English
The maliatheras of Mramiua were already writing books in the time of Buddhaghosa and Buddhadatta, and tikas were composed by later authors, for the full understanding of the ancient works. In the year 1127, Aggavaiusa wrote the cele- brated grammatical treatise Saddamti* expounding the original meaning of the language used in the three Pitakas. Sinhalese scholars of that time, we are told, said of this work that they had none in their own country to compare with it, in settling difficult points. Other works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are mentioned, with the names of their authors. Pro- minence is given to books on grammar, and here the name of Saddhammakitti is marked out for special honour as the author of the Ekakkharakosa.3 Saddhammakitti lived in the troublous times when religion languished in Tambadlpa under the cruel rule of a heretic of the Jaluma family.4 The Ekakkharakosa was written to keep alive b. e. sst. Thestory of Pilindavaccha is xeleTvediio{^eeSuttavihhanga, xxiii. 1, and Iddhikatha of Kathavatthu, xxi. 4). The digression leads up to the statement that the theras Sihalabuddhi, Pollonka, and Sumedha of Arimad- dana were arhats. ^ Theng-lay-gtung, about 345 a.d. {Bajaweng list of Kings of Pugan. Phayre's Hist. Bur., p. 279). 2 Forchhammer's Archaeological Eeport on Pugan, p. 2. 3 Ekakkharakosa, a small vocabulary of words of various significations ending in certain final letters, compiled by a very learned Buddhist priest of Burma named Saddham- makitti. [Subhuti, preface to his edition of Ekakkhara- kosa, edited with Ahhidhdnappadipikd, Colombo, 1883.] 4 A son of the Shan chief and conqueror of Ava, Salun or Tsalun. Ava was taken by the Shans about 1523, and Salun placed his son Tho-han-bwa on the throne. Under 82 A BUBMESE HISTOBIAN OF BUDDHISM. sacred learning, then in mortal danger from the great destruction of books in the land (p. 76). From Saddhammakitti's time, the beginning of the sixteenth century, the story again goes back to the later Kings of Pugftn. Of King Jeyyasinkha (1219 a.d.),^ we only hear that he forsakes the world, broken-hearted at B. E. 881. the death of a son, and is succeeded by Kyocva. The latter's piety and zealous furthering of religion are enthusiastically praised.^ Plunged in study he left the affairs of state to his son : he was himself the author of two manuals, Paramatthabindu and Saddahindu, for the use of his wives, and one of his daughters wrote the VibhatyatthaJi It was even currently said that this king, in a fonner existence, had been the mighty champion of reli^on, Anuruddha. him the Buddhist monks suffered a ruthless persecution (see Phayre, Hist. Bur., p. 93, a,nd British Burma Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 278). 1 According to Phayre' s authorities Jeyyasinkha succeeded his father in 1204, and his reign came to an end in 1227. His son Kyocva or Kyatsw^ appears in Phayre's list of Kings {Hist. Bur., p. 281), but there is no further account of him. It was at this period that "danger began to gather round the Pugdn monarchy" (Phayre, Hist. Bur., p. 51). 2 A Burman Chronicle, quoted by Crawfurd (Journal, vol. ii., p. 288), says of Kyocva, "He loved everybody, read and became master of every book, held public dis- putations, and seven times a day instructed his household. He wrote himself a work called Parmata Bingdu, and built a great house for the purpose of holding disputations. He also constructed a monastery at Sagu and a great tank by damming a mountain stream. During this reign there were no wars or commotions of any kind. ..." 3 Vihhatyattha affords examples of the Pali cases. (Subhuti, preface to Abhidhanappadlpikd.) DISSERTATION. 33 The career of the thera Disaparaokkha, who attained to profound knowledge in his old age, illustrates these golden days of learning under Kyocva. The story is followed by a glowing account of the science and zeal of the women of Arimaddana, and anecdotes are told of their skill in grammar and the keenness of their wit ' (p. 78). On this joyous note the history of religion in Arimaddana ends. There is no mention of Kyocva's next successors. UzANA (1243 A.D.) and Narathihapat6 (1248). (Phayre, Hist. Bur., p. 281.) Bastian quotes an inscription in Sagain which mentions Nara-siha-pade, under whom the temples of Pug&n were torn down to fortify the city against the Chinese (Gesch. Ind. Chin., p. 41). Even the building of a gorgeous cetiya does not earn a place for Narathihapate among the kings of the Sasana- vamsa. The Burmese people remember him as Taruk- PYE-MENG, a nickname that keeps alive only the memory of his unkingly flight from his capital before the Taruk ; and in the eyes of the monks the '* merit " of the great cetiya may well have been lost to its founder, when the temples of Arimaddana were torn down in a vain attempt to fortify the city against the Mongol invaders. ^ The centre of interest now shifts from TambadTpa to KetumatI, the capital of Jeyyavaddhana 3 and the history suddenly passes over to a later period (1510 a.d.) (p. 80). The founding of KetumatI by king Mahasiri,jeyyasura,4 ^ An extract from this part of the Mramma chapter is given by Minaev in Appendix B to Chapter III. of his RecJierches sur le Bouddhisme. 2 Phayre, Hist. Bur., pp. 51, 53, 54; and Col. Burney's translations from Bdjavajnsa. J. A. S. Bengal, vol. iv. p. 400, et seq. Bird, Wanderings, p. 121. 3 Taungu. {Tnd. Ant., vol. xxii. p. 4, &c.) 4 Meng Kyinyo, who assassinated his uncle and suc- ceeded him in 1845. He founded Taungu city. Phayre, Hist. Bur.,^. 92, and Mason (abstract from the chronicles of Taungu) in Burma, p. 65. 3 84 A BURMESE HISTORIAN OF BUDDHISM. a descendant of the fallen dynasty of Pugan, and the steady growth of his power, as a rival to the Sh4n usurpers then ruling in Tambadlpa, give a historical im- portance to his reign, but it is naturally not for this reason that it stands out in the annals of religion. The events chronicled in the Sasanavamsa are the arrival, in the year 1530, of the thera Mahaparakkama from Ceylon, and the breaking out of a controversy which he was after- wards called upon to decide. The dispute was about the precept {sikkhdpada) relating to intoxicating drinks. ^ The disputing parties differed in their interpretation of passages in the Kaiikhdvitarani,^ and other commen- taries, dealing with the question : at what stage of its preparation the juice of the coconut palm, &c. [tdli-ndli- kerddmam], should be considered an intoxicating [and therefore unlawful] drink. Mahaparakkama gave judg- ment and afterwards wrote the book called Surdvinicchaya on this same question. Here another change of period takes us back more than two hundred years to the last days of the hapless KiTTiTARA,3 the deposed king of Pug^n. The scene is again Tambadlpa, but Arimaddana is no longer the citadel of religion. A blank is left between the reign of the pious Kyocva I. and that of the three Shan usurpers, who B.E.664. now (1302 A.D.) hold the last king of Pugan prisoner at Khandhapura.4 One episode alone brings Khandhapura into the History of Religion, namely, the siege of the city by a Mongol army, at the instance of the Burmese king's ^ One of the five that are binding on every Buddhist. (Rhys Davids, Buddhism, pp. 139, 140.) 2 Buddhaghosa's Commentary on the Patimokkha. 3 Kyoswa or Kyautswa II. (1279 a.d.). Hist. Bur., pp. 58, 281. 4 Myinzaing, a few miles to the south of Ava. (See Hist. Bur., p. 58, and Col. Bumey's Translation {loc. sit.) for the Rajavamsa account of this episode. It agrees in its main features with that given in Sasanavamsa.) DISSERTATION. 86 son, who sought to restore his father to power. Accord- ing to the Sasauavaiusa the Shilu brothers, at the time of the siege, sought the advice of a learned thera, as to their best tactics, and received the rather sarcastic answer that such affairs were not the province of the Samana and they had better consult the actors (p. 82). The brothers followed this counsel to the letter, took the song of some actors, in a water-spectacle, as a hint to be acted upon, and killed their captive. The besiegers then with- drew, holding it useless to carry on the war on behalf of a dead man. According to Burmese chronicles a monastery was built at Kliandhapura by the Sh&n governors,* but this is not mentioned in the Sasanavamsa, where it is only stated that a number of theras dwelt in the city, but no books were written there.