Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism

ch05-magus.htm
Maung Htin Aung. Printed and published by U Myint Maung, Deputy Director, Regd:
No (02405/02527) at the Religious Affairs Dept. Press. Yegu, Kaba-Aye P.O., Rang
oon, BURMA. 1981.
Set in HTML by the staff of TIL and edited by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.
). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yan
gon, MYANMAR.
indx-myan | Top
indx-folk
Contents of this page
Cult of Magus
Why there are so many pagodas at Pagan
Cult of Runes
Dhamma-zedi
Bo Bo Aung --Master Victory
Footnotes

UKT notes
Bodaw-paya Master Goat-Bull obstruents and sonorants phonotactics Razadarit (inc
luding the story of Anawrahta's death) sounding of gong

Contents of this page
p051
05. Cult of Magus
UKT: It is curious why Dr. Htin Aung had chosen the word <magus>. He could have
easily chosen the more common word <magic>, but since the modern implications at
tached to the word <magic> would not do justice to the cult, he had obviously ch
osen <magus>, to imply that it is not sorcery nor is it in any way connected wit
h fraud, but in its own way an honest and noble pursuit of knowledge. The follow
ing is from AHTD:
magus n. magi 1. A member of the Zoroastrian priestly caste of the Medes and
Persians. 2. Magus One of the three wise men from the East who traveled to Bethl
ehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus. 3. A sorcerer; a magician. [From Middle
English magi magi from Latin magi, pl. of magus sorcerer, magus from Greek magos
from Old Persian magu ; See magh- in Indo-European Roots.] magian adj.
It is not known whether there was a cult of the Magus in Burma before A.D. 1056.
However, the hero of Burmese alchemy, the monk Master Goat-Bull {rhin-a.za.gau
:Na.}, seems to have been worshipped as their patron by those interested in alch
emy. The following folk-tale gives the details of his life.
Contents of this page
Why there are so many pagodas at Pagan
Long ago, when the people of Pagan were poor, there lived a monk, who was an alc
hemist trying to discover the Philosopher's Stone. His alchemistic experiments w
ere costly and he had to rely on his patron, the king, for financial support. Th
e monk followed step by step the instructions given in an old parchment book. Th
e instructions were many and various, and weeks and months passed. The royal tre
asury became empty, and the people refused to pay any more taxes, saying that th
e king was merely wasting his gold on an impostor. The monk at last reached the
final instruction: 'Then put the lump of metal in acid, and it will at last be t
he Philosopher's Stone'. He appeased the people with the promise that after one
more experiment the Stone would be ready, and the people paid their taxes to the
king. The monk put the lump of metal, which was the result of all the earlier e
xperiments, in acid. Seven days elapsed, but the lump of metal remained as befor
e. The monk went to the king to acquaint him with the fact that the experiment h
ad failed. The people heard that the experiment had failed and thought that the
monk had come to the king to ask for more gold, so they surrounded [{p052}] the
palace demanding that the monk be punished as an impostor and a cheat. The king
was in a quandary for he knew that the monk was no impostor, but he did not know
how to pacify the people. The monk himself solved the problem by putting his ow
n eyes out. He then stood before the people and said 'My sockets are now gaping,
and do you not consider that I am punished enough?' The people were satisfied t
hat justice had been done and ceased their clamour.
For days the monk sat in his laboratory in the anguish of disappointment. At las
t he felt so bitter against the science of alchemy that he got up and broke all
the jars and instruments. Then he told the little novice, who had been his assis
tant in all his experiments, to throw the useless lump of metal into the latrine
. The little novice did as he was ordered. At night fall the novice noticed that
the latrine seemed as if on fire and he went running to the monk, shouting, 'Ma
ster, master, look, the latrine must be full of fairies or ghosts!'
'Remember that I am blind,' replied the monk. ' Describe to me the phenomenon.'
When he had listened to the novice's description the monk realized that the lump
to metal had at last become the Philosopher's Stone. He realized also that the
scribe who wrote the parchment book had written in mistake 'acid' for 'night-so
il' (in Burmese 'Chin' {hkyi} for 'Chee' {hky:) pronounced as /{hkyi:}/.
The novice picked up the Philosopher's Stone and gave it to his master. Then he
was told by the monk to go to a meat-stall and get the two eyes of a bull ( {gau
-Na.} in Pali) or a goat ({a.za.} in Pali). But as it was now late in the evenin
g the meat had been sold out, and only one goat's eye and one bull's eye remaine
d. These were bought and taken to the monastery by the little novice. The monk p
ut the two eyes above his empty sockets and touched them with the Philosopher's
Stone, and at once the eyes entered the sockets. He recovered his full vision, a
lthough one eye was big and one was small. 'I shall be known from today as "Monk
Goat-Bull" {rhing-a.za.gau:Na.},' said the monk jokingly to the novice. Then h
e went to the king's palace and told the king of [{p053}] his good fortune. He a
nnounced his intention of leaving the world of human beings the next morning and
requested the king to melt all his lead and brass in huge pots in front of the
palace at sunrise. 'You can tell your subjects to do likewise,' said the monk as
he left the palace to return to his monastery. Although it was past midnight by
this time the king sent his men to wake up the city by the sounding of gongs, a
nd to tell the people that they should melt all their lead and brass in huge pot
s in front of their houses at sunrise. When the sun appeared Monk Goat-Bull came
forth from his monastery, attended by the novice. He went first to the palace a
nd then to all the houses, and threw his Philosopher's Stone into every pot. The
Stone jumped back into his hand every time, its mere touch having turned the le
ad in the pots into silver and the brass to gold. The people of Pagan became ver
y rich, and with so much gold and silver at their disposal they built the countl
ess pagodas that still stand at Pagan today.
When he had passed every house, Monk Goat-Bull, still attended by his novice, we
nt to Mount Popa. As the two stood at the foot of the hill the creepers from the
mountain-side lowered themselves and gently lifted the master and pupil to the
mountain-top. The monk dug up some magic roots and ground them with the Philosop
her's Stone. The ground roots formed themselves into six medicine balls and the
monk swallowed three. The other three he gave to the novice, who, however, could
not put them in his mouth, for to him the roots looked like human flesh, and th
e juice from them looked like human blood. 'What ails you, pupil?' asked the mon
k. 'It is human flesh and human blood, replied the novice with a sob. 'It is not
,' said Monk Goat-Bull. 'Have I ever told an untruth?' But the novice was seized
with nausea when he tried to swallow the medicine balls. 'It is clear that you
are not fated to share my success in alchemy,' said the monk sadly, ' and we mus
t say farewell here.' The novice bade a tearful farewell to his master, who gave
him a piece of gold as [{p054}] a parting gift. The creepers then gently twined
themselves around the novice and lowered him to the foot of the hill.
The novice felt lost in the world without his master and, instead of going back
to the monastery, he went to his widowed mother. 'Mother, cook me my breakfast,'
he asked. 'Son, you know that I am poor and I have no money to buy the rice,' r
eplied the mother. The novice remembered the little gold piece his master had gi
ven him as a parting gift and , taking it out of his pocket, he gave it to his m
other. When his mother was leaving the house he felt a gold piece in his pocket.
'Mother, mother,' he cried, 'did I give you the gold piece?' 'Here it is, my so
n,' replied the mother, showing the gold piece in her hand. The novice took out
the other gold piece from his pocket and gave it to his mother. But when he agai
n felt his pocket, there was another gold piece inside it. He took it out and ga
ve it to his mother. But again there was a gold piece in his pocket. This went o
n until the mother had ten gold pieces in her hand, and still there was a gold p
iece in the novice's pocket. Then only did the novice realize that his beloved m
aster Monk Goat-Bull had given him a perpetual gift of gold. fn054-01
Contents of this page
Cult of Runes
UKT: The Burmese term is {ing:}, and is usually drawn in a matrix of equal row
s and columns. However, other shapes, in the likeness of a sitting-Buddha or som
e other beings are also used. Runes from the West, on the other hand, have a sli
ghtly different meaning. The square figure on the left is my creation, the {sa.m
a.l:lon: ing:} or {sa.Da.ba.wa.-in:}, that is supposed have an all-round benefic
ial effect.
The following is from AHTD:
"rune 1 n. 1. a. Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient G
ermanic peoples from the 3rd to the 13th century. b. A similar character in anot
her alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic powers. 2. A poem or an incantati
on of mysterious significance, especially a magic charm. [Possibly Old Norse or
Old English rn] runic adj.
rune 2 n. 1. A Finnish poem or section of a poem. [Finnish runo of Germanic o
rigin] "
The figure of a person on the further right is a "figure inn" {roap-pon ing:}, in
the likeness of {thi.kra:ming:}.
You will notice that the first akshara of {sa.ma.l:lon: ing:} is {sa.} which can b
e written without lifting the pencil from the paper; or the stylus from the palm
-leaf, silver- or gold-foil, or even a piece of potsherd of an alms-bowl. If you
are to write carefully, the "circle" can be closed without having to cross over
the portion of line that had already been drawn. Since "the writing instrument
be touching the stratum continually" is one of the basic requirements of writing
an akshara of the the {ing:}, I presume that the Burmese-Myanmar akshara is the
only script suitable for writing an {ing:}, and that it is an original and not
derived from any other akshara such as Telugu. Compare {sa.} to its Telugu equiv
alent ? . (I still have to consult specialist-astrologers for factual accuracy.)
. The rune-master or the writer of the {ing:} has to abstain from eating meat an
d having sex for a period of prescribed time, and must be reciting a mantra whil
e casting the rune to be effective.
Silver foil is used for making amulets. After writing the {ing:}, it would be
rolled tightly and with a piece of string tied to the arm or neck of the person
for the person to have the power of the {ing:}. Or, the silver-foil may also be
rolled into a the shape of a needle and pushed under the skin.
The cult of magic and witchcraft originally included also the cult of the runes.
The runes consisted of magical
squares containing either letters of the Burmese alphabet (or properly an akshar
a) or arithmetical figures, and
it is believed that every potent rune is guarded by a guardian god. For reasons
which are not known, the cult of
the runes suddenly regained its popularity in the fifteenth century, when it too
k over many ideas form the cult of alchemy. Instead of experimenting in either i
ron or mercury, the follower of the cult of the runes experiments in casting squ
are after square until he discovers the right squares. When he has discovered th
em he has to go through a final [{p055}] process; either, like the alchemist, he
is buried underground for seven days, or he is burnt in a fire for three nights
. Then he emerges as a Zawgyi or 'a successful alchemist'. fn055-01 When the cul
t regained its popularity in the fifteenth century it had disassociated itself e
ntirely from the cult of magic and witch craft and, in addition, it had hidden i
ts origin under the cloak of devotion to Buddhism. This explains why a follower
of this cult has now to keep the Eight or Ten Precepts and abstain form eating a
ny meat while he is casting the runes. Usually he goes into retreat for a period
of forty-nine days before casting a rune or a series of runes.
Contents of this page
Dhamma-zedi
The most famous 'Master of Runes' in the fifteenth century was Dhamma-zedi {Dam
~ma.s-ti} . He and his companion,
Dhamma-pala {Dam~ma.pa-la.}, were young Mons who entered the Buddhist order and
settled at Ava, the new Burmese capital, after the fall of Pagan. It was in the
third decade of the fifteenth century, when the kingdoms of Ava (of the Burmese
) and Pegu (of the Mons) had fought each other to a standstill. The two Mons wer
e very learned in the scriptures and were also interested in the cult of the run
es.
The king of Ava at that time had a Mon queen, the Lady Shin-Sawbu {rhin-sau:pu.
} [r.1453 1460 A.D. as reigning
monarch of Pegu. - dates to be checked.] She was the daughter of a very famous k
ing of Pegu, Razadarit {ra-za-Di.rz
(r. 1385-1423 A.D.), and had been married twice before, first to a previous king
of Ava, and then, after his death,
to a lord of Pagan, now deceased also. She was thirty-six and already a mother,
but she still looked young and beautiful. However, she, tired of life, informed
the king of her desire to study the scriptures. The king appointed the two young
Mon monks as her tutors, but after some months of study the queen and her tutor
s became conspirators, and one night in 1430 they fled down the river back to Pe
gu. She did not marry again and settled down to a life of [{p056}] peace and tra
nquility. But twenty-three years later, in 1453, she was elected queen of Pegu.
She proved to be a great ruler until 1460, when she decided to become a religiou
s recluse. She looked for a successor and decided that one of the two monks shou
ld take her place on the throne. However, as both were equally learned and able,
and as both had been her benefactors, she could not make her choice between the
two and decided to
leave it to chance. So,
One morning when they came to receive the royal rice, she secreted in one of the
ir bowls a pahso {pu.hso:}
(layman's dress) together with little models of the five regalia; then, having p
rayed that the lot might fall
on the worthier, she returned the bowls. Dhamma-zedi, to whom the fateful bowl
fell, left the sacred order,
received the queen's daughter in marriage, and assumed the government. The other
monk in his disappointment
aroused suspicion and was executed at Paunglin, north of Rangoon. fn056-01
Dhamma-zedi proved himself to be not only one of the wisest of kings but also on
e of the greatest patrons of Buddhism
But his interest in the runes remained undiminished, and on the great bell that
still hangs on the platform the
Shwemawdaw Pagoda at Pegu can still be seen the runes that he cast and engraved
thereon.
The above account of Dhamma-zedi is the dull and barren account given in the Chr
onicles. However, the lore of
believers in the Cult of Magus is more colourful, and is as follow:
The beautiful queen and her two tutors were able to make the long journey by boa
t from Ava to Pegu without
molestation because the two monks had cast a rune which changed the colour of th
e boat every day, so that t
he horsemen who chased the escaping queen along the river bank were never able t
o identify and recognize
the boat correctly. After Dhamma-zedi had been chosen king, his companion, in gr
eat [{p057}] anger and disappointment, cast rune after rune, which resulted in h
undreds of demons entering the royal city. When people knelt in fear before them
the demons shouted, 'We come because Shin-Sawbu cannot get a husband.' Dhamma-z
edi cast some runes in return, and lo, the demons fell down lifeless and were fo
und to be only wicker-baskets strung together. This went on every night until su
ddenly the wicker-demons ceased to appear. Dhamma-pala had discovered, by a supr
eme effort, the final runes and was now buried underground, watched by his faith
ful pupil some distance away. Dhamma-zedi guessed what was happening and caused
a desperate search to be made. When the faithful pupil was found at last, he was
tortured until he revealed the place where his master lay buried. The place was
hastily dug up by Dhamma-zedi himself, and it was just in time, because in a fe
w moments the seven-day period would have been over. Even then, Dhamma-pala's li
feless body made a feeble attempt to lift the sword which was gripped in his han
d. Dhamma-zedi, not being a magician, declined to eat the body of his former fri
end and companion and gave it an honourable burial. Many years later, Dhamma-zed
i himself discovered the final runes and became a Zawgyi also. He is now regarde
d as the first patron of the cult of the runes.

Contents of this page
Bo Bo Aung -- Master Victory
UKT: Master Victory, as Dr. Htin Aung had named him, was (or is?) Bo Bo Aung,
{Bo:Bo:aung}. He is well-known in Burma. Since it is supposed that he is still l
iving after some hundreds of years, I am sometimes inclined to use the present t
ense. Before Bo Bo Aung became a wizard {waiz~za}, he was known as {maung au
ng} or Master Victory. The word {Bo:Bo:} can also mean a prefix in front of a gr
eat-grand father's name. We use it as a sign of reverence.
On the right is a painting of Bo Bo Aung. Take note of the two circles in the
background. Usually, one represents the Sun and the other the Moon. In front is
the offering of coconut and bananas known as {kn-tau.pw:} with {tha.pr} leaves. On
the basin containing the offertories is written in Burmese-Myanmar: {paT~Hta.mn
Bo:Bo:aung}. {paT~Hta.mn} is the "art" of "Magus".
The cult of the runes gained a second patron early in the nineteenth century, on
the eve of the first war with the British. The new patron was Maung Aung {maun
g aung} or 'Master Victory', who may have been a contemporary historical persona
ge, although the chronicles are silent about him. According to the lore of the c
ult, Master Victory was a young pupil in the monastery of his village, in the di
strict of Prome, when an unusual incident took place. The presiding monk of the
monastery came back from a period of retreat in the forest, looking haggard and
carrying a book of brazen plates. He [{p058}] had an interesting story to tell.
As he sat under a tree in the forest meditating, a person appeared in the gather
ing twilight, dressed in white and with a rosary hanging from his neck. Kneeling
down, the man in white said, 'My Lord Monk, please help me to become a Master o
f Runes. All that you have to do is to hold these three runes for me as I make a
great fire out of the twigs and branches. When the fire is ready I shall jump i
nto it, and as I start to burn you must throw into the fire the first rune. Tomo
rrow, as darkness falls, you must throw the second rune into the fire and the ne
xt night you must throw the third rune into the fire. All sorts of strange and f
earful and even pleasant incidents will take place during the three nights, but
you are a monk, my Lord, and so threats and temptations cannot disturb you.'
The monk reluctantly agreed to hold the three runes and the man in white started
to make the fire. When the fire was ready the man jumped into it, and the monk
threw the first rune into the fire. At once the flame became as black as charcoa
l, thunder and lightning appeared in the sky, and hundreds of frightful-looking
demons surrounded the monk shouting, 'Give us the runes, give us the runes.' The
monk, however, stood firm until the thunder and lightning and the demons disapp
eared with the break of dawn, although the fire still burned black and fearful.
Throughout the day there was peace in the forest, and with the approach of darkn
ess the monk threw the second rune into the fire. At once the flame of the fire
changed to a soft, silvery colour, sounds of sweet music were heard, and hundred
s of goddesses surrounded the monk smiling, singing and dancing, and whispering
at the same time, 'My Lord, we beg of you, please give us the rune.' The monk, h
owever, stood firm, and the strange music and the goddesses vanished at dawn. Ag
ain there was peace and quiet in the forest, and at nightfall he threw into the
fire the last rune. The flame of the fire now assumed the colour of pure gold, a
nd the whole forest gleamed with a strange brightness. [{p059}]
Nothing untoward happened that night, and at dawn the next day, the man in white
walked out of the fire, dressed in the costume of a Zawgyi. He said to the monk
, 'Sir, you have helped me indeed and now, if you will enter the fire, I shall s
ee that you emerge a Zawgyi also.' The monk, however, refused to accept the offe
r and the Zawgyi said to him, 'Sir Monk, as you do not care for riches or for po
wer, all that I can give you as token of my gratitude is this book of brazen pla
tes on which I have written down the formulas of my runes.' After giving the boo
k to the monk the Master of the Runes flew away and the monk returned to his mon
astery.
After narrating this strange story to his pupils the monk took to his bed and di
ed soon after. As nobody dared to touch the brazen book, young Master Victory to
ok it to his house and kept it there. Years later, Master Victory went to a univ
ersity in India where he met two other Burmese students, one of them being the K
ing's son himself. They became very fond of each other and after three years of
study they returned to Burma. Master Victory now took out the book of brazen pla
tes and carefully studied it. His companion at the university, the King's son, n
ow succeeded to the throne as Bodaw-paya (A.D. 1782-1819). The third student bec
ame a monk, retired to a forest monastery and was never heard of again. Master V
ictory soon became famous as an expert in runes, until rumours reached the ears
of King Bodaw-paya. It seemed that Master Victory was conspiring to seize the th
rone. The King sent his soldiers to arrest Master Victory. Soon they found him a
nd, having tied him in chains, they put him at the bottom of their war boat and
started to sail up-stream. To their surprise they saw Master Victory standing on
the shore. The soldiers fell down on their knees and pleaded, 'Master, it you d
o not come with us we shall all be executed.' 'Send a report by a horseman to
your King that you have captured me, and you may rest assured that I shall be ly
ing in chains at the bottom of the boat the moment it arrives at the King's [{p0
60}] capital.' The soldiers sent the report as instructed, and when their boat r
eached the golden city some two weeks later they found Master Victory lying at t
he bottom of the boat tied in chains. he King summoned his subjects to the place
of execution, and when all had come the executioners threw Master Victory into
a deep ditch and buried him alive. That evening, as the King sat in full audienc
e with his ministers, Master Victory appeared from nowhere. 'False friend,' said
Master Victory to the King, 'did we not swear eternal friendship when we parted
after our return from the university? You are indeed stupid to think that the M
aster of Runes would ever want your paltry little kingdom. Let alone killing me,
try to rub out this "O" which I now write with chalk on your palace floor.' The
King, in shame and in anger, rubbed out the 'O' but found to his chagrin two 'O
's' instead of one. He went on rubbing out the 'O's' until the whole palace floo
r was covered with hundreds of 'O's'. Master Victory laughed loudly and said, 'F
riend of my youth, with my runes I could have made you king of the whole world.
But you have been faithless to me and now I shall say farewell to you for ever.'
'Master of Runes,' pleaded the King, realizing that he had been foolish, 'if yo
u will not protect me, protect my grandson, the young Prince of Prome.' 'I shall
do that,' replied the Master of Runes and vanished from view.
At the present day the majority of the devotees of the cult of runes no longer a
ttempt to discover the secret of the potent squares, because they believe that t
here is no need to cast the runes themselves; provided they keep the Eight Prece
pts, go into retreat whenever possible, refrain from eating meat, and keep their
faith in Dhamma-zedi and Grandfather Victory (Bobo Aung), one of the Masters wi
ll surely come and give them the runes, so that they will become Zawgyis and awa
it the coming of the next Buddha. In other words, for them the cult of runes has
become the cult of the Magus.
UKT: Another {waiz~za} equally famous is Bo Min Gaung {Bo:ming:hkaung}. The fo
llowing is from: http://www.myaing.com/weizzar/BoMinGaung.htm (080923
"A weizzar is a superhuman being because he has super natural powers. Weizzar
is a Burmese word which is derived from Pali. The word weizzar means wisdom. Fo
r example, when we recite the Nine Virtues of the Buddha, we say" vija carana sa
mpano". This means that the Buddha has Eight Wisdom powers. These wisdom powers
are:
1. Pubbe Niwartha - the ability to see previous lives.
2. Deibba Setku - the Divine eye. The ability to see objects which are far away
and objects which are very, very small.
3. Arthe wetkhaya nyana - the wisdom that arises when a person attains Arahat ma
gga and Arahata palla. There are four stages of magga nyana and four stages of p
alla nyana. Palla is a Pali word which means fruition. A person who attains Arah
at nayna or Arahat wisdom escapes from Samsara or the endless rounds of rebirths
and enters Nivarna. (this means that the Buddha is pure and does not have any o
f the defilements of greed, anger and ignorance.)
4. Vipassa nyana - the ability to see mind and matter as they really are. The ab
ility to see the three characteristics of mind and matter, namely impernance, su
ffering and no-soul. The word no-soul is also translated as anatta. This concept
really means that the processes of mind and matter that we see all around us ar
e occurring according to their own process.
5. Saytaw Pariya nyana - the ability to know the minds of others.
6. Mano Mayeiddi nayna - the ability to create in your own body another similar
body by the power of the mind.
7. Deibba Thawta nyana - the Divine Ear. The ability to hear sounds that are far
away.
8. Eiddi wida nayna - the ability to fly in the air, the ability to dive into th
e earth, the ability to walk on water, the ability to create multiple bodies, th
e ability to be at many places at the same time, etc. In the Hindu tradition the
Burmese word "eiddi" is pronounced as "iddi". In Burmese, "eidi" is translated
as super normal powers. All weizzars like Bo Min Gaung have one or more of these
super normal powers. That is why we say that the weizzars are more than man and
equal to or almost equal to devas (celestial beings). The Burmese word "theiddi
" is a derivation of the sanskrit word "iddi"."

Contents of this page
Footnotes
fn054-01 Maung Htin Aung, Burmese Folk-Tales. fn054-01b
fn055-01 So there came to be three kinds of Zawgyi's, namely the Iron, the Mercu
ry, and the Runes Zawgyis. fn055-01b
UKT: Actually there are four kinds of wizards (only three ?),
the iron-wizard {thn-waiz~za},
the mercury-wizard {pra.da:waiz~za},
the rune-wizard {ing:waiz~za}, and
the medicine-wizard {hs:waiz~za}.
fn056-01 G. E. Harvey, History of Burma, p. 118 fn056b
Contents of this page
UKT notes
Bodaw-paya
{Bo:tau Bu.ra:} (A.D. 1782-1819). King Bodaw-paya was the fifth son of Alaung-p
aya, the founder of Koan-baung dynasty. I am doubtful if Bodaw-paya as a boy eve
r went to India. -- historical facts to be checked.
From The Making of Modern Burma by Thant-Myint-U, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001, p
012.
The Prince of Badon was 37 years old when he ascended the throne of Ava in 17
52. His reign, which lasted
until his death in 1817, was to be the longest in Burmese history since the days
of Pagan, the longest
in over five centuries. He is better remembered today as Bodawpaya or 'the royal
grandfather king', the name by
which he was often referred to in court writings of the mid-nineteenth century.
With 53 wives and 120 children,
Bodawpaya, the fifth son of Alaungpaya, the dynasty's upstart founder, was perh
aps the greatest of
all the Konbaung kings. He presided over the Burmese empire at its very height,
marching his armies steadily
westward to the very borders of an equally expansionist British India.
Go back bodaw-note-b
Contents of this page
Master Goat-Bull
The honourific title for a monk is {rhing}, and I have given the Burmese-Myanm
ar name of the monk as
{rhing-a.za.gau:Na.}.
The word {rhing} is the diminutive of the word {a.rhing} which in combination
with {tha.hking}
in the compound word {a.rhing-tha.hking} means <master> or <Lord>. On the other
hand, the word {a.rhing}
in combination with another word {Bu.ra:} in compound {a.rhing-Bu.ra:} is how
we call the attention of a monk.
{a.rhing-Bu.ra:} and the English word <Reverend> are equivalents.
Though {rhing} can mean either {a.rhing-tha.hking} or {a.rhing-Bu.ra:}, here
the word is closer to <reverend>
than to <master>. However, it is probable that the author, Dr. Htin Aung had ch
osen <Master> in place of <Reverend>
because of the success of {rhing-a.za.gau:Na.} in mastering the art of "killin
g" the metal mercury. He was a Mercury
Weikza.
There is still one problem with the word {rhing}. It has to do orthography and
you are required to look into
the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabets). The pronunciation of the word can b
e represented by the IPA [sh??]
from which we could easily write the English <shin>. However, it is not to be in
writing with Burmese-Myanmar akshara.
The pronunciation of the word starts with a hissing sound, and so it should be r
epresented
by the IPA consonant [s] -- a fricative. We say that the onset of the syllable
is [s].
However, in this case, the articulation of [s] is not simple: it is accompanied
by a glottal [h]
or pharyngeal [h] sound. The onset is thus a medial involving the Burmese-Myanma
r {ha.hto:} sound
derived from {ha.}. If only the onset had been the simple [s], we could represe
nt it by the Burmese-Myanmar {sa.}
the alveolar fricative, and the medial could be represented as * {sha.} or IPA [
sh]. However, it is not allowed
by Burmese-Myanmar phonotactic. Therefore, we have to look for an alternative.
Since the sound is a fricative, we
are left to use only {tha.} (which I will sometimes represent with the Old Engl
ish "thorn" as {a.}. From this,
by using two medial formers, {ya.ping.} and {ha.hto:}, we can write IPA [sh]
as {hya.}/{thhya.}. From
it we arrive at {hying}/{thhying}. It has to be pointed out that MLA has "arbitr
arily" adopted {rha.}
to represent IPA [sh] which can only have the IPA pronunciation [rh] as in the E
nglish <rhinoceros> .
The second part of the name {a.za.} means <goat> in Pali. And the third {gau:N
a.} means <bull>.
Go back goat-bull-note-b
Contents of this page
obstruents and sonorants
UKT: The classification of sounds into obstruents and sonorants is very confusin
g for a person
who is used to the akshara classification. See also Sonority hierarchy in my not
es.
The following definitions are from AHTD.
obstruent n. 2. Linguistics A sound, such as a stop, a fricative, or an affricat
e, that is produced with complete
blockage or at least partial constriction of the airflow through the nose or mou
th. [Latin obstruens obstruent-,
present participle of obstruere to obstruct; See obstruct ] -- AHTD
sonorant n. Linguistics 1. A voiced consonant regarded as a syllabic sound, as t
he last sound in the word sudden.
[sonor(ous) -ant ] -- AHTD

obstruents
UKT: The aksharas of the r1, r3, r4 and r5 rows of the akshara matrix, the {wag}
-consonants
(except the nasals of column 5), are obstruents.
However, the r2 consonants {sa. hsa. za. Za.} are problematical. The case of
{sa.} is illuminating.
It has two pronunciations: in the coda it is a stop [c], whereas in the onset i
t is a fricative [s]. e.g.
{thic~sa}. English <cc> is also of this type: <success> /s?k'ses/ (transcriptio
n from DJPD16-515).
It should be noted that since the POAs of [k] and [c] are close, I have suggest
ed that the transcription
could have been /s?c'ses/ which calls for a palatal <c> in English. When I poste
d this possibility on a forum,
almost all responses were that English does not have a palatal <c>, which is tru
e if <c> has been an onset.
I insisted that coda <c> could very well be [c], the case being similar to the c
ase of {sa.}.
The following is based on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstruent downl
oad 070910
Consonants may be divided into two large classes, obstruents and sonorants.
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing the outward airflow, cau
sing an increase in
the air pressure in the vocal tract temporarily, after which the air is released
suddenly resulting
in an explosive sound. Because of this, this type of obstruent is described as <
stop> or <plosive>.
During the articulation of the obstruent, the vocal cords may or may not be vibr
ating producing voiced and
voiceless types respectively. E.g., {ga.} is the voiced obstruent, whereas {ka.}
is its voiceless counter part.
Burmese-Myanmar speakers can articulate another voiceless obstruent, {hka.}. Dur
ing the articulation of {hka.},
another sound is produced deep in the interior. This sound is similar to the sou
nd of {ha.} and is either a glottal
IPA [h] or a pharyngeal IPA [h]. Though Burmese-Myanmar speakers can differentia
te {ka.} and {hka.} clearly,
English speakers cannot. To them {ka.} and {hka.} sound the same and is represen
ted by the English-Latin <k>.
In IPA it is represented as broad /k/. They say /k/ has two allophones [k] and
[k?]: the first is the
"non-aspirate" and the second the "aspirate". To summarize: {ka.} = [k] = <k>; {
hka.} = [k?] = <kh>;
and {ga.} = [g] = <g>. (We will leave aside r1c4 {Ga.} for the moment).
There is another class(s) of obstruents, the fricatives (and affricates).
Obstruents are prototypically voiceless, though voiced obstruents are common. Th
is contrasts with sonorants,
which are rarely voiceless.

sonorant
From: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonorant download 070910
UKT: Vowels are sonorants, whereas the nasals are between sonorants and obstruen
ts (my understanding of 080313)
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced withou
t turbulent airflow in the vocal tract.
Essentially this means that a sound is sonorant if it can be produced continuous
ly at the same pitch. For example,
vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like /m/ and /l/. Other consonants, lik
e /d/ or /k/, cannot be produced
continuously and so are non-sonorant. In addition to vowels, phonetic categoriza
tions of sounds that are considered
sonorant include approximants, nasal consonants, taps, and trills. In the sonori
ty hierarchy, all sounds higher than
fricatives are sonorants.
UKT: The above Wiki paragraph implies that nasal consonants (e.g. /m/) and later
al consonants (e.g. /l/) are sonorants.
This means that {nga. a. Na. na. ma.} are sonorants. But, since "a sound is sonor
ant if it can be produced continuously
at the same pitch", I cannot fully agree with my inference "{nga. a. Na. na. ma.}
are sonorants", because I cannot
"produce them continuously at the same pitch". But first, I will have to check
with my peers.
However, we must note that when the inherent vowel in {nga. a. Na. na. ma.} ha
s been killed and they occur in the
coda, the "rimes" have three pitch-registers (tones) such as {a. a a:}, exemplif
ied by {kan. kan kan:}.
Sonorants are those articulations in which there is only a partial closure or an
unimpeded oral or nasal escape of air;
such articulations, typically voiced, and frequently frictionless, without nois
e component, may share many phonetic
characteristics with vowels.
The word resonant is sometimes used for these non-turbulent sounds. In this case
, the word sonorant may be restricted
to non-vocoid resonants; that is, all of the above except vowels and semivowels.
However, this usage is becoming outdated.
Sonorants contrast with obstruents, which do cause turbulence in the vocal tract
. Among consonants pronounced far
back in the throat (uvulars (UKT: [q, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?]), pharyngeals) the distinct
ion between an approximant and
a voiced fricative is so blurred that such sounds as voiced uvular fricative ([?
] and voiced pharyngeal fricative ([?])
often behave like sonorants. The pharyngeal consonant (UKT: [h]? Can I say it is
{ha.}?) is also a semivowel
corresponding to the vowel /a/.
UKT: The farthest into the throat are velars {ka. ga.}. I am wondering, because
of the way the Burmese-Myanmar monks
recite the {ka.ma.wa}, whether {Ga.} is pronounced farther into the interior. I
n which case it would be a uvular.
-- 070915
Whereas most obstruents are voiceless, the great majority of sonorants are voice
d. It is certainly possible to make
voiceless sonorants, but sonorants that are unvoiced occur in only about 5 perce
nt of the world's languages.
These are almost exclusively found in the area around the Pacific Ocean from New
Caledonia clockwise to South
America and belong to a number of language families, among them Austronesian, Si
no-Tibetan (UKT: Burmese of
Tibeto-Burman group), Na-Dene language and Eskimo-Aleut. It is notable that, in
every case where a voiceless
sonorant does occur, there is a contrasting voiced sonorant.
Voiceless sonorants (e.g. IPA [?] Burmese-Myanmar {tha.} which I sometimes repre
sent with Old English "thorn"
as {a.}) tend to be extremely quiet and very difficult to recognise even for thos
e people whose language does
contain them. They have a strong tendency to either revoice or undergo fortition
to form for example a fricative
like or ?.
English has the following sonorant consonants: l, m, n, ?, r, w, j . (UKT: the c
orresponding {ya.}, {ra.},
{la.}, {wa.} are {a.wag}-consonants, and {nga.} {na.} {ma.} are nasals.)
UKT: Cross linguistic comparison, between Burmese and English, has brought out s
ome interesting properties
of consonants and vowels. Working with the rimes in the syllables of the type CV,
has brought out that the
pronunciation of C and can be quite different in both Burmese and in English. A
specific example is in the
<cc> digraphs of the disyllabic words such as <success> /s?k'ses/ (transcription
from Daniel Jones
Pronouncing Dictionary, 16ed. p515). In the <cc> the first <c> belongs the sylla
ble /s?k/ whereas
the second <c> belongs to the syllable /ses/. This has prompted me to suggest th
at "there is palatal
<c> in English" but only in the coda. The rational being: POA's of velar stop /k
/ and the palatal stop /c/
are so close that we have made a mistake in giving the transcription as /s?k'ses
/. It could very well be /s?c'ses/.
If we could accept this position, then we can say that the English <c> and the B
urmese {sa.} are exactly the same.
Go back obst-sono-note-b
Contents of this page
phonotactics
From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonotactics 071230
UKT: See also obstruents and sonorants in my notes.
Phonotactics (in Greek phone = voice and tactic = course) is a branch of phonolo
gy that deals with restrictions in a
language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permi
ssible syllable structure, consonant
clusters, and vowel sequences by means of phonotactical constraints.
Phonotactic constraints are language specific. For example, in Japanese, consona
nt clusters like /st/ are not allowed,
although they are in English. Similarly, the sounds /kn/ and /gn/ [obviously the
{nga.} [?] sound] are not permitted
at the beginning of a word in Modern English but are in German and Dutch.
UKT: In English both /sw/ and /st/ are allowed, whereas in Burmese, though /sw/
is allowed /st/ is not.
This shows that English /t/ is more sonorous than Burmese /t/. Whatever the case
may be, in transliterating English
to Burmese, we have to accept the "killed" {sa.}, {s} in the onset, e.g. <sta
t> {s~tat} or {stat}.
I am waiting for comments from my peers.
Syllables have the following internal segmental structure:
Onset (optional)
Rime (obligatory, comprises Nucleus and Coda):
- Nucleus (obligatory)
- Coda (optional)
Both onset and coda may be empty, forming a vowel-only syllable, or alternativel
y, the nucleus can be occupied by a
syllabic consonant.
English Phonotactics: The English syllable (and word) twelfths /tw?lf?s/ is divi
ded into the onset /tw/,
the nucleus /?/, and the coda /lf?s/, and it can thus be described as CCVCCCC (C
= consonant, V = vowel).
On this basis it is possible to form rules for which representations of phoneme
classes may fill the cluster.
For instance, English allows at most three consonants in an onset, but among nat
ive words under standard accents,
phonemes in a three-consonantal onset are limited to the following scheme:
/s/ + pulmonic + approximant:
/s/ + /m/ + /j/
/s/ + /t/ + /j ?/
/s/ + /p/ + /j ? l/
/s/ + /k/ + /j ? l w/
This constraint can be observed in the pronunciation of the word blue: originall
y, the vowel of blue was
identical to the vowel of cue, approximately [iw]. In most dialects of English,
[iw] shifted to [ju?].
Theoretically, this would produce ** [blju?]. The cluster [blj], however, infrin
ges the constraint for
three-consonantal onsets in English. Therefore, the pronunciation has been redu
ced to [blu?] by elision of the [j].
Other languages don't share the same constraint: compare Spanish pliegue ['plje?
e] or French pluie [pl?i].
Sonority hierarchy: In general, the rules of phonotactics operate around the son
ority hierarchy, stipulating
that the nucleus has maximal sonority and that sonority decreases as you move aw
ay from the nucleus.
The voiceless alveolar fricative [s] is lower on the sonority hierarchy than the
alveolar lateral approximant [l],
so the combination /sl/ is permitted in onsets and /ls/ is permitted in codas, b
ut /ls/ is not allowed in onsets
and /sl/ is not allowed in codas. Hence slips /sl?ps/ and pulse /p?ls/ are possi
ble English
words while *lsips and *pusl are not. There are of course exceptions to this ru
le, but in general
it holds for the phonotactics of most languages.
Go back phonotactics-note-b
Contents of this page
Razadarit
{ra-za-Di.rz} (r. 1385-1423 A.D.)
From: Rajadhirat's Mask of Command: Military leadership in Burma (c. 1348-1421)
by Jon Fernquest, Bangkok Post.
SBBR VOL. 4, Issue 1 Spring 2006. http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/4.1files/4.1fernqu
est.pdf 080918.
The downloaded paper is in TIL library.
1. Introduction
The reign of the Mon king Rajadhirat (r. 1383-1421) was an exceptional period in
Burmas history.
Rarely has one person exerted so much influence over the events of an era. Lowe
r and Upper Burma were
locked in endemic warfare for almost forty years during his reign. Unlike his fa
ther and predecessor,
Rajadhirat was forced to wage war to obtain power. Once in power, he had to cont
inue fighting to maintain power.
During the critical first seven years of his rule, Rajadhirat consolidated power
in a series of conflicts with
other members of the ruling elite. The war that Rajadhirat waged had its origins
in a succession crisis, a
common problem plaguing the transition from one political regime to another in m
any societies (Ferguson, 1999, 402).
Upon the death of
a king, members of the ruling elite typically competed for the vacant throne and
in general:
Unless the rules of succession are carefully spelled out that period between the
death of the old
king and the crowning of the new is extremely precarious for the group as a who
le. A state recently
formed out of a number of chiefdoms might revert to smaller units. Moreover, whe
n two competitors can
garner relatively equal support, there will almost certainly be civil war. Thus,
too much rigidity in
political succession threatens the polity because of weakness at the top; too mu
ch flexibility may rend
it in pieces. This is the fundamental problem of political succession
(Lewellen, 1992, 84).
In Rajadhirats succession, the flexibility nearly rent his fathers fragile kingdom
to pieces.
Koenigs (1990) detailed analysis of succession crises during the better document
ed early Konbaung period
(c. 1752-1819) clearly shows that succession crises at the death of kings were a
constant and unchanging
feature of Burmese politics for hundreds of years and that the succession strugg
les and inter-elite strategic
behavior of the Rajadhirat era was not merely an imaginary overlay.
In the contest of political succession, Rajadhirats adversaries and allies were t
he ruling elite of Lower
and Upper Burma. Commanders and strategists like Byat Za and Deinmaniyut exerted
a formative influence on
Rajadhirats strategy. The headstrong princes of Ava, Theiddat, Hsinbyushin and Mi
nyekyawswa acted independently
of their monarchs providing an impetus that sustained conflict. Lower status ru
ling elites, installed as local
rulers in conquered domains were quickly deposed or defected to the other side a
nd worked to fragment Rajadhirats
power in Lower Burma.
Strategy was important in this quickly changing environment. Rajadhirats history
is a part of the ayeidawbon
kyan genre of Burmese historical literature, which stresses the strategy and her
oic role of king as military commander:
(1) How individuals of prowess consolidated their power and fought to obtain the
throne.
(2) How these
kings retained their power by military means and other endeavours like diplomac
y, alliances and stratagem,
(3) How rebellions were crushed, (4) How wars were waged for the expansion of th
eir territory,
(5) Important achievements of a particular king like building new towns and citi
es, pagodas and palaces, etc
(Thaw Kaung, 2004b).
Goldsworthys (2000) description of the premodern warfare of Punic Spain applies e
qually well to
the Rajadhirat era. The power of ruling elite:
does not appear to have been fixed, depending instead on personal charisma and p
articularly on reputation
as warriors and leaders of warriors. Strong leaders who had proved themselves in
war, might control many
settlements in both their own and many other tribes territories, the area loyal t
o them changing in size
as their prestige, and that of rival leaders fluctuated (Goldsworthy, 2000, 246-
247).
This influence of military prowess is also at the core of the heroic style of mil
itary leadership
military historian John Keegan describes in his treatise on military leadership
The Mask of Command
(Keegan, 1987, 10-11). The heroic leadership attributes, aggressive, invasive, ex
emplary, risk-taking,
were common during the Rajadhirat era. ...
UKT: You will notice that Jon Fernquest and other modern writers failed to take
into account the mindset of
the population, the Burmese and the Mons of old. The people in their heart of he
arts believe in
{Bon:} (a supernatural attribute of the ruler) and so the power seeker has to pro
ve somehow or
other that he has the {Bon:} to rule not only over the people but over the local
nats as well. One way to do it is
to show that he is a "magus" himself as in the case of King Dhamazedi, or that h
e has the help of powerful beings
such as the Lord of the Great Mountain as in the case of Anawrahta and Kyansitth
a.
Anawrahta was said to have exercised his authority over the nats by caning th
em with his magic cane.
At least on two occasions, he did this to the nats. In one case, he caned the gu
ardian spirit of
the Chinese king {U:t-Bwa:} who cried out in pain. On another occasion, the king c
aned the
{laim-ping saung. nat}, who did not come down from his tree to pay homage to the
king.
The following is my interpretation of the account taken from the Glass Palace Ch
ronicle,
vol.1, part 4, p272:
"An enemy in one of the previous lives of Anawrahta who had become the guardi
an nat of a certain {laim}-tree
would not get down from his tree when the king came up on his campaign against C
hina.
The nat was showing his disdain by being made himself visible, at which the king
had Kyansittha beat
the nat with the magic cane (the gift of Thigyamin) and the nat had to run away.

From that day onwards, the nat haboured a grudge against the king, and waited un
til the {Bon:}
of the king had waned. [UKT: my addition from another source: The nat then assum
ed the shape of wild
buffalo and wreak havoc among the king's human subjects. Anawrahta, now 56 (?),
ever the champion of his
people went alone after what he thought to be the wild buffalo. The king never c
ame back presumably
being gored to death by the buffalo.] The body of the king was then claimed
by the nat and the naga [another enemy of the king] at which the Thagyamin took
the body himself and bury
it in {gan~Da.ma}-mountain. [in other words, the people never saw the king nor g
ot the body back.]"
Go back Razadarit-note-b
Contents of this page
Sounding of gong
Public proclamations are made in Myanmar by a crier sounding of a brass gong. Th
e practice is now being slowly
replaced by the use of megaphones and loud-speakers. Sounding of gong is equival
ent to the ringing of bell in
Europe for making public proclamations.
UKT: Insert from: Burmese Design And Architecture: Design & Architecture, By Joh
n Falconer, Luca Invernizzi,
Elizabeth Moore, Daniel Kahrs, Luca Invernizzi Tettoni. Published by Tuttle Pub
lishing, 2001.
ISBN 9625938826, 9789625938820. 224 pages
http://books.google.ca/books?id=yQeGTsOoD0IC&dq=brahmani+duck&source=gbs_summary
_s&cad=0 081001
Go back sound-gong-note-b