Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

BURMESE SKETCHES-
CHAPTER I.-ETHNOLOGY.
WHENCE DID THE BURMESE COME?
The subject presents an interesting field of enquiry, and, with
regard to the true meaning of the word g|oD Mran-ma, the
national designation of the Burmans, thrte views have been
advanced by men of great learning, who have patiently investigated
it. Mr. Hodgson appears to conclude that the appellation
can be traced to the native name for man\ Sir Arthur
Phayre thinks that it is derived from Brahma signifying a
'' celestial being," and that it was not adopted till after the
introduction of Buddhism and after several tribes had been
and Bishop Bigandet considers that it
united under one chief ;
is another form or a. corruption of " Mien," a name the
Burmans brought with them from the Central Asian plateau.
It is curious that the term Mranma g^«o, by which the Burmans
are known, is not met with, in Burmese history, till we come to
the destruction of Sirikhettara, when it is recorded that the
inhabitants were split up into three parties, viz : —
Q Pyu, oo6so5
Kanyan, and g^oo Mranma. This happened during the reign
of Supafinanagarachinna in the year i6 Sakkaraj, or the 672nd
year of the Buddhist era corresponding to 128 A. D. The
King's nephew, Samuddaraja, collected the remnant of his tribe
and founded ca>:6^[ Taungnyo. Three years afterwards, the
Talaings, who inhabited RSmafina, came and destroyed the
newly.founded State. He then removed his capital to cx>o5odd
o^ECoooS? Thet-tha-pandaung, from thence again, after six years,
he removed to Mindon. In the third year of his removal, he
was attacked by the Arakanese of Dhanfiavati, and so, for the
third time, he removed to oq^ogoScgjfs Y6n-hlut-kyun,and, joined
by the inhabitants of 19 Pyu villages, he founded Pagan.
Such is a meagre account of the appearance of the MranmS
tribe on the scene of Burmese history. Who they were, whence
they came, whether they were foreign or autochthonous to the
country, are points left unsolved by native histories.
As to the tradition regarding the Gangetic origin of the
Burmans, we give the following translation of the tradition
prefixed to the '' Life of Alaungpaya " in palm leaf MS :
.''There were 252,556 solar Kshatriya kings, who were
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