, but pu­ rely missionary in its character; the membership to consist of missionaries and delegates from the churches and local associations, the latter being much more numerous than the former; its one object being to spread the gospel, and gather Christian churches in Burmah.^’ This means that the first autonomous church was to be formed in Burma, although still under missionary leadership. After pointing out the obvious advantages of transferring “the responsibility and care of many details hitherto devolved on the Executive Committee”, the Ame­ rican Baptist Missionary Union went a step further. It anticipated a Christian community under local leadership and called on the missiona­ ries to consider the following rationale:

No nation was ever yet evangelized by an exclusively foreign agency, and it is not too much to say, Burmah will not be. The natives themselves must be the chief workers, and on them must the great burden of care and toil rest. From them must come the men and means, and to them in turn must accrue the honor of the achievement. You can initiate the work and lay the first stones of the foundation; they must erect the walls of the edifice; and put the top stone in its place. Call them into convention with you; give them a prominent part, we might say the most prominent part, in its workings. Assign them places of honorable service, and lay on them the burden of executive labor - some of your number being at hand to make suggestions, and impart counsel. Make them the chief actors, and assure them by precept and example, that they must take up and bear the great and weighty matters of the kingdom of God. Let them carry their measu­ 110

res sometimes, even against your judgement; better so. than to be always m subordination. Men often learn more and faster by their failures than by their successes. Let them have an opportunity to fail, that they may rise and stand stronger, ^nd stand on their own feet.^^ In October 1865 the missionaries and representatives of the local Baptist churches in Burma assembled in Rangoon to consider the suggestion of the Executive Committee of the American Baptist Missionary Union. There was considerable objection to the plan as can he seen in the “Fif­ ty-second Annual Report of the American Baptist Missionary Union” a masterpiece of diplomatic language:

At first a considerable element was in favour of deferring this measure for a year at least; but the majority were of a different mind, and all or nearly all, yielded at length a cordial assent. The assembly seems to have ' been eminently Christian, and all enjoyed themselves well, - even those who are most conservative and cautious, and who had looked with doubt not to say apprehension, on the whole movement, not only having their doubts removed, but coming into a state of approval.^

So, the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention was formed in 1865. Its basic purpose was defined as “to extend the work of evangelization to all regions within our reach which do not receive the gospel from other agencies”.'” Initially, several local churches and districts adopted a waitand-see attitude. The formation of the Burma Baptist Missionary Con­ vention implied a kind of devolution of authority to local agencies, but at the same time it did in Burma superimpose the missionaries over and above the Karen within the new Convention as the positions of authority should continue to rest with the missionaries. I have been unable to find any contemporary records on how the Karen Christians and churches reacted to their assigned position within the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, but in the early 1880s there were at least some Karen Chris­ tians in Burma who felt that they were treated unfairly in the missionary dominated Convention - perhaps not as “orphans”, but not as “heirs with the right of the first born” either.« Nonetheless, by the 1870s prac­ tically all districts and churches joined the Convention. Within the fra­ mework of the Convention the missionary initiatives were reinforced and the Karen became more kind of local assistants. In a sense, due to the prevailing patterns of missionary administration before the forma­ tion of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention the Karen were more

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free to venture on their own without missionary approval. Joining the Convention, however, did not entirely halt these local initiatives. Indivi­ dual churches and districts could initiate locally funded small scale evangelistic outreach beyond their own geographical areas, e.g. sending Karen pastors and evangelists to Siam. Such undertakings, however, were usually reported to the Convention and large scale projects were decided upon during the annual meetings of the Convention. The first in the new series of church conferences set the pattern.

a. The Karen mission - a first priority Already during the first annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Missio­ nary Convention, thus, I. Colburn made a request for aiding Karen preachers at Tavoy to go to Siam.'*^ Onehundred rupees were appropria­ ted for this purpose and four Karen preachers were authorized to make a tour of western Siam in March 1867. T\vo of them submitted a written report to the second annual meeting of the Convention, which I have already discussed as it highlighted Buddhist sympathies among the Ka­ ren in western Siam.**^ Though the fact-finding mission from Tavoy did identify certain prob­ lems in a mission to the east, the second annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention contemplated a mission to the Karen in Siam on a more permanent basis:

It seems to your Committee that enough is known of the Karens of Siam to justify an earnest effort to station teachers among them. And while they would not overlook or underestimate the field now partially occu­ pied, they would suggest, that the importance and practicability of loca­ ting some of the most reliable Karen preachers now available in some of the more desirable localities, is a subject worthy of the careful considera­ tion of this Convention. If we wait until Missionaries are sent from America for the Karens of Siam, but few of the present generation, is to be feared, will ever hear the glad tidings of salvation.*®

These minutes do reflect certain new dynamics within the Burma Bap­ tist Missionary Convention. The Karen pastors and evangelists were seen in the first place as local resources of the missionary leadership on the field. This is the sense in which the recommendation was acted upon 112

and one Pwo Karen preacher, Quine left for Sangkhlaburi in November 1867. He was supported by the Pwo Karen churches in the Rangoon area. He met with great difficulties in finding a suitable village to settle in and encountered a compact wall of suspicion. In fact he was threat­ ened repeatedly: “we will take you to the King”, implying in aU likelyhood a reference to the Karen governor of Sangkhlaburi « The fact that Quine lacked proper papers acceptable to the Siamese authorities, made his mission in Siam very difficult. He struggled in the Sangkhla­ buri area for about two years, but failed to establish a Christian commu­ nity.

Learning from the difficulties encountered by Quine, the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention sent Tau-moo, an experienced pastor and Toomya-sah, a graduate of the Karen Theological Seminary, to the same area. But this time they were provided with passes issued by the Siamese consul at Rangoon. However, just like in previous efforts in the area, these new missionaries also failed to find a suitable location for long­ term evangelistic outreach. In Too-mya-sah’s account of their travels in the Sangkhlaburi area there is a conversation with the Karen governor Prat-way-hee, who was appointed by the Siamese authorities. He is quo­ ted saying that he shared the predicament of the local Karen in the follo­ wing way: We are all under the Siamese power. If only Karens like ourselves come and preach, we dare not believe. If a white foreign teacher will come and preach God’s word and save us from the persecution of the Siamese we will surely study the book... If the white man does not come, you may go about preaching as much as you please, but the people will not study or beheve.^’’ This attitude is so out of line with previous testimonies from this same area that it calls for closer examination. Several plausible alternatives are at hand: - the Siamese Karen official could have been disillusioned by the ra­ pid decline in the fortunes of the Karen following the altered economic scene in Siam as a result of the Bowring Treaty of 1855; rather than a governor, the Siamese Karen in question could have been a minor official along the border, expressing his personal views at a variance with general attitudes in the area, or - the recorded conversation is misrepresented or mistranslated.

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On the basis of what has been said about the position of the Karen in Siam during the period in question, I find the first interpretation to be the most likely and probable. Whatever may have been the case, pre­ vious and later records unanimously give a different picture.

Hi. The first mission to the muang nua Parallel with the frustrated attempts in the Sangkhlaburi area, the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention also ventured an attempt in the muang nua. In early 1868, James Norris of Moulmein set out for a two months tour of northwestern Siam and into the muang nua.^^ He was accompanied by three unidentified Karen Christians on the trip. They moved on foot across the mountains through an almost exclusively Ka­ ren area to Chiang Mai.

In Chiang Mai they were received by the two families of the American Presbyterian Mission, the McGilvarys and the Wilsons, who were just about to settle in the north. Norris was also received at the couff of the chao muang and gathered information on the Karen in Siam and the muang nua from officials and merchants from the east.

During the trip the Karen evangelists preached in a large number of vil­ lages, but the primary purpose of the tour was to ascertain the extent of Karen settlements in Siam and the muang nua. 'Twq of the Karen Chris­ tians were left behind to explore further the mountain ranges northeast of Moulmein. They covered a large area, but found no suitable place to stay for a longer period. Insufficient food and fear of tigers and robbers forced them to abandon their plans and return to Moulmein about a month after Norris. The immediate results of this trip were meagre, but the information gat­ hered by Norris as well as his recommendations were to influence the orientation of the Karen and the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention significantly. In his letter to the Corresponding Secretary of the Ameri­ can Baptist Missionary Union Norris summed up his findings this way: “The mass of Sgaw Karens are East of Tavoy, Moulmein and the Sal­ ween River”To this he added information gathered in Chiang Mai:

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I conversed with some who said they had been 3 months East and were still among Sgau Karens... These men who professed to have gone so far East said that on a large river which flowed southeastwardly to the sea was a powerful King who was Sgau Karen and ruled a Sgau Karen nation which was quite independent of other states.^

Based on these findings and information Norris addressed a challenge to the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Burma Baptist Mis­ sionary Convention and more especially to its Karen members: We, the American Baptists, have a comparatively rich Christian litera­ ture in the language of this people. We have numerous and rapidly increa­ sing ’native ministry’ gathered from among the kindred of this people Many of these ministers are truly Godly men, full of the missionary spirit ready to darp and suffer for Christ. How long shall we linger on the west­ ern border of Karendom? Like their brethren in Burmah these people .are prepared of God to receive the Gospel. We are prepared to give it to them.” ®

The Burma Baptist Missionary Convention was quick to respond. Du­ ring the annual meeting of 1868 it was upheld that the original purpose of the Convention, as defined in the constitution, i.e. “to extend the work of evangelization to all regions within our reach”, and even im­ plied an extention to “the regions beyond” and no other place was more suitable than “the Karen country in Siam”.^

As to the agents of this expansion, it was obvious that the Karen Chris­ tians of Burma were the most suitable and most available resource, but the record was discouraging -^Imost 40 years of repeated efforts with­ out any visible results. In fact, it was missionary patriarchalism within the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention that confused the issue. Firstly, some suggested that while the Karen preachers indeed were de­ dicated men and could do a remarkably good job under missionary su- , pervision, without a missionary they simply could not carry out their task. As this party assessed matters:

... repeated trial has as yet failed to show that really valuable and perma­ nent results are likely to follow from sending native laborers to foreign territory unattended by the Missionary.^

9

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This was probably the majority view already towards the end of the 1860s. It gradually became something of an uncontested thesis, conside­ red by most missionaries as a proven fact.

There were, however, others who, having reflected on the issue, recog­ nized that there were a number of circumstances that put the Karen in a disadvantagous situation, e.g. - the Karen preachers from Burma could not “stand up to” the local chiefs and authorities in Siam as the foreign missionaries did, particu­ larly not when they lacked proper passes and documentation; - the missionaries could secure food more easily than the Karen, partly because the missionaries had either more resources or were ar­ med to shoot game, and - the Karen preachers from Burma were met with opposition by the Karen on the lowlands who have become Buddhists. Based on what has been established about the achievements of Karen preachers and evangelists in Bassein, Toungoo and elsewhere - without missionary presence! - the assumed inadequacy of these men in pioneer situations was a misconception. The second set of explanations did more justice to the difficulties encountered by these Karen preachers, but did not go far enough in giving a fair picture.^’ The available records indi­ cate that when accompanying missionaries, the most demanding tasks were assigned to the Karen collegues and they were carrying them out alone. They indeed had failed to establish a Christian community in western Siam, but as already noted the reasons for this failure were pri­ marily political, economic or had to do with the local religious and social conditions in Siam. To the Karen themselves these well-meaning considerations among their missionary collegues may have been disappointing. Even so, Norris’ account contained specific references, which reinforced their missionary concern for related communities in the east. So far they had heard frustrated accounts of a Karen governor under Siamese authority in Sangkhlaburi. But now they heard challenging news of a powerful Karen king in the east. These accounts qualified the agenda of the Ka­ ren Christians in Burma, regardless what was in the minds of the missio­ naries. In other words, although in Burma, and to some extent even within the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention the Karen Christians

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may have been “orphans”, but now they heard consoling news of a po­ werful Karen kingdom and Karen king to the east. No wonder they were inspired to venture continued missionary outreach to find this king. There was one American missionary who realized these new dynamics among the Karen and encouraged them to go ahead. He was Chapin Carpenter.

iv. Carpenter's survey and its follow-up One of the missionaries in Burma, who entertained a growing interest in the mission to the Karen in Siam was Chapin Carpenter. In 1866 he volunteered to be stationed among the Karen in Siam, but his request was turned down by the American Baptist Missionary Union as his ser­ vices were needed in Burma. After the formation of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention Carpenter continued to focus attention on Siam and was trying to find ways and means to get personally involved. Being stationed at Bassein, which we have seen was one of the stations furthest from the Siamese Karen, it was not easy to move to the east. Even so Bassein had certain advantages. In a letter to the American Baptist Mis­ sionary Union in May 1870 Carpenter noted with satisfaction that the missionary interest among the Karen in the Bassein area was extraordi­ nary and that they were ready to renew previous ventures into Siam.“

Aware of the grave shortage of missionary personnel in Burma and the limited capacities of the American Baptist Missionary Union, Carpenter explored the support of other sponsors of the mission to the Karen in Siam.®' In order to assess the feasibility of such a large scale underta­ king, Carpenter, with the blessing of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, secured permission to travel overland from Moulmein to Bangkok, on his way back to the United States of America on furlough. Provided with passes by the Siamese consul at Rangoon, the Carpenters were accompanied by two Karen pastors and two recent graduates of the Karen Theological Seminary. Leaving Moulmein on January 17, 1872 the company reached Sangkhlaburi by way of the Three Pagodas Pass and were received cordially by the Pwo Karen governor there. Af­ ter having surveyed the Karen villages along the river route and having

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called on the Siamese governor at Kanchanaburi, they reached Bang­ kok on February 26,1872. From Bangkok they made exploratory trips to the northeast where they encountered small Karen settlements on the plains. These were Karen captured by the Siamese headhunters in the Tavoy area several decades earlier, probably in the early 1800s, who were now settled in central Siam. These Karen were completely isolated from the other Karen areas and were quickly loosing their Karen iden­ tity. Only a few old people could speak and understand Karen.

Based on these observations and information gathered from missiona­ ries stationed in Bangkok, Carpenter made a number of suggestions to the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, a few of which are directly relevant in this context. Firstly, Carpenter confirmed the difficulties encountered by Karen preachers in the upper Khwae Yai, Khwae Noi watersheds. Quite apart from physical obstacles, he noted that: “It would be a mistake to sup­ pose that these Karens at present desire the gospel... They profess to be afraid to change their religion”.“ Secondly, he surmised that the most populous Karen areas were in northwestern Siam and in the muang nua. This area, he felt, was the most suitable for missionary expansion.

Thirdly, Carpenter suggested that a couple of young graduates from the Karen Theological Seminary should be sent to Bangkok to learn the Sia­ mese language and customs. They could be supervised by William Dean, the American Baptist missionary working among the Chinese mi­ nority in Bangkok. Carpenter then left for the United States, but the four Karen made ex­ tensive trips in Siam towards the north and the northeast of the country. Two of them Ng-pok and Sah-poh, went in a northwestly direction, cros­ sing the Siamese plains, suffering greatly from lack of water, towards the end of March, which is the hottest time of the year. They were also rob­ bed and lost their way in the jungle before they reached Karen settlements.^ The other two Karen headed north and then northeast, and while one returned to Burma, the other, Myah-oo, an ordained mi­ nister continued the trip, reaching the Mekong river at the level of Nong 118

Khai. From there he crossed northern Siam and returned to Moulmein after an absence of more than a year. He was indeed searching for the Karen king in the east!“

V. The Maritime Baptists of Canada During the 1860s when the American Baptist Missionary Union was particularly short of funds and personnel to man its stations in Burma, Carpenter turned his attention to Canada for the means of materidizing his mission to the Karen in Siam.

The Baptists of Nova Scotia had formed a missionary society to assist the work started by the Judsons in Burma as early as 1832.®® Joining hands with Baptists in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the Maritime Baptist Board of Foreign Mission sent its first missionaries to Burma in 1845 to work among the Karen at Mergui. During the 1850s and 1860s the mission to the Karen was supported with funds and per­ sonnel through an informal cooperation with the American Baptist Mis­ sionary Union. By 1870, the scope of the contribution of the Maritime Baptists increased significantly and they had to choose between an in­ tegration with the American Baptist Missionary Union or the opening of an independent mission.

At the annual convention in 1870 the Maritime Baptists opted for the latter and immediately decided to assess the feasibility of establishing a mission to the Karen in Siam.®"^ The committee in charge of the prepara­ tions corresponded with Carpenter in Bassein and with William Dean in Bangkok and presented a unanimous recommendation to approve the prepared mission to the Karen in Siam when the annual convention gat­ hered in 1871.®8 New missionary candidates were selected and it was ag­ reed that Canadian missionaries already in Burma were to be redesigna­ ted for Siam when preparations were completed.

Much of the responsibility of supplying the Maritime Baptists with ade­ quate information rested on Carpenter, His trip from Moulmein to Bangkok in 1872 was partly a fact finding mission on behalf of the Cana­ dian Baptists. During the annual convention of 1873 Carpenter was per119

sonally present when the final decision was made. The relevant minutes read: After weighing well the comparative claims and advantages and pro­ spects of the different fields proposed, with prayer for Divine guidance, and endeavouring to use their best judgement, your Board arrived at the decision, which has since been confirmed, that we ought to go to the Ka­ rens, Laos and other tribes in the Kingdom of Siam.^’

Nine missionaries were commissioned for service in Siam in August 1873. They were joined a few months later by the Secretary of the Fo­ reign Mission Board, bringing the total to ten.’® The missionaries rea­ ched Tavoy on February 5, 1874.

After about a month at Tavoy three of the missionaries left for Bangkok to study Siamese. They were assisted by William Dean in getting a quick introduction ta the country. The group that remained in Burma was joi­ ned by six young graduates from the Karen Theological Seminary who volunteered for service in Siam. In the meantime they were employed to teach the missionaries Karen. Representatives from both groups set out for a trip of exploration in Ja­ nuary 1875. They were to meet either at Rahaeng (i.e. Tak) or in Chiang Mai and compare notes on the extent of the Karen population of west­ ern Siam and the muang nuaJ^ They met at Tak, which was the northernrhost point of their expedition. After a few days of discussion and consideration the following letter was dispatched to the Board in Ca­ nada on February 13, 1875:

Brethren Churchill and Boggs, on their journey up from Bangkok, visited Muang Oo-lai, a place formerly spoken of as probably suitable for a Mis­ sion Station, having in view the Siamese Karens. At an interview with the governor of Oo-tai, they understood him to make the following state­ ments; That there are no Karens in the District of Oo-tai. That there are Karens and Toungthoos to the westward, but they are from ten to fifteen days . distant, and reached with difficulty... Again it has been supposed that Karens might be found in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Rahaing. Brethren Sanford and Armstrong, however, in coming from Moulmein, passed through the supposed Karen region, and they and the native preachers who accompanied them, made full enquiries concerning Karens, and yet they failed to find or hear of more than a very small number scattered about the mountains. 120

We are led to the same conclusion in reference to the district of Chang Mai, or Zimmay. We have obtained information from Rev. McGilvary (who is at present in Rahaing, on his way to his mission field in Chang Mai) and from others who have travelled through that country, and their statements agree in representing the Karens as few and scattered.’^

Based on this information the missionaries drew the following conclu­ sion: “the facts do not warrant us in making any further efforts, looking to the establishment of a mission to the Karens in Siam”.’^ Then, for a number of practical reasons, the missionaries rejected the thought of working among the Siamese, in cooperation with William Dean in Bangkok, or working among the Lao. All four agreed that the most suitable place for establishing an independent mission was among the Karen in Burma. In their letter they referred to a formal invitation from the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention.’** Furthermore they made concrete suggestions to establish their mission either at Ma-ooben or at Thayet-myo, implying that they preferred these places for quite some time, but “did not, however, feel ourselves at liberty to en­ tertain this project, or lay it before you until now”.’^

Upon submitting their recommendations to the Board in Canada, the missionaries returned to their respective stations, firmly believing that the Board would adopt their suggestion about an independent mission to the Karen in Burma. In Canada, however, the Maritime Baptists were offered an opportunity to enter mission work in South India among the Telugus in cooperation with Baptists in Ontario and Quebec.’® This offer was accepted and the missionaries were transferred immediately from Burma and Siam to Cocanada in South India. The Canadian Maritime Baptists’ mission to the Karen in Siam was thus terminated before it ever started. One is puzzled by the abrupt decision taken by the missionaries on the exploratory trip to abandon further at­ tempts to assess the extent of the Karen population in northern Siam and the muang nua. The records indicate three plausible factors which, taken together, may give at least a partial explanation. Firstly, even before setting out on their exploratory trip to the Karen of Siam, the missionaries seriously contemplated the offer of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention to set up, at least initially, a station

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among the Karen in Burma. For a number of reasons that offer was most attractive to the Canadian missionaries, e.g. Burma offered better com­ munications, which was more suitable for young missionaries without previous field experience.

Secondly, one may raise the question, whether the missionaries took se­ riously the information available to them. Carpenter’s report gave a rough estimate on the number of Karen in Siam, though the sum he arri­ ved at was probably a low estimate. Karen evangelists had reported on extensive trips to Siam and their reports were available in English trans­ lation, but these seem to have been rejected out of hand.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the missionaries did not properly assess the capacity and value of their Karen co-workers. It is remarkable that in the records consulted, so little mention is made of the Karen evangel­ ists who volunteered to aid the Canadian missionaries. Had the Karen been given a chance to influence the course of the exploratory trip, it is most unlikely that it would have been abandoned just at the edge of a vast Karen area. The mountain ranges north and northwest of Tak, where the trip was terminated, were almost exclusively - although ad­ mittedly sparsely - populated by the Karen

4. Conclusion For almost 50 years, from the late 1820s onwards, Karen preachers and evangelists had made repeated attempts to reach the Karen in Siam with the Christian message. They failed however, to establish a lasting Chris­ tian community among their relations on the other side of the Siamese border. The reasons for this failure were both political and religious: - the political developments in Burma, i.e. the First and Second Ang­ lo-Burmese Wars, did not favour cross-border missionary outreach; - the Pwo Karen living in the most accessible areas along the Khwae Noi had adopted Buddhism, in its millenarian form, early in the 19th century and this made them less interested in changing their religion again; - through the Telakhon sect, some Karen in Siam had already acqui­ red things like literacy, social organization above the village level, and

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a certain amount of religious sophistication in the eyes of their neigh­ bours, things that came to the Karen in Burma through the Christian community - again making the work of the evangelists extremely diffi­ cult; and - those Karen who did not share in the relative prosperity in the mid1800s in western Siam, i.e. the Sgaw Karen living in isolated upland vil­ lages, a group that might have reacted favourably to the Christian mes­ sage, was simply not reached within this period.

However, the call to the east did not die, not among the Karen Chris­ tians nor among the American Baptist missionaries within the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention. Why? - As is increasingly evident at this point in this survey, the motivations differed in the two groups. As far as the Karen Christians of Burma were concerned, we have noted that the eastward orientation developed in three phases in the 19th cen­ tury:

- up to about the 1860s rumous of the Karen governor of Sangkhlaburi and the stories circulating about him provided a powerful motive to explore and examine the possibilities, but it turned out to be a disap­ pointment as Phra Suwan and his successors were not interested in Christianity or in wider Karen unity; - from the mid 1860s, the focus of attention shifted to the muang nua, and stories of a large independent Karen kingdom east of Chiang Mai, a story partially confirmed by the trip of James Norris in 1868, was widely spread among the Karen in Burma; and - the rapid growth of the number of educated Karen in Burma and the ensuing rise of Karen nationalism gave further fuel to this eastward orientation which reached its peak in the 1880s. I\vo general motifs, then, dominated the Karen ventures: - the Karen Christian community in Burma was thoroughly missio­ nary in its character and in this way reflected a wider sense of Karen identy than the traditional character, which had been shaped by the pre­ dominating village structure, and the Karen Christians wanted to share these new insights with related communities in the east; and - secondly, the Karen in general and the Karen Christians in particu­ lar were encouraged by rumours from the east, inasmuch as they were

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looking for means to qualify their identity in terms of an “ancient habi­ tat”, “a powerful - but lost - Karen kingdom”, “a Karen king”. As far as the American Baptist missionaries in Burma were concerned, there were at least two explanations for this interest in the Karen in Siam and the muang nua: - following decades of success among the Karen in Burma, the work had lost momentum and the missionaries were looking for a fresh chal­ lenge; and - the missionaries in Burma could not but note that the American Baptist Missionary Union in Boston and the Christians in the United States at large since the 1850s were more excited about the missionary potential of China than about continued expansion in Burma. This fact was reflected in a continuous shortage of funds and personnel. There­ fore, the American Baptist missionaries in Burma were consciously loo­ king for a new field related to their previous field of expansion, that could satisfy the hunger for “unoccupied fields of great promise”.

Notes to CHAPTER IH * One of the best available survey of the history of the Baptist community in Burma is Maung Shwe Wa’s Burma Baptist Chronicle, Book I (Rangoon: Board of Publications of the Burma Baptist Convention, 1963). 2 The life and ministry of Ko Tha Byu is documented Francis Mason’s The Karen Apostle or Memoir of Ko Tha Byu, the First Karen Convert with Notices Concerning His Nation (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1843). 3 The rest of this section on “Early American ventures” is based on Shwe Wa’s standard work referred to in footnote 1 above. I have augmented it with data derived from various articles published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine relating the developments of the missionary work in Burma and correspondance from individual missionaries on the field to the Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. * A fascinating account of the ministry of Quala is offered by Francis Mason in his “Sau Quala: The Second Karen Convert” published in installments in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 36 (January-November 1856). The total number of pages printed in the different languages of Burma by the mission press between 1830 and 1864 was an astonishing 164, 208,137; see Shwe Wa, Maung op. cit., p. 125. «Cf. ibid.,pp. 167ff. ’ Cf. Zan, U & Sowards, Erville “Baptist Work Among Karens” in Sowards, Genevieve & Erville (ed) Burma Baptist Chronicle, Book II (Rangoon: Board of Publications of the Burma Baptist Convention, 1963), pp. 309f. ® For a detailed account see Carpenter, Chapin Self-Support, Illustrated in the History of the Bassein Karen Mission from 1840 to 1880 (Boston: Rand, Avery and Company, 1883). It should be pointed out however, that the Karen churches in the Bassein area were by no

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means an exception when it came to self-support. Already in the 1840s the Karen Chris­ tians around Tavoy built their own village chapels and schools and during periods of politi­ cal unrest the Christians in the Rangoon area carried on their work over extended periods without missionary assistance. ® Infra, p. 130. “ The reference literature for this section are McFarland, George B. Historical Sketch of Protestant Missions in Siam 1828-1928 (Bangkok: Bangkok Times Press, 1928) and Jones, Eliza Memoirs (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publishing Society, 1853). ** Several authors have mistakenly identified this church as the first "Asian Protestant Church in the Far East”, but that was clearly not the case, cf. Wells, Kenneth History of Protestant Work in Thailand 1828-1958 (Bangkok: Church of Christ in Thailand, 1958), pp. 18 and 22. This congregation the Maitri Chit Church, is today the largest church in the Chinese speaking 12th district of the Church of Christ in Thailand. The published literature for this survey of the history of the American Presbyterian Mission in Siam and the muang nua are McGilvary, Daniel A Half Century Among the Siamese and the Lao (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1912); Swanson, Herbert Khrischak Muang Nua (Bangkok; Chuan Printing Press, 1984) and McFarland, George op. cit. “ Swanson, Herbert op. cit., p. 13. “* Infra, pp. 138-139. “ Ko Tha Byu was baptized on May 16,1828 and was instrumental in the establishing of the Tavoy station, cf, entry in the journal of Geo Boardman for May 16,1828, ABFMS, group 1, box 4. Entries in the journal of Geo Boardman for December 20,21, and 22,1829, ABFMS, group 1, box 4. I’ Geo Boardman to the Corresponding Secretary, Tavoy, February 16, 1830, ABFMS, group 1, box 4. Entry in the journal of Francis Mason for January 18,1834, ABFMS, group 1, box 16. ” The informant himself was the young man’s father, i.e. the village headman and one of the converts. However, none of them, even the young preacher, were baptized. Entry in the journal of Lapham Wade for March 6, 1835, ABFMS, group 1, box 26. Entry for January 16, 1836, ABFMS, group 1, box 26. Entry in the journal of Lapham Wade for January 16,1836, ABFMS, group 1, box 26. Entry for January 18, 1834, ABFMS, group 1, box 16. “ Entry in the journal of Francis Mason for January 5,1842, ABFMS group 1 box 16 Cf. supra, pp. 70ff. er. Entry in the journal of Cephas Bennett for January 27,1848, ABFMS, group 1, box 2. 2'5 In his report "A Tour among the Karens of Siam” written in 1872 Chapin Ca^enter makes a passing reference to a trip by Justus Vinton that could probably predate the Bray­ ton mission. Ever since the days of Boardman, the locale, numbers, and disposition of the Karens in Siam towards the gospel have been subjects of frequent conjecture and deep inte­ rest to the Christian Karens and their missionaries in Burmah. The elder Vinton made long preaching tours beyond the Thoung yeen River towards Rahaing and Zimmay, north of Siam proper. Mr Brayton visited Pwo villages on the Siamese border twice...’ ■The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 53, no. 1 (January 1873), p. 9. Carpenter’s account is in chronological sequence, but whether the chronology is consistently applied is not explicitly stated. If this is a strict chronological account, Brayton’s trip was then the se­ cond attempt to reach the Karen in Siam. 2’ The Karen referred to Sangkhlaburi as Prat-thoo-wan after the title of the first Pwo Karen governor, Phra Si Suwannakhiri. 28 Durlin Brayton to the Corresponding Secretary, Tavoy, March 5,1848, ABFMS, group

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1, box 4 and the first chapter, particularly pages 6-8 in Brayton’s book A Few Facts about the Pwo Karen Mission (Rangoon: American Mission Press, 1899). The book was written in Pwo Karen, but the relevant parts of the first chapter have been translated into English for this dissertation by Aye Myat Kyaw in Rangoon in January 1983. 2’ Letter dated Maulmein, April 19, 1849, ABFMS, group 1, box 12. * Entries in the journal of Duriin Brayton for January 31 and February 1,1849, ABFMS group 1, box 4. ’ ’ Loc. cit. Entry for February 13, 1849, ABFMS, group 1, box 4. Depending on where one encountered the Karen in Siam or in the muang nua, one could arrive at widely different estimates. American missionaries all too often followed the major routes where, as a rule, there were only minor Karen settlements in the vicinity. Karen evangelists, on the other hand, tended to end up in obscure places, far from the major routes where there were much larger Karen populations. Both groups made estima­ tes on the number of Karen in Siam according to these encounters. ’* Entry in the journal of Duriin Brayton for February 7,1849, ABFMS, group 1 box 4 Letter dated May 22, 1850, ABFMS, group 1, box 18. Mason, Francis The Karen Apostle, p. 123. Loo Shwe, Thra “The Karen People of'Hiailand and Christianity” (Chiang Mai 1962) unpublished manuscript, p. 7. The river Thaung-Yin Loo Shwe refers to is a tributary of the Salween. Unfortunately, for reasons that have been discussed in the Introduction, Loo Shwe's ac­ count is very heavily influenced by his overarching objectives in relating Karen history. However, this fact does not diminish the importance of this tradition. Regardless whether this particular tradition was known io Burma around the 1850s or not, the visions expres­ sed in it were embraced by at least a large group of the Christian Karen, whose interest in related Karen groups to the east was further awakened by missionary accounts of visits to the Karen governor. Al the time of its formation the official name of the Convention was the “Burmah Bap­ tist Missionary Convention". Sometimes between 1875 and 1882 the “h” was dropped and became the “Burma Baptist Missionary Convention". For the sake of uniformity and cla­ rity, the latter form is used throughout this dissertation, except in direct quotes. In U Zan's account (“History of Karen Mission Work in Thailand”, n. p.: n. d., ma­ nuscript in Sgaw Karen, translated by Tongkham Songsaeng) there is the following undo­ cumented passage: In 1863, the Sgaw Karen Bassein Church sent Sau Du and three others to try to go into Thailand again. They went along with some Thai traders. They got beyond Moulmein, but after that found the trail so difficult and infested with robbers and dacoits it made them turn back. ’ This led to a huge controversy between the Missionary Union and some missionaries in Burma, causing the resignation of a number of missionaries. See “Relations of Missiona­ ries to the Missionary Union” in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 36 no 9fSeDtember 1856), pp. 379-382. *’ The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 46, no. 7 (July 1866), pp. 220-221. Ibid., pp. 222-223. Although the missionaries on the field did not live up to these ideals, it is nonetheless interesting to note that, at least in theory, these ideals were upheld by the American Baptist Missionary Union as early as 1864. The fact that these principles were, ^°Ib^d^^ 2*S* prescribed to out of necessity does not in itself diminish their importance’ Article III of the Constitution of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 46, no. 7 (July 1866), p. 224.

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A decade and a half later, in the controversy following the establishment of the first Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua, the Karen Christians of Bassein bitterly tasted the consequences of this decision imposed by the missionaries. To quote U Zan: “The Bassein Home Mission did feel that the whole thing was wrong. ... Neverthe­ less, in the missionary convention, the missionaries outnumber the nationals and so their majority carried the decision”; op. cit., p. 5. This entire incident will be discussed in detail in the next chapter. ** First Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon: Ameri­ can Mission Press, 1866), p. 75. Second Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention (Rangoon: Ame­ rican Mission Press, 1867), p. 26. Report translated by Harriet Carpenter in Second Annual Report ofthe Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon: American Mission Press, 1867), p. 27. Quine’s report translated by Durlin Brayton in the Third Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon: American Mission Press, 1868), p. 28. The king of Siam had visited the Sangkhlaburi area on several occasions and made a lasting impression on the Karen there; see e.g. The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 35, no. 10 (October 1854), p. 402. He has also succeeded, to a large extent, in gaining the loyalty and support of the Karen in the lowland areas of western Siam. In this particular report however, the reference in all likelihood concerns the Karen governor of Sangkhlaburi after all he represented the king of Siam in the province. Report translated by Durlin Brayton in the Third Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon: American Mission Press, 1868), p. 30. The original Karen version is not preserved in the records. James Norris to the Corresponding Secretary, Moulmein, March 17, 1868, ABFMS, group 1, box 19. Third Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon: Ameri­ can Mission Press, 1868), p. 26. James Norris to the Corresponding Secretary, Moulmein, March 17, 1868, ABFMS, group 1, box 19. Ibid., River identified by Norris as the Mekong. This information supplied by Norris is rather startling, but can be given a plausible explanation. In all likelyhood the informants of Norris used the term yang or nyang, both terms applied by the khon muang to the Karen; cf. supra ... The same term, however, is applied by Tai speaking people east of the muang nua to other neighbouring groups. LeBar, Frank et. al. Ethnic Groups of Main­ land Southeast Asia (New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1964) mentions the Nhang people northern Vietnam as being referred to as yang or nyang by other Thai spea­ king peoples; p. 238. Ronald Renard has called my attention to an article (“The Trans­ Salween Boundry Question”) in the Bangkok Times from January 17,1891, where the Lu people of east Laos are referred to as yang. It Is thus perfectly possible that Norris was absolutely correct in reporting that there was a powerful nyang nation east of the Mekong river, but these nyang were not Sgaw Karen, but in all likelyhood Lu or Nhang. For more details on the Lu see LeBar, Frank et al. op. cit., pp. 206 li. 55 James Norris to the Corresponding Secretary, Moulmein, March 17, 1868, ABFMS, group 1, box 19. 5® Third Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon; Ameri­ can Mission Press, 1868), pp. 38-39. 5’ Ibid., p. 39. 5® James Norris to the Corresponding Secretary, letter dated March 17,1868,.published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 48, no. 12 (December 1866), p. 12. Original missing or misplaced at ABMFS.

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In missionary correspondance it is often stressed that the Karen were unduly afraid of tigers and robbers - a fear alleyed in the presence of missionaries. Less explicit is the fact that the missionaries were armed and the Karen, as a rule, were not. See James Norris to the Corresponding Secretary, letter dated March 17, 1868, published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 48, no. 12 (December 1866), p. 12. Original missing or mispla­ ced at ABFMS. Chapin Carpenter to the Corresponding Secretary, Bassein, May 14, 1870, ABFMS, group 1, box 6. Infra, pp. 119ff. Carpenter, Chapin “A Tour Among the Karens of Siam” The Baptist Missionary Maga­ zine, vol. 53, no. 1 (January 1873), p. 13. Seventh Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon, Ame­ rican Mission Press, 1873), p. 36. Report of Ng-pok andSah-poh translated by Chapin Carpenter in The Baptist Missio­ nary Magazine, vol. 53, no. 2 (February 1873), pp. 45-47. Report of Myah-oo translated by Chapin Carpenter in The Baptist Missionary Maga­ zine, vol. 53, no. 8 (August 1873), pp. 327-328. Orchard, M. L. & McLaurie, K. S. The Enterprise: The Jubilee Story of the Canadian Baptist Mission in India (Toronto: Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1924), p. 16. Christian Messenger (A Religious and General Family Newspaper, published in Hali­ fax, Nova Scotia), vol. 34, no. 39 (September 28,1870), p. 306. ® Christian Messenger, vol. 35, no. 35 (August 30,1871), p. 272. Bill, I. E. Fifty Years with the Baptist Ministers and Churches of the Maritime Provinces of Canada (St. John, N. B.: Barnes and Company, 1880), p. 507. The influence of Car­ penter was obvious even in the wording of the decision. In his report of the trip across western Siam Carpenter wrote: If our Nova Scotia brethren ever find the Siamese Karen field too scant for them, the Leas field will be broad and populous enough surely. This report was also published in the Christian Messenger, vol. 37, no. 32 (August 6, 1873), p. 254. ™ Christian Messenger, vol. 37, no. 36 (September 3, 1873), p. 282 and vol. 38, no. 39 (September 30, 1874), p. 306. ” Daniel McGilvary to the Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian Board for Fo­ reign Missions, Bangkok, October 21, 1874, BFM, microfilm, reel nr. 182, doc. nr, 245. Christian Messenger, vol. 39, no. 17 (April 22,1875), p. 131. Loc. cit. The Convention adopted the following resolution in November 1874: Resolved, that in view of the scarcity of Missionaries in Burmah, and the demands of the field, we would be glad to see these brethren (should they see their way clear to do so) take up some unoccupied field in Burmah ... and whence, as a base, they might ultimately carry out their original plan of evangelizing the Karens of Siam. Ninth Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention, (Rangoon; American Mission Press, 1875), p. 13. Christian Messenger, vol. 39, no. 17 (April 22, 1875), p. 131. Christian Messenger, vol. 39 no. 20 (May 19,1875), p. 155. The section in the report of the exploratory trip says: Brethren Sanford and Armstrong, however, in coming from Maulmain, passed through the supposed Karen region, and they and the native preachers who accompa­ nied them, made full enquiries concerning Karens, and yet they failed to find or hear of more than a very small number scattered about the mountains.

This evidently conveys more of the inadequacy of the investigation than the actual Karen population in the area.

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CHAPTER IV

MAUNG HTWE’S MISSION AND THE RISE OF A CHRISTIAN COMMUMTY AMONG THE KAREN IN THE MUANG NVA It should not come as great surprise that the Karen evangelists from Burma did not find a powerful Karen king in the muang nua. However as Chapin Carpenter suggested, this appealing motif of a powerful Ka^n kingdom in the east continued to encourage the eastward moves of Karen evangelists even after the defeatistic retreat of frustrated Cana­ dian Maritime Baptists in 1875? Even so, another major event took place, which hitherto has been lar­ gely overlooked in Karen studies generaUy, as well as in Karen church history. Contrary to the expectations of the American and Canadian missionaries, there took place in the 1880s the first substantial break­ through of Christianity among the Karen in the muang nua. This devel­ opment, I suggest, is basic for any serious attempt to assess how Karen identity continued to be articulated since the latter part of the 19th cen­ tury.

The first breakthrough of Christianity among the Karen in the muang nua was largely the achievement of Karen Baptists from Burma, and if I should single out one of them in particular, there is no doubt that the apostle of the muang nua proves to be Maung Htwe. His contribution however, as well as that of other Karen evangelists, was not properly recognized by their fellow American missionaries, who at that time had problems to face when they pleaded for reinforcements from their home Board, but heard from Boston that there was a shortage of funds and personnel. At that time the American Baptist Missionary Union gave priority to Chinese developments. Early Karen church history in the muang nua is virgin territory in scho­ larly studies. Actually, the only attempt at a coherent presentation is the

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account of U Zan in Sgaw Karen, which I have already made use of in chapters 11 and III. In this attempt I will draw on this local history. How­ ever, I have also made an independent inventory of the available written sources - not least the reports in The Morning Star- as well as local oral tradition, to which I have managed to gain access. I will trace develop­ ments as a contribution to the ongoing study of how Karen identity in the muang nua evolved after the middle of the 19th century.

1. The Issue over Maung Htwe

i. Renewed ventures in the east In late 1879 or early 1880 a Karen Christian trader. Too Lah, from the Shwegyin district of Burma visited the Chiang Mai area to purchase elephants.2 There he encountered a number of Karen who had heard the preaching of the Presbyterian missionaries in Chiang Mai and who were eager to know more. Too Lah stayed with them throughout the dry season, shared with them the Christian message and taught them to read and write Karen. When returning to Burma Too Lah reinforced the concern of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention for the Karfen in the muang nua. There was an immediate response from the churches in the Bassein area. Three preachers. Maw Klo, Shwe Mya and Saw Kay volunteered for service and were approved by the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention.^ I The American missionaries secured British passes for the Karen preach- ers and when learning of their plans, the Chief Commissioner of Burma, Sir Charles Bernard donated 100 Rupees towards the expenses of the trip.'* The three preachers sailed from Rangoon on December 12,1880. This renewed venture, which led ultimately to the establishment of a Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua, also reinfor­ ced previous conflicts between the American Baptist missionaries and enterprising Karen evangelists in Burma. This conflict considerably in­ fluenced the course of events in the following couple of decades. The cause of contention at this time was a fourth man who had joined the preachers on board - Muang Htwe.

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a. Con version or fraud? In the words of U Zan, Maung Htwe had been “a quack doctor, indul­ ged in the black arts, charms, magic and in just about everything that caters to the needs of the superstitious”? He was a native of Panahtee village in Bassein. The contemporary missionary view of Maung Htwe was very critical, as reflected in Justus Vinton’s account of the departure of the missionary team:

It is with great mortification that I am obliged to tell you that they were joined by a man of character too vile for description but of consummate ability. This man had long wished to visit Zimmay for purposes connected with alchemy.^ As far as Maung Htwe’s previous contacts with the Christian community were concerned, the missionaries in Rangoon considered him a repro­ bate. They were anything but pleased with the prospect of Maung Htwe accompanying the preachers on their trip. Justus Vinton considered the mission a failure even before it had begun. He wrote:

Hearing that this man joined them the Sub. Com. wrote at once ordering the party not to allow him to remain an hour in their company. These orders were disobeyed and the man was taken along.’ The Karen preachers saw the presence of Maung Htwe as a challenge, rather than a problem. They shared the same awareness of great Karen opportunities in the east, although their expectations and objectives may have differed. The Karen evangelists decided to “work on Maung Htwe” and before reaching Maulmein he was converted. He had thrown all his bones and charms and other parnaphelia comprising his stockin-trade into the sea”.®

In order to demonstrate his change of mind Maung Htwe wrote a letter to the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, care of Justus Vinton. He admitted that he was prepared to accept that the missionaries would question the sincerety of his conversion, considering this apostacies in the past. He made a promise, however, not to return until “by hosts of converts he shows... God’s seal of approval”.^

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Maung Htwe’s fear was well founded - he was certainly not taken se­ riously. The news of his conversion and his letter were received with a great sense of scepticism. In fact, Vinton’s report smells of cynism: He professed a marvellous conversion as he habitually does when he has an object to gain - compared himself to the apostle Paul and completely duped our credulous volunteers.*® The leadership of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention would con­ tinue to question the sincerity of their new convert and missionary collegue.

Hi. Into the muang nua After these, less than auspicious, beginnings the party crossed into Siam and passed through a large number of Karen villages, both Sgaw and Pwo, on their way to muang Chiang Mai. They arrived there in early February, 1881, and were received most cordially by the Presbyterian missionaries in Chiang Mai. McGilvary wrote an enthusiastic letter to the corresponding secretary of the Presbyterian Board:

The event of interest during this week has been the arrival here of four Karen preachers from the Baptist Mission in Burmah regularly appointed missionaries to the Karen in this and other Laos provinces to the east. They come with regular passports as British subjects under the protection of the British flag and with letters of introduction... giving them a reputa­ tion as picked, tried men in their own work before being entrusted with the work of a foreign missionary. They seem to be such reliable devout men.** The Presbyterian missionaries in Chiang Mai secured travel permits from the authorities for the Karen evangelists. The permit included a clause whidh clearly stated that the Karen villagers were allowed to ac­ cept Christianity without hindrance. The Presbyterian missionaries in­ terpreted this as a major concession from the chao muang.The course of events, however, would suggest differently.

As already noted in chapter III, early in his ministry in Chiang Mai McGilvary had made repeated efforts to reach the Karen with the Chris­ tian message. In 1868 he was the one to introduce smallpox vaccination 132

to the Karen villagers near Chiang Mai and during the 1870s revisited several of these villages.*^ The Karen received McGilvary cordially but his preaching in kham muang did not enlist any positive response from his hearers. He had to conceed that the language barrier was formida­ ble.

McGilvary took the party of Karen preachers to Ban Ta, a Karen village of some 50 houses, where he had found the most positive response to the Christian message in the course of his previous visits. This time, however, the reception was cool. The Karen preachers stayed at Ban Ta three days but found no interest at all for their particular mission. Their own explanation had been that a secret message was sent to the villagers by the chao muang that everyone who accepted- Christianity ’’would disappear”.’-* Their first encounter with Karen in the muang nua, thus, was a disappointment. They had to withdraw to McGilvary’s headquar­ ters in Chiang Mai.

Following a two-week stay in Chiang Mai the Karen preachers left for Lampang where they stayed for a few days with a Presbyterian convert. Then they proceeded northward to the Karen villages of Ban Thet, Ban Nok and Ban Ka, in muang Lampang. Ban Thet was the largest of these three with 42 houses and the combined population amounted to over 500 in these villages.

IV.

The first breakthrough ...

The Karen preachers were received gladly in their new virgin field and they held meetings in all three villages. In his history U Zan gives an exciting description of what took place:

It happened that while they were preaching about Jesus Christ and salva­ tion, a man stood up amongst the crowd and said, “I am the youngest among five brothers in our family. Our father worshipped the ’Eternal God’. He prayed four times to this ’Eternal God’. We did not really un­ derstand what he was praying about or to whom he was praying. Howe­ ver, when he died he told us this, “Sons, you will one day be brought a book from God. When this book does come, accept it at once. After the arrival of this book, God will come and rule the world.” And then, the man continued, “Last night, I had a dream. I dreamt that three preachers were bringing the word of God to us. I have been awaiting the arrival of 133

these three teachers the whole of today without seeing anyone. Yet, just before dark you arrived. This coincides with my dream and with what our father had told us before he died. This is enough reason to believe that this is indeed the true word of God”.’® The villagers evidently accepted this interpretation as a divine legitima­ tion of the preachers’ message and over 500 converted to Christianity. Though isolated from the larger Karen areas to the west, these Karen were nonetheless within the framework of the millenarian expectations that characterized the Karen in Burma, which were delt with in detail in chapter II:

They believed in God’s Son Jesus Christ and believed that if he did not save them from sin there was indeed no Saviour. They said they hadljeen led away by many deceivers and Maw Lay and had now cast them all aside and were convinced without any doubt that the message now brought them was indeed from God.” This account in the report of the evangelists is remarkable in several ways. The evangelists interpreted local religious developments in the muang nua in terms of their own encounters with millenarian expecta­ tions in Burma, more particularly in the Bassein area. Reference has been made earlier to the movement of Maw Lay and it is probable that due to the geographic position of Bassein, this was the form of Karen millenarianism that the evangelists were most familiar with.’® The in­ fluence of the movement of Maw Lay in western Siam and the muang nua is, due to lack of documentation, uncertain. It is probable that the Karen, in the muang nua referred to local forms of millenarian move­ ments they had encountered, perhaps the Telakhon sect or more likely -local millenarian movements among the Buddhist population of the muang nuaA^ The Karen evangelists from Burma, not yet being ac­ quainted with the local scene, interpreted then these references in terms of the movement of Maw Lay.

Furthermore, the report implies that the coming and the message of the Karen evangelists from Burma was seen by the Karen in the muang nua as a confirmation of expectations based on the Y'wa tradition - and that this was a more appropriate fulfillment than that of the millenarian mo­ vements, Maw Lay or otherwise, that they had encountered previously.

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As none of the three preachers were ordained, the new converts could not be baptized at once. But they could be introduced further into the mysteries of their Karen relatives from Burma. For the next two weeks, thus, there were daily worship services as well as literacy classes. Then the three preachers from Bassein decided to return to Burma. Ac­ cording to their own report they were so overjoyed by the response of the villagers that they were eager to return to bring their families for permanent settlement. Their extended Karen Christian identity had been affirmed and they wanted to prove it by moving to the muang nua. They made the villagers to understand that they were to be back after an absence of six months. Maung Htwe opted, according to his earlier promise, to remain and to care for the new converts.

Oral tradition has preserved insights into the life of this community un­ der the care of the former reprobate:

... Maung Htwe carried on his work of caring for the new converts as best as his lack of any training would permit. It was said that the services he conducted were just one long session of Bible reading. He just read verse after verse from chapter to chapter which ran into hours of back-breaking and sleepy duration. His flock told him to preach instead of going on the way he did. He said, “Look here folks, I don’t have the training and the qualification of those teachers. I wouldn’t know how to preach even if I had wanted to. I know how you feel, but let me tell you this, - I’m just like any one of you here. All I know is read a little, and that’s just what I’m trying to do, banking heavily on your simple faith. I want to hold you all together only through your faith and not through any skill of mine”.

V. ... and its aftermath Upon their arrival in Burma in April 1881 the three returning Karen preachers got a mixed reception. Their own people were delighted with the news of the establishment of a Christian community among the Ka­ ren in the muang nua. The missionaries, on the other hand, were upset by their quick return. Some were even outright furious. The Karen ar­ gued that their tour of exploration was completed and they returned only for the purpose of bringing their families for permanent settlement in the muang nua. The missionaries did not see it quite that way. Justus Vinton reports in a pontificating manner: 135

We had previously been much troubled by men who would volunteer en­ thusiastically for evangelistic work, spend a lot of money and then return without accomplishing anything. Hence we made these men sign a writ­ ten contract to stay at this work for several years unless driven home by sickness or persecution.^ The Karen pointed out that the entire nature of the mission had changed radically with the response of the villagers and called for a different stra­ tegy. They may not have been able to convey the full account in terms of fulfillment of the Y’wa tradition - or were simply not taken seriously.

Sources indicate that it was anything but a minor misunderstanding be­ tween the missionary establishment and the Karen evangelists. The two sides had entirely different frames of reference. Nowhere was this more clear than in the interpretation of Maung Htwe’s role in staying behind with the new converts. The Karen, primarily the three preachers, but also their own local churches and elders, were prepared to give Maung Htwe the benefit of doubt. They accepted, at least for the time being, the sincerety of his conversion. Leaving him behind with the new con­ verts was not ideal, but they trusted that it would work out. The missio­ naries, on the other hand, considered it a disaster. Justus Vinton voiced the concern of many, when he continued: Worst of all they left the reprobate... in charge of the new converts, truly a wolf shepherd in charge of Christs tender lambs. Shame fills me when I think that the devil’s man stuck to his post while Christs men flinched at the moment of victory.^ The atmosphere was thus poisoned by the time the Burma Baptist Mis­ sionary Convention held its 16th annual meeting at Bassein on Novem­ ber 3-6, 1881 to consider the matter. Missionary records suggested that there was a confrontation, but by and large the official documents play down its significance. Edwin Stevens summarized the sentiments in his report:

Their reception on their return was not at all flattering; for they found their brethren disposed to blame them for hastening back under such circumstances.^^ The seriousness of the confrontation is made much more articulate in the Karen account of the meeting. U Zan has this to say in his account:

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these three teachers ... were confronted by the Missionary Convention and told off Jhat they had spent more than was absolutely necessary and were told to refund a hundred apd fifty rupees. The poor teachers were stuck and of course, feelings ran high to the extent where a certain elder Thra Dah Bu took out 75 rupees of his own money and quietly made it over to the missionaries. The situation was such that it was no more pos­ sible for the three teachers to go back to their place of work. Hurt feelings were not confined only to these teachers. The Bassein Home Mission did feel that the whole thing was wrong. If it was thought that unnecessary expenses had been incurred, other steps should have been taken instead of calling for a refund from these teachers. However, there was no ques­ tion of over-expenditure because the teachers had to hije guides from one area to another and the very nature of the journey was beyond the con­ ception of the missionaries. Nevertheless, in the missionary convention, the missionaries outnumber the nationals and so their majority earned the decision.^ This clearly is an interpretation from the underside of history. But U Zan does not raise the question in how far the issue over Maung Htwe affected the wider issue of Karen identity and whether it affirmed the Karen sense of being orphans.

3. Assessments of the First Breakthrough The establishment of the first Christian community among the Karen in the muang nua gave rise to very different reactions among the principal agents in the process. It is worthwhile to pose for a moment and consider these reactions, inasmuch as they were determinative of the subsequent course of events.

i. By American Baptist missionaries in Burma The missionaries in Burma and the Burma Baptist Missionary Conven­ tion, where the missionaries occupied positions of authority, considered the breakthrough in the muang nua as the extention of their own work among the Karen generally. Throughout the 1870s, as illustrated in chapter III, the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention had to face an acute shortage of funds and personnel. The work among the Karen lost its momentum of the previous decades as the center of activities moved

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into Upper Burma to new ethnic groups, Shan, Kachin etc. The missio­ naries were looking for new sources of inspiration and renewal. As again Justus Vinton suggests: Hungry for souls - starving as we have been for years (for what are the paltry hundreds we are yearly baptizing)... ... we may be on the point of meeting the Lord of Hosts, armed for battle and about to win a glorious victory. This may be God’s token of a brighter day than even Burmah has yet seen 26

Such sentiments, of course, help to explain the frustration of the Ameri­ can Baptist missionaries, when they had to face the returning evangelists from the muang nua. This perspective also very much influenced the way the missionaries in Burma wanted to develop the work among the Karen in the muang nua.

a. By the American Baptist Missionary Union The attitude of the Board in the United States was quite different. It had to meet formal obligations in Burma and the thought of adding an entirely new field to the mission at a time of acute shortage of funds and personnel did not seem to be particularly attractive. Furthermore, the recent ejq^eriences of the Maritime Baptists of Canada in the muang nua was not forgotten. The reports of the missionaries were acknowledged, but they received no encouragement to pursue the matter any further. In fact the Board in the United States reinforced the Baptist involve­ ment in China.

Hi. By the American Presbyterian missionaries in Chiang Mai The arrival of the Karen preachers presented the Presbyterian missiona­ ries in Chiang Mai with a challenge - and a dilemma. On the one hand, as already noted, McGilvary was genuinely pleased to direct the four Karen preachers to the Karen villages he had visited earlier as he felt that he was not able to overcome the language barrier. On the other hand, he considered the possible consequences of the es­

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tablishment of a Baptist community among the Karen for the Presbyte­ rian operations in the tnuang nua. He was convinced that “the Baptists are not the people to sit down and not work among any people among whom they may be cast”?’ There was, instead the possibility that the Karen would extend their work also to the khon tnuang. However, McGilvary was generous to concede that there was room for others as well: We can’t be like the dog in the manger and keep away these from doing a lot the church does not enable us to do. The wide Laos field is open from the Salween to beyond the Cambodia over to the borders of China. But it is open to others as well as to us ...“

iv. By the Karen Christians in Burma Unfortunately, the available sources give only a partial indication how the Karen Christians in Burma percieved the significance of the estab­ lishment of a Christian community in the tnuang nua. The preachers reported that according to all available information there were large Karen settlements east of the Salween and all the way to the China border. Although they did not explicitly elaborate on the idea of the Karen king, they affirmed as regards the number of Karen in the tnuang nua:

We think there are more Karens in Siam than in British territory and more even than there are Burmans.’’

They did indeed .voice considerable enthusiasm concerning the estab­ lishment of a Christian community among the Karen in tnuang Lampang. This was the bringing of Christianity to "Karen heartland”. There was, of course, an implicit motif here that was made explicit by no less than Chapin Carpenter. His previous involvement in earlier at­ tempts to establish a Christian community among the Karen along the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai, was followed by a deep interest in the mis­ sionary outreach among the Karen in the tnuang nua. He was also the one among the missionaries in Burma, who most clearly cared for the Karen visions and dreams about related Karen groups in the east. In

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reviewing de Carnes book Travels in Indo-China and the Chinese Em­ pire in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, after finding that there were tribes with striking similarity to the Karen elsewhere in Southeast Asia, he added in a marginal note: “In British Burmah, we have often heard rumours of an independent Karen king, far to the eastward of Zimmay”?^ Carpenter was, indeed, thrilled with the prospects of the Karen evangel­ ists. He wrote a long letter to McGilvary in order to gain more informa­ tion about the Ban Nok area. In that letter he described the difference of frames of reference that existed between the Karen evangelists and the American Baptist missionaries in Burma:

Were it not that we have peculiar advantages for prosecuting the Karen work, I am sure that we would not think of approaching so near to a field that you have won for your own at the greatest cost. The simple fact is that our Karens are “crazy” to get back to their old ancestral home. Their traditions all point in that direction. They hope to find their country, the country of the “Karen king”. I believe that he is either a mythical charac­ ter, or a petty chief of no account, but the Karens will not look at it in that light.

As already noted, this was the raison d’etre of the conscious eastward movement of the Karen, and it was recognized by Carpenter, the sole exception among the missionaries in Burma in this respect. Carpenter went on to suggest that “if their patriotic ardor only leads to the more extensive and successful preaching of the gospel, let us rejoice” How­ ever, he did not carry the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention with him.

V. An additional issue: Who were the proper missionary agents?

The early breakthrough in muang Lampang and its dramatic aftermath reinforced an issue, which emerged since the formation of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention and would prove very fateful after 1880.

References have been made earlier to the fact that in spite of the re­ markable success of Karen preachers and evangelists to establish and develop Christian communities in pioneer situations entirely without 140

missionary assistance, e.g. the work in Bassein, Quala in Toungoo, de­ velopments since the mid-1860s, particularly as regards ventures in wes­ tern Siam, were - mistakenly, as has been shown above - interpreted as evidence of Karen inadequacy. What was an assumption in the 1860s, i.e. ... “repeated trial has as yet failed to show that really valuable and permanent results are likely to follow from sending native laborers into foreign territory unattended by the missionary...became something of an uncontested truth by the 1880s.

The return of the three preachers from muang Lampang and the ensuing confrontation only fuelled this misconception. Justus Vinton represen­ ted in all probability the majority view. He affirmed: The disgraceful retreat of these men only confirms what I have often said of native preachers. They are brave when bravely lead but we must re­ member that they are to be used as the English govt, uses sepoys - under white officers. 49 good Karen preachers led by a wide awake aggressive missionary are worth more than 50 missionaries ... but 50 native preachers alone would do little without guidance.^’ It is undeniable that foreign missionary presence in certain instances could have certain advantages, but that was not necessarily always the case. In the issue of The Morning Star for February 1900 there is an inte­ resting report that suggests, that in the tense political situation in the muang nua at that time, the Karen Christians did not necessarily always look upon association with American missionaries as an asset. Though the incident reported is of fairly late date, it illustrates clearly the diffi­ culties encountered. Kyai Mya, a Karen evangelist in the Ban Nok area gave the following account:

A Siamese village headman of Ler-moo area, residing at San-Lwa village, whose name was Tauk-Lar, objected to our staying in the above said vil. lage and gave instructions to the Karens in the village not to hire or sell their houses to us. The threat they gave us was that we were valuable persons with all our contacts with white people and if some robbers should have killed or robbed us, it would be their full responsibility to find and catch the culprit to bring to court. This would be a very heavy burden for them. So he said that noone should let us stay there at all.“

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Whatever might have been the case, the misconception of Karen inade­ quacy led to a tragic paradox?’ The American missionaries in Burma were earnestly seeking the establishment of a Christian community among the Karen in Siam and the muang nua, yet their very attitude made the fulfillment of these expectations less likely and more difficult.

To put it another way notwithstanding missionary hopes for an eastward expansion, the attitude of the American Baptist Missionary Union and the acute shortage of funds and personnel in Burma, made it obvious that American missionary participation in establishing and developing a Christian community among the Karen in Siam and the muang nua was likely to be limited to, what the Karen called, “only show his face”'*®. This in fact turned out to be the case. Anything else were unrealistic expectations. Furthermore, even if circumstances would have allowed American missionary presence among the Karen in the muang nua there is no reason to presuppose that they would have succeeded. As will be convincingly proved in the following, the events of the mid-1880s indi­ cate otherwise. This controversy over the proper missionary agents highlighted that the only people who could carry out the missionary task in the muang nua were the Karen preachers and evangelists sent by the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention or by their respective local churches or associa­ tions. Yet the work of these people, their enthusiasm, motivation and authority were undermined by the missionary misconception of Karen inadequacy. This affected Karen identity in Burma as well as in the muang nua. It is to that sad story I now have to turn.

3. Reinforcements and Continued Strife In many ways the confrontation of 1881 foreshadowed the course of events in the following decades. The development and eventuatdecline of the young Christian community in muang Lampang has been uni­ quely documented through letters, notices and'fragmented records pub­ lished in The Morning Star.^^ This material has not been explored in greater depth by U Zan.

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i. Alternative strategies Although there was a serious breakdown of communication at the 16th annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, what was reported of the actual breakthrough in muang Lampang proved to be quite challenging to the American missionaries as well. The Convention decided to commission Walter Bushell and David Webster to follow-up the openings in muang Lampang. The three Karen preachers, too, were offered an opportunity to return. After their public humiliation, however, they changed their mind and did not fulfill their previous plans.*^ Their stand was supported by many church leaders from Bassein. They felt that “their being blamed by the Com. for violation of their agreement was a sort of persecution”.^^ In fact the Bassein churches withdrew from the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention for this very reason.** At first they were planning to send the three preachers back to muang Lampang. However, as the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention already designated an expedition, the plans were altered and the three were sent up the Salween to the Mae Sariang area."*^

Bushell and Webster in the company of six Karen preachers - Shwe Too, Pah Nah, San Oo, all three from the Henzada churches, Nya Oo, Shwe Yah, both from the Rangoon churches, and Mya Hmway, a Bassein Pwo Karen - left for the muang nua in early December 1881 Much slowed down by illness they arrived in Chiang Mai on January 10,1882. Upon reaching the Karen villages in muang Lampang they found that the Christian community had survived under the enduring care of Maune Htwe. The visiting party baptized 29 Karen at Ban Ka and 46 at Ban Nok. At Ban Thet, the largest village, nobody received baptism on account of “the threats of the Shan officers”.**’ The exact nature of the “threat” cannot be established from available sources, but in light of the increa­ sing anti-Siamese feelings in the area, officials were obviously weary of anybody or anything disturbing the fragile status quo. Leaving Shwe Too behind to labour with Maung Htwe, the party returned to Burma, reaching Rangoon on March 10,1882.

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The encounter with the emerging Christian community among the Ka­ ren in the muang nua - and not least the encounter with the persevering Maung Htwe - proved to be a real challenge. The report of the returning team was a consolation to the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention. There was stirred up a new interest in the support of Maung Htwe’s mis­ sion.

ii. Reinforcements of Maung Htwe’s mission Sometimes during the first half of 1882 Tha Paw, a preacher from Tavoy, thus, went to Ban Nok to help Maung Htwe. Shwe Too, however, was forced to return to Burma roughly at the same time on account of bad health. Before leaving he baptized an additional 29 people, bringing the total in mid-1882 to 104. Five young men, four Karen and a Lao, accom­ panied Shwe Too to Rangoon to attend schools and seminary there.**® The missionaries in Burma, in the meantime, were trying to find ways and means to gain a new foothold in or near the muang nua. As the American Baptist Missionary Union was simply not prepared to support a large scale venture into the muang nua, Papun and the area around the Salween - as a stepping stone into the muang nua - were considered. Papun was of special interest as the Chief Commissioner of Burma indi­ cated that the government of British Burma was prepared to pay part of the expenses for establishing a mission school there.

While the missionaries considered the Papun plans, the Karen in Burma sent another party of preachers and evangelists to muang Lampang. The small Christian community there faced both famine and persecution. Those families in Ban Thet that wanted to become Christians had to leave their village and founded a new village and the Mae Kwa church. In Februari 1883 the number of baptized members in the three churches was 159. The entire community faced serious food shortage and the Ka­ ren churches in Burma called for collection for famine relief.^’ The conditions must have been utterly difficult as a long line of Karen preachers and evangelists went to muang Lampang but were forced to leave due to bad health within a year or so. The sole exception was Maung Htwe who stayed and provided the continuity in the work. 144

Hi. A Swedish connection As Maung Htwe was supported by funds from the Burma Baptist Mis­ sionary Convention, it is of interest to note an early Swedish connection with the evangelistic outreach to the muang nua. In the annual reports of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, the treasurer’s report started to refer to “The Swedish Fund” in the early 1880s.” A partial explanation was given in The Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention in 1890. There the treasurer wrote: This fund is first mentioned in the Treasurer’s report for the year 18812, at the 17th Annual Meeting held in Rangoon Nov. 1882. It is mentio­ ned as having been loaned, or at least Rs. 1000 of it for four months, from July 1, 1881. Its value July 1, 81 was Rs. 1,291 14,4. Four months later Rs. 1,331 14,4, from which Rs. 398 had been appropriated leaving Rs. 933 14,4. The following year, the fund had been augmented by an additio­ nal sum from Sweden, of 867 12 1. The report for 1882-3 showed a ba­ lance of 1,150 7 11. The following year, Rs. 340 2 6 were received from Sweden and 550 expended leaving a balance of 1,012 10 5. Nothing seems to have been received from Sweden since 1883-4, and at the last Annual Meeting in Rangoon, Nov. 1888 the fund amounted to only 182 12 8. At this rate, it will soon disappear from the Treasurer’s Annual Reports. This fund, or series of donations from Sweden, were the result of interest awakened in the evangelizing of Burma by the visit, on his return from the United States to Burma, of Maung Edwin. The money was given with the understanding that it should be used for evangelistic work among the Karens. Appropriations from the fund have been made for work among the Pghos in the Bassein district, under the care of Maung Edwin, for Padaungs of Toungoo, care of Dr. Bunker, for Karens of Tavoy, care of Mr. Morrow, and for the support for several years of Moung Tway, in his work among the Karens of Northern Siam.^^ These detailed references to early involvement of Swedish Baptists in missionary outreach in the muang nua deserve certain comments. As far as missionary involvement in Africa and Asia is concerned, the emer­ ging Baptist Union of Sweden from the 1850s closely co-operated with its more powerful and enterprising sisterorganization in the United Sta­ tes, the American Baptist Missionary Union.

Surprisingly early, Swedish Baptists were introduced to Karen develop­ ments. From December 1880 to January 1881 Maung Edwin, a Burman Baptist who persued his studies in the United States, visited Sweden and 145

broadened the perspectives of his Swedish fellows in the faith. The lead­ ing Baptist in Sweden at that time, Colonel Broady, had met Maung Edwin in London in connection with the International Sunday School centennial previously that year and had invited him to Sweden.^ At that time a previous missionary involvement in China - qualified not least by the visit of Karl Giitzlaff to Sweden in 1850 - had dwindled and the attention of Swedish non-conformists, including Swedish Baptists, had been turned to the Congo.’^ But Maung Edwin’s visit to Sweden certainly made its impact. The gist of what he had to convey was summa­ rized in Swedish translation in the booklet Fyrafdredrag om Burma och tre predikningar h&llna i Betelkapellet i 6rebro av burmanen och karen-

missiondren Maung Edwin. There emerged - not least among women who previously had supported Giitzlaff’s Chinese Association - a new commitment to Karen develop­ ments. In the mid-1880s, however, Erik Folke renewed a Swedish Evangelical missionary involvement in China and many felt called to re­ sume their previous loyalties. Thus from December 1880 until 1885, when contributions to “The Swedish Fund” diminished according to the report of the treasurer of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention, Swedish Baptists - and not least members of the Svenska Fruntimmersforeningen for Evangelii Utbredande i Burma in co-operation with Stockholms Missionsforening - were explicitly committed to the support of the Karen missions.

Relation Maung Edwin became somewhat strained when the latter, upon his return to Burma, opted for a secular career as a lawyer. How­ ever, the Swedish missionary support proved to get an even more signifi­ cant target. Most of Maung Htwe’s salary during the early parts of the 1880s came in fact from that fund donated by the Swedish Baptists, who had responded faithfully to Maung Edwin’s call.^’

iv. A new missionary base in the muang nua By 1883, thus, the strategy of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention vis-^-vis the muang nua centered around Papun. After much delibera­ tion and fight the Papun station was approved and David Webster mo146

ved there with his family in mid-1883. He did not stay long, however. In January 1884 he decided to leave and move to Chiang Mai. He did so without prior approval from the American Baptist Missionary. Union.^s Settling in Chiang Mai Webster saw himself being placed'‘‘between two fields”. r The controversy concerning the status of the Papun station continued as a number of missionaries, above all Edwin A. Stevens, strongly advoca­ ted the primacy of that field. Webster was not formally transferred to Chiang Mai until January 1885 - almost a year after he moved.there.®’ He made extensive trips to the Karen villages in muang Lampang, muang Phrae and elsewhere, but by and large his work among the Karen fell into the category of what Karen evangelists called “only-to show his face”On Webster’s part it w^s in fact a conscious effort to do just that. His letters indicated that working out of Chiang Mai, he saw himself as the leader of a group of Karen preachers.^

Although he obviously planned to spend extended .periods in Karen vil­ lages, he was not able to realize his objectives. The petmanency of his stationing in Chiang Mai was surrounded by constant uncertainties. The American Baptist Missionary Union reversed its decision several times approval in 1883 was followed by dissapproval in 1884, appointment in 1885, was called into question in 1886, following protests from missio­ nary collegues in Burma. Webster’s work was thus undermined from the outset. When his wife’s illness called for removal to Burma, in 1886, and then to the USA, the short chapter of an immediate American-Baptist missionary presence in the muang nua. in the late 19th century came to an end.

4. Local Church Developments in the muang nua i. The rise of the Zimmay Karen Association Although Webster’s mission was terminated, developments in muang Lampang under the enduring leadership of Maung Htwe were persued. Sometimes around 1887 the churches in the Ban Nok area in fact formed the Zimmay Karen Association.®’ In a manner similar to the KarenBap147

u

tist practice in Burma, the association was the forum where issues of mutual interest could be discussed and decided on. Theoretically, accor­ ding to Baptist ecclesiology (which in this context coincided with tradi­ tional Karen village structures) each congregation was independent and subject to none in matters of doctrine. In practice, however, the congre­ gations respected the decisions of the association, where all member congregations were represented proportionally. The annual meeting of the association was the highlight of the Karen Christian calendar and did in fact represent a new and modernizing element of organization above the traditional village level. Several of the Karen pastors and evangelists from Burma, who visited muang Lampang between 1883 and 1886 encouraged the young Chris­ tians there to go to Burma to get theological training and then return as evangelists. In 1885 there were five students from the muang nua atten­ ding the Karen Theological Seminary in Rangoon, four of these were Karen and the fifth was a “Laos Shan familiar with the Karen language”.®*

The first of these students to return was Kye Kaw. He teamed up with Myat San, a new evangelist sent by the Bassein churches, Soe Bu, sent by the Rangoon churches, and Maung Htwe and the four made exten­ sive evangelistic trips during 1887, 1888 and 1889 among the Karen in the muang nua. They covered practically every major “Karen area” be­ tween the Salween and the Mekong. Their reports, published in The Morning Star, give interesting insights into the conditions of the Karen in different parts of the muang nua.^

a. Issues in local evangelism In and around villages where the first two churches were established in muang Lampang there was widespread starvation. Large groups had to flee to the jungle and live on herbs and roots. Beri-beri took the lives of many. When rains finally came, the result was flooding everywhere and once again a poor harvest and extended famine. In spite of the assis­ tance given to the churches by the Christians in Burma, the blow was severe. Periodically the churches were depopulated and many died. In

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1887, a school, which just started functioning in Mae Kwa, had to be closed down due to famine?® In the mountains west of Chiang Mai the evangelists were well received, but the distance to the Christian community in muang Lampang was too long to permit anything but superficial contact with these areas. Nonet­ heless, even these occasional visits led to scattered conversions. The* first baptism there was performed in Bo Kaeo in 1887. Even at Mu Se Khi and in Mae Sariang there were several enquirers, but none were baptized.®’

The evangelists visited also several Karen villages north/northeast of Chiang Mai and south of Lampang. In all of these villages the Karen were surrounded by khon muang. Their response to the Christian mes­ sage was a cautious one as reflected in The Morning Star in 1887;

Since we are now among the Thai people we will have to see as to what they would say. If they accept your religion we would do so.®® In interacting with their neighbours the new Christians in muang Lam­ pang showed no tendency of isolationism, quite the contrary was true. At the annual meeting of 1888 there was a sizeable group of khon muang attending the sessions and, although not explicitly stated, it is implied that at least parts of the meeting were translated into kham muang. Bi­ lingualism was encouraged and the first school which was established in Mae Kwa was to teach the children to read and write Karen and kham muang.^'^

A much more sensitive issue was the appropriate attitude towards the changing political situation in the muang nua. The Karen as well as their neighbours were very much aware of the increasing Siamese presence in their area. During an evangelistic trip Maung Htwe encountered groups of Siamese soldiers and reported that the khon muang as well as the Ka­ ren were afraid “that there might be war”.™ The entire issue was also brought up during the annual meeting of 1888, the same meeting when Karen Baptists and a large group of khon muang attended and it was unanimously agreed that “Christians should submit themselves to the Emperor”.’^

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tii. Ecumenical problems Two major theological decisions, with long-term consequences, were also made during this period. Both of these decisions clearly indicate the theological influence of the Karen Baptist churches in Burma on the emerging Karen Christian community in the muang nua. The first of these had only limited practical significance. The annual meeting in 1888 decided “that Baptists should not allow Presbyterians to take Holy Communion with them”.’^ Differences in the doctrine of baptism were quoted as the reason for the decision. This, however, did not mean that contacts between these two groups were cut off; in fact the contrary was the case. The decision, nonetheless, marked a distance between these two groups of Christians in the muang nua and did so exactly at a time when the Karen Christians were very much in need of an ally nearby.’^

The second decision was far more significant. The annual meeting of 1889 debated whether unordained ministers should perform baptism and give Holy Communion and decided that the answer was - no J* The decision was made obviously with at least partial awareness of the conse­ quences as the annual report read at the same meeting stated that during the past year ho baptism could be performed, in spite of a long line of candidates, nor was the Holy Communion celebrated because of the lack of ordained ministers.’^ Evidently, the Karen Christians of the muang nua were hopeful that the lack of ordained ministers would be overcome and in the meantime Karen ministers and missionaries from Burma would help out. This was, however, as will be shown below, a grave miscalculation and the results of this decision were truly disastrous.’^

A temporary relief came in the form of a brief visit of an American mis­ sionary. J. Bulkey of Moulmein made a three-month visit to the muang nua in 1889. As Bulkey’s correspondence for this period is missing in the archives and as no written report has been published of the visit in Karen in The Morning Star, the sole source of reference is the report of the Moulmein station for 1889:

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A three months’ trip into Northern Siam (Laos States) convinced me that the Karens are much more numerous than I had ever supposed. They ex­ tend far into Siam... During the three months’ trip, I visited, with three Karen preachers, the two Karen churches east of Zimmai (Chiengmai). During our stay with them twenty were baptized, making the membership one hundr^ and eighty. Each church has a school. The children answer the Bible ques­ tions almost as well as children of the same age in America.^

Experience has shown that only few of the pastors and evangelists from Burma were able to adjust to the extremely difficult circumstances in muang Lampang. Thus it was decided to obtain ordination for the most experienced evangelist, Myat San, to whom reference has been made earlier, thereby filling the vacuum until a suitable local evangelist, most appropriately Kye Kaw, could be ordained.’®

iv. A series of severe blows Myat San returned to Bassein in early 1890 and was accompanied by two young Karen from the muang nua who entered the Karen Theological Seminary in Rangoon. Soon after arrival in Bassein Myat San got mar­ ried and decided to return immediately to muang Lampang with his wife. Before leaving Burma, he was ordained in Moulmein on April 26, 1890.”

The party that left Moulmein in May 1890 included Myat San, his wife, a Karen woman destined for service in the muang nua and a student from muang Lampang returning home after having completed theologi­ cal studies in Rangoon. This was the reinforcement required to meet the most urgent needs until local leaders were trained. When the arrival of this party was not confirmed, Bulkey sent two search parties from Moulmein to investigate. The route of Myat San and his team was followed to the Siamese border and some distance beyond it. Then all traces were lost.®®

The Mae Kwa church, in the meantime had built a house for Myat San who was to become their minister. They had also set aside some paddy for him too. When month after month have passed and the party did not arrive, hope and optimism had turned into sorrow at Mae Kwa. A

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desperate letter was sent by the church to Rangoon to enquire into the fate of Myat San and his party.®’ The Karen Christians and the missionaries in Burma, fearing that the members of the party had been murdered, turned the issue over to the British authorities, who in their turn approached the Siamese Minister for Foreign Affairs. In due course some light was shed on the tragic fate of the Karen Christians - all had been murdered by the carriers they hired at the Siamese border. The Precis of Judgment gives a condensed summary of what had transpired:

•

Two Karens, two women, and one Laosian set out from Me Sok to Hnay Me Paw and employed, as carriers of their baggage, Noi Pu, Noi Ihn, Noi Malawan, Noi Simun. Na Galey instigated these carriers to murder the five travallers, and gave them each 15 Rupees and a sword. Before the murders were committed Noi Malawun fell sick and his place was ta­ ken by Noi Pu Man. The party arrived at a deserted valley near Banglam Yohand. At mid­ night when they were all asleep, Noi Pu Man cut the throat of one Karen and wounded him in the side and killed him. Noi Thn cut the throat of the second Karen and killed him. Noi Pu cut the throat of the Laosian and killed him. Noi Malawun killed the two women. The bodies were thrown away on the shore of the lake there. The carriers took 120 Rupees ■ from the victims and divided it amongst them. A ruby which was also found was given to Na Galey. The rest of the effects were destroyed by fire. Judgment. Ordered that the instigator Na Galey and the four murderers, Noi Pu, Noi Tun, Noi Malawan, and Noi Pu Man pay for the cremation of the bodies according to their age and be imprisoned for life.®^

It seems likely to suggest that Na Galey, who is alluded to in this account as well as in the report of the local Karen as the instigator of the fateful deed, was “a wealthy Buddhist, who wished to prevent the spread of the Christian religion in his country”.®’

About at the same time when news of the fate of Myat San reached muang Lampang, another tragedy occurred. Kye Kaw was taken ill and died soon afterwards in early 1891. He was one of the first young Karen who studied in Rangoon and returned to serve his people in Ban Nok. He would have been the first Karen from muang Lampang to be ordained.®*

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To make matters worse, Maung Htwe, who had faithfully served the Christian community from the very beginning and thus provided conti­ nuity in the ministry, was forced to leave muang Lampang and move to Chiang Mai due to bad health.

With the departure of Maung Htwe the Christian community in muang Lampang was left without a pastor or an evangelist. After almost a de­ cade of struggle, when finally a more permanent breakthrough seemed to be at hand, the momentum was lost. Although the Christian commu­ nity survived and in fact had shorter periods of blooming, a long-term decline set in with these events - a decline which was not broken until the 1950s.

5. The Unavoidable Decline

i. A time of testing Faced with emerging problems, .the Zimmay Karen Association, how­ ever, did not give in. Almost immediately after the death of Kye Kaw a new set of students were sent to Rangoon to join the Karen Theological Seminary there. In 1892 there were three enrolled, in 1893 founds In December 1893, Walter Bushell and William Calder, two missiona­ ries to the Karen in Burma, went to the muang nua, accompanied by some Karen evangelists. They left Moulmein on December 6,1893. Pas­ sing through Chiang Mai in January 1894, they were joined by Maung Htwe, whose health had improved. The party visited both Ban Nok and Mae Kwa and found the churches there in good order. There was a con­ siderable backlog of candidates awaiting baptism, many having been waiting for several years - and many more having dropped out in the meantime. After examination, 26 were baptized at Ban Nok and 21 at Mae Kwa.®^

Returning to Burma the missionaries carried a renewed request from the churches in muang Lampang for a missionary to be stationed there. In reporting to the American Baptist Missionary Union the missionaries emphasized the request:

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Without any suggestion on tlje part of Mr. Bushell or myself the people at their association unanimously voted to send you a petition for help... There is no question in our minds as to sending a missionary ~ the ques­ tion is who.®’

iL Missionary diplomacy and local self-reliance Just to emphasize the need was, however, not enough. The American Baptist Missionary Union was once again in a strained financial position and was not at all eager to get involved in the new field. Being aware of this, the missionaries emphasized the ties to Burma:

I fear at home the idea is common that this is new work. It is enlarging the Karen work and as such it belongs to us. We can use Karen missiona­ ries, books and native helpers for Karens... I believe you at home want to help and I see how your hands are tied by the present financial condition at home, but are you not justified in believing the Lord will help you send someone to answer the call of these churches?®® The American Baptist Missionary Union, however, had more urgent, and what was claimed more promising obligations elsewhere - in China. Being aware of the strategic location of the muang nua Walter Busheli was eager to point out these potentials too:

I do not know of a field anywhere that looks to me more promising of an . immediate return for labor than that [i. e. the Karen in the muang nua], and I would personally be willing to undertake the work if there were no one else to do so. It is not a new work, it is but an extension of the Karen field in Burma, arid, were there a missionary in charge, would, I am sure, be helped largely by our Karen churches here. It would also be a step eastward, and by occupying this ground now inviting us we should be ta­ king a step forward in capturing China for Christ.®’ The call went unanswered and the churches in muang Lampang had to depend even more on their own resources. From the very beginning there was a move to encourage self-reliance and even during the years of famine every effort was made to make, at least a symbolic contribu­ tion to the.church. By 1892, i.e. within 10 years, the churches in muang Lampang were basically self-reliant. They were not only able to cover the running expenses of the church and the school, but also the expenses

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of the evangelistic outreach to other Karen areas. The contributions made under 1892 were like this:

Ban Nok:

Mae Kwa:

for teachers for the poor for the mission for the evangelist for the poor

16 40 85 20 20

baskets of paddy baskets of paddy baskets of paddy baskets of paddy baskets of paddy.

The term “for the poor” was referring to those outside of the Christian community - Karen as well as khon muang.

In fact the commitment of the churches went far beyond their own circle. From the early 1890s onward regular annual contributions were made to support the work of the Karen Theological Seminary in Ran­ goon. The amount collected in 1894 was 8 Rupees.Two new graduates of this Seminary returned to muang Lampang, Saw Smooth in 1895 and Saw Moshay in 1896. They were, however, too inexperienced to fill the vacuum.

Hi. Emerging political pressures and new ventures in Mae Sariang The political situation in'certain areas of the muang nua was deteriora­ ting towards the end of the century. The increasing presence of the Bangkok administration was beginning to be felt even in the outlying areas and resentment was building up. The Christian community was frightened and this fear was also expressed in the records of the annual meeting in 1896. A number of issues were brought up for consideration, but only one was was acted on, namely: Is it good to consult about politics during the church service? The answer was ’no’. It was agreed unanimously.^^ In late 1896 and early 1897 A. Seagrave and William Calder visited muang Lampang. Beside the churches at Ban Nok and Mae Kwa, a third small church had been founded. On January 3, 1897 the missionaries baptized 20 new converts and ordained to the ministry a local Karen, Ler Say, who had been trained in Burma.

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With this visit periodical missionary assistance was discontinued, at least for the next 15 years and the focus of attention was turned from muang Lampang to the Karen areas nearest to the Burma border, i.e. Mae Sariang and Mae Sot.’'* Already the very next annual meeting of the Ran­ goon Karen churches approved 600 Rupees for evangelistic purposes among the Karen in the Mae Sariang area as an extension of the work going on on the Burmese side of the border in Papun. Two evangelists were sent immediately to that area. One of them died a little more than a year later and was replaced by two new workers, but even one of these died after three months of cholera.’^

The work in the Mae Sariang area was, thus, supervised directly from Rangoon by way of Papun, but the first conversion came about with the assistance of an evangelist from Mae Kwa, Noi Pun Yah. The records reveal only that he was a “Karen speaking Lao”. It is perfectly possible that he was identical with the “Laos Shan, familiar with the Karen lang­ uage”, who studied at the Karen Theological Seminary in Rangoon in 1885, mentioned above.’® While itinerating in the mountain villages west of Chiang Mai he converted a young man from the Mae Sariang area. They both returned to Mae Kwa where the young Karen was bap­ tized 1899.

It took an additional 10 years before the next convert was won in the Mae Sariang area. In early 1910 a wealthy elephant owner, Kwa-cher, became a Christian and was baptized.” From then on the work grew slowly over the years, the number of Christians reaching about 50 by 1922. That year the churches in the Papun and Mae Sariang area were formally attached to the Rangoon Association of Karen Baptists and re­ mained there until the Japanese occupation.’®

In the Mae Sot area, in Tak province - i.e. south of the muang nua, the first baptisms took place in 1914 as a result of the ministry of Aung Gain.” The history of the Christian community there, however, both geographically and chronologically falls outside the framework of this dissertation. In the meantime the churches in muang Lampang got into trouble with the authorities. The only remaining record is a terse notice in The Thir­ ty-ninth Annual Report of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention:

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Our Missionary friends of the Presbyterian mission write us that the Ka­ rens had a great deal of trouble with the Government, and would have suffered great injustice from false charges made against them, had not the missionaries brought a knowledge of the truth in the matters to the higher officials, and secured justice for them?’’® It is reasonable to assume that the Karen Christians must have got into trouble with the government in the aftermath of the Shan rebellion in PhraeJW The geographic proximity to Phrae and the Christian commu­ nity s contacts with Burma support this assumption. As already noted, the Siamese authorities were very much aware of the potential risks these Karen presented to the delicate British-Siamese diplomatic rela­ tions and this awareness only increased in the aftermath of the murder of Myat San and his collegues?°2

The Presbyterian missionaries in the muang nua were the ones nearest to whom the Karen could turn for assistance. K. Fleeson attended the annual meeting of 1904 as a representative of the Presbyterian missionaries.The following year Roderick Gillies was accompanied by a groups of Presbyterian leaders and elders and they were given a prominent role in the proceedings, which were fully bilingual The contorts were strengthened also by Karen participation in the First Christian Convention held at Lampang February 16-19,1905.’°^

iv. Conclusion By the early 1900s Maung Htwe was aged, his health had deteriorated and he was practically blind. In 1906. after having served the Christian community in the muang nua for 25 consecutive years, he returned to his native village of Panathee, near Bassein. where he died soon afterwards. The same year also the pastor of Ban Nok church resig­ ned, leaving the Christian community in the muang nua once again with­ out pastors and evangelists. Not until 1909 was a replacement found.

The presence of Maung Htwe in the muang nua provided continuity in the midst of abrupt changes and "comings and goings” in local church developments. With his departure an era came to an end in the church history of the muang nua. 157

Although the development I have traced in this chapter cannot be classi­ fied as a success story, it is nevertheless quite important both in Karen church history and in the on-going scholarly discussion about the explicit Karen identity in Burma and Thailand. The captivating concept of the Karen king in the east provided a powerful missionary motivation to the Christian Karen in Burma also after 1880. In the muang nua their Chris­ tian testimony evidently was interpreted in terms of the Y’wa tradition and seen as a more appropriate fulfillment of the promises which that tradition contained, compared to local forms of millenarian movements. In the course of this dramatic story Maung Htwe stands forth as the faithful apostle of the Karen in the muang nua.

Notes to CHAPTER IV ‘ Chapin Carpenter to Daniel McGilvary, Newton Centre, Mass, November 28, 1881, microfilm, BFM, reel nr. 183*, document nr. 112. The relevant parts of this letter are quo­ ted in extentio in this chapter. 2 This following section is based on correspondence from individual missionaries in Burma to the Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union. ’Justus Vinton to the'Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, [1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. Such contributions from the Chief Commissioner of Burma for the purpose of evan­ gelism were not uncommon during this period. This token of participation was interpreted as most significant by the missionaries as well as the Karen. U Zan, in his account, gave special prominence to this occurrance, cf. op. cit., p. 3. What significance the Chief Com­ missioner, Charles Bernard himself ascribed to this gift is difficult to ascertain, but at any rate there is no mention of it in his personal papers and correspondance during the period in question, which I have consulted at the India Office Library and Records collection in London, MSS Eur D 912, Bernard Collection, 1880-1885: Letter book of Sir Charles Bernard, Chief Commissioner of British Burma, 1880-86, Chief Commissioner of Burma, 1886-88. This contribution is to be distinguished clearly from the official British assistance, forwar­ ded also by the same Chief Commissioner, to the establishment of a mission station at Papun a few years later. In that case there were clear strings attached to the contribution and the short-term as well as long-term bepefits for,the colonial administration were clearly spelled out. The American Baptist missionaries in Burma were widely divided over the wisdom of accepting this latter form of contribution. Cf. letters from David Webster to the Corresponding Secretary, Moulmein, June 9,1882: Moulmein, September 19,1882 and Pahpoon, July 28, 1883, ABFMS, group 1, box 27. ’ Zan, U op. cit., p. 4. ^Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, (1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. ’ ibid. ® Zan, U op. cit., p. 4. ’ Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, (1881], ABFMS, group I, box 25.

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»® Ibid. “ Daniel McGilvary to the Corresponding Secretary of fhe Presbyterian Board for Fo­ reign Missions, Chiang Mai, February 11.1881, BFM, reel nr. 183, document nr 112 Ibid. ” Daniel McGilvary’s Annual Report, Chiang Mai, September 30, 1868, BFM, micro­ film, reel nr. 182, document nr. 90; cf. supra ... It is of course impossible to ascertain the existence of such secret message. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to assume that in light of the events of the 1870s the chao muang was prepared to give concessions to the missionaries on-paper, but made certain that they re­ mained what they were - concessions on paper. A "secret message" was irrelevant as there were other avenues of letting the Karen villagers’ know what would please their patron. “Report of the Karen preachers Maw Klo, Shway Myat and Saw Kay sent by the conven­ tion to the Zimmay territories", undated (April 1881] Sgaw Karen manuscript translated by Justus Vinton. The Sgaw Karen original of this report has not been preserved and considering the atti­ tude of Justus Vinton towards these evangelists, justified questions may be raised as to the objectivity of his rendering into English of the account of the evangelists. I have, how­ ever, been able to secure an independent Burmese translation of this same report, publis­ hed in the Burmese language minutes of the 16th‘annual meeting of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention. This version has been translated back to English by Saw Lah Shein in January 1987 and confirms with slight variations the translation of Justus Vinton. Ibid. These Karen villages were fairly isolated from other Karen communities to the west. According to oral tradition the Karen in these villages were originally inhabitants of Chiang Saen at a time when, according to the same tradition, the Karen ruled Chiang Saen. Later they migrated southward to the Phrae area, but after some time found their new place of residence unpleasing and decided to return to Chiang Saen. On their way back they saw an agreeable place and decided to stay. This tradition concerning the origins of these Karen villages contains no information that would suggest guidelines for dating the account. Thra AUiday (Thong Laklaem) 1986-03-21'. Zan. U op. cit., pp. 4-5. ” Ibid. Practically all of the millenarian movements among the Karen in Burma, alluded to in chapter II above, drew their following in the traditional Karen areas southeast, east and northeast of Rangoon. The movement of Maw Lay, however, spread evidently to the Bassein area as well. Supra, pp. 86ff. “ Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19. [1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. Zan, U op. cit., p. 6. Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, [1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. Ibid. Edwin A. Stevens to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, November 9,1881 AB­ FMS, group 1, box 22. , Zan, U op. cit., p. 5. 2® Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, [1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. 2’ Overseas Letters^ American Baptist Missionary Union, ABFMS, microfilm, reel no. FM 400 (covering the correspondence between July 23,1880 and February 8, 1883). 2® Supra, pp. 132-133.

159

Daniel McGilvary to the Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian Board for Fo­ reign Missions, Chiang Mai, February 11,1881, BFM, microfilm, reel nr. 183, document nr. 112. 30 Ibid. ” “Report of the Karen preachers Maw Klo, Shway Myat and Saw Kay sent by the con­ vention to the Zimmay territories”. Ibid. 22 On Carpenter’s earlier involvement in western Siam see supra, pp. 117ff. The bookre­ view was published in The Baptist Missionary Magazine, vol. 55, no. 4 (April 1875), pp. 109-113. “Zimmay" is the Burmese name of Chiang Mai. 2“* Chapin Carpenter to Daniel McGilvary, Newton Centre, Mass, November 28, 1881, BFM, microfilm, reel nr. 183, document nr. 136. 22 Ibid. 2® Third Annual Report of the Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention (Rangoon: Ameri­ can Mission Press, 1868), pp. 38-39. 22 Justus Vinton to the Corresponding Secretary, Rangoon, April 19, [1881], ABFMS, group 1, box 25. 2® The Morning Star, vol. 59. no. 2 (February 1900), p. 21 (translated by Phi & Phu Ler Say). The reaction of the Siamese village headman reflects no doubt the concequences of the murder of Myat San and his collegues; infra, pp. 151ff. 2’ Interestingly, the same misconception of Karen inadequacy appeared in the report of the three Karen preachers returning from the muang nua-. We firmly believe that if a Karen missionary [i.e. an American Baptist missionary assigned to the Karen in Burma - author’s remark] who speaks the language would only show his face there we who accompany him could in a few years gather in 10,000 converts. “Report of the Karen preachers Maw Klo, Shway Myat and Saw Kay sent by the conven­ tion to the Zimmay territories”. The term “Karen missionary” refers clearly to an American Baptist missionary assigned to the Karen in Burma. This is verified by the context. The current missionary usage in northern Thailand, e.g. "Pwo Karen missionary”, “Sgaw Karen missionary”, still follows the same pattern. Based on field observation 1976-1983. Loc. cit. *’ A sole remaining copy of The Morning Star has provided the core of source material for the rest of this chapter. Most unfortunately, however, the series is broken exactly at the crucial years around 1880. This loss is partially compensated for by the rich missionary correspondance from this same period and the minutes of the annual meetings of the Burma Baptist Missionary Convention. Charles Nichols to the Corresponding Secretary, Bassein, November 21, 1881, ABFMS, group 1, box 19. “2 Ibid. " On this entire issue the official records are remarkably silent. It is, however, worth to quote U Zan’s account of what happened: “The unhappy result was that the Bassein Home Mission withdrew from the convention and carried on independently for many years to come until Rev. Nichols eventually managed to convince Basseip that reunion with the Convention was only Christian and right and best for everyone”, op. cit., p. 5. This was not the first time the independent minded and comparatively well-to-do Karen in the Bassein area were at odds with the missionaries, see for example the assessment of Chapin Carpenter, who himself worked among the Karen in Bassein, on the independent nature of the Bassein Karen in a letter to the Corresponding Secretary, dated Bassein, March 6, 1877, ABFMS, group 1, box 6. Although there were a lot of hurt feelings and

160

not complete and the Bassein Karen did not establish an inde­ pendent mission to the muang Lampaag, but rather sought other avenues to channel their missionary interest among the Karen in the muang nua. see infra p 143 S“«‘ary, Bassein, November 21. 1881,

^out oVk'"’

/

’

®

Corresponding Secretary ^hat there were moderately lar^e

D" Salween nver according to the reports of the evangelists sent there by the Bassein churches. Of the 4 evangelists 3 had to return due to illLs, but a

new attempt was to be made in early 1883; ABFMS, group 1 box 19 The churches in Bassein collected Rs. 1200 to support this new venture in 1883, but nothing further is said in the sources about the outcome of this mission. Tfie Baptist Missionary _ Magazine, vol. 63, no. 7 (July 1883), p. 241. i»tssionary

evangelists working in the muang Lampang area visited Mae Sariang m 1887, there was no evidence of any evangelists working in the area supported by the Bassein Karen churches, cf. infra, p. 156 ■ See letters of Walter Bushell and David Webster to the Corresponding Secretary from don m"th ’ T ‘S' 5 27; and Chapin CarpenUr’s article “Mis1882) pp^29SoO^^'^"' Missionary Magazine, vol. 62, no. 8 (August

Corresponding Secretary. Maulmain. December 3. 1881 Jun^^ Is^rAR^^ Corresponding Secretary, Maulmain, rf R 27. Cf. Chapin Carpenter “Mission to the Lakon 48 D Missionary Magazine, vol. 62. no. 8 (August 1882), p. 299 /«, ,^:““83T, r 2^"“' ™‘■’P®«PP‘’« of missionary work among prepared to aid the establishment of a mission station at Papun in order to provide educational opportunities to the Karen living m the yea by the imssionanes and thereby ascertain the growth of a cadre of educated Karen to serve as civil servants in years to come. Many y the American Baptist missionaries in Rangoon were in favour of accepting the conditions of the gyemment of British Burma. They felt that this support H Ro