Arakan Library - THE CANDRA KINGS

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

Publication by Arakan Action Association (AAA.)

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.

Arakan Action Association (AAA)

Chotana Road , Chaing Mai ( 50301 ), Thailand.

Email : arakanactionassociation@walla.com , +66—089-637-4383, +66—053-409-577

By Pamela Gutman

THE CANDRA KINGS

From this time we can reconstruct the history from contemporary written accounts. The inscription of Anandacanda , written around 728 AD , gives the names and reign periods of eighteen of his predecessors , the earlier of whom may have ruled at Dhanyawadi. The kings of earliest Candra dynasty , who ruled from end of the 4th to the beginning of the 7th centuries , are said to have descended from the lineage of the Hindu god Siva , and the lineage is mentioned again in connection with Anandacandra's grandfather , Vajrasakti. The inscription describes Anandacanda's grandfather, Vajrasakti. The inscription describes Anandacandra and his immediate predecessors as Mahayana Buddhists. This would not , however , have predecessors as Mahayana Buddhists. This would not , however , have precluded the existence of a Hindu royal cult as was the case in both India and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The Candra kings certainly did not neglect to support the local Brahmins, the bearers of Sanskritic culture at court. Anandacandra says that he built four temples, named after himself, for the Brahmins, the bearers of Sanskritic culture at court. Anandacandra says that he built four temples, named after himself, for the Brahmins as well as providing them with land, servants and musicians.

The nature of Arakanese kingship suring this period is illustrated by an interesting plaque discovered together with a round-based bronze vessel during the construction of the road from Vesali to Mrauk-U. The plaque aptly illustrates the symbolism behind the abbiaeka or lustration ceremonies performed to consecrate Buddhist kings, but wjhich is derived from Hinduritual and practice. The significance behind the symbolism is that the king during the royal consecration became a future Buddha as well as a dhamaraja , a ruler of the law , responsible for the spiritual and temporal well being of his people. The country was seen as a microcosm of the universe whose maintenance was ensured by the dharma of Indra , the king of the gods who as one of the chief assistants to the Buddha controlled the cycle of the seasons and consequently the fertility and prosperity of the county.

The square plaque has a round indentation in the centre into which the bronze vessel fits. Around the indentation is a ring of lotus petals, then twelve auspicious signs connected with the function of kingship. These are a srivatsa diagram representing the goddess of fertility and prosperity Sri, who was believed to enter the king during the royal consecration; the winged conch, double fish and vase of abundance , symbols also associated with prosperity; an umbrella , piar of fly whisks , elephant goad and a bull , the auspicious royal symbols; a pillar, which also symbolised link between the heaven and earth , and a peacock and a deer representing the sun and the moon , the heavenly bodies which rule the universe. The corners of the plaque are filled with lotus buds and leaves , the whole being surrounded by a beaded border.

The plaque is a representation of the universe, within which is a mandala which establishes the king as its centre in his country, seen as the microcosm of the universe. In Hindu - Buddhist cosmology , the circular universe was thought to be surrounded by an enormous rock wall, represented on the plaque by the square border. This encloses an ocean with four island continents, here represented by the lotuses set in each of the four corners. In the centre of the universe is Mount Meru, the axis of the world and the abode of Indra with whom the king was identified, denoted on the plaque by the central ring of lotus petals. The twelve symbols arranged within a circle around the centre are intimated , denoted on the plaque by the central ring of lotus petals. The twelve symbols arranged within a circle around the royal dharma , the king's given power to maintain the fertility and prosperity of the country. In the ceremony of the royal consecration , the properties of these symbols were absorbed into the waters contained in the central vessel, which were ritually poured over the king's given power to maintain the fertility and prosperity of the country. In the ceremony of the royal consecration , the prosperity of these symbols were absorbed into the waters contained in the central vessel, which were ritually poured over the king. As a consequence of assimilating these properties , the king therefore became a god on earth , a cakravartin or turner of the wheel of mundane and supra-mundane law which would guarantee his country's protection and wealth. Later texts describe the participation of both Brahmins and Buddhists in this ceremony.

The Shit-thaung inscription describes Anandacadra's most important activities as the building of Buddhist foundations and commissioning objects of worship and records his building many monasteries and providing them with slaves, fields and buffaloes. His religious donations also included gold and silver caityas containing relics of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, the goddess Cunda and others, and Buddha images made of brass bell metal and copper , as well as ivory , wood , terracotta and stone. The inscription relates that he had innumerable clay models of stupas made, and commissioned the writing , or copying , of holy scriptures. He made donations to monks who came to his city from many parts of the Buddhists world , and indeed sent gifts including an elephant and rodes to the congregation of monks in Sri Lanka. His subjects benefited through public works such as the building of wells and pleasure gardens, and through the justice he administered daily from the palace. Following the example of the Imperial Gupta emperors , he always released capital offenders.