UThawKaung Ayedawbon Kyan, an Important Myanmar Literary Genre Recording Historical Events Introduction esearchers on Myanmar history of the The 6thAyedawbon kyan, theMajjhimadesa R monarchical period have found the Aye­ Ayedawbon, was 'discovered' in manuscript dawbon kyan, a very important Myanmar literary form in the 1950s from the British Library in genre which gives records of historical events, London and at the Universities Central Library next in importance only to the Yazawin daw or in Yangon I was able to collect three copies on the main Royal Chronicles like the Hman-nan palm-leaf in Myanmar. It was first printed and (Glass Palace Chronicle). In an important way published as a separate monograph only in 1998. the six or seven Ayedawbon kyan, historical The 7th Ayedawbon kyan, the Hsinbyushin texts, supplement the records which are in the Ayedawbon is still in manuscript form and main Myanmar chronicles. remains unpublished. The Ayedawbon Kyan texts that I will be talking about are: Meaning of the word Ayedawbon (1) Dhanyawaddy Ayedawbon (2) Rajadirit Ayedawbon Before discussing the texts and their authors, I (3) Hanthawaddy Hsinbyumyashin Aye­ would first of all like to explain the meaning of dawbon Ayedawbon, a word whose meaning has changed (4) Nyaungyan Mintaya Ayedawbon somewhat from its earlier use to its modem (5) Alaung Mintaya Gyi Ayedawbon (3 meaning. different texts) The standard Myanmar-English Dictionary (6) Majjhimadesa Ayedawbon compiled and published by the Myanmar (7) Hsinbyushin Ayedawbon Language Commission of the Ministry of Of these six Ayedawbon kyan, the first five Education gives the following two English are what is collectively known as Ayedawbon meanings to the Myanmar word Ayedawbon Nga Saung Dwe, which means the Five volumes 9<1G!ifGoo5~: ofAyedawbon as these five were first printed in one volume by the Thudhamawadi Press under noun 1. [archaic] historical account of a this title in 1923. royal campaign (as in &p<!'8&p&9<1G!if Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) oo. 21-33 22 UTHAWKAUNG (Oool)~ Rajadirit Ayedawbon) Dr. Hla Pe in a separate article also defines 2. social or political uprising; revolu­ Ayedawbon as a "royal affair: it generally tion.1 consists of the struggle to power, a savouring of Hitler's 'Mein kampf"6 The Judson Burmese-English Dictionary, Myanmar historian Dr. Aye Kyaw has compiled by Dr. Adoniram Judson, revised and compared the Myanmar terms Yazawin (raja­ enlarged by Robert C. Stevenson and Rev. F.H. wan), ayedawbon and mhattan with some Thai Eveleth, does not have an entry for Ayedawbon, terms. He writes: but has entries for the root word Ayedaw and another for Ayebonsa, a less common Myanmar "Besides the rajawan, the Burmese terms, word, a variant ofthe wordAyedawbon /cyan. mhattam and aretoau pum [ayedawbon] are Judson gives the following English mean­ synonymous with the Thai terms, chotmaihet or ings: kotmaihet and they deal with account or report on particular events. In particular, the aretoau IT.l(O'll"~~ [Ayedawbon]. noun. a representation pum are concerned with the short histories of of affairs, account, history2. particular wars or uprisings."7 o:r.o"'f"~ [Ayedaw], noun. literary. A royal affair; a term applied to wars waged by the king, The modem meaning of Ayedawbon as a rebellions, etc. IT.l(O'li"~O?t=~t ~8=o;?t=~8:ooG'\I "Social or political uprising; revolution" has G~O'j?t:~1w IT.IG'\IG~~§S811 been discussed in some detail by Dr. Robert ooG'll~ro [Ayebonsa], noun. a journal of military H.Taylor in his article "Burmese Concepts of occurences.3 Revolution". He also discusses the original meaning: The word Ayebonsa is given in Judson's A Dictionary of Burmese and English ... 1st ed. "The root of ayei-daw-bon is ayei, meaning a 1852 with the same explanatory meaning in business or affair, to which is appended taw (daw) English, but the word Ayedawbon as a separate the suffix denoting royalty, a deity, or (now) the entry or Ayedawbon /cyan is not given right up state-and bon (pun), a narrative or sequence of to the revised edition of 1953. events, giving literally "story of royal or state The most scholarly and comprehensive, affairs". Judson, in a dictionary he prepared in though unfortunately, incomplete, Burmese­ the early nineteenth century~ noted that ayei-daw, English dictionary is the one first compiled by while literally meaning royal affairs, was a term J.A. Stewart and C.W. Dunn, and later revised applied especially to wars waged by kings, but and edited by Dr. Hla Pe and H.F. Searle. In also rebellions, etc., while ayei-bon-sa (sa vol. 5 of this dictionary, the meaning of the meaning paper) was a journal of military wordAyedawbon is given as below: occurrences. In current daily parlance the term is generally taken to mean the style or nature of a "!nGGt:Go:>-5~ [Ayedawbon]-written ac­ movement or matter concerning royalty or the count, one of the five Ayedawbon, viz. ".e;_o~t state; it indicates a political movement in a similar history of Arakan; &poo8&p& c.i>~o~roC::~[~81 but more forceful sense than the alternative but G~8Gtti:g8: o:>e>p: l!nGcmb:gb:o:>&p: accom;ts neutral term hlok-sha-hmu. An ayei-daw-bon is of the lives these kings.4" also a body of literature, being the five or six historical accounts of the struggle for power by The compilers of this dictionary also explain Kings Danyawadi [sic.] Yazadarit, Hanthawadi that the root word oo(O'l: A-ye is used especially Hsinbyushin, Nyaungyan Min. and Alaungpaya. "8 in forms A-yedaw, A-yebon, Ayedawbon and that the meaning is: The word Ayedawbon continued to be used in the titles of over a dozen books, after 1885 "affair, cause, campaign, struggle, revolution; and the end of the Myanmar monarchy, right up fortune, prospects, position; historical account of to recent times. For example there is book called a campaign or struggle for power or a cause." 5 Thakin Nu Ayedawbon [Thakin Nu's Struggle Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) Ayedawbon Kyan, an Important Myanmar Literary Genre Recording Historical Events 23 for Power] (1949), Taungthu Laithama Aye­ campaigns to achieve power and obtain the dawbon [Peasants' Revolution] ( 1965}, Kyaung­ throne. tha Ayedawbon [Students' Revolution] (1956), (2) how these kings kept their power by Sethmu-lethmu Ayedawbon hnei Myanmar zwe various means and endeavours. [Industrial Revolution and Myanmar Perserver­ (3) how there were rebellions against their ance] and so on. Obviously my paper does not power and the throne and how they were cover these latter books. successfully crushed and quelled. In this paper I will be talking about (4) how wars were waged for the expansion Ayedawbon kyan, as a distinct Myanmar literary of their territory. 10 genre in the form of monographs which give historical accounts of royal campaigns and Problems in connection with Ayedawbon accounts of the lives of four famous Myanmar kyan kings, namely: (1) Rajadirit (or Razadarit}, AD 1385-1423 The Ayedawbon kyan treatises pose a number (2) Hanthawaddy (Hamsavati) Hsinbyumya of problems to scholars. Among them are: Shin,or King Bayinnaung, AD 1551-1581 (1) Authorship of some ofthe texts. (3) Nyaungyan Mintaya, AD 1599-1605 (2) The total number of Ayedawbon kyan (4) Alaungmintaya Gyi or Alaungpaya, AD that were written. 1752-1760 (3) Language problems (at least one is a The other two Ayedawbon kyan do not centre translation into Myanmar) on particular kings, but on events in certain (4) Whether some are parts oflarger works. regions, viz.: (5) Incomplete or corrupt texts. (5) Dhanyawaddy Ayedawbon is on the (6) Uncertain dates of composition or Rakhine (Arakan) region from the time of compilation . Kanrajagyi, a king who reigned, c. 825 BC to Two Myanmar scholars have tried to find events in AD 1784 when Rakhine was annexed solutions to some of these problems but they by the Myanmar King Bodawpaya. Dhanya­ have only been partially redressed. These two waddy is the name of one of the capital cities of scholars were Dr. Yi Yi 11 eminent Myanmar the Rakhine kings, and also a classical name researcher and historian of the Myanmar (Pali) of this Kingdom (Arakan). Historical Commission and Professor of ( 6) Majjhimadesa is the Myanmar Piili word Myanmar Literature at University of Yangon, for central India, Majjhima meaning " the U Maung Maung Gyi; 12 both have now passed middle" and des a "region", or "country". away. I will be discussing some of the problems Judson 's Burmese-English Dictionary gives the based mainly on their writings. meaning of Majjhimadesa as being a Pali word for the middle place, the middle part of the Authorship world, including the sixteen countries of India, famous in Buddhist history.9 The Majjhimadesa Three of the Ayedawbon kyan have author­ Ayedawbon is about events in the Rakhine ship problems: (Arakan) region during the reign of King Badon (l} Hanthawaddy Hsinbyumyashin Aye­ or Bodawpaya, and about a Myanmar mission dawbon to India; it covers the period AD 1787 to about (2) Nyaungyan Mintaya Ayedawbon 1822. (3) Alaungmintaya Gyi Ayedawbon (three versions) Distinctive characteristics of Ayedawbon kyan Hanthawaddy Hsinbyumyashin Ayedawbon A typical Ayedawbon treatise has the The authorship of Hanthawaddy Hsin­ following characteristics: byumyashin Ayedawbon is not given in the main Accounts of reference source for Myanmar classical ( 1) how individuals of prowess fought to literature, viz. the Pitakat-taw Thamaing by U become kings; especially their military Yan. The bibliography by U Y an mentions the Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) 24 UTHAWKAUNG name of this Ayedawbon and says that it was (Hla Thamain) the editor ofthe two versions of written by a Saya [acharn] whose name is not the Alaungpaya Ayedawbon.