History of Burma

A HISTORY OF BURMA MAUNG HTIN AUNG Located on the western edge of the huge peninsula formerly called Indo-China and now known as mainland southeast Asia, and bordering on three Asian giants -China, India, and Pakistan-Burma has historically served as a gateway to the southeast and to China. In early history, when the sea was considered more dan gerous than land, trade between India and Indo-China and China was carried on .-. through Burma. Even after the sea route . , had come into general use, ships did not ... venture out into the sea but preferred to hug the coast; they were blown toward the Burmese coast by the southwest mon soon and were sped back to India and Ceylon by the northeast monsoon. Although Burma, slightly larger than France and with a population of only 24 million, is a small country compared to her three large neighbors, she has, because of her unique geographical position, often played the role of leader among her other neighbors. Burma transmitted Buddhism from India to southeast Asia and later became the champion of this faith in the region. Burma has of ten taken upon herself the enormous task of shielding southeast (Continued on back flap) A History of Burma •• A HISTORY OF BURMA by Maung Htin Aung Columbia University Press New York and London 1967 Maung Htin Aung was the Rector of the University of Rangoon, 194Cr1958. He is the author of Burmese Drama (Oxford University Press, 1937), Burmese Folk-Tales (Ox ford, 1948), Burmese Law Tales (Oxford, 1962), Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism (Oxford, 1962), The Stricken Peacock: Anglo-Burmese Relations 1752-1948 (Martinus Nijhoff, 1965), Burmese Monk's Tales (Columbia University Press, 1966), and Epistles Written on Eve of Anglo-BW"'lftese War (Nijhoff, 1967). Copyright© 1967 Columbia University Press Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-25964 Printed in the United States of America To the memory of my great-great-grandfather, Maha Minh/a Mindin Raza, and of my eldest brother, U Tin Tut Preface There is a Burmese f olktale that tells of a magic .mirror in which a person sees only what he wishes to see. History is such a mirror; and a historian, however much he attempts to be objective and detached, often finds that he cannot completely overcome his human frailties of prejudice and preference. The reader therefore may find that this history of Burma gives too flattering a picture of the Burmese people. Nonetheless, it seems obvious that a nation which has pre served its identity, its social institutions, and its religion for nearly two thousand years, although hemmed in on all sides by other larger ones with different cultures and traditions, surely must possess some enduring qualities of character. In order that the reader may become acquainted with views of Burmese history different from mine, I have given in Appendix III of this book detailed references to the works of two eminent writers on southeast Asian history. The reader is invited to read in that appendix the opening paragraphs, in which I explain the nature, scope, and limitations of my book. The writing of this book was planned in 1959, when after I had retired from the service of the University of Rangoon it ap peared that I was to lead a life of leisure. Professor U E Maung, his wife (my sister) Daw Mya Mu, and the late U Po Lat, Director of Archaeology, were to have collaborated with me. I received an appointment in the Burmese Diplomatic Service, however, and viii Preface accordingly left Rangoon. Had it been possible for them to be joint authors of this book with me, the chapters on the ancient kingdoms of Prome and Pagan would have been fuller because of their great knowledge of the Burmese inscriptions. The book was begun in the academic year 1964-1965 in the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, while I was a visiting professor there, continued in 1965-1966 at Wake Forest College, and completed in the summer of 1966 at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Brockport, and Oswego. I take this opportunity to thank my various friends and colleagues at these institutions for their many courtesies. MAUNG HT1N AuNG Winston-Salem, North Carolina June 1967 Contents Chapter I. Burma in Southeast Asia 1 II. Early Kingdoms: The Mons and the Pyus 5 III. The Kingdom of Pagan and the First Burmese Empire 30 IV. The Decline of Pagan and the Mongol Intrusion 63 V. Ava against Pegu; Shan against Mon 84 VI. The Second Burmese Empire 104 VII. The Decline of Bayinnaung's Empire 128 VIII. Alaungpaya and the Third Burmese Empire 157 IX. Burma on the Eve of the English Wars 194 X. The British Intrusion in Burma, 1824-1852 2 1 o XL The British Conquest of Burma, 1885 233 XII. The Regaining of Independence, 1886-1948 266 Postscript. Burma after 1948: A Dialogue between the Editor and the Author 309 x Contents A� L Ottonologieal Table II. Llsts of Kings, 1044-188s 335 m. Bibliographical Notes 341 lndez 351 A History of Burma D l I ·�\ .A. \ . - - '� 1y of 6 (J .. If j] ,, a/ II PRfP\R.., I • (£ ) / An.ta 1 1 r I (i ·"f ] (J f s i .; 111 I Burma in Southeast Asia Burma lies on the ·western edge of that huge peninsula that used to be known as lndo-China and is now called mainland southeast Asia. Surrounded on three sides by mountains and on the fourth by sea, Burma forms a distinct geographical unit. By both southeast Asian and European standards it is a large country-about the same size as Thailand or France, but by American standards it is small, being no larger than the state of Texas and having a population of only 24 million. Shaped like a diamond, but with a "tail" attached, its greatest width is 600 miles and its length 800 miles plus the 500 representing the "tail." As in other southeast Asian countries, the mountains and rivers in Burma run from north to south. The Irra waddy river divides the country in two and its valley constitutes the real heartland. The Chindwin river in the west and the Salween in the east run parallel to the Irrawaddy, but after flowing south ward for some three hundred miles the Chindwin turns southeast and joins the Irrawaddy. The Salween river, after flowing through Yun nan, bisects the eastern part of Burma and at a certain point forms the political boundary between Burma and Thailand. The climate of Burma is classed as tropical monsoon. It has three definite and regular seasons, the hot dry season from March to May, the rainy season from May to October, and the cool dry season from November to February. This climate is d�termined by the 2 Burma m Southeast Asia monsoon winds, which blow from land to sea for half· of the year and then change their direction and blow from sea to land. All over the country rainfall is heavy except in the central region, known as the dry zone, where the annual rainfall is less than 30 inches. Dense forests cover the mountain slopes, and as in other southeast Asian countries wet rice cultivation is practiced in the valleys and dry rice cultivation on the hills. This cultivation of rice has been the basis of both the culture and the economy of Burma. The mountain barriers have kept Burma separate from her neighbors, but it was from beyond the northern mountains that suc cessive migratory waves of Tibeto-Burmese tribes came into the country. Five thousand years ago there were stone-age people living in the valley of the Irrawaddy whose primitive culture was unique enough to earn the name Anyarthian from anthropologists, but whether they died out or merged with the newcomers of historical times cannot be known. In addition, it is possible that Negritto tribes were the first to settle in Burma as they were in neighboring coun tries. However, when the first migration of Mongolians took place, centuries before the beginning of the Christian Era, Burma was al most unaffected because she was merely on the fringe of the area hit by the Mongols. They were the Proto and Deutro Malays, and their original home was probably the region which is now southern China. West of that region lived people speaking languages belong ing to the group called Austro-Asiatic by anthropologists and stu dents of linguistics. These Austro-Asiatic people moved southward, but unlike the Malays who had gone by sea they followed the great Mekong river. Of these people, the Khmers formed the eastern wing of the movement and came to occupy what is now Laos and Cambodia. The Mons formed the west wing and settled in the region that is now Thailand. The third migration of Mongolians affected Burma rather than the other parts of the lndo-Chinese peninsula; these were the Tibeto-Burmese from the southeastern slopes of the Tibetan mountains. Whereas the reason for the migra tions of the Malays and the Mon-khmers could be only conjectured, 3 Burma in Soutbeast Asia there is evidence that the Tibeto-Burmese migrations were for politi cal reasons. The two kingdoms of Tibet and China were locked in bitter rivalry, and the Tibeto-Burmese were hemmed in between them. They had reached the same level of culture as the Tibetans and the Chinese of the time, but they considered their independence and social institutions to be more valuable than their material cul ture, and accordingly they fled from their homeland.

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