Update:
2005-04-10 10:06 PM -0400
TIL
A History of Rangoon
B. R. Pearn, Corporation of Rangoon, American Baptist Mission Press, Rangoon, 1939
Copied and set in HTML by staff of TIL Computing and Language Center,
Yangon, MYANMAR. Edited by
U Kyaw Tun, et. al. Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL
Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.
Myanmar spellings in both Myanmar script and in Romabama
and are included. Romabama spellings are within { }, and words within < > are
regular English words.
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p001
RANGOON
{ran-koan-mro.} owes its history to two
factors, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda
{shwé-ti-goan-Bu-ra:} and the River
{ran-koan-myis}. The former made it a place of note
in earlier ages; the latter has made it the chief port of Burma today. Rangoon
must have been a centre of religious life from very ancient days. The hill on
which the Pagoda, specifically the ceti
{sé-ti} stands, rising high above the level flats of the Irrawaddy
Delta, would be an obvious place for a shrine even in primitive ages; and
probably the Hill was a place of worship centuries before the Buddhist era.
Similarly the River, as a natural highway from the fertile hinterland of Burma
to the sea, must long have been of economic importance. But the rivers of the
Delta did not always flow in their present courses, and thus the economic
importance of Rangoon itself in historic times is less than two hundred years
old. Until the middle of the eighteenth century Rangoon was primarily a place of
religious interest, the Shwe Dagon being its source of life.
UKT: Rangoon - Characteristics of the Burmese language
and Myanmar script:
Just as Nguyen Thi Van Lam, had stated on the semantics of the English
language, Burmese language is no less interesting and complicated:
Semantically, English words are interesting, but
complicated, to study. This article discusses word-meaning in English including
grammatical and lexical meaning of the word (lexeme). Categorial meaning of a
lexeme is part of its grammatical meaning while its lexical meaning is made up
of denotation and sense as descriptive meaning, connotation as non-descriptive
meaning. The author also deals with polysemy of English words in the article."
(See Word-meaning in the English language by
Nguyen Thi Van Lam, (TIL (Tun
Institute of Learning, Yangon, Myanmar), July 2004)
Burmese language does not have special adjectival endings -- most
of the adjectives are nouns. In this paragraph, the word "Rangoon" (in Burmese)
is incomplete: it is a part of a word. To be complete, it must be suffixed by
either <city> or <river>. If it is the town/city, we write
{ran-koan mro.} -- the suffix {mro.} specifies it is the <city>. However, if it
is the river, we say
{ran-koan-mris}, where the {mris} stands for <river>. Similarly, {shwé-ti-goan}
has to be suffixed by:
the stupa {sé-ti} as
{shwé-ti-goan-sé-ti},
the hill {koan:} as
(or even as the "royal" hill
{shwé-ti-goan-koan:tau}), or,
the pagoda as
{shwé-ti-goan-Bu-ra:}.
In this paragraph, it is the stupa that we are referring to. The general term
Shwédagon Pagoda
{shwé-ti-goan-Bu-ra:} is not very specific since it can include the hill, the
monasteries and even the shops. Since we do not use hyphens, we are at a loss to
put in a white-space between words. When we write the script by hand, we do not
have to reckon with the problem of white-spaces. However, this is not so when we
use a computer.
By tradition, the Pagoda which gave Rangoon its fame owes its foundation to
two brothers, Taphussa and Bhallika, merchants of the country of Ukkala, which is
identified with the region lying between Rangoon and Twante. They, hearing of a famine
in a western land, voyaged across the sea to India with a shipload of rice,
and there were guided to the abode of the Buddha Gotama.
“On the seventh morning after the Buddha Gotama had stayed at the
foot of the linlun
fn001-01
tree engaged in meditation, the two brothers Taphussa and Bhallika, merchants
from Pokkharavati town
fn001-02
in the Ukkalapa province of the land of Ramanna
fn001-03, came by with
five hundred carts. A Nat who in a previous existence had been the mother of
the two brothers caused the carts to stop. The two brothers made offerings to
the Nat, who there upon revealed herself to them, and told them that the
Bodhisat had but now attained his Buddhahood and that he was residing at the
foot of the linlun tree; and that if they desired to attain benefit for
themselves they should approach the Buddha with offerings and make obeisance
and pay homage to him. The two brothers were much rejoiced at these tidings,
and approached the Buddha with cakes made from the honey of the bee. The Buddha’s
begging-bowl which Ghatikara Brahma
had offered to him had disappeared
---------------
fn001-01
–
Buchanania latifolia fn001-01b
UKT:
, the Myanmar spelling, and its botanical name were given by B. R. Pearn.
However, Botanical Names of Myanmar Plants of Importance, by Agricultural
Department, Myanmar Government, 2000, p.54, did not list
.
It listed
{lin:lwun:} or
{lin:lwun:pin} Sapium baccatum which would commonly be transliterated as
linlun .
fn001-02 Often identified
with Rangoon. fn001-02b
fn001-03 The land of the
Mons, i.e. Lower Burma fn001-03b
UKT: Land of Ramanna --
{ra-ma.ña-dé-tha.} literally meaning the "Land of Rama" is identified as
southern or Lower Burma. If it is to be noted that Rama is a Hindu god, you will
see how much the Mons had fallen under the influence of Hinduism religiously and
how much the Mon language had fallen under the influence of Sanskrit. It is to
be compared to the Burmese which is very much allied to Pali.
UKT:
Begging bowl -- This is a translation of {tha.beit} which should be
translated as "alms bowl", because the Buddha and Buddhist monks do not <beg>:
they go to the lay-people for alms "out of pity" so that the lay-people can earn
"merit".
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p002
at the time when he
took the milk-food of Sujata, fn002-01 and the Buddha considered how to
accept the cakes which the two brothers had brought. He perceived that the
previous Buddhas had not received offerings of food in their hands but in a
bowl; and he expressed desire for a bowl, whereupon the Four Nats from the
Catummaharajika heavenly world fn002-02 came down to earth and offered him
four bowls made of sapphires. But these bowls the Buddha would not accept. Four
other bowls, of command stone the colour of brown peas, were offered him, and
these the Buddha accepted; and saying, ‘Let these four bowls merge into one’ ,
he placed the bowls one upon the other and pressed them with his hands;
whereupon all four bowls merged into one. Then the Buddha accepted the brothers’
cakes in that bowl. And the Buddha gave to the brothers a handful of his hairs
which he obtained by passing his hand over his head. When the brothers put the
Hairs on their hands, the Hairs sent their brilliant rays throughout the length
and breadth of the forests and the mountains; the earth trembled with a loud
noise ; the waves rose in the seas and oceans; the Meru mountain
fn002-03
bent its head in reverence ; the Nats acclaimed, ‘Thadhu, thadhu!’ . The two
brothers then sought permission from the Buddha to return to their own country,
and the Buddha, perceiving that the three preceding Buddhas had caused their
Hairs to be enshrined in a pagoda on Singuttara hill in the country of these two
brothers, bade them do likewise with his Hairs also. The two brothers reverently
bade the Buddha farewell, joining their hands in adoration, and so departed.
Sakka fn002-04 created a big prasada
fn002-05 with a ruby
pinnacle, and also a casket of emeralds. The hairs were placed in the casket,
which was again placed within the prasada. Vissakamma
fn002-06 was
summoned to decorate the whole route along which the five hundred carts of the
two brothers were to go, and then the prasada was conveyed along the beautifully
decorated way. Sakka accompanied them for seven days, and when they reached the
sea-shore they went forth in a golden ship which Sakka had created. When they
reached Ajettha city, the King of Ajettha, who knew that their journey should
have taken seven months and that the two merchants had thus returned too soon,
sent one of his ministers to enquire the reason. The cartmen of the five hundred
carts told the minister that their speedy return was due to the haste with which
they had travelled. When they were asked yet again why they had arrived back so
soon, they said that as the journey was a dangerous one they did not waste
----------------
fn002-01 The daughter of
Senani, a landowner of Senani village near Uruvela; offered a
meal of milk-rice to the Buddha, the first he received after his attainment of
Buddhahood. fn002-01b
fn002-02 The inhabitants of
the lowest deva world ruled by he Cattaro Maharajano (The Four Great
Kings), guardians of the East, South, West, and North respectively. Their
subjects are Gandhabbas, Kumbhandas, Nagas, and Yakkhas respectively. The Four
Great Kings are the Recorders of the happenings in the Councils of the Gods.
fn002-02b
fn002-03 The centre of the
world. On its summit is Tavatinsa, Sakka’s heavenly world, at the foot is
the Asura world; and in the middle are the four Mahadipa (Great
Continents) surrounded by 2,000 smaller islands. fn002-03b
fn002-04 Ruler of the Tavatimsa heavenly world, the lowest but one of the lower heavenly planes;
patron and devoted follower of Buddhism, and helper of good men in time of
necessity. fn002-04b
fn002-05 Prasada - pyathat fn002-05b
fn002-06 The architect of
the Gods, an inhabitant of Tavatimsa. fn002-06b
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p003
time on the way but
made all speed. But the minister did not believe their words, and he enquired of
the two brothers, who told him the truth. When the minister informed the King,
he sent for the two brothers, Taphussa and Bhallika, and giving them many
presents of great value he told them that he wised to pay homage to the Hairs.
The two brothers brought forth the Hairs and showed them to the King, who was so
rejoiced that he was about to cut off his own head that together with his crown
it might be made an offering to the Hairs; but his Queen, intervening, begged
him to offer the crown only, and this he did. Then, saying that his kingdom
possessed nothing comparable to this, he asked the two brothers to leave two
Hairs of the Buddha so that the whole kingdom might have them as objects of
worship and reverence. But the brothers replied that they dared not part with
even one of the Buddha’s Hairs, for he had directed them that the Hairs must be
enshrined in a pagoda on Singuttara hill in their own land. The King threatened
that whether the brothers gave him the Hairs willing or no, yet he would have at
least two of them. So saying, he forcibly opened the emerald casket and took out
two of the Buddha’s Hairs, which he then enclosed in a big prasada before
his palace. A gong was sounded throughout the city, inviting monks and laymen
alike to come to pay homage to the sacred Hairs, and the King commenced a great
festival in his city.
“Then
the brothers continued their voyage, and after twenty-seven days they arrived at
Cape Negrais, whence they sailed on until they arrived at Thayana mountain. The
Hairs sent out six different rays, and even the night seemed broad daylight.
Jeyyasena, King of the Nagas, who lived at the foot of the mountain, seeing this
phenomenon and wishing to know its cause, at night transformed himself into the
likeness of a human-being and went on board the ship. He found in the emerald
casket the Buddha’s Hairs, and having stolen two of them he returned to the
Nagas’ abode. At daybreak when the two brothers discovered their loss they beat
their breasts, weeping bitterly; and hearing that were Nagas in that place they
departed thence forthwith.fn003-01
“Then
they arrived at a place called Taungbwe, where lived a man who having been
shipwrecked, had been stranded there many years. This man came to the shore to
beg food from the five hundred sailors, and he asked the brothers what goods
they had brought with them. The brothers replied that they had brought
merchandise for Nirvana. The poor man came aboard the ship and offered his
wearing apparel to the Hairs; and seeing that so poor and forlorn a man had
offered all that he possessed, the five hundred sailors acclaimed, ‘Thadhu,
thadhu!’; their voices reached the world of the Nats and Brahmas: the Nats and
Brahmas: the Nats hailed ‘ Thadhu, thadhu!’ , and at that moment a prasada
sprang from the ground, and the poor man
---------------
fn003-01 According to other
accounts, these stolen Hairs were ultimately enshrined in Ceylon (see, e.g. the Shwe Dagon Inscriptions).
fn003-01b
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p004
made that prasada
his home. All the five hundred sailors looked on this miracle with wonder and
awe.
“The brothers
departed from that place and came presently to Dhannavati city. Dhannavati city
is now known as Khapin town. fn004-01 There the Hairs were conveyed from the
ship to the land and placed on a hillock of sand. For seven days the town folk
and monks celebrated a great festival in honour of the Hairs. The two brothers
told King Ukkalapa the whole story how they had come to lose four of the Hairs;
they further said that they now offered the Hairs to the King, for there was no
greater King in the world than he. The King summoned one of his ministers and
told him to make preparations for a royal procession, for he was going to pay
homage to the Hairs. His soldiers were assembled: cavalry, elephants, chariots
were sent for: the infantry took their stations. A great and long procession was
formed, the generalof the army leading, the King and his household following.
The King on his elephant went round and round the sand hillock in a clockwise
direction, paying homage to the Hairs. Then said the King, ‘If I am worthy to
keep the Hairs under my care, let all the eight Hairs of the Buddha come
together that I may see them all and pay homage.’ Hardly had he uttered these
words than the eight Hairs came together, and when the King opened the emerald
casket he saw all the eight Hairs in it. The King was so rejoiced that he was
about to cut off his head that it might be an offering, but the Queen begged him
to refrain, and forcibly snatched the two-edge sword from his hands, saying to
the King that if he were gone there would be none to care for the Hairs. The
King said that the Queen spoke truth; and he took from his neck a necklace worth
one lakh and offered it to the Hairs. Then the King said to the two brothers,
‘You told me that there- were only four Hairs, but now there are eight. How is
this?’ The brothers replied to the King, ‘The Buddha knew of this beforehand,
and instructed us that the Hairs must be enshrined in a pagoda on the Singuttara
hill. The inherent power of the King has caused the Hairs which were lost to
return to their proper place.’ That King was much pleased with the brothers’
words, and at once gave to them half his kingdom. Then the King caused all his
subjects to search for the Singuttara hill; but search as they would they could
not find it. The two brothers were much distressed, and they wept and wrung
their hands in despair. Thereupon the earth shook and the Meru mountain bent its
head. Sakka looked down from his abode in heaven, and seeing what was happening
on earth, sent for Vissakamma and told him to descend to the world of humans and
clear the Singuttara hill of all forests and other improper things and to make
the hill as flat as the surface of a drum. Vissakamma then asked the two
brothers why they wept. Hardly had the two brothers told him why they wept than
he had caused the whole of the Singuttara hill to be cleared of forests and
trees and to be levelled so that its surface was as flat
---------------
fn004-01 So
the Thamaing; but Dhannavati is often indentified with Arakan, and Khapin with
Twante. fn004-01b
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p005
as that a drum.
Then he returned to his heavenly abode. That very night the two brothers dreamt.
The elder brother in his dream saw a Brahmin come from the East with eight lotus
flowers; the younger brother in his dream dived through the earth and held the
earth in the palm of his hand. The younger brother interpreted the elder
brother’s vision of a Brahmin to mean that he would not live long, and
interpreted the vision of the eight lotus flowers to mean that the eight Hairs
of the Buddha would be successfully enclosed in their proper place. The elder
brother interpreted the younger brother’s dream to mean that the younger brother
was going to perform a most meritorious deed and that all people would pay
homage to him. Then they set out forthwith to find the Singuttara hill. At once
they saw it. Then they went back to King Ukkalapa and told him what they had
seen. The King said to them that there were four things in the world that men
not lightly offend, namely Monk, King, Fire and Cobra. Should one of these four
be angered, the offender would be destroyed. Therefore the King asked the
brothers to speak the truth. The brothers replied that in truth they had seen
the Singuttara hill, and that the King need not doubt their word. The King then
sent one of his messengers to go out to see this hill. The messenger saw the
hill at once. He was rejoiced and said to himself that when he gave this
marvellous news to the King, the King would reward him; and also that he
himself, having seen the place where the Hairs of the preceding Buddhas were
deposited, would obtain he Dhamma. So saying, he offered his wearing apparel to
the Hill, and he prayed that, although in this existence he was slave to another, in all his future existence he might never again know slavery. Then he
returned to the King and told him that he had seen the wonderful hill. Wherefore
the King gave him many valuable presents and many villages. And the King, riding
on his royal elephant, set forth and going round and the hill three times
clockwise, paid homage to the hill together with his Queen. The King saw that
hill was surrounded by ninety-nine other hills, so that in all the number was
exactly one hundred. The King saw also that to clear so vast an extent of all
forests and trees would take a thousand years; and that to have cleared the
place and made its surface as smooth as the surface of a drum within the space
of one night must have been the work of Nats and Sakka. He told the brothers to
bring the Buddha’s Hairs to the hill that they might be kept there enclosed
within a pagoda. But the brothers said that they had not yet told the King all
that the Buddha had said to them. They said that the Buddha had directed that
his Hairs must be placed in that spot where the relics of the three preceding
Buddhas had been placed in the Singuttara hill. They asked the King to find some
very aged man who could tell them where this place was. The King at once sent
for a very aged man, but the aged man could not tell them what they wished to
know, and they wept and wrung their hands in despair. This caused Sakka’s carpet
to become as hard as a rock; and
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p006
Sakka, knowing what
had happened on earth, sent for Vissakamma and directed him to make preparation,
saying that he would himself shortly descend to the earth. Vissakaman directed
one of the Nats to make all the Nat armies ready, and also to create the Eravana
elephant. fn006-01 Sakka, surrounded by his Nat Soldiers and riding on the
Eravana elephant, came down to the Singuttara hill. All the Brahmas also, with
the exception of the Brahmas from the Arupa Brahma Heavens, fn006-02
descended to the hill. When they came the whole universe was lighted up and was
visible, and all men were much rejoiced thereat. The two brothers asked Sakka to
show them the place where the Hairs must be enshrined. Sakka could not enlighten
them, saying that his age was but one thousand years, and that is equal to
thirty-six millions of men’s years. He sent for a Guardian Nat of the thaphan
tree fn006-03 who was older than he, but the Nat of the thaphan tree could not tell them
what they desired to know. Sakka had to enquire of many Nats in his search for
the needed knowledge. Sule Nat was the oldest of them, and then Yawhani Nat,
Dekkhina Nat, and lastly Hmawbi Nat.
“Sule Nat was an
ogre in the time of Kakusandha Buddha. He used to eat one elephant a day. One
day he could not find an elephant, and while he was hunting for food he met the
Buddha, whom he thought to ear. But the Buddha restrained him and asked him
whether he did know him. Sule Nat replied that he knew him not. The Buddha said
that since he knew him not, he must be punished, and that the punished would be
that for seven years he must keep the five precepts. Sule Nat protested that
seven years was too long; and the Buddha then prescribed seven months; but that
also Sule Nat said was too long; wherefore the Buddha caused him to keep the
five precepts for seven days only. From that time Sule Nat ceased to be an ogre
and became the disciple of the Buddha, who gave him his water-dipper. The place
at which he met Kakusandha Buddha was called Hmawbi. The place where Sule Nat
lived was Kyaikkhami. The place where Sule Nat received the water-dipper was
called Dagon.
“Yawhani Nat was an
ogre in the time of Konagamana Buddha, and he also became disciple of the
Buddha, losing his four tusks from his mouth. The Buddha gave him his
bathing-garment. Dekkina Nat was likewise an ogre, in the time of Kassapa
Buddha; later he too became the Buddha’s disciple, having lost four tusks. He
received a staff. Amyitha Nat knew when Gotama became Buddha.
‘Hmawbi Nat told
Sakka that so long as the world endures he must watch over these relics of the
relics of the four Buddhas: the water-dipper which Sule
---------------
fn006-01Sakkha’s
elephant, with thirty-tree heads to accommodate the thirty-tree gods if the
Tavatimsa; each head had seven tusk carried seven lotus plants; seven flowers,
each flower had seven petals, on each of which danced seven fairies. fn006-01b
fn006-02 Four of
the twenty Brahma words, the highest of the celestial worlds; the inhabitants of
the Arupa Brahmaloka are so called because they are incorporeal (Arupa --
formless, incorporeal). fn006-02b
fn006-03 {tha.hpan:} ficus glomerata. fn006-03b
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p007
Nat received from Kakusandha Buddha, the bathing-garment which Yawhani Nat received Konagamana
Buddha, the staff which Dekkhina Nat received from Kassapa Buddha, and the eight
Hairs which the brothers Taphussa and Bhallika received from Gotama Buddha. All
these relics of the four Buddhas were safely kept on the Singuttara hill.
“All the men, Nats,
and Brahmas were wonderstruck when they heard these marvels from the five Nats.
Directed by Sakka, the Nats dug a cave, of length, breadth, and height,
forty-four cubits. From within the cave which they dug, the water-dipper, the
bathing-garment, and the staff were excavated. All rejoiced to see these relics
of the three preceding Buddhas, and acclaimed, ‘Thadhu, thadhu!’. Then Sakka
caused to be brought from the Tavatimsa Heaven six marble slabs, of which one
slab was made the floor, four slabs were made the walls, and the sixth slab was
made the roof. The thickness of each slab was one cubit. The cave was filled
knee-deep with many various precious stones. Five golden jars with golden
flowers were brought into the cave; one was placed in the middle and one in each
of the four corners. One the top of the centre jar was placed a flower of
jewels. On the top of the flower of jewels was placed a miniature of the golden
ship in which the eight Hairs had been brought. On the top of the ship was
placed the emerald casket. Figures of Sakka and his four Queens, of the two
brothers and their wives and children, and of the Nats, were made and placed in
the cave, in humble attitudes bearing flags, candles, and streamers in their
hands. The two brothers Taphussa and Bhallika carried the Hairs into the cave on
their shoulders. The Hairs were carefully placed in a ruby casket, which was
again placed within an emerald prasada, and the two brothers carried the prasada into the cave where the Hairs were to be finally kept. Sakka
prepared to wash the Hairs with water; but the brothers said that the water from
the Anotatta Lake.fn007-01, the Ganges River, and the top of he Kelasa Hill,
fn007-02 were not proper for this purpose; only water from the Singuttara
hill might be used fro washing the Hairs. Sakka caused a well to be dug on the
Hill. Inside the well were found two small pits, one above the other. Forty-nine
emerald pots were obtained from the well. Sakka caused forty-nine Nats to bring
water from the well in the forty-nine emerald pots. When Sakka opened the ruby
casket to take out the Hairs to be washed, the Hairs flew up to a height of
seven palm, trees, and rays of many colours emanated from them. The Petas
fn007-03
could see the men, and the men could see the ghosts. The blind recovered
their sight. The dumb could speak. The crippled regained their strength. The
earth and the waters shook. The Meru bent its head. The
---------------
fn007-01 One of
seven mythical lakes in the Himalayas; of special sanctity as the bathing-place
of the Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, Arahats, and Gods. fn007-01b
fn007-02 A
mountain range in the Himalayas; one of five ranges which stand around
Anotatta
lake, of silver colour; in Hindu mythology, the home of the Gods. fn007-02b
fn007-03 Spirits
of the departed; born in the Petaloka and leading a miserable existence as
result of or punishment for former misdeeds. fn007-03b
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p008
seven ranges shook
together. Sheet lightning and forked lightning played in the sky. A rain of
jewels fell. Sheet lightning and forked lightning played in the sky. A rain of
jewels fell. Trees bore fruit and flowers bore blossom out of season. Nats and
Brahmas and men moved among one another freely. Sakka’s chief Queen, Sudhamma,
offered flower-garments; the second Queen, Tusita, offered ruby earrings; the
third Queen, Sunnanda, offered jewels for the hair; the last Queen, Sujata,
offered her hair. King Ukkalapa and the two brothers Taphssa and Bhallika said,
‘May we become Buddhas in some future age’. The Nats did reverence and
acclaimed. The eight Hairs then descended on the heads of two brothers. They
came whirling down in circles like rings of fire. The size of a Hair was two
fingers, but these fingers were Buddha’s fingers and three times the size of the
fingers of ordinary men. Then Sakka having washed the Hairs of the Buddha with
the water from Singuttara hill, the Hairs were placed once more in the jewelled
casket which was again placed on top of the miniature ship of gold in the manner
aforesaid. Sakka created figures which were caused to go round and round the
place where the Hairs were put, with glass two-edged swords on their shoulders,
and at some distance from these figures were placed seven iron covers one upon
the other.
“The two brothers
Taphussa and Bhallika were very reluctant to part with the Hairs. Their eyes
were fixed on them and they could not take their eyes away from the Hairs. When
all was ready and the time came to place the stone slab over the cave, they
broke into wailing cries and pitiful sobs, wringing their hands as in despair.
The golden stone slab was placed on top of the cave by Sakka, and so the solemn
rite was ended.
“On the golden stone
slab was erected a golden pagoda, which was enclosed in a silver pagoda. Over
this was built yet another, a tin pagoda. The tin pagoda was swallowed by a
copper pagoda. This was enclosed in a lead pagoda. Then was superimposed a
marble pagoda, and then an iron-brick pagoda. With golden bricks, silver bricks,
mogyo fn008-01 bricks, tin bricks, copper bricks, lead bricks, rock bricks,
iron bricks, marble bricks, clay bricks, the pagodas were made; with lime, glue,
mortar, plaster, the pagodas were well and firmly made.” fn008-02
Such is the modern
form of the story, told with variations of detail by different writers, of the
foundation of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda; and so legend claims that the Pagoda dates
from the days when the Buddha Gotama lived in this earthly existence twenty-four
centuries ago; and the peculiar sanctity which attaches to the Pagoda is derived
from the belief in the presence beneath it of the Buddha’s sacred hairs.
The historian,
however, requires more than tradition to convince his sceptical mind, and to him
are apparent good reasons for presuming to doubt this hallowed story.
----------------
fn008-01 Mogyo-
alloy of copper and gold fn008-01b
fn008-02 Shwe
dagon Thamaing Athit. fn008-02b
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p009
In the ancient
scriptures Taphussa and Bhallika are referred to, but little is said of them
beyond the simple statement that they were disciples of the Buddha. “Taphussa
and Bhallika were the chief attendants of the teacher Dipankara, “says the
Buddhavamsa. “Monks, superme among my devout disciples who first took the refuge
are the merchants Taphussa and Bhallika, “is the statement in the Anguttara
Nikaya. Verses attributed to Bhallika appear also in the Sutta Pitaka. The
Mabavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka amplifies these meagre statements by saying that
the two merchants came from Ukkala and that, advised by a spirit who ha been a
blood-relation of them, they approached the Buddha and offered him rice-cakes
and honey-food, and that when Gotama sought a bowl in which to receive these
gifts, the four Maharaja Gods offered him four bowls from the four corners of
the earth. But in none of these accounts is there any suggestion that the two
brothers were connected with Burma, for Ukkala is the classical name of Orissa.
Nor so far is there any mention of the gift of Hairs. It is not until the fifth
century A. D. that the story of the Hairs first appears. The Pali commentator
Buddhaghosa, writing at about that period, describes how the two brothers came
from Ukkala, and were stopped on their journey by a spirit; this spirit, he
states, was the mother of the brothers in a former existence; the brothers made
their offering to the Buddha, but his bowl, which he had formerly had, had
disappeared when Sujata came to offer milk-rice; so the four Maharaja Gods
offered first sapphire bowls, which were refused and then stone bowls the
colour of beans, which the Buddha resolved into one bowl; after then accepting
the offering of the two brothers, he stroked his head and gave to them the Hairs
which adhered to his hand. Then the two brothers departed. Buddhaghosa also
states that Taphussa and Bhallika were born at Hamsavati, and were reborn at
Asitanjana town; he adds also the detail that they had fivehundred carts; and
further that they deposited the Hairs in a golden casket and enshrined them at
the gate of Asitanjana.
The commentator
Dhammapala, writing at the same period, also descibes the gift of Hairs. He adds
that the brothers were born at Pokkharavati town. Yet a third commentator,
Buddhadatta, a contemporary of Buddhaghosa and Dhammapala, thought mentioning
the brothers’ gift of food, makes no mention of the Hairs. And while Buddhaghosa
and Dhammapala describe the presentation of the Hairs, they do not in any way
indicate that Asitanjana where the Hairs were, according to Buddhaghosa,
enshrined, was a town of Burma. Later commentaries on the scriptures tell the
story of the Hairs also, but again make no suggestion of any connection with
Burma.
It is not until the
fifteenth century that the connection with Burma is intimated. This statement is
made for the first time in the Shwe Dagon Inscriptions, made by order of King
Dammazedi in 1485 A.D. There the story is told in greater detail, much as it is
told today in the Thamaing, and
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p010
it is explicitly
stated that the brothers were born at Asitanjana or Pokkharavati, in Ramanna,
the land of the Mons, and that the Hairs were enshrined on Mount Tamagutta near
their native town. Still more had yet to be added to the story by the later Mon
chroniclers, such as the detail that Ukkala, which in the Inscriptions is
clearly Orissa, was in truth in Lower Burma.
As has been
observed, “We have here an interesting instance of the growth of legend to
authenticate and add glory to local relics . . . The ancient form of this
legend, as found here, must have arisen when the relics were still in Orissa.”
fn010-01 Thus the historian is compelled to regard the story as a product of
the accretion of legend around a thin core of truth: to arrive at the truth the
accretions must be eliminated, and when that is done the core of truth is found
to have no reference at all to Burma. fn010-02 For similar reasons the common
story that Gotama himself visited Burma must also be rejected.
Much more in the
traditional history of Dagon must be likewise cast aside. Legend has it that
after thirty-two generations of rulers who paid homage to the Pagoda, the
dynasty of Ukkalapa was overthrown, and that thereafter the Pagoda was allowed
to fall into disrepair, until, at the time of the Third great Buddhist Synod,
held at Pataliputta in the year 241 B.C., the Pagoda was restored by no less a
personage than the great Asoka. Ac-cording to Mon tradition:
“There being no one
to worship and do repairs to the Lagun shrine, it fell into ruins, and the place
was covered with a growth of trees, bushes and creepers. King Asokadhammaraj of
Rajagriha made a search for the place where the hairs were enshrined. It was at
the time of the Third Council 1 two hundred and eighteen years after
the Buddha’s parinirvana that Asokadhammaraj made the search. The two saints
Moggaliputta fn010-03 and Uttara pointed out the place to him. None of the
original shrines remained, all had perished. And King Asokadhammaraj had the
place cleared of trees,
bushes and creepers,
and after building a shrine of golden prasada, he died.” fn010-04
According to another
account, however, it was not Asoka himself who was concerned in rediscovering
the shrine, but two Buddhist missionaries.The Mon Shwe Dagon
Inscription says:-
“The succession of
those who knew the virtues of the hair-relics of the Lord Buddha having been
broken , and since in this country of Mon the religion had not been established,
there was none who knew the ceti of the hair.
---------------
fn010-01 Rhys
Davids: Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 118 note 8. fn010-01b
fn010-02 On this
subject see Pe Maung Tin, Shwe Dagon Pagoda, which work gives the only
authoritative discussion of the subject and has been freely made use of above.
fn010-02b
fn010-03
Mahamoggaliputtatissatthera, President of the Third Buddhist Council, held at
Pataliputta during Asoka’s reign. The Pali chronicles mention his despatch of
missionaries his despatch of missionaries to the countries adjoining India.
fn010-03b
fn010-04
Slapat
Wan Dhat
Kyuik
Lagun, quoted Pe
Maung
Tin
op. cit. fn010-04b
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p011
relics and none to
worship and revere it. There being no one to worship and revere it, on the land
of the ceti such things as trees, bushes, grass, rubbish had grown up and
there was a forest concealing it, and no one knew the site. From the year that
our Lord Buddha made parinirvana, 236 years having passed, our Lords the two
Saints by name the theras Sona and Uttara fn011-01 came and established the
religion in the city of Suvannabhum. fn011-02 And when, the religion having
been established, there were monks and nuns, novices male and female, King
Sirimasoka said to our two Lords, ‘Lords, ‘ the gem of the Law and the gem of
the Order we are able to worship and revere. We wish to worship and revere the
gem of the Buddha. We have it not. A relic of the Lord Buddha that we may
satisfy our minds with, a gem of the Buddha that we may worship and revere,
fetch for us the relic of the Buddha!’ Thus the King made request to our lords.
Then our Lords the two mahatheras showed King Sirmasoka the ceti of
hair-relics of the Lord Buddha which Taphussa and Bhallika had enshrined on top
of Mount Tamagutta and which the jungle, bushes and creepers had covered and
concealed and no one knew its site. Then King Sirimasoka had the jungle, bushes
and creepers cleared, and caused to be repaired the ceti and the
prasada which was the cetiyaghara fn011-03 and did worship. And in due
course from that time also all the people dwelling in the Mon country kept
coming and worshipping it”.
The Kalyani lnscriptions, inscribed at Pegu in 1475, also state that the Buddhist
religion was brought to Burma at this time by Sona and Uttara.
Yet despite these
legends, in none of Asoka’s numerous inscriptions is there any reference to his
visiting Burma or even to the despatch of missionaries there; while the
suggested existence in Burma of a King called Sirimasoka indicates that
indicates that Asoka has in the course of the development of the Pagod’s story
become transferred from India to Burma. These stories must also be rejected as
the product of pious imagination.
But at the same time
there is no doubt that the Delta had in distant times a close
connection with
India. In the early days of the Christian Era Hanthawaddy was, if Ptolemy is to
be believed, inhabited by cannibals; but by the beginning of the third century
Hindu colonies appeared along the coast, the colonists coming by sea from the
coast of India and also from the west coast, and establishing trading posts
among the creeks and rivers of the Delta. It is likely that among these Hindu
settlements was one on the Pagoda Hill and that a Brahmanical shrine was erected
there, replacing some primitive object of worship of the cannibals. Such shrines
were erected commonly on the higher areas of ground, and the remains of them
which are
-------------
fn011-01 Two
disciples of Mahamoggaliputtissatthera, sent by him to propagate the Buddhist
faith. fn011-01b
fn011-02 “The
Golden Land,” generally identified by Burmans with Lower Burma: but by western
scholars with one of the islands of Father India. fn011-02b
fn011-03 The
interior of a shrine containing holy relics. fn011-03b
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p012
found indicate the
sites of Hindu settlements fn012-01. Some of them bore Sanskrit names from
which their modern names have been derived. That the Pagoda Hill formed one of
these settlements is, according to Forchhammer, indicated by the derivation of
the name Dagon by which the place was known to the Mons and from which the
Pagoda derives its title. This name has puzzled many travellers and scholars,
and has led to some surprising efforts in etymology. One writer makes a gallant
effort to connect the name with the idol Dagon of the Bible. The word, he says,
is composed of “dog-fish, and the mysterious and sacred monosyllable om, on,
aum, or aun, a title bestowed upon the sun but which appears, under its
various forms, to imply divine existence. Dagon, therefore, is the Fish-God, the
amphibious deity who was the chief object of Phoenician idolatry.” fn012-02
Forchhammer, however, states that the original name was Singuttara; but
that the Pagoda Hill and two neigh-bouring hills, forming a complex of three
hills, gave rise to the Sanskrit name Trikumbhanagara, or in Pali
Tikumbhanagara, from the Sanskrit kumbha, meaning “a conical object;” in
Mon, he says, Tikumba became Tikun, Later Takun, or
Takoun, and so Dagon. fn012-03 The modern philologist of Burma Pe Maung
Tin, says that the place was called Tribakumba, and that tribakumba developed into Trikumba, which was further corrupted to Dagon which still
further changed into the modern Mon form Lagun. The name Tribakumba was given because, according to Mon legend, “three hilltops... appear to bow
down to Mount Simghuttata.” fn012-04 It thus appears that the name Dagon is
in origin Sanskrit and that therefore the name was in the first place given by
Hindu settlers of early days.
Contemporaneously
with the form Dagon, which first appears in the later fifteenth century, when
the Kalyani Inscriptions give the form dgun, appears in the Shwe Dagon
Inscriptions the name Tambahutta or Tamagutta, meaning “guarded by copper.”
This term, applied to the Hill, may refer to the story of the enshrining of the
Hairs.
Mon tradition,
however, has also a very different explanation of the name Dagon, connecting it
with dagon, “a tree or log lying across a road or stream,” for when the tree
above the place where the sacred relics were to be buried was felled, as the
three divisions of the mount were not equal, it remained poised horizontally on
its centre on the highest peak; its top touched not the ground and its roots
touched not the ground. Therefore the place was called in the Mon language
Dagon.”
It appears probable,
whatever the derivation of the name, that Dagon first became the scene of
civilized life in the days of the Hindu colonists. In their time the general
condition of the Hill and the surrounding country was doubtless much as it now
is. Some slight changes have been effected by the
---------------
fn012-01 See Map
No. 1. fn012-01b
fn012-02 Conder:
Birmah, Siam and Anam. fn012-02b
fn012-03
Forchhammer: The Shwe Dagon. fn012-03b
fn012-04 Pe
Maung Tin, op. cit. fn012-01b
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p013
hand of man, such as
the clearing of jungle and the building of houses and roads, and changes may
have taken place in the courses of the neighbouring creeks, for some of the
creeks and rivers of the Delta have at time altered their courses radically
until in recent years natural developments have been restrained by man’s
efforts. But in general the topography of the district must have been what it
was a hundred years ago. Stretching northwards from the Pagoda Hill ran the
laterite ridge, the last phase of the Pegu Yoma: to the south of the Hill lay
low-lying, often water-logged, land, where, forming a small island in the swamp,
stood the laterite pinnacle which later came to bear the Sule Pagoda and on
which doubtless a stupa was erected by the early settlers. To the east, beyond
the swamps along the Pazundaung Creek, ran the Pegu River, on the far side of
which rose the laterite ridge of Syriam; and to the west was jungly land sloping
down to the River swamps, and across the River more swampy land until the Twante
ridge was reached. In general the area had the form which it held until the last
century, the Hill verged by low-lying, water-logged land, with the Hlaing or
Rangoon River on west and south and the Pegu River in the east. fn013-01
Little evidence is
available for the history of Dagon in the first millenium of the Christian Era,
however. The Mon chronicle, the Slapat Wan Dhat Kyuik Lagun,
states that “King Tat Dabaung together with a host of soldiers came and
thought he would dig up the hairs and take them away; but being unable to do so,
he paid homage to the hairs and having planted on the south-east corner of the
shrine an umbrella, with a handle of emerald and leaves of diamond stones as an
offering, he returned home.” The Mon Slapat Rajawan Datow Smin Ron
(History if King) fn013-02 tells the same story with the addition that the
King was deterred from his project by a great-storm. But King Tat Dabaung
(Duttabaung) is a highly legendary figure whose
---------------
fn013-01 The
suggestion that in the early years of the Christian Era the condition of the
Delta was radically different from its present condition and that as late as the
seventh century the extended nearly to Prome, is not consistent with what is
know of the Delta’s development. The suggestion rests on poor evidence, that of
the Chinese travellers Hsuan-tsang, who says only that Prome was a port near the
sea. Hsuan-tsang did not himself visit Lower Burma and spoke entirely from
hearsay. The accuracy of his information may be judged from the circumstance
that he places Sri Ksetra north-east of Chittagong. The reference to proximity
to the sea thus carries little weight. Moreover, Prome could well be a port for
the minute vessel of those days even if it stood as far from the sea as it does
today, for as late as a hundred years ago ships of three and four hundred tons
were being built at Prome (Cox: Journal of a Residence in he Empire, pp. 25,
424). Further, since Prome is about two-hundred miles from the sea today, the
Delta must, if it stood near the sea in the seventh century, have extended two
hundred miles in thirteen hundred years-as average extension of two miles in
thirteen years; and that is an incredible rate of growth. Rangoon is now some
twenty miles from the mouth of the Rangoon River; if the Delta grows two miles
in thirteen years, the town must have been only four or five miles from the sea
a hundred years ago, whereas there is ample evidence that its distance from the
River mouth was almost precisely what it is now. It is true that, as the Delta
extends fan-wise the rate of extension seawards tends to decelerate owing to the
increased area over which the same amount of silt is distributed; but, since the
extension seawards in the last hundred years has been negligible, it follows
that, to produce a total extension of two hundred miles since the seventh
century, the rate of growth must have been positively enormous thirteen hundred
years ago, running into miles a year. The improbability is such as to amount to
an impossibility. The only reasonable conclusion is that, thought there has been
some progress sea-wards since the early centuries f the Christian Era, the
progress has been relatively small, and that in those centuries the sea lay some
considerable distance below Rangoon; the topography of Rangoon would thus have
been at that period much what it was a hundred years ago before man made his
changes in it. See Map I, which shows the old sea beaches and shore lines.
fn013-01b
fn013-02 Trans.
R. Halliday fn013-02b
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p014
very existence is
open to doubt. fn014-01 It may be, however, that the legend indicates warfare
between the Mons at Dagon and the Pyu at Sri Ksetra, fn014-02 as the
History of Kings records that King Tat Dabaung came from the latter city.
Possibly the making of offerings by the King to the pagoda indicates that the
Pyu held the place for a time and restored or enlarged the stupa. But little
dependance can be placed on the chronicles in their record of the history of
these ancient times. In the same way the story that King Ponnarika, who reigned,
it is said, in Pegu from 746 to 761 A.D., re-establish the town and renamed it
Arammana, though perhaps indicative of a struggle between Buddhism and
Brahmanism, and representing a tradition of an attack by a Brahmanic King on
Buddhist Dagon, must be regarded with all suspicion. Equally dubious is the
story of the Mon chronicle Prakui Rajathaput, that the place was ruled by a King
named Arammanaraja, who gave his name to the town which was thus called Arammana
and later Rammanagur; for Arammana is simply a from of Ramanna, “the land of the
Mons.”
The Mon History of
King also states that “in the time of Mancesu, that monarch came marching down
with intent to carry away the relics, and being unable to accomplish his object
he formed a precious emerald into the likeness of an alter, and having buried it
on the western side as an offering to the relics of the exalted Buddha, he went
up to his own city.” But this presumably some unnamed King of Pagan fn014-03
, is not identifiable, and the legend merely represents some ancient war of
which no record is now extant. Little reliance can be placed in the legends
which relate to those dim centuries, and until the conquest of the Delta by
Pagan, and indeed for long after, the history of Dagon is little better than
mere speculation. fn014-04
Contents | Top
BIBLIOGRAPHY
C.O. Blagden: Epigraphia Brimanica I I I part I I (Kalyani Inscriptions)
J. Conder: Brimah, Siam and Anam.
E. Forchhammer: The Shwe Dagon.
G. E. Gerini: Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography.
R. Halliday (trans.): History of Kings (Journal of the Burma Research Society X I I I) .
G.E. Harvey: History of Burma.
Pe Maung Tin: The Shwe Dagon Pagoda (Journal of the Burma Research Society XXIV).
Shwe Dagon Thamaing Athit (Rangon 1924.)
--------------
fn014-01 Harvey:
History of Burma, p. 309. fn014-01b
fn014-02 Sri
Ksetra-Old Prome. fn014-02b
fn014-03
{min:si~-thu} – (cesu from Pali Jeyyasura). fn014-03b
fn014-04 The theory that in the year 1001 the King of Pegu sent presents to the Chinese
Emperor and that one of his envoys was the governor of Takuma which is to be
identified with Dagon (Gerini, p.523) cannot be substantiated. fn014-04
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