TRUBNER'S ORIENTAL SERIES. BALLANTYNE, HANSON ANDCO. EOINBURGH AND LONDON HISTORY BURMA OF INCLUDING BURMA PROPER, PEGU, TAUNGU, TENASSERIM, AND ARAKAN. iFram tj&e ffiarlfest Eime to ti^e ffinti of tl)e Jirgt OTar initlj JSriti'sJ 3Entifa. LIEUT.-GENEEAL SIE AETHUR P. PHAYEE, G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., AND C.B. MEMBRECORRESPONDANTDELASOCIETYACADiSmIQUEINDO-CHINOISE DE FRANCE. LONDON: TEUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1883. [Allrights reserved.'^ PREFACE. Towards the end of last century, Dr. Francis Buchanan, who accompanied Colonel Symes on his mission to Ava, remarked that the histories of the Burmas might throw some light on a part of the world little known, and he hoped soon to be able to produce a translation of the Maha E^j§,weng, or Great History of Kings.^ Some years later, Dr. Ley- deu, in an essay on the languages and literature of the Indo-Chinese nations, which shows extensive know- ledge of a subject then little regarded in Europe, men- tioned the historical works to be found both in Arakan and Burma, on the importance of which he observed : "Supposing them to be strictly historical, it is needless to dilate."^ Buchanan never carried out his intention, and though he had collected many Burmese manu- scripts, it is not known what became of them. After his return to Europe, he published several papers on Burma in the " Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," but they referred only to the geography of the country. Colonel Henry Burney, who was Eesident at the court of the king of Burma for several years up to 1837, published numerous papers, being translations of por- tions of the Mah^ Eajg,weng,moreparticularlypassages relating to the early kings and to the wars between Burma and China.^ He observes that the Burmese 1 SeeBuchananonthe religion ' AsiaticResearches, vol. x. and literature of the Burmas. ^ JournaloftheAsiaticSociety AsiaticKesearches, vol. vi. Oal- ofBengal, vols, iv., v., vi. cutta. vi PREFACE. chronicles "bearstrong internal marks of authenticity." The Eev. Father Sangermano, who was in Burma as a missionary from 1782 to 1806, has written an abridg- ment of Burmese history in his valuable work/ The Most Eeverend Bishop Bigandet, Vicar Apostolic in Ava and Pegu, in his interesting "Legend of the Bur- mese Budha," recounts the salient points of history which concern the establishment of Buddhism in Burma. The Eev. Dr. Mason has contributed much to a knowledge of the history of Burma and of Pegu ; and the late Captain Forbes, whose early death is a great loss to the cause of Burmese research, has pub- lishedvaluable observations onthehistoryandlanguage of the country. Professor Lassen, who, more than any other of the great scholars .of Europe, studied Burmese history, has observed "The Burmese have lengthy historical : writings, in which not only their own history, but that of Arakan, Pegu, Zimmay, Labang, and other neigh- bouring lands is given. These writings deserve on the whole the praise of credibility, as their authors relate not only the favourable events of their history, but also the unfavourable. Their inscriptions help to con- firm their statements."^ Notwithstanding the many articles by competent authors which have appeared on the history of Burma, no one has yet published in any European language a^ continuous history of the country, whereby the rise and progress of the monarchy, and of the people, might be traced, and the succession of the events recorded, with their relation one to another, explained. In the Gazetteer of British Burma, lately published by authority at Eangoon, the full history has been nar- rated in a more connected form than had been done 1 Description of the Burmese ^ Indische Alterthumskunde Empire. TranslatedintoEnglish vol. iv. p. 369. MS. translation byTandy. Rome, 1833. intoEnglish. ; PREFACE. vii before. But there still remain blanks to be filled in the history of Arakan, and the other countries which formed the empire of Burma up to the early part of the present century. The chief authorities which have been followed in this little book are theMahS,Eaj^weng,a copy of which was obtained from the library of the king of Burma a history of Arakan written by Maung Mi, a learned Arakanese Hsaya and a history of Pegu in the Mun ; language by Hsayl dau AthwS,, a Taking Buddhist monk, which was translated into Burmese. The last- named work is little more than a fragment, as the materials for a full history of the Mun people either do not exist, or are not now available in Pegu. Early in the sixteenth century Europeans began to visit Burma in considerable numbers, and their narra- tives have been used to supplement or correct in some particulars the nativehistories. ColonelMichaelSymes, in a historical memoir prefixed to his "Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava," gives a trustworthy account of events commencing from the re-establish- ment of the kingdom of Pegu under Binya D^a in a.d. 1740 until the time ofhis own embassy in 1795. This narrative has evidently been chiefly derived from per- sons whom the writer met in Eangoon, some appa- rently Armenians in the Burmese service, who had been actors or eyewitnesses in most of the events described. The general fulness of the national historical records of the countries which comprised the Burmese empire is remarkable. They present a marked contrast to the scantiness, or total absence of such writings, among the ancient Hindu kingdoms. Forthough, as remarked by Professor Horace Wilson, "genealogies and chronicles are found in various parts of India, recorded with some perseverance if not much skill," still they are few in comparison with the number and variety of states which viii PREFACE. have existed in India, and in value fall below what might be expected from the degree of civilisation and literary eminence which had been attained at an early period. The methodical writing of annals of events in the countries of Indo-China has probablyresulted frOm the practical difference between Brahmanism and Bud- dhism which was gradually developed after the time of Goadama. While the former was exclusive, and sought to subordinate kings and rulers to the sacred race, the latter gave the first place in worldly affairs to the civil power, and held out honour and reward, secular and religious, to all who worshipped the three treasures and observed the moral law. Buddhism favoured the general extension of education, and appealed to the masses through the vernacular tongues and thus, in ; spite of its tenets as to the worthlessness of worldly objects, and the inherent misery of being, induced a general interestinthe affairs of life. The resultis seen in the EijS, Wanso of Ceylon, and, it may be added, in the Eaja Taringiru of Cashmir. The latter, Wilson observes, is an exception to the total want of historical inc[uiry by the Hindus.^ May not this work with pro- bability be referred to a Buddhist original, adapted to Hindu readers after the triumph of Brahmanism ? The annals of Siam do not appear to have been kept with the sameregularity and fulness as those of Burma, though they furnish an outline of prominent events. Of the ancientnative histories of Anam, Cambodia, and Tonquin, we have as yet no detailed account available to the European student. Butthis deficiencyis rapidly beingsuppliedbythe Socidt^Acad^mique Indo-Chinoise of France. The chronicles of Burma are well supplemented by ancient stone inscriptions, generally those whichlrecord the building of pagodas, andJiiclude historicare'vehts 1 Essay on the Hindu History of Cashmir, Asiatic Researches, vol. XV. PREFACE. conagfited.therewith./ The inscriptions upon bells cast for religious purposes,and suspended in the precincts of monasteries and pagodas, in many instances furnish importanthistoricalinformation. Each principalpagoda has also a "Thamaing," which purports to give the his- toryof thefounderof thebuilding, and of its subsequent benefactors. Such documents include noticesof secular events. In preparingthe presentlittle book, where the annals of the adjoining countries have been available, they have been compared with the statements as to contem- porary events found in the chronicles of Burma. This is especially the case as regards China and Siam. The accounts of Burma and of Pegu in the narratives of European travellers, commencing with Marco Polo in the thirteenth centuryTTiave been summarised in a supplementary chapter. It is usefulto compare their statements as to some historical facjs, with those given in the native chronicles. In order that the sequence of events may be as little confused as possible, all dates have been reduced to the eras B.C. and A.D. The attainment of Nirv§,na by Goadama Buddha is assumed to have occurred B.C. 543,inaccordancewith Burmesechronology,thoughthis date is now supposed to contain an error varying from sixty to the extent of a hundred and thirty-one years.^ The present Burmese era commences in a.d. 639, at the time when the sun enters the sign Aries. It may at once be admitted that there are numerous events re- corded in the histories of the countries thatonce formed the Burmese empire which no doubt are historically true, but which in the several chronicles have been hopelessly deranged in time. Inwriting Burmese proper names, the rules proposed by Mr. H. L. St. Barbe, late Eesident at Mandalay, for 1 Mr. Rhys Davids in Ancient temationalNumismataOrientalia. Coins andMedals of Ceylon. In- London, 1877. — X PREFACE. expressingin Eoman charactersthe sounds ofthe spoken language, have been generally adopted.i But in the case of well-known places, as Eangoon, Pegu, Bassein, &c., the ordinaryspelling has beenfollowed. The vowel system as adopted is as follows: a as