Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

122
BURMESE 3RE1VIIES.
However, it has hitherto been the fashion* to represent
Anawrata as the leader of a barbarian horde, who swept dowr
upon Thaton, and from thence carried away captive its King,
Manuha, together with '' five elephant-loads of Buddhist scrip-
tures and five hundred Buddhist monks/' and that it was,
during his reign, that the Burmans received their religion,
letters, and other elements of civilization from the Talaings.
Such statements do not appear to be warranted by the evidence
afforded by the following facts relating to this period •*
(a) The tract of country extending from Toungoo to
Mandalay was colonised under feudal tenure in order to prevent
the recurrence of the constant raids from the neighbouring
Shan Hills; and, with a view to attract population, the irriga-
tion works, which have been a source of wealth and prosperity
to later generations, were constructed. A similar cordon of
towns and villages was also formed on the northern frontier to
safeguard it against aggression from the Shan Kingdom of
Pong. Coupled with these facts was that of the subjection of
the Talaings to Burmese rule for over two centuries. These
circumstances appear to indicate that the Burmans of that
period were possessed of the elements of civilization, and were
acquainted with statesmanship, the methods of good government,
and the arts of settled life.
{b) A debased form of Buddhism, which was probably introduced
from Northern India, existed at Pagan. Its teachers,
called AriSf were not strict observers of their vow of celibacy ;
and it is expressly recorded in native histories that they had
written records of their doctrines, tlie basis of which was that
sin could be expiated by the recitation of certain hymns.
The sacred language of Buddhism at the time of its introduction
was Sanskrit, and not Pali. This is abundantly clear
from the terra cotta tablets bearing Sanskrit legends found at
Tagaung, Pagan, and Prome, from the preference shown for
the Sanskritic form of certain words, as noticed by FausboU
and Trenckner, in the Buddhist books from Burma, and from
the existence, in the Burmese language, of words importing
terms in religion, mythology, science, and social life, which are
derived directly from Sanskrit.
Cdni^aro rorc-liliaJiimcr's JardiViC Prize Essay, p. 4 :— '' We shall, in yain, explore
the reputed sites of sBcient Bnrmese capitals for any architecttiral remains, antedating
the rise of Anawrata, which can be traced to Burmans. The conquest of
naugurated the career of the Mranmas or Burmans as a historical nation.
Anawrata
Kor did thoy, prior to this erent, possess an alphahot, much loss a literature
Their most ancient inscriptions are not oWor than six centuricH and display the art
yrriting in its infancy."