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The transfer of the Burmese capital from Pegu to Ava

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Victor B. Lieberman
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Extract

like Anaw-rahta's conquest of Thahton or the Mongol expeditions against Pagan, Tha-lun's transfer of capital from Pegu to Ava in 1634—5 is one of those prominent transitions in Burmese history which always attract comment in standard surveys. The pioneer historian of Burma G. E. Harvey claimed that the decision by Tha-lun (r. 1629–48) to forsake the coast in favour of the interior signified the abandonment of his predecessors' goal of a Burmese–Mon national kingship, and contributed to the subsequent isolation of the Burmese from international intercourse. D. G. E. Hall, expanding the latter theme, wrote that “(t)he removal of the Burmese capital from Pegu to Ava in 1635 was, without doubt, one of the cardinal events of Burmese history … it signalised the triumph of the more intransigent elements in Burmese character and governmental policy” and contributed ultimately to the political ruin of the country.

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Articles
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 112 , Issue 1 , January 1980 , pp. 64 - 83
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1980

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References

Research presented in this paper was assisted by a Personal Research Grant from the Social Science Research Council of Great Britain and by a Junior Fellowship from the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University. Romanization follows “conventional transcriptions with accented tones” set forth in Okell, J. W. A., A guide to the romanization of Burmese, London, 1971.Google Scholar

1 History of Burma from the earliest times to 10 March 1824…, London, 1925; repr., 1967, 193, 248–9.Google Scholar

2 Early English intercourse with Burma 1587–1743, London, 1928; repr., 1968, 11.Google Scholar See too his A history of South-East Asia, second edition, New York, 1966, 356.Google Scholar

3 A history of Burma, New York, 1967, 143–6.Google Scholar

4 Kalà, Ù, Maha-ya-zawin-gyi (The Great Chronicle) (UK), Sò, Ù Ukin, ed., Rangoon, 1961, III, 135, 189.Google Scholar The kings who reigned during the period covered by this paper, and their family relationships, were as follows:

5 On the layout of Burmese capitals, see UK, III, 226–32; Kòn-baung–zet maha-yazawin-daw-gyi (Great Chronicle of the Kòn-baung Dynasty) (KBZ), Tin, Ù (ed.), third edition, Rangoon, 1967, I, 550–2;Google Scholar“Extracts of Master Caesar Frederike…” in Hakluytus posthumus or Purchas his pilgrimes, Purchas, S., ed., (repr., Glasgow, 1905), X, 120–1;Google ScholarYule, H., A narrative of the mission to the court of Ava in 1855, London, 1858 (repr., Kuala Lumpur, 1968), ch. 5. The epithet shwei (“golden”) designated royalty and was sometimes used in combination with last syllable of the capital to produce a compound name: e.g. Shwei-wà for Awà (Ava), or Shwei-bo for Mok-hsò-bo.Google Scholar

6 On the continuity of shwei-myò-daw organization, see n. 5 plus Zei-yá-thin-hkaya, Shwei-bon-ní-dàn (Overview of the Golden Abode), Mandalay, 1920;Google ScholarShorto, H. L., “The 32 Myos in the medieval Mon kingdom”, BSOAS, XXVI, 3, 1963, 577;Google ScholarScott, J. G. and Hardiman, J. P., (comp.), Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, Rangoon, 1901, II, 2, 157.,Google Scholar

7 “Conceptions of state and kingship in Southeast Asia”, Far Eastern Quarterly, II, 1942, 15–30.Google Scholar

8 op. cit., esp. 587–91.

9 “The nature of state and society in Pagan” (University of Michigan, Ph.D. thesis, 1976), 145, 273, 299.Google Scholar

10 World conqueror and world renouncer, Cambridge, 1976, ch. 7.Google Scholar

11 KBZ, I, 347.Google Scholar Narai of Siam also seems to have had two formal capitals at Lopburi and Ayudhya. See History of Siam, Smith, S. J. (tr.), Bangkok, 1880, 38–41.Google Scholar

12 UK, III, 167–77 passim. These are references to his Peguan tè-daws. Note, however, that as early as 1608 during his Prome campaign, Anauk-hpet-lun set a precedent by dwelling in a tè-daw at Melun. Inscriptions copied from the stones collected by King Bodawpaya and placed near the Arakan pagoda, Mandalay, 2 vols., Rangoon, 1897, II, 638.Google Scholar On tè-daws as an institution, see Yi, Yi, Thú-tei-thaná abí-dan-myà hmat-sú (Researchers' Dictionary), Rangoon, 1974, 277–8.Google Scholar

13 UK, III, 187.

14 ibid., 189. cf. 188, 179.

15 Halliday, R. (ed. and tr.), Journal of the Burma Research Society, XIII, 1, 1923, 60.Google Scholar

16 Furnivall, J. S. (ed. and tr.), JBRS, V, 1915, 49–50, 133. I am relying on the Burmese text. The “Maw-tari” temporary palace was perhaps another designation for Ù Kalà's “ya-yi nàn-daw”. “That-tama” and “Thet-kamá” are two variations on a proper name.Google Scholar

17 Professor Hla Pe, oral communication, 19 June 1978. This tradition is supported by internal evidence in the second poem. See too the anonymous note appended to each of the three poems in the 1920 edition. Min-zei-yá-yan-dameik hso yadú-hnín shin than -hko hso yadú (Poems by Mín-zei-yá-yan-dameik and Shin than-hko) Mandalay, 1920, 3–5, 10–11.Google Scholar

18 ibid., 3–5.

19 ibid., 3–4. My thanks to Professor Hla Pe for his invaluable translation assistance and for his many other kindnesses. Responsibility for any deficiencies in t h e translation of this yadú remains my own.

20 The palace of Sakka. See Malalesekera, G. P., Dictonary of Pali proper names (DPPN), 2 vols., London, 1960, II, 915.Google Scholar

21 Mt. Sineru or Meru.

22 The twelfth month nearly answering to March.

23 Commonly in early April.

24 The second month nearly answering to May.

25 That Anauk-hpet-lun maintained his chariot and yacht at Ava is further proof of Ava's exalted status since these were important symbols of state.

26 See DPPN, II, 1203–4.Google Scholar

27 ibid., II, 22–3.

28 The ninth month nearly answering to December.

29 The tenth month nearly answering to January.

30 UK, III, 189.

31 ibid., 183–4.

32 ibid., 187.

33 History of Burma, London, 1883 (repr. New York, 1969), 133.Google Scholar

34 UK, III, 146, 190–3; Hman-nàn … maha-ya-zawin-daw-gyì (Great Glass Palace Royal Chronicle), Mandalay, 1909, III, 148–9.Google Scholar

35 UK, 111,195–7.

36 ibid., 189.

37 KBZ, II, 69–188Google Scholarpassim. Cf. Koenig, W. J., “The early Kòn-baung polity, 1752–1819” (University of London, Ph.D. thesis, 1978), 411–27.Google Scholar I might also call to mind a parallel with King Lu Tai of Sukhodaya, who about 1362 moved to Nan, Pra Sak, and finally Kong Swe, where military considerations induced him to reside for seven years before returning to the grand palace of Sukhodaya. Tambiah, , op. cit., 89.Google Scholar

38 UK, III, 199. Cf. readings at UK, III, 226 and Hman-nàn, III, 203.Google Scholar

39 Rangoon University Library MS. 45235 (RUL 45235), Tahse-chauk tahse-hkun-nit ya-zú myan-ma mìn ameín-daw-myà (Burmese royal edicts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), typescript provided by Dr. Than Tun of Mandalay University, Edict 13 (996 wa-hso 10 wax.), 12–13.

40 UK, III, 206.

41 On these campaigns, see besides UK, III, 205–9, Thein, U Aung (tr.), “Our wars with the Burmese”, JBRS, XL, 2, 1957, 232;Google ScholarAnnales du Siam, III: Chronique de Xieng Mai, Notton, C. (ed. and tr.), Paris, 1932, 173–75;Google ScholarThe Nan Chronicle, Churatana, Prasoet, tr. and Wyatt, D. K., ed., Ithaca, N.Y., 1966, 26–28. Some dates in this last source seem ten years too early.Google Scholar

42 RUL 45235, Edicts 7, 8, 19 and 23 indicate that Tha-lun had three coronations: a ya-zá-bí-thei-ká at Pegu in s. 992; a zei-yá-bí-thei-ká at some unspecified place and time, probably at Pegu in s. 995; and a thi-rí-maha-ya-zá-bí-thei-ká at Ava in s. 997. This disagrees with UK, III, 206–33 which says that he had only two coronations, the first being a ya-zá-bí-thei-ká at Pegu in s. 995. Tha-lun's Kaùng-hmú-daw inscription, Inscriptions copied from the stones collected by King Bodawpaya, I, 263–4, seems to support UK.Google Scholar

43 Inscriptions copied from the stones collected by King Bodawpaya, I, 263.Google Scholar

44 See UK, III, 217–8; “Jeremias van Vliet's description of the kingdom of Siam”, van Ravenswaay, L. F. (tr.), Journal of the Siam Society, VII, 1, 1910, 32–3.Google Scholar

45 UK, III, 195–226 passim. The Arakanese, who sacked Pegu in 1599, had shown interest in a new intervention following Anauk-hpet-lun's death.

46 ibid., 200.

47 ibid., 219–20.

48 ibid., 225. This and other letters appear to b e primary sources inserted into Ù Kalà's chronicle.

49 A similar ordering appeared in an official letter to Ayudhya which Tha-lun sent in December 1633 or January 1634. Ibid., 217. See below, n. 53.

50 RUL 45235, Edicts 7–15 (no. 9 is in fact two edicts) (issued between 992 kahson and 996 wa-hso), 5–15. On the other hand, in the Kaùng-hmú-daw inscription he called himself the grandson of Bayín-naung who ruled all of Zam-bu-di-pá from Han-tha-wadi.

51 Maha-damá-thìn-gyan, , Tha-thana-lin-ga-yá sa-dàn (Text adorning the religion), Rangoon, 1897, 170–1. This was written in 1831 by a court scholar.Google Scholar

52 “History of Syriam”, 47, n. 32.Google Scholar The Burmese text at 133 says that he erected a tè-nàn-daw at Maw-dari, where Anauk-hpet-lun died. On Tha-lun's temporary palace, see too Furnivall, J. S., ed. and tr., “Some historical documents”, JBRS, VI, 3, 1916, 220;Google Scholar RUL 45235, Edict 7 (992 kahson 10 wax.), 5; Edict 8 (n.d.), 6; Maha-damá-thìn-gyan, , op. cit., 170.Google Scholar

53 Construction schedules appear in UK, III, 209–12, 226–32. Cf. above, n. 42 and 43; and Gyaw, Ya, Myan-ma maha-mìn-gala mìn-gàn-daw (Burmese royal ceremonies), Mandalay, 1905, 1–19.Google Scholar Although the Kaùng-hmú-daw inscription identifies Pegu as the ya-zá-hta-ni-pyei-gyì (“royal city and great principality”) of both Bayín-naung and Tha-lun, it vitiates this equality by pointing out that the former had a shwei-nàn-daw at Pegu, whereas Tha-lun had a min-gala-nàn-daw.

54 op. cit., 144.Google Scholar On the uprising and subsequent migrations (the scale of which van Vliet greatly exaggerated), see UK, III, 218–19, 223–4; “Van Vlict's description”, 33; Halliday, R., “Immigration of the Mons into Siam”, Journal of the Siam Society, X, 3, 1913, 1–13.Google Scholar

55 Regional traditions sometimes set the eastern littoral against Pegu and contributed to a more complex pattern of ethnic allegiance than a simple Mon–Burmese typology suggests. See my article, “Ethnic politics in eighteenth-century Burma”, Modern Asian Studies, XII, 3, 1978, 455–82.Google Scholar

56 Tha-lun merely sent an embassy to Ayudhya to request their return. See “Van Vliet's description”, 33.Google Scholar

57 See RUL 45235, Edict 12 (995 tagù 2 wax.), 11–12. Furthermore Edict 13 (996 wa-hso 10 wax.), 12–13 suggests that before the Moulmein revolt was suppressed, and possibly even before the attack on the arms treasury, Tha-lun asked his hsaya-daws to detail customary procedures for taking possession of a shwei-nàn-daw.

58 Inscriptions copied from the stones collected by King Bodawpaya, I, 263–4.Google Scholar

59 UK, III, 226.

60 British Library, London, MS. Or. 3418, “Myó-taga-dó-í ne-nameik-sa” (Record of township boundaries), gí. Obviously the “three” should be a “five”. Similarly “History of Syriam”, 133 said that he returned from Han-tha-wadi, where he had a temporary palace, to “the capital Ava” (Awá nei-pyei-daw) where he ascended the golden palace.

61 See detailed tables in Koenig, op. cit., app. II. I am using 19°N latitude as a rough ecological boundary, though in fact Delta political authority seldom extended so far north.

62 Zam-bú-di-pá ok-hsaùng kyàn (Garland of the Crown of Zam-bú-di-pá), Furnivall, J. S. and Tin, Pe Maung, (ed.), Rangoon, 1960, 41.Google Scholar This census offers no figures for Upper Burma. On those factors inhibiting agricultural and demographic growth in the south, see Adas, M., The Burma Delta, Madison, Wis., 1974, 22–6.Google Scholar

63 For detailed discussion, see my article “Europeans and the unification of Burma, c. 1540–1620”, forthcoming in a collection of essays on East-West cultural impact, Boon, J. and Kammen, M. (ed.), Chicago, 1981.Google Scholar

64 See inter alia RUL 45235, Edict 10 (992 nadaw 10 wan.), 9–10; Edict 44 (999 nadaw 2 wax.), 38–9; Edict 89 (1000 tabó-dwè 5 wan.), 79; UK, II, 139–40.

65 Tun, Than, “Mahākassapa and his tradition”, JBRS, XLII, 2, 1959, 99, 107, 116;Google Scholaridem., “History of Burma: A.D. 1 300–1400“, JBRS, XLII, 2, 1959, 131;Google ScholarThaw, Tin Hla, “History of Burma: A.D. 1400–1500”, JBRS, XLII, 2, 1959, 147.Google Scholar

66 See Luce, G. H., “Old Kyaukse and the coming of the Burmans”, JBRS, XLII, 1, 1959, 75–112;Google ScholarHarvey, , op. cit, 78–80, 248–9, 265, 356;Google ScholarLangham-Carter, R. R., “Alompra's Shwebo”, JBRS, XXIII, 1, 1933, 1–12;Google ScholarKirk, W., “Some factors in the historical geography of Burma”, Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, LIV, 1947–1949, 16–26.Google Scholar

67 The administration of Burma, Rangoon, 1938, repr., Kuala Lumpur, 1973, 11.Google Scholar

68 See “Provincial reforms in Taung-ngu Burma”, forthcoming in the BSOAS, XLIII, 1980; and n. 63 above.Google Scholar

69 On foreign servicemen and armaments, see UK, III, 166, 247; “History of Syriam”, 50, 133; RUL 45235, Edict 69 (1000 wa-gaung 10 wan.), 63; KBZ, I, 111;Google ScholarHall, D. G. E., “The Daghregister of Batavia and Dutch trade with Burma in the seventeenth century”, JBRS, XXIX, 2, 1939, 154;Google Scholaridem, English intercourse, 208–9.Google Scholar To supplement the deportees of 1613, Pìndalè (r. 1648–61) may have hired some European sailors as short-term mercenaries. See Hman-nàn, 268–9.Google Scholar

70 See inter alia RUL 45235, Edict 16 (997 kahson 5 wax.), 15–17; Edict 45 (999 nadaw 5 wax.), 39–40; Zam-bú-di-pá, 65.

71 Furnivall, , “Some historical documents”, 219–20;Google Scholar“History of Syriam”, 51–2, 133.Google Scholar

72 British Library, London, MS. Or. 6452-B(l), App. leaves 5–6.

73 “Daghregister of Batavia”, 139–49.Google Scholar

74 A history of Rangoon, Rangoon, 1939 (repr., Westmead, England, 1971), 27–32.Google Scholar Earlier Harvey, , op. cit., 193 had adduced the silting up of the river as a factor in Tha-lun's abandonment of Pegu, an idea which was also taken up by Hall and Htin Aung.Google Scholar

75 The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires… and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Cortesão, A., ed., 2 vols., London, 1944, I, 97–8, 101–2.Google Scholar

76 Rangoon, 1922, 67. This is an anonymous eighteenth-century Burmese history based on older Mon sources.

77 See Cortesão's comments on how Castanheda confused Dagon, “the port of Pegu”, with Cosmin, , Tomé Pires, I, 98, n.Google Scholar See too The Book of Duarte Barbosa, Dames, M. L., ed., 2 vols., London, 1918, 1921, II, 152–3, describing a commercial geography which seems quite modern.Google Scholar

78 “The voyage of Master Ralph Fitch…”, in Hakluytus posthumus, X, 186.Google Scholar

79 “Gasparo Balbi his voyage to Pegu …”, ibid., 155–6.

80 “Extracts of Master Caesar Frederike …”, ibid., 129–30. Of course, Pearn also recognized this situation by the late sixteenth century. It should be noted that in general Pearn's work is assiduous and thoroughly reliable.

81 op. cit., 240–1.Google Scholar

82 See Wai, U Tun, Economic development of Burma from 1800 till 1940, Rangoon, 1961, 22,Google Scholar which provides estimates for the China trade alone. On the character of this trade, see KBZ, I, 419–20;Google ScholarYule, , op. cit, 144–50.Google Scholar

83 Hall, , English intercourse, 105, 121.Google Scholar

84 UK, III, 162. He would have used these revenues t o hire Muslim mercenaries, to purchase arms, and possibly to pay his own élite ahmú-dàns.