International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2016): 79.57 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391 A Comparative Study Regrinding the Buddhism in Burma D.M.L. Harshika Bandara Dasanayaka B.A. (Buddhist Coulter), Dip. in Counseling, (University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka), M.A, (University of Buddhist & Pali, Sri Lanka), M.phil, (University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka), Ph. D, Redding (University of Kelaniya , Sri Lanka) Dip. in HRM, Assistant Lecture, Department of Pāli & Buddhist Studies, University of Ruhuna There are various legends the pious Burmese cherish today capitol Sri Ksetra (Tharekittara). Hsuan Tsang was told, on how Buddhism was first introduced to their country. when he was at Samatata in East Bengal in 640 AD, that They even claim that the Buddha was related to their early there were Buddhist settlements at the other shore. And he kings. The „Glass Palace Chronicle‟ speaks about the first was told of Sri Ksetra (in Chinese Shih-li-chata-lo). Sakyan kings of Burma and name Abhiraja, Dhajaraja and Nagarjunikonda inscription, as a matter of fact, refers to their dynasties. The „New Pagan Chronicle‟ omits Abhiraja, Buddhism in Burma as early as 3rd century AD. Around 801 but mentions Dhajaraja. AD Pyus sent a group of musicians to entertain the Chinese Emperor. Until the invasion from Nanchao, which ruthlessly The popularly accepted tradition is that Buddhism came to destroyed their capitol and taken many thousands of people Burma through two Talaing merchants, Taposa and Palika, captive, they seemed to have continued to have a rich (Tapassu andBhalluka in Pali) to whom the Buddha is culture. believed to have given eight hairs of his head which he instructed them to deposit in the Theinguttara Hill beside the The site of the Pyu Kingdom was around Hmawsa, old relics of the three Buddhas who preceded him. They Prome in Central Burma. Archaeologists who explored it returned to Burma and searched far and wide for have found many Buddhist inscriptions and artefacts. Some Theinguttara Hill, which was finally pointed out to them by gold plates containing Buddhist Pali passages were found in the aged Sule nat. Here they enshrined the hairs in a pagoda Maunggan village. Near Bawbawgyi Pagoda an inscription which came to be later known as the Shwe Dagon, one of written in Andhra-Kannada script was found. In the most sacred Buddhist shrines in the East. A pagoda was Kyawndawsa also a gold leaf was unearthed. And in the later built to commemorate the nat who had pointed out the relic chamber of Khin Ba‟s mound they have found a gold sacred site ; this is the present Sule Pagoda which stands in leaf book which is written in South Indian Kadamba script the centre of the city of Rangoon. The story of these two belong to the fifth century. They have found many inscribed merchants is recorded in the Mahavagga, but there it is stone sculptures including the Nativity scene of the Buddha, mentioned that they were from Ukkala (Utkala, Orissa in Taming the elephant Nalagri, Dhammacakka sermon etc. India). According to Burmese version, there was a dynasty Having carefully studied the findings, they have concluded and a geographical area called Ukkalapa there. The story that, the Pyus, although they were not ethnically related to recorded in Mahavagga, however, does not have any India they had been highly influenced by Indian Culture. reference to a hair locks being given to them. Burmese They wrote their language in South Indian script. They maintain that when two local merchants started building a practised Theravada Buddhism and held Pali scripture in temple (Sandalwood Monastery) in the village called great reverence. There also was some who practised Lekaing, the Buddha came there to supervise the work Hinduism. personally. These legends only reflect the enthusiasm of the Burmese Buddhists to claim to be an early Buddhist country Another group of people, who were also settled in Lower that received Buddhism before any other country outside Burma, were Mons. They were a tribe widely distributed India. As Sukumar Dutt puts it “We may put on one side over southern Asia but they had their own cultural identity these picturesque legends of the chronicles, obviously and a good deal of civilization that can be traced back to 5th inventions of pious monks wishful to claim an impossibly century. The Mons who settled down in Lower Burma and high antiquity for Buddhism in their country.” There are Siam called themselves Rmen. That was the word by which such stories told in Sri Lanka and Thailand also.A more the Arab geographers coined the term Ramannadesa , the probable tradition is that which states that Buddhism was Country of the Mons, for Lower Burma and Siam. brought to Burma by two monks, Sona and Uttara, who were sent out by the Third General Council, summoned under the From where the Mons obtained their Buddhism is not patronage of the great Emperor Asoka, who flourished in known. Dutt suggests that we should consider Indian India about 250 B.C. settlements in Malayan peninsula, Ligor and other such areas. We may however not ignore the possibility of Sona The first people, according to the history and archaeology of and Uttara group of missionaries converting them to Burma, who received Buddhism there were Pyu. It is from Buddhism. Mons had developed many legends, myths and Chinese Tang Dynasty Annals (covering 609-918 AD) that literature passed from oral tradition and later crept into we come to know about them. Pyus are described as literature. Unlike Pyus, who are totally defused among other Buddhists who had many monasteries in and around of their people, Mons kept their identity and culture relatively Volume 6 Issue 12, December 2017 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Paper ID: ART20178917 DOI: 10.21275/ART20178917 1453 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2016): 79.57 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391 preserved. Early Mons had developed three kinds of legends to the scholars, was a Tantric cult that had bred from a Rajawan (legends of Ramanna kings and their legendary corruption of Mahayana Buddhism in Eastern India and was genealogies), Dhatuwan (legends of the great pagodas and imported from there into Tibet where it was developed and their relics), and Pun (moral episodes from the lives of their dignified as a school of Buddhism. The Aris ministered a kings). debased and nondescript cult compounded of magic, astrology, demonology, exorcism and the elements of Naga While Mons, having settled in Lower Burma and Siam, were (serpents) and Nat (tutelary spirits) worship. They grew their developing their own forms of culture, - especially under the hair and wore black robes. They enjoyed intoxicating drinks influence of Buddhism,- their didactic literature, and sex. The belief in Kamma had no place in their iconography, religious architecture and sculpture, a group of teachings and sexual taboos were not recognised. The Glass people called Thai, who migrated from Nanchao in China, Palace Chronicle mentions in particular the practice by the were aggressively conquering shan states in upper Burma Ari priesthood of deflowering virgins on the night before and also Siam. The group settled in Shan states were called marriage – the custom known in Anthropology as exercise by those in Siam as Thai Yai (Thai Elders). Then they of the „right of the senior‟ (Le droit de signeur) started moving towards plains and their first foothold was Kyaukse. One charismatic leader who moved from the non Anauratha had a feeling that that this could not have been Buddhist Shan states to the Kyaukse was Anauratha proper Buddhism and was looking for someone who could (Aniruddha, Anoratha or Anuruddha). It was there that the enlighten him on the correct teachings of the Buddha. A elder Thai got ethnically mixed with people there forming huntsman, who knew the king‟s interest in saintly monks, „Mranma‟ (the term Burma is a derivative of this) and came one day, introduced an exemplary monk, whom he had met face to face, for the first time, with Buddhism. Observes in the forest, to the King. The monk, Dhammadassi, who Dutt: “With their descent to the Kyaukse plains, started a perhaps had a Thaton origin and later came to be known as process of assimilation, intermingling of blood and Shin Arahant, explained to the king that the Sasana was acculturation of the incoming „elder Thai‟ marking the threefold, (Pariyatti, Patipatti and Pativedha) and the first inception of the Burmese nationality.” thing to be done, therefore, was to have the first – the scripture. By this time in the South, there was a Buddhist Anauratha, from Kyaukse, proceeded to Pagan, which was state ruled by a king called Manuha (Manohari) from an ancient capital town of Mons from seventh century. Even Thaton. Although Thaton had pure Theravada Scripture in after the Nanchao invasion in 832 it regained its glory. their possession they declined the request which prompted According to the chronicles, the walls of Pagan were built in Anauratha to send an army, capture the king and the 849 and Mon kings were on the throne for about 160 years. kingdom and to bring the scripture and some relics. Some There was a revival of Buddhism in Pagan under Caw monks and temple builders were also brought from south to Raham, the „saint king‟, who built a sima as a mark of establish Order of monks, built new stupas, shrines and revival. In 1020 AD Anauratha established his capital in monasteries in his land. Pagan. He is considered as the first „Burmese‟ Buddhist king.