Two Rakhine Manuscripts in the Early Colonial Period

Two Rakhine Manuscripts in the Early ColonialPeriod

(1824-1885)Zaw Lynn Aung*

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the two Rakhine

manuscripts, Nga Mi Rakhine Chronicle and Rakhine Razapon,

deposited in the Oriental and India Office

Collection of the British Library. The External

Criticism of these manuscripts shows that

compilation of Rakhine historical writing was

available in the early colonial period due to the

interest in the Rakhine history by some colonial

officials. The Internal Criticism reveals that the

compilers of these two manuscripts did not invent

the writing of their own but drawn the sources from

various Rakhine chronicles in compiling their

works. Though the content of these two chronicles

are nearly the same, Nga Mi Rakhine Chronicle mentions

the account of the Rakhine history descriptively

and Rakhine Razapon was written as the extract form.

These two chronicles provide the coherent

presentation of the succession of ancient Rakhine

royal dynasties with the mythological accounts.

Key words: Nga Mi Rakhine Chronicle, Rakhine Razapon

*Assistant Lecturer, History Department, Hinthada University

Introduction

For over a thousand year, the region, which now forms the

Rakhine State of the Union of the Republic of Myanmar,

flourished the thriving civilization of its own , which

possesses a long and rich history and a unique culture. Since

the early colonial period, the scholars such as Sir Arthur P.

Phayre, Maurice Collis and San Shwe Bu have long studied this

long and rich history of Rakhine based on the traditional

historic records. Though the traditional historic records need

to testify its historic authenticity, it is true that the

traditional historiography of a region or country gives us a

record of events of the past and how space of one’s own history

was defined. Unlike the Myanmar historiographical materials,

the Rakhine historiographical materials were fairly available

datable to the end of the 18th and the early 19th century. The

2

Rakhine historical records which are now available are located

in Myanmar, particularly in the National Library1, the

Universities’ Central Library in Yangon2 and some of them are

preserved in private possession3. Apart from these, outside the

country, some of the Rakhine historical records are well

preserved in libraries, such the Oriental and India Office

Collection of the British Library in London and the Museum of

the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. Like many Myanmar

texts, Rakhine historical records seemed to have been carried

away as trophies by the British soldiers and officers, but were

later donated to the colonial libraries. Moreover, the British

colonial officials who were interested in the histories of

Myanmar seemed to have managed to obtain the historical records

of Myanmar for their studies, and later these records made ways

into the libraries when they had passed away. As an attempt to

investigate on the regional historical records of Myanmar which

are now placed outside Myanmar, this paper will focus on the

two Rakhine manuscripts namely, Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin and Rakhine

1 Three palm-leaf manuscripts concerning Rakhine historiography are found inthe National Library: Sithu Gamani Thingyan. 1887, Rakhine Razawin [Palm-leafmanuscript number 2297] , Rakhine razawan kho Min Razagri sadam (Chronicle Rakhinecalled Min Razagri sadam) (No date) AMs. [Palm leaf manuscript number 2093]and Rakhine Razawin (No date) AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscript number 1483].2 Rakhine Razawin Akauk Shyauk htoon 1848. AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscript number 96336(kha) ], Rakhine Ayepon 1849. AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscript number 49887 (tabasa)], Razawingyi 1851. AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscript number 9837 (tabasa) ] andDannyawady Arei:to pon hnin Maha razawan (No date), AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscriptnumber 5302] are deposited in the Universities’ Central Library in Yangon.3 Lack of information, we can not trace properly about the Rakhinehistorical documents owned by the private possession. Thus, we could presentonly one private possession by U Tun Yi (Researcher on Myanmar Literature):Rakhine razawan,Rakhapura, 1870, AMs. [Palm-leaf manuscript].

3

Razapon deposited in the British library.

The Data and Methods Used

The data required for this paper have been mainly

collected from the three Rakhine manuscripts deposited in the

British library. I will suggest to follow the traditional

approach in historiography and move forwards in time. The

External Criticism and Internal Criticism of the examination of

manuscript have been used as the methods to investigate these

manuscripts. For the External Criticism, the authorship of the

manuscript: For instance, the questions like when did they

write? For what purpose did the author of these manuscripts

write? What were their motives? Under what conditions did they

write? …are discussed. For the Internal Criticism, the contents

of these manuscripts are generally overviewed.

Findings

The External examination of the first two manuscripts, Nga

Mi Rakhine Razawin and Rakhine Razapon, shows that in the early

colonial period, some Rakhine historical writings were

available due to the interest in Rakhine history by the early

colonial administrators. The compilers of these first two

manuscripts did not invent the writing of their own but drawn

from various Rakhine chronicles in compiling their works. The

overviews of the contents of these two manuscripts provide that

Rakhine historiography tried to establish a coherent

presentation of the successions of royal dynasties with the

4

mythological accounts. When dealing with the content of the

last manuscript, the title labeled as Rakhine Razawin Nge is not

inadequate description of its content as it is mainly contained

a brief account of the religious history of Myanmar and

missionary activities in Rakhine. It is learned that careful

examination of the content of manuscript is much more important

than classification of the text according to the appearance of

the title to unravel the type of the text.

Discussion

Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin

The accession number OR 3465 A that is deposited today in

Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library is

a manuscript on Rakhine history. There is no information about

the name of the title, the authorship of the text and the date

of composition in this manuscript. This text is in the form of

manuscript on paper and has 283 pages with 27 lines to each of

a page. Patricia Herbert, Retired Curator of Oriental and India

Office Collections, British Library, confirmed that the

accession number OR 3465 A of Oriental and India Office

Collection of the British Library is one of the collections of

Sir Arthur P. Phayre and this manuscript is the original text

of Nga Mi’s compilation1.

Sir Arthur P. Phayre was one of the early-distinguished

British administrators in Myanmar and the first Chief

1 Patricia M. Herbert, “The Sir Arthur Phayre Collection of BurmeseManuscripts”, British Library Journal, Vol.

I, No. 1. 1975, p. 63. (Hereafter cited as Herbert, “The Sir Arthur PhayreCollection of Burmese Manuscripts”).

5

Commissioner of the British-Burmah. Phayre served in several

posts in Myanmar. He was appointed Senior Assistant to the

Commissioner of Rakhine in 1837 and served as District Officer

at Akyab (Sittwe), Kyaukphyu and Sandoway (Thandwe) until he

has been transferred to Tenintharyi as Principle Assistant to

the commissioner in 1846. He relinquished his last post as a

Chief Commissioner of Myanmar in 1867. As the nature of the

British administrators, Phayre, during his long service in

Myanmar, was inspired himself in the study of Myanmar history

and collected the manuscripts for his studies. Pyayre who

served as District Officer from 1837 to 1846 sought out the

early Rakhine chronicles. He had observed that many copies of

Rakhine Razawin were to be found among the Rakhines, differing

from each other in details. He thus commissioned This

manuscript is completed with his personal notes in the margin.

The British Museum acquired his collections in 1886, one year

after his death. This manuscript is included as one of his

collections. Moreover, we have also found some information

about Nga Mi in the article of "On the History of Arakan

(Rakhine)", which was contributed by Sir Arthur Phayre in Journal

of Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1844. In his article, he described that

he, then the Deputy Commissioner for Rakhine, commissioned Nga

Mi, one of the most learned literati of Rakhine, to make a

compilation of Rakhine history from the various local

chronicles. As this manuscript compiled by Nga Mi, it bore his

name and became known as the Nga Mi Chronicle or Nga Mi Rakhine

Razawin.

Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin may be divided into five parts on the

6

basis of its subject matter:

1. Cosmology (emergence of the world and its beings),

account of King Mahasammata and the succeeding dynasties,

a short account of Buddha’s life, Majjimadesa and its

cities, moral principle of kings and court officials, and

about the India kings from Bimbisara to Asoka.

2. Rakhine pre-Buddhist historic period describing a

genealogy of kings from Vasudewa of Dwarawati (Thandwe)

to the founder of Dannyawadi, Marayu, and besides to the

kings of Tagaung dynasty starting with Kanrazagyi.

3. Journey of Lord Buddha to Rakhine and about the

kingdoms of Dannyawadi, Vesali and Laungret.

4. Rakhine history in Mrauk U period from 1430 to 1785.

5. The period of Myanmar administration (1785-1824) and a

brief condition of Rakhine after the British annexation.

Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin is a merely compilation drawn from

various Rakhine chronicles and there is no mention about the

names of the chronicles which Nga Mi was based on. Thus, we

cannot say exactly that which parts were faithfully copied

verbatim or which parts were ignored from these chronicles when

Nga Mi compiled this manuscript.

Concerning the date of compilation, Leider suggested that

this manuscript was compiled around 1842. However, it is hard

to say exactly that this manuscript was compiled around 1842

because no evidence was found to verify Leider's statement and

he did not mention any specific references to confirm his

statement in his article. However, it is assumed that this

7

manuscript was available before Sir Arthur Phayre contributed

his article “On the History of Arakan (Rakhine)” in 1844

because Phayre noted that he proceeded to furnish an epitome of

the contents of the historical compilation by Nga Mi in writing

his article. Therefore, I would like to propose that this

manuscript seem to have been compiled during the intermediate

period between 1837 and 1844.

Rakhine Razapon

The name of this manuscript as Rakhine Razapon and its

accession number of the text as OR 6453 D in English are

mentioned on the cover of the palm-leaf. This manuscript exists

today in Oriental and India Office Collection of British

Library in the form of palm-leaf manuscript.

This text comprises of the five parts:

1. A brief account of King Mahasammata and his

successors.

2. Rakhine pre-Buddhist historic period describing a

genealogy of kings from Vasudewa of Dwarawati (Thandwe)

to the founder of Dannyawadi, Marayu, and besides to the

kings of Tagaung dynasty starting with Kanrazagyi.

3. Journey of Lord Buddha to Rakhine and about the

kingdoms of Dannyawadi, Vesali and Laungret.

4. Rakhine history in Mrauk U period from 1430 to 1785.

5. A brief account of Myanmar administration (1785-1824),

the First Anglo-Myanmar War in 1186 M.E (1824) and the

8

conquest of Rakhine (Mrauk U) by Robertson

(Rapatheinthat).

It seems that this manuscript is written as the extract

form and the contents of this chronicle are not as

descriptively mentioned as in Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin. Whether this

chronicle was refashioned, edited or modified to the existing

Rakhine chronicles would bear further investigation.

After the content of this manuscript, the colophon states

that

At the third beats of the day drum on 13 waning of

Tabotwe 1245M.E (February 24, 1884), Rakhine Razapon which

has 5 ainga (Twelve leaves make one set and it is known as

one ainga) and 3 leaves starts from kha ends in ci with a

text of ten lines to each of a leaf is compiled by

Rakhine Letyetet (the person who is clever at hand

writing) Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa (Barawa

village) in Hsin Phyu Taik (Hsin Phyu jurisdiction) by

making careful correction. It is said that he made

correction of the some words and sentences, which were

not appropriate in the old text. Rakhine Razapon is the

manuscript of Tayapaing Min who lives in Kaladan Myo

Kyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu (the province of

Rakhine). It cost 6 Kyats and 8 Pe for the cost of the fee

and 12 Pe and 6 Paik for the palm-leaf. The total cost is 7

Kyats and 5 Pe.

The colophon of this manuscript provides the dates of

compilation of Rakhine Razapon, the number of palm-leaves of this

9

manuscript, the number of lines to each palm-leaf, the name of

the compiler, the official position of the owner of this text

and the cost of the fee and the cost of the palm-leaf. Unlike

the other manuscripts, the number of palm-leaves of this

manuscript and the number of line to each of a leaf are

mentioned in detail in this colophon. This detail description

is essentially useful facts for the copyist because the fee of

the copying of a manuscript is usually paid according to the

number of line to each leaf in an ainga. The cost of the copying

charge of this manuscript is mentioned as 6 Kyats and 8 Pe.

Generally speaking, it cost 1 Kyat per dozen of ten-line

leaves. That cost of copying charge was the same as that of the

later Konbaung Period. 6 Kyats 8 Pe is equal to 60 percent of

the fee of an agricultural labor who obtained about 12 Kyats

per a month during the rice cultivation season of 1880-1884.

Besides, it is also approximately equal to 50 percent of the

salary of a circle police (a gaung) who received at a rate of 10

Kyats to 15 Kyats per a month during 1864-1889.

According to this colophon, it is learnt that Aung Htun

Phyu who was good at handwriting compiled the text called

Rakhine Razapon in 1884. It is also stated that Tayapaing Min who

is one of the officials in the colonial period owned this text.

Therefore, it can be generally presumed that the owner of this

text, Tayapaing Min seems to have commissioned Aung Htun Phyu to

compile this text. Then he seems to have assigned the copyist to

copy Rakhine Razapon and he paid 6 Kyats and 8 Pe to the copyist

as the fee of copying this manuscript.

It is stated that Tayapaing Min lived in Kaladan Myo

10

Kyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu. This town was formed as

a town of the Akyab (Sittwe) district on 1 April 1877. The name

of this town is slightly different from the present name. It is

now called Kyauktaw Myonay (Kyauktaw Township). We have also

learnt that the province of Rakhine is used as Siyinsu (an

administrative province) in the early colonial period.

The right margin of the first palm-leaf of this manuscript

also mentions that

Rakhine Razapon, which has 5 aingas and 3 palm-leaves

starts from kha and ends in ci with a text of ten lines

to each of a leaf, is the manuscript of Tayapaing Min

Myo -ook Aung Wun who lived in Kaladan Myo Kyauktaw

Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu and this text was copied

at a cost of 6 Kyats and 8 Pe.

The left margin of the same palm-leaf states that

Rakhine Letyetet Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa

in Hsin Phyu Taik finished the compilation at the

third beats of the day drum on 13 waning of Tabotwe in

1245 M.E.

The handwriting of the above two paragraphs and the handwriting

of this manuscript are the same that these two paragraphs also

seem to have been the notes of the copyist about this

manuscript. From the right margin of the first palm-leaf, we

came to know the name of Tayapaing Min as Aung Wun and he is

serving as Myo -ook (the Township Officer) in Kaladan Myo

Kyauktaw Myothit. Regarding the number of palm-leaves of this

manuscript, there are only 5 aingas and 2 palm-leaves in the

11

present manuscript which is deposited in Oriental and India

Office Collection of British Library. One palm leaf (gei) is

lost in this manuscript.

ConclusionThe history of a country has been continuously occurring

from ancient to modern and then to contemporary. Accordingly,

the ancient, modern and contemporary history of a country

placed consecutively without interruption. However, Myanmar was

happened to be colonized by the British, the invaluable

Myanmar’s manuscripts in the form of parabaik and pe-sa were

being damaged by the British occupation of Mandalay in 1885,

and some were scattered. For that reason, the old manuscripts

inscribed by the Myanmar people which are scattered in the

whole Myanmar and abroad need to be traced, collected and

preserved energetically, and studied them for the understanding

of the country and its people of Myanmar. In this sense, the

Rakhine historical documents, which I have presented in this

paper also, need further detail study of their contents, their

contradictions and similarities with the other available

Rakhine historical documents for the better understanding of

Rakhine historiography which will partly contribute to the

knowledge for the study of Myanmar historiography.

AcknowledgementI would particularly like to record my gratitude to Responsible

Rector U Sann and Pro-rector Dr. Hla Htay of Dagon University for theirencouragement to do research work. My most pressing gratitude is to myprofessor, U Than Lwin, Head of History Department, Dagon University,for his kindness and guidance.

12

. Rakhine Razapon (Account of the Kings of Rakhine)

The name of this manuscript as Rakhine Razapon in the

Myanmar language and its accession number of the text as Or 6453

D in English are mentioned on the cover of the palm-leaf. This

manuscript exists today in Oriental and India Office Collection

of British Library in the form of palm-leaf manuscript.

This text ends at the First Anglo-Myanmar War in 1186 M.E

(1824) and the conquest of Rakhine by the British forces headed

by Major Robertson (Rapatheinthat). After the text, there are

some stanzas which are written in the form of composing with

four syllables (av;vkH;pyf) poem starting from page 61 a to 62b (ca reverse to ci obverse) as follow:

Just like the estuary of the Ganges River named Waluwa

that was situated in the southern side called Dhakina

on the left side of the Mount Meru1 which was shinning

brilliantly with the colours of gold, silver, emerald

and glass in the centre of the four great islands2 of

the universe and just like the great sixteen kingdoms

in the sixteen divisions which were situated in the

great island of Zabudipa3 which lies south of Mount

Meru, Rakhapura Taing4 which is also called Dannyawady5

1 Mount Meru is the immense mountain forming the centre of the cosmic systemand surrounded by four great islands occupying its cardinal points.2 The four great islands of the universe, which are situated in the four directions of East, West, South and North in the Myanmar cosmology.3 Zabudipa is one of the great islands, which is the home of the Eugenia treeand lies south of Mount Meru. 4 Rakhapura is the Pali words for the country of Rakhine [Thein Hlaing 2000:152]. 5 Dannyawady is the classical name for the ancient Rakhine, which is also

13

was prospered because the Maha Muni Buddha image,

which was cast before the presence of Buddha , was

worshiped by the people of Rakhine. Moreover, there

were ninety-nine cities on the left and right sides of

Gissapanadi River1 in Rakhapura Taing. The kings who

ruled successively without the unbroken line in

Rakhapura Taing were the high social class of Khahtiya2

They were the powerful kings and owners of white

elephants. These kings follow the code of royalty and

the principle of prosperity, performed the auspicious

consecration ceremony, made the great donation and

prayed to be free from the Sansara3 and to attain

Nirvana4. However, the fate of the glorious country of

Rakhapura turned worse and it was occupied by the

British. Nevertheless, as Rakhapura is truly the

homeland for us, the country will soon be pleasant as

the abode of celestial beings when the fate of the

country turned into good condition just like the

shining of Sun and Moon at the same time on the peak

of Mount Yugandahra5.

The poem portrayed about the past Rakhine with the sentence of

called Mrauk U (1430-1784) [Than Tun 1986:441]. 1 Gissapanadi River is the main river of Rakhine State which is now called Kuladan River2 Khahtiya is the highest social class of the four social classes. The otherclasses were Brahmin, Watha and Sudha.3 Sansara is the whole existence of any being through out successive transmigration, future existence and futurity. In other word, it is called the circle of rebirth. 4 Nirvana is the state of peace and happiness that a person achieves after giving up all personal desires in the religion of Buddhism.5 Yugandahra is one of the seven mountains in ancient Hindu cosmology at theheight of which the sun and moon orbit.

14

exhortation to regain its homeland, Rakhine. This poem intends

to elaborate the Rakhine traditional belief of the worship of

the Maha Muni Buddha image and the religious and moral duties

of the king are essentially fundamental things for the

prosperity of Rakhapura Taing Dannyawady (Mrauk U) kingdom. The

account of the so-called Buddha's sojourn in Rakhapura Taing

and of his supervision over the casting of his image, Maha Muni

image, and the representation of the qualities of the good

kings who are the protectors of the religion seems to have been

the outstanding features to illustrate in the historical

writing of Rakhine. We also learn from the poem that the

condition of Rakhine becomes worsen as the royal dynasty of

Rakhine came to an end due to the annexation of the country.

This account seems to have been mentioned with the aim of

restoring the pleasant condition of Rakhine as in the time of

the dynastic period of Rakhine. Therefore, it seems that the

text Rakhine Razapon is compiled to provide the current condition

of Rakhine under the British administration by means of

highlighting the dynastic period of Rakhine, which was mainly

associated with the conception of kingship characterized by

Buddhist cult, and the observance of the royal virtues.

After the poem, the colophon states that

At the third beats of the day drum on 13 waning of

Tabotwe 1245 M.E (February 24, 1884), Rakhine Razapon

which has 5 aingas and 3 leaves starts from kha ends in ci

with a text of ten lines to each of a leaf is compiled

by Rakhine Letyetet (the person who is clever at hand

writing) Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa (Barawa

15

village) in Hsin Phyu Taik ( Hsin Phyu jurisdiction ) by

making careful correction. It is said that he made

correction of the some words and sentences, which were

not appropriate in the old text. Rakhine Razapon is the

manuscript of Tayapaing Min who lives in Kaladan Myo

Kyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu (the province of

Rakhine). It cost 6 Kyats and 8 Pe1 for the cost of the

fee (tzkd0f;vu©) and 12 Pe and 6 Paik2 for the palm-

leaf. The total cost is 7 Kyats and 5 Pe, Sir (bk&m;).

The colophon of this manuscript provides the dates of

compilation of Rakhine Razapon, the number of palm-leaves of this

manuscript, the number of lines to each palm-leaf, the name of

the compiler, the official position of the owner of this text

and the cost of the fee and the cost of the palm-leaf. Unlike

the other manuscripts, the number of palm-leaves of this

manuscript and the number of line to each of a leaf are

mentioned detail in this colophon. This detail description is

essentially useful facts for the copyist because the fee of the

copying of a manuscript is usually paid according to the number

of line to each leaf in an ainga [Maung Maung Nyunt 2002: 54].

And the cost of the copying charge of this manuscript is

mentioned as 6 Kyats and 8 Pe. Generally speaking, it cost 1

Kyat per dozen of ten-line leaves. That cost of copying charge

was the same as that of the later Konbaung Period [ibid.:53-54].

6 Kyats 8 Pe is equal to 60 percent of the fee of an

agricultural labor who obtained about 12 Kyats per a month

1 One kyat has twenty pe in old Myanmar currency.2 Paik is used as the currency unit during the British rule and three paik is equal to one quarter anna.

16

during the rice cultivation season of 1880-18843. Besides, it is

also approximately equal to 50 percent of the salary of a

circle police (a gaung) who received at a rate of 10 Kyats to 15

Kyats per a month during 1864-1889 [Burma Gazetteer: Akyab

District Vol. A: 157-158].

The another usage of the term " Sir (bk&m;) described in

the sentence which mentioned about the total cost in this

colophon is used in two senses in the Myanmar language: (1) to

denote the Lord Buddha, the image of the Buddha or the Pagoda,

the monks and the royalty (2) to address towards the officials

of the colonial administration. It is also described that this

term is about equivalent to "Sir" in the colonial period

[Judson's Burmese English 1893:802]. This term does not seem to

refer to use in the first sense because there is no mention

about the Buddha, the monk or the royalty in the colophon.

However, it seems to use in the latter sense to address towards

the official person of the colonial administration because the

colonial official position Tayapaing Min is mentioned in this

colophon.

According to this colophon, it is learnt that Aung Htun

Phyu who was clever at handwriting compiled the text called

Rakhine Razapon in 1884. It is also stated that Tayapaing Min who is

one of the officials in the colonial period owned this text.

Therefore, it can be generally presumed that the owner of this

text, Tayapaing Min seems to have commissioned Aung Htun Phyu to

3 An agricultural labour received 59 Kyats for the fee of ploughing, reapingand threshing per one doon (6½ acres) for the rice cultivation season from June to October during 1880-1884 [Settlement Operations: Akyab District 1885-86: 16].

17

compile this text. Then he seems to have assigned the copyist to

copy Rakhine Razapon and he paid 6 Kyats and 8 Pe to the copyist

as the fee of copying this manuscript. Therefore, the term, the

cost of fee (tzkd0f;vu©)" which means the fee or charge for

service rendered mentioned in this colophon seems to have

referred to the copying fee of this manuscript.

It is stated that Tayapaing Min lived in Kaladan Myo Kyauktaw

Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu. This town was formed as a town of

the Akyab (Sittwe) on 1 April 1877 [Burma Gazetteer: Akyab

District Vol. A: 157-157]. . The name of this town is slightly

different from the present name. It is now called Kyauktaw Myonay

or Kyauktaw Township. We have also learnt that the term Rakhine

is used as a name of an administrative province or Siyinsu in the

colonial period.

The last sentence of the colophon of this manuscript is an

incomplete sentence. It states as follow:

Letyetet Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa in Hsin

Phyu Taik the writer 1245 M.E.

Although this sentence is incomplete, it repeats about the

information of Aung Htun Phyu as it is described in the first

sentence of this colophon. Moreover, the right margin of the

last palm-leaf also states:

The writer Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa in

Hsin Phyu Taik

Rakhine Razapon 5 aingas and 3 palm-leaves with a text of

ten lines to each of a leaf.

The handwriting of the last sentence of the colophon and the

two sentences on the right margin of the last palm-leaf are the

18

same as the handwriting of the text although there are some

difference of the size of the words between them. It can be

presumed that these sentences might have been written down by

the copyist to note about the compiler of Rakhine Razapon and the

number of the palm-leaf of this manuscript.

The right margin of the first palm-leaf of this

manuscript also mentions that

Rakhine Razapon, which has 5 aingas and 3 palm-leaves

starts from kha and ends in ci with a text of ten lines

to each of a leaf, is the manuscript of

Tayapaing Min Myo -ook1 Aung Wun who lived in Kaladan Myo

1 The two positions of Tayapaing Min and Myo-ook have been connected to each

other because every Myo-ook or the Township Officer had to serve in the

positions of Magistrate, Judge and Assistant Collector within his

jurisdiction in the early colonial period [Burma Gazetteer: Akyab District

Vol. A: 156].Therefore, the author of this manuscript seemed to have

described the name of these two positions together and the term Tayapaing Min

My-ook can be interpreted the meaning as the Township Officer who also acted

as the Judge. In the early colonial period, the superior officers of the

Civil administration of Rakhine consisted of a Commissioner, a Deputy

Commissioner, a Junior Assistant Commissioner, eight Extra Assistant

Commissioners, an Akunwun (Revenue Officer), a Superintendent of Police, a

Civil Surgeon, an in charge of the Gaol, an Executive Engineer, a Collector

of Customs, a Master Attendant, a Deputy Inspector of Schools, a

Superintendent of the Telegraph Department and a Post Master. Among these

officials, Extra Assistant Commissioner performed the duties of the Township

Officer or Myo-ook and he also act as the judge in his respective

jurisdiction [Burma Gazetteer: Akyab District Vol. A: 156-158]. Thus, the

usage of Tayapaing Min Myo-ook is similar to the rank of Extra Assistant

Commissioner in the early colonial administration in Rakhine. This position

is the third rank in the colonial administration and is the highest position

among the natives. Moreover, the first rank position (Commissioner) and the

19

Kyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu and this text was

copied at a cost of 6 Kyats and 8 Pe.

The left margin of the same palm-leaf states that

Rakhine Letyetet Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa

in Hsin Phyu Taik finished the compilation at the third

beats of the day drum on 13 waning of Tabotwe in 1245

M.E.

The handwriting of the above two paragraphs and the handwriting

of this manuscript are the same that these two paragraphs also

seem to have been the notes of the copyist about this

manuscript. From the right margin of the first palm-leaf, we

came to know the name of Tayapaing Min as Aung Wun and he is

serving as Myo -ook (the Township Officer) in Kaladan Myo

Kyauktaw Myothit. Regarding the number of palm-leaves of this

manuscript, there are only 5 aingas and 2 palm-leaves in the

present manuscript which is deposited in Oriental and India

Office Collection of British Library. One palm leaf (gei) is

lost in this manuscript.

A BRIEF STUDY OF THE THREE MANUSCRIPTS DEPOSITED

IN THE BRITISH LIBRARYZaw Lynn Aung

second rank position (Deputy Commissioner) were usually occupied by the

British. Tutor, Department of History, Dagon University

20

AbstractThis paper deals with the investigation of the three Rakhinemanuscripts deposited in the Oriental and India OfficeCollection of the British Library. The External Criticism of thefirst two manuscripts, Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin and Rakhine Razaponreveals that some Rakhine historical writings were available inthe early colonial period due to the interest in Rakhine historyby the colonial administrators. The Internal Criticism of thesemanuscripts shows that Rakhine historiography tried to establisha coherent presentation of the successions of royal dynastieswith the mythological accounts. When dealing with the content oflast manuscript, the title labeled as Rakhine Razawin Nge is notinadequate description of its content as it is mainly containeda brief account of the religious history of Myanmar andmissionary activities in Rakhine. This study gives us that theExternal and Internal Criticisms of Rakhine historical writingsare essentially necessary to establish their credibility for thebetter understanding of Rakhine historiography which will partlycontribute to the knowledge for the study of Myanmarhistoriography.

Keywords: Historical writing, historiography of Rakhine

Introduction

In Southeast Asia, Myanmar has exceptionally rich recoursesof manuscripts in the form of parabaik (folded paper writings)and pe-sa (manuscripts written on dried palm-leaf). Manuscriptshave been kept, preserved and copied for the last one thousandyears and more in Myanmar. Manuscripts are one of the importantsources in estimating the past as they contain written texts inconcerning with thought, history, cultural and religioustraditions and socio-economic practices of the people in aparticular period. Among the various contents available in themanuscripts, it is true that the traditional historiography ofa region or country gives us a record of events of the past andhow space of one’s own history was defined. Myanmar hascomparatively a significant number of source materials regardto the traditional historiography writing not only on Myanmarpeople but other indigenous groups, such as, Mon and Rakhine.When we try to find the place of Rakhine historical recordswhich are extant today are located in Myanmar, particularly inthe National Library, the Universities’ Central Library inYangon and some of them are preserved in private possession.

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Apart from these, outside the country, some of the Rakhinehistorical records are well preserved in libraries, such theOriental and India Office Collection of the British Library inLondon and the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal inCalcutta. Like many Myanmar texts, Rakhine historical recordsseemed to have been carried away as trophies by the Britishsoldiers and officers, but were later donated to the coloniallibraries. Moreover, the British colonial officials who wereinterested in the histories of Myanmar seemed to have managedto obtain the historical records of Myanmar for their studies,and later these records made ways into the libraries when theyhad passed away. As an attempt to investigate on the regionalhistorical records of Myanmar, this paper will focus on thethree Rakhine manuscripts namely, Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin, RakhineRazawin Nge and Rakhine Razapon deposited in the British library.

The Data and Methods UsedThe data required for this paper have been mainly

collected from the three Rakhine manuscripts deposited in theBritish library. I will suggest to follow the traditionalapproach in historiography and move forwards in time. TheExternal Criticism and Internal Criticism of the examination ofmanuscript have been used as the methods to investigate thesemanuscripts. For the External Criticism, the authorship of themanuscript: For instance, the questions like when did theywrite? For what purpose did the author of these manuscriptswrite? What were their motives? Under what conditions did theywrite? …are discussed. For the Internal Criticism, the contentsof these manuscripts are generally overviewed.

FindingsThe External examination of the first two manuscripts, Nga

Mi Rakhine Razawin and Rakhine Razapon, shows that in the earlycolonial period, some Rakhine historical writings wereavailable due to the interest in Rakhine history by the earlycolonial administrators. The compilers of these first twomanuscripts did not invent the writing of their own but drawnfrom various Rakhine chronicles in compiling their works. Theoverviews of the contents of these two manuscripts provide thatRakhine historiography tried to establish a coherentpresentation of the successions of royal dynasties with the

22

mythological accounts. When dealing with the content of thelast manuscript, the title labeled as Rakhine Razawin Nge is notinadequate description of its content as it is mainly containeda brief account of the religious history of Myanmar andmissionary activities in Rakhine. It is learned that carefulexamination of the content of manuscript is much more importantthan classification of the text according to the appearance ofthe title to unravel the type of the text.

Discussion Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin

There is no information about the name of the title, theauthorship of the text and the date of composition in thismanuscript. It exists today in Oriental and India OfficeCollection of the British Library as the accession number OR3465 A. This text is in the form of manuscript on paper and has283 pages with 27 lines to each of a page.

Patricia Herbert described that the accession number OR3465 A of Oriental and India Office Collection of the BritishLibrary is the original text of Nga Mi’s compilation. Thisaccession number OR 3465 A is one of the collections of SirArthur P. Phayre who was one of the early-distinguished Britishadministrators in Myanmar. This manuscript is completed withhis personal notes in the margin. Phayre served in severalposts in Myanmar. He was appointed Senior Assistant to theCommissioner of Rakhine in 1837 and also served as DistrictOfficer at Akyab (Sittwe), Kyaukphyu and Sandoway (Thandwe)until he has been transferred to Tenintharyi as PrincipleAssistant to the commissioner in 1846. He relinquished his lastpost as a Chief Commissioner of Myanmar in 1867. During hislong service in Myanmar, he immersed himself in the study ofMyanmar history and collected the manuscripts. The BritishMuseum acquired his collections in 1886, one year after hisdeath. This manuscript is included as one of his collections.Moreover, we have also found some information about Nga Mi inthe article of "On the History of Arakan (Rakhine)", which wascontributed by Sir Arthur Phayre in Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengalin 1844. In his article, he described that he, then the DeputyCommissioner for Rakhine, commissioned Nga Mi, one of the mostlearned literati of Rakhine, to make a compilation of Rakhinehistory from the various local chronicles. As this manuscriptcompiled by Nga Mi, it bore his name and became known as the

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Nga Mi Chronicle or Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin. Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin may be divided into five parts on the

basis of its subject matter:1. Cosmology (emergence of the world and its beings),account of King Mahasammata and the succeeding dynasties,a short account of Buddha’s life, Majjimadesa and itscities, moral principle of kings and court officials, andabout the India kings from Bimbisara to Asoka.2. Rakhine pre-Buddhist historic period describing agenealogy of kings from Vasudewa of Dwarawati (Thandwe)to the founder of Dannyawadi, Marayu, and besides to thekings of Tagaung dynasty starting with Kanrazagyi. 3. Journey of Lord Buddha to Rakhine and about thekingdoms of Dannyawadi, Vesali and Laungret.4. Rakhine history in Mrauk U period from 1430 to 1785.5. The period of Myanmar administration (1785-1824) and abrief condition of Rakhine after the British annexation. Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin is a merely compilation drawn from

various Rakhine chronicles and there is no mention about thenames of the chronicles which Nga Mi was based on. Thus, wecannot say exactly that which parts were faithfully copiedverbatim or which parts were ignored from these chronicles whenNga Mi compiled this manuscript.

Concerning the date of compilation, Leider suggested thatthis manuscript was compiled around 1842. However, it is hardto say exactly that this manuscript was compiled around 1842because no evidence was found to verify Leider's statement andhe did not mention any specific references to confirm hisstatement in his article. However, it is assumed that thismanuscript was available before Sir Arthur Phayre contributedhis article “On the History of Arakan (Rakhine)” in 1844because Phayre noted that he proceeded to furnish an epitome ofthe contents of the historical compilation by Nga Mi in writinghis article. Therefore, I would like to propose that thismanuscript seem to have been compiled during the intermediateperiod between 1837 and 1844.

Rakhine Razapon

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The name of this manuscript as Rakhine Razapon and itsaccession number of the text as OR 6453 D in English arementioned on the cover of the palm-leaf. This manuscript existstoday in Oriental and India Office Collection of BritishLibrary in the form of palm-leaf manuscript.

This text comprises of the five parts:1. A brief account of King Mahasammata and his

successors.2. Rakhine pre-Buddhist historic period describing agenealogy of kings from Vasudewa of Dwarawati (Thandwe)to the founder of Dannyawadi, Marayu, and besides to thekings of Tagaung dynasty starting with Kanrazagyi. 3. Journey of Lord Buddha to Rakhine and about thekingdoms of Dannyawadi, Vesali and Laungret.4. Rakhine history in Mrauk U period from 1430 to 1785.5. A brief account of Myanmar administration (1785-1824),the First Anglo-Myanmar War in 1186 M.E (1824) and theconquest of Rakhine (Mrauk U) by Robertson(Rapatheinthat). It seems that this manuscript is written as the extract

form and the contents of this chronicle are not asdescriptively mentioned as in Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin. Whether thischronicle was refashioned, edited or modified to the existingRakhine chronicles would bear further investigation.

After the content of this manuscript, the colophon statesthat

At the third beats of the day drum on 13 waning ofTabotwe 1245M.E (February 24, 1884), Rakhine Razapon whichhas 5 ainga (Twelve leaves make one set and it is known asone ainga) and 3 leaves starts from kha ends in ci with atext of ten lines to each of a leaf is compiled byRakhine Letyetet (the person who is clever at handwriting) Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywa (Barawavillage) in Hsin Phyu Taik (Hsin Phyu jurisdiction) bymaking careful correction. It is said that he madecorrection of the some words and sentences, which werenot appropriate in the old text. Rakhine Razapon is themanuscript of Tayapaing Min who lives in Kaladan MyoKyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu (the province of

25

Rakhine). It cost 6 Kyats and 8 Pe for the cost of the feeand 12 Pe and 6 Paik for the palm-leaf. The total cost is 7Kyats and 5 Pe.

The colophon of this manuscript provides the dates ofcompilation of Rakhine Razapon, the number of palm-leaves of thismanuscript, the number of lines to each palm-leaf, the name ofthe compiler, the official position of the owner of this textand the cost of the fee and the cost of the palm-leaf. Unlikethe other manuscripts, the number of palm-leaves of thismanuscript and the number of line to each of a leaf arementioned in detail in this colophon. This detail descriptionis essentially useful facts for the copyist because the fee ofthe copying of a manuscript is usually paid according to thenumber of line to each leaf in an ainga. The cost of the copyingcharge of this manuscript is mentioned as 6 Kyats and 8 Pe.Generally speaking, it cost 1 Kyat per dozen of ten-lineleaves. That cost of copying charge was the same as that of thelater Konbaung Period. 6 Kyats 8 Pe is equal to 60 percent ofthe fee of an agricultural labor who obtained about 12 Kyatsper a month during the rice cultivation season of 1880-1884.Besides, it is also approximately equal to 50 percent of thesalary of a circle police (a gaung) who received at a rate of 10Kyats to 15 Kyats per a month during 1864-1889.

According to this colophon, it is learnt that Aung HtunPhyu who was good at handwriting compiled the text calledRakhine Razapon in 1884. It is also stated that Tayapaing Min whois one of the officials in the colonial period owned this text.Therefore, it can be generally presumed that the owner of thistext, Tayapaing Min seems to have commissioned Aung Htun Phyu tocompile this text. Then he seems to have assigned the copyist tocopy Rakhine Razapon and he paid 6 Kyats and 8 Pe to the copyistas the fee of copying this manuscript.

It is stated that Tayapaing Min lived in Kaladan MyoKyauktaw Myothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu. This town was formed asa town of the Akyab (Sittwe) district on 1 April 1877. The nameof this town is slightly different from the present name. It isnow called Kyauktaw Myonay (Kyauktaw Township). We have alsolearnt that the province of Rakhine is used as Siyinsu (anadministrative province) in the early colonial period.

26

The right margin of the first palm-leaf of this manuscriptalso mentions that

Rakhine Razapon, which has 5 aingas and 3 palm-leavesstarts from kha and ends in ci with a text of ten linesto each of a leaf, is the manuscript of Tayapaing MinMyo -ook Aung Wun who lived in Kaladan Myo KyauktawMyothit in Rakhine Pyi Siyinsu and this text was copiedat a cost of 6 Kyats and 8 Pe.

The left margin of the same palm-leaf states that Rakhine Letyetet Aung Htun Phyu who lives at Barawa Ywain Hsin Phyu Taik finished the compilation at thethird beats of the day drum on 13 waning of Tabotwe in1245 M.E.

The handwriting of the above two paragraphs and the handwritingof this manuscript are the same that these two paragraphs alsoseem to have been the notes of the copyist about thismanuscript. From the right margin of the first palm-leaf, wecame to know the name of Tayapaing Min as Aung Wun and he isserving as Myo -ook (the Township Officer) in Kaladan MyoKyauktaw Myothit. Regarding the number of palm-leaves of thismanuscript, there are only 5 aingas and 2 palm-leaves in thepresent manuscript which is deposited in Oriental and IndiaOffice Collection of British Library. One palm leaf (gei) islost in this manuscript.

Rakhine Razawin Nge This manuscript is now deposited as the accession number

OR 3413 in Oriental and India Office Collection of the BritishLibrary and has only 6 palm-leaves (12 pages of writing) with atext of 6 lines to each face of a leaf. The pagination isalphabetical starting from the first Myanmar alphabet, ka(observe) and ends in, ku (observe) with a wishing. Thus, thistext does not seem to be a part of a manuscript.

The name of the text is not available on the cover palm-leaf or the last palm-leaf but it is mentioned on the underpiece paper of the last palm-leaf which is used as the basepaper to put the palm-leaf while this manuscript was processinginto microfilm. Thus, it seems that the name of this manuscriptwas presumably labelled by a clerk and mentioned in the

27

catalogue of Oriental and India Office Collection of theBritish Library.

This manuscript begins with the description of wishingwords to perpetuate brilliantly the religion of the exaltedBuddha who was the Lord of Dhamma and the one perfectlyenlightened. Then it is followed immediately by the content ofthe text.

This text describes about the brief descriptions of thecoming of Buddhism to Bagan from Thaton by the initiative ofShin Arhan, the Robe controversy during King Badon's reign, thewinning king's support by the Ayone practice (the practice ofwearing upper robe that should be draped over the bothshoulders), the incorporation of Maha Wihika Taing (the regionof Rakhine) into Myanmar proper with the purpose to prevent thedeteriorate condition of religion in it, the sending ofmissionary monks Wisittar Lingarra (0dpdwåmvuFm&)as the chiefmonk together with other four Maha Raza Guru monks namelySandamedar Thiri dhaza (pE´ar"goD&d"Z), Punya Wuntha Parama(ykn0oFy&r), Parama Thiri Dhaza(y&roD&D"Z) and Mu Nida Thiri Dhaza (rkedE´oD&D"Z) together with four ministers and servants toRamawaddy (Yanbye), Dwarawaddy (Thantwei) and Mekhawaddy(Manaung) in 1148 M.E (1786) , the welcome of these monks byRammawaddy Myowun Nara Thamine Kyaw (e&mordkifausmf)and hisofficials, and the activities of missionary in Rakhineprovinces.

There is no mention about the Chief Monk of Rakhinemissionary, Wisittra Lingara and his followers' monks in theprevious manuscripts. We have found some information about themissionary activities of the Myanmar Buddhist monks in thetowns of the Rakhine province. The first manuscript of thispaper, Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin described that after Rakhine wasincorporated into Myanmar proper in 1784, the four monks namelyGaing gyouk Sayadaw (*kdPf;csKyfq&mawmf), Malun Sayadw(rvGefq&mawmf), Mondaw Sayadaw (rkHawmq&mawmf), Nget Pyaw TawSayadaw (iSufaysmawmq&mawmf) and were sent to Thantwei,Ramree, Manaung and Rakhine or Dhanyawaddy respectively.Moreover, Kon-baung-zet Maha Ya-za-win-daw-gyi also described thatKing Badon sent the four Maha Raza Guru monks namely Guna Dhama biDhaza (*kP"r®mbd"Z) to Dhanyawaddy, Sanda Maydar bi Dhaza (pE

28

´ar"mbd"Z ) to Ramree, Sanda Tharya Dhaza (pE´om&"Z) toMannaung and Punya Wuntha Dhaza (ykn0Ho"Z) to Thantwei in 1147M.E (1785). It is learnt that the dispatched years and thenames of the monks described in this manuscript and in theabove-mentioned are different. One of the royal orders passedon 3 October 1787 described, “Since the Buddhist lent was over,Buddhist missionaries now at Yanbye or Ramawaddy in Rakhineregion should come back and submit the list of the monks whowould go there in their place” (Than Tun: 1986: 180). It wasproclaimed by Liaison Officer-cum-chief of Black Beret Guardson 7 waxing of Thidingyut, 1149 M.E (3 October, 1787). Thisroyal order shows that the missionary monks from Rakhine regionwere reshuffled after the Buddhist Lent. Therefore, it can bepresumed that the name of the monks mentioned in thismanuscript seems to be differed from Nga Mi Rakhine Razawin and Kon-baung-zet Maha Ya-za-win-daw-gyi.

The last palm-leaf concluded that The people from Rammawady were ordained as novices andmonks since the full moon day of Tabotwe in 1147 M.E (13February 1786) and Kalayani Buddhist ordination hall wasconsecrated on the full moon day of Tabaung 1147 M.E (14March 1786). Moreover, the missionary monks toured theisland to consecrate other ordination halls in hamlet orsmall villages. Then they proceeded to Dwarawaddy andMekhawaddy. All the people from these two provincesincluding Myowun, Sitke, Narkhan and Saye attained eightprecepts. May the immoral persons who disobey theteachings of the Buddha be disappeared, the virtuous andpious persons who adhere the Buddha's doctrines beemerged during the 5,000 years of the Buddhist Era andthey could attain nirvana.

The above-palm leaf also does not provide about the text's nameand the colophon about this manuscript. It describes about themissionary activities in Rakhine and finally concluded with thewishing to prosper with Dhamma and free from the cycle ofrebirth. Therefore, this text seems to have been recordeddescriptively how the Burmese monks carried out theirmissionary in Rakhine.

By the royal order on October 1787, we came to know thatthe monks were called back and submitted the list of monks who

29

would go Rakhine in their place. As this text was mainlydocumented about religious mission to Rakhine conducted in1786, the mission that was called back in 1787 seems to havedocumented about this text as a record of their performance inRakhine.

This text formed one of the collections of Sir AuthurPhayre, one of the early distinguished British administratorsin Myanmar. He served in several posts in Rakhine andTenintharyi provinces until he relinquished his last post as aChief Commission of Myanmar in 1867. During his long-termservice from 1837 to 1867 in Myanmar, he immersed himself inthe study of Myanmar history and collected the manuscripts. Asthis text is found as one of his collections that the BritishMuseum acquired in 1886, one year after his death, it is seemedto be a collected manuscript during his service in Myanmar.Therefore, we could generally assume that this text wascompiled before 1867. The text's name of this manuscript, Rakhine Razawin Nge, doesnot fit very well into the content of this text. It is not abrief chronicle of Rakhine but the account of missionary inRakhine during the Myanmar administration in 1786.

ConclusionThe history of a country has been continuously occurring

from ancient to modern and then to contemporary. Accordingly,the ancient, modern and contemporary history of a countryplaced consecutively without interruption. However, Myanmar washappened to be colonized by the British, the invaluableMyanmar’s manuscripts in the form of parabaik and pe-sa werebeing damaged by the British occupation of Mandalay in 1885,and some were scattered. For that reason, the old manuscriptsinscribed by the Myanmar people which are scattered in thewhole Myanmar and abroad need to be traced, collected andpreserved energetically, and studied them for the understandingof the country and its people of Myanmar. In this sense, theRakhine historical documents, which I have presented in thispaper also, need further detail study of their contents, theircontradictions and similarities with the other availableRakhine historical documents for the better understanding ofRakhine historiography which will partly contribute to theknowledge for the study of Myanmar historiography.

30

AcknowledgementI would particularly like to record my gratitude to Responsible Rector

U Sann and Pro-rector Dr. Hla Htay of Dagon University for theirencouragement to do research work. My most pressing gratitude is to myprofessor, U Than Lwin, Head of History Department, Dagon University, forhis kindness and guidance.

References

irnf/ (Circa 1837-1844) , irnf&ckdif&mZ0if (Nga Mi RakhineChronicle), manuscript on paper, number OR 3465 A, London,Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library.

armifarmifnTefU? ref;wuúodkvf / (2002)/NrefrmwkdU\trsKd;om;,Ofaus;rSKtarGaypmyk&ydkuf (Pe and Parabaik:

The Cultural Heritage of Myanmar), &efukef/yg&rDpmaywdkuf/armifarmifwif? OD; (1) / (2004).

ukef;abmifqufr[m&mZ0ifawmfMuD; (The Great Royal Chronicle

of Kon-baung Dynasty). twGJ (2)? &efukef?&mNynfhpmtkyfwdkuf/

&ckdif&mZ0ifi,f/ (A Brief Chronicle of Rakhine ) (No date) palm-leafmanuscript, number OR 3413, London, Oriental and India OfficeCollection, British Library

atmifxGef;NzL/ (1884) &ckdif&mZykH (Chronicle of Rakhine) ,palm-leaf manuscript, number OR 6453 D, London,Oriental andIndia office Collection, British Library.

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Herbert, Patricia M. (1975).“The Sir Arthur Phayre Collection of BurmeseManuscripts”, British Library Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 62-70.

Leider, Jacques P. (2004). “The Emergence of Rakhine Historiography AChallenge for Myanmar Historical Research”, Yangon (Paperpresented at the Myanmar Historical Commission 50th AnniversaryCelebration).

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Superintendent Government Printing and Station.Than Tun (edit) (1987). The Royal Orders of Burma, Vol. VI, Kyoto, Centre for

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