FEB 231910 Division DS485 ~BSBe6s9 Section Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library httos://archive.org/details/ourmathroughcent0Ostua_0 BURMA Through the Centuries Laan 2vI2So0jowYy IAW ayy fo Juapuagursagnus ‘OY UlaS MYT Ap AQ ,, VULANT UL SYLOAL UOUMALISUOD IUMOS ,, UL UO1ZVAISNT]2 motf pamnporday Sggt NI LWIVAVdNS NaaNO Ad LTING AWIVONVW ‘ANHLSVNOW NACGTOD SNAHHNO AHL BURMA @ Through the Centuries Being a short account of the leading races of Burma, of their origin, and of their struggles for supremacy throughout past centuries; also of the three Burmese Wars and of the annexation of the country by the British Government. BY JOHN STUART (Managing Proprietor, Rangoon Gazette) WITH FIFTEEN [LLUSTRATIONS LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LIMITED, DRYDEN HOUSE, 43 GERRARD STREET, W. 90? PRINTED BY JOHN BELLOWS GLOUCESTER 262605 PREFACE S atanecmesieaeee T is astonishing how little either the Burmese them- selves, or Europeans who have been long resident in the country, know of the history of Burma. Although I have lived in Burma for nearly forty years, it was only when I had occasion, last year, to write a brief sketch of that history that I realised how little I really knew about it. At the same time J discovered the cause of the pre- vailing ignorance. I was unable to find any book which gave a clear and intelligible account of what is really known. The late Sir Arthur Phayre’s book was the only one I could discover in which the attempt is made to give a complete account of Burma through the ages. But, valuable as that book is, it is scarcely the book which the business man of scant leisure resident in the country, or the visitor, is likely to read. For one thing, to the European reader, at least, the profusion of native names introduced is very confusing. It is difficult to remember names so unfamiliar, and one is constantly turning back to see who this or the other person is. The difficulty is increased by the change of spelling which has since been introduced in the matter of Burmese words and names. Then there is a wealth of detail in matters of comparatively little importance, taken often from Burmese sources, on which but little dependence can be placed, and long accounts of ruthless wars, of wholesale murders, and of horrible cruelties, which be- come very tiresome. It is scarcely to be wondered at V1. PREFACE that the average resident even gives up the attempt to follow all this, and contents himself with a vague idea that Burmese history may be summed up as a weari- some record of barbarity and cruelty. It is that, no doubt, but there is more in it than that. The Kings were not all bloodthirsty and utterly selfish tyrants, though too many of them were. Moreover, the essen- tially interesting part of the history lies, not in the do- ings of the Kings, but in the struggle for supremacy of the various races inhabiting the country, more especially the Burmese, the Shans, and the Talaings. This triangu- lar contest was carried on for more than a thousand years, certainly — for considerably more, in all probability ; and this makes Burmese history all the more difficult to follow. It makes the history of Burma very much like what a combined history of France, England and Scot- land, up to the accession of James I. to the throne of England, would be. Even that does not quite repre- sent the complexity of Burmese history, for the Burmese race had separated into two sections, the one inhabiting Upper Burma and the other Arakan. Moreover, there were the Karens, the Was, and other hill tribes who re- tained more or less independence throughout in their mountain fastnesses. In the following pages I have endeavoured to give a brief account of what is really known of this long struggle, as clearly as I could. I make no pretention to scholarship, but have aimed at putting what is known in such form as to render it accessible to any one, be he resident or visitor, who wishes to know, in general out- line at least, what the history of the country has been. The books from which I have drawn my information are as follows :-— PREFACE Vil. “History of Burma,” by Sir Arthur P. Phayre, CG NE Genk. Gol ands Gb: ‘“ Our Burmese Wars,” by Colonel W. F. B. Laurie. “The Loyal Karens of Burma,” by Donald Mac- kenzie Smeaton, M.A., Bengal Civil Service. “The Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan Slates a pye ite | aeiscoree .scort, °K GL Es Superintendent and Political Officer, Southern Shan States. “A Description of the Burmese Empire,” by Rev. Father Sangermano. “ Burma, with Special Reference to her Relations with China,” by E. H. Parker, H.M. Consul, Kiungchow, and at one time Officiating Adviser on Chinese Affairs in Burma. “The Alaungpra Dynasty,” by James Gray. “Reminiscences of the Court of Mandalay. Ex- tracts from the Diary of General Horace A. Browne, 1859-1879.” I am also indebted to Mr Taw Sein Ko, Superinten- dent of the Archeological Survey of Burma, for some information as to what is known of Burma in prehistoric times ; and to Mr Charles Duroiselle, Lecturer in Pali at the Rangoon College, for the loan of some pamphlets on the same subject. J. STUART Rangoon 12th February, 1909. te ‘ 7 Fs. 7 Contents CHAPTER Dee DCLOLcy AD, 036 i Lie. rae). 630 5tOsIOLO s Pie AD; L010 eton1208 iF Le) 200 F L071 557 y Viveici ne vA Loe £5 58.5.107 1500 S; V Dave eee Den TOOO. LON 1752 xf Vile ease 752. 10. 1700 NV Ae orate 17O0. 1001704 DARA Det I7O5utO, TOLQ iG Nog ee PAD EOLO LON OZO sn eral 2OntTOnl O54 A Li ee AT OS ae LOT GOS = DHA De TSO5 stONLOOO 100 II5 132 152 174 ~* atnsdno. | Ye! List of Illustrations THE QUEEN’S GOLDEN MONASTERY, MANDALAY .. ay e P, .. Frontispiece NEGRITO RACE .. 3 a a PAE QINE Pues ENTRANCE TO KAREN MOUNTAIN VILLAGE ae BUDDHIST MONASTERY... ANANDA PAGODA, PAGAN .. . is . 34 GROUP OF SHANS COEGSSALVIMAGE AT PEGU ss she » 54 SHWE DAGON PAGODA, RANGOON ee » 81 GREAT BELL AT MINGUN PAGODA .. ty 106 MINGUN PAGODA x 10g | BURMESE GIRLS o 120 KING MINDON MIN TMT RA KING THIBAW AND QUEEN SUPAYALAT Pe TOA KAREN GIRLS IN NATIONAL DRESS .. Peet SA ASMOUNTAIN: KAREN VILLAGE .. bie f 188 e. 4 ves ; r iy ine \ ay i © ealon Ss | CHAPTER 71s BEFORE A.D. 639 HERE is every reason to believe that the numerous races inhabiting the country now known as Burma are aliens, who poured down from Western China, from Tibet, and perhaps from North-Eastern India, in pre- historic times. This influx probably began long before the commencement of the Christian era, and was con- tinued through centuries, each successive wave strug- eling for such territory as it could obtain. Of earlier indigenous inhabitants there is no trace, but the proba- bility is that the country had previously been inhabited \. by the Negrito race. This race 1s still to be found in the Andaman Islands, near Burma, and extends its habi- tat from there to the Philippines. It was probably very much more numerous at one time than it is now, but was quite unable to hold its own against more advanced races, so has survived only in places where it was pro- ftected by isolation. Even tradition has not preserved “any record of conflict with the Negrito race, but to the -new-comers these poor people could have offered no effective resistance of any kind. They would hide in the forests until they died out or escaped to the Andamans, and to the immigrants they would be less of a danger than the wild beasts. Any fighting there may have been with them would soon be lost sight of in the more serious wars which the immigrants were continually waging with each other. 2 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES The first race of immigrants belonged to the Mon- IKXhmer stock, and the reason for believing that they came from North-Eastern India is that they are allied to the Khasias in Assam and to the Bhils and Gonds. When they were driven out of India, and whether their ex- pulsion was due to the Aryan conquest of India, it is impossible to determine, but, as they have left some of their congeners behind, the probability is that they came from India. It is probable too that they came first, as their chief representatives are the Cambodians in Indo- China, and the Talaings, or Peguans, in Burma. They were, no doubt, pushed down by the later waves of mi- gration, and the Talaing branch settled in what are now known as the Pegu and Tenasserim Divisions of Burma. The bulk of the inhabitants there are of Talaing race, though the majority of them have become thoroughly Burmanised, and scarcely know that they are not Bur- mans. They speak Burmese habitually, the Talaing lan- guage being nearly, though not quite, extinct. The branch which settled in Cambodia must have made their way through Siam long before the existing kingdom of that name came into existence. Even until the close of the eighteenth century, numbers of Talaings were driven in that direction by the persecution of the Burmese. In the year 1826, an Englishman, Mr Leal, travelled over- land from Martaban to Bangkok, and in his journey he found that certain tracts were inhabited by Talaings, or ““Peguers ”’ as he calls them. He mentions one town of | “five thousand inhabitants, chiefly Peguers,” and at an- | other stage of his journey he passed through a tract which, he says, was inhabited by sixteen thousand Pe- guers. The Cambodians scarcely come into a history of ! Burma, but it is noteworthy that both they and_the Talaings in Burma, in time formed fairly powerful and uo0suny ‘4a y ‘dq 44 tq yg~vss0j0yg HSHNVANVGONV AO dnowo GoVa OLIADAN THE WAS 3 comparatively civilised States. When we get to any- thing like authentic history, the Talaing kingdom in Pegu and Tenasserim was the most advanced State in Burma. Very different was the fate of another branch of the same race, which got stranded among the hills in the Northern Shan States, and is now represented by the Palaungs and the Was. The latter, more especially, are wild savages, who look on clothes as a superfluity, and are held in dread by their neighbours on account of their head-hunting proclivities. Their neighbours assert that they are can- nibals, but this is a libel, as their desire for heads is due solely to their belief that their crops will fail unless some fresh human skulls are imported to the village every year. Under this impression they organise head-hunting ex- peditions every spring, and it is small consolation to the unfortunate traveller who falls into their hands that it is only his skull that is wanted. Tradition asserts that the Was once occupied a much larger tract of country than they do now, and were not then more uncivilised than their neighbours. If so, we may be sure that they were not driven back without fierce fighting, and there can be no doubt that in pre-historic times the various immigrant races carried on as ruthless wars with each _ other as we find them doing throughout historical times, ' until this was put a stop to by the British Government. 1 The contrast in civilisation between the Talaings and the Was, though both of the same stock and, pre- | sumably, of much the same standard of civilisation at the time of their first immigration, is typical of what ( has happened in a greater or lesser degree to all the im- /migrants. Those who got down to fertile plains, within | reach of the sea, or even of navigable rivers, were able to ', form fairly powerful kingdoms. They came into con- ). / tact, too, with outside nations, from whom they learned Ba 4 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES much. The Talaings, for instance, owe their civilisation very largely to the Buddhist missionaries from India, and to Indian traders. Colonel Phayre connects the word Talaing with Telingana, and says the name was doubtless applied originally only to settlers from India, though, afterwards, it was used for all those of the Mon-Khmer race, or, at least, to those in Pegu and Tenasserim. This derivation implies great antiquity for the name, but Gray asserts that the word Talaing means “the down- trodden,’ and was only applied to the Peguans after their crushing defeat at the hands of Alaungpra, in the eighteenth century. Be this as it may, the Talaings very early formed a comparatively civilised community, while their relatives, the Was, isolated in a hill tract, sunk to their present level of degradation. Some of them, known to their neighbours as the “ Tame Was,”’ have given up head-hunting and will even come to market decently clad. The Wild Wa, however, has no dealings with his neigh- bours beyond the head-hunting aforesaid. In hot weath- er he and his wife are naked and unashamed ; they are filthily dirty, and altogether just as unpleasant a speci- men of the savage as can well be found. All the same, they build more substantial houses than many of their more highly civilised neighbours, and their villages are ingeniously defended, the only approach being through a long tunnel, winding so that nothing can be fired up | it. Against all the arms which any of their neighbours \ possess it is practically impregnable. For many cen-\! turies they must thus have stood at bay against all their’ neighbours, and while steadily retrograding as far as the ° decencies of life are concerned, they have continued oN keep up these defences, which, no doubt, originally saved them from extermination. They have also an ingenious system of bamboo aqueducts, by which water is brought, THE KARENS 5 often from a considerable distance, into their villages. They are very good agriculturists, though all their fields involve a climb up or down the steep mountain side. They grow buck-wheat, beans and maize, and they keep pigs, fowls, and dogs, all for food. They are greatly ad- dicted to drink, for which they have to grow rice, which is often planted as much as three thousand feet below their village. But their chief crop is the poppy, and the hill-tops in February and March are white with the blossoms. One can journey for days through nothing but opium fields, and this is a crop which needs constant and careful attention. The next wave of migration came from Western China, and the chief representatives of it are the Shans and the Karens. According to Mr Taw Sein Ko, the Superintendent of the Archzological Survey, the Shans came from Yunnan, and the Karens from Kueichou. Of the early history of the latter little is known. In the struggles for the supremacy which raged throughout the centuries, from the dawn of history to the advent of the British, they are scarcely mentioned. Father Nerini, a Catholic missionary who was in Burma about the year 1740 A.D., mentions that they had then been settled in the country for generations, but were looked on as sav- ages. They are divided into several tribes, and are scat- tered all along the sea-board belt from Mergui and Tavoy to Maulmain, and thence, with only a single break near ' Rangoon, along the delta of the Irrawaddy, up to Cape | Negrais, on the border of Arakan. Another tribe occu- |pied the great central range of hills called the Pegu Yoma. They are still almost the sole settlers in these hills, but they have spilt over the plains immediately below, and now occupy the hills and jungles of the Irra- waddy district, and large parts of the Shwegyin, Prome, 6 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES and Henzada districts. These two branches of the race were persecuted by the Burmese, from whom they hid as much as possible in the hills and in dense jungle. Mr Smeaton, in his ‘“‘ Loyal Karens of Burma,”’ suggests that the tribe on the sea-board between Mergui and Maul- main may have been carried off by invading Siamese. But there is a third branch occupying the hills beyond Toungoo. They are the boldest and most war-like of the Karens, and they succeeded by desperate struggles in resisting Burmese aggression and maintaining their independence. They are known as the Karenni, or Red Karens. Before the annexation of Upper Burma, their little mountain territory lay on the north-east of what was then British Burma, and they paid a small annual tribute to the British Government for the guarantee against aggression which had been given to them. Although quite out of the struggle for supremacy in historical times, the Karens are a singularly interesting race. Though ignorant of letters, they have preserved what they call the “ Traditions of the Elders,’”’ which, in parts, at least, seem to imply some Biblical teaching in the remote past. In these it is reiterated that God is unchangeable, eternal, and omnipotent; that He created Heaven and earth, the sun, moon and stars ; also man from the earth, and woman from a rib taken from the man. There is also an account of the tempta- | tion and fall of man. Mr Smeaton suggests that this | was derived from a colony of Jews settled in Western ' China, and that from the same source came their ex- pectation of the Messiah, and of the roll of parchment to be brought to them by the white foreigners. ‘‘ Because God cursed us, we are in our present afflicted state, and have no books. But God will again have mercy on us, and again He will love us above others. God will yet KAREN MOUNTAIN VILLAGE ENTRANCE TO OF PANGABIN IN THARRAWADDY DISTRICT, SHOWING BAMBOO STOCKADE Photograph by Rev. H. I. Marshall, American Baptist Mission, Tharrawaddy KAREN TRADITIONS i save us again; it is on account of our listening to the language of Satan, that we thus suffer.” It is difficult to believe in anything but a Jewish source for all these ideas, but exactly how and when the Karens thus took up the cry of captive Israel it is impossible to determine. Their features absolutely exclude any idea of Jewish blood, so Mr Smeaton may be correct in attributing it to the influence of a Jewish colony in Western China. Of course, the possession of such ideas immensely facili- tated their conversion to Christianity, and the American Baptist Mission has done most noble work among them. Mr Judson, the pioneer in Burma of this Mission, arrived in Maulmain in 1813, and the work which he and his successors have done among the Karens is probably unique in missionary enterprise. They found them hun- ted savages who would not face a Burman. They have made them a nation of men, civilised, clean-living and brave. In the troublous years succeeding the annexa- tion of Upper Burma in 1886, when the country was seething with dacoity, the Karens come forward and did excellent work in hunting down the dacoits, and restor- ing order throughout the country. The work was done too, with but scant encouragement from Government. It is true that the Karens knew that their own safety hinged on preserving British rule, but all the same, it was a splendid piece of work they did, and it is all the more remarkable as it was done, not by the Red Karens, who had always maintained their independence, but by the other tribes, who, little more than half-a-century earlier, had been accustomed to fly at sight of a Burman. It is from these down-trodden tribes that the Christian converts have been mainly recruited. Even those who have no sympathy with missionary work must acknow- ledge that, in this instance at least, it has been amply justified by the results. 8 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES The Shan, or Tai race is, undoubtedly, by far the most numerous and the most widely distributed of all the races of Indo-China. It is to be found from Assam to far into the Chinese province of Kwang-Si, and from Bangkok to the interior of Yunnan. Although reckoned as having migrated into what is now known as Burma, after the migration of the Mon-Khmer stock, this must not be taken too literally. Parts of the modern Shan States lie so near Yunnan, the original home of the race, that there may easily have been migrations into that part of the country long before the later migrations which eventually carried the race to Bangkok. This race has had the misfortune to be split up into numerous branches, bearing many different names, speaking many mutually unintelligible languages, and having different written characters, the net result being very confusing. For instance, Siamese gentlemen have found that with patience they can understand their most remote rela- tives the Hkamti Shans, but they cannot carry on a con- versation with their nearest relatives, the Lao. More- over, though the Siamese language and that of tl,» Hkamti Shans are near enough still to make conv Bs sation possible, though difficult, the written characte of these two are the most divergent of any. It is possible that when such old records as exis‘ . in these various languages have been deciphered anc 1 studied by competent scholars, much light may be thrown | on the ancient history of the race, but, meantime, very i little has been done in this direction. Siam is the only independent Tai state in existence, and it has long been, the most civilised and advanced. One would naturally || expect that Siamese records would furnish the best his- | tory of the race, but it is precisely from Siam that no help is to be obtained. Bishop Pallegoix places the, | THE SHANS fe) commencement of the Shan kingdom of Siam in the middle of the fourteenth century, and previous to that comparatively modern time, there is nothing in Siamese records that can be accepted as history, nothing but fabulous tales which do not even correspond with the legends of the other branches of the race. Yunnan was not conquered by the Chinese until the year 1253, A.D., when that conquest was achieved by Kublai Khan. Previous to that time there must have been one or more powerful Shan States in Yunnan, or even in Burma itself. Burmese history is not very re- liable, but it records two great military expeditions into Burma by “ Taydks,” the name now applied to the Chinese. One is said to have occurred shortly before the dawn of the Christian era, and the other nearly three centuries later. This is not likely to be pure invention, but the invaders could not have been Chinese, as these could scarcely have invaded Burma before they had con- quered Yunnan. The invaders must have been Shans, the name, “ Tayék,” being transferred to the Chinese cen- turies later, when the Burmese came in contact with them. The spilling over from the kingdom or kingdoms of Yun- nan probably began fully two thousand years ago. Some of the migrations were, no doubt, war-like expeditions, such as that which destroyed the pre-historic Burmese kingdom at Tagaung. If the chronicles of the Northern Shans are to be trusted, however, as to dates, the myths recorded in them of the foundation of Shan States in ‘Burma, point to the sixth century as the period of mi- gration. The probability is that the earlier ones were war-like expeditions chiefly, some of which may have permanently settled in Burma. In the sixth century, either from over-population in Yunnan, or from some other cause, the number of such expeditions increased, IO BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES and the tendency to settle in any conquered territory became more marked. Eventually they spread over the present Shan States, and pushed their way into Assam. The conquest of Yunnan by Kublai Khan, in the thir- teenth century, would give a great impetus to this mi- gration, and it was not till after that that the Siamese Tai established themselves in the great delta of the Men- am, between Cambodia and the Mon country. It was just about a century after Kublai Khan’s conquest of Yunnan that the kingdom of Siam came into being. After the first incursions of Shans, but long before these immigrants pushed their way down to Siam, the migration of the Tibeto-Burman tribes began. Accord- ing to Mr Taw Sein Ko, the Chins were the first of these to come, while the Marus, Zis, and Lashis of the Kachin Hills came later. The new-comers migrated into Burma from Eastern Tibet, where the allied tribes, the Lolos and Sifanas, are still to be found. Apparently all the new-comers were rude barbarians, but at a very early period some of them seem to have been organised into a fairly powerful and comparatively civilised state, under the guidance of immigrants from Assam or Gangetic India. The capital of this first Burmese kingdom was at Tagaung on the Irrawaddy. This much seems fairly certain, but the date of this kingdom is very uncertain! According to Burmese annals, Tagaung was founded in the ninth century before Christ, by an Aryan prince; from Northern India named Abhiraja. Fifty kings are| named as having succeeded him, but even Burmese his- | torians have not attempted to give the dates for these kings, though they have supplied a name for each. The| dates would, of course, have been as worthless as the names, had they taken the trouble to supply them. See- ing that even in much later times Burmese historians FIRST BURMESE KINGDOM LE were much more intent on magnifying the country and its rulers than on recording the exact truth, these early histories may be dismissed as quite worthless. The writers were anxious to exalt the lineage of their kings by connecting them with the Solar and Sakya dynasties of India, an attempt about as futile as it would be to connect the royal house of any European country with the Jewish King David. As to dates, too, the real date being unknown, it was well to give a hoary antiquity to the beginnings of Burmese history. The date may be utterly disregarded, but at some date, long before the opening of genuine Burmese his- tory, there was some such settlement as that ascribed to Abhiraja. It is further said that when he died, he be- queathed his kingdom to his younger son, while the elder moved to the Chindwin Valley, established his son as King at Kalé there, and then crossing over to Kyauk- padaung, established himself as the first ruler of Arakan. All we can really gather from this is that the first Bur- mese State seems to have stretched from Tagaung, on the Irrawaddy, to Kyaukpadaung in Arakan. Later it split into two, and Tagaung being overshadowed by powerful Shan States, had always a precarious existence and was eventually overthrown. Arakan, on the other hand, having no formidable neighbours so near, grew in power. According to the Burmese chronicles, after Ta- gaung was destroyed, the survivors went to Prome, and founded a new settlement there in 483, B.c. Their leader married the Queen of a neighbouring State, supposed to be Burmese, but the Queen’s name is unmistakably Shan. From this time onwards, dates as well as names are as- signed to the kings who are supposed to have ruled, but both names and dates are of very doubtful authenticity, ‘and would be of littleinterest even if they could be trusted. | I2 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES The capital is changed more than once, and occasion- ally a usurper seizes the throne. Arakan has a similar list of kings, and the Arakanese chroniclers have totally eclipsed those of the Burmese by putting back their first king to the year 2666, B.c. The only point of interest in their chronicle is that they put the accession of their first Buddhist king in the year 146, A.D. As the date of the introduction of Buddhism into Burma is unknown, this date is interesting, though it is too untrustworthy to be taken as really settling the point. The Arakanese speak the same language as the Burmese, though with some differences, and there can be little doubt about their being substantially of the same stock. When we get to anything like genuine history, and that is not until the seventh century of the Christian era, we find that the various immigrant races had settled down in much the same parts of the country as they oc- cupy at the present day. The Talaings occupied Pegu, and Tenasserim ; the Shans were in possession of the Shan States ; and the Burmese held the upper portion of the Irrawaddy valley as well as Arakan. Various branches of these same races had got shut up in moun- tainous or otherwise isolated tracts, and were the an- cestors of the numerous more or less wild tribes, Karens, Chins, Kachins, Was, and many others, still to be found in the country. These tribes, however, take little or no part in the subsequent history. They were practically out of the running, and from the dawn of genuine history, in the seventh century, until the advent of the British, early in the nineteenth, the history of the country is a struggle for supremacy between the three dominant races, ' Talaing, Shan and Burmese. ‘There were incessant wars between them. Now one and then another would in-| flict a crushing defeat on a rival race, kill great numbers INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM Ls of them, and carry off thousands, often including the royal family, to be slaves in the territory of their con- querors. After a time, the crushed race would rise in rebellion, and, perhaps, retaliate on their former con- querors, putting thousands of them to death, and reducing thousands more to slavery. It was a triangular contest, waged with particular ruthlessness on all sides for over a thousand years, but never reaching any final- ity. It produced but little beyond a kaleidoscopic shift- ing of the boundaries of the territory ruled by each race. An energetic warrior king occasionally brought nearly the whole of modern Burma and parts of Siam into nomi- nal subjection to him, and the subject races then had a very hard time of it; but this never lasted for long. Under his less able successor the yoke would be thrown off, and conquered and conqueror change places. The introduction of Buddhism into Burma has af- fected its history so profoundly that it is necessary to consider this before going on to the actual history. Though China may have exerted some influence on the intellectual development of Burma, there can be little doubt that the earliest influences came from India. An active propagandism was started by the Buddhist Church of India some centuries before the dawn of the Christian era, and the adjacent land of Burma would certainly be one of the very first foreign fields to be taken in hand by the Buddhist missionaries. In the middle of the first ceitury after Christ, Buddhism, with its Scriptures in Sanskrit, was introduced into China, and by the fourth century nine-tenths of the inhabitants of China are said to have been Buddhists. Later on, Buddhist and Hindu ideas were alternately accepted and persecuted in China. --Burma was not only much nearer to India than China ‘a but, in the absence of any religion beyond a crude 14 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES spirit worship, it offered a far more promising field to the apostles of a purer creed. Buddhist missionaries must have been in the country long before the Christian era began, and, though the process of conversion may have been slow, and the conversion often incomplete, the probability is that Buddhism had been accepted by the leading races long before the time of Buddhaghosa, its reputed apostle in Burma. Talaing historians claim him as a fellow-countryman, and say that he went to Ceylon in 402, A.D., and brought back a complete set of the Tripitaka together with its commentaries. This is of very doubtful authenticity as to its details, but Buddhag- hosa did live about that time, and if he, or anyone else, left the Talaing country early in the fifth century in search of the Buddhist scriptures, that points to a considerable interest being felt in the country in Buddhist doctrine. The date given by the Arakanese chroniclers to their first Buddhist king may be approximately correct, and by the beginning of the fifth century, Buddhism had probably been adopted by the leading races. In this, as in other matters, the more backward and isolated com- munities remained out of the main stream of national life, and many of them are still unconverted to Buddhism. The Talaing story of Buddhaghosa points to a keen interest in Buddhism, by the beginning of the fifth cen- tury, among the Talaings. The Arakanese annals put their first Buddhist king in the second century ; and tt Burmese annals report a falling away into Naga worsl. » at the beginning of the sixth century. But little js known about this heresy, except that its priests calle(l themselves Aris, and that they were not strict observers of their vow of celibacy. Moreover, the basis of their! doctrine was that sin could be expiated by the recitation of certain hymns, a doctrine utterly opposed to the INDIAN INFLUENCES I5 teaching of orthodox Buddhism. This heresy seems to have held its ground, among the Burmese at least, for about five centuries; but the point to be considered here is that if the introduction of a heresy is thought of sufficient importance to be chronicled early in the sixth century, the inference is that something approaching orthodox Buddhism had been the accepted religion among the Burmese for a considerable time—possibly for centuries— before. It is uncertain how far this heresy supplanted Buddhism even during its continuance. The two prob- ably existed side by side. Any way, orthodox Budd- hism was not forgotten, and when Anawrata, a zealous Buddhist, ascended the throne in IoIo, A.D. he had no difficulty in finally stamping out the heresy. In the early centuries of the Christian era, and probably for some centuries before, Indian traders came to the country as well as Buddhist missionaries. Natur- ally the Talaings and Arakanese, being on the sea-coast, would see more of both traders and missionaries than the Shans, or the Burmese on the upper reaches of the Irra- waddy. But the civilising influences from India seem to have reached the Burmese of Upper Burma overland, though a long and difficult overland journey must have ripeered such influence less frequent than in the case ot,,, ¢ dwellers on the coast. Both the Burmese and the Tangs, however, seem to have looked to India for knowledge, and it was well for them that they did so just at the time when the Buddhist propagandism was most active. It is owing to that fact that they have escaped entirely the caste system and all that it involves. The Shans, no doubt, though they may have got their religion from Indian missionaries, were but little thrown in con- tact with the Indian traders. But the Shans may have brought a higher civilisation with them from Yunnan / | 16 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES than the other immigrant races had brought from their homes ; and, through Yunnan, they probably remained more or less in touch with Chinese civilisation, though Yunnan was independent until its conquest by Kublai Khan in the thirteenth century. een en.- pu GUAR TER IE A.D. 639 TO IOIO HE commencement of the era now in general use among the chief races inhabiting Burma may be taken as the period at which something like genuine history commences. But little is known, however, of the causes which led to the introduction of that era. It is spoken of by some authorities as having been intro- duced in the year 638 A.D., while others assign it to 639. If we subtract the current Burmese year from the cur- rent Christian one, we get the result 638 or 639 according to the time of year at which the calculation is made. For instance, any time between the Ist January and 14th April, 1908, the deduction of 1269, the current Burmese year, from 1908 would have given 639 as the result ; but on 15th April, the Burmese new year, 1270, began, and from that time on till the close of 1908, the deduction would leave 638. The Burmese chronicles give no reason for the introduction of a new era, but they ascribe it to a king named Thinga Raja, or Popa Saw Rahan, a usur- per, who had been a monk, and the Preceptor of the Queen of his predecessor. On the death of the pre- ceding king, the monk became a layman again, which a Buddhist monk is always entitled to do, and married the widowed Queen. Although he is credited with hav- ing introduced the new calendar, according to the dates given in the Burmese chronicles, his successor ascended the throne in 637 a.pD., that is, a year before the new era began. J C 18 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES Authorities seem to be agreed that the new era was based on astronomical calculations, and commenced on the day in which the sun is supposed to enter the first sign of the zodiac. According to Garnier, who is quoted as an authority by Forbes, in his “ Languages of Further India,” and again by Mr Taw Sein Ko :—“‘On 2tst March, 638, the new moon coincided with the entry of the sun into the first sign of the zodiac, and produced an import- ant eclipse.’’ But on the point of the origin of the era, the authorities are divided. Phayre says that the Bur- mese system of astronomy and method of computing time are essentially those of the Hindus. Parker, too, speaks of the Burmese computation of time being essen- tially Hindu, and the new era Hindu handiwork. But Forbes speaks of the “ singular fact that all the nations of ultra-India, although deriving their religion, their civilisation and their literature from India, have not adopted any of the Indian eras, but have borrowed from China.’’ Garnier, too, speaks of the astronomical know- ledge of the Chinese as the possible origin of the era now in use in Burma, and the adjoining countries. Mr Taw Sein Ko also leans to the idea of a Chinese origin. Whether the era came from India or from China, it was very generally adopted, and has held its ground ever since. Thinga Raja gets the credit of its introduction, and probably did do so, the date given to his successor being a mistake. Burmese chroniclers were not very particular about dates. There is some reason to think that Thinga Raja was not only a usurper, but of Shan origin, or possibly Cambodian. He seems to have been a man of some ability, however, and is said to have intro- duced many improvements into the administration. But there is very little known about him, or what his reforms, beyond that of the calendar, really were. Long before OLD AND NEW PAGAN Ig his time—early in the second century, A.D., according to the chronicles—the capital of the Burmese nation had been shifted to Pagan. Tagaung, the pre-historic capi- tal, is also called Pagan, or Old Pagan, sometimes, and the two must not be confounded. Tagaung, or Old Pagan, 1s between Mandalay and Bhamo. New Pagan, the only Pagan that attained to greatness, lies as far south of Mandalay as the other is north of it. Tagaung, or Old Pagan, was overthrown long before the dawn of history. One or more capitals succeeded it before New Pagan was founded. : In Thinga Raja’s time, New Pagan was an insig- nificant place, and the territory which he ruled could not have been very extensive. Arakan had its own king, and the Talaing kingdom in Pegu and Tenasserim was too powerful for the Burmese of the Upper Irrawaddy to interfere with. It was all they could do to hold their own against the powerful Shan States in their neighbour- hood. Had these Shan States coalesced under one power- ful monarch, the Burmese of Upper Burma would not have been able to stand against them. In spite of the advantage of possessing territory on both sides of a navi- gable river, and numerous States instead of one power- ful one for their immediate neighbours, the Burmese were occasionally overwhelmed by the Shans and had to submit to the rule of Shan kings. Thinga Raja, him- self, as probably a Shan. At that time, too, the Ta- laing were, not only far more powerful than the Bur- mese, but more advanced in civilisation, so had they ad- vanced on Upper Burma they would have conquered it. But the Talaings, being in possession of the rich delta of the Irrawaddy and of Tenasserim, both blessed with an abur\dant rainfall, had no inducement to venture into the comparatively arid country of Upper Burma. Under C2 20 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES these circumstances, the Burmese were able to maintain their footing and to become consolidated into a nation. The mere record of the kings who succeeded Thinga Raja would be of no interest, but Mr Parker gives an interesting extract from the chapter on “‘ Southern Bar- barians,’’ in the T’ang history, which throws a much clearer light on the Burma of the eighth and ninth cen- turies than the Burmese annals do. It shows how they impressed a contemporary Chinaman, though he, of course, despised them as barbarians. He calls them “ Piao,’’ and says that when the king goes out in his palankeen, he reposes on a couch of golden cord; but for long distances he rides an elephant. ‘“‘ They dislike taking life. They greet each other by embracing the arm with the hand. They know how to make astron- omical calculations, and are devotees of Buddhism. They have a hundred monasteries with bricks of vitreous ware, embellished with gold and silver, vermilion, gay colours and red kino. The floor is painted and covered with ornamented carpets. The king’s residence is in like style. The people cut their hair at seven years of age and enter a monastery. If at the age of twenty they have not grasped the doctrine, they become lay people again. For clothes they wear a cotton sarang, holding that, as silk involves the taking of life, it ought not to be worn. On the head they wear golden-flowered hats with a blue net, or bag set with pearls. In the king’s palacjt there are placed two bells, one of gold and one of silver \ when an enemy comes they burn incense and beat the bé Is, in order to divine their good or evil fortune. There is a huge white elephant a hundred feet high ; litigants burn incense and kneel before the elephant, reflecting within themselves whether they are right or wrong, after which they retire. When there is any disaster or plagus, the woosuv Ny ‘42M ‘qd 4p 49 ygv45oj0yq AYHLSVNOW LSIHGdGNd V A CHINESE DESCRIPTION OF BURMA 21 King also kneels down in front of the elephant and blames himself. . . . The women twist their hair high up on the crown of the head, and ornament it with strings of pearls; they wear a natural-tinted female petticoat, and throw pieces of delicate silk over themselves. When walking they hold a fan, and the wives of exalted per- sons have four or five individuals at each side holding fans. . < . Nan-chao used to exercise suzerainty over it on account of its contiguity, and by reason of the military strength of Nan-chao. Towards the close of the eighth century A.D., the King Yung K’1ang, hearing that Nan-chao had become part of the T’ang Empire, had a desire to join China too, and Imousiin sent an envoy named Yang Kia-ming to Kien-nan. The Viceroy of Si-ch’wan, Wei Kao, begged permission to offer the Emperor some barbarian songs, and, moreover, told the Piao State to send up some musicians. For specimens of their music see the General Annals. His Majesty Divus Téh made Shu-nan-do President of the Imperial Mews, and sent him back. The Governor of K’ai Chou submitted a panegyric upon the Piao music. In the year 832 the Nan-chao monarch kidnapped three thousand Burmans, and colonised his newly acquired eastern do- minions with them.” This extract shows that life in Burma in the ninth century of the Christian era was verysimilar in many ways to what it continued to be under the Burmese kings until nearly the close of the nineteenth century. There was considerable luxury of a primitive kind, in the palace at least, which was built in the same style as the monas- teries, of which there were a great number. No mention is made of pagodas, but the pagodas of the time were probably insignificant structures, as the Burmese first learned to build imposing pagodas from captive Talaings 22 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES in the eleventh century. In the ninth century they could make astronomical calculations, but we are not told whether this knowledge came from India or from China. They were devotees of Buddhism, and the boys all entered a monastery at an early age and stayed there for a number of years. Burma has had, for a thousand years at least, possibly for much longer, a system of free, and practically universal education for its sons. It is doubtful whether any other country can compare with it in this respect. The education may not have amoun- ted to much from the secular point of view. The object of it was not to give secular knowledge, or to help a lad to get on in life, but to teach him the vanity of all earthly things, and to set his feet on the path of renunciation, which alone leads to peace. The successful scholars, from the point of view of the monks, were those who ‘““ srasped the doctrine,’’ and became monks. Those who became lay people again on attaining manhood were fai- lures, who went back to the vanities of life, and so in- creased the number of weary lives they would have to go through before attaining Nirvana. The dimly under- stood metaphysical subtleties which had been their men- tal food in the monastery, were a poor preparation for the battle of life. But they had at least learned to read and write, and had acquired some elementary arith- metic, so had more secular knowledge than fell to the lot of their contemporaries in other countries. It is somewhat curious that, with the general dif- fusion of even elementary education going on century after century, the Burmese should never have made any progress in the arts of life. But, to any one who knows from experience what life was in Upper Burma in the times of the later kings, the reason is obvious. Under such a crushing despotism no progress was possible. EDUCATION AND PROGRESS 23 The King’s caprice was law, and against him no one had any rights at all. KRemoteness from the capital or ob- scurity in it might secure immunity from the personal notice of the King himself, but his officials were every- where, and it was impossible to escape their notice if one did anything out of the common. So long as the officials paid into the King’s treasury the contributions expected from their districts, they could tyrannise over the unfortunate people as they pleased. If aman’s wife, sister, or daughter, took the fancy of an official, she had to be given up to him. Any sign of wealth was the surest way to invite attention and torture until it was all surrendered. In fact the truest wisdom, in such a community, lay in producing just enough to keep one’s family alive, and courting obscurity as much as possible. The bolder spirits aimed at becoming officials, but, though a certain amount of comparative wealth was then possible, the official’s head was never very secure on his shoulders. A hint to the King that he was appropriating an undue share of the revenue he raised might lead at any time to his degradation and death. Dacoity was another outlet for the bolder spirits, and it was less dangerous, perhaps, than official life, but less lucrative also. The man who wished a quiet life could find it only in poverty, either in or out of a monastery. The scholar would naturally be attracted to the monastery. He was safer there than anywhere else; his food and shelter were secure ; and he could study to his heart’s content. But no literature was available except interminable dis- courses on Buddhist doctrine and preposterous religious tales in illustration of it. In spite of the tolerance of Buddhism, it was almost impossible for any one to break out of the net-work of metaphysical subtleties which con- stituted the intellectual environment of the nation, and 24 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES to make any start towards real knowledge. With the exception of the drama, perhaps, no advance was made throughout the centuries, in spite of practically universal elementary education among the men. Generation suc- ceeded generation, and century succeeded century, with the barren result that the intellect of the nation was ab- sorbed continuously in spinning intellectual cobwebs, while science remained unborn. To return, however, to the Chinese account of Burma in the ninth century, the men of that time, apparently, objected to wearing silk, as that involves the taking of life. The women, on the other hand, were not so con- scientious, as they threw pieces of delicate silk over themselves, much as they do now. The men have, of course, long followed suit in this respect, and wear silk without scruple. It seems unlikely that the objection on the part of the men was quite so universal even in the ninth century, as is represented. The Burmese wo- man had, evidently, a great deal of freedom even then, as she has always had and has still; but it seems improb- able that she would have defied the whole male conscience of the nation, more especially the conscience of the vener- ated monks, had the male conscience been entirely op- posed to the use of silk. It is difficult to judge, however, as dress is precisely the subject on which women all the world over are least amenable to reason as it appears to men, even to the venerated clergy. The account of the huge white elephant, a hundred feet high, is curious. Mr Parker expresses some doubt as to whether “image ”’ or “elephant ”’ is meant; the two words being identical in sound. Whichever it was, the proceedings in regard to it scarcely conform to strict Buddhist orthodoxy, but various heterodox customs still prevail among the Burmese, and the Buddhism of the HETERODOX CUSTOMS 25 ninth century was admittedly corrupt. Mr Taw Sein Ko says :—'‘ Burmese records relate that, prior to the eleventh century, offerings of wine and meat were made to images of Buddha ; and that it was only in 1555 A.D., that the Hanthawadi Sinbyuyin, the Branginoco of the early European writers, ordered the cessation of the prac- tice of offering to the Nats or deified spirits intoxicants and sacrifices of white buffaloes, white oxen, and white goats. That the Tantric doctrines became part and par- cel of the prevailing system of faith in Burma, is further shewn by the fact that, even at the present day, Nat- worship is not wholly free from licentiousness.”’ It is evident that the Shans had exercised suzerainty over Upper Burma in earlier times, but by the ninth century this had been shaken off to some extent, though then the Nan-chao monarch could still make his power felt, even to the extent of kidnapping three thousand Burmans when he wanted them. Mr Parker’s comments on the reference to Nan-chao are as follows :—‘ Imou- siin was the most in evidence if not the most distinguished of the Nan-chao kings. Kien-nan and K’aichou were both in Sz-ch’wan, or Si-ch’wan, as part of it was then called. Shu-nando, we are told elsewhere, was the King’s heir, and as nandaw means “ palace”’ in modern Bur- mese, it seems not improbable that there may be some attempt in the tri-syllabic word to translate the Chinese words tung-kung or “‘eastern palace’? meaning “ heir- apparent.”’ Governor Sii Kiyu’s Geography states that the envoy on this occasion was one Sih-li-i, the King’s younger brother, so that it is all the more likely that Shunando is not a personal name. Chinese history tells us that Imousiin’s father annexed the dominions of the Pyii, and that his son styled himself Pzao-sin. This word suggests the Burmese Pyu-Sheng, or “ King of the 26 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES Pyii,”’ just as some of the modern Kings styled themselves Hseng-byu-sheng, or “ lords of the white elephant.’”’ Any way it is abundantly clear that during the ninth century, Burma, whatever its size may have been, was, at least so far as its northern portion was concerned, inferior in power to the Shan kingdom of modern Tali-fu, which at one time came very nearly overthrowing the Chinese T’ang dynasty.”’ Very little more is known of the history of Burma up to the close of the tenth century. In Upper Burma the contest with the Shans continued with varying suc- cess, and in religion, the Tantric system, with its immoral professors, the Aris, and the form of Naga-worship, con- tinued to exist side by side with a Buddhism of some- what doubtful orthodoxy. In Arakan and in the Talaing country there were religious troubles too, but springing from a different source. There the struggle was between the Brahmins and the Buddhists, Indian influences being still predominant all along the sea-coast. Fortunately for Burma the Buddhists carried the day, but, though we know the final issue of the struggle, the details have all been lost. The lists of kings who ruled in Arakan and the Talaing country during these centuries is of no interest to anyone, though they may be fairly correct, at least in comparison with the earlier lists, which, in the case of Arakan, profess to take us back to 2666 B.c. | CHAPTER IIL. A.D. IOIO TO 1298 HE eleventh century brought about a great change in the relative positions of the three races which struggled for supremacy in the country. In the year IOIO A.D., Anawrata ascended the throne at Pagan. He was a man of character and determination who set him- self with ardour, both to the reform of religion and to extending the boundaries of his kingdom. In regard to religion he seems to have known that the form of Bud- dhism then prevailing in Upper Burma was corrupt, but he did not know exactly what the true doctrine should be. While he was looking for light, a Talaing missionary arrived from Thaton, the Talaing capital, and expounded religion to the people at Pagan. He had come, he said, because he had heard that the true religion was not known in Pagan. The king sent for him and listened gladly to his message. Here was the guidance he wanted and he became a zealous convert. The false Aris were expelled from the monasteries, and their places were filled by orthodox monks brought from Thaton. The people seem to have acquiesced in this reform, and the orthodoxy established by Anawrata has held its ground to the present day. Even yet, of course, there are ves- tiges of the old pre-Buddhistic Nat-worship in the prac- tices of the people, but theoretically they are all Bud- dhists, orthodox according to the standard laid down 28 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES in the eleventh century by the teachers imported from Thaton, and since Anawrata’s time there has been little or no conscious heresy. The vestiges of Nat-worship which still exist can scarcely be called conscious heresy. Though they are not strictly in accord with Buddhist doctrine, it is doubtful whether the people realise that. In fact, they are simply a survival of very old customs, the non-Buddhistic origin of which has been wholly lost sight of. A layman may easily practice them and yet believe himself to be an orthodox Buddhist. In addition to his thorough reform of religion, King Anawrata carried on an extensive system of conquest. He broke the power of the Shan States in his immediate neighbourhood, wrested from them lands they had seized from the Burmese, and established some sort of suprem- acy over the nearest Shan States. According to Sir Arthur Phayre, individual states of Shan chiefs in the Upper Irrawaddy, still retained independent power ; but from this time those to the south of Bhamo were more or less subordinate to the Burmese monarchy. Further, Anawrata seems to have established an ascendancy, though of a less permanent character, over Arakan. He is said to have made a progress as far as Bengal, though this seems somewhat unlikely. With the Shans still more or less unsubdued, and apt to give trouble near the capital, it would have been risky for the King to be ab- sent for the length of time that a difficult land journey from Pagan to the borders of Bengal would have in- volved. That he did invade Arakan, however, is ad- mitted even by the Arakanese chroniclers. They add that the Shans had invaded Arakan eighteen years before and had proved themselves hard masters, robbing the people and plundering the pagodas. It was when they retired, that Anawrata’s invasion took place, according KING ANAWRATA 29 to the Arakanese chronicles. His object is stated to have been to obtain possession of a famous image of Buddha, which was greatly venerated by the Arakanese. It was only owing to “ supernatural interposition ”’ that he was prevented from carrying away this image. In- directly, this is an admission by the Arakanese that they were quite unable at that time to cope with the Burmese. As an instance of the utterly untrustworthy nature of the dates in these chronicles, it may be mentioned that the Arakanese chronicles place Anawrata’s invasion in the year 995 A.D., whereas, according to the Burmese chronicle, his accession took place in IoIo A.D., and his conversion to orthodox Buddhism came after his acces- sion. He might, possibly, have been sent to invade Arakan before his accession to the throne, but his object then could scarcely have been the sacred image. Anawrata’s religious zeal led him to make war on the Talaings. This showed a want of gratitude to the people who had given him the gift of truth, which, as a Buddhist, he should have regarded as above all other gifts. His whole method of dealing with the Talaings in this unhappy war showed, moreover, that in spite of all his zeal for religion, he had caught nothing of its inner meaning or of the spirit of its founder. It was not an image he wanted from the Talaings, but the Buddhist Scriptures, the Tripitaka. A copy of these existed in Thaton, so he sent an ambassador to ask for a copy. According to the Burmese chronicle, the Talaing King answered haughtily that he would give nothing. Accord- ing to a tradition preserved among the Taungthus, a tribe scattered over parts of Burma, Siam and Cambodia, the Talaing King’s answer to Anawrata was insulting enough to exasperate anyone. It was to the effect that the subjects of the King of Pagan were so exceedingly 30 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES ignorant and wild that a copy of the Scriptures would be wasted on them, as they would not be able to understand it. The haughty answer of the Talaing King, whether or not it took the insulting form preserved in Taungthu tradition, was destined to bring on him a very heavy punishment. King Anawrata was naturally very angry, so he collected a large army and went down the Irrawaddy. Apparently no attempt was made to meet the invaders on the way, but the Talaing capital was surrounded by a wall, and a stout resistance was made there. The Burmese army, however, surrounded the city, and after a long siege, famine compelled the people of Thaton to surrender. The city was utterly destroyed, the records perished, and King Anawrata took not only the sacred books, but images, relics, and treasures of all sorts, away to Pagan. The Talaing King, his wives and children, also the leading Talaings were taken as captives to the Burmese capital, and there degraded to the posi- tion of pagoda slaves. Artificers and scholars were also carried off in numbers, but their lot was happier, as they were not reduced to the absolutely hopeless position of pagoda slaves. They lost their liberty, no doubt, but their work was to teach the Burmese what they knew, more especially pagoda building, and in time their chil- dren would be free, even if the original captives did not attain freedom in their own lifetime. It was a crushing defeat that Anawrata inflicted on the Talaings, and it is no wonder that he is the great hero of the Burmese people. When he ascended the throne at Pagan his rule extended over a limited area only on either side of the Upper Irrawaddy. The Shan States in the neighbourhood were quite independent, and, at times, were inclined to oppress the Burmese. Anawrata altered all this, won back territory that had THE QUEST OF RELICS su been taken by the Shans, reduced some Shan States to vassalage, and altogether changed the relative positions of Shan and Burman. By extending his sway over Ara- kan and the Talaing country also, he brought under one rule, for the first time, an extent of country corres- ponding very much to modern Burma. In those days of imperfect communications, his rule over the outlying parts of his empire amounted, no doubt, to little more than the exaction of tribute, but his supremacy was ac- knowledged throughout the country now known as Bur- ma, excepting the Shan States which lie at a considerable distance from the Irrawaddy. Having obtained everything he wanted from the Talaings, King Anawrata next set his heart on obtaining a tooth of Buddha, which had been imported into China some centuries earlier. This, however, was a larger order than taking the Tripitaka from the Talaings. Not only was China more powerful than the Talaing kingdom, but it was more remote, and Yunnan, which was still inde- pendent of China, had to be passed through. The Bur- mese chronicles record a meeting between the Burmese King and the Emperor of China, and add that though the former did not get the tooth he wanted, he brought away a golden image which had been sanctified by direct con- tact with the holy tooth. This, however, is pure in- vention. It is certain that Anawrata never got further than a part of Yunnan, called in the Burmese chronicles Gundalarit, and never met the Emperor of China at all. If he got a golden image it must have been one from the Shan States, and one that had probably never been near the sacred tooth. He did, however, bring home a new wife. According to Sir Arthur Phayre, “ on his return to his own kingdom, while passing through the Shan State of Moa, he married the daughter of the chief ; and 32 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES the romantic events which led to the marriage, together with the trials through which the bride passed, and her final triumphs over the plots of jealous rivals, are repre- sented in a drama which is one of the most popular on the Burmese stage.” King Anawrata made yet two other attempts to pro- cure holy relics for Pagan. A forehead bone of Buddha was said to be enshrined in a pagoda near Prome, so he demolished this pagoda in order to bring this relic to be deposited in the Shwezigon pagoda which he was building at Pagan. Here, too, he was disappointed, as, “in con- sequence of the sin he had committed in destroying the original pagoda, or from some other hidden cause,” that holy relic had disappeared. He then sent to Ceylon to try and obtain the famous tooth-relic enshrined there, but was forced to content himself with what was said to be a miraculous emanation from the holy tooth. To us in the twentieth century, these quests of holy relics seem simply ridiculous, but in the eleventh cen- tury men everywhere looked at them from a totally different point of view. King Anawrata’s energy in try- ing to obtain them shows the man’s character. He was equally energetic in what we consider more practical directions, as is proved by the way in which he extended his empire. Burma has seen few kings as capable as he, and his figure stands out more prominently, in spite of the lapse of centuries, than that of any other king who has ever ruled in the country. According to the Burmese chronicle he reigned for forty-two years, and, died in the year 1052 A.D. The immediate successors of Anawrata seem to have been fairly capable, and to have maintained the suprem- acy in the country which he had won. The first of them had to put down a rebellion in Pegu, the new capital ANAWRATA‘S SUCCESSORS 33 of the Talaing country, but this rebellion was headed by the Burmese governor, whom the king had appointed, and when he was killed in battle, the Talaing revolt ceased. The crushing defeat they had sustained at the hands of Anawrata had taken the spirit out of them so completely that several generations had to pass before they gathered sufficient courage for a national revolt. Over Arakan the supremacy was less complete. Before the close of the eleventh century, a usurper seized the throne of Arakan, killing the king, who was tributary to Pagan. The son of the murdered king, however, es- caped to Pagan, and remained there in exile for twenty- five years. At the end of that time, the reigning king of Pagan, Anawrata’s great-grandson, determined to re- store the rightful heir to the throne of Arakan. He sent a large army of both Burmese and Talaings, and effected the restoration in the year 1103 A.D., though the usurper made a stubborn resistance. This incident is not men- tioned in either the Burmese or the Arakanese chronicles, but is recorded on a stone slab at Buddha Gaya, in con- nection with repairs to the temple made by the restored king of Arakan, in fulfilment of an engagement he had made with the king of Pagan. About a century later an invasion of Burma took place which is recorded in the annals of Ceylon, but of which the Burmese chroniclers make no mention. The King of Ceylon was in the habit of maintaining an agent at Pegu. He is called an ambassador, but as his resi- dence was at Pegu, the capital of the conquered Talaing country only, instead of at Pagan, he was probably more ofa trading agent than an ambassador. The King of Bur- ma, however, defrayed his expenses, it being the Burmese custom thus to provide for the representatives of foreign powers. Early in the thirteenth century, however, the D 34 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES King of Burma took it into his head to stop the usual payments, to seize some Singhalese ships, then in Burmese waters, and to commit other offences towards subjects of the King of Ceylon. The latter promptly sent an army to avenge these wrongs; the Burmese were beaten and a tribute of elephants promised. The Sing- halese version may somewhat exaggerate the facts, but the complete silence of the Burmese historians proves that the incident scarcely redounded to the credit of Burma. When they could not twist a discreditable in- cident into a creditable one, they suppressed it alto- gether. During the two centuries immediately following the death of Anawrata, the main energies of the Burmese people seem to have been devoted to pagoda building. The ruins of Pagan at the present day prove with what energy this was carried on. No other capital of Burma, either before or after, can have approached the magnifi- cence of Pagan in the day of her greatness. Her ruins are still the most impressive spectacle in the country. If one climbs to the top of one of the pagodas, one sees ruined pagodas in every direction, pagodas of every shape and every size, and there is practically nothing else in sight but these remains of the religious zeal of Anawrata and his successors. Of the secular buildings not a trace remains, though there must have been a very consider- able population. The palace of the King, the monas- teries of the monks, and the dwellings of the people have all disappeared, leaving not a trace behind. Nothing is left but countless pagodas, ranging from the mag- nificent Ananda pagoda down to the most ordinary small pagoda, such as is to be found in every Burmese village. The captive Talaings were the first teachers in pagoda building, but there is every reason to believe that help Avjppunpy ‘sjanmuws «py 49 yf~v1sojoyd NvOVd ‘Vd09Vd VONVNV * r "Exh ie ee eee 3 || ie nce omc) eae 2 bl _— s 7 = > int a —_ : , @ DoE ; r é ? a € ae . ‘ 7 5 re’ } | | t a ie = a - 4 , | ° a ; ine @ » ’ - : j 3 : * —_. . ' . ‘ '@ ‘ : — : b, : | 4 7 - . i) i i \ ' i abel! : & iy q 4 . 2 * a ¢ . . a4 ‘ ‘ . - | i. * ty 4 7 = ‘ . > ' = . , 7 i & i- { We, r ‘ot o 7 - ' an A 5 - ‘go _ bP -_ 4 i 4 = ] s re: - IN DEFENCE OF HEARTH AND HOME 185 almost every village supporting its own pastor and school- master. They have learned to act in unison in matters affecting their own welfare, even those who have not accepted Christianity joining the Christians in such mat- ters. They have learnt, too, that death is not the worst evil in the world, and they were ready to die, if need be, in defence of their hearths and homes. This they proved afterwards, for when they did eventually get arms, the dacoits were never able to take these so long as the Karen owners lived. But the British officials did not realise this, and were as much taken aback by the demand of the Karens as if a rabbit had suddenly sprung up and demanded arms. In his book, “ The Loyal Karens of Burma,’’ pub- lished in 1887, Mr Smeaton, an Indian civilian, who served for very many years in Burma, says :—‘‘ The wave of lawlessness and rebellion which swept over Lower Burma immediately after the Mandalay campaign, and which has not yet subsided, was foreseen and foretold by one of the leading Karen missionaries. He warned the authorities that danger was brewing in our own prov- ince, and offered to raise a Karen contingent which would keep the rebels in check. The local authorities, how- ever, appear to have ignored the danger, and refused the offer with something akin to a sneer, with what re- sults we now know. Until, in sheer despair, the Karens rose to defend their own hearths and homes, the Burmese rebels and robbers had it all their own way. Troops could not penetrate the dense jungles; and the Bur- mese police were cowardly where they were not disloyal. The Karens are splendid forest trackers and ruthless pur- suers. When they rose vengeance was swift. They tracked the raiders to their hiding places, attacked and routed them, hunted the fugitives from jungle to jungle, 186 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES and cleared the frontier. There can be no question that, with the peace of the entire province at stake, it would have been the boldest and the best policy to array the loyal Karens, at the very outset, against the rebel bands. A body of five thousand Karen skirmishers, with General Prendergast’s invading force, would have cut off the re- treat of the Burmese troops, and would have checked the irruption of armed bands into Lower Burma. Much of the anarchy which has disgraced our rule would thus have been prevented. The story of the deeds and sufferings of the Karens in defence of the Queen-Empress’s Govern- ment in Burma is a deeply interesting one, and deserves an honoured place in the records of the Empire ”’ Mr Smeaton gives some letters from Dr Vinton, an American missionary, written in 1886, which show how little the officials in Lower Burma really did to utilise the services of the Karens. The following extracts will give an idea of the whole :— “May 15th. I have been driven to my wits’ end to protect my villages. I have been dacoit-hunting literally all the time, and paying my own expenses. _ Dis- couragement and officialism have just worn my patience thin. The only comfort I have is that I have succeeded in protecting my villages. You may judge of the en- couragement our Karens have received by the fact that three Karens have been arrested for murder, and two actually tried. Their only crime was that they had bravely defended themselves and villages when attacked. “ August 2nd. We arestill hampered to death, to get arms to buy. Just ona technical point the other day I was refused permission to distribute a hundred guns I had got out for the Karens. I am now one thousand guns short of making the Karen tracts safe. I showed a high official yesterday, by evidence which even he THE LOYAL KARENS 187 accepted as correct, that floods of ammunition and arms were pouring across the Maulmain frontier from Siam for the dacoits. Loyal Karens were the only men to be harassed. Dacoits could get cheap and abundant rifles of the most improved American patterns. The Karen alone must pay three times ordinary prices for guns more dangerous to him than to the dacoits. Even this failed to break the spell which the apotheosis of red tape has cast over all Burma. “August 17th. Had a Karen battalion marched due north from Toungoo, with a British force with them on carts, every Burmese soldier could have been disarmed and killed or captured. As it was, the arms which Sladen failed to take away were used against us. The ammuni- tion and rifles were sent down even to Rangoon for sale. I have seen and handled them myself. x In the first days of the rebellion I was talking with Gey and he laughed at me when I told him I would like no- thing better than to raise and command a Karen corps. After spending months with sepoys and these very levies, and seeing the Karens charge, firing one volley, and throwing down their guns and going to close quarters with their huge cleavers, C— came and apologised, saying he was wrong to sneer at men who could fight like that. No one had gauged the unifying power of Christianity, or guessed that these loose grains of sand (the clans) had been welded into a terrible weapon. Men will fight when they know they are solzd, and no traitors among them. “August 24th. To illustrate the case of thousands, I mention one whom I helped yesterday. After three months hanging round Government offices, begging for a permit which the Chief Commiss oner had peremptorily ordered, he got his permit. More than a month has the 188 BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES poor wretch been hanging round Rangoon to get a‘ per- mission to purchase.’ Yesterday I happened to go into the town magistrate’s office, and, of course, a few words of vigorous Yankee dialect (I was too mad to talk Eng- lish) got me the required papers. The poor fellow cried like a child, and knelt before me (you know how much a Karen must feel to do this). He had been a prisoner to the dacoits, and a cross was made for his crucifixion. The dacoits took pains to make the cross Christian, and not Burmese pattern, and he only escaped when the moment had arrived for his crucifixion. He had no idea of escaping with his life, but hoped to win an easier death than crucifixion. He had three shots fired at him within six feet, and plunged through the entire gang, cutting and hacking at him with their swords. This man had served in the field under my own eye in the most gallant manner, and yet this was the treatment he had received from your British idol of red tape!” These extracts give an idea of the state Lower Bur- ma was thrown into after the collapse 6f the Burmese monarchy. Dr Vinton speaks bitterly, no doubt, but he had good reason for feeling somewhat bitter at the treat- ment accorded to the Karens by the Government. It is quite true also that the work done by the American Baptist Mission among the Karens had not been properly appreciated before. In spite of all that the Karens did in 1886, it is doubtful whether that work is properly appreciated even now, nearly a quarter of a century later. Whether one sympathises with missionary work or not, there is no denying the fact that this particular piece of missionary work is amply justified by its results. Of course, it started under particularly favourable auspices. The traditions of the Karens made them ready to accept Christianity, and the missionaries have shown great Nt eee Appwirwravy 7, ‘worssipy wsidvg uvoicautpy ‘japyscvyy *f “Ey ‘2a AQ Yfv150JoYy f HOVTTA NHYVY NIVINQOW V $$$. $ el le pe WEE Te eo epee my, | a a Lawes. ae i an ee ete al = etm oS 7 =» ot a — ete co os | > ao fs prod - Cae ee 1 ee ye & y . ; ¥ \-> Gal 6G e. : ine of : ao ® = . ' : » =“ ! i] L) ; : == y i - i - '. 4 5 i ad ty : so ) =f ‘ ‘ | ‘ - «4 1 x . = > i 7 ! ‘1. : Ls me 6 oh) 4 ' a a ee =F). ee | ae ok en RESULTS OF SETTLED ORDER 189 wisdom and tact in their dealings with these converts. They have fostered the idea of Karen nationality, have taught them that they are as good as the Burmese, and, under British law, have equal rights with anyone else. In a word, in a generation or two they have been changed from hunted savages into civilised men and women, lead- ing orderly, cleanly and God-fearing lives. The unrest in Lower Burma was gradually put down, and with the pacification of Upper Burma and the Shan States, the trade of the country as a whole began to expand rapidly. By the end of the century there is no doubt that the people throughout the length and breadth of Burma were much better off in every way than they had ever been before. It was possible for every one who was honest and industrious to earn a fairly comfortable living, and his life and property were far more secure than they had ever been before. How far the people realise what they have gained is open to question. Many of them do so, no doubt, more especially those whose in- dustry and intelligence have enabled them to acquire considerable wealth. But among every people probably there is a considerable residue whose want of thrift, of self-control, and of industry, unfit them for industrial success, and among the Burmese this element is by no means lacking. Such persons often think that under different conditions they would have done better. The unsuccessful man is apt to think that under such a gov- ernment as that of the Burmese Kings, he would have been able to rise to wealth and power. He is probably quite wrong in this supposition. It is more likely that he would have been infinitely worse off than he is now But it is impossible to prove this to him. What is certain is that in the time of the Burmese Kings the un- successful in Lower Burma did not migrate in any number Igo BURMA THROUGH THE CENTURIES to Upper Burma. Then the risks and the penalties of failure in Upper Burma were too clearly in evidence. One might rise to be a powerful minister, but it was much more likely that one would remain in abject poverty. While the choice between Burmese and British rule was open, the migration was all the other way, the only migration to Upper Burma being that of those who had brought themselves within reach of the English criminal law. To them, the Burmese King’s territory was a con- venient haven of refuge, and they preferred to take the risks of poverty, of oppression, and of sudden death there, to facing the certainty of imprisonment if they remained in British territory. Now, however, the drawbacks of Burmese rule are apt to be forgotten. A generation has grown up which has never known them, and even those who can remem- ber what Burmese rule really was, are apt to forget the disagreeble parts of it. They remember only that, under it, Burmans could rise to the highest offices of State, and that the road to success was less arduous, involving qualities somewhat different from the plodding industry and steady thrift which are necessary for success under British rule. All life was more of a gamble in fact, and the average Burman dearly loves a gamble of any kind. In addition to the discontent of those who dislike steady industry, and would prefer the short cuts to wealth and power which a less stable rule afforded, there is, probably, also a considerable amount of sentimental regret at the overthrow of the Burmese monarchy. Had it been possible to retain a King in Upper Burma under British control, the Burmese would have been gratified. But this course would certainly have greatly complicated the situation. What between French intrigues in Mandalay and chaos reigning throughout Upper Burma and the BRITISH RULE Igt Shan States, the task was hard enough as it was without having a King to complicate matters. Moreover, the house of Alompra was most unpromising material to work on. They seemed never to learn anything by ex- perience, and they would certainly have chafed under tutelage. A chafing and intriguing King might have proved much more difficult to deal with than such dis- content as we have to face now, which, after all, is mainly on the part of the least orderly part of the population. With the spread of education and the continuance of established law and order, we may safely count on this disorderly element being steadily reduced, while the growing number of those who have acquired wealth must steadily increase the forces on the side of British rule. The Burmese may have some sentimental regret at the overthrow of the Burmese monarchy, but no man who has any property at stake can seriously wish to have it restored. The British Government gives them secu- rity of life and property, and this they never had under a Burmese King, and certainly would not have were the Burmese monarchy restored. With the growing pros- perity of the country, wealth is being very widely dis- tributed among the best elements of the people, and, un- less our rulers blunder badly, there is no reason to fear for the future. All that is needed is to steadily main- tain law and order, to administer even-handed justice to all, and to leave the people alone as much as possible to develop in their own way. Possibly the greatest danger lies in well-meaning enthusiasts of all kinds, who want to play the part of an earthly Providence, and who think that they can abrogate Nature’s salutary laws. Their idea is to bolster up the unfit, with consequences which are apt to prove disastrous. Such men are to be found in the House of Commons, where they often do 194 INDEX B Buddhaghosa ite ie Y Jk He a 14 Buddhism .. ; * se as ay oa Patt Buddhist Aieoreriee oF ai ; : 4, 19;;08 Buddhist Monks .. 7 20, 22, 54, 61, 85, 109 Bundula ih af ‘* ore ue ae 116-126 Bureng Naung <5 Af a os oa a 45-59 Burmese Era es Z “ps a Mm od 17, 18 Burmese Missions to mdi ae 3 ps 105, 154 Burmese Race a zs “p rd és 10, 112; I9 Burney, Major i & ae “fs te 1324134 CG Cachar aah a age ae hee a: ae 116 Cambodians ; a Se a ‘ P. 2 Campbell, Sir Archibald oe 119-130 Ceylon se re * on 14, 32-34, 55, 57, 58, 105 Cheduba yp es oy me x 11g Chindwin .. i) Ae we 4 4, 17 Chinese Influences 29s ar ws re 5, 12, 10@is Chinese Invasions .. oe », ah 37, 72, 95, 170 Cotton, General -.. ie a a ate ao 125 Crisps vir sae’. % is a. Re bs 196,337 D Dalhousie, Lord .. wh a me 2. 149,17 545055 Dianga oh uF ar a ate he a 67-69 Donabyu -. 2. ie a ee sie — 124, 125 Dufferin, Lord as ue ea a. i AN 176 Dutehant Burma. - re sab gi A: ois) | Gayeetan E Embassies to Burmese Court... : = IOI-I103, 155 Emigration from Burma ome 102, 152, 153, 174,004 English in Burma LS 81-85, 87-89, 92, 136, 137 F Fitch, Ralph as 5 aE +s a 4B 62 Fredericke, Cesar .. eS ae es De ; chee French in Burma .. a fe re 81-85, 170, I7I i a i i it Garnier Godwin, General Gonzales, Sebastian Gray, Mr Head-hunting Heresy Hill, Major Indian Influences .. Judson, Mr Junkseylon .. Karens Kemmindine Khyinbran Kin Wun Mingyi Kublai Khan Kyaukmyaung Kyaukpadaung Lambert, Commodore Leal, Mr Limbin Prince Maha Dhamma Raja Mahamuni Image .. Malwun Mandalay Manipur Martaban INDEX 195 18 145-151 68-70 4 3 14,085.25, oe 2TP 255) 50 : : 150 QA eo mit el 5 Lomo I0O RO e/a 2 ils 2 lol mE OA LOO ied ; 104 158, 159 0,71 07330 133 II 65-67, 71 : 98 128 155 88, 93, 115, 116 2, 40, 41, 42, 46, 60, 61, 145, 146 196 Maulmain Mengtara Buddha Kethi 3 Mergui Mhén, Maung Mi Hkingyi Miles, Colonel Mindon Min Mingun Bell Mingun Pagoda Min Khamaung Mon-Khmer Race .. Myanaung Myingun Prince Nan-chao Nanda Bureng Napadi Naungdawgyi Negrais Negrito Race Nerini, Father Noratha Ok, Maung Pagan Pagan Min Pagodas Palaungs z Pallegoix, Bishop .. Panya Parker, Mr .. Pegu Phayre, Sir Arthur Portuguese in Burma INDEX 3; °32,9393, 443 45) 46, 47, 50, 5, 42, 136 -- ia 5, 120, 130 138-141 162-165 : 120 140, I4I, 151-158 106 106-109 65, 69, 70 2,4 ; 81 177, 178, 179 ZT on 59-61 128 91-93 80 87, 88, 89, 119 I 5 gI 136, 137, 245 29: 27s S30 3s ie 37 Leys Dat 21, 34, 35, 36 3 8 39 18, 20, 24, 25 61, 71, 85-87, 149, 150 4, 18, 28, 61, 155 45, ees 48-50, 59, 63-70, 81, 100 INDEX 197 i Powny, Capt. a i A s as tral O38 04 Prendergast, General ss a = ae a 175 Price Dray..é 2 Fis oe Ae oe 129 Prome ies peek) Rub Et £11409) 4 7,150.05 .270 rn co R Rangoon dy ae Ay: ef ies ST LILO eT O 5140 Relics si 8 eae oe oa Me Sly aes 7 Ribeyro, Salvador ee vi 7s te z 63-64 > Sagaing aA ae Pi Af be = ALE BOF. 4 Salween et a Ae is a> mi os 130 Sandford, Mr $3 ru we he aes foe 129 Sangermano, Father ye i. ay a 95, 107-114 meotemoilsGeorge: . - a ah fh es 180, 182 Shans ie ce SOG ahi at 2 gl 5.10, 2h 26, 28, 30, 39, 40, 41, ee 50, Ga Eas 182 Shwebo ae Ae ‘ : - a i | Shwe Dagon Tapods a OL 9Ou 4? Siam 2G ORAL eA, hah 53-55, 60. GTS O70, 633595,,100s180 7131 Silk Clothes.. ne Sah fa ae ye 20,224 Sinbyushin .. ae of a oe crs as 93-96 Singu Min ue on af Ae oy ae OOO Smeaton, Mr is re AS oe 6, 185, 186 Soarez, James uss 4 ie a. he ae Oe AO Supayalat, Queen hgh ie he 158-173 Syriam a 3s Res a 61, Ge 67, 81-85, 132 rhs Tabeng Shwehti.. is ae ae * -» 45-49 Tagaung.. ie fe + a Sk g-II, 19 Taingda-Wungyi .. wt ay a bg Ae 1703176 Tat Race? —2: is Pa : 8 Talaban a a vist 6, oe 79, R03 85, 86, 92 Talaings 2, 4, 12, 14, 19, 29, 30, 33, 39, 39, 49 54, O1, 64, 72, 73, 76, 83, 85, 86, 96, 98, 132, 147, 148 198 T’ang history Taungthus .. Taungu Tavoy Taw Sein Ko, Mr .. Taydks Tenasserim Tharrawaddy Thaton Thibaw Thinga Raja Tibet Tripitaka Vinton, Dr. Wareru Was ers Yunnan Zimmé Yandabu, Treaty of INDEX Vv 20, 26 e als ay 29 43-46, 49, 61, 65, 92, 127 5, 42,,61, 120jerae 5, 10; toes 9 3°42, 120 eae 132-135 29, 30 156-173 17-19 10 14, 29 186-188 41, 43 3, 4, 5, 12 129, 131 a 130 5, 8-10, 16 52-54, 92 Some Important Works on India. A GERMAN STAFF OFFICER IN INDIA: being impressions of the Travels of an Officer of the German General Staff through the Peninsula. By Count HANs von KaenicsMarck, Major in the Dragoons of Bredow and Captain on the General Staff of the German Army. With thirty-two full-page illustrations from Original photographs. Royal 8vo., net tos. 6d. INDIA IN PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. By A. Lituir. With numerous illustrations. Demy 8vo. 15s. BARTH, A. Religions of India. Translated by the Rev. J. Woop. Fourth Edition. Post 8vo. 16s. ( 7rtibner’s Oriental Series. ) BOSE, P. N. A History of Hindu Civilization during British Rule. 3 vols. 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