Pagan: the Origins of Modern Burma

Pagan Ananda Temple, Pagan ii Pagan THE ORIGINS OF MODERN BURMA Michael Aung-Thwin Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. Licensed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 In- ternational (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits readers to freely download and share the work in print or electronic format for non-commercial purposes, so long as credit is given to the author. Derivative works and commercial uses require per- mission from the publisher. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. The Cre- ative Commons license described above does not apply to any material that is separately copyrighted. Open Access ISBNs: 9780824880088 (PDF) 9780824880095 (EPUB) This version created: 17 May, 2019 Please visit www.hawaiiopen.org for more Open Access works from University of Hawai‘i Press. © 1985 University of Hawaii Press All Rights Reserved To Maria, Maitrii, and Amita Contents Maps ix Figures ix Tables ix A Note on Romanization x Acknowledgments xi INTRODUCTION Pagan’s Place in Burmese and Southeast Asian Studies 1 PART I Components of the Indigenous Conceptual System 13 1 The Historical Framework 15 2 Beliefs About Man and His World 30 3 Political Ideology: Conceptions of Kingship 47 PART II The Institutional Context: Organization of Human and Material Resources 69 4 The Division of Socioeconomic Groups 71 5 The Administration of Material Resources 97 6 The Articulation of Social Behavior: Justice, Hierarchy, and the Law 115 7 The Arrangement of Political Power 128 PART III The Effects of Beliefs and Institutions on Events 165 8 The Economic Implications of the Merit-Path to Salvation 167 9 The Decline of Pagan 182 CONCLUSION The Significance of Pagan to Burmese and Southeast Asian History 200 vii Contents Abbreviations 213 Notes 214 Glossary 268 Selected Bibliography 271 About the Author 283 viii Maps Map 1 Urbanized Sites 18 Map 2 Burma and the Kingdom of Pagan 101 Map 3 Central Burma and “Frontier” Settlements 102 Map 4 Location of Pagan Temples 177 Figures Figure 1 List of Kings 22 Figure 2 Combined Social, Administrative, and Political Structure 72 Figure 3 Political Structure 130 Figure 4 Genealogy Chart 155 Figure 5 Donations in Twenty-Five-Year and Fifty-Year Periods 188 Tables Table 1 Donations to the Saṅgha During the Pagan Dynasty 186 Table 2 Major Irrigation Works 191 ix A Note on Romanization Except for certain commonly used names and terms such as Kyaukse, Narapatisithu, and Narathihapade, Burmese words follow what is called “standard transliteration” in John Okell, A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese. “Standard phonetic transcription” without diacritics, however, is used for names and terms that appear in the post-Pagan period, such as Alaunghpaya and Bodawhpaya. Where inconsistencies in spelling exist in the inscriptions themselves, I have not at- tempted to correct them, for that in itself may be significant to scholars of language. Pali words follow A. P. Buddhadatta’s Concise Pali-English Dictionary, unless they too are spelled dif- ferently in the inscriptions, in which case the latter is given. Sanskrit words follow those found in A. L. Basham’s index in The Wonder That Was India (New York, 1959). x Acknowledgments There are certain people who have sparked my imagination at critical points in my life who are never forgotten. If one were to thank only those who were responsible directly for helping me publish this book, those who have inspired me intellectually who perhaps deserve that recognition even more would never be recognized. And although in a scholarly work most people may not wish to see a list of high school basketball coaches as part of the Acknowledgments, there is one person at Kodaikanal School in south India whom I wish to thank. One boring morning in seventh or eighth grade, Mr. George Fisher, off the top of his head, got onto the subject of continental drift theories. Although there were occasions thereafter at Kodai when I was intellectually stimulated, I do not remember attaining the height of excitement I reached then. Several years later at a small liberal arts college, Doane, in Crete, Nebraska, I was again stimulated intellectually, this time in a sustained manner and in the discipline of history, by Professor Kenneth Rossman, whose field was actually an aspect of the American Revolution. It was he and the four years under his stern but extremely caring discipline that made me choose history as a career. During my first year as a graduate student at the University of Illinois, another person, this time in Southeast Asian anthropology, the well-known F. K. Lehman, inspired me to take the direction I was to take, namely, the history of the country of my origins, Burma. At the Uni- versity of Michigan where I received my doctorate, several pro- fessors were instrumental in helping me attain my goals: John Whitmore, my advisor, probably the most patient man I have ever met, who in addition to putting up with us read each of our papers at least twice; Pete (Alton) Becker, who always found something positive in my ideas, even if it took years thereafter for me to discover what he really meant; Tom Trautmann, who actually scared me with his absolutely unmuddled mind and xi Acknowledgments was a model of clarity that I am still attempting to emulate; Norman Owen, who fortunately forced me to consider quantifi- cation as a legitimate part of historical methodology, though at the time I resented it; and at the University of London where I spent an academic year of research, John Okell, without whose selfless attitude about giving his time and sharing his superior knowledge of Burmese, I would not have been able to learn to read Old Burmese so quickly. Lastly I would like to thank my friends and colleagues: those who kept me accountable, such as Vic Lieberman; those who criticized the manuscript, such as U Bokay of Pagan and David Wyatt of Cornell; those who care- fully and patiently advised me on the technical aspects of the manuscript, as Damaris Kirchhofer, editor at the University of Hawaii Press, did; and those many scholars of Southeast Asia, whose company alone meant intellectual excitement that in- variably found its way into this book. In addition to these individuals who were critical to my intellectual development, I wish to thank the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, the University of Michigan, which provided me with part of the funds that allowed me that es- sential year in London, and especially the JDR 3rd Fund, which supported my research and travel at the same time. The Social Science Research Council/American Council for Learned Soci- eties supported me with over a year and a half of postdoctoral research while the latter provided me with additional funds to turn my dissertation into a book. The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Translations Program provided me with a gen- erous one-year grant to translate a volume of Old Burmese inscriptions, a study that was very valuable for this book. To all three organizations, I wish to extend my most sincere thanks. For a small liberal arts institution concerned primarily with teaching, Elmira College in the past five years has been very supportive of research and writing, particularly by providing its faculty with the necessary funds to attend professional meetings, unlimited use of computer time and supplies, and by encouraging members of the library staff to aid us in any way possible to obtain research materials not available here. To the institution as well as to individuals—such as Jan Kather who gave her time and talents to certain items needing photographic work, Ingrid Lindeqvist who somehow found and from some- where managed to borrow obscure books and articles related to my work, and all the accommodating staff at the computer xii Acknowledgments center—I give my thanks. Lastly, I wish to thank my mother for, well, virtually everything, as well as my immediate family for putting up with me throughout the ordeal. xiii INTRODUCTION Pagan’s Place in Burmese and Southeast Asian Studies THE PERIOD between the eighth and thirteenth centuries A.D. in Southeast Asian history was a tremendous watershed. It was the time when the Theravāda Buddhism of Mainland Southeast Asia, still very strong today, and the pre-Islamic religion of Island Southeast Asia were firmly implanted; when the critical features of the region’s subsequent polities had their fermen- tation; when the fundamental structures of Southeast Asia’s economic institutions were being established; when the prin- ciples undergirding Southeast Asia’s legal structure were being formed; and when the distinctive character of its social organization began to take root. This was, in other words, the time when Southeast Asia’s classical states—Śrī Vijaya, Pagan, Angkor, Sukhodaya, Đai Viêt, and somewhat later, Ma- japahit—to which Southeast Asia today owes many of its institutions, blossomed.1 Research on any one of these states would be a significant contribution to the whole of premodern Southeast Asian history and culture, and especially to the particular society that it spawned. This study focuses on the twelfth-and thirteenth-century Kingdom of Pagan to which Burma owes its heritage. THEORETICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CONCERNS Such a critical and challenging period in Burmese2 history should have attracted more students, for it is, after all, the formative period of Burma, the counterpart of Mauryan India, Heian Japan, and Anuradhapuran Śrī Laṅka. One might even argue that without a study of the Pagan period, one’s under- standing of Burmese society subsequently, though not unim- portant, is incomplete.

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