Arakan Library - Report of the Honorary Part in March 1922

Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality.

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Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.

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research papers on OLD ARBY - U SAN SHWE BU

Report Of The Honorary

ARCHAEOLOGICAL OFFICER FOR ARAKAN,

For The Year Ending 31st March 1922.

Conservation. - With the help of Rs. 5,000 generously contributed by Government and a further sum of Rs, 3,000 collected from the people, the work of conserving the Shittaung Temple was taken in hand by the Public Works Department early in the year 1921. Portions of the roof of the south gallery having fallen in, it was found impossible to restore it. So it was decided to preserve that part of the gallery by strengthening it by a supporting arch built from inside. This has been done. The roof of the whole building from outside has also been made water-tight and the workmen are now engaged in rebuilding a portion of the north-west angle of the outer gallery which completely caved in a few rains ago. As soon as this is accomplished the temple as a whole will be in a fit condition to resist the destructive forces of nature for many years. Early in September the Public Works Department withdrew its supervision over the works and it was enthusiastically taken up by the Trustees who since that time, have been daily attending the temple in turn. Moreover, throughout the year the Trustees have been collecting funds with commendable energy, and as a result they are now in a position to spend a further sum of about Rs. 2,000. They are indeed to be congratulated upon the good work they have done during the year.

Besides the Shittaung Temple another very fine solid stone pagoda known as a Ratanamanaung, having an octagonal base, was also repaired during the year. This meritorious work is the achievement of U Shwe Tha U, merchant and land-owner of Myohaung. He is also an Honorary Magistrate and President of the Shittaung Trust. In undertaking to pay for the entire coast of the repairs he has already spent nearly Rs. 3,000 on the main structure itself. He is now engaged in repairing the triple walls that surround the pagoda and the beautiful image shrine to the east of it. Finally he will completely restore the unique little stone building situated to the north-east corner of the enclosure. It has a vaulted roof and a small channel running along the middle of the whole length of the floor. In the Hall or Upasthanasala the Bhikkhus or “members of the order” met on the nights of new and full moon to read their rules and go through their confessional forms. Here also met for all their more solemn purposes such as ordination, excommunication and the like. Unlike his predecessors the payataga, in carrying out the repairs, has strictly adhered to the general principles suggested to him by Mr. Duroiselle during his visit to Arakan.

During the year under report the arch over the western gateway of the old city wall of Myohaung completely collapsed. As it was considered desirable to preserve it as an historic landmark, arrangements are now being made to rebuild the arch by contribution from the District Cess Fund as well as from a few wealthy people of Myohaung.

Arakanese Coins. - Three Arakanese silver coins were found during the year. One is undoubtedly of the Wesali dynasty (788 - 957 A.D). It bears the emblems of the sivite cult - the figure of a recumbent humped bull and the trident of Siva with garlands (see catalogue of coins in the Phayre Provincial Museum). The second is a somewhat larger coin covered with an unknown inscription. So far as is known it has not been found in Arakan before. Both these coins are now with the Epigraphist to the Government of India, Madras, to whom they were sent for decipherment.

The third coin is of the Mrauk-U dynasty (1404 - 1784 A.D.), and is not included in the catalogue of coins in the Phayre Provincial Museum. It was struck during the first regal year of King Narapadigri (1638 - 1645 A.D) and bears the following inscription on both faces: “3,000 - Translation: “1,000 - The Lord of the white and red elephant Narapadigri”. It may be noted here that on Arakanese coins and epigraphs written in Burmese character and the earliest of which may be assigned to the beginning of the 16th century A.D., the figure 1, (1) is written 3, while in the order inscriptions found at Pagan it is always written (1), and the figure 2 (2) is written3.

The career of Narapadigri is full of romantic interest. Its parallel is frequently to be met with in the history of almost all countries especially of the East. During the reign of King Thiri-thudhamma-raza (1622 - 1638 A.D.) there were two ministers by name Nga-Lat-Rone and Nga-Ku-Thala. Both were well known for their wisdom and learning. The latter was the Governor of Launggret, a former capital of Arakan, situated a few miles to the south-east of Mrauk-U. Rumour ascribed to him a profound knowledge of black magic by the practice of which, it was popularly supposed, he caused Queen Nat-Shin-May to fall madly in love with him. Being greatly encouraged by the queen he next plotted to ascend the throne. He wrote a sort of poetical composition known as “Nga-Tswe”, which is still popular in this country, and bribed the little boys of Mruak-U to sing it in the streets at nights. By so doing he fully hoped to destroy the power and glory of the king. Meanwhile all these things being known to the other minister Nga-Lat-Rone he conceived it his duty to give timely warning to the king and to explain to him the true significance of the various procedures adopted by Nga-Ku-Thala. But Thiri-thudhamma entirely disregarded the warning with that lack of superstition so rare among monarchs of those days. So Nga-Lat-Rone, scenting future trouble, wisely abandoned the world and in the solitude of a secluded monastery he assumed the yellow robes with the determination to devote the remainder of his life to righteousness and meditation. Seven months after this event the king died. Rightly or wrongly, everybody believed that it was brought about by the power of the black magic practiced by the minister Nga-Ku-Thala.

Then the Crown Prince Min Sani- so called because he was born on a Saturday - ascended the throne assuming the name of Thado-Min-Hla (1638 A.D.) Twenty - eight days after the coronation he fell a victim to small-pox; and it was then widely accepted that his untimely end was hastened by his own mother Queen Nat-Shin-May who, pretending to show great anxiety and affection for her son, administered drugs calculated to enhance the virulence of the disease. (In the catalogue already mentioned above he is erroneously referred to as the 22nd king of the Mrauk-U dynasty, whereas he is actually the 20th.) With a death of Thado-min-hla the line of Mrauk-U kings comes to an end. The next 28 kings had no real title to the throne and were generally regarded by native chronicles as usurpers during whose troublous reigns the country rapidly declined, until in 1784 A.D., the Burmese conquest brought about the final dissolution of the kingdom.

Thado-min-hla left no successor. It became necessary for the princes and nobles to elect a king. So Queen Nat-Shin-May invited them to attend the conference at the palace where, as soon as they were all assembled, she told them to consider themselves as prisoners until such time as she thought fit to release them. She then declared that in consequence of the death of her husband and son the throne was vacant and that it was her intention that they should choose a suitable person to occupy it. It was patent to them who her lover was, and her design being perfectly apparent, they unanimously voted Nga-ku-thala as their king, securing at the same time their own freedom. So the minister ascended the throne with the title of Narapadigri. As soon as he felt himself secure in his position he refused to have anything to do with the guilty queen who did so much for him. He believed that a woman who behaved as she did towards her husband and her son was capable also of doing the same thing towards himself if, at some future date, her affections for him changed in favors of some one else. He therefore built her a new palace not far outside the palace walls where she continued to reside till the end of her life.

It is undoubted that from very early times Arakan learnt the art of coinage from her contact with India. At first it was meant to be commemorative as well as donatives. But in later times it was used for currency. Coins were invariably struck in the first renal year of kings. They were also used for deposit in the relic chamber of pagodas and temples. The Arakanese historian Do We in his Maha Razawin mentions another use to which coins were also put. According to him, as soon as coins were struck to commemorate a new reign, the king took 50 of these together with 50 of the coins struck in the previous reign and personally deposited them in the hole dedicated to Vasundhara (Earth Goddess) which is situated within the enclosure of the Mahamuni Temple. This practice appears to have been a part of the ritual connected with the coronation of Arakanese kings. The official name for a coiner or minter is (Saw-Pan-zin). It appears to be a Shan word, meaning a prince, and PanZin; a minter - the two together probably means “Chief Minter” or “Royal Minter”.

Narathu or Kula-kya-min, 1185 - 1189 A.D.- All students of Burmese history know the reasons which gave King Narathu the somewhat expressive nickname “Kula-kya-min.” Phayre’s classic account of the incident may here be quoted. “The most notorious of this king’s crimes was the murder of his father’s widow, the daughter of the King of Pateikkara, whom he slew with his own hand. This led to a strange event. The father of the princess, on hearing of the murder of his daughter, disguised eight soldiers as Brahmans, who were sworn to avenge the crime. They arrived at Pagan, and were introduced into the palace under pretence of blessing the king. They killed him with a sword; after which they either killed each other or committed suicide, so that all died in the palace. This king is known to this day as “Kula-kya-min”, or “the king killed by foreigners” (History of Burma, page 49 and 50).

Shweinthi, Alaungsithu’s mother, fell in love with a Pateikkara Prince, and Hmannan definitely states and there is no reason to doubt it, that Alaungsithu himself had as one of his queens a Pateikkara Princes. ( Hmannan, printed Volume I, page 306). On the other hand, the greatest Arakanese historian Do We, in his Maha Razawin, in referring to the acquisition of this nickname by Narathu, gives a totally different version of the incidents connected with is. The following is a translation of the passage in which the above occurs:-

“During the reign of King Thihapati of Arakan a certain king Peteikka of the kingdom of Marawa sent his two daughters Thinza and Manlari as presents to Thihapati and the king of Tampadipa respectively. Narathu, King of Pagan (Kyaw-thin-kha of Arakanese history), hearing about this, sent Thado-min-din, the Governor of Taungdwin, with an army to intercept the mission at the Thingandaung Pass in the Yomas (this is to the north of Mount Victoria and lies at the lowest end of Chin Hills District). This army consisted of 5,000 Salin Chins, 2,000 cavalry from ‘Tharekhettra’ and 15,000 soldiers from Pagan. The King of Arakan having also heard of this mission, sent his General Thiridhama-thiri with an army consisting of 20,000 Arakanese and 10,000 Indian troops. The two armies met at the Pass and in the battle that ensured the Arakanese captured 500 of the enemy cavalry and all the Chins as well as the Burmese General. When Thiri-dhamma-thiri took over the princesses and their escort he was also given the forwarding letter sent by King Pateikkara. On its perusal he was surprised to find out that one of the princesses, Thinza, was meant to be presented to his own king, and the other, Manlari, to the King of Tampadipa. So thinking that a real king could never betray a sacred trust, he sent the Princess Manlari to Pagan under the protection of the Burmese general Thado-min-din requesting him to tell his King Narathu the full facts of the case and to ask him to send the princess to Tampadipa. When she reached Pagan, Narathu forcibly detained her in his seraglio. In her anger and shame the princess severely rebuked him for his unkindly and disgraceful conduct. This made Narathu very angry and he forthwith drew his sword and killed her” (Do We, Maha Razawin,). As to the rest regarding the circumstances that attended the death of Narathu, it is exactly the same as the Burmese account.

The problem that now confronts us is whether the Arakanese or Burmese version is correct. The age in which these events took place is rather remote. There is practically no contemporary documentary evidence available. And I thoroughly agree with the view held by Mr. Harvey that none of our historians can, on the material, e.g., palm leaf on which they are written, go back three centuries at the outside. For the material is too perishable, the climate too destructive, the old governments too unstable for preservation of archives even though proper record-room methods are understood. So in the present stage of our information, it will be best to leave the matter as it now stands. The future may have something more in store for us.

Pateikkara. - In spite of the fact that a great deal has already been written regarding the name Pateikkara, nothing definite seems to have yet been arrived at. Phyare says, “This words as used in the Burmese history may represent the title of a king or the name of a country. In either case it refers to a part of Bengal where Buddha was worshipped. Whether the word has any connection with the Balhara of the Arab voyagers, or with the Pala kings who still reigned in Bengal in the 11th century is uncertain” (Phayre, history of Burma). Gerini seems to think that “Pateikkara” is the name of a country and identifies it with modern Chittagong (Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography). U Tun Neyin identifies it with Chaittagong (Inscriptions of Pagan, etc., Rangoon, 1899). On the other hand, Spearman is inclined to the belief that it refers to Ceylon. In writing of the foreigners who slew Narathu, he states, “Who these foreigners were is uncertain. According to Burney they were Chittagonians but it appears more probable that they were Sinhalese. In Alaungsithu’s reign there was considerable intercourse between Burma and Ceylon, principally through the port of Bassein” (Sepearman, British Burma Gazetteer, 1880, Volume I).

The Arakanese history, to which a reference has already been made, now comes forward with additional information on the subject. According to it, the term “Pateikkara” denotes the name or title of a king, and the country to which he belongs is called Marawa. Furthermore, the itinerary of the mission which conveyed the Princesses Thinza and Manlari seems to suggest that the Marawa country is situated to the north of Arakan, somewhere in the neighborhood of Manipur. When Kanrazagri made over Tagaung to his younger brother, he ascended the Chindwin and founded Kale-taung-nyo or Razagro city. Later on the neighboring King of Mauraung is said to have presented him with a daughter principally because of the strength and influence which such an alliance would create. Can it therefore be possible that this ancient name “Maurang” is preserved in the more recent one of Marawa?

Htaw-ra-gri. Who was he? - The identification of the name Htaw-ra-gri presents a somewhat difficult problem. The name is not mentioned in any of the existing Arakanese works. Maung Kala’s manuscript history of Burma states. “In 1403 A.D. hearing that the Arakanese were attacking Laungshe, Minkhaung, the King of Ava, ordered his son Min-re-kyaw-zwa, then only a lad of 13 years of age, to march against the invaders. The two armies met at Nha-nwin-taung resulting in the defeat of the Arakanese and the loss of their King Htaw-ra-gri”. Spearman, in his Gazetter, 1880. “At the beginning of the 15th century differences arose between Arakan and Burma and sovereign of the former, called Thinza in Arakanese and Htaw-ra-gri in Burmese, invaded Burma and penetrated into the provinces of Yaw and Laungshe. A Burma force was sent against him and a rebellion having broken out in his own country he retired but was overtaken and defeated and he himself killed”. Then again Phayre in his history of Burma has the following: “The Burmese army marched into Arakan across the mountain pass of Natyegan, and the king of that country fled to Bengal”.

Now it is proved beyond possibility of doubt that when Min-re-kyaw-zwa, Prince of Ava, invaded Arakan the ruler of that country was called Nara-meil-hla or Saw Mwan. He proved himself to be a thoroughly unworthy king. He cared more for the enhancement of his personal pleasures then for that of the prosperity of his subjects. The advice of his ministers (was entirely disregarded; with the result that the country went to rack and ruin. So that when the Burmese army crossed over into Arakan he found himself unable to put up a sufficiently large army of opposition. He therefore fled to Bengal where at the Court of Sultan Ahmed Shah, the independent ruler of that country; he whiled away his days in idleness and comfort. After an absence of 24 years and during the reign of the next King Sultan Nasir-ud-din shah, who gave him all the necessary assistance, he returned to Arakan and re-occupied the throne of his father.

Such, in brief, is the story of King Saw Mwan. The first two extracts which represent Htaw-ra-gri as King of Arakan instead of Saw Mwan cannot obviously be accurate since he is stated to have been killed at the battle of Nha-nwin-taung which is in the An or Natyegan pass. He might be only a Governor of the eastern district of An but, as it is not unusual in the history of this country for distant Governors to set themselves up as independent monarchs whenever they found the central government weak and the king powerless, it is reasonable to oppose that he, in the usual bombast of those days, styled himself a king.

On the other hand, Spearman cannot be right in identifying Thinza with the then King of Arakan. Thinza or the then King of Arakan. Thinza or Thin-tse ruled from 1390 to 1394 A.D. and died several years previous to the events which now form the subject of discussion. It is true he invaded Burma but he had to return almost from the frontier in order to put down a rebellion headed by the Governor of Sandoway. He was killed by the rebels immediately outside the walls of his capital Launggret.

SAN SHWE BU,

Hony. Archaeological Officer for Arakan.