The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. XII, Part 1-2, 1918

THE
JOURNAL
OF THE
SIAM SOCIETY
Volume XII
BANGKOK
1918
KRAUS REPRJNT
Nendeln/Liechtenstein
1969
'
Reprinted by peimission
of the Thailand Research Society, Bangkok
KRAUS REPRINT
A Division of
KRAUS-THOMSON ORGANIZATION LIMITED
Nendeln!Liechtenstein
1969
Printed in Switzerland
1 )
NOTES CRITIQUES SUR L'INSCRIPTION
DE RAMA KHAMHENG.
PAtt
G. CCEDl£S.
GONSEHVA'l'EUR DE LA
BJBL!OTHEQUF: NATIONALE.
L'inscript.ion cle Hama Khrrmherrg est im document d'une si
granife importance, qu'on
11 8
8a nrait neg\iger
fLUCUII
de l'El<OlHlre les nomhreux problem es qu'il pose.
r1er,ai\ SUSCPptibJ e
Le rlernier erl iteut• de
ce texte difficil e, Prof. C. B. Bradley, a cul'l'ige Ia plupart des etTeurs
de ses <levancier ... , et est parvenu
a elu cirler
cumpletement le sens de
1wesqne tons lc·s passage,; obseur:>: il n'a lais:oe qn'ii glanet· apres
lui. II vou<lm bien cepen:hnt, je l'espere, me pet·md.tre de co mpl eter
et de rectifie t' son travail ~ur certains points. Je ne me risqu erais pas
a
entrer en discussion avec un siami.;ant aussi competent et aussi
averti que l'e;,t M. Bran ley, s'il s'agissait seul eme ti t de !'interpretation
de telle ou tell<:> expression thale. J\'lnis j'ni note dans Ia transcription de
..M. Brad ley un pet,it, nohtbre cl'el'l'eurs materi elles, qui ant tmturellement
entraitre qut'lqu es difficultes d'interpretation.
Les mvdifications que
je vais pr·oposer a ln. tradnct.ion Ot' 1'11. Bradley r L'posent surtout sur de
nouv<:> lies lectur<:>s que tout le monde pourra controler en se rep01·tant
a \'excellent fac-simile annexe a SOli article pub\ie dans Je
"Jomnal of
the Siam 1:-ioc:iety," lU09 .
Lignes 4-6:
,
..,
,
,
. ~\j ~1lJ ~'14 l"ll1r:J '111tl '11'14 "'1lJ ~'14 '.lllJlJ lJ1 ,r:Jr:J ':llr:J1 '11'14 "'1lJ
/
~'14 ALtit'tfl'\4
L'11'1lWf
~/1
Ynl1
1"'
W fl .! ,'14
~
rj)1J:J1~ ~1tl ~lL'"i
"My fathE'r went to fight Khun Sam Chon by the right. Khun
Sam Ch~>n pressed on to m<:>e t \rim by the left. Khun Sam Chon
charged in force.
My father',; people fled in haste, broken and
scattered ."
( 2 )
Hot·mis l'intervet·sion de" droite ,. et "gauche," qui n'est, qu'un
lap.;;us sans import.anct', cette traduction me pamit it·t·eprcchable, et
je. la cite 11011 pou t· Ia cotl(lamner, mai:; pour Ia clefe11dre an contt·aire
contre une ct:itique injuste de M. Petithuguenin. Dans ses "Notes
ct·it.iques pout· sen•it· a l'histoire du Siam" (Bulletin de I'JiJcole fm)](;aise
d'Extreme-Orieut, tome XVI, 3), M:. Petithuguenin dit:
-Je traduis "Khu11 Sam Chon charg~a les troupes de premi€we
ligne (phraifa na ), obligeant mon pere a fuit· e n gmuclo det·oute."
Les rai8on~ que B radley donne pour lire" les gens de rnon pet·e s'enfuirent," au lieu de "mon ptn·e s'enfniL" ne me pamissent pas convaincantes,
et. je li s, comme Schmitt., lai pho lm, et non sr~i.La critique de l\1. Petithuguenin e,t mal fondee, cat· le texte
porte stuement
mais
llli
1~
et non
1a'.
Ceci n'est pas nne opinion personuelle,
fait: le trait qui disr.ingue ~ de
a est
patofaitement n~t, le mai
VI '
ffitten
w
...,
1
!'est aussi, et il n'y a pas trace d'accent. D'ailleurs LW T r.J1l1U 1 ~
est ulie expre;;sion tonte fi1ite qui revient quelqu~s lign es plus bas
(1.21).
La lecture
l~
"mettre en· fnite" se t.rouvant ainsi ecartee, les
taisons que donne M. Bmdley pom· t1-:1duit·e "les gens de rnon per·e
s'enfuirent" reprennent toute lent· fore<', et sa traduction doit done
ette pt·et'eree.
}_;, 16
~1. B1·adley tracluit simpl ement " My fathet· died," ce qui ne
correspond qu'!t. h premiel'e moitie de la phrase. Le P. Schm itt et
M. Pt~tithuguenin t.raduiseut plus correctement: "Mon p(n·e mort, il
me t·esta mon frere aine."
L. 21-2il.
3
"Among common folk of the realm, &mong l01·ds anrl nobles, if
any one soever dies m· disappeat·s from houst~ and home, the Prince tt·usts,
suppoi·ts, nifls. 'rhey are always getting children and wives, are always
growing rice, (this) folk of the realm, subjects of the Thai. Their
groves of areca, their groves of betel, the Prince trusts wholly to them
to keep for theit· own childt·etL"
Cette traduction n'est pas tt·es sat.isfaisante, et la peine que
M. Bmdley s'est don nee poUI' Ia justifier prouve bien qn'il n'en etait
'
Ainsi il traduit illtl pat· "PrinP-e," mais
lui-meme qu'a moite satisfait.
'
il note lui-meme: ·~In the literal sense of fathm· the word lHJ occurs
thirteen times in the opening section of this inscription. As honorific
prefix to the hero's name it occurs latel' ten tim11s an(l in all of these I
render it Prince. Twice only, het·e (l.22) and inl.24 cloes it occut· without any limiting word, and in both I rendet• it the Pt·ince, as suiting
' "11, M. Bradley
En ce qui concel'lle 1[1~
best both syntax and sense."
'
avoue que "in the midst of this serious \\'l'iting ~1~ sounds sUI'prisingly like a bit of modern half-slang in the sf:'nse of: at·e gr·el}t hands to,
are forevet·. But t,here seems no escape fr·om it." Enfin, Ia place in-
lWT d1
attendue du sujet
'11~ ala fin deb phmse suggere au t.raductem ces reflexions: "The introduction of the subject after the statement is apparently complt~te is quite foreign to pr·esent literar·y usage,
but is a frequent device of racy tp lk, and follows well the lead given hv
'
111~
lYl
above."
Cette traduct.ion apparait ilonc un pen cumme un pis-aller.
Mais avant de soume~tre le texte il un nouvt-1 examen, pout· voit· s'ilne
serajt pas po~sible d'en tirer· un sens plus satisfaisant, il importe de
faire a Ia tt·anscription de M. Bradley les men ues corTections que voici:
~
~
'
au lieu de L11tltl (11. 22 et 24) , }'original porte net.tement
...!
•
•
~
v
Ia place de L(1tltl 1"11 jt> lis L~ tltl
v
fin
v
~~tltl,
et Q.
1
~~-------------------------- ------
1.
A propos de L~ tl M. Brndlt>y co r1 sta!e lui-meme que le tra it qui
a
distingne
de a est vi~ihle ~m Iii piene: "The stroke is there, but the stone
cutter has the hnbit of carving just such n sl rol; e frotu the ougle of the adja!:ent
letter by wa~' of ffotJrish." Cette affi rmation t>st alosolttmer,t gratuite,
4
En ce qui conce t·ne Ia trartuction , .1e note d'abord que Schmitt
.
nrn
traduit
par" loin de ," et M. Bradley par "from."
ce soit forcer le sens du mot siamois.
Il semble que
D'autr·e part, il est bien t.entant
!-
I
de consiilerer lAs quatre mots il:1 Pl1!J
~1!.1
Wl1 eomme une de ces ex-
pressions rimees qu e M. Bradley a en le met·ite de reconuaitre et de
signaler un pen p::irtout clans )'inscription de Rama Khamheng. Or,
chez les Dioi ou Tha1d des rives du Si-kiang, il existe un mot lcwa qui
correspond
"'
a peu pres
au siamois L~ !J; et, dans ce dialect.e, " il est
mort" se dit te h va lew.l
Il est fort probable que c'est ce meme mot
!--
I
kwa, qui figure dans !'expression q;'j Pll!.l ~1!.1
nr.n et que celle-ci signifie
simplement: "tom be malan e et meurr.."
Ce qui suit a e videmm ent pour objet cle clefinir· !'attitude du roi
quand un de ses wj ets menrt. Or, deux inscriptions du r·oi Lu'dai
(cleuxieme 8uccesse ur de Riima Khamh_eng) disent en t ermes identiques qu'en cas de mot·t cl'un de ses snjets le rui consE>rve les
biens du pet·e pour le fils et les biens cle l'al.ue p::m r le cai!et
Wfl
Pl1!J
lrJ llrl
~
t1 n
~
Pl1!J
1r) llrl im.
2
Le passage cle l'inscripti0n cl e Rarna Khamheng que je discute
11
tV
en ce moment, comm enpant par LY-Jj tJ1 ~ij1
VJ
et" se t erminant pa r
L-
'
LfJ lln an
1i
developpem ent de la formule
wtl
I
ca.,...
I
1~ ......... tJ~t--1 ~ ......... Pl1!.1
~
l-Jij ~ij,cepa ~sageapparaitcommeun
Pll!.l
lrJ llrl 'Cl n, donn ant l'enumemtion
:II
~
des biens
a conservet· au fils du clefunt. La
pre~euce dn mot ~ij
a Ia fin
cle Ia phrase se mble indiquer en effet qu'il a etc question dans
ce qui I ccede d.e plu sieurs objets. II s'agit d'examinet• si le texte de!./
d
IJ
1f
puis tl !Jlr.J tHm j u ~ q'a 1J 1 m,nn 1J 1 'i"J~ pent etre in terprete com me nne
e nu merat ion des bi en s du clefnnt .
1 E squirol et Willia tte. Diet.,
cli o i- f ran ~ nis.
Hong k ong, l fl08.
2 Inscr. d e Na,!,!ara Jllln, 2e fnc e, 1.44. J./aqtre iii$Cr. n
BE FE-0, XV II, 2, p. 25.
et:e
publiee
5
v
f) rJ 1f'J
.&
LTflU signifiant "maison., ne fait pas difficulte .
'A
Lafl "vetement" n'a rt en d'inattendu ici.
v
Quant
a f'l1 ( ecrit
v
f'l pt·obablem~:~nt pour le distingt>r de f'l1
avec un
"tH~goc i er"
qui ap-
parait quelques !ignes plus haut ), je propose cle l'icl e ntifier avec le
~
.!.
plus que ses vetement.s attacht~S
~
dans la misel'e.
a son
corps" se dit d'un homme tombe
v
La t:l f'l1 a dune simplement le sens de "vetements."
v
~ 1.:]
.!.
.l!ln laotien !'expression~ lll11 L~t:l f'l 1 f'l ~ "il n'a
siamois fl1 "adherer."
"elephant" et "11 pour '.llfl "croc
a elephant" forment,
reu-
nis, une exprt>ssion toute faite signifiant "elephants." En laotien, pour
pr·endre un nouvel exemple tire de ce dialect e qni est souvent si proche
v
.!.
.!.
de Ia langue cle Rama Khamheng, Ia phm<e l-.1 ~ 1-:l ~ '.lltl veut dire " il
~
...,
.!.
•I
•I
a clt>s elephants." C'est avec t:H.lli'J LTtlU, 't'lfl Ll-JU, 1J1 ~l-J1fl 1J1 W't'l un
:II
:II
nouvel exemple de cPs gt·oupE>s de mots accoup le3 deux par deux, qui
sont si frequents dans les langu~s thl11es et mon-khmet'es, et dont
!'inscription de Rama Khamheng offl'e cle si nombreux exe mples .
.!.
(I
L~
fl
U "IPs eutimt.s et Jes femmes" n'appelle aucun com-
'll
meutnirE>.
v
6
UU L'.ll1 "les g reniers
a t·iz."
~
U!J qni s't'st pe t'clu en siamois s'est
conset·ve en luotien ( L~ !J) et en shan (ye) a\'ec le sens du siamois
~
I
!1.•
L'
1/f
LWT CJ1 'll1 LYl se mb le etre considen~ par M . Bt·adley comme m1
1/f
0
1).1
...,
synouyme de LWT CJ1 ~U1
1~ .
.Si l'on connaissait mieux !'organisation
sociale des Tha1s dE> Sukhodaya, on Herait sans doute capabl€' de faire
( 6 )
~
tV
I
une distinction tr~s nette entre les L'Vl1 CJ1 "&l.l vis:)ge bl'ill&nt.'' et les
1Y
ltlt
LW! CJ1 "esclaves des
11
'l'hai:~."
ltlt
'-'11
La difficulte de traduire LW! CJ1 'll1 LYI
-¥
par "esclaves" resitle dans le fait que c'est le mot 1J 'l qui, dans !'inscription, semble avoir ce sens. Mais "serviteur" ou "corveable" parait etre une traduction accept.able.
rnnn
lJ1
-
•I
diffic~Jlte.
lJ1 WC1 n'offr·e aucune
~
.
~
H.est.ent les mots l-J '1-l et Wtl L'JI t'J dont je n'ai pas f.'lncor·e rend u
compte. j.j '1-l de.;igne le defunt, l\insi que l!i prouve sa presenoQ dans
]'expression
Cln ~._ll
l'l,, !Lrl
li
~
~
I
a'l-l
Quant
a Wfl L'Jitl, son sens propre de
"pere de famille" convient fort bien ici.
On nott>r·a en effet qui! apparait
,_,
.!!.
denx fois dans la phrase, la premiere fois a pres fl U1'l L1 flU, Ia seconde
•I
•I
fois apre~• 1J1 rU.J1n 1J1 WC1:
or, Ia maison et lesjardins ~ont precisement.
li
~e
les biens immobiliers qui
depuis le chef de Ia famille
tmnsmettent de
" Yltl'
~
L'JftJ.
gerH~ration
en gener:}tion,
"
Voici done en definiti \'e comment je tmduis la phrase dont je
viens de discuter le texte:
"Si un homml':' du peuple, un prince ou un noble tombe malade
et meurt: (ses biens, savoir) Ia maison de ses peres, ses vetl':'ments,
ses elephants, ses enfant:3 et ses femm~s. ses grenieril r·iz, ses serviteur·s, les plantations d'ar·ec et de betel de ses per·es, ( le l'Oi ) les conserve en totalite aux enfants du det'nnt."
a
I
(
'111~
d.
,_,
tJ 11 n l-JUU 1J l-l
)
( U D).,_,.~
..!.
.!11
1
Ll. 28-31: f'l'\.l fl '11
'111~
l-l1 '1-11 Yl1
I
lJ
d.
,_,
).J
I
.!!.
L~tl~
d.
II
•I
I
l-l11J S.J lJ'l'l 1J
d.
I
~ U1~
Yltl~ 1l1!Lrl ~UU· '.Dtl-3 ~Y'\.ll71~~ L(tJ)u
.
.!!.1
l-l1 f'l 'lltlt.J Ll1Utlfl LWfl
A
1J S.J
.!.
(
L~
)
tJ
mu Ll.IU ''\(l.Jt1)
(~ l) fl ( i)1 ''\( ~ )t1n .;; .!!. L~tltl ~'l'l ,W~ ~'l'l !lJ rl f1 U.;; lJIA PI
1
d.
7
''Whoever comes riding his elephant to visit the city, comes to
the moat and waiLs besine it fot· me Has he no elephants, no horses,
no slaves, no damsels, no silver, 110 gold, I give to him. Has he wealth
to found towns and cities to be foes and enemiPs, to be strongholds for
war and fight.ing, I kill not nor smite him."
Cette tt·aduction soul(we quelques object ions. D'abord, elle suppose !'usage de Ia premiere personne dans un t.exte qui depuis la ligne
Ensuite le mot-a-mot : 1.11 fl "comes to the
18 cesse de !'employer.
ll
J,
A
I
moat" '.Dtltl LVI'\!tl "waits beside it" LWtl n "for me" est bien peu
ll
satisfaisnnt.l
En fait le texte ot·iginnl porte nett ement, 1.11
v
nll , et plus
bn.~,
au lieu de 'litl -l lJh!h! 111-l-l, il y a
'
,
Flll
~tli.l
""
AI
~ tH.l LVI hi tJ LW tJ
lJh!h! Vlf'J-l.
.Avec ces lectut·es rectifiees, lt>s difficulte,; disparaissPnt:
'
rJll ecrit. actueJlement.
'
~
ll
a
a peu
pteS ]e llH~tne SellS que Vl1 de
'
sorte que l'expt·ession 1.11 'VI1 .... l,J1 ~ e:;t tout a fait dans le style de
ll
l'inset·iption. II s'agit d'un in diviclu qui vient visiter Ia ville, ou, plus
vraisemblemeut., qui vient y chercher l'hospitalite.
'
~ tli.l,
'
en siamois ~ f'Ji.l, mais en laot.ien ~tli.l, signifie "aider."
A AI
LVI hi tJ LW tJ est probablement une autre forme ( archaique?) de
.....
Ltl tJ LW tJ "s'inquieter de."
masset·," mais
che~o~
nll
en siamois a aujourd'hui le sens de " ra-
les Thais du Si-kiaug le mot kn signifie "soigner,
!....
s'occuper de," sens assez voisin du siamois
..8
~tli.l
""
AI ,_,
L'VIh! tJ LW tJ n constituent une ex-
1 Au lieu de ]..11 1'1, on atteudmit lJ1
fl-l fl . Quant il. LWtl il a toujours
"sauvet· le pays."
Ainsi les mot s
,
ILJ
nll dans !'expression nll LlJ tl-l
ll
~
..;.
ll
dnus ce textc lc seus ccmjonetif de '' parce que."
ll
8
pt·elsion t·e.lon•lante, ayant pour su jet sou.s-entenuu le rui, et sign ifiant
'' aider, pt·enrlre so i n dt>."
0
.I.
La suite de Ia phraee, de.puis 1J l.J
1~v un
v
'111~ jusqu'il.
l.J'H,
ne presente ancnne difficulte: le roi donne au visiteur tout ce dont il a
o
v
~
A
besoin. Pui::, '11tH.J l.J'H "il l'aide" P'JI'J~ Lll'H 1J1'H Lll'H Ll.Jtl~.
r!i"J~,
a
anjourd'hui "mesmet·," devait avoit• l'origin e le se.ns plus general de
de '; comptet·," cat· dans !'inscription cle Nagr~ra J um ( 2me face, 1.4)
....
il apparait dans l'expression 'HlJ
..!.
rli"J~.
En laotien
rli"J~
LlJ~
veut dire
v
Done, Ia phrase rli"J~ Lll'H 1J 1'H Lll'H
"examiner, consiclerer."
.l,
Ll.J tl~
pent se tmcluire mot-a-rnot '' Comptet• et t•e pays," en d'autres tet•mes
"considerer com me sa patrie."
En definitive, tout!• Ia phra<e depuis fl'H
1~
se tradnit·a comme
suit: " Quiconqne vient a elephant pom visiter le pays et y chercher
l'hospitalite, (le roi) !'aide, ~:,'inquiete et prend soin cle lui; s'il n'a ni
elephant:>, ni chevaux, ni esclaves, ni femllles, ni argent, ni 01', (le roi)
lui en donne ; il !'aide et le considere comme dn pap."
La phrase relative aux
geiH~t·osites
clu roi
a l'egard des etr::mg~r:3
.&
se termine a vee le mot Ll.J tl~.
La suite ne veut certainement pas dire
que Rama Khamheng ne fait pas de mal a ses ennemis: cette proposition
serait contra ire a ce que nons savons de Ia psychologie de ce t·oi conquerant.
Le texte dit treJ clairement que si le t•oi entre e.n possession
(lPlv)
d' ennemis, il ne les tue ni ne les frappe ; en d'nutt-es termes, qn'il ne
fait pa:> de mal a ses adversaires une fois qu'ils sont tombes en son
pouvoir, comme prisonniers par ex.emplt>.
L. 41:
"In the midst of this city of Sukhothai there is a gushing rocl{spring of wat er. "
Le mot r!:fW ~ n'est autre que le mot Khlller tmp~£tng " etang,
mr\re, piece d'ean," ainsi d'ailleurs que l'a fait remarquer M. L. Finot
I
(B. E. F. E.-0., XVI, 0, p. 24 note J). Ce vocable existe encore
dans Ia toponymie de Sukhodaya: denx grandes pieces d'eau situees
dans l'enceinte de Ia ville portent l'nne Je nom de ~r~W.:] Ylfl.:J, I'autre
.,!\
.d,
,!I,
'
ceh,i fie m~W.:J l.:J'\J (Cf. lft:J.:] LYHJ!J l~HJ.:J Wf~:f!J.:J, ch. V ). C'est
peut-etre a l'un de ces deux etanga que ]'inscription de Rama Khamheng fait allusion.
,!I,
.!. .!.
.c\...,
.!.
.!.
1..1. 4(}-53:
Ll-Jt:Jt:J nn'IJ n rm l-.1 wu lJ m.J l-J w u V~l-J1fl l-.1
0
w'u
~t:Jn1i"'\.J V~l-Jt:J'Hru.:J.:J V~l-JtJu l'IJ'\J u.,!, rw1r
(iJ) Yl1'\J lL'C1..z.1J
n.!.nu lfl
lL'O'""''Q)lJtt't~'Hl1J ~~'QJ~~fl.!.fl'IJ,!I,Lfl.:J
t:J
~
(l)r'""''QJ(n)~iu ,!I, L~t:J ~nn L'll~
'""'bl)fl ( W)l-l
~
L~1
~
l-J1rJiJ.:JHJ.:Jfll-ll-llLaiflh
0
VI!J!J C11'H
l.J.:Jfl
"In these presentations (of Kathin) there are a ll sorts of money,
all sort.s of fmits, all sorts of fiuwers; there are cushiotls fat· sitting and
cushions fat· reclining to accompany the yellow robe3 offered year by
year; and they take with them Ian leaves to designate the recipients
of the Kathin, going even unto the forest-monastery yonder. When
they would retum into the city, t.hey ;,tretch in line from the forestmonastery yonder unto Hun. L:-111 Dam, making the air resou nd .. . "
Le mot W'H que M. Bradley tmclui t hypothetiquement pat· "all
sorts of" est, com me l'avait dit S0!tmitt et com me l'a. recem ment repete M. Finot (Jo,). cit.), le mot J~!tm er phno1!t qui sign i!ie "montagne"
et qui peut se traduire ici par "monceau."
M. Bradley tt·aduit bl)lJ t'1 1'H "they take with them Jan lea.ves,"
iclentifiant apparement b!)lJ avec Je siam ois VIii 1.J "pincer, prendre avec
trois doigts." Mais, autant que je sache, les fideles qui vont faire
J'offrande du Kntltinn. n'ont pas J'l1abitud e de tenir a ln. main des feuilles
de latanier. Le texte doit n.voir une autre signification. 1\tr bonheut·
'""' se trouve Clans une. autt·e inscr iptiou , celle de Nagara Jum
ce mot bl)lJ
~
~
~
.G
(Ire face, 1.28): b!)lJL'VIl-J 1-l ~W'\J'\J 'VIfl~lJ. Cette expression numerale ne
pouvant,
a cause du cont'3xte, l'ignifier autre chose que 24,060,
le tenne
'""' a su rement Ia valeur de" deux", et c'est consequemme nt Ia forme
b!)lJ
( 10 )
~
A
A
pleine du mot~ qui n'est plus employe aujonrd'hui que dans ~ 1(;11J
..:&
A'
et dans L~t:l'\.A ~.
v
Le mot suivant 'C11'\.A(aveclemaitho) :.tevidemment
le sens de "million."
""'
II faut done coupPr Ia phrase apres
"'
'
<,J
""'
'm-lt:J'\.A l'\.A'H
,_,
et tt-aduit·e: 1JTW1:f nfl'\.A L t:l~ Vl1'\.A LL'CllJ LL'Cl b!Jll 'C11l.J "les accessoires
du kathina donnes en offmnde chaque nnn.§e s'elevent it deux millions.''
(Pour des expressions nnalogues, cf. \'inscription khmet·e de Sukhodaya
et sa version siamoise, B. E. F. E.-0., XVII, 2).
Dans sa traduction, M. Bradley se contente de transcrit·e
Ylr.Jr.J 'Cll'\.A ~
"Hua Lan Dam", mais dans ses notes il le traduit par
.
.
"Black Lan Head" com me s'il y avait ~ 1 et non pas ~.
leurs aucune traduction meilleure
.
a proposer pour
J e n'ai d'ail-
Yl r.J 'Cll'\.A
..
~
Quant a 11-:!fl que M. Bradley rend par "making the ait· resound," c'est encore un mot khmer, employe du reste en siamois, et
signifiant "honorer, rendre hommnge." La musique dont il est question
ensuite a done une valeur rituelle et u'est pas un simple divertissen: ent.
Ll. 64-65:
1t:J~ vn'I.A ( wr~) l-1Yl1L m 1(;1 ( -:J-:J']) n~ 1.l :fl~b!J r~'I.A "'llJ""'u ~n lPlr
Ylr.Jr.J nn(n)r.Jl 1.l m 1'\.A .&Ll-ltl-:1 '\! vm fl'I.A
,
~
"
~
.. an offet·ing unto Phra Mahathen, the Arch-priest, the
scholar who studied the Tripi taka unto its end, the head of his order,
and above every other teacher in this realm."
Le troisi.e me mot de Ia ligne 64 est certainement LLn atust
que
l'avait col'l'ectement lu Sch mitt, mais cette petite modification n'entraine aucun changement dans Ia tr·aduction de M. Bradley.
Les premiers caracteres de Ia ligne 65 doivent se lire, non pas
WJIJ nn mais Yl'CIIJnn.
Le mot WrliJ n apparait nne seconde fois dans
!'inscription de Rama Khamheng,
/
a Ia
ligne 112, dans l'expresssiou
( 11 )
v
,_,
~l'"HJ j~
!/
WHJ rH'FJll
II se retrouve anssi dans !'inscription de Nagara
;_.,
....
J Ulll (lre face, 1.23) egalement couple avec
'1-'HFJllll
j
~
dans Ia phrase: ~.:] 1
~
l 'VIT Ym.J. ........ M. Finot a judicieusement fait
]'expression laotienne
j
~
~
remarquer que
t'1ll savant "cot-respond sans doute a !'expression
'-'
pins archaique
j
"
WCFJll" (8. E. F. E.-0., xvii, 5, p. 166, note 2). lei
'
done, les mots WCl"Jll ll'"J1 signifient: "plus savant que (tous les autres
maitt•es duns le royaume)."
L. 67:
1m!i
~
~.:J
.:J1(l-l ll)nn
"large, lofty, and t>xceeding fair" .
.
La vraie lecture est .:J1l-J U.ll n.
cette locution adverbiale dans
precedee de \All 'VI\!1.
J'ai rencontre plusieurs fois
l'l~pigmphie
de Sukhodaya, soit seule, soit
E lle a simplement Ia valent· du superlatif, de
sorte que Ia traduction de M. Bradley pent etre conservee integralement .
.,!,
L. 75:
~Hlfi.:J~
"There is Rridaphongs ...... ".
M. Finot a deja bit rem:nquer que ce mot qui, d'apres .M:.
Bradley " still puzzlt>s all editors", est le vocable eanskrit saridhlw1~ga.
" banage " (B. E. F. F.-0, XVI, 3, p. 24, nQte 1). II est juste de
reconnaitre qne le mot est passablement ecorche : sui \'ant les pt·inci pes
de l'eet·itnre de Ham a Khamheng, il devrait P-tt·e ecrit
~ ""nlfl .:J fl.
Ll. 83-84:
..!!.
..!!.
..,
lA LfltllA L~l-J Lflfl\A Yl.:J U.Df!IJ\A\A
"From thP. day wh en the moon was quenchecl and rt>appeai·ed,
for t>ight days, and ft·om the clay when the moon filled out her orb, for
eight days (n1ore) . . . "
..!!.
C'et.te traduction est it reprendre completement.
c'est le jour de Ia nouvelle lmw,
L~tl\A
IJ\A Lflfl\A
~lJ
ltlll( =flrlll). U.Dfli)"-'\A l~ huitieme
( 12 }
,!!,
jour de la June croiss:m te, f"J U L~ tJU Llill-J le jour de la pleine June,
L~t:JU
sante.
lll-.1 ( et non Yl'-'--1)
U.U~
f"J....U le huitieme jour de la lune decrois-
Ces quatre jom·s sont les juurs d'uposatha, en siamois I'J U i"l r~.
~
Le mot tlt:ln dans le sens de l'actuel '] U est atteste dans l'epigraph ie (par exemple, in scr. de Nagara Jum, Ire face, ligue 1).
Quant
'-'
au mot ll1-.1, je ne l'ai pas rencontre dans les inscriptions, car la
seconde quinzaine du mois est consideree comme peu propice aux
fondations religieuses et antres ceremonies que les insct·iptious ont
pour objet de comrnemorer, m~J.s .M. Finot signale son emploi au 'Laos
(B. E. F. E.-0., XVII, 5, p. 32).
~ 1 mu "i
1
Ll. 95-97:
1u mn-.1
6
l-l
:~nm ~t:J~
t:Juu
tJuu ,l!,ru'~ ..!!,i
"In the midst of this palm-grove are two salas: one called Sala.
Phra Mat (of th e Golden Buddha), one called Phuttha. B--. This stone
slab, named Manung Si!a Batra (Thought lodged in Stone) . . . "
I./original ne porte pas n'C11-.1
botien nr:J-.1
"a.
"an miliPu de" mais n'C1f"J--1=
l'interieUI' de."
,
Le nom de la seconde s11li1 parait ctt·e ill YI'Ii H1'C11: c'est un nom
bien banal, mais il ne semb le guere possible de lire autr~ chose.
,!,.
HILI11J1111T
du sanslcrit,
est presque certainement une mauvaise orthographe
<;iliipa~~a
"plaque de pierre, stone-slab" et n'est par con-
sequent qu'une t.raduction du siamois
']~1!
'YHl. Merne en conservant
l'orthog raphe patra, Ia signification reste Ia m~me, car piitra, outre son
sens de "bol," a aussi, suivant les lexicographes, celui de pttit?·a
"feuille." Laissant pt·ovisoirement de cote Je mot l-JU-.1, il importe
d'examiner si c'est !'inscription men•t3 de Rama Khamheug qui est
designee ici. La solution dt:' ce probleme a son importance, car Ia
datation du document. en depend en partie.
( 13 )
On sait que l'insct·ipt,ion contient trois dates dont Ia plus recente
est c;akn. 12l4=1292 A. D. Celle-ci etait gellet·alement considen3e
comme Ia date a laquelle avait ete gravee Ia stele, lorsque M. Pelliot
soule~a l'object.ion suivante ( B. E. F. E.-0., IV, p. 245): " La
demiere date donnee de cette inscription est 1292 A. D., mais ce n'eat
pas nne raison pour dire que !'inscription est cle 1292, il y est en effet
pal'le (1.101 et suiv.) d'un monument entrepris en 1287, et qui ne fut
acheve qu'apre3 six ans j apre> quoi Oil eleva des co]onnes en pierre
autonr de ce monument, et ce travail dura trois ans; ceci met done au
mains en 1296."
1L Bmdley ne semble pas avoir connu cette note de M. Pelliot
(laquelle n'est d'aillems enoncee qu'inciclemrnent clans nne etude qni
n'es t pas specialement consacree a l'histoire du Siam), et il arlmet que
Ia date de l'in scri ption est bien c,~akn. 1214= l292f93 A. D. Voici ses
raisons: "Of th~ eal'lier history of the stone absolutely nothing is
known save what i:s said in t,he inscription itself, 11.80-97. While th e
lan guage there leaves somethin g to be desired in th e way of explicit
connection of the various statements, it see ms impossible to mistake its
general import; 11amely, that this stone was one offour prepared at the
same time, and-though this is not said-presumably of similar or
identical content. The four were dedicated with imposing ceremonies
religious and civic. 'l'hree of them wet·e set up in separate places
which are named. The date was 1214, ( Mahasakarat ), equivalent to
1293 A. D." Et plus loin d<lns les notes cle sa traduction, il ajonte :
"L. 80. Having sketched his early life, his pro>perous reign, the
splendor of his capital ::mel its su rroundings, Prince Khun Ram Khamheng turns to notn what he considers the three most impot·tn.nt event.s
of his reign: (l) The preparation, consecmtion, a nd installation of
four insct·ibed monuments of stone, of which we understand that out·
own was one. (2) The exhuming of the sact·ed relic!:l of Buddha ........
(3) The inventi..on of the art of writing." Et encor·e ceci: "L. \:12. Tht:l
reader will notice that the text nowhere distinctly says that the foUl'
inscriptions so abruptly spoken of here were engraved on the " stoneslabs" mentioned in 1. 82. Yet unless we connect the writing with
the slabs, there· seE'ms to be not the slightAst reason for saying anything about either. But absolutely convincing on this point seE'm to
.,
~
be the words in UJ6: 'Ml11' 'VI '\i '\i -which can mean nothing else
than the vet')' stone and the very inscription we are now studying."
( 14 )
a
Cette argumentation m'avait semble
pt·emiet·e vue assez
seduisante pour que j'en accepte Ies conclusions, et, ayant en a citer
incidem :nent !'inscription de Rama K hamheng, j'avais adopte 129~
A. D. comme sa date probable, a.joutaut en note que les objections de
M. !'elliot ciU~es plus haut ne sont pas absolument decisives: "Rien
dans l'illSCL'iption, disais-je, n'obJige a Cl'Oire que ces travaux furent
consecutifs. Ils pouvent fot·t bien avoir ell~ simultanes." ( B. E. F.
E.-0., XVII, 2, p. 32).
M. Finot vient tout recemment de comhattre !'opinion que j'avais
exprimee (B. E. F. E.-0., XVII, 5, p. 10, note 3): "Cette probabilite, dit-il, ne parait pas tres forte. D'abord rien n'indique que
le roi ait fait graver sa stele immediatement aprea l'el'ection du
ce~iya: elle n'a pas pour objet special de commemorer cette oeuvre;
elle Ia rappelle seulement comme un des faits marquants du regne
qu'elle se pt'Opose de glOL·ifiar. P.u consequent, mem~ en aclmettant
l'interpt·etation de M. Oa:dea, Ie document pent etre de plusieur.3 annees postt~l'ieut· a 1292-1293. Mais de plus, il semble bien qu'en
enumerant l'un e apre> !'autre avec leu t· dul'ee respective, Ia constt'Uction
du ce~iya et celle de !'enceinte, le roi ait eu en vue deux pel'iodes consecutives; autrement il eut suffi de dil'e que !'ensemble des travaux
avait dure six ans. Le temps consaCI·e
l'ache\'ement de !'oeuvre est
une donnee P''OJ)l'e ?Len rehausser Ia valeu l' et le merite; le temps exige
par· les divers elements de !'edifice est un renseignenwnt technique qui
n'avait., du point de VUe du re tacteur de l'in SCI'iption, qu'un faib]e
interet. Je crois clone plus p1·obable que Ia stele ne fut gr:wee qu'en
1296 an plus tot, et peut-etre quelques annees ap t·es."
a
M. Finot semble croire qu e j'ai ailopte 1292 A.D. comme elate
pr·obable de !'inscription, parce que je pense que ce lle-c i a ete gravee a
!'issue des tr::w::m x commences en 1287 et ayant, suivant mon comput,
dtue six ans. En realite, c'est pour nne tout aut re raison (que j'ai eu
tort de ne pas indiquer plus explicitement): c'est parce que .i'ai adopte
!'interpretation de M. Bradley reproduite plus haut. II est bien evident
en effet que si !'in scr iption est une cles pierres qui furent taillees, inscrites et inau gnrees en 1292, ceLte date est necessairement celle du
document lui-meme. Et alOL·s il fant aclmt>ttre que les travaux commences en 128';' n'ont pas dure pins de six ans, c'est .a dire que la
construction du cetiya et celle de !'enceint e ont ete simultanees
( 15 )
Tonte Ia qestion est don e de sn.vo ir si !'op inion de M. Bradley est bien
fondee: je l'avais ern, mai s je dois avo uet· qu'apres un exa men plus
attentif du texte j e ue .Je c rois plus.
L e passage auqu el l\1. Ba1dley attache le plus d' imp ortauce et
qu'il consiclere com me "absolnm ent convaincant," est !'exp ression de
"" ~
Ia 1.96 'llmr 'VI \i \i "which can mean nothing else than the very
stone and the very in scription we are now studying." ll faut notet·
d'ab01·d que !'expression e mployee ordinairement pour rlesigner une
pierre inscrite n'est pas
'llmr
'VIti mais l'illrfl, le m ::J t me me qui ap~
para it a Ia l. 92. D'autre part, b presence du de mon st.rn.tif \i u e prou ve
pas forcement qu e h pierre ainsi designetl so it cell e sur laque lle ce
mot est gr;n-e . Le t.Axte cl e !' inscription affcctionne l'emploi du
demonstratif:
~,l '.lilY! ~. hi Pll\i ~.
pout· ne citer que deux exem-
pies empruntes an pflssage nH~ m e que je rli ~c ut e en ce moment. 'l'oute
pierre remarquable ( trone, ban e on au t re) situee a proximite de
Ia ~t el e clevait tout naturellem ent etre de sig nee pat· !'expression
"" ~
'.llfl l j l-1\i \i . On voit ainsi que ces mots ne sont pas "absolument
convaincants" et qu'ils peuvent designer a utre chose que !'inscription
de Hama Khamheng.
"" rl e la lignE> 92, qui sont cer:M. Brad ley admet que Jes f'illj!l
tainement des in sct·iptions, sont iden tiques aux 'llmr l-1 U tai lles en
1292 et nommes a. Ia 1.80, parce que " unl ess we connect the writing
with the slabs, there see ms not to be the sli g hteat reason for saying
anything about either." Cet arg um ent n'est pas plus convaincant que
le precedent: le decou~u est une des caracteristiques les plus frappantes de !'inscription de Rama Khamheng, et si toutle passage en question depnis la ligne 80 jnsqu'a Ia lign e 97 est ree ll ement consacre a
l'histoire de Ia stele, il n 'y a ancune raison non plus poUt' nous dire que
le roi va rl eux foiR par mo is faire a dos d'elephant ses devotions au mo~
nastere des Arafinika, ni pour nou s apprendre qu'il y a deux Salas dans
le Bois des Palmiers.
Voyons d'ailleurs ce que le texte dit de ces 'Mll:i' 'VI \i de Ia ligne
eo
et s'i l est legitime d'.v YOir des inscripLions.
D'abord il n 'est pas
( 16 )
..:;,
"
!.,.1
4-
f
sur qu'il y en ait plusieut·s. Le texte rlit, simplernent "i.:J l'V! ~1.:] illll
""
!:;:
'.Dmr r1'\J
~.:J
~
'
~
._,
WJ1.:J nm.:J Ll-J 1111\.i '\J sans ancune marque de pluriel.
Ensnite, en quoi consistent cette "consecration " et ces " imposantes
ce t·emonies religieuses et civiles" qne M. Brad ley trouve mentionnees
dans co passnge? Les jonrs d'upomtlw., les thems viennent s'asseoir sur
la (ou les) piet·res pout· recitet· ll~ Dharma, et les autt·es jours le roi
vient s'asseoir a Ia. meme pla.c~ p::llll' tl'aitet• des affairas du gouvernement. Ce n'est pas la une ceremouie patticuli!m,~ ayant eu lieu une
date determim\e, mais une routine jonrnaW'lt'e. ]!]t d'aillem·s une consec t·at.ion C<msistant s'asseoir SUI' J'objet COnsacrer est tout fait inattendue, surtout an Siam. M. Bradley reprochait au P. Schmitt d'avoir
a
a
tmdnit
'.ll~l:f
"'
a
~ .4
...
a
""
'V!'IJ '\J 'ntl 1-Jij.:J H't'nlJ1111T "la pierre qui set·t. ici de trone
est, appeh~e .Mananga-Ci la matra", et faisait observer ironiquement:
'
"This stone with its pyramid-top
would make a " trone" less comfortable even than some we hear of now-a-days". Et pourtant M. Bradley
lui•m eme admet que !'inscription de Rama Khamheng est une des
pierres sur lesquele.;; le:;: thet'<lS vinrent s'asseoir. S i Ia chose est, de
son propt·e aveu, impossible, il en r~sulte qne son interpretation doit
etre enonee.
En fait, je crois que ce passage a un tout autre sens, et VOlCI
comment je le comprends:
En 1292 A. D. Rama Khamheng fait taillet· et placer dans le
Bois des Palmiers un bane de pierre ( '.Dfll:f };' \.i). Sur ce bane, les religieux viennent se reunit• et faire les recitations rituelles les joms
d'nposatha. Les autres jom·s, c'est le roi qui y prend place pour tmiter
des affaires publiques ; les jom·s de la pleine Jun e et de Ia nouvelle
dos d'elephant au monastere
lune, (ne pouvant sieger), il se rend
des Araiifiika. Ln. brusque entree en scene des trois inscriptions
a
~
)
.!.
~
~
,l:fn de ~l'CnJ,:J, du fl1 w:r::fll-J et du fl1 :f~\.i1l1:f est eviclemment
assez cleconcertante, mais in suffisante, je crois, pour JUStifiet· l'iut-erpt•etation de M. Bradley. Peut-ett·e avaient-elles avec le bane de
piene un rappot't qui nous echappe aujourd'hui mais qui etait suffisamment clair pour le redacteur de !'inscription de Rama Khamheng.
Elles avaient pu par exe mple etre burinees a l'occasion de l'inauguration du siege royal et pour annoncer cet ev?mement, tout de me me qu'en
(
( 17 )
a
889 A. D. le t·oi khm e r Y a<;o varman proclamait
grand renfort d'
inscriptions digmphiques la foncbtion du Ciniymnu. Ou bien encore
donnaient-elles sur· ces ass emblees quotidi ~nn es, auxqell es presidait Je
roi, des details que uotre t exte n'a pas le loi sir de donner et pour lesquels
il renvoie a ces autres steles. Puur appuyet· cette derniere hypothese,
on peut citer un exemple an a log ue tit·e de ]'in scription de Nagara Jum
(2me face, l. 47): apres avoit· e numere les merites du roi Lu'dai , Je
. .!
""'
texte ajoute: I'll '1-l n'Cnr:J fl'IH! ~l ·l:m ~'\.ltliJ ..... (lacune) ..... '\.H! W~Vll:i'
1~
nmr:J lr:J 1'1-l r•nrn f!UU
,
WT~ ~'l-111il~ WU
~
l~fl~ ~l']lYJ
, ...... (lacun e)..... unn
1u
.! 1U ~~t:JL .... (lacune) ..... fiUU
.&
~
lL'CI "'il:i'n t:JUU U-l
.C..!.&
~
~
""'
l~tl-:1 ~1-l
.&.!
~
.!!.
.&
l~fl-:1 ~Hir:JL ...
etc ...... "Ce t ext eci ne t1onne qu' un abrege, .. ... . les details se trouv ent sur Ia stele placee
a Sukhodai. ..... devn.nt Ia Grande Heliqu e; il y a encore nne auf re stele
a Mu'ang ...... une a Mu'ang l'ang, une a Mn'an g Samluang."
U-:1
1u
t:JUU 'il-l
1u
Quell e que soit dn rest e Ia valeur fi e cet.t.e parenthese relative
a mon sens le bane de pierre de Ia 1.80 qui
( ']mr ~ U ~) <bns Ia descritJtion du Bois des Pal-
aux inscriptions, c'est
repamit
a Ia
1.96
mi er:>: apre5 avoir· dit plus haut son origine et explique son usage, le
texte ajoute ici que ce ba ne de pierre voisine av ec deux salas et qu'il
se nomme
~'il-l
B't111Jl71!. M. B radley indentifi e ~\!-:! 3."pali manam=
mano "esprit., pensee ", mai s les seules form es sons lesquelles co mot
ait passe en siamois sont
~'\.!~
et
~ lu; la form e l-JU~=mana??~
est d'au-
tant plus inattenclue ici qu'en pali ce compose semit regulierement
ma.nosilapa~~a .
II fant done ch erch er une autre ex plicat;ion.
H'CillJl~:i'
est, C0ll111Je j e l':~j iJ it p\ US han t, Un equi V\LJen t treS exact de ']~lj l1 \!
et com me c e ~te dalle de pierre es t tres probabl emant le bane ou le trone
dont il a P.te qu estion precedemrnent , on attendrait ici un mot te l que
J!v
~
~~
~ !vot=:l
Yl'l-l-:1: ']m1 l1'\.l '\.l ~tl W:i'~ Yl\! ~ B't'nlJlfJ:i' "cette d:.~lle de piene s'ap-
pelle wr~ Yl'l-l-:1 ~'CillJl~:i' (siege fait d' une clall e de piene )" serait.
tout a fait conforme au genie de la langue siamoise et a la coutum e qni
consiste a donner :lUX objets royaux Ul1 nom sanskrit OU pii.fi, traduction
pure et simple du nom vulgai1·e. Seulement le texte ne porte pas
I
( lH )
fl'H~
mats
....'
'l-J'H~.
Ce mot ne pourrait-il pas e tl'e un deriv e de
'H~
"s'asseoir" eta voir le sens de " siege," synonym e pat· con sequent de
'
""I ....
fllP? Encore q ue ce mode de clf. t·ivati on soil; ett·ange r aux la ngue:>
thaies, la chose n'es t pas a bso lum ent. imposs ibl e. .Mais il n'est m~m e
pas besoin de recourir a cette hypothese hasardeuse. 11 existe en effet
en mon un mot pnan ( prononce banan g ) qui si gnifie " tron e'' et
qui peut fort bien avoit· ete emprun te pat· les Thais: la nasali sation
de !'occlusive labi a.le devant n est un phenome ne phon etique sur lequel
il n'est ·meme pas besoin d'insist er .
11 est d'au tant plu s surprenan t qu o M. Bradley n'ait pas reconnu
dans ce
']~11
,_..,'H uu trOne, et l'ait confondu avec !'in scription, qu'il
... .&
...,
cite 1ui~mem e un p:1ssage extra it du ,...,'H ·1~ tJ ¥J r: n-nlJ r:rJ 1'1 ¥J r:1J1Yl
~'l-JLPl" wr:L"i1 llt.J'Hfi'H ci. f'nn1~ racontan t la decouverte de la pierre
"
!.-'
par le futur roi Maha Mongkut.
d'une triple decouverte, savoll' :
lLYl,'H
1-1~~)
Dans ce passage, il est quPstion
1) un e dall e de pierre (lLYl''H
~'(11
s ur bquelle la croyan ce populaire pnSte ndait qu'il etait im-
prudent. de s'u.sseo it· ; 2) nn e st ele en caracte res khm e 1·s
"i1~n ti m~r
L']l-J 1
L~l
(L~1 ,3'~1
IS1) qui est !'insc ription bien connue de Pral).
Bat Kam!'<i.teng .A n S urya vat!1p, alias Phya Lu'dai; 3 ) une stele en
caractEH'es thai:s ( (in~n t:J""m tr
lm.J
!'inscription de Hama Kha mheng.
llJnru.
a l'heUL·e actuell e au
J
que dan s le livre LHJ-l LYl tlf"J
tA
avant S on av enement,
"':l1Pl11
~'H"
tJ....'H
SA
qui n'esb autre que
~~1=']m1 ~'H)
'
nH~p re ndre
que tout le
\
Vat Phra: Keo c1e Bangkok , et
..&
Ll-Jt:J~
"1)
11 est impossible de se
sur Ia nature de Ia dall e de pierre (LLYl'H
monde peut voir
L~1
I
wr: jrJ~ qu 'Ell e ecrivit en 1907
I
MAJES'l'E decrit
h'-' LlJ 'I-! l.Jr:lt~-n{ Yl~
tres
heureusement
LlJ'I-! 1iHl-l1f"'i{ Yl~ LlJ"H
r1~u~o
'
t'l-ln VJ tltm rJl r1-nmr .
En resum e, ce passag e a probablem ent un e tout autre signification que celle que M. Bradley a C I'U pouvoir y trouver, et on ne peut
en cleduit·e qu e b 8tele fut taill ee et comacree en 1214 <;aha=1292
( 19 )
A. D. Par suite, les objections de M. Pelliot aggravees de celles de M.
Finot reprennent toute leur force, et il est a peu pres cert.ain que
!'inscription a ete burinee au moins six pl~ts trois ans apres Je commencement des travaux execute~ a Sajjanalaya, dont il est question A
Ia 1. 106.
Tons les editeurs de l'insc1·iption ont admis que ces trava11x ont
commence en 1209 c;::tlm= 1~87 A. D. Mais voici que .M. Finot vient
nous dire que tout le monde s'est trompe et que le texte porte
en realite 120-7! "Dans ce qui precede, dit-il, j'ai admis avec
tous les interpretes dE:' \'inscription que la date initiale du calcul
etait 1209 c;ako.. II est pout·tant interessant d'observer,-ce que
personne encore n'a fait, a ma connaissance-que le derniet· chifft·e
n'est pas 9, mais 7; seulement le synchronisme de l'annee du Pore ne
convient pas a 1207, et, c'est apparemment cette discordance qui a·suggere au P. Schmitt une correction tacite, que toutle monde a acceptE~e
apres lui." (B. E. F. E.-0., XVII, 5, p. 11 note)· L'ubservation de
M. Finot est rigoureusement exacte et le texte p01·te sans doute pos,!,J
sible: <JJillo~ ~n lJ
une annee
rnl
nr.
,
Seulement, 1207 IHl fut pa~ une annee
nr
,
mais
11 faut clone de tou(,e fac;on introcluire une correction,
~
et lire soit ti)illod ~n lJ
rm
,!,J
"1207 aiJIH~e clu Ooq," soit SJillo.:l ~n lJ
~ 1 " 1209 :mnee du Pore." En theorie, il semblerait plus
de coniger un simple chifft·e que de changer
nr
,
en
rn1.
legitime
Mais dans
]e cas present, conime Ia faute est presque certainement imputable au
lapicide, il s'agit de recherchet· lequel, du chifft·e ou du nom, il lui
etait le plus facile de confondre et de transcrire inexactement..
Or GJ 7
et ~ 9 diffet·ent considerablement, tandis que, etant donne le systeme
d'ecriture de Rama Khamheng, !(b'l
,r)
Q(ilj ( tl
(rm)
peut facilement devenir
pour peu que le texte copie par le lapicide ait ete ecrit
negligemment.
La "COI'l'ection tacite" dn P. Schmitt ne s'impose
done pas a vee la force de !'evidence, et Ia date 1207 <;aka= 1 285 A.D.
a au moins aut:mt de titres
A, D. qqi
a
a Bte adoptee jusqu'ici.
faire valoir que cella de 1209= 1287
( 20 )
Au cas ou cette annea 1207 yaka serait la vet·itable date du
commencement des travn.ux de Sajjn.nalaya, et eu tenant compte des
observa.tions de MM. Pellio~ et Finot. qui ont sans cloute raison de considerer Ia construction du cetiya ( 6 ans) et celle de !'enceinte (3 ans)
comme consecntives, qu elle est ln. date Ia plus haute a laquelle puisse
remonter !'inscription de Rama Kbamheng?....,..1207+6+3=1216 9aka
( 1294, A.D.), va-t-on me repondre.-Sans doute, si les Siamois comptaient comme n on s. Mais qnand les Siamois, et les Indochinois en
general, veulent supputer le nombre <l'amH~ es qui s'est ecoule entre
deux evEmements, ils comptent pour une unite l'annee ou . s'est passe le
premier evenement (meme s'il a eu lieu vet'S Ia fin de l'annee) et pour
une unite l'annee ou s'est pass~ le second ( meme s'il a eu lieu au debut
de l'annee). Que Ct> tte maniere de cornptet• ait ete en usage Sukhodaya. aux XIIIm e-XIVm e siecles, c'est ce qni ressort clairement des
calculs exposes dan s !'inscription de Nagam Jnm.l Done, aupposant
les travaux commences en 1207 ytka, Ia construction du catiya ayant
dme 6 ans, nons compterons: 1207 un, 1208 deux, 1209 trois, 1210
quatt·e, 1211 cinq, 1212 six. La construction du cetiva fut done terminee en 1212 9aka (1290 A.D.). Si Ia construction de !'enceinte fut
entreprise imm ed iatenwnt apres, dans lt1 courant de cette nH~me ama~e
a
1212 yaka, les 3 lmS que dura ce tral·ail nons mene nt de Ia m~me
maniere en J214 9aka, pui squ e : 1212 un, 1218 deux, 1214 trois .2
C'est ain si qni cctte in sc ripti on compte 139 nns entre l'nnnee dn Lievre (1141 ~·aka) et l'annee 1219, ct compte 99 ans enf.re cette annee 127!! et
!'an nee dn Pore ( 1377 t;~aka). Cettc mnniere clt~ compter est, je le reconuai~.
cleconcertante, mn.is ce n'est pas un e raison ponr dire comme M. Finot qne "le
roi Surynvf!lga qni se ta rgne d'etrc nn savant ehronologiste fournit des dates
qui ju~tifi e nt assez mal ses pn!tentions, ea r il n'en est pas nne qui ne soit entachee de qnelqu e in exac titude" (B. E. F. E -0 .. XVT, 3, p. 25). Il soffit
d'avoir vecn tant soit pen en co ntnct avec des Indochin ois pour savoir qne
cette f:1gon de compter est Ia. seule employe" par enx, et qn'nn enfant ne dnns
les derniers mois de l'ann ee du Chien a deja trois ans daur les pr e mier~ mois
de l'ann ee du Pore, (parce qn e : Chien l, Coq 2, Pore 3. ) alm·s qu'en rea!ite
il n'a pas plus de 14 ou 15 mois. II ne sert a rien de dire que cette fagon de
de comp t.er est ahsurde. II snffit qn'elle soit la seule en usage an pays dont
nons etndi ons l:t chronolgie, pour qne nons ~oyons obliges d' en tenir com pte,
et de faire abstrnction de nos methodes pour raisonner d'apn?.s elle.
2 Sans compter qne le pnnegyriste devait avoir tendance a pr·endre
d es frng ments d'annee pour des annees entieres, car comme le dit jnstement
M. Fin ot, "le temps consacre a l'arhe vement de l'oetlvre est un e donnee propre
a en rehan sser Ia valeur et Jc rnerite, "
( 21 )
Nous voici done a nouveau en faca de cette date 1214 yalm=1292
A. D . que M. Pdliot avait combattue, que. j'avais neanmoins adoptee
a Ia suite dt~ M. Bradley, et contra laquelle M. Finot vient a son tour
de se p!'ononcer. Cette date t'<c'Ste naturallement hypothetique, puisque
le point de depart des calculs est douteux (1207 ou 120.9). Mais
s'il est vrai que le misonnement de M. Bradley soit insuffisant. pour
pouvoir datar l'insct·iption de 1292 A. D·, il est justa de reconnaitre
que les objections de MM Pelliot et Finot sont egalement insuffisantes
pour faire r~jet.er cette meme date, et il est assez amusant de constater
que c'est M. Finot lui-m~me qui vient, avec sa iecture rectifiee 1207,
fournir un nouvel argument en faveur de Ia date qu'il combat.
Qu'on ne m'accuse pas de raffiner et de vouloir chercher de
manvais pretextes pour reha.bili ter une date que j'ai adoptee autrefois:
elle garde, je le repete, un caractere hypotMtique. Mais si je continue
a Ia considerer comme probable, c'est qu'elle a !'a vantage, ainsi qu'on va
le voir, de nons faire entrevoir !'objet meme de !'inscription de Bama
Khamheng.
II est sam example qu'une insct·iption n'ait pas ete gra.vee a
!'occasion d'un evenement determine. Je ne crois pas qu'on 'puisse
dans l'anciennb epigl'aphie indochinoise, khmere, chame ou autre, citer
une seule pra<;asti (panegyrique) cnmposee uniqnement pout· perpetuer
sur Ia pierre les vet·tus ou les ha.uts faits du roi regnant, et, en fait
toutes les inscriptions tha'ies connu es commemorent quelque fondation
religieuse ou quelque cet·emonie. Ot1, si l'on admet avec M. Finot
que "Ia stele ne fu~ gra,·ee qu't~n ,1 296 au plus tOt, et peut-etre meme
quelques annees aprfls," !'inscription ne se rapporte plus a aucun
evenement precis. Que si au contt-aire Ia stele elate de 1214 9~ka
( 1292 A. D.), il est a peu pre :> CE'Il'tain qu'elle a pour objet fie commemorer' !'inauguration du Trone de piene ~tl ~ H ('l11J1111r au pres
duquel, ainsi que je l'ai indique plus haut, elle se tt·ouvait pla.cee
( arnlJn
lrJ 'vlff).
Mais, dira-t-on, !'installation de cette dalle de pierre, meme si
elle devait eervir de tr~ne royal, etait-elle done si importante qu'elle
justifid.t une p:1.reille inscription ? Sans doute, cette fonda.tion ne t•epresente pas un g1·os t1·avail matei·iel, mais elle avait une signification momle que les editeqrs ne semblent pas avoir reconnue, et
( 22 )
qui ressort cependant asst>z nettement des termes memes de ]'inscription. Voici ce que dit le texte:
'.II) fl1T "'~'ll.!. ~,.&~ l:-1
'll.:l.:l,!.
98
HtnlJ1m ~rmm ~fJ..,A~..,'Il ,!.(Ill.:! ;).:!.:!~mtJ m'll (l~)
w,..U'Il wr~(n)l.JI'ill~.:l
~
,
l['ln w' '11'\l ,!.Hr "''llYln
. AYlPltJ Lll
( 'll )..n'll (1)/\l.Jtl-l ,!.HH~~~'Il(l.l1~)1['1
,
100
(ll)'t't lYl .d'.Ll.Jtl-l 1Pl.., ~m ;1(. ... .. )~Y1
n
~mog) ~n All,nr
,
1ri" '.llfl
,~l'.II~Yl m-l l.J1 mrJ 't't1fJ
~1fJ
~1fl 'lltl.:l l.J1
(Lm)illr:1111'1, mm Yl.:l.:l~mtJ
~
tJ
tltl
Le P. Schmitt conpait Ia phrasl3 apres Ll-1\l ( 1.97) et a pres
l.J1 tltln ( 1.100), et trndnisait:
"La pierre qui sert ici dt'l trone est
appelee Mananga-9ila miit ra ; on l'a fait en pierre pour etre remarque
par tout le monde. Fils du roi f'ri Indraditya, le prince Rama-
'
Khomheug l'Oi de yri Sa,ijanalaya-Sul<hodaya,
fit reunir tousles sujets
de son royaume; les Makaos, les Laos, les Thais, tant ceux qui habitent
les rives des coUI·s d'eau que ceux qui habitent Ia brousse. En 1209,
(lire 1207) calm, annee cyclique du cochon, il fit deterrer toutes les
reliques ... . "
.
tion commen9ant par ill '.II 'll
M. Bradley coupe la phrase autrem eot.
,
'WT~
r.
Il considere Ia proposi-
n. com me un complement dn verbe
L;-1\l, et voici comment il traduit: "This stone slab nari1ed Manang Sila
Batt·a is set here that all may see (that) Prince Khun Phra Ram
Khamhaeug, son of Prince Khun Si lnt.humth!t, is lord in this realm
of Si Sachtlnalai-Sl'1khotai, alike ovet· Ma, K ao, L~o, and Thai of
regions undet· the firmament of heaven, ... 'rhai dwelling on the U,
dwelling on the Khong. When was reached 1209 ( lit·e 1207) of the
era, year of the Hog, he had the ~acred relics exhumed .... "
M. Bradley a certainement eu raison de reunir, comme il l'a
fait, les deux pt·opositions en une seule, car dit·e simplement que" cette
piel'l'e a ete placee iei pour qu'on la voie" eat a pea pres denue de
sens.
/
Seulement, son in terpretation de l.J1 f.)tJn cornme une formule
( 23 )
introduisant la date 1209 (lire 1207) est tout
a fait
impossible: ce
n'est pas nne raison parce que les inscriptions emploient de.s expt·ession;; souvent obscut·es, pout· leur preter de p:neilles fayotts de
s' exprimer.
Quand les
mille~im es
8ont precedes cl'utte conjottct.ion,
a",
c'est toujout·s d'un mot signifbttt "jusqu'a, al'l'ive
mais dans
l'ittscription de Rama Khamheng les deux autres dates sont donnees
ex abrnpto, sans aucutte formule d'introrlction.
qu'au lieu de commencer la phmse relative anx
II en resulte done
reliqut~s,
les mots
]..J1 tltln terminent la phrase precedeute, et que le texte doit
traduire:
Sf'
" Cette dalle de pierre s'appelle Manang Cilapii.tra,
et elle
,
a ete placee ici ajin que to·us 1missent voi1·le roi Phra: Hama Khamhettg,
fils du roi
Qri
Indraditya, etc., etc.,l s01·ti1·." Applique au roi, ce mot.
tltln "sortir" a presque un seus technique: il designe !'action de sortir
des appartements prives pour venir traiter, en un lieu convenable, des
affait·es publiques.
On retrouve ce mot dans taus les preambules des
anciennes lois, generalement ainsi conc,:us:
d
!..-
1
d
._,
M.m.J""'~~
, , M""'nn~ ...... wr:lJlVl
,J :v
!,..1
1./
~'l-Ml~ ... .. wr~L~1 tltl V1f'J ...... L~~~ tltlfl ru wr~mH ...... WHJ]..J flf'Jtl
II
, " etc.
wr~lJj]..Jf'J.:J:lf l UI'J.:JH
C'est encore ce meme mot qui est venu
tout naturellement sous Ia plume de SA. M.A.JES'l'E, ainsi qu'on l'a
vu plus haut, justement
a
propos de ce 'rrone de pierre : Ll.lU
Cette interpretation cadt·e d'ailleurs tres bien avec ce que !'on
sait deja de ce Tr6ne, puisque, a Ia. l.87, 1' inscription nous a djt que
les jouri! autres que les joUt'S d'u posatha, I~ roi s'y o.ssied et y traite des
affaires du gouvernement.
L'installation de ce 'rrone de pi erre d'ou le roi Riima Khamheng
!;::: .
&
se montrait a tous ses sujets ( tl.:J'VH11tl ' LVI\L .l.Jl tltlfl
)
etait done un
1 La t.mduction que M . .Bradley a don nee des titres de Tiii.ma Klunuheng
est parfaite, et je ne Ia reproduis pas.
24
ev~mement
assez t•emarquabie pour justifier \me inscription COfilllH~mo­
rativel, surtout si l'hypothe ;e que j'ai formule:J plus haut est juste,
et que cette fondation ait coi:ncide avec l'achevement des travaux de
Saijanalaya, qui fut·ent sans doute, et en tous cas resb~rent aux
yeux de la poaterite, Ia grande oeuvre de son regne2. N otons
enfin que cette meme ann~e 1214 yaka=l292 A. D. fut Ia premiere
annee
le royaurne de Sukhodaya entra en relations directea avec
la Cour de Chineii, et qne cet acte par leqnel Rii.ma Khamheng
s'affirmait l'exterieur n'est peut-ett·e pas sans correlation avec !'installation clu Trone de piene, par lequel il s'aflhmait l'inte1·ieur de son
propre royaume.
ou
a
a
On voit n.iusi qu'1l y a toutes sot'tes de bonnes raisons pour
considerer la fondation du Trone de pierre en 12U2 A. D. commo
l'evenement que !'inscription a pour but de commemot·er. Oette interpretn.tion au mit, par surcroit, l'avant.age d'expliquer l'ot•dt·e dans lequel
se succedent les dates du texte: 1214, 1~07, 1205. Si !'inscription
est un simple panegyrique glorifiant les grandes actions de Rii.ma
Khamheng, on ne voit pas pour quelle raison Ia date Ia plus n~cente
est donnee la premiere, et Ia date Ia plus ancienne la derniere: c'est
!'inverse qu'on atteudmit. Mais si l'objet de !'inscription est la
fondation dn trone en 1214 yaka=1292 A. D., l'ordre des diverses
elates s'expliq11e aiaem ant. Aprea avoir fait l'eloge du roi et celui
de la c:J.pitale, l'.mteur de !'inscription rebte la fondation du trone en
1214 \nka; ensuite il rappelle Ia construction du g•·and ce~iya de Sajjanabya dont la mantion devait naturellement venit· apres celle des
1 Et peut-etre meme plusieurs, car comme je l'ai indique plus haut,
il se pent que les trois in scription s mention nee:; aux !ignes 92 et suivantes
aient en preeisement le meme objet.
2 Une in scription inedite de Sukhodaya qui fait l'historiqne de Ia
dynastie dit a propos de Ram a K hamh eng :
an
:II
~~~~f...'~~
I
f./
I
illtl '.ll'H ~:r tl'HYI!1Vl~U t.l VI'H~ 'nTI illTI '.ll'H r1l--lr1'n .. .(lacune) ...
1i!rl-l
,
:II
'
,
rltl ¥l!~~rHHl'HlJVI1'1il~, tl,__'H VI~~ 1u ~T~'n'H1l't'l.
r:II
3 "La 29m e annce tche-yu an (1292), le lOme mois, au jour kia-tch'en
le ~iuan-wei-sseu de Ia region dn Konan g-tong (Canton) envoya qnelqu'un,
apporter 1t la capita!P. la missive d'or presenteH par le mail.rc dtl royauwe de
Sien."-Yuan-ch e ci te in B E. F. E.-0, vol IV p . , 242.
II y a dans les ann ales chinoises des m11ntion s clu Sien plus an ciennes,
mais celle-ci est Ia premiere qui parle d'nne demarche du roi de Sukhodaya.
25
a
travaux executes
Sukh:ldaya meme; enfi.n, ~ une sorte de clausuJ ,)
finale, il ~xpligue !'existence me me de !'inscription, en rappelant qu'
autrefois ces caracteres n'existaient pas, et que !'invention en est due
au roi en 120f' c;akal.
En definitive, cette longue discussion a nus en lumiet·e
points suivants:
le::~
En 1214 c;aka=1292 A. D., le roi Rama Khamheng fit installer
a Sukhodaya, dans le Bois des Palmiers, un trone de pierre SUI' lequel
les jours d'uposatha. les theras venaient reciter le Dhamma, et sur
lequel les autres joUt'S, le roi expediait les affaires publiqnes et se
montrait a ses sujets. La stele se trouvait au pres de lui, et it y a fi e
grandes chances qu'elle ait eu pour but de commemorer cette fondation. Sur ce dernier point une certaine incertitude resulte dn fait
que la date a laquelle fut ent reprise Ia construction du cetiya c1 e
Sa.jjanalaya est incertaine. Si des decouvertes ulterieures veuaient
a prouver qae cette date est 1207 c;aka= 1285 A. D., je crois qu'on
pourrait considerer comme cet'tain que !'inscription de Hama Khalllheng date de 1214 c;~ka=l292 A. D., eta puur objet de relater la COllstruction du trone de pierre. Cette derniet·e hypothese eEt d'aill'eur.;;
si satisfaisante que, meme si Ia date litigieuse etait 1209 c;aka= 1287
it y aurait avantage a supposer que !'inscription a etll gravee deux
ou trois ans apre:l !'installation du trone qu'elle a pour objet cl. e
commemorer.
Ll. 107-108:
(1) Je dis "clausule finale' ', bien que le t ex:te compte encore apres I ·~
passage relatif a l'ticriture 16 !.! consa c n~ e;: a l'eloge dn roi et donnant le.•
limites de son royaume. II e:>t 111auifeste, e n effet, que lc text c ~ · arre tait;
.;1.
..., !;::
'1/f"'
primitivement apres les mots LYHJ "11 'H tJ 'H '\.l ~ Lf'J, et que tout. <'e que vi eut,
,
ll
ensuite fut grave apres coup. Cctte portion tln texte eo t ee rite d'un e ee ritm.·
beaucoup plus grele qui trahit une main ditfe rent.c. Et snrt.o nt. Ia dipht o ngn ·~
1
..&
n'a, au lieu d'etre ecrite
..&
L-tl aYl'C
.!.
tion y est ecrite
posterieure.
u' enmme dans tout le re~tf' de i' inscl'ip-
.!.
L-tl avec
i, ortliograplt e <11li lrahit uu e epO<}IIe il eltt'lll l! ll L
26
Les caracteres db la 1. 108, que M. Bradley a laisses en blanc,
1
. Ill,_,
'
se Iaissent aseez aisement lire fi Lt'J ¥l, le dernier mot W commen-;ant
Ia phrase suivante. M. Bradley n. d'ailleurs tres exactement devine le
seus de Ia lacune, et sa traduction " And so there are these strokes of
Siamese writing because that prince (put them to use)" peut etre
integralement conservee, en supprimant les parentheses.
Ll. 108-109:
,_,
,
~U¥J1:l'1l.JfllL'i-1.:!
LlJU Vl';t'J Lll\! \!JHJ)1
11
fl1
un tVJ
Vl~'V\(m.J
\! \!\! '111
'111 Lll\!
tl1~1HI
'l'hat Khan Phdl. Ham Khamhaeng sought to be ruler and
lm·d unto all the Tba'i ;-sought to be preceptor and instructor ... "
A en juger par d'antres exemples, le mot 'V\1 dans .}'expression
'V\1 LlJU a simplement le sens affirmatif.
Ce n'est pas
a
proprement"
parler le verbe "chercher ", mais cette particule qui figure dans les
expressions actuelles 'V\1
11-l', 'VI1 iJ 1;
C'est ainsi qu'a la 1. 120 l'ex-
,
pression ~).JVJj 'V\1 Lll\! lL~U signifie simplement "!'ocean comme frontiere", "t.he ocean for boundary", et que dans !'inscription de Nagara
.lum (2rne face, 1. 19 a 22) !'enumeration des diver·s chefs de province
dn royaume est enoncee de la maniere suivante :
LJ. 111-112:
La vmie lecture est celle du P. Schmitt: ~ t'Jtl 'VIt'1t'Jnn. Le mot
'VI~t'Jn
qui figure deja ala I. 65 a ete discute plus haut.
];, 113:
'VI1 flU
~nn L~).JtJ ~ l:J, 1~,_, tl1~
llr111
27
"'rhere cannot be found a man to equal hiru - able to subdue,
etc."
n semble C[U'il
""'I'J'-'
vaille mieux couper Ia phrase aprlls l-.1 LPl : apres
:..voir tlit que Rarna Khamheng n'a pas son pareil, !'auteur aborde un
nouveau ;mjet et enurn?n·e ses conquetes . tl1~ a sans doute sirnplement
la valeur clu passe.
j.J.
116-11 7 :
" Sont,hwarcl. he won the men of Phra Bang, Plu·aek ".
r!.
1'1'\.!Vl
Gand1 est nn nom de pays qui se trouve aussi dans
l'imcript,ion cle Nagara Jum (2me face, l. 19).
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN BURMA
AND SIAM.
As recorded m Hmannan Yazawindawgyi.
Tlw follU\ving is a t·ontimwtinn of the translation by
Luang l'ltraison :)alarak (Thien Mnbindu) of t he history
of the inte n :on rse hvt.\H~eii ~iam aml Bumw., a:; giYen in
the l{mannan Yaz;n\·iiHl:mgyi of thr B ; mne~Se.
Yious instalment mts g iY cn in Volume X I, Part~-
The pre-
CONTENTS.
Page.
I.-Introduction
Chinese Invasions of Burma and Burmese Invasion of
Siam, to the death of King Sinbyushin
Sir Arthm P. Phayre's account of the same
!I.-Introduction
1
2
20
36
The Reigns of Singu Min and .ft'Iaung )bung, and the
recall of the Burmese forces from Siam
31)
Sir Arthnr P. Phayre's account of the sam.;
·Hi
CORRIGENDA.
.....
Page 16, footnote 20--for
1ff)~tl~t'J~
read
1!1t'Jtl~1:
Page 21, footnote 1--for Kainghun, rearl Kyainghun.
I.
INTRODUCTION .
.A.bonL two or three year,; after the capture of .A.yudhya, the
Bul'!ne~e forces were kept very busy in repelling the invasion of the
Chinese. The trouble with th e Chinese arose about, two years before
the fall of the Siamese capital, out of some misunderstanding between
Chinese met·chants and l3urmese offici::d s in the toiYn s on the trade
route between Uhina and Bnl'lua. According to Hmannan history
the Chinese invaded Burma fom times, suffering a defeat every time.
Having t.o utilil'-e all t.he availabl e forces agan st, the Chinese, King
Sinbymshin conld not pu,;;;ibly attend to affairs in Siam, although he
must hMe been aware of the efforts tl~:~t were being made in the n ewly
conquered territory, to set up a new dyuast.y and throw off his nominal sway. Perhaps it was his iuten t ion to treat Siam as a conquered
province with a viceroy or a go1·emor in charge; at least, his order to
r&ze the city to the ground and to bring away the King and the royal
family to Ava, gave colour to the supposit.ion that such was his
intention. But 01"ing to the pressure of the Chinese, he was
unable to carry it out; because to have govE'rned a country
like Siam as a couquered proviuce, would have required the
assistance of a large milita1·y furce to maintain th e authority
of the civil administration. Just abont the time of the fall of
Ayudhya, the King of Bmma could neither spare any of his forces,
nor think out a scheme for t he civil ad miuistration of the conquered territot·y, which would snit the local conditions and the traditions of the country, and be acceptable to an alien people. But there
can be no doubt that Burma could not pm:sibly have held Siam as a
territorial accession, fot· the reason that, th e Siamese loved t heir ind ependence too dearly to submit to a foreign yok e light-heartedly, and
the Burmese were too inefficient to govem a foreign country equitably
and well. Although the Burmese system of administration was
irreproachable in principle, it invariably became , in practice, a handle
fat· oppression, in the hands of not over scrupulous provincial governors, who were responsible only t o the central authority in the capital,
which consisted of the King and his council. The control of this
central authot·it.y varied in the inverse ratio to the distance of the province ft·om the capital ; and as Ayudhya was the farthest province, this
control wou ld be the least, and the viceroy or governor would be able
2
to do what he liked, undeterred by any feat·, except perhaps by that
of b ,~ iug re call ed too soon. 'l'lte events narmtecl in this aud the subsequeut p:tpet·s clearly show Lhe impo s~ ibilit.y of holdiug Siam in
subj~ct.ion to Burma. Moreover, the siege and the eventual capture of
.Ayudhya may be regarded as markiug the period at. wl1ich Burma
reached its zenith of military power and political influence; it DJaintaiued this height fo1· about a third of a century, after which it
gt·adually declined, and as the result of a short-sighted, arrogant,
and uncompromising fu t·eign policy, province after pl'Ovince was
wrested away, till the remnant of the Burmeee l<ingdom was finally
absorbed in the British lmli:\n Empire towards the close of .A.. D. 1885.
As rt>gnrds Siam, the fall of .A.yudhya was a uotable event iudicating
the period of the lowest depth of political decadence and military
inefficiency into which it had gmdually drifted, since the clo,e of
the glorious days of the famous King Pra Naresuau. Siam, on the
other hand, did not remain low fur long, but steadily rose in power,
especially aftet· the accession to the tht·one of the fhst King of the
presen t dynasty , and by dint of prowess in arms in the eal'lier
periocls, and hy the adoption of a brt•ad-miuded and far-sighted policy
in diplomacy iu later periods, it has been able to maintain its independence up to the pl'eseut day.
THE TRANSLATION.
Tile Chi11ese invasion of Burma must have had some disturbing
effect on the provinces of the. "Twelve Panas," t.he country of the
"Lu" people and the CO IHlu erecl territory of )i;inme. The disturbance
in these pl'ovinces, espec ially in the formel' which was on the Chinese
border, must also hav e been serions, because King Sinbyushin thought
it n ecessat·y to despatch a force of twenty regiments consisting of 200
elephant.s, 2,000 horse, and 20,000 men under the command of
Wuugyi Maha 'l'hihathura, in Thaclingyut 1128 (October, A.D. 1766.)
This was only a few month s aft.er the retum of the Burmese forces
from the Chinese frontier, \Yhere they had successfully repelled the
first Chinese invasion. Nothing is m'entioued about the exploits of
this force in the provinces to which they ~\·ere ordered to go; the
next mention of it is of its having marchei! through the "Lu" country
of the "Twelve Pa1'Jns" and of its co-operating with some other Burmese forces in a fight against 50,000 Ch in ese, at a place called
Taung.gyi to the north-east of Theinni. This Chinese force was the
3
remnant of an army of 250,000 men and 25,000 horse , which invaded
Bumw. the second time; it was defeated and com pell ed to make a hast.y
retreat back to Chinese t enitory . As this seco nd Chinese invasion
took place in Pyatho 1128 (.January, A .D. 1767 ), that is, only three
months after th e ex ped ition against I he "Tll'elve Panas'' and Zimne
had left the capital, it was ve ry likely that that expedition was
countermanded, and the (•xpeditionary force ordered to veer round and
pt·oceed direc t to wh ere the other Burmese forces were fighting against
the Chinese. It mig ht have r eached th e " Lu'" co n11try, but. it
could not possibly hav e clone anything t here. The fact that the
Hmannan history is entirely silei1t of what it did therR, is siguificant
and suppOJ-t.s the l;,Uppositi on made above. This ex peditionary force ,
togethe1· with the other Burmese forces wi th which it eo-operated,
returned and reach ed th e capital on .Monday the 9th of waning Ka~on
1129 (May, A. D. 1767).
In Nadaw 1129 (December, A. . D. 17 67 ), the Chinese again
invaded Burma the third time, with an army sa id to contain 600,000
men and 60,000 horse, under two ge n e ral ~, ent erin g Burma by way of
Theinni ,l which they captmed and occupied. Half th e army 'with
one of the g enerals in co mm and marched towards the Burmese capital
via Thibaw, ch·iving the Burmese forces before th em, fat· the Bu rmese
we1'e> unable to make a stand against the overwhelming numbers of
the Chines<', who penet.rated to \\'ithin two ot· three marr.hes of the
capital. The Burmese, unable to fight the main army, adopted th e
tactics of attacking the lin es of communication and the co lumns
convoying transport of fo od., provisions, a11cl munitions, of seizing the
supplies on the way , aml stoppi11g furt.her supplies from reaching the
main army in front; and so ~ u ceesfully did tlwy do this, that the
diff,H·ent Chin ese divi sions soon found themselves cut off from th eit·
bas es and ft·om on e another and without food and provi sions. Simply
by these tactics the Burmese compelled the Chin ese army to retreat,
and in the end were successful i n clriving th eir enemies back 11gain to
tht>it· territory . The disadvnnt:1ge of having a hugt> attacking army
with weak forc t>s on the lin es <•f c,• mmuni cation was mad e apparent
in this thi1·d invasion of Bnrma by !h e Chinese.
1
fl'rljJ:
~
""
<'
W'J.JW
11~W·Ul'1'Hl1rL~'J.J
w. M llll<i~c;;J
'
'li1
0101·
.,.,
~1 ~'o
IH'I
~11rrmr 111'J 'fl~'J:
'UlJ._U
4
)
Just over n. year after the close of the third Chinese invasion,
the King of Linzin whose cn.pital was at Sandapuri presented his
daughter to King Sinbyushin, in acknowledgement of the suzerainty
of Burma. 2 Alol1{5 with the princess, were sent 500 elephants :md
various other presents. She was accompanied by her brother, uncles,
and nobles. To welcome her and her entourage, His Burman Majesty
sent up the Dotta\\ adi river, to a place called N yaung-ni-bin-seik,
several royal barge~ , one of which, gilded at the prnw and stern, was
for the use of the p1·incess, and of the rest, some were fm· carrying
the presents and some others fot· the use of the Linzin nobles.
These barges were towed by a la1·ge number of smaller boats p1·opelled
by men with paddles. The party of welcome consisted of high
Burmese officials ani! ladies of the cou rt, who were adepts in the art
of the toilet, dress, and decoration. The whole party Ianden from the
barges on the bank of th.e Myitgne, not VE>ry far from the city, where
spacious temporary buildings had been erected for their reception,
and a halt of three days was made there . While staying at this
halting place, the Burmese nobles and their wives were pt·esented
to the pt·incess. Thence she was conveyed to the palace in a gilt
palanquin, with great ceremony, ente rin g the city wall by the Mottama
gato on its eastern face, and passing through the principal streets of
the city.
On the 9th of waning Wagaung 1131 (August, A.D. 1769),
the Linzin princess was formally presented to His Burman Majesty,
together with the 500 elephants and other presents sent by her father.
She was given the title of Papn.wadi, honoured with the rank of a
queen, and accommodated in a separate resiclconce for herself. She
enjoyed much of the royal favour and was very frequently in attendance on His Majesty.
In the same yeat· the Chinese invaded Burma, the fourth time,
with an army alleged to contain 50,000 horse and 500,000 men.
To repel this invasion His Majesty of Burma sent a force of 100
elephants, 1,200 horse and 12,000 men by land undet· the command
of ..A.myauk Wuu Nemyo Thihathura, marching along the west bank
of the Eyawadi river (Irrawarly); n.nd a force of GO,OOO men by water
2
~ W1~11~W.:!Hl"m1r
~
L('l'l-J rn
~1
Wl-JW '1\J.r'i. lm<ilid 'fl1 ~lm f11tl 'fl11~1~J.
.Q
"
'
rn<i Ll('l
f'1'11~'-' mr ~1'1 t.l~t'J! fllJ..U
(
5
)
under the command of Wungyi Maha. Thihathura, who was also the
commander-iu-chief of the whole expedition. Two regiments under the
Sa.wbwa. of Momeik and Kyawliin Yaza were sent along the east bank
of Eyawadi; their strength is 110t mentioned, but it could not have
been more than 200 horse and 2,000 men. The several incidents of
the fighting both by land and by water, as well as the siege fighting,
are given in great detail in the Hmannan history, and the Burmese
1u·e credited with having defeated the Chinese in every encounter
against overwhelming odds. The Chinese wet·e at last compelled to
sue fot· peace, and Wungyi Maha 'l'hihathura, apparently against the
thEI wishes of his principal officers, and evidently without any authority
from his Sover·eign, granted the request of the Chinese generals and
concluded peace, taking the whole responsibility on himself. At a.
conference held on Wednesday the 15th of waxing Nadaw 1131
(December, A. D. 1769 ), between the Burmese and Chinese generals
and cfficers, the treaty of peace was signed,3 and five days later, the
whole of the Chinese forces lt·ft Burma, being escorted to the frontier
by some of the Burmese forces, who followed about a cannon shot
behind the rear of the Chinese.
Information of the conclusion of peace together with presents
of hats, fans, knives, and various kinds of cloths given by the Chinese,
was sent to the capital by Wungyi Maha Thihathura, in the charge
of Yannguthiri Nawrata. On receipt of the information His Majesty
was very angry with his generals and officers, saying that they had,
after accepting presents offered by t.he enemy, practically let the whole
Chinese army consisting of 50,000 horse and 500,000 men escape
into Chinese territory, when it was well within their power to capture
them all and bring them to the capital as prisoners of war. He
commanded that the presents brought in should not be taken into the
royal treasury, and that the ·wives of all the generals and officers
concerned should be made to carry them on the head and exposed to
the view of the public at the western gate of the city. This royal
command was canied out to the very letter, no exception being
made even of the wife of Wungyi Maha Thihathura, who was the chief
3
L;~
Pl
:II
WT~1111W.:IH1rJP11Y
t!
~l:JlJWl-IW W·
Lal-1
f
f'l.
lll<i<!..J 'H1 ~ill·
m
~1
c!'o LLO l!gj LLan11i n1T111"lfl~rJZ
6
queen's own eldet· siste1•. Fot three days the innocent wh·es were thus
ignominiously punished fm· the fault of their husbands.
In spite of what is re~orded in the Hmannan history, where
inct·edible feats of daring, prowess, and tactical ingenuity were a&cribed
to certain men, leaders, and attacking forces, it is very doubtful whether the Blll'mese army cou ld compel the surrender of the whole of the
Chinese forces and b1·ing them as captives of war to the capital, as
was so easily imagined by His Burman Majesty ; especially as,
according to the figures given in t.he history, the Chinese outnumbered
the Burmese to the extent of at least six to one. Judging impartially
the circumstances which led up to the conclusion of peace, namely,
the numerical superiority of the Chinese and t.he probabilities of the
results of the various encounters bPtween the opposing forces, apart
from what was recorded in the Burmese history, even though to the
advantage of the Burmese, it would appea1· that Wungyi Maha
l'hihathura showed great foresight and no orrlinary diplomatic skill in
getting peace concluded on terms most honourable and ilistinctly
advantageous to the Burmese.
Yannguthiri N awmta returned to camp with the sad news of
His Majesty':> anger and the punishment awarded to the wives of the
general:> and officers. .A.R long as this ange1· exi;;ted in His Majesty, it
probably meant no les s than death to Wungyi Maha. Thihathura and
his office1·s. Knowing this too wel l, they dared not return to the
capital for fear of meeting the worst, and they therefore deciderl to
march to Manipura, the Sawbwa of which had bs~n giving S9me
trouble, and, after subduing that recalcitrant Chief, to make their way
homewards. They hoped to appease their Sove1·eign's ange1· by success
in that direetion. Accordingly, on the 5th of waxing Pyatho 1131
(January, A. D. 1770), they started on this new expedition, and overcoming all re:::istance on the way, reached the capital of Manipura; but
aa usual with the Chief of this troublesome little State, he escaped
to the hills and fo1·ests. The BuJ·mt>se did not t,rouble to pursue him,
knowing full well that it wonld be futile to . do so. They returnerl
homewards bringing away with them a large quantity of boot.y and a
great many prisoners, including some of the Chief's family, and arrived
at the Burmese capital on the 12th of wr.ning Tabaung (March) of
the same year. They we1·e mistaken in their belief that they would
easily obtain pardon from their Sovereign. His Majesty was not at all
7 )
disposed to pardon them and he or·det•ed that all the generals and
officers should be deported out of his kingdom. Nominal effect had to
be given to His MajeRty's command by making Wungyi Maim Thihathur& and his officers stay in a field on the east bank of the :Myitnge
rif'er, thus separating them from the kntd on which the capital stood.
A
Maha Yazathingyan and Thiri Oktama Zt'yathingyan, two of the
ministers;tried to intercede· on behalf of the unfortunate officel's, by
saying that Wungyi }faha Thihathura and his officers had been consistEntly brave, courageous, and self-sacrificing in every encounter
with His Majesty's enemies; notJ11ing could be said in dispamgement
of their courage and self-sacrifice in. the expedition against the
Chinese, but having to attend to many engagements at diffflrent places,
they had, for once, shown a lamentable want of judgment, for which
they deserved a lenient treatment. His Majesty was not only obdurate,
but 01·dered that the two well-meaning nobles should be deported also
and made to join their eommftes for whom they had been bold enough
to intercede. It was not until a month afte1·, that all were pardoned
and allowtld to return to their homes.
In Tabodwe 1133 ( I!'ebruary, .A.D. 1772 ), there arri\·ed in
Ava the daughtel' of t.he Chief of Sanpa Pathet together with two
hundred elephants and various oth~>r presents, in the charge of the
Chiefs relatives and nobles, having been sent by the Chief as a token
of his submission to King Sinbynshin. A temporary rest house was
built neal' the Myitnge river where the guests were made to halt. Then
on the 5th of waxing 'l'abodwe, the pl'incess, together with the two
hundt·ed elephants and other presents, was conveyed to the capital
with the same ceremonial pomp as in the case of the welcome of the
Linzin princess from Sandapuri, and pt·esented to His Burman
Majesty.
About a mouth after the arrival of the princess from Sanpa
Pathet, the Kiug of Handapuri .s ent a report 4 to King Sinbyushin,
that not long after the capture and destruction of Yodaya, Paya.
Tet,.thin,. Govemor of Me Tet, collected an armed force, and having
built a city and palaeo at Ban-gauk, about two days' journey from the
4
""
<'
~:II wr~n~W~:'cl'1rJmna'l-J
0
'IUIW W.ri. lm<\li..l 'li1
S~m·
m
U1 ~'c
U.'t't
l'i11imr ~1rJ tl~rJ~1llJ....lJ
(
8
)
city of Yodaya and not far from the sea, established himself as King ;
and also that the other towns in northern Siam not only showed signs
of disquiet, but were openly aggressive towards Sandapuri. King Sinbyushin took immediate action and dispatched a force of twen ty-two
regiments under the command of Myinzugyi Wqn or Myiit Wun
Nemyo Thihapate consisting of 500 horse and 7,000 men, of whom
half were Kathes and half Burmese, with order::; to reqnisition the cooperation of all the govemot·s and Sawbwas on the east bank of the
Thanlwin rivet·, of the whole armed force of t.he tifty-seven provinces
which comprise the Kingdom of Zinme, and of the auxiliaries from
SandapUl'i. The combined army was then to march on to Y odaya.
This small force of Burmese and Kathes left; the capital on ~unday the
15th of waxing 'l'abaung 1134 (March, A.D. 1773).
The Governor of .Mottama, Miu-ye Min-hla-uzana, having died,
the Govemr.r of Pagan,l5 Mingyi Kamaui Sanda, was transferred to
the charge of Mottama, Myeik, and Dawe, and m·dered to marched to
Y odaya via Tayaik, there to co-operate with N em yo Thihapate in the
operations against the newly established King.
N em yo Thihapate and !tis small army made the necessary art•angements with the gov0mors and Sawbwas on the east bank of the
Thanlwin river and in Zinme territory, and marched on to Sandnpuri
to dispel, by a display of armed force, any signs of disaff~ction and
disloyalty. In this they were evidently successful, as peace and quiet
seemed to prevail everywhere on the approach of the Burmese.
Although the presence of a small Burmese army seemed to
have SUpprASsed feelingfl of disaffection ann disloyalty, the administration was not. at all run ning smoothly. A difference arose between
Thado Mindin, the Burmese Governor or Oommii'sioner of Zinme,
and the principal local officials, of whom Paya Sapan 6 was the chief,
regarding theit· respective powers and privileges. Paya Sapan, Paya
..!.
o
f
Ll-ltl-m.J1~~~l-J: fl1rJ1
"
......
I
,
''
I
!...-'
~
1.Jmrvv:~u LL1.Jtt'1rJ1Lf&l1Ll.J'El~nml.J.
~WT~
:tl
~
T1jf
'
iHI~l'1f'Jfnl'L('1l.J
'
'" \.11 'ocJ.
(
9
)
Thanlan, and Paya Tbinlon of Zinme together with Kawila,7 the native
Governor of Lagun , went over t o th e Burm ese capital to represent th e
matter to His Burman Majesty. Th ey obtain ed His Maj esty's orders
that they we1·e to enjoy nll t he p owers and privileges th ey had
formerly enjoyed acconling to local c tJ stom, and that Thada Mindin
should exercise his authority only in th e sam e way as other Burmese
provincial governors used tv exerci se aut,hority in accordance with
ancient custom. Appat'eut.ly this vague order witl1out any attempt at
defining pl'ecisely what were the powers and pl'ivileges of each
contending party, did not remo ve th t' ex istin g differences and friction,
nor did it prevent fr esh on es fl'om a t'isin g . On t.heir return to
Zinme, Paya Sapan sent hi s you11 g brother Ne-maung to present His Burman .Majes t.y's written ord er at th e court of th e Burmese
Governor. Tha<lo Miudin held that, Lri11 g a royal command from His
Majesty, it t~honld not have been prese nted by a dE>puty, and sent
messeng ers to call up c: n Paya Sapan to prese nt it in person. This
request the Zinmo noL)eman refused to comply with. Thada Mindin
was apparently df\termin ed to en fo rce co mplian ce, and accordin gly sent
an armed baud to compel Paya Sapan t o at tend his court in person.
The Lao nobl eman was equally rl ett<rmin ed in his refu sal, and in the
alterc!ltion r.nd fighting that en sued Ne-maun g was l,i!led; the Burmese
Governor's men also suffered in kill ed and wound ed and were obliged
to withtlmw. Paya Sapau sen t bi s family to some concealed place
of safety, himself went to San clapuri, aud h:iving explain ed fully to
Nemyo Thihapate what hall hap pened, remained with the Burmese
Army.
Not lo11g after th e a1Ti val of Paya Sapan iu his camp, N emyo
Thihapate retmned to Zinme and mad e preparation s for th e march to
Yodaya . He ordered Paya Supan and Kawila t o accompany him wi t h
their following and to march in the van . Th ereupon, Thaclo Minclin
requested the Burmese .general to deliv er up Paya Sapan and Kawila,
alleging that they wet·e disaffected and would not serve the> Burmese
loyally and that th ey would in tim e be a source of danger to th e peace
and security of the Burmese sway over those parts of t h e t erritory
in which they had great influence. Knowin g t.h e quarrel between th e
Burmese Governor and the local nobl es, N em yo I'hihapate rP. fus ed
I
~ W:f~:f1jf'v'J~B1fJm:r L'tUJ m 'U1 do
:II
10
to give them up, g1v111g the excu~e t.hat it was necessary to retain
their services in the army as they were the only persons able to
control the contingents supplied by them. He ordered them to join
the vanguard of the Burmese army and march on ahead. News of
th e breach bet;wren the Burmese Governor and the local officials had
already reach ed th e Burmese capital, and about this time orders from
His Burman Majesty arrived calling Paya Sapan ::mel Kawila t.o the
capital. Thada Mindin accordingly sent messengers to the Burmese
general demanding the delivery of Paya Sapan and Kawila, this time
backed up by no less an a uthorit.y than a command from their Sovrreign.
Again the general refused to deliver them up, giving the following
reason s :-that according to the generally accepted rules and beliefs
in the movements of troops at the commencement of an expedition,
when once the vangua rd had pitchrd its camp, it is unpropitious
to withdraw it,, even if the ca mpin g ground were subsequently found
to be unsuitable; any mov emrnt made must be a move forward :mel
not backward; that Paya Sapan and Kawila having already marched
in the van ou a most propitious clay, they should not be re-called;
that they had not committed any criminal offence and their presence
at the Burmese capital was orde red by His Burman Majesty solely on
account of the ill feeling existing between them aud the Burmese
Governo1·, and because of His Majesty's anxiety to prevent Lhem coming into open conflict; that the gO\·ernors of the fifty-seve n provinces
of Zinme territory looked upon Paya Sapan as their leader, and were
guided by his action whether to be loyal or di;;loyal; that it was to
the interests of the Burmese and for the success of the expedition to
win th em ove1· by kind treatment and secme thei1· good will and
co-operation. The Governor of Zinme h eld a different opinion, that
Kawila and Paya S:.tpan would never be truly loyal aud serve the
Burmese hon est ly and whole-heartedly, and that they were certain to
raise their hn.nds against t.he Burmese. He sent an armed force to
call the two nobles in t,he van of the Burmese m·my. 'l'he result was a
fight between the adherents of th e nobles and the Governor's men,
in whi ch the latter were worsted and forced to return, losing many
killed. Thaclo Mindin t hereupon seized the wives and children of the
two nobles and sent them under a guard to the Bmmese capital, with
the messengers who brought His Burman Majest.y's order. Paya
Sapan and Kawila received information of the action taken by the
Governor; they then promptly marched back clay and night., rescued
11
)
their wives and children, and went off to Yodaya.s There they told
Paya Tet-thin, the King, that the Burmese Governor and the Burmese
general wet·e not on good terms, that the governors of the fifty-seven
provinces were in a ferment, and that the time was most opportune to
go and capture Zinme, and requested him to avail himself of the
opportunity. Paya Tet-thin saw his chance, and marching quickly
wit.h a force of about 4·0,000 or 50,000 men, defeated Nemyo
Thihapate who was driven back through Maing-hin 9 to Mone.lO
Paya Tet-thin then turned his attention to Zinme town which soon
fell to him, th e Burmese Governor being compelled to retire to
Kyaingthin.ll The King of Yodaya then placed Kawila in charge of
Lagun, Kawi la's nephew Knn Kynw itt charge of Pa-thiit, and Paya
Sapan in eharge of Maing-lin.l2
lie then retumed to Yodaya, lea\·ing
a force of 3,000 m8n under the command of Paya Takan to garrison
Zinm~,
with ordet·s not to leave the town unti I there was no sign of the
Burmese army coming by that way. Thus the short-sighted po licy
of th e Burmese Governor, hi:s want of tact and adaptability, and his
uncompromising conduct brought ruin to the Burmese designs for the
overthrow of the power of Y odaya, which had again risen after its
rece nt downfall.
The newly appointed Governor of Motfama, Mingyi Kamani
Sanc1a, arrived at his headquarte rs in due course. Resent a message
to Mingyi Zeyathn, who was Governor of Dawe, that h e brought orders
from His Majest.y to mobilize t he forces in Mott.amn., Byeik, 13 and
Dawe and to co-operate with Nt~myo Thihapate, wbo had ah·eacly left
the capita l to come down to Yoclaya with the forces collected from
the towns on the east bank of the 'rhanlwin and those levied in Zinme
territory. He r eques ted 11fingyi 7-eyat lm to march hy way of Peikthalauk with r.ll the forces available in Byeilt and Daw~, whi le he
himself would march via Tayaik with the forces raised in Mottama.
Having called up all the abh,-bodiecl men capable of bearing arms, and
"
'UlJlJY<ll-JY<l W.
..&
'
rJ. lm<i<!d "Hl
IS]m
..&
ll't1 ISJ<i
'
9
Ll-J tl~ ,_,1~
13
Th e same as Myeik Ll-Jfl~l-J~Hl
10
Ll-J tl~ ,_,'hi ltl
do
11
""
do
I' tl~LL~"H
12
commandeering the best elephants and horses, he sent Binnya Sein 14
in advance with a force of 2,000 men, probably composed of all Ta.laings
(Mons) on the route to Tayaik. When this advance force reached a
place called Zami, three days' march from Mottama, the military officers
of Mingyi Kamani Sanda seized the families of the men who formed
this force and tried to ext.ort money by threats of violence. The
families sent information of their plight to their parent.s, husbands,
and kinsmen in the army. On receipt of the infonnation Binnya Sein
and the Talaing soldiers were very angry o.nd bitterly complained that,
they und ertook to serve in the van of the expedition with the hope
of procuring peace and security for their wives, children, and kinsmen.
Saying that· they had no enemies in front and that their enemies were
r eally in the rear , Binnya Sein and his Talaing officers and men, wit.H
one acco rd, march ed back clay aud night and fell upon the Burmese
G-overnor and his officers, who had to run fot; their lives and seek refuge
in the town of YangOn. Binnya Sein and his infuriated Talaings,
reinforced by anoth er thousand men , followed their Burman oppressors
to Ynng6n and attacked th e town. The defence of the to,Yn was on
the point of giving way, when some of the Bnrmese officers in
the towns in the delta of the Eyawacli river, consp:cuous among
whom were Myan-aung Bo, Pyanchi-Yegaung-Kyaw, nncl 'l'alizi Bo,
organized a force from t he reverine towns and came to the rescue.
The Taluings quickly withdrew, and, headed by Binnya Sein and
Yazadewa, such of t,h em as were able and r eady to emigrate went away
to Yoclaya. 1'l1is exo<1 us of 'l'alaingti from M6ttama is one of the
principal immigrations of 'l'alaings into Siam ani! is mentioned in the
Siamese historyli>.
When King Sinbyushin knew of what had happenE-d to his
force s in Zinme and JY16ttama, he got a fr,rC c1 of 6116 regiments,
consisting of 2,500 horse and 35,000 men anrl, putting Wungyi Maha
J·!
VH~Ull~-:1 ~iiJJ'~rljfiiJ.:JEhr:Jmr
vo'l-.1
~
0....,.
~
~
mr jj1r:Jfl.:!r:!~'U1J1J'Wl-.l'W
15
w.
~1
'Qgy IJ.'O 'od IJ.('l fl11rl
M. lm<i.G:G:J fl1 m<i
~'WJ'~jljj 'W.:!Er1mn~l-.l
~
m
I
m
~1
'Qd
16 In the original, G3 regiments were enumerated, although t.he totnl is
g iven ns Gl only.
( 13 )
Thihathura in command of it, despatched it to Yodaya by way of
:M6ttama and Ta.ya.ik, on the 5th of waxing Taza.ungmon 1136
(November, A.D. 1774 ).
The famous pagoda in the town of Ya.ngon had fallen into disrepa.it·; it had been highly venerated by generations after genemtions
of Burmese, who fervently believed that eight hairs of Gotama. Buddha
were enshrined in it. King Sinbyushin had the repairs made, and
having beaten into. leaves forty-seven viss and thirty-five ticals weight
of gold, a weight equal to that of his body, he had the pagoda gilded
from top to bottom. He also made a new seven-tiered '' ti" or
umbt·ella, and a new spire with a vane attached, to be placed on the
pagoda. 'l'he vane was ~aiel to be made of gold weighing two
hundred and serRnty viss of gold, and studded with fifteen thousand
and thirty-eight precious gems of various kinds. 'l'o place this almost
invalnable spi re and "ti" on the shrine, he went down the river, accompanied by his queens and concubines, sisters and chi ldren, in
superbly gilt barges towed by gilt paddling canoes . His Majesty and
the whole entonrage were guarded by armed men in boats decorated
with figures of various kinds of animals, disposed of in the front and
rear, on the right ancl left. The "ti" was put by itself on a barge which
was decorated with the figure of a Garuda bird; this barge towed by six
canoes, led the whole procession which must have presented a scene
most magnificent and gorgeous. In addition to this spectacu lar efl'ect
of gold and colour, the whole river resounded with various kinds of
music played during such state processions. .A. land force consisting of twelve regiments under the command of .Min-ye Zt>yakyaw also
accompanied the King, but the strength of the force is not stated in the
history. From the usual formation of Burmese regiments this force probably contained 1,200 horse and 12,000 men. His Majesty left the capital
on Sunday the 8th of waxing Pyatho 1136 (January, A.D. 1775) and,
after calling at Pagan and Py i (Prome) to worship the famous pagodas
in those places, arrived at Yangon on the 1st of waxiug Tabaung
(March) following. On the 15th of waxing Tabaung, the religious
ceremony was performed of dedicating the "ti," which was afterwards
put on the pagoda by me.::hanical cont.rivances. He left Yang6n on the
5th of waxing Kason 1137 (May, A. D. 1775) and returned by water,
arriving at the capital on the 5th of waxing Wagaung (August).
Before his ret.urn from Yangbn, King Sinbyush in executed the
14 )
deposed King of Pegu (Hanthawadi), together with the unfortunate
King's younger brother, Upayaza, and son Nga Ta. The only reason
for the execution given in the history was that the deposed King had
uttered words improper or unbecoming, which probably mean11 that he
had offended His Burman Majesty by an unguarded speech. 17
The land force of twelve regiments under Minye Zeyakyaw
which accompanied the King to Yangon was ordered to join the army
17 The most likely reason for this execution is given in the "Statement
or deposition of a native of Ava" at page 15 of the edition printed in Buddha
• l'f .....
....
.... ""
"
0
Ern 2458 ( f'l1mn11~11'Jtl~I'J~UlJ1JW~W W.f'l.~m<i~d 'H1 ~a
B:B:
"-'
.6
....
0
""'
)
as follows:-
......
"m-J'H'Hl-Jtl·U~nuL~'H1mH,-J].J1tJnummJ ru.Ll-JtJ-ltJ1-Jn -~ ].JrJ-Jr:
~
~~
& ,
.....
~ -J1 rH11W'J:t'I~Ln-JI'J 1 rJI'Jf'HlmnJr:vn1.ofjnuVJ-J'H
1mr~ m 'Hll.J"H11'1lPli'JtJ
, oJ
,;.
.....
0
"-'""
.....
~~
L;l/
.&
.....
1.-'1..-'
,
A
Q..;.,&1v
rJ~a:m-JI'J1Wr:m~-Jlf11'J~ wr:mtJ1Jf1j(1tJ 'Hm ].J~'H-l~tl ~
rJI'JlJ1-l
~
f'l'H~tJ].J1~-l'li~Wl,nn'iJW r:u1L~-J1~,__jf....nj{I'J'Hn._~ LL~un~n~~-J11].Jb!J ~
lJLtl11JrHl1W~1'H1tJlwr4-ltJ~1'Hlctl-ll].J1:rJ:l-J:'li1l~tJ ·ll;I'J1 ;
~
~ A
unntJ-JVJ wmmL].J tJ ~u 1-l n,-l'll "Hll.J 1'1 "Hn ~ ll-J tJ -ltl -JI'J:
ml-J ~tJlJW r:m
UI'J-l l"l....
...... ..!
~-Jlf11'J~
.&
,
I
wr:mtJl.J11jf1
Ll
o_,
r'"'uLl.J'H~....mi' ].Jfl-Jr:~-l~~~1mmwr:m~-JH11'J~
,
~
l'f
<!.=
A
wr:mfll.J1njf1 wr:mrJ:'t'1:Ln -l Ll.Jl.Jr:~1r~ I'J r1n~ u
"
Translat.ion of the abo I'(.> : a At t hat time M ong Ra accompanied by his
ministers came down to put np an umbrella and was at the town of Rangoon.
Mong Ra had Tala Kaeng questioned as to who were his accomplices in raising·
this revolt. Tala Kneng said, 'Phya Hongsawadi (th e King of Hanthawadi)
and his brother Phya Uparaja se nt a letter by a messenger to me and Phya
Chneng to induce all Smings and Ramans to enpture and kill all the Burmese
officers ami men who were in Maw tam a (l\hrtaban) and then to raise a (Talaing)
arllly, captnrc t.he town of Rangoon, and mat:ch to Ava.' On qn.estioning Phya
Hongsawadi and Phya Uparajn. they admitted that it wa:; true. Mung Ra
th erefore ordered the execution of Phya Hongsawacli, Phya U paraja. and Phya
Tala Kaeng."
In the History of Siam
(wr~n~W-lH11'Jm1111J....lJWr:n~~...,~ma11Lt',"].J
~d) it is stated that the dPposed King or Hanthawadi was at A "l"'a and
that orders were sent np for his cxecntion . This is eYidently wrong as
the Hmannan history distinctly says that the execution was carried ot1t in
., U1
Rangoon.
(
15
)
undet· W nngyi .Maha Thihathura, in the operations against Yodaya.
This force came up with the Burmese invading army at a place called
Kyr.uk-taga,IS not fat· from Tayaik. The Siamese must have been
fully aware of the im·asion, as thq were 110t far from Tayaik. They
were informed by the Karens and Laos inhabiting that part of the country, of the approach of the Burmese. The Siamese commar.der-inchief, whose uame is not given in the Burmese history, but. who
evidently knew the topography well and possessed thfl necessary knowledge of strategy, concealed the greater part of his forces at a place
called Sakachn, disposing them ou both sides of the road which, at
that point, presented difficulties to a force on the march. He then
sent Bra 'l'hiri ( Phm Siri) with about a thousand men to Tayaik to
lure the Burmese into the ambush.
When Wungyi Maha Thihathura became aware of the presence
of the Siamese at Tayaik, he proposed to send t.be Bo of Satpyag~n 19
to attack the enemy and rout them, with a force of 3,000 men drawn
as follows :-1,000 men from the forces under Min-ye Zeyakyaw, 1,000
men hom Min-ye Yannaung'::; command and 1,000 men from the
Wungyi'::; own command. Min-ye Zeyakyaw cli<approved of the proposal, saying that it was very likely that the Siamese would stt·ongly
contest the difficult passage with a large force as they were aware of
the numerical strength of the Burmese, and thus nip the ill\rasion in
the bud ; and that it would be most inadvisable to send the Bo of
Sat.pyagon with only a small force to attack the enemy. He offered to
attack the Siamese with the whole of the forces in his command.
Wungyi Maha Thihathura overruled Min-ye Zeyakyaw's objection,
giving as the reason for his doing so, that as Tayaik was only a
narrow passage and as it was very hat·d to get provisions t.hE~re, they
would fhst reconnoitre with only a small force. Min-ye Zeyakyaw said
he offered his suggestion as he was afraid of a reverse to the Burmese
arms at the commencement· of an encounter with the enemy; and if
the general commanding the expedition would not take counsd he
could not help it ; but as regards the order to supply a thousand
'--'
18
lLll~m-l~1 llr~Plll ~m
19
u·im -llll
~wr~n'lfW-lH1'Hl1n~·l-J mu1 mrl~ 1ul'i11imr'lfYJ
"--""',
ll
<'
'
rJ-lf'J~1.1lllJWl-JW w.ri. lm~<!..J 'H1
SIS!
A~.!
'JftJ'HL'JHJ'WLll'H
..__
1ww~n-llll
(
16
men ft·om his command he saic1 he \Yas afl'll.id that the men would
feel sorry to be placed under anothet· officer, and therefore if the
general still thought fit to take his men, he himself ought to be put
in command of them. On this Wung-yi Maha Thihathum detached
1,500 men from his own command and another 1,500 men from :Min-ye
Yannaung's and placing the 3,000 m~n uuc1er the Bo· of Satpyag~n,
despatched them . to Tayaik. Apparently the Bo of SatpyagBn was
chosen on account of his prev ions experience of Siamese tactics, as he
had di:>tinguished himself in many an encount.er with the Siamest>
forces. At the same time the geneml submitted a report to the King
at Ava to the effect that., on the receipt of information that the Siamese
wet·e massed at Tayaik to dispute the advance of the Burmese, he
ordered Min-ye Zeyakyaw to march to Tayaik, but the latter refused to
obey orders. Min-ye Zeyakyaw became awar':l of the report submitteil
by the Wungyi, and, having already heat·d rumom·s of the illness of
the King, withdrew his troops and returned to Mottama, saying he
preferred cleath in the capital to service under a W ungyi who was
trying to get him into trouble.
The Bo of Satpyagon and the 3,000 men undet· him came m
contact with the Siamese at Tayaik, who, according to pre-concerted
plan, gradually fell back, dmwing the Burmese behind them. The Bo
of Satpyagon, who was present at the capture of Ayudhya and whose
experience it had been to rout the Siamese at every encountet·, was
over-confident of success and under-estimated the strengt-h . of the
enemy and the genemlship of their leader. Failing to take the necessat·y precautions, he pressed hard on the gradually retreating Siamese
till he got to Sakadan,20 when he and his 3,000 men were completely
hemmed in by two forces concealed thereabouts, at a place devoid of
water. \Vungyi Maha Thihathura became aware of the plight of the
Bo, the result of his own want of foresight and th,e Bo's rashness born
of over-confidence. He sent Min-ye Yannaung with only 4,000 men
to rescue the entrapped troops, but this handful of n1en was of no
avail against a force of 20,000 Siamese. The Bo and his men dug hard
. 11-1 mr 'jf f) tJ ~f): this
20 According to t'11
in Rajburi district.
!,..I
......
0
Vide pages 15 and 16 of t'11
V
v
.....
I
"Sakadan" is ('.111 \!11Ln f)
1l-1n11'1f1f)fl~f):
u
'-'
I
~r:r1'11Vl~H1f)fl11'tllJ1JYn:n~lf'IHlflL~'.li1LO~ en \!1 d.-c
et seq.
See also
for water, but as they were located on a parched, barren ridge of' a
strip of high ground, their energy was wasted, and water could not be
obtained. Thirst rendered them quite weak and helpless and they fell
into the hands of the Siamese.
After this disaster to the Burmese troops, Wungyi Maha Thihathura, whom the Hmannan history began to call Athi Wungyi, 21
submitted a rPpOit to his soverE>ign to the pffect that Min-ye Zeyakyaw
refused to obey orders and retumed with his tt·oops to Mottama, saying
that His Majesty had died and t hat the Prince of Amyin had ascended
the throne ; he also mentioned the total loss of Satpyagon Bo and 3,000
men in an encounter with the enemy at Salmdan. On receipt of the
. repot·t, King Sinbyushin ordered that Min-ye Zeyakyaw and all the
officers serving with him should retum to the capital. and a fast
despatch boat was sent do\\ n to convey His Majesty's orders to the
commander, who had been guilty of a serious military offence. He was
still at M6ttama when he received the orders and he o.nd his officers
returned marching overland. \<Vhen they arrived at Sittaung, Min-ye
Zeyakyaw, with his three principal officers, Nyaungohedauk Bo,
Shangyi Bo, and Tabeza Kala Bo went on ahead with a following of
3,000 men, leaving the rest of the troops to follow up leisurely. When
they reached Mingan village, fresh orders ft·om His Majesty arrived
with Kaledaw Wun and Ye-hle-taik Wnn that Miu-ye ZP.ya!cyaw and
all the officers under him should be placed under arrest and taken to the
capital under guard. Accordingly, Min-ye Zeyal<yaw and seventy
others were taken to Ava under arrest. On their arrival, King Sinbyushin had Min-ye Zeyakyaw brought into his presence, and asked
him whether it, was true that he returned from the expedition against
Yodaya, because he heard that a new King had ascended the throne.
Min-ye Zeyakyaw replieil. that owing to the ill-treatment of Athi
Wungyi, he returned to His Majesty to ~eek redress. His Majesty
in reply said that if Athi Wungyi reported about him he should
have submitted a counter report, and should not have withdrawn his
trdops at all. He ordered the imprisonment of over seventy officers of
21
.~
,
The tJ:lL 'J!'VI'l un of the Siamese history.
In fact W nngyi Maha
.
,
~
Thihathura is better known by the name of tl~ 11 'J! WJ \l n
111!W~l11'lfl11
and r1·11 ;mn!1TJt.i:,'l~
thronghunt
(
18
)
Min-ye Zeyakyaw's troops, while the principal offendet· himself
was degm.ded and deprived of his title and called by his personal
name Nga Hmon, like any other ordinary indi,ridual. About twenty
days afterwards, Shangyi Bo, Nyaungchedauk Bo, and l'abeza Kala Bo
and ten others were executed, and Min-ye Zeyakyaw and the rest of
the officet·s were ordered to be conveyed under arrest to At hi W ungyi, for him to punish them in whatever manner he liked to. The
Wungyi, however, most magnanimously pardoned them all, only requestiug them to fight and defeat the Siamese forces at Salmdan. They
undertook to attack the enemy on the night of the very day th(ly were
set at liberty; and just before dawn of that. night Min-ye Zeyakyaw
with 3,000 men ~tealthily got into the camp of the Siamese, nncl tried
to create a panic, by vociferous shouting, by attacking furiously and
setting fire to the tents, sheds, etc. within theit· reach. They were
successful in their attempt, as the Siamese thought, in the darkness
of the night, that a large Burmese for ::e had made a surprise attack,
and entered their camp as well as surrounded it. Thet·e was a panic
among the Siamese, who wet·e pt·obably suddenly awakened fl'om their
slumber, and they made a hast.y t•etreat from S.akadan. Min-ye Zeyakyaw then returned to the main Burmese at·my, taking with him all
the at·ms and war material left behind by the Siamese. l'he .Athi
Wungyi said that, although the enrmy had retreated hom Sakadan, it
would not be advimble to march to Yodaya by that route, as it would
be very difficult to get pt·ovisions; that already the army was suffering
from want of sufficient provisions and the sick-roll \Vas unusually large.
He proposed to withdraw the army to Mott.ama to recupemte during
the rains, and as soon as the rains ceased, to march to Y odaya via
Yahaing ( Rah eng ), by which route he expected .to get provisions
more easily. The proposal was approved of by all, and the whole of
the Burmese army withdrew to Mottama.
After King Sinbyushin's return from his trip to Yangon to put
thtl "ti" on t.he famous Sandaw or Dagon pagoda, no event of any
importance occul't'ed at the Burmese capital, his ene1·gies being for the
time dit·ected towards the building of pagodas and monasteries. Only
three months after he had performed, with sumptuous feasts and great
rrjoicing, and numerous gifts to Buddhist monks, the dedication
ceremony of a pagodn. and a monastery which he had btiilt at Sagaii1g,
a town on the right bnnk of the Eyawadi opposite Ava, he was
(
19
)
taken ill, while residing in a palace surround ed by water, built outsid~
the northern gate of the city . On the night of Sunday the 9th of
waning Nayon 1138 (June, A.D. 1776), his condition became serious
and he was removed in a closed golden palanquin to the palace in the
cit.y where he e:xpired at dawn. The ministers in attendance informed his son Min-ye Hla, Prince of Sin-gu, who ascended the throne
and assumed sovereign nuthority at sunrise on Monday the lOth of
waning Nayon.
King Sinbyushin, who assumed th e regal titl e of Thiri Pawara
Thudama Mahayaza Zaneindadipati ( Siripavara sudhamma maharaja
janindadhipati), was born on Sunday the 13th of waxing Wagaung
1098 (Augu11t, A.D. 1736) . .A.t t he age of twenty-seven years and four
months he aRcended the throne, and after reigning twelve years and
six months, died at the age of th irt.y-nine years and ten montht~.
( 20 )
SIR ARTHUR P. PHAYR.I!}'S ACCOUNT OF
THE CHINESE INVASION OF BURMA AND THE
BURMESE INVASION OF SIAM.
Origin of war
with Chi na.
A sel'ies of. petty misunderstandings on the frontier of China had led to an invasion of Burma from
that country. In the spring of 1765 a Chinese merchant named Loali arrived on the f1·0nt.ier, coming by
the MomiAn route, with a large drove of oxen laden
with merchandise. In order to cross the river Tapeng,
he wished to construct a bridge at the village N!nb&,
and applied to the governor of Bamoa for permission to
do so. The merchant, annoyed at the delay which
occurred in attending to his application, uttered some
words in his own language which were interpreted
to thA governor as being disrespectful. The governor
sent him to Ava as a prisoner. The authorities there
released him, and gave orders that he might build
the bridge and pursue his vocation. On returning to
Bamoa, whe1·e his merchandise had been left, he
complained that some of the packages han been opened
and a portion of thtl goods abstracted, and he demanded compensation. The officials replied that his
own men had remained in charge of the bales, and
they refused to inquire into the complaint. Loali then
departed, and, on arrival at Momien, complained of the
treatment he had received. He went on to the city of
Yunnan, where the governor received his statement
and noted the facts. Soon after another dispute t ook
place at a distant point of the frontier. .A Chinese
merchant named LoatAri al'l'ived, with several folJowers, at a mart in the territory of the Sh!n state of
Kyaingtun, and there sold goods on credit.l Payment
was refused by the pUI·chaser, a quarrel arose, and in
the affray which ensued a Chinaman was kill ed. .At
that time the Soabwll. of Kyaingtun was in Ava. The
Sitke, who was the next in authority, received the
1 Captain W. 0. M'Leod heard the same story when
llt Kyaingtun in 1837. See his Journal, p. 60,
21
complaint of the merchant, who demanded that either
the manslayer or a substitute, to be made responsible
for the erime; should be delivered up to him. The
Sitk!3 replied that he would give the amount of fine
payable according to Burmese law in such cases. The
Chinese merchant refused this offer, and left for his
own country. He proceeded to the city of YunnAn
and complained to the govemor. Some Shd.n nobles
and a nephew of the SoabwA of Kyaingtun, who had
offended the Burmese government, were at this time
refugees in that city. 'l'hey excited the Chinese officials to demand satisfaction with a threat of making
war should it not be given. The general of the
frontier petitioned the Emperor, who ordered that
Kyaingtun was to be attacked and justice enfot·ced. .A
document was posted at a ford on the TAlon river, 1
making a formal demand that the homicide or a substitute should be surrendered. No reply having been
sent to this summons, a Chinese army advanced and Chinese army
appears at
surrounded the town of Kyaingtun. The Soabwa of Kyaingtun .
Kyaingtun had joined the invaders. An army had
marched from .Ava in December 1765 to support the
Sitke of Kyaingtun. It was under the command of
Letwewengmhu. He approached the town and forced
the Chinese in vesting army to retreat. It retired
towards the Mekong river, and in a combat there the
Chinese geneml was killed. The chief of Kyaingtun now
made his submission, saying that he had been coerced
by the Chinese. .A garrison was placed in Kyaingtun April, A. D.
and the bulk of the Burmese army l'eturnecl to Ava.
1766.
The king of Burma, viewing with alarm the state
of his relations with China, determined to place a garrison at Kaungtun, a towu on the Irawadi, a few miles
1. This is the name given to the river in the Burmese
historv. It ie however the name of a town on the Melem or
Mela~ river, fifty-four miles north of l{yaiugtnn ori the road
from that town to Kainghun. 1\yaintun is still a large thoroughfare for Chinese traders going to the Shan states west of
the Sal win, M' Leod's Journal, pp. 59 and G5,
( 22 )
below Bamoa. This precautionary meas·u re had not
long been adopted when it was reported that a large
Chinese invasion Chinese army had appearen on the frontier near
by the Momien Momien. It marched into the Burmese territory and
route.
took up a position at the Mwelun mountain, which lies
to the south of the Tala branch of the Tapeng river.
.The army of invasion was u11der two leadiug generals,
Ying Khun Tareng and Hseng TA Loareng. The
Burmese garrison at Kaungtun was reinforced and the
stockade strengthened. The commander ·there was
Balamenhteng, a bold and active officer. The plan of
the Chinese genemls appen.1·s to have been t~ occupy
Bamoa; to advance from thence on Ava; and to
collect boats in order to gain command of the river
hawadi. At the san1e time they appear to have been
in communication with the Soabwa of Mogaung, who
was disaffected towards the Burmese king, and f1·om
whom they might receive important assistance. The
Blll'mese Government, though knowing the general
objects of the invaders, had not been sufficiently on
the alert, and with the Hiamese war on their hands, to
support which constant reinforcements were requi1·ed,
must luve felt a difficult-y in raising men. But though
attacked by so powerful an enemy, they met the invader
with a determined spirit which deserves high praise.
'rhe Chinese generals, in pu•·suance of their plan,
detached f1·om t.heir posilion at the MwMun mountain
a column under RengsutAreng by the Mowun (M uangwan) route to Baruoa. A division was also posted at
the inte•·mediate position of Thinzanwelim to keep np
the communication with the headquarter a1·my. At
Bamoa the commander built a stockade on the bank
of the ri \'er, and leaving there a part of his f01·ce in
garrison, pushed on to Kaungtun. Balamenhteng had,
with unwearied diligence, st•·engthened his post, and
being well supplied with fire-a1·ms, awaited the onset
of the enemy with confidence. The Chinese commander made desperate efforts to cnptur~ the post, but
23
f!liled, euffering a heavy loss of men, and finafly drrw off.
But success here was of too much importance for the
enterprise to be abandoned, and he entrenched himself
in a camp near the fort waiting for reinforcements.
'rhe king of But·ma had dispatched a force by Burmese measures
water up t h e I ra" va d 1' un d er L etwewengm h u t o proceed of reststam:e.
to Bamoa, whi le a column under Wungyi Maha S1thu
marched by the western bank of the riYer on Mogaung.
These bodil's etat·ted from the capital about the middle of January. Letwewengmhu on the way up, A. D. 1767.
hearing that Kaungtun was in vested, threw some reinforcements and a supply of ammunition into the
place from the river force. He then sent a division
to Bamoa, which attacked and carried the Chinese
entrenched position there. With the bulk of his command he remained in observation on the west bank of
the Irawadi, while by his superior flotilla he held command of the t·i vet·. He next attacked the Chinese entrenched post, near Kaungtun a.nd forced the garrison
to retit·e on the fortified position at Thinzanwelim.
He followed them up and dislodged them ft•om that
position,. inflicting upon them a heavy loss in men,
arms, and hor:=;es. They retreated to Mowun. The
Chinese invaders had now been driven from the .posts
they had occupied on and nea1· to the Irawadi, south
of Bamoa, and had lost the boats they had collected
for operations on the river.
A
The corps under the command of Maha Sithu, by Operatione at
a rapid march reached Mogaung before the Chinese Mogaung and in
the north.
He made such arrangements for the
could arrive.
defence of the town as time allowed. He then
advanced to meet the invading force, which, under
Hsengt&loareng, was marching by Sanda in a northwesterly direction to a poinc on the Irawadi in order
to cross that river. The Chinese commander had rio
boats and took post at Lisoa hill, arranging means to
pass to the. right bank . Maha Sithu did not allow
24 )
him time for this, but marching from Mogaung, crossed the lr!l wadi to the left bank, and sent on a
reconnoitring pat'ty of five hundred musketeers. This
party .fell in with a body of a thousand Chinese horsemen. The musketeers retired to a mountain defile.
The Chinese cavalry followed headlong, and, cooped u13
in a narrow pass blocked with bouloeJ'S, sustained a
heavy loss ft·om the fire of the musketeers. The Burmese commander, finding the Chinese position on the
Lisoa hill too strong to be attacked in front, halted on
the Nanmyin stt·eam, and sent two divisions to circle
round it right and left. This movement was concealed
by the thick woods, and the Chinese general, leaving
one-third of his force on the hill, marched to attack
the Burmese .on the Nanmyin. The force left on the
hill, supposing the enemy to be only in front, and to
be held in check by their main body, was careless, and
allowed itself to be surprised and cut up by the two
Burmeee divisions. The main body of the Chinese
under Hsengtaioareng. retired hastily to Sanda. Maba
Sithu then took post with his whole army at Muangla,
which would enable him to intercept the retreat of the
Chinese to theit· own country. He had conducted the
operations successfully, but being ill, was now succeeded in the command by Letwewengmhu. The Chinese
army was suffering from want of provisions. 'l'he
Chinese main main body, which had 01·iginally been posted at the
armyBretires from Mwelun mountain, had been reduced, by continued
U~L
·
requisitions to supply reinforcements, to a small
number; and this, with the remnant of the division under Hsengtaloareng, retreated to the Chinese
territory.
Burmese generals
At a lat.e period of the campaign a Chinese
return to ATa. column had appeared on the Thim11 frontiet·, and menaced the capital by that route. This column wa11
attacked on two sides : by a force under Maha Thihathura, marching from Kyainghun, where he had held
command during the Siameee war; and by the troops
of Letwewengmhu moving down from the north. The
column was driven back, and the two victorious generals arriv ed in A va with t he captured
guns, muskets, and prisoners, early in May. Th e eight
Shan statAs in the basin of the T apeng riv er, which
had for centu1ies , though not continuous ly, been ineluded in the Chinese empire, were n ow reunited to
Burma.
inv~ding
A. D. 1767.
The Chinese g enerals had grossly mismanaged
the campaign. They divided t heit· forces into detached bodies which could n ot supp ol't each oth er, a nd
thus exposed them to be separately attacked a nd overpowered. Th e late appearance of an isolated column
at Thinni: was not likely to retrie ve failure else wh ere,
and the movem ent itself was feebly made. The Bnrmese command ers, with inferior num her,; in the field,
~kilfully took ad vantage of t he blunders of their
opponents. Th ey are entitl ed to g rPat praise for their
energetic defen ce of th eir co untry against an in vader
who not only had a numerical su periority in th e field,
but enjoyed the repute of former co nquest and long
.acknovvledged ascendancy. But t h e Burmese history,
which states th e original number oft h e enemy to have
been 250,000 men and 25,000 h orse, g reatly ex aggerates the strength of th e in vaclers.
The emp eror of China, Kienlung, a competent
civil administrator, but no warrior, was determin ed
not to allow what he con sid ered a petty ba rbaria n
power, successfully to resist the armies of the son of
heaven. 'l'o th e dismay of the B urm ese kin g, toward s
the end of the year a Chinese army, more numerous
than that which had invaded th e co unt ry in th e pre- Third iav;~s ion
Ly the Chinese,
vions year, CI'ossed the fronti er and ad vanced to A . D 1767.
Thinnl. It was under the command of two generals,
the emperor's son-in-law, Myinkhunre, and th e e mperor's younger brother, Sutd.l oare. Thi s was th e
main army of invasion, and small er columns, intend ed
( 26 )
apparently to divert attention, were marching, one on
Bmnoa by the route south of th e 'l'npeng river, by way
of ThiuzanwP!im, and a second 011 :Momeit, by the
route south of tl1e Shwele river.
Th e main a1·my entered 'J'hinni without opposition. Th e Soab\1 !tat once submitted, !1ncl furnished
whatever t.he enemy required hom him. The Chinese
gen erals co mmenced th e construction of a stockade to
the south-west of the town, as a <.lepot for stores and
station for reserv ed.
Bnrme~e armies
JJIPet the i u vnders,
A . D. 1767.
An army under .Maha Sithu left Ava about the
middle of December to oppose the main body of th e
invaders. It nHtrched hy 'l'hom~e and 'l'h~boa, the object being to operate on t he front of the Chinese.
A second army under n1ahll 'l'hihathura marched two
clays late.J', taking an ensterly route to oppose the same
body, by iutercepting their s uppli es and circ lin g round
to atta ck them in rear. A column under Letwewe11gmhu also marched north to oppose the invadt>rs
advancing by the valley of the Shwele on Momeit.
When the army und er Maha I:Sithu had advanced
beyond Thibe;a they e ncountered the Chiuese under
Myinkhunre. Th e i1waders were far superior in numbet·s and the Bu:-mese were defeated. Maha Sithn
th en retreat ed down the lin e of the Myitnge. Considerable aln.rm prevailed in the city, but th~ king was
undaunted, and calmly iss ued his rJrders fot· defence.
The column undet· Malul Thiha.thura marched by
the rout e south of the Myitnge. The Chinese army
drew large supplies of provisions from the country east
of t.he Salwin, and had a depot in a stockade at Lasho,
w e~ t of that rivet·. This stockade was tak en and many
convoys intercepted. A detachment was also sent,
whi ch occupied t,he Talm ferry on the Salwl.n, where a
large numbet· of lad en horses and mul es were captured.
Maha Thill;'\thura with his main body pushed on to
( 27
Thinni, where the Chinese general, Suta.loare, commanded in the stockade. The But·mese entered the Burmese victory.
city and the SoabwA Hed to the stockade. The Chinese
garrison soon became straitened fot· pt·ovisions-the
arrival of which had been intet·cepted-and the
Burmese commandet• cut off theit· water supply. 'l'he
Chinese soldiet·s began to desert. The general, a
younger bt·ot.het• of the emperor, according to the
But·mese history, seeing only death or surrender before
him, committed suicide. The gart·ison, utterly disheartened, ceased to n1ake resistance, and the Burmese
entered the stockade. The Burme!.'e general, leaving a
garrie;on in the place, marched without delay on
'l'hiboa, in m·der to operate on th£~ rear of Myinkhunre.
That Chinese general had not followeit up his first
success with vigour. In his march on Ava, which he
hoped to entet·, and so close the war, he found the
Burmese army under Maha Sithu in position at LunUpyingyi. About the s:une time he heard of the
defeat and dt~ath of his colleague. This news made
him irresolute. The But·meae gt~net•al, dt·eading the
anger of the king, and burning to ret.rieve his former
defeat, made a night attack on the Chinese. It was
successfnl ; and Myinkhunre, ahancloning the line by
which he had advance:l ft·om Thinni, t·ett·eated to The Chinese
retreat to theit·
Taungbaing. There he touk post on a hill. :Maha own country.
S!thu followed him up, and was soon joined by the
victorious column of Maha Thihathut·a. The Chinese
genet•alnow made no fut·thet· attempt to caz·ry out the
original object of the invasion, but retreated precipitately from Burmese tel'l'itory. The invading divisions
which had marchl'd against 13amoa and Momeit had
effected nothing, and r~tirerl by joining the main body
under Myinkhum·e. 13y the mi<ldle of Mat·ch the last of A. D. 1768.
the enemy's troops had been clt-iveu act·oss the Salwin,
and the Bm;mese generals retut'llt>d to the capital.
But Burma had to struggltl once mot·e against the Fourth iuva~ion
of n powe1-ful and persevez·ing foe. It was with hy the Chinese.
att~ck
( 28 )
a heavy heart that the king again prepared to resist
invasion ; for the dreaded omen of the great national
pagodas being rent by earthquake seemed to portend
coming disaster. Vast treasures were lavished in repairing damage to the hti or crowns of the Shweztgun
at Pug!n and of the Shw~ Dagun at Rangoon; while
in these shrines were deposited gold and silver images
in thousands, in hope that the threatened vengeance
of the invisible powers might thereby be averted.
Hardly had the solemn ceremonies with which
these offerings were presented been completed, when
the governors of Bamoa and Kaungtun reported the
appearance of a powerful Chinese army on the frontier.
It was commanded by three principal generals, whose
names or titles, as given in the Burmese history, are
A
Sukunr~, Akunre, and Ywunkunre.
They moved
down the valley of the Tapeng to the Yoayi mountain,
where they halted and detached a di,•ision under
HsengtA.ri, to march on Mogaung. In an adjoining
forest they felled suitable trees, which were shaped
into planks, and were then conveyed to a suitable spot
higher up the Irawadi, where boats were to be built.
They had brought many carpenters for this service,
and the duty of carrying out their orders was entrusted
to LoatA.ri, with an adeqnate force at his disposal.
Having made these arrangements, the three generals
proceeded on towards Bamoa.
A.
n. 1769.
To meet this formidable invasion the king sent an
army under the master of the ordnance, Thihathu,
which left Ava in the last week of September, and
marched on Mogaung by the west bank of the Il'!wadi.
A second army, of which MaM Thihathut·a was commander-in-chief, moved in boats up the river, designed
to meet the invaders at or near Bamoa.; while the
elephants and the cavalry, under the Momit SoabwA
and Kyoateng Raj!, marched north by the east bank
of the rivel·,
(
29
)
The Chin ese plan of operations was generall y
similar to that of the campai gn of 1767. Th e three
generals, marchin g in the direction of Bamoa, did not
enter that town , but constructed a strong stockad e at
Shwengyaungbeng, twelve miles east of Kaungtun.
Ywunkunre was left in co mmand there, while the other
two generals proceeded with the bulk of the force to
invest Kaungtun. Balamenghteng commanded there.
The Chinese generals made ma ny attacks on the place,
both from the land side and from the river face, by
meam of th e boats they brought down the river. Balam enght eng well sustain ed the reputation he had
gained , and the Chin ese were rapulsed with great
slaughter.
Maha Thihathura h ad been somewh at slow in his
movem ent up the river, but at length he reached Tagaung. H e sent on a division in li ght boats to throw
l'einforcements of men and ammunition into Kaungtun,
which se rvice was effected, and many of the Chin ese
boats ~· e re dest.t·oyed or taken. .A. Burmese officer,
Sanhlagyi, built a stockade on the river bank below
Kaungtun, whil e the remaind er of the division occupied an island on the west bank op posite Kaungt.nn.
Th e Chint>se had now lost command of th e riv er. Mah!l
Thihathura, continuing his progr ess by ri ver from
Tagaung, join ed the divi:;ion on t h e island, directing
operations from t hat stati on, and keeping hi s own
force as a reserv e to be used when requ ired. The
elephants and cavalry, with a strong division und er
Letwewengmhu, who now took comma nd of this
column, continued marchin g by the east bank on
Momit., t h ere to await further orders. The com mander-in-chief also se nt a column under Tingyd. Mengkhaun g to thA east bank of the ri ver above Bamoa, to
cut off supplies coming to the Ch in es.e force, whi ch
was still in vestin g Kaungtun, on the land sid e. The
column unde r the Letwe weng mh u march ed boldly on
towards Kaungtun , &Ild defeated a Chinese detached
(
30
force sent against it. Tingya Meng Khaung, approaching fi'om th& north, was equally successful in an
attack on him. 'rhe result of these en~agements was,
that the Chinese generals Sulmnre and Akunre feli
back on their line of retreat by the Tapeng with half
the force, whi le the remainder were compel led to withdraw int o the great stockade at Shwengyaungbeng.
The division under Hsengtari, which had marched on
Mogaung, did not reach that town, and was held in
check on the east of the Irl\wadi by Thihathu.
LP-twewengmhu now combined the several divisions which were on the east of the Ira\\adi to attack
the great stockade. The assault was made simultaneously on the four faces of the work, and was successful.
The Burmese forced an entrance, but, from the great
extent of the works, they were unable to pre\·ent the
escape of the Chinese genera l, Ywu nkunre, who, with
those of his men not kilh·d or disabled in the attack,
fled and joined his two colleagues. Seveml more hoats
belonging to tht> Ch inese were now destroyed, and the
Burmese having taken immense stores of arms,
powder, and lead, were enabled to arm several battalions more efficiently than they were before.
The Chinese
generals sue
for peace.
The commander-in-chief, Ma ha 'l'hihat.hura, now
took measut·es to complete the discomfiture of the
invaders. He sent several thousand fresh meu across
the river, and established his own headquarters on the
eastern bank. The Chinese generals, discouraged by
defeat and straitened for provisions, determined to
negotiate, in order to secure an unmolested retreat.
They addressed a leltet· to Malu~ 'rhihathura, in which
they attributed the war to misunderstanding caused by
the intrigues of the Soabwas of Thinn1, Bamoa,
.Mogau ng, and Kya in gyun. They proposed that these
official s, then in Chinese territory, should be exchanged for the Chinese officers who were prisoner;;,
;1nd that the relations of the two couptries sbop ld be
( 31 )
established as they were before the war. Mah! Thihathura called a council of hi s principal officers and
nsked their opinion. They replied that the Chinese
had invaded the country with a vast army, e\·idently
intending to conquer it. The enemy had been defeated, and were now surrounded like co ws in a pound.
In a few days they would be sti ll more helpless from
hunger, and the officers unan imously recommended
that no term.;; should be gra nted . The commander-inchief observed it was true that tho Chinese had
wantonly invaded their country, but China was a
powerful empire, and could send even more men than
the vast hosts which had already appeared. If thest~
men now at their mercy were destroy ed, the quarrel
between the two countries woul d be perpetuated, and
great evil would res ult to future generations. He
therefore considered it advisable to come to a settlement \rith the Chin ese generals, and should the king
disapprove of this course, on h im alone would the
bln.me rest . The council did not oppose this wise
resolution, and a couc;liatory reply having been sent
to the letter of the Chinese gem•rals, and preliminaries
having been agt·eed to, fourteen B urm ese and thirteen
Chinese commissioners, appointed by the conlmandersin-chief of both armies, met in a temporary building
neat• to Kaungtun. A document sty led "a written A convention for
contract of settlement" was drawn up and aareed
to peace, friendship,
0
and commerce
by all prfsent. lt stated in general terms that peace agreed to, Deand friendship wertJ to be established as of old between cember 13, 1769.
the two great countries, and the gold and silver road
ot· commerce, to be open ns before; presents were'
exchangP.d between the commissioners of both nations,
and, in accordance with former custom, it was agreod
that letters of friendship were to be sent every ten
years from one sovereign to the other. The question
of boundary between the two countries, which had
formed a subject of correspondence, was not mentioned
in the document, nor ·was the sul'l'ender of the Soabwas
and prisoners inserted therein.
32
The Chinese appear to have still had some boats
in their possession at the time of the nPgotiations, but
no distinct arrangement regarding them had been
come to. After having used th e boats to convey st ores
to Bamoa, they burnt them, instead of giving them up
to the Burmese, as was expected. This act gave rise
to some sharp altercation, but the Burmese general
contented himself with rem?nstrating. The remnant
of the invading army retired by the route of the
Tapeng river, watched or escorted by a Burmese corps.
Thousands of Chinese soldiers died in the mountains of
fatigup, and hunger.
*
*
*
The king disnpTHE invading army having retit·ed , the Burmese
pr~ves the con: general dispatched to th e capital a report of his proventJOn mnde wtth
the Chinese ceedings, and forwarfled the presents which he had
generals.
received from the Chinese commanders. Hsengbyusheng, indignant that the enemy had been allowed to
escape, rejected the offerings, and ordered the families
of the principal officers ot the army, including the
wife of the commander-in-chief, to remain kneeling at
the western gate of the palace, bearing the presents on
theit· heads. l!,or three days and nights they were unnoticed, after which they were allowed to withdraw.
But when Maba, Thihat.hura returned to Ava, he and
the pt·incipal officers 'vere banished from the city for
one month. From China no direct communication as
to the convention was made; but Chinese caravans
began to arrive according to former custom, and the
Burmese court allowed trade to go on as formerly.
W nr against Siam.
When the Burmese army was recalled from Siam
to oppose the Chinese invaders, the general, Thihapate,
carried away the members of the Siamese royal family,
who had fallen into his hands. There then arose in
Siam a man named PhayA Tak, said to be the son of a
Ohinaman, who gathered round him a body of armed
men and, attacking the retreating Burmese, inflicted
on them severe losses.l Having gradually increased
his followers, he assumed the title of king, brought
se\'eral of the Shan states again undet· Siamese
dominion, and fur greater secut·it.y for the future,
established his capita! r\t Bankok . He next. conquered
Viang Chang, called also Chandapuri, then the capital
of the principal state of Laos, on the Mekong. Later,
a Burnwse force occupied Zimme, where Thado
Mengteng was appointt>d governor. When the opportunity appeared fa von rable , Hsengbyus,h eng determined to t·ecover what he ha d loot. in Siam, and an
army under Thihapate marched to 7.imme. The
general t.lwre assembler! the contingents of the Shan
chiefs, and proceeded to Vian g Chang, the king of
which state hail implored protect.ion against I he
Siamese. The Burmese goYernor 0f Zimme, by his
contemptuous treatment of the Shan chiefs, had roused
their ini!iguation, and three of them, whom he inteni!ed to forwaril as prisoners to Ava, fled from the
tenitory. He next disputed the authority of the
commander-in-chief, Thihapate, who was on his march
into Siam proper. The general was obli ged to halt,
partly ft·om want of due support from the governor of
Zimme and partly from the determined front show n
by the Siamese troop;;. Meanwhile disasters threatened to paralyse the Bm·mese operations at other points.
The govemor of .Martaban, Kamani Sanda, had
embodiei! a fot·ce, composed principally of Talaings,
intended to move by Tavoy and Mergui. After a few
days' march the Talaing troops lllutinied. Kamani
Sanda with difficulty escaped, ancl, escorted by a bodyguard of Burmese soldiers, retired to Martaban. Not
ventUI'i ng to remain there, he fled to Rangoon. The
Talaing mutineer:;; under Binya Sin followed him up
and besieged the stoclwde. ·rhey failed in an attempt
to storm it.; and as a Burmese army under the go\'ernor
- - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 Bowring's Siaru, vol. i. pp. 58-60 ; also vol. ii., A ppendix A, PP· S-!!l-863.
34 )
of :Myanaung began to appeat·, they withdrew, and
returning to 1\fartaban, fled into Siam witJ1 their wives
and childt·en. Hsengbyusheng now mised an army
of thirty thousand men, composed of 13tu·mese and
northem Shuns, to 'vhich Maha 'fhihathm·a was appointed general. He nlO\'ed down to Martabrm,
p1·epared to march on the capital of Siam.
Expedition to
M11nipm nnd
Kaclulr.
'l'hese extensive pt·epat·at.ions to recover lost
g•·otmd in Siam did not intetofere with the king's
design to extend his dominion toward the north-we~t.
Under the }H'etence that the ruler of Manipur ·had
repaired the defences of his capital since they had been
destroyed by Alaunghpl'lt, an ar111y was sent, which
not only r~:waged that st,ate, but pushed on into
Kachar, and thence northwards ncross a high
mountain-range into Jaintia. The invaders suffered
immense loss, but the Haja. of Kt~chA.r had to submit
for the time. The remnant of the Burmese army retul'lled home after two years, having gained no advantnge to the emph·e.
While this pl·ed;~tot·y excursiOn was still in pt·ogress, the king determined to go himself to Rangoon,
both to be nearer to the scene of operations against
Siam, and to place a new hl i or ct·own on the gt·eat
pagoda, Shwe Dagun. This was a religious act, which
hy force of its own merit might bring the reward of
victory, and it was hoped would favourably impress
Middle of Decem- the Talaing people. 'l'he ldng left Ava and proceeded
her, A. l>. l77i. in grand state down the Ir~wadi. The deposed king
'l'he king goes to
Rangoon.
of Pegu and his nephew,_ who had remained prisoners
for fourteen yeat·s, were led in the royal train. Hsengbyusheng, delaying on the way while he worshipped
pagodas at Pugan and Prome, only reached Rangoon
after a progress of three mont.hs. He adorned the
gt·eat pagoda with a magnificent golden jewelled
ct·own, and afte1· this display of religious zeal, the
captive king of Pegn was with a mockery bf justice
(
35
)
put on his trial bP.fore a special tribunal: He was
declared guilty of having excited the Talaing people to
rebellion and was publicly executed. Hsengbyusheng April, A.D. 1775.
after t,his cruel deed set out to retm·n to his capital.
Maha Thihathnra, having many difficulties to Unsuccessful inovercome in preparations for the campaign, did not vnsion of Siam.
commence his march from Martaban until the close of
the rainy season. The route he selected lay P.astward,
so a~ to gain the upper waters of the Menam. He
rE'ached Rahaing with little opposition from the
S iamese. Dissensions among officers of high rank,
now the cmse of the Burmese armies in the field, soon
broke out. Tho second in th e ccmmand, Zeya Kyo,
protestP.cl against the plan of operations, and returned
to Martaban with a portion of the tt·oops . MaM. Thi~
hathlll'a pet·severed in his march. H13 was successful
in occupying Pitsalauk and Thaukkntai, but suffered a
severe defeat from the Siamese, ann was compelled to
make an ignominious rett·eat towards the fl'ontier.
In t.he midst of these clisast et·s Hsengbyusheng Denth of Hsengat h1nsheng- .. Sncce~clied at Ava and was succeeded by his son Singo·usa
0
'
ston of Smggnsn,
the age of ninP.teen year~. He was determined to put .Jnne, A.D f776.
an end to the Siamese war. But Zeya Kyo by court
favout· was allowed to return to th e army, and having
succeeded in a skit·mish with the Siamese, was considen•d to havA atoned for his mutinous conduct. The
armies in the Upper Menam and in the Zimme tE'l'l'itory were ordered to withclt·aw ft·om the Siamese
territory, where they no longer could remain with
safety. Several officers suffered death for alleged misconduct before the enemy, and Maha 'rhihathura was
disgraced and deprived of his office of Wungyi.
(
36
)
II.
INTRODUCTION.
Oont.rary to the wishes of Alaung Mintn.yagyi that those of his
sons who survived him should succeed to the throne in order of
their seniority, King SinbyushiH was succeeded by his son, Prince of
Singu,l although at the time there were four sons of Alaung Mintayagyi
still alive, namely, Amyin Min, Badon Min, Paka.n Min, and Pindale
Min. The Burmese history does not say that King Sinhyushin openly
expressed the wish that his son should succeed him, in preference to
any of his brothers, but most probably he did make the ministet·s in
attendance upon him understand that such was his wi sh. In this case
paternal love must have outweighed filial duty, and in the absence of
a well recognized rule of the right of primogeniture, succession to th~
throne according to the wishes of the ln.st deceased king has, more
often than not, resulted in bloodshed; at least such had been the case
in the histot·y of the kings of Burma.
THE TRANSLATION.
Only six days aft er the accession of Singu Mi11 to the throne,
he ordered the exl::'cut.ion of his half-brothet· the Prince of 8alin or
Salinza,2 in a manner customary in the case of persor.s of the royal
blood, for conspimcy against him, or for entertaining improper
schemes, as it is euphoni•)nsly expressed in the usual style of th~ Burmese
historian. '!'his unfortunate young prince was a son of the daughter
of the King known as Hanthawadi-yauk-min.* Several high officials
also suffered death as being accomplices of the pr·ince.
The first thing t.hat the new King did in matt et·s militaJ'Y was
to order the recall of all the forces unflet· Wnngyi Maha 'l'hihathura
operating against Y odaya and those under :Myin W un Nemyo Thihu""
<'
l"l.:lnl'il :J1jflJVJj
ll
,
~11vi-rnrjflrJtl~rJ~
u1
~Y-JT~:fljfV·m~nrJmT
ll
~Jt'll-J m
'Ul
pn~ e
J03,
G)'Q.
2
n11jflrJtl.:lrJ~
'Ul
GJd·
#Vide Siam Society Jonrnal Vol. VII[. part IL
GJIID'Q
lL't'l
(
37
)
pate operating againt Sandapuri and Zinme. The latter had suffered
a severe reverse and been obliged to fall back on Mone.
Wungyi Maha Thihathum with his force of sixty regitnents
remained at Mott.ama during the rains of the year 1137 (A. D. 1775 ),
and at the close of the rains in Thadingyut (Octobe1·), he marched via
Yahaing and captured Yahai ng, Peik-T6nkyaw, Thauklmte, Tani,
Thnwunkala.uk, and Ptlikthalauk.H
He was confronted by the forces
und€'r the King of Y oJaya at the junction of two rivers. The Siamese
tried to enveiope the Burmese, but in the night, the Burmese general
sent a force unde1· Pyanchi-Yega.ung-kyaw to the rear of the t-\iamese.
In the ensuihg engagement, perso nally ·conducted by the W ungyi
himself, the Siamese forces were co mpelled to retire. Pyanchi-Yegaungkyaw, Pabn Bo, and Kyaw-Kathu we1·e ordered to press the pursuit
and keep in touch with the retreating enemy, while the Wungyi himself
would follow in the rear. At this stage, orders recalling them reached
the Wungyi, and he sent messengers in difftlrent directions to recall
1he three commande1·s who had gone in pursuit. One pa1ty came up
with Kyaw-Kathu at a v illag~ a little to the north of Kundaw
Intaung.4 The Pakan Bo was overtalren by another party at a junction
of two rivers. The messengers who were sent after Pyanchi- Yegaungkyaw failed to meet the commander and retumed without having
accomplished th eir mission. The leader of the party was therefore
executed. Fresh messengers WAre sPnt in several directions, and they
also failed to find the commander. Wungyi Maha Thihathura had to
retum without Pyanchi-Yegaung-kyaw and the detachmE"nt under
him. This com mander must have been too eaget· i11 his pursuit. The
Burmese his tory says that he was surrounded seveml times by an overwhelming forco of Siamese, but he succeeded in breaking through the
cordon every time, and made his way to Akyaw, Linziu, thence to
Zin me and ft·om there to Ava.
The forces under Myin Wun Nemyo Thihapate rest€'d for a
time at Mone, after their retr·E"at from Zinme. Theu with the intention of joining Wuugyi Mahn. Thihathura, they made their way
towards Mottama. The messengN·s conveying the orders recalling
them, over·took them at Sittaung and they all returned, reaching the
capital in the yE"a t· 1138 (A. D. 1776 ).
3
(
38
The new King performed the "Rajabhiselm" or coronation ceremony, on Monday the 15t.h of waxing Pyatho 1138 (January .A..D.
1777), and assumed the title of Maha Damayaza (Mahii Dhammaraja.)
This title he subsequently amplified into Maha Darnayazadiyaza (Maha
Dhammanijadh.ir~ja). But in this paper it is more convenient to call
him Singu Min, by which name he is also known among the But·mese,
while Sit· Arthur Phayre called him Singgma.
On the same day that the coronation ceremony was rel'formed, a
force of 1500 horse and 15,000 men in 8 t·egiments undet· the supreme
command of Amyauk Wnn Nemyo Thihathu was despatched to go and
capture Lagun and Pat-hin .:i The Hmannan history does not mention
any more about this force sent to north em Siam, and it is not known
what it did and when it returned.
Sin gu Min apparently did not tmst his four uncles, .A.myin
Min,6 Badon Min, 7 Pakan Min,s ann Pindale Min,9 but at first he
dared not do any harm to them and contented himself with limiting
their personal attendants to twenty-five men each, and restt·icting their
movements. Bllt in Tawthalin 1139 (Septembet·, A..D. 1777) he ordered
the execution of .A.myin Min for consp irin g against himlO; several prominent men were al so put to death fot· aiding anrl abetting t.he Prince
of .A.myin. In Ka<o n 1140 (May, A. D. 1778) he sent Bad6n Min to
go and stay at Sagaing, Palmn Min at Pin-ya, and Pindale Min at
Y wathitkyi.
Wungyi Maha ThihathU!'a, who had distinguished himself in
repelling the invasions of the Chinese, but who, in one way or another,
showed himself to be a poor C!isci pli narian and a bad strategist in the invasion ofYotlaya, was unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of King
6
..!.
'
fl~Ll-J ~~~~U.~~ 1
lJ~Vl~
IVlfl11imr~11Jfl~I'J~
8
ll~m~~=u~~
ji'JPl1T
9
ul.J~VJ~u.a
J
7
,
10
~ 1
Lt'11-J ..,
Vlf'i11imr~1~fl~I'J~
~1 ~vJ .
ll
.
.
J1
u1 GJim'9.
~"' ut1wr~n~w~~t1
39
Singu Min, for some t•eason not mentioned 111 the Hmannan history.
In Nayon 113P (June, A. D. 1777 ), he was removed hom the rank of
of Wungyi ( .Ministet· of first rank ),ll and his daughter who had been
raised to the rank of Queen of the Northern Pa lace, with the title of
Tliiri .Maha Mingla. Dewi (Sit·i Mahama ngala Devi), second only to the
Chief Queen, and who had hitherto been a favourite, was degraded and
sent back to het· father. The Queen of the Middle Palace, who enjoyed
the tit le of Thiri Malta Nanda Dew'i ( Siri Mahananda Devi) was raised
to the mnk of Queen of the N orthet·n Palace, and het· elder sistet· was
created Queen of t he Middle Palace, with th e title of Ma.ha Minga.la
·Sanda Dewi (Mahii.lllangala Cauda Devi), and het· younger sister was
also raised to the rank of a Queen, called Queen of the Western Palace,
with the titlE' of Thiri Sand a Mahe ( Siri Oandamahe ). The degradation of the daughter, and the rlisg race of the fath er, taking place about
the same time, aud the promotion, almost simultaneously, of the Queen
of the Midd le Palace, as well as the f.tvom·s and honours conferred on
her sisters, are very significant ; but th e real reasous fur such sudd en
changes will be found on ly in th e secret hi stot·y of th e Court of Burma,
if there be such a w01·k, ot· in t he diary of som e court di~uist of the
time. One may, howevPr, ventut·e to gness that it was, very probably,
one of those not inft·equent court iutrigues, ari sing out of jealousy and
othPt' fmilities of human nature, especially feminin e human nature, and
resulting in the downfall and ruin of one and the uplifting and triumph
of another. In this instance, it is very lik ely that the fault of the
daughter reflected on the father, who was punished for no otb et· reason
than that of being the father of one who was imprudent enough to
fall foul of a dangerous and probably sch eming rival, and to incur the
serious displeasure of His M~jesty . At least, subsequent events would
seem to favour this supposition, because the Wungyi and his family
were practically deported to Sagaing, and not long afrer, the daughter,
who had mnked second in His Bm·man Majesty's estimation of the
fait· sex, was ordered to be drowned in the ri vel'.
King Alaung .Mintayagyi' s eldest son, the Prince of Dabayin
who asce~1ded th e throne on the death of his fathet· wit.h the title of
King Thiri 'rimdamayaza (Siri Sudhammarajft), but \Yho is common ly
known as K in g ..Naungdawgyi ( the eldest brother), left by his chief
ll
( 40 )
queen, a son named ~laung Maung.12 Ignoring the claims of the
surviving sons of Alaung Mintayagyi, this youthful prince had as much,
if not better, right to the throne than his cousin King Singu Min.
Towards the close ofthe year 1141 (A D. 1780), he must have come
under tht~ suspicion ofhis cousin, as he was ordered to go and resitle
at the villAge of Paungga. Probably he was given the privilege of
enjoying the state share of the revenues cleri ved from the village, as he
was known subsequently as Paungglfza, (eater of Paungga).
The youthful King now busied himoelf in building or repairing
monaeteries and pagodas and having tlwm most superbly gilded.
But his religious zeal did not prevent him from .ind nlging in yout,h- ·
ful pleasut·es and amusements. He sunounded himself with young
courtiers nud ministers, and nobles of tender age, who \\'e t·e probably
more eaget· to enjoy life than to attend to affi1irs of State. Surrounded
by such young and inexperienced men, he took to indulging in
intoxicating drinks, and in cout·se of t.ime, the days in which he was
completely undet· the influence of liquor gt·eatly out;numbered those in
which he was sober enough to be ablt< to attend to important husiness.
Very few of his young courtiers, including ministet·s, and personal
attendants, were sobet· men. Even his guards could not be t•elied upon
to remain sober while on duty. The young King amused himself with
his young courtiers in gambling, cock-fighting, fishing, hunting, &c,
knowing no regular hours, and tuming night into day, and day into
night.
In Nadaw 1143 (December, A. D. 1781) he raised his half
sister Mingin Myoza (eater of Mingin town) who enjoyed the title
of 'rhiripapa-dewi (Sil'ipabhadevi) and who was a gmnd-daughter of
Hanthawadi-yauk-min on her moth er's side, to the rank of a queen.
She was the sister of the young Prince known as Salinza who was
executed soon a.ftet· the young King ascended the throne; although she
did not then share the fate of her brothet·, she was, nevertheless,
degraded and made to reside outside the precincts of the palace, pmctically neglected and uncarecl for. The ups and down:; in the court life
of the Burmese royal family certainly afford an interest.ing study of
12
..&
~
-l,_.,lHJ-l 'VIHl 1-Jtl-l'VIlHl-l
the fickleness of fortune and the
autocmtic mind.
capriciousness of an untutored
As usual with one in pursuit of pl easure, King Singu Min must
have found monotony unbearable. Tht>refore, he was always on the
move, ei thet· to perform his devotions at some snored shrine ur to
celebmte the dedication ceremony of a new monastery or a new pagoda,
either to attend the catching of wild elephants or to amuse himself
\\'ith a pleasure trip to some place outside the t:ity. On his return
from such journeys, he vet·y seld om rctumed to the palace within the
city, but passed his time in a floating palace outside the city gate,
called 1\fan-aung gate, on the north side of the city. On Saturday the
5th of waning Tabodwe 1143 (February, A. D. 1782) he went on a
pilgrimage to the Thihadaw pagoda, some distance up the river to the
n01·th of the capita l, accompanied by his mother, sisters, and queens.
Maung Maung, son of King Naungdawgyi, a youth still in his
teens, being just over eighteen, who had been kept at Paungga village,
took advantage of his cousin'~ absence from the ca,pital to usurp the
throne. 'l:he Burmese history says that he had been scheming to
cany uut this usurpation for som e time previously ; but considering his
tender nge and his total lack of capacity to gmsp and realize the new
situation created by the attempt to overthrow the reigning sovereign,
it is m0l"t3 likely that he was made a tool in the hands of those whose
ambition it was to be in powet· and whose intention it was to benefit
themselves by the inexperience of a young prince, who had just as
good a claim to the t ht·one as th ei t' king de facto. Having collected
his adherents, he came to Ava on the night of Tuesday the 8th of
waning Tabodwe, t.ltat is, three days after Singu Min had left the
capital. About midnight they approached the city and told the guards
at Man-anng gate, that the King had retumed in advance of his
entourage in a fast boat. Since the time he took to clt·ink, Singu
Min hat;} been in the habit of J:.We~enting himself at the gates of the
city at all unreasonable hours and demanding immediate entrance.
The head guard, therefore, thought that it was one of those drunken
whims of the King to return to the palace at snch time of the night.
He had the gates opened, and Maung Maung and his men thus gained
entrance into the city. The chosen guards of the "red gate" which
was the principal gate of the palace enclosure were deceived similarly
and for the same reason. When the party gained the throne room,
( 4.2 )
messengers were sent to all the ministers, nobles and officials who were 011
duty at the tim e, at various places within the palacE:~ enclosure, such as the
supreme com·t., council chamber, the inner gates of the palace, &c., to
attend on the King immediately. 'l'hese men thought it was one of
those many occasions on which His Majesty had imbibecl too free ly,
and not knowing the reason for which they were summon ed, hastened
to the throne room with all despatch. Ouly when they had all assembled in the court-yard in front. of the throne room, they found out
they had been deceived, but then it was too late. Th ey wet·e overawed
and compelled to remain th ere till dawn, when th ey all had to take
t,he oath of allegiance to Maung :r.hung. According to arrangements
previously made, sevet·al of Maung ·rvraung ':; men who wet·e in the city a
day before Maung Maung arrived took char·ge of all the city gates that
very night. All the gates were closed, and preparations made to
defend the city in case of attack. People Ii vin g t'Otllld about the city
were taken into it; all the houses on tlw approaches of the cit.y were
pulled down; and all kinds of obstacles fot· elephants, horses, and men,
such as hurdl es, bar:;, spikes, thoms, &c, were laid down on the ground
cleared of the houses .
.Maung Maung probably fe~Lre d that his uncl es would give
tt·ouble; more probably he was advised by thooe who carried out this
revolt to make his position secure by confining them.
He seut
messengers to where th ey had been made to reside by Singu Miu, and
requested them to co.rn e and liv e in their old resideuces in Ava. Some
of the uobles and ministers who were degraded aud disgraced by hi s
cousin wet·e recalled and reinstated; of these, W uugyi Maha Thihathura was one.
One of the officials on duty in the palace on the night that Maung
nhung entered it 1 disCOVbred that the indi vidut.J who had entered the
palace was not the King himself, hut he had no time to find aut who
he was. B.e managed to slip out of the palace and fortunately succeeded in passing one of the gates, where there was great confusion caused
by the usurper's adherents trying to get insiile in large numbers. He
went straight to Singu Min and informed him of what had taken place
in the palace. But it was only a few flays aftenrnrfls that full information of what had occmred in th e capital was obtained from an adherent
of one of the ministers in the King's entourage, who had hunied to
his mastet· to convey th e news.
43
Singu Min made arrangements to regain aflmission into the
city and dispossess the usurper of the throne. But unfortunately all
his arrangements miscarried. As a last resource he decided to go into
Chinese tel'l'itory and ask the assistance of the Chinese Emperor;
accordingly, he proceeded up t he river Eyawadi together with his
mother, sistet·s, and queens, accompanied by such adherents as were
with him then. Even in this last hope he was to be disappointed,
as the officers and men of the sm all force he still had gradually deserted
him on the way up. When he reached a place called Sanpenago, still
a long way ft·om the Chinese frontier, there were not sufficient men
left to tow !tis barge. .A.t this stage stich of his ministers as had
remained with him, adv ised him 1o retum to .A.va and trmt to his
luck To tltis he readily agt·eecl, and proceeded down the !'iver, to
t·etmn to the capital where he cou ld scarcely hope to receive any
other treatment than that usual in the annals of Burma.
A.lthough Maung Ma ung had gained possession of the throne, hts
position was far from secure. H is per,;onal attendants, mostly men ·ft·om
the village where he had been vit·tually a state prisoner, were too eager
to take advantage of th eir sudden rise to power and temporary good
fortune, by dispossessing all and sundt·y residing in the capital, of their
valuables and possessions.13 Th e discontent cansed by the rapacious
and ovet·bearing conduct of these unscrupulous attendants must have
been very considerable, as a few wise and fat· seeing ministers and
officials toolt the liberty to wal'll the new King of the danget· that
would at·ise from such abuses and advised him to stop them . They
also warned him of another :;ource of danger, namely that his three
uncles wet·e sti ll alive, and that every one of them was entitled to
become King; and moreovet· th ey were all men of great ability and
expt>rience. To make .Maung Maung';; hold of the throne secure, his
advisers r;:aw no other way than that of putting them all to death.
B•1t it was not an easy matter to cat·t·y it out., as there were people
who would willingly support th eir claims to sovereignty. The first
step these ad \'isers took to atbi n theit· end was to get hold of all the
pt·incipal men who were assigned as retainers of the three surviving
sons of Alaungpaya, during t.he tim e of their father and of their two
brothers who had ascended tlte throne. These retainers were called up
( 44 i
to the capital, on the pretence that they were to be attached to theit•
respective masters, whereas in reality they were to be kept in close
confinement. 'l'his artifice was not sufficient to hoodwink the tht·ee
sons of Badon Min, the eldest of the three surviving sons of Alaungpaya.
These young princes who were in close attendance on their cousin
found out the real intention in calling up the principal retainers of their
father and unclt>s. They gave timely warning of the impending danger to their father, who consulted his brothers as to what steps they
should take, pointing out that their lives were in danget·. Bad()n
Min's eldest son recommended immediate action to forestall the plana
of those who were trying to bring about their destruction; he said the
time was opportune as the attention and energies of t.he court party
were still directed towards capturing Singu Min. This recommendation was supported by Pindale Min as well as by the othet·s, and it was
resolved to take a counter stroke and seize the throne. A priest whom
Badon Min had been supporting was asked to examine the prince's
horoscope, make thorough astrological calculations, and find out the
auspicious moment for the execution of this counter stroke. The calculations showed that the afternoon of that very day, Mo11day the 14th
of waning of Tabodwe 1143 (February, A. D. 1782) coinciding with
the birth-day of Badon Min, was most auspicious, and it was therefore decided to put the scheme into execution at once. The struggle
that ensued between the usurping part.y and the palace guards could
not have been a serious one, as Maung Maung was captured t.hat very
evening and forthwith put to death.
Maung Maung, also known as Paunggaza, was born on Thursday the 6th of waxing Thadingyut 1125 (October, A. D. 1763 ) ;
he seized the throne from his cousin at the age of eighteen
years and fout· months, and before he could have really known what
sovereignty meant, bt>i ng probably a mt>re puppet in the hands of
scheming courtiers, was dethroned on the 7th day of his Kingship, fot·
which short-lived honon r he paid very dearly with his head.
Three days after the deposition and death of Maung :hfaung,
those who were engaged in the pursuit of Singu Min ' arrived with
him, his mother, sistet·s, queene, and personal attendants. Singu Min,
his four queens, and several of his attendants and adherents were
executed at once. This unfortunate King, whose regal title was Maim
Damayazadiyaza (Mahf~ Dhammarajadhiraja), WAS bom on Monda~' the
(
45
12th of waxing Kas0n 1118 (May, A. D. 1756), became King in succession to his father, on Mon day the lOth of waning Nayon 1138
(June, A. D. 1776), at the age of 20 yea.r:l and 1 month, reigned for
about 5 years and 8 months, and met an untimely death at the
hands of hia uncle. 'rhe Burmese historian says th'lt King Maha
Damayazadiyaza was very liberal in making donations for religious
put·poses, and gifts or rewards to his attendants, that the commencement of his reign was prosperous and qniet, and that he went wrong
only when he took to dt·ink.
46
SIR A HTH UR P. 'PH A. YHE'S' ACCO UNT OF
'fHE SAME NARRATIVE.
Denth of HsengIn the midst of thE's~ disasters Hsengbyusheng
bynsheng. Snc- died at Ava, and was succeeded by his son SinggusA
c<>ssion of Sin.ggnsa, June, A.D. at the age of nin eteen years . He was determined to
1776.
put an en d to the Siamese war. But Zeya Kyo by
court favour was allowed to return to the arm}', and
havin g succet>ded in a skirmi sh with th e SiamPse, was
considered to have atoned for his mutin ous conduct.
'Ihe armies in t he Upper Me nam and in the Zimme
ter ritory were ~ rd erecl to withdraw from the Siamese
territory, wh ere th ey no longe r could re main with
safe ty. Several office rs oufft! t·ed death for alleged
misconduct before the enP my, a nd 11IahA. Thihathura
was disgraced and deprivecl of his office of Wungyi.
Plots ngninst
SinggnoA., suspicious of plots, put to death a
younger broth er of hi s own, and a lso hi s uncle, the
Palace seir.ed by
conspirato rs . fourth son of Alau nghprtL The fif th so n, then lmowi1
as Badu n 'Meng, an astute prince, was sent to live at
Saga in g, wh ere he was close ly wat ched. Th e son of
Na un gdoagyt remain ed . Ma un g .Maung, who \\as a
child at the time of hi s father's d eath, became an
object of anxiet.y to the court pm·t.y as a probable tool
in the hanfl s of consp ira tors. He had been brought
up in a monastery, and was now placed in the village
of P haungH, where it was supposecl he wo uld b e less
dangerous t ha n elsewhere. The kin g seemed to be
sat isfied with the precautions taken agai n st conEpiracy,
and wearied with t he mon oton ous life in the palace,
all warlike exped iti ons b eing sus pend ed , made frequ~nt pjlgrimages to d istan t pagodas.
H e was accustomed to leave t he palace, and return sud den ly aft er an
interval without warnin g. A. couspiracy, which " :as
join ed by several influential men, was form ed against
him , and was supposed to be sec retl y support ed by
Badun Meng. This plot was fm·n1ed on the plausible
Sing-gu~a.
47
gr·ound that if th!l rule of succession 111 favour of th e
so11s of AlaunghprA. were clE•parted from, then t.he son
of t.he eldest, Naungdoagyi, had the best cbim. .As
possession of the palace is the chief manifestation of
right to the throne in Burma, the frequent absences of
Singgma soon offered a favoura ble opportunity to the
conspirators. The young king had gone with his chief
About 8th
ueen
,
his
mother,
aud
sisters
t
o
worship
at
a
pagoda
FebruarY,
A. [).
q
1781.
about fifty miles up the IrAwadi. The yo nng prince,
~Iaung Maung, came suddenly at midni ght to the
palace gate, and his followers demanded admission for
the king. The gnard at the outer gate admitterl th e
party without dPlay. .At on e of the inn er· gates th e
guar·d resisted, but was overpowered. Th e prince at
the head of his followers gained possession of th e
palace, and forced the high officia ls in charge therein,
to swear allegiance to him as king. In the mol'lling
several men of rank, old servants under forme r kings,
being summoned, arrived at th e cit.y and were appointed to office. Mahil. Thihathura took command of troops
to defend the palace. The Badun Meng and oth er
member·s of the r·oyal family came to the capital, and
remained apparently passive.
Singgusa was at this time at a village about fifty
miles distant. The next day he h eard of the event..
He at once, with all his retiime, crossed the river to
Singgumyu, intending to march down to the city.
H earing later that the whole of t he capital had turned
against him, he retired farther north to Sanpenago.
There his retinue gradually left him, and a.t last the
crews of the royal boats deserting, he was left with
only a few fol lowers and his own relations.
In the palace, the A twen W uns, ministers for Sueeestiion of
Bodonhpra.
personal affairs, quickly came to the conclusion that
th e boy Maung Maung was utterly unfit to rule. All
who had abetted the conspiracy looked to the Badun
.M:eng as the fittest to occupy the throne, He, prepared for the occasion, a.t once referred to the declara-
48
:Mnrch. A. D.
1782.
tion of .A.launghpra on his death-bed, that his sons
should succeed him according to their seniority. Already he had collected a body of armed men, and found
no difficulty in entering the palac~. ]l.faung Maung,
after a six days' reign, was seized and put to death.
He was only Pighteen ypars of age. Badun Meng was
forthwith pt·oclaimed king. He assumed various titles
afterwards, especially that of Hsengbyu Mya Sheng,
but is now usually known as Bodoahprd.. The unfortunate Singgusa, and those who remained with him,
were sent to the city as prisoners. and all, including
children and attendants, were ruthlessly burnt to
death.
CONTENTS.
Page.
NotcR ahout tht• Chanbnn, by l\fajo1· E. Seidenfaden
RninR at Muang Sing, Kanburi, by K. G. Gairdn cr
1 la
Note on nature and origin of Laturit.e, by R. r,e]homme
17
Meteorological Fignt'('S for 191 H
25
Contents and pri('.es of .lonma l
29
SOME NOTES ABOUT THE CHAUBUN.
A DISAPPEARING TRIBE IN THE KORAT PROVINCE.
BY
MAJOR
E.
SEIDENFADE!S OF THE PROVINCIAL GENDAHl\IERIE.
When on n tout· of in spection to t.he Am ph eu disLt·ict of Paktung-
(u-~'n1l~l~~)
chai
in t he month of Marc h this year (191 8) I had the
opportunity of mee ting so me members of the above na med tt·ibe and
from long conversations with two of their villnge elder"' I gathered the
following information which might be of interest both to ethn ologists
and philologists : The Chaubun, ot· as t hey call themselves ~Via-lmol, li ved un t.il
some 60 yeat·s ago mostly as hunters and nomad::; roa min g in t he big
vit·gin forests on the northern slopes of the Dungrek hills, which form
the bou:ndary between the Korat and the Pachin proviuces. The
limits of theit· t·oaming;; \\'e t·e to the west t he ill-famed Dung Phya Fai,
and to the e:Lst the sunrces of the Lam P lai .Mat, a tributary to the
Miin riv e t·. 'l'his pat·t of the Du ng rek chain, genet·ally called Pu
Khao t(ampeng Miiang, t•epre sents the highest and wild est part of the
whole chain a nd is clothed in lu xuriant virgin fot·est s. Some mountain
passes, only pmcticab!e for pedest.rians aml pack animals, lead down
to the Pachin plain::; from the Karat plateau, the best kno\\'n of these
passes being Cltung Sakaemt, due south of Paktun g-chai. In fonner
days before th e construction of the Komt railway, heavy traffic passed
through this last pass, untold numbers of pack bullocks bringing down
produce ft·om Korat and returning ll'ith merchandise from Muangs
Krabiu or Pachin, th e nearest ti\•er ports to Bangkok. Nowadays
all this has been altet·ed, the passes are rat·ely visited by man with
the exception of some few cattle th ieves or gendannerie patt·ols. I n the
big mysterious forest all sorts of game abound. The tiger and the wild
elephant are common, sambur, buck and barking deer abound, even
the terrible lmting ox is met with here, and sometimes if you are
lucky, as I was once, you may have a glimpse of t,hat rare animal the
rhinoceros,
(
2
)
Among the trees you will Hnd the valuable
ro~ewood
(hJ'-' Y-H.J,.:1) ,
and others producing the Mai Luk Put., Mai 'l'om and Mai J-um Nii.m
used for the fabrication of the fragrant t 6bs and joss-sticks. Among
the clinging lianas the rattan and rubber-liana. anrl then all sorts of
beautiful orchids, ahonud too. Down the mountain slopes between
towering moss-cla<l rock s roll and twist myriads of crystal-pure broohlets, which all go to feed the waters of Mun far away in the plains.
In these smroundi11gs lived and hunted the Nia-kiiuls, planting their
rais with rice, Indian com, tobacco and gourds and dwelling undet·
primitive leaf shelters un t il some 60 years ago, when they were induced
to come down from their mountain fastnesses to the plain and ~ettl~ in
orderly built villages like other people. They :ua now mainly to be
found in the tambon of Dakrup, about 15 miles S. W. of Paktung-chai,
fum~ing here 5 villages numbering about 500 Nia-knol-speaking souls.
There ar~ also to be found Nia-knols in Ban Dalingchan, tambon
Konburi, S. E. of Paktung-chai, and in Ban Mabkrat, tambon Chae
(L~:)
Ampheu Kratok
(nr:m:m).
In B. Dalingchan they number at
most 20, in B. Mabkrat the number given to mr~ was about 200 persons.
According to this the whole tribe should number about 700 individuals,
but the numbet· of Nialmol-speal,Jng is not mot·e than 500 to 600, as
these people are rapidly becoming assimilated by the surrounding 'l'ai
and losing theit· characteristic peculiarities. The children in some
villages are alt·eady ignorant of th e language of their parents, and for
the rest most of the members of the tribe prefer now to be called Tai
fot· fear of being tet·med "savage". [Exactly the same thing is met within
the Ubon-province, where the Sui ot· Kui like to call themselves Lao
or Khmer instead of their proper name~.J
Aymouier in his book
" Voyage dans le Laos" ( 1883-84) cites seve!·al other names of villages
besides B. ilHi.bkrat in tambon Chae as peopled by Nia-kuols. I have
not been able to identify these uames and doubt if this authot· was
correctly informed. The purest Nia-kuol tongue is spoken in tambon
Dakrup; in other places the language is getting mixed up with
l'ai-icisms.
The name Chau-bun ( "lflfJ
lJ hi)
given to these poeple
by the 'l'ai people signi!ies of course "people from the upper
pat·ts" on Hill people, the ~ignificance of the name given by
themsel ve~, Nia-kuol,_ being the sam e, the t.et·m "kii.ol" staudiug for
mountain, Nia for people.
(
3
)
I shall now try to cast some lig-ht on the origin of this interesting tribe, and I beg beforehand the pardon of tho;;e learned in the
antiquities of Indo-China for my perhaps too daring hypotheses. But
as the fit•ld, as fat· a:> I can gather, is yet unt.illed my conclusions might
b~ uf interest. In appearance the Niakuols are dark skinned of a
chocolate brown, some even darker, with genet·ally bt·oad featm·es much
rosembling the Kamen-deum ot· Kui-niia in Ubon. ln some of them the
ft>atures at·e distinctly negroid with heavy mouths, dilated nostrils and
somewhat curly hair. Their stature is of middle height and as their
lan g uage, as will be seen from the li st of w01·ds attached to this article,
partly resembles Mohn, partly Khmer and p(u·tly Kui ot· Kl1a, it may
safely be inf~ned that they belong to the great Mohn-Khmer family.
In his hu.ge work " Reseat·ches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern
Asia" the lamented Colonel Gerini, in speaking about the legendary
Ho-t on, the black simian-like aborigines of Champa and · the Ho-tonlilce IGla-ut in the A nnamese cordi llt>ra, tells us that he has rediscovered
this legenclnry people in a tribe living on the southern slopes of the
Karat plateau ( vid~;> pages <:l52, 257 and 785 of the above cited work).
Regarding the correctness of this statement I am not qualified to
express an opinion, but the name Ho-ton or Kha-nt is cet'tainly
unknown in these regions. Besicles the Chaubuns, one finds in the
territory of Ampheus PaHnng-chai and Kratok exi led Mohns, Lans
f1·om Wieng-chan, Tai, and a single village peoples by Khas, former
prisoners of war (from the Attapeu region I believe), who have all
forgotten their language \\ ith the exct>ption of one ancient pair. The
name of these Kha is, as far I understand, K:1.tang. [About these
people I intend befot·e long to write anothet· paper.] By reason of the
negroid strains in the Niakuols one might be tempted to affiliate them
to the Chungs in Chantaburi, about one-twentiet,h of the last named
tribe being said to be negroid. .And looking on the gl'eat amount of
Mohn-Khmer words nnd expressions, nnothet· idea ( not necessarily in
conflict with the first OtH~) forces itself on one's mind. We hear vet·y
often that befure the ad\•e11t of the conquering Tai from the North, the
lower valley of the Mennm Chao Phya was peopled by Mohn-Khmtit·s,
the river partly formi11~ the barrier between them, if a barrier it can
be called, because the la11gnage spoken by these Mohn-Khmtirs was a
a common one. 'l'he question is uow: Does the Nia-kuol tongue not
represent this former common language out of which the later separate
Mohn and Khm~~· languages WP.re shaped? Not being a philologist
(
4
)
myself I do not pretend to solve this question, but would only suggest
that there might be something in the above stated hypothesis.
About the life and manners of the Nia-kuols, and their mode of
gaining a livelihood there is not much to be said. They till the gt·ound,
rear cattle and buffaloes, live in pile buildings like the surrounding 'l'ai
and Laos, the religion of whom they have embraced too. Their
women differ a little, especially t,hose in B. Dah.rup, wearing yet a
peculiar kind of clothing called N'nik consisting of a single very long
piece of homespun cotton which is wrapped round the waist several times
and finallY. tied in a knot over the right hip. When. tmvelling the
women carry a basket on their back fot· putting food and things in.
Small children are borne in a scarf riding on the hip of the mother.
For carrying water the Nia-kuol gil'l formerly used bamboos like the
Khas; now the common lclu or watertight basket is used instead.
Some of the Nia-kuol gi rls are quite good looking, and at·e gene rally
in great demand among the yout,hs of the neighbouring Tai villages.
This intermarrying makes fot· the mpid assimilation of the whole tribe~
Indeed the disappearance of the Nia-kuols, or at any rate of their
language, is now only a question of time, a very short time too. The
study of the langnage undet·taken by a tr11ined philologist as soon as
possible to pre~erve it for posterit.y, <eems, thPr<'fore, to be a matter
of nrgent importanct>.
(
5
)
A LIST OF N1A-KUOL WORDS AND FXPRESSIONS.
Talaing
Nia-kuol
English
one
two
three
fom·
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
twenty
twenty-one
thirty
one hundred
one thousand
ten thousand
miii
barl
hi
ban
son
trau
dambo
danjam
njit
jat
jat mui
jat bar!
har l sui
barl sui mui
bi sui
mui chuk
mui pan
jat pan
miia
ba
boy
born
basong
barau
hahn
hajam
hajit
jo
jo moa
jo bii
baju
bajn moa
boy ju
klom
nim
Iak
I
Voy
We
Boy
{Oa
Oa doich
Boy
•You
Pe
Be
of me (my)
of you (your)
r,ight
left
below
over
before
behind
far
near
*they
inside
outside
east
west
north
south
sun
moon
stars
dak voy
dal( pe
S, K
sdom
s,·e
K
kantrom
K
kandul
K
nang jamo
sang krau
K
cha ngoy
ngen
yin
kangnow
kangnok (Tai)
ta-ngai dun
ta-ngai je
kang blai din
kiing hun. non
ta-ngai
K
kando
pagay
K
mak on.
mak be
pabeung
pabay
lakhamo
lakhadao
hadamok
toarau
hur~
klob
n1r
lakhatua
lakha-nge
hamok
a lot
haleung jia
hamo jia
ngoa
hadab
B.'nong
Remarks
{ Pe in
the Wah
tongue
(
English
6
)
Talaing
Nia-kuol
-- ~·--
aldi
ran gay
sky
mot proar
rook (Tai)
cloud
proar
proy
ra111
S-K jii
!my all
wind
hal•eu hareuin
l•oo l plo
thunder
ehaleu bok
mat cha.low
lightning
ta-ngai
K an goa
day
had om
bad am
night
voa no
hai o
to-day
muol
ye
to-mOt'l'OW
ngoa- ne
a~li-ngai
yest et·day
laniir
uoa ha ye
rooming
tcang (Tai)
uoa ngoa
midday
)
bai
bai
aft ern oou
( "
uoa jansok ngon
plo
evening
katlt ob
dap
head
sok
sok
hai t·
jami:i
sungmo
nose
katuol
ado
ear
mat,
K-S mot
eye
bain
bang
mouth
fiier
mr
tooth
handak
adach
tongue
natn
san am
skin
hand
cloy
S-K} toa
ken (Tai)
at·m
dere
breast
so
breasts of a
} do
do
woman
sok me
beard
asok bai:n
thO I
leg
jan
chong
K dajan
fool
phong (1'ai)
st,omach
bong
kasing
dutch a
back
chalot
bone
jot
stm
ch im
blood
){onjot
hem·t
fiom
lopsong
bo nghamao
sou l
?
jematao
god
spi r·it
kantrok
ka lak
a yon
life
?
n\1i
mankind
mane
n'nik row
pitrui
man
n'ni brer
woman
prau
koan
S-K kon
child
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
Re marks
(
English
7
Nia-kuol
)
'ralaing
!wan trui
SOil
claughter
!wan pmu
father·
pa
s
mother
ong
elder brother
bong
K
younger brother kanje
elder sister~
l'lo
younger sister
kanje prau
elder uncle
tawai
younger uncle
miim
aunt
cham om
nephew-niece
kamiin
K
husband
mang
wife
prau
coat
po
trouser·s
gonggeng
skirt
nik
sandal
wrtkthting
earring
~rang
good
ymap
bad
ku-janap
false
, n'deu
true-honest
tiov
K
pretty
salwn
pretty girl
Iabat tamhik
ugly
ta-eum
meagre
trai
fat
oan (Tai)
thick
sdom
thin
1 t r·iii
clean
tamtrik
dirty
ku-tamtrik
high
salong
low
sel
wide
kuang (Tai)
narrow
keb
(" )
cheap
tok
(")
rich
nom
dear
peng
poor
jon
young
play
K
old
pacho
big
ado
small-little
kandik
close to
tong fien
..
kor. krow
kon brer
apa
me
kau
de
boa
de
anat
acle
enai
kon jao
luau
hrer
alo
gang gong
ning halach
hanok
lmwoin
kvo
hn-k vo
kanj
!~nj
Je
n'ni brer· je
hu-je
sii.ch
kro
dam
kroy
a
hu-a
plong
so
ploa
diin
dai
sach
dang
dak
play
yu
nok
dot
klob
Remarks
(
English
pleasant
painful
kind
evil
light.
dark
cold
hot
warm
many
few
round
flat
strong
weak
reel
whit e
black
blue
green
yellow
8
:Nia-kuol
)
Talaing
mPb
ke
jot ko
hu fo
am a
klu
kuk
sanuk (Ta.i)
choy
fium janap
fiutn kute
chen g (Tai)
kathtin
Ia-n geum
katao
ngeurn
klong
not
!dum (Tai)
bE:m t'l'ai)
kr-Ing
yom
palheng
song
pliet
} atao
num klauj
num ngi
had om
habe
tot
hu-tot
haket
bn
ajok
} laichok
prajiin
K
srti
pa~dyfield
kma
ra1
srow
p.addy
langkow
rice
mani ba sre
culti vat ot·
pran
huntPr
K
oak
water
kamat
fire
firewood
oey
sangki
house
dong
village
kamul
roof
K
kadal
floor
tanun
ladd er
bangmang
wall
K
rice cooking pot tam bay
pail
} use of Taiwords
basket
net
I
suang
hachet
K
kanchul
needle
kasun ('rai)
bow
ta-nga
arrow
changkrom
spear
s
se saniet
se dakmit
ne
ku
so
hau
ro 11e
1€\m{i
dach
a mot
0
hoi
kwii~~j
ammJeuing
hado
an en
had eng
hamai bong
noich
moi
anemn
nu (nu)
nu
no
Hemal'lcs
~I
(
English
Nin.-knol
Talaiug
- - - ---· ·····- ----~-----sword
gold
silver
iron
stone
earth
salt
:sugar
medecint'
poison
tobacco
horse
sta llion
mat·e
bullock
buffalo
dog
cat
fowl
coc k
.lwn
hen's t'<Y<<
elepha nt
:;ambnr
lamang
barking d t.PI.'
wiJo OX
monke,v
tiget•
bin1
erocodi J.. ,
:;erpent
fish
tlea
· ~:":"I
fiy
1ll ilk
tree
l ~OC0:1
paint
d ipthel'Oeaq ltli:i
cot. ton
~ilk
g'l'h.SS
flmYer
dao
tongkom (Tai)
pra (k)
pasoy
tamo
K
pa-iwl
dak clan
as rob
lmnui
as rob
se
I se do knm
I se do chnl
, song
pneug
hiikre
~uol
mias
sang
sang c1o kma
sang clo c lllll
i vei sat hiim
ij1ng
t.abnng
chiclok
j bai
~ song kriih
I kani:ii
ynng IJe ng
! kanjie m
kan1n
k!Jk
I
py
s
S,K
K
K
dni
dak clo
1
dam so
clam se k rlcmg
dam lmyiin g
duo!
mai ('l'ai)
kampat
gao
~on
asoa
mo
K doi
beu
de
];:a
setng
tu
haui
uichi
haui sening
che
che male
che heu
kre1·
pneng
klu
hakoa
janj
janj mak
janj ben
hamai janj
j euingkrai
piing
i
J__
I
I
i
I
I
II
I
I
I
aleuiu bub
n01
Id a
hajem
kiam
sum
ka
rai
rui
dach do
I nom ch u
nom habz·e
11om ye
do
soch
chua
{
gao
I
The idrnti.<.:al
woz·cl in mauv
1\hii <linled;.
1I I
(
leaf
:fruit
forest
plain
mountain
hill
valley
n ver
rivu let
eans
chief-king
to take
go
have
Hot to have
come
to be preseu t
boil water
kind le a fire
to exti nguish
sala so
sek so
pan om
tung ('r:ti)
kuol
tEmom
hob kuol
duk
b·ong
ri.i.a (Tai)
ka la pende
.i iet
arl
nom
ku-nom
lung
tong tOm
I1!k clnk
j01_1_
g kmat
1
plot kmat.
to live , t o be
I. tong
1li e
; lmjt k
l'Ull
! tariep
:;top
:;it dO\Yll
lie clO\nl
sleep
dream
:t\rakell
eat
YJl1l
ton ,.,u
: buin
sangkni
bo
cWI (to !)
,iia bon g
sung rbk
kot
p eng
yon (Tai :')
tub boy
lmmai
yen
kavien g
che
rob , sko
yuk (Tai)
ba
ba lot
ram (Tai)
1lrink
bite
stool
stand
strike
see
call
throw
drop
fight.
lift
do, work
do evil
Lhnce
'ralaing
Nia-kuol
English
1
i
Re marks
ana elm
sot chu
k leub
kok
do
do it pll-ing
ak ra do
rlach bi
rbch kreuno·
n
klfmiug
lmb do i
ket
K
K
i\,
llUill
It u- nriia
,..,
/ kl ennu
, num
bo dach
hado amot
K a lot amol
mon g d nhii.me
110
chot
kriJ.>
denv
hajO\\.
no it
!( h 'len in
ilbo
ngu
R jir bi5ng
senng dac h
ket
K bon
S
IhadiJa
hacl~ta
ng;:it, ch en
I kav
h:uk
ieng to
I
che
dak ni r ko
yach h~tdon
ba to
ba halam biib
le
(
ll
N in.-kuol
E ng lish
kathiin g
pull
tre
love
ta moan
hate
do
get up
r id e a horse
du n ch e 'il
ph ii l
fl y ( a bird )
k on go
thi s
A rl pe nuw
\Vh et·e are yon
goin g r
\ Yhere do yo u
lnn g ya ng
come h om ?
hftn
Wh a t. is vour
I P~ chii yang
"nam e? ;
" li an
If ow olc1 ar e
Ay LL pi• tau mo
yon ? ·
du ng
c hiin
t hu
ha lachaclor
dnch che
bor
I no
B i ii. lnr
Pe
i
H o wfa1·i s it '~
~ G han g i iy t a u
K leun g nu lor
.A. mu ha lor r:w :
I'
l ·r.:1.\' !'
!
'
Bi
it
yo k mtm :
chi .
1
H namn achi .
h::d o11 ch ·
mo
Wh:.t. d o y on
call t.hi :-
R ema rk
Ta lai ng
Kn pe c ha 1110
i
E no mnbi
kuk riio i
I' ",· p t. sat 11nm
..
B'mnm 11a- mm.
yo n go t.
eggs ·~ •
p~ n c)m g o
chanj hu
L t.h e vill age
hf':tcl 111:1 11
r.
Pnj a i clong
Ih yai hi.11
to ng g o
1111111 ha
I
'J'h e above list of ll'orrl s i;; of cour8e n ot at all compl Pt e, no1· do
l claim a bsolute co rrect.n ess of spellin g a s thi s is m y fi rst a tt empt at
s uch a philological essay. T he reader will easily be able to pick out t he
words resembling Mohn ; word s r esemb lin g K me r a r e d esig na t ed with
a K aml t hose r esemblin g Kui or S ui wit h an S . Concernin g t he
cardinal numbe rs t h ese are n ea rl y id ent ical in }fohn , K ui , ~ in. K uoL
Kmet· a nd :1 g reat number of K hit lan guages.
K a rat, Sept. the 11th , 191 S.
E.
SE IDF. WADE~ .
( il
RUINS AT MUANG SiNG, KANBURI.
When I first suggested to the Council of the Siam Society
that it ·would be ·well to put on record the existence of the ancient
ruins at Muang Sing, I was unaware that they had already been
described. His Royal Highness Prince Damrong has, howe,·er,
kindly lent me a copy of M. de Lajonquiere's book :1 and now all
that remains for me to do is to point out errors in the plan and consequently in the description, add one or two important facts-notably the existence of statuary-and give some description of the
locality and whereabouts of these ruins, so perhaps enabling others
to arrive at conclusions as to their origin and period.
Muang Sing is situated on the ea::.t bank of the Quaa N oi
river in North Latitude 14°2' and East Longitude 99°15'. It lies
20 miles due west of the modern Muang Kanburi, the latter town
being situated at .the junction of the Quaa Yai and Quaa Noi, the
two branches forming the Meklong river.
The great outer walls measured approximately one kilometre
on the side, and are now almost entirely covered with earth and
bamboo jungle, remaining merely as huge mounds. At some points,
perhaps in the vicinity of gate openings, there were inner walls
running parallel to the outer walls but not so large. Without extensive clearing and digging it would not be safe to say whether
the original wall was composed of laterite or brick as both occur, or
whether an earthen wall was faced with these materials. On the
western side the wall is adjacent to, and may have overlooked the
river. This is not certain, however, as more detailed levelling might
show that the depressed area to the east of the ruins had once been
the river bed.
The Temple occupies a fairly central position within the
outer walls and is rectangular in plan and oriented truly north and
south. The exterior north and south faces measure 41 metres and
the eastern and western faces 33 and 331 metres. On the south
face the centre of the doorway is 17 metres from the south-west
1 "The r.rchreological possessions of Siam"
de Lajonquiere. Paris 1909.
by M. le Commandant
( L2
)
.corner. The block plan made in 1915 shows no opening at all on
the outside face of the north wall, nor do I remember one; yet
on the internal face of the cloisters exist the " set-off..," for
thickened walls, such as ·would support the "gopura" or tower
surmounting a doorway. If there was a doorway on ~he northern
face it was therefore nearly opposite the southern doorway.
'l'he western doorway, of which I ma.de a sketch~ in 1914
-( Plate I), is in fair preselTation, and the centre of the doorway i;.;
ll:i metres from the S. W. corner of the rectangle, and 17 t metres
from the N. W. corner. On the eastern face these measurements
are reven!ed, the centre of the doorway being 16 metres from the
N. E. corner.
Tlnu; the eastern and western doorways are not
opposite one another, and this is I believe an illlportant point in
assigning a period to Brahminical work.
'rhe measurements giYen above are of importance, as apparently l\1. de Lajonquiere made only a hurried sun·ey and measured
only one face (probably the western, being in fair preservation) on
" -hich he has erected a hypothetical plan of an absolutely square
building measuring 33 metres on the external faces, and which he
describes as follows : " In the centre the square Sanctuary in laterite is open on
"all its sides; around it extendR a system of four galleries, inter" cepted at the set-off of t he axis of the Sanctuary by gopura with
" lateral halls following the four sides of a quadrilateral; covered
"galleries unite these gopura with the Sanctuary, the additional
"rectangular structure opening towards the west is placed in the
"south-east angle of the enclosure; on the ont~->ide, a laterite wall
"with a coping, which forms the second enclosure, haR not been
"completed but the sras (ta.nk) has been regularly dug out on
"the west.
"All this is very much in decay, chiefly the Sa.nctuary and
"the converging ga.lleries. However when I was able to dis" tinguish the outstanding lines of the building under the mass
" of fallen stones I perceived, first, that the quadrilateral of the
2 I have compared the sketch with a photograph, and find I have
· ~mitted the socket holes at the sides wherein formerly was bedded the
wooden lintel of the doorway . ·
PLATE ll
Cloiste? ·s along the No1·th Wall; view {?·om inside the walls.
MuANG SING,KANBURI
( IJ,Y~.IJ.)
( 13
"galleries was square and not rectangular; 2nd, that the north
" and south axis of the SanC't.uary was on a median line and
·"had not been turned towards t.he West; 3rd, that there was no
·· trace of decoration on the doors ; 4th, that all the structures had
" been covered both outside and inside by a layer of lime; 5th, that
·• a fragment of this layer still adheres to the outside comice of
" the second terrace of the eastern gopura. There were traces of
"'ornamental design not to be found in the Cambodgian decorations.
"Here we haYe traces which do not permit of the complete identi,, fication of this temple with those built by the Kambujas. Al" though there was no statue at Muang Sing, only some sunk
" pedestals of washing basins, one may say that considering its
" arrangement, this temple was consecrated to the cult of Erahma."
I have no reason to doubt the measurements gi,·en above,
which haYe been taken off a large scale block plan made by
the Royal Sun·ey Department in 1915 and which I spent several
hours checking myself. M. de Lajonquiere'~:~ premises may therefore be considered incorrect :-thE: temple is rectangular. Secondly :-the mass of stones representing the Sanctuary and a small
portion of the north-east external corner of the Sanctuary still
intact, are immediately north of the southern doorway, and thus
the Sanctuary was not on a median line but was some seven metres
nearer to the western doorway than to th e eastern.
It is doubtful, too, whether the covered galleries, or cloisters,
mn the entire length of the outer walls as shown on M. de
Lajonquiere's plan. In the south-east angle, there wbuld certainly
have been room for a gallery, but it would have blocked out all
light from the grille window of the isolated library or treasury, and
my plan shows no trace of any second wall containing galleries
such as occurs on the north side, and also the heaps of fallen
masonry diminish in volume at this point.
The gallery in the N. E. corner of the north wall is in good
preservation ( Plate II ) and the plate affords some idea of the size
of the laterite blocks employed and of the scheme of decoration.
In the north-west angle the arrangement was somewhat
different, the gallery on the western wall having only one doorway,
.and on the north the gallery wall was thickened out considerably
( 14
)
and projects beyond the general line of the gallery wall in the
N. E. angle.
At a point near one of the gallery doorways I dug down a
short. distance hoping to discover paving, but at a depth of 18 inches
the first step of the foundations appeared, and nothing was found
save lime mortar and a few broken pieces of coarse red pottery.
The ground level within the temple walls was raised some
two or three feet above that of the surrounding courtyard, the latter
again being raise::l slightly above the general level. The doorsmust therefore have been approached by stairways now obscured.
The courtyard is enclosed by a dwarf wall above one and a half
metres in height, and portion8 of which are Atill standing on all
save the western side, but on this side the foundations remain.
This wall varied in distance from the ten1ple, on the west being
15 metres distant, on t he north and south side 22 metres and on
the eastern side 37 metres.
The wall was substantial and had a plinth, and a coping of
peculiar design, but I regret to say the sketches ha\re been mislaid.
Outside this dwarf wall on the north side is a square platform
composed of laterite blocks, and on these are the remainR of a
large:: and a small "Prachedi."
'l'hese have fallen in and · now present the appearance
of hollow craters. In front of these again to the east is a considera.ble area of low ground, and also to the . west of the Temple are
other similar areas, which probably indicate " Sahs" or tanks.
A little digging was done in these, but again only red pottery was
found.
Some time in May 1915, priests or villagers excavated two
stone figures (Plate III), the ornamentation still surprizingly sharp~
The stone employed was a hard grey sandstGne. These were found
on the eastern front.
On the eastern tower a good deal of plaster still adheres to
the stonework, and it looked as though this plaster had been added
a.t a much later date or had been repaired. Only at one point was
ornamental plaster obser ved, and that the remains of a frieze or·
cornice, the detail of which is reproduced on Plate I. :M. de
Lajonquiere assumes that the whole building was originally covered
------L--(1) Stone figure.
Cir«Jmfermu qf 1DtU.t o.69.5m.
( 14) Sume JigUra Baek vieur.
arotf;ff'l/crntM of w.ril't l.llm.
MUANO SING, KANBURI
stone filfu.... exoavded in 191
a.
\
L!j
with plaster; but had the original founders int.ended to cover the
building and use plaster ornamentation they surely would not
waste labour in carving so unkind a material as laterite stone.
Summing up M. de Lajonquiere says:" In the south-east angle of a regular inclosure formed by
"raised pieces of ground which limit an area measuring 4 square
" kilometres we appear to have one of th ese Hindu-Brahmin King" dorns which were plentifull y di stributed in th e SiameRe valley
" before the arrival of the 'l'hail'l. But what waR this Kingdom ?
"I have not found eith er n,t Mnang Sing or in the snrroundings any
"inscriptior~ or indication t egarding it. Thirty kilometres to the
"east on the great arm of the Meklong there certainly existed an
"old Thai town named Kanchanaburi, which was somewhat famouR
"and seems likewise to h~ve been a King's residence." M. de
La.jonquiere then suggests that perhaps these two towns were con temporaneous, neither being very ancient, and that Muang Sjng
was perhaps the work of some Cambodgian colony brought there in
exile after the great wars of freedom.
For this suggestion I can Ree no justification at all, as it
was hardly the custom of mediaeval kingR to allow exiles to
build palaces of stone for themseiYeR within a few kilometres
of their capitals. It seernR far more probable that Muang Sing
was already long in existence and vms destroyed by the Thai
King of Kanburi, who perhaps afterwards r epaired Muang Sing
with brick, and helrl it as an outwork at the mouth of the passeR
..
from Tavoy.
As to wheth er the founders of Muang Sing came from the
east, as M. de Lajonquiere supposes, or from Tavoy in the west, I
am not competent to offer an opinion, but it seemR a natnral spot to
choose as a fort or as a halting place.
On the west bank, opposite Muang Sing, is the month of
the Me Kraban st.ream , which rises tweln miles away to the southwest. Near the source of this stream , and opposite a hot-spring ,
the great dividing range or watershed between Siam and Burma
drops to 359 metres above sea level-the low est pass for se n )ral
hundred mil es north or south. The better known "Amla " pass
fiv e mi les to the Routh n,nd th e ":Bongti " paRs, foll owed by th e n ew
( ]6
)
telegraph line, 11 miles to the north, are both over 600 metres
in elevation.
The rugged limestone mountains dividing the two branches
of the Meklong cease in the latitude of Muang Sing, and and on
the east bank of the Meklong the continuous mountain ranges
ext ending from several hundred miles to the north cease in this
latitude also. 'l'hus Mua.ng Sing probably stood on the rente all
travellers would take coming from Tavoy in the west, and skirting
tlw foothillR on their way t o Sri Vijaya (Nakon Patom) and I.Jopburi.
The Qnaa Noi river, on which th ese ruins stand, is fa t· mom
navigable than the Quaa Yai, for, although the latter has double thl'
discharge of water . it has a far Rt.eeper graclient and many more
rapid::;.
Were the builders of Mnang Sing aR skill ed in the use of
timber as in hard stone, a furth er point which may have appealed
to them in choosing this site is that, on the Quaa N oi, t eak tiinber.
grows in considerable quantitieR and iR easily accessible; whereas on
the Qnaa Yai, it exist::; only very much further north and is mo::;t.
clifficnlt to extract.
Persons desirous of \·isiting these ruins should make for the
village of 'l'a-ki-len near by, and there obtain a guide. as th e ruim;
are overgrown and He in such a tangle of bamboo jungle that some
time may be spent searching for the 'l'emple even when th e
outer walls have been found and crossed. By following the road
~rom Kanburi to Ta-ki-len the site of the ancient Muang Krut will
be crossed. This lies under and to the north of Kow Kaaoh, six
kilometres due east of Muang Sing. I did not visit this place
myself, but so far as I rem ember the surveyors r eported that there
was very little to be seen.
K. G. GAIRDNER
(
17
)
NOTE ON THEN ATURE AND ORIGIN OF LATERITE.
BY
R.
B~:LJmMME, ~.A.-B.A.I.-Assoo. MEM. INsT. C.E.VIcE-PRESIDENT.
To the Student o£ the Archaeology of the Indo-Chinese
Peninsuia the word "Laterite" is an ever-recurring one inasmuch
.as most of the magnificent old ruins which have, more or less•
resisted the ravages of climate and vegetation had been built with
this material.
But while the name and the appearance of Laterite are
familiar to the tourist and Archaeologist, the origin and structure
of this stone seem to be little known to them and no wonder at
t.hi:s since Geologists, tll'~mselves, are far from having reached
-complete agreement thereanent!
At the President's request, the writer has undertaken to
condense, for the benefit of the lay reader, the latest theories prop;mnded by eminent Geologists on the formation of Laterite.
The writer lays uo claim to originality; this work is merely
<J il t' of compih1tion.
What is Laterite ?
T he Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the rock as being:"a red or bz·own superficial deposit of clay or earth
" which gathers on the surface of rocks and has been
" produced by their decomposition; it is very common
'' in twpical regions."
.Morrow Campbell, a great authority on the subject, describes
t.lw roek and its formation as follows:" Laterization is the process by which the hydroxides
" of ferric iron, aJuminium and titanium are intro.. duced into the mass of any rock near the surface.
" Laterization involves deposition only " .... . . . ....... .
twel~ ll
'L'he ea.ret'ul reader will not fail to notice a discrepancy beth,~s~~ two statements, to wit:-
While both authorities agree that the process of Laterization
one of leaching followed by deposition, the Encyclopaedia Britan.n iea te lls U» that t.hc deposition takes place in " clay or earth ''
i~>
Jl8
1d1ile Morrow Campbell states that the- deposition takes place " into·
t he mass of any ROCK ".
'l'he point is of importance because, by the fil:st theory ,.
]"aterite would be merely an indurated clay while, by the Recond ,
it would be a conglomerate ..
Considering that soft Laterites, wb'ch hard en by exposure,
do exi~t, the writer is of opinion that deposition In day or e-arth i'~
t he more common pt·oduct to be called by that name.
How is Laterite formed ?
The answer is implied in th e two definitions already given
lmt the process deserves lengthier and more detailed description : The rainwater which falls over a valley partly runs awa_v
on the surface and partly percolates slowly through the gronnd·.
Such waters as slowly percolate through th e ground travel
over or through the differwt strata from a. higher to a lower level
1'lntil they reach a point of escape into a stream or a state of
equilibrium.
These undergroull}d waters a~e rommonly known as sub-soilor subterranean waters,
Suppose that a section he now cut across l-mch a va.!Iey, we
would find : At the bottmn of the v<lilley, a water course with its bankH,
then the two sloping sides w hieh gradually rise to the top of the
hills.
Since percolation takes place- through the sloping strata. of
.t he valley these strata can be divided into three zones:1.-The zone of Non-8aturation-this zone includes all Strata
through which the waters simply percolate withont. ever remaining in them ;
2.-The zone of Intermittent Satura.tiou-t.his zone includes all
Strata in which t he action of capillarity can temporarily hold
the percolating waters down to the lowest point. to which a.t-mospheric oxygen can penetrate.
3.-The zone of Permanent Saturation--this zone clearly implie:::.
such waters as are imprisoned below the level. of our stream.
or these t.hree zones Uw watfW!'I in the secottd. or zone of
(
IH
Intermittent Sa,t.urat ion , are the on :Js active in the process of Later1zation.
For th~ 1ittkc of brevity, modern Geologistl:l have coined n
new word for these waters which are called " VADOSE " waters.
In tropical countries, snch " VADOSE" waters contain more
carbonic acid, -alkaline carbonates, organic matters, etc., than in
colder climates ; t hey are also at a higher temperature.
All th ese elements expl-ain why rocks th at are leached by
such waters, in the tropics, are more rapid ly altered and also wh~·
Laterite is much more commonly met with in tropical countri e;;
than in -colder ones.
Some of the changes brought about in rocks subj ect to th e
:action of " Vadose " waters may be described as fol lows :-siliceous
rocks are changed into alkaline silic11t es with evolution of carboni<·
.acid- ferric rocks give rise t o ferrous bi-carbonates- l ime a.n'd
magnesia are removed-double silica.tes of magn esia and aluminR
break up, y ielding hydrous silicates of mag nesia (which disappet•,r in
the tropics) and of alumina (which r ema.in)-even quartz is slowly
dissolved- certa.in double sil icates yield the beautiful rock k:1o·wn
as Serpentine whil e, in certain cases, the r esult appears in the form
of Talc-in the case of ferriferous minerals, tlw iron woulrl b<·
gradually r educed and appear on t.h e Snl'face H·S fenic hydrates nnd
oxides.
With th ese facts .in mind, .l et us now r etmn to th e banks o!'
tl1 e stream in our irnagin::try Hectiou through th e valley.
The section of our ima.ginary st.r .~am bed in the tropi<:::;
would mmally be a!:l follows:One bank is steep, composed of decomposed t;<:h ist below and
capped wit.h laterite ; the other bunk has a gradu<11 slope leading
to a steep one, also capped with laterite. The " VADOSE " water:-;
would reach the stream though tlw st.rata hPiow thi s gradually
sloping bank and here would occur the zmw. uf latedzation- it i~
in this zone that laterite w<mld now be fo~:ming.
It should here be remembered that later-ite i::; not rlerived
from a rock but is th o result of tlw remo val of tb e gr<jater part. of
th e minoral matter 0r iginally in that rork 1111rl t lw >;ul.n:;titution in
tn
)
it.'1 pla.ce of other· mineral matter held in solution by the " vadose
waLers :-" Leaching and Deposition."
The laterite mentioned as existing at the top of the steep
hanks would be dead laterite formed ages ago when the stream ~tood
at a higher level.
The process of laterization cannot go on above the reach of
" VA DOSE " waters, but it also ceases if the thickness of the rock
above becomes too great to allow of oxygen r eaching the
" VADOSE " waters.
From this imaginary section and the process above described
we can now deduce the reasons why Laterite occurs in layers and
why the thickness of these layers is generally limited to about le~>l'
than 30 feet : -
It is in layers: because the process of laterizatiou can only
proceed in the zone of " VADOSE " waters ;
It is of fairly regular thicknesses (about 20 feet): because,
as Laterite beds· thicken, their rate of formation diminishes rapidly
owing to the obstacle the formation itself presents to the acceHs of
oxygen.
Returning once more to our imaginary Stream: sooner or
later, the stream would be hemmed in by t.he newly formed Laterite
escarpments and the resistance of the latter would prevent rapid
widening of the stream .
As soon as the stream has dug down into its hed, widening·
would become much more rapid owing to undermining.
The
Laterite would break away, first on one bank and then on the othe1·.
The channel across the bed would gradually be widened and deepened, the zone of Intermittent Saturation would be lowered and the
process of Laterization would start again at a deeper level.
The reader should remember that the process here so shortly described takes hundreds of years in its evolution and that th e
movements of our imaginary stream bed are much fp1ieker t-han tlw
phenomen~n of laterization.
~L
Water that leaches rocks and transports and deposits their
contents into other rocks, such as shales and clays, in such a manner
as to alter tho .>c latter into Laterite must b e aetive fo r centuries.
A remark which is of importance and which will now be
easily understood is that :-only porous rocks are eapa ble of being
laterized.
Clay is a substance recepti ve of water and so we eorne to
conciliate the two definitions of Laterite given at the outset.
Many varieties of Lat erit e lmYe been r ecognised :-the useful
building material known in I ndia as '' kunka r '' is a ealcareom;
laterite a~d serves as a hydrau lic cement ; in Ceylon a kind of clay
locally known as "cabook " is also a vari ety of laterite; m some
districts of the West-Indies the name of "pm:zolana" is wrongly
given to a variety of calcareous hterite.
In Siam, the stone, although of frequ ent ocemTeuce m the
Northern valleys, does not appear to be used to any extent to-day ;
bricks seem to be more in fa vour and it is quite interesting t o
notice, when visiting the ruins of PHIMAI , t he erection, now going
on, of a 'remple in brickwork and on modern lines by the side of
the gorgeous old monuments. Doubtl ess, labonr rost s, th e lack of
roads and other economical questi ons, supply the ex planation for
th(} preference now enioyed in the country by bricks.
The travell er that loiters tthout the magnifi ce nt t·ums of
Siam and Cambodia is struck by the almost nniversal preseuee of
large basins dug, in symmetrical positions, aronnd t he monument,
and popular tradition has it t hat t hese baRins ( now pond s ) wert\
the quarries from which the Laterite was obtained.
Four such basins are to be found a.t the four eomers of the
ruins at PHIMAI and no stone what ever ean be seen for many
miles around these wonderful monuments.
In the light of the explanations given u.bov e, th e belief that
the Laterite was obtained from t hese excavations is a most plausible
one and the presence at Phima"i of the r ive1· bed ( Sentoun river )
close to the ruins adds weight t o th e a.sscwt.imt.
The Ancients apparently knew of old th'tt if, within certain
di~tances from their streams, they were to dig a hole into the
ground, they would soon meet the zone (present or past) of Intermittent Saturation of their valley, anJ. therein find the coveted
Laterite for the erection of their Magnificent Monuments. They
wouJd, in the process of digging, probably first find a hard bed ( old
Laterite ) and, after digging through it, fi 1d, low er down, a softer
bed (Laterite in formation) which would harden in air. Tradition
among the neighbouring inhabitants also asserts that the Laterite
was soft when obtained hence the possibility of hewing it easily
when building the 'l'ernples. Here again, Science tells us that the
old tradition is within the limits of possibility.
LATERITE OR LIMONITE ?
Monsieur Cornmaille, in his fine work on Angkor Wat (Guidl'
aux Ruines d'Angkor, Paris 1912) states that only three materia]:-;
entered into the construction of these Stupendous monuments, viz :
Limonite, Sandstone and Wood. His statement is supplemented by
the following details (translated):"The limonite and th e sa,ndstone which compose the edifice:o;
"of the two Angkors (i.e. Angkor Wat and Angkor 'l'hom)
"and of the neighbouring temples came from the mountains
" of Koulen, some 30 kilometres E N. E. of the ruins.
" ON THE SUMMIT and on THE SIDES of the mountains
" are to be seen the quarries ( PUITS D'EXTRACTION )
" about three-quarters full of water, especially dming th e
"rainy season, and forming regular cisterns".
This statement. contains the fact that the limonite wn.s
tracted from the summit and the sides of the mountain.
ex~
If the reader would kindly remember thP statements madf:
above, when describing the Section across our imaginary Va.lley, h e
would find that Laterit e was stated to " Cap " our diff's <l·Dd also
be present on the banks of our stream.
Commandant Lunet de Lajonquit~re in •'Le Domaine Areh(~..-~­
logique du Siam" describing the ruins of :-PHANNIEP, SAX ANA-
:23
LAi:, .M:UA~G SING, PHAN AT, MUANG PHRA ROT &c., &c.,
Rtates that the stone used in these monuments was "Limonite".
Other tmveller3 who have visit e:l the s:1me ruins state th~m to be
in " Laterite".
Is then Laterite the same thing as Limonite ?
'l'he Encyclopaedia Britamica stat es that Limonite is
"a NATURAL FERH.IC-HYDRATE named fl'om
" th e Greek word '' meadow " in allusion to its occur" renee as" bog-ore" in marsh es and meadows "- "it.
'' occur·s in con cretionary or in compact ancl earthy
"masses "- " the colour presents various shades of
" brown and yellow " ( not red or black ).
.rames Park, the N ew Zealand Geologist, deseribes limonite
being:-
a~
" a superficial ore-body formed by th e action of de" scending waters which act upon and concentrate
" ORES disseminated in adjacent country rocks".
The
~:~arne
Authority also t ells us t hat, in .Mexico:-
·' valuable deposit s of Limonite, resulting in a large
" measure from the alteration of the carbonate ore
" (lead) occur in shales and limestone in ehemically
" e10ded hollows a nd caverns.
also t.hat : "The ores of iron of commercial ,;alue are side.ritt>.,
"LIMONI'rE or brown Haematitc," &e., &t·..
Dana, the famous Americc.n Authority, describ es Limonite
a,,
lwing : " Brown Haematite, Bog-iron r_'re, A common ORH.:
'· of IRON which is always secondary in its origin
" formed through the alteration or solution of previ ,, ous existing iron minerals." H e further proceed 'l
to Htate that the :tlteration or Roluti on is du1· t.o the a.etion of per· ~nlating
wa.tl'rR.
:!4
)
Profess0r Grenvill e Oole describes Limonite as being:
" a common earthy brown product of the alteration
" of ferriferous minerals."
From all these descriptions one might infer that Laterite is
a rock whereas Limonite is an ore. This inference would find its
justification in the following fact :-Geologists have observed that
in certain Laterites a crystalline ferric hydrate onen lines passages or cracks in the mass ; its colour is orange to bright red.
Professor Laeroix ( Les Lab;rites de la Guinpe et les produitu
d' alteration qui leur sout associes. Paris, 1913 ) considers this
mineral to be Limonite. Fl'om this it might be inferred that
Limonite may exist in Laterite and the statement of much a high
Authority as Prof. Lacroix would t end to show that while Limonite
can exist in Laterite, yet the two terms are n0t synonymous.
\V e know that Laterite exists in large masses w here.a s
Limonite is comparatively rare, hence the conclusion could be 'u pheld that what the French Archaeologists have hitherto named
Limonite is (at leaf;t in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula) a misnomer for
Laterite .
.List of
Work~
r:nmmlted : -
Encyclopaedia Brita1mica:
.T. Morrow Campbell :
J. Pul'k :Dana:Grenville Uole :Commaille :Lnnet de Lajonqni:ir<) :rlo.
d<.l.
Art. " Laterite ttnd Limonite "
" Laterite, its Origin, Structure,
" and Minerals," 1917.
" 'fext-book of Mining Geology."
"1911.
·'Manual of Mineralogy." 1915.
" Aids to Practical Geology." 1891.
" Guide aux Ruines d' Angkor.'
" 1912.
" Inventaire Descriptif des Monu" ments du Cambodge.''
" Le Domaine Archeologigue du
·'Siam." 1909.
Meteorological Data Registered in Bangkok during the year 1918.
SH~DE
F~HRENHEIT
TEMPERATURES IN
~I~··:t ll of
~{•·:tll
I
.-
1-J igh,.st.
:0.1 P:l.n of
\l:1xima
M.... 11ri1
AND CENTIGRADE THERMOMETER SCALES.
)[inillla.
Htwort!Prl
. .
-
!
LnwP:st
'I
Ut•l'ol'llcd
-
I
e::rt•:~.te:st
!
d:t ily
:
I
mllgP
I
I
LPast.
tlaily
I ~le:m
dnily
r:tngt •
I
J'ange
-
,- --
] - - - ----
'
'
I
I
I
·_j_"'_.__u_·_F_ 1_(_·_:_ -~-· j __,_·___"'_I_~_I _F___ _u_·_/_F_I__c_i_""_ ._c_
____ :_"'_1__
1
.latllt:tr.v
~'t·l•r-11" 1'."
M:~n·h
Arn·il
!lla ,.
.f It lit-'
.lui.'
Augu•t
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
::-:•·pten1IH·1·
~ ),·rohe t·
...
...
:"i<>Vo'liiiJI'l'
.. .
f),.,.,..,!ll)t'r
...
iI
... : 7 t.:.;j :2l.H : )-;11 . l
... : ·7>-UI' :!:i.li : Kti.;)
H:!. 7; :!H. I \)I) .li
.. . H-U : :!!l.~ \I::. I
... •K-U j :!M.\1 \I 1.4... K-IA [ :!!U !l:!.:l
x:. .:! l :!\l.ii i !l:!.(i
x :L:I t :!X .Ii I H\1.1
.,,.,·· ~ :!H.Ii XH.Ii
... x·•
X:! .li :!H. I XH.;)
K:!.-l-1 :!M.I i\H.Ii
I
... I HI. ill :21 .:2 XtUl
.. .
.. .
.. .
...
:2ti. 7 · ti I .!I I
., II "
t' X·''I
'
:::!.;) . 7-1- . 71
......( 1 I I I .X
:::1. I : 77. Li
.,., ·• I -r H
,
•••
•)•)
l
)
--
''"·" i I
>.
:::11.~
: ~~·;;
"' .
I .
:n A i ,,;_:,·
:n.+ ! 7ti.o
:n.+ ! F •. o
:\1.1 : 1:! .ll
Jti .li
:!tl.:l
Mti
!HI
\17
!17
!lli
:! ;\.(;
:!i"t.li
:!;).0
:!ii.l)
:! ~,. :~
:!i"t.ll
:!-l- . 7
:! -U -
:!:L ~l
:!:U
]
I ::o.o . ;)ti
t)~
I::::u
; ::ti.1
71
: ::ti.l
7:1
• :::-. _ti : 7"
Ill) · ::7.K
7.J.
7;)
!IIi : ~ ;) . ll
H:~ ! : ~:L~)
7-l\II ! :::! .H 7-lq·>
, .lo),ol
.•. , •>
7:,
o-
!II
~IH
i
!
:
:l:!.~
7:!
:·~:L ~l
t) :;
I
.'ll•,:<ll 'l'o ' lll)'''l':otlll'" ill ~lt:HIP .llll'illg 1\IIH=HI.!I '
1 :L:~
I h.l
. :! I. 7
:!:!.H
_.,, q
.•.•
I!
~~
I :.,....
I !I
:!l
. \ 1~
:!::.:1
:!:~ .!I
.,.,"'
_
o~ ,
·)
•)
..
ol
..,Jol,o)
:l2.H
j:!.:!
II·>
-~
i
:H
:!0
1H
I
]:! .:!
] :! .4.
l o.:-.
1l.ti
10.11
1 :Ul
11.1
1 il.O
...
1" I
]7
\l.ll
H ·•
17
I .)-)
--
F.(:!/./ '' U.)
!I()
1 2.:l
I
1-LO
lri .O
: 1:l.O
i 11 .0:
, I 0.0,
: ti.tl
;l
i !l.O
i \1.0
X.O
10.01
: \1.(1 ,
o.o:
i
I
I
7.7 1 K.:! lll. I
K.4 i lK.ii lil.::
\1.-lii.\1. )-;.H
1).1 I ) (i. (j l \I.:!
;;_;; \ 14-.:q H.O
·: ') l- 8 1 )4,:,
·_ -~
'~· I
"·" 1 ;).() 1 ~. :1
:-•. o 1 :! .K 1 7.1
;,_() i 1:!.H' 7.1
1
4
- ..'i_ ' .]·>~ .•'i.I 7.0
~- ' ' l .!. hl 7 .:.
:1.n 1 11.1 l' .H
11
i
1.:.0
:. .
Rainfall and Atmospheric Humidity during the year 1918.
II
l\Ionth
I
----,
I
- - -
Inche::;
o.n
:::I!
...
0.1\l
2.85
1.29
...
:1.72
...
...
,!
I
!
Ha infn ll dlll'ing month
'---·- ·-_ _
i
J:tnU>try .••
Februrtry . .•
:March
April
May
June
July
August
8eptembel'
October
No,·ember
December ..•
Grentest Rainfall in :my 24 honrs
li .84
3.00
9.62
9.93
8.2H
1.08
0 .03
____,
nat:\
I Millimetres
' Numher of
Amount
; d~~,y;; on \Yhieh !
, " .. . f II
i
1------~----- \
I:-tlll e
i
Jnches
252 .2
209.0
27.4
0 .76
I
M:illimetres \
.
"44.~
Ea~
ReltttJYe
Humidity
!______ _ _____ i______ i_ ______
I
0.0
4.8
72.4
33.0
94.5
174.0
76.2
PercentaPe
!II· 1 "'
I
!
o.o
o.1~
l:Jth
12th
23rd
lOth
10th
28th
22nd
13th
Rth
!lth
20th
o .o
. 4.8
;3 l. 7
17.8
33.7
40.6
14.7
1.2.1
0.71
U33
1.60
0.58
l.5tl
2.:14
4.37
0.40
0 .02
I
3!).(i
G9 .7
lll.O
l 0 .2
0.5
1
1
I
I
·o
~
.,
10
18
16
17
2li
23
10
G
il
:
1
H4.o
(~: . 2
I
hi>.8
i
62 .3
71.0
(}3 .0
(i5.0
72.2
74.0
75,0
7 4.0
66 .8
i
I
Total R:dnf:tll during t he yea r 1918 = 4U .7B inches (1188.26 mm.)
H.
CAMl'BJ<~LL
HIGHET, )r.n., n.r.u .
Jfeddt~l Offic.e1' of
II~a1th.
l.:..
Mean and Extreme Temperature in Shade in Bangkok during 17 years ( 1902-19'18)
in Fahrenheit and Centigrade Scales.
Ex·.rn:KMES
MEANS
I
Month
Me::.n of
Mean
I
Maxima
IIMean of
Minima
1
Chea~est I Le~st
Me:m
Dally
Range
Da1ly
lbnge
Da1l y
I Range
!
!
,
LowPst
ll[ight>st Maximmn
~[inirnurn
1
!
.
D
Degree~
1
Y en.1·
- ------
--
Year
egrees
---
- -------
~~~ ~~~-~~ ~ c. / ~I~ ~~I ~ I _::J~II~ !~ I. _ __ ~II~---~~I~
I '
I
I
I
I
'
I
I
I
.J:muary
... 78.0 ·2ii .6 !89.4 31.9
!Hl.O 23.iJ 12.n 40 ;22 .2
!i
2.6 ~ HlOG -07
1001:17.8 Hl07-14
!>4 12.2
February
... [81.4 127.4 J92 .0 :1:1.3 70 7 21.5 21.3 11.8 , 4-1 22.6
:::
1.6 I 190(;
lOG 41.1
1 H02
13 3
I
I
I
I
iI
(i(j,;J
I
i
I
I
I
'
I
'
1
I!
1
1
:!\[ar~h
... 184.(i 29.2 194 .0 . ~~.4
Apnl
... 87.0 30.6 196 . 1 j·)u.6
May
... 85.9/3o.o 94.4 [il~. 7
,June
... 84.6 2!).2 92.0 ~ ~; - 3
July .
... 84.1,~8.9 91.5 3~.1
August
... 83.7 28.7 91.0 , 3~.8
He.·ptemLel' ... 83.0 28.3 90.0 ,32.2
Occtober ..... 82 .2 27 .8 89.3 31.8
::\ovarnl>et ... 7!:!.9 26.7 87.4 .30.8
December ... 77.6 25 .3 87.0 ;30.6
1
1
I
~ ~~-2 ~ 2~.4 1?.2 1~-~ ~7 j2C~-~
l.~ .
1
:' ' .0 .2;J.0 1.':1.2 /.v
~~G·;~ 1~4.7 1!.8 , 9.~
'~·; IA.5 1~-~ I tl.i.
~ ~~ . 9 l 24.~ 1~.:) 8.b
1t ,J.8 ,24.d l.1.l ; R.tl
75.5 :!4.:! 14 .4 · 8.0 1
~~5. 0 2~ . 9 14.3 7.~
11. 7 22.0 16.1 8 ..1
167.4 19.7 19.5 10.8
I
1
I
2
8
:.12 .16.6
~~ [ 1~.6
il::·!:l l
~
;~
~
2,1
;5 ! 1~.9
_4 J.,.:J ,
h
24 1' 1;~ .:'1
(j
27 1~·?
31 11.2
1
33 118 .:3
I
i
l
1
I
1
ii
4
6
!)(i
l$108
l~2 !6.7
4.6 1
190(,
Hl04
h8 20.0
~ - ~ 1 ~9o.o
1910
~J ;1.7
2.ti 11902-03-18
< 1909
. :o ~I.~
3.3
1?08
1~1 :Js ... l.J08;11 -I G '~ 21.~
'1 .'1
1 .JO(i
.l9 .~7.2
l.ll1
7 ~ 22. _
:.l.il
HHIG
U8j i1G.7
1D02
70 j21.7
2.(i
190(i
10? ~~~·~
1!J0(~
~~ 17 .~
2.2
1 !)07
99 3t.~
190h
I a6 13."
3.3
1906
100 37.8
l!l07
i 112 111.1
1
!
'
1\JO::
10:1 39.4
1 Ou 41.1
106 ~ 1.1
100 ~7 - ~
1\Ieau 8lutde Temperatnre <lm·ing 17 ye~Ll'S=H2 . fi" JT. (28.1 ° U.)
1
,. . .
I'
-':;
-...~
Mean and Extreme Rainfall in Bangkok during 1 7 years ( 1902-1918 ).
~LE.;..s:;
Exnooa1 ;;l!
I
I
:JLutttl.
Haiufa ll (lllling montl-•
__
Iucll eS
_______
-
I
!
( :rrat e:- t 1·ai11fnll i11 :!4 lu•t!r;.
N nmbt' t' of 11\.. r l'e u t age'.
; (j,.,-:; on wl.icl. ! R t•la ti,-e :
i
.rn.in ff' ll
1\lillimPt n ..,. :
1
-
;
_-\ 11loHut
'
r--!!!'lie,.:
--- ----}[ilhu
-----•.., tn'~
-
1. _ __
I H nmidi t_,-
] lat e
,
I
---- - - - - - - -·- - -·- - - - -,
...
.Ja111t:on·
l<'tln·u:u·y ...
)l:l!'<·lt
...
l\ pri l
...
.rune
...
...
;r111~-
''!'
~lay
An;.:n,.:t
...
Hepte111lwr
O(·tober
X ovem her
lhwe ml:i-t-1'
...
...
...
...
...
.. .
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
.. .
...
11 .:!!1/
...
....
•••
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
i'.H
1 2 .-t
0 .4!)0
2. 1 lii'i
I
1..!70
7.4-0ii
:i .8i'li
:i.l:l:·:H
1.:~0 7
12 .:i;j(l
q
).. 1 :..a
2.H-!O
o.-+::o
1
!
I'
1
1
l.:i
I
·)
•)
;) .!)~
::.~-:
;; 7 .:~
JHH.O
14H .1
14!1 .1
lH!i.i'
:-llH.H
2ti0.::
72.1
4.!1
ll_i ,(1
1H.n
l!l.i'
:!0.-1:!:! .ll
Hl .!l
2 .7
Ix .:-,
(i.\1
!ft.:m Anunal Bainf:tll durill)! 17 ;v·e;u,; =
i
I
I
I
I
I
lili .!J
(j i' .1
(i(i.l
Hl.-t
!H . l
12.4
7:2. ~:
7 :';. 7
i' (i .0
7HA
i':; . (I
70.0
;j~i.k4 ~1 inel~t•f<
l!l t. h
:!ii t h
;;},.:t.
1 Hth
8th
J;ith
[i t-1.
2 3 rd
1 :it!.
Rth
lit-h
2::~,[
( 141R.::
of 1 !112
..
,,
,.
.,
,
.,
.,
.,
,
"
"
1!11 (l
l !I 12
190-11 !10::
11117
1!11 i'
1!11:!
l \1119
lH1 H
l !10!1
]!1[4
I
I
l.ll
2.47
'
;;.a:-.
i
i
2.1:-;
4- .iiO
2.:H
1
~
., s-I .i
'i
.).
I
~ . + ::
:!X. l
li:! . i'
1 ::~:;. ~~
ii -U•
11-t .:i
;i /.H
.,~
.
:: . /II
4. ;:7
:: . i'O
(I,! I i'
H-t.O
1 1.1.0
!l-t.O
2-t. t)
)(.D., li .P.H.
Jf.t, flm l ( ~ .fii,·~r
~~r
.,
; ,
:-Lj
lll . llt . )
H . CA )f.PHl'--:LL Hl<: H:ET,
t .
1/.•u lth .
•.:..
J.
THE JOURNAL.
For general informatioll tl~e Ummeil has Jireetell tlmt· the
following infonnation 1e is::>neu regarding tlte stuck Qf eopies Of the
Society's Joui·nal. The pt·iees g iven <.Lre th.e priees to nuJJ- Illl'lllberi>
of the Soeiety : Vo l. I.- (Aims of the Sueiety, Ly Frankfurter ; Fouuuat.ion ol' Ayttthia , by Priuee Damroug: SialJlexe Pro\'erhs, by Geriui;
Notes Laotieunes, by Pierre Morin; '.L'Ite 1\'lt.mant Muu, l,y
Phya Hajakich ; King Mongkut., by Fmukfnrter; Meteorological records for I !)02, I !)Q:l aml 1 D04 ; Su bjeet;; on
which eontributions are im·ited).- 21 copie:-; left; Pric",
'l'cs. 20 per eopy.
Vol. 11., l'art 1.-(A Propos des 0rigines et de l'Hixtoire Auciell l ll~
du Siam, by Petithugnenin ; Researehes into indigeuow;
Law of Siam, by }lasao ; ~ote sur les Populatim1::> Uel\
Moutagues des Ca rdamon es, by Breugues; Archaeological Notes on Muutlwu Puket, by Bourke; ~mppo;;ed
Duteh Translation of a Siamese State Paper in Hi88 ;
In Memoriam, Ueheilllmt Bastiau , Dr. Braudes, and Dr.
BreHgnes).- - 40 copies left ; Priee 'l'e:-;. 10 per copy.
\'ol. 11., Part 2.- (Historieal Hetru::;puct uf Junkcey lon Island, [,y
Gerini.)-1 :Hl copie::; left ; Price 'res. 10 per copy.
Vol. iii., Part 1.-(Gliumte and Health iu Bangkok, by Highet;
Montone Puket, by Carringtou; Puket, a reprint from
.Bradley's Calendar for Hi 71 ; Diunet to Colonel Gerini.)
-14 copies left ; Price, Tex. 10.
Vol. Ill, Part 2.--(Romanizing Siame!:ie, hy Frankfurter; S1\t:rct
Writing, by Frankfurter: Ecunomieal Development of
Siam, by Hotnau nm ller Heide).- 24 copies left; Price,
1'cs. 10.
VtJl. .1 V., Part I.- ( Siamese Mediciue, by Beyer; Notes on sarue ::;uLject, by Bellwmtne ; Sia.ute::;e Mi::;sions to Ceylon, by
Fruukfurtet' ; Homauiziug u[ Situue::;e, by Fraukfnrter).
-tiO eopies kit ; Price, Tcs. 5.
::o )
Vol. IV., Part 2-(N ote sur le reguue legal de la Uochinchine, by
Pech; Siamese Ghost-lore and Demonology, by Irwin;
Rainfall Records of Siam, 3 years; Societt-\ d'Angkor). 12 copies left ; not for sale to non-members.
Vol. IV., Part 3,-(Edible Bird N el:lt Islands, by Dunlap; Meteorlogical Data for 1907)-33 copies left; Price, Tcs. 5.
Vol. V., Part 1.-(Intercourse between Burma and Siam, translated
from the Hmannan Yazawin, by Nai 'l'hien [Luang
Phraison] )-25 copies left; Price Tcs. G.
Vol. V., Part 2.-(Now Penal Code of Siam, by Masao),-145 copies
left ; Price, Tcs. 2.
Vol. V., Part 3.-(Historical Sketch of Lopburi, by Prince Damroug;
Lopburi, Past and Present, by Giblin)-52 copies left ;
Price, 'l'cs. 6.
Vol. V., !'art 4.-(Siam in 1688, translation by Frankfurter of an
early narrative, probably Dutch; Meteorological Abstract, 1908).-70 copies left ; Price, Tcs. 6.
Vol. VI., Part 1.-(0ldest Known Writing in Siamcl:le, by Bradley
with plates)-57 copie~; left ; Price Tcs. 10.
Vol. VI., Part 2.-(Early Astronomical and Magnetic Obl:lervations
in Siam, by Giblin)-73 copies left; Price, Tcs. 2.
Vol. VI., Part 3.-(Translation of " E vents in Ayuddhya, 686-966,'
Hluang Prasot MS., by Frankfurter, with Introduction
by Frankfurter, and Preface by Prince Damrong; translation of a stone inscription found in Phitsnulok; Remarks on Kaempfer's Description of Siam, by Frankfurter)-34 copies left; Price, Tcs. 8.
Vol. VII., Part 1.-(Translation of van Vliet's Description of Siam,
by van Ravenswaay ; F3ishop Vey's Life, by Oolombet;
Dinner to Mr. Homan van der Heide ; Meteorological
Averages for 1909).-31 copies left; Price, Tcs. 10.
Vol. VII., Part 2.-(The late King Ohulalongkorn, by Frankfurter;
Tram;latiou of "The Book of the Birds". by Crosby)11 6 copic::; loft; Prioo, Tc::;. iJ.
Vol. VII., Part 3.-(Letten; du Hoi d(· Siam a sa Fille, translated by
Notton)-120 copies left ; Price, Tcs. 5.
Vol. VIII., Part 1.-(Dipterocarpaceae of Northern Siam, ry Ryan
and Kerr, with plates).-72 copies left; Price Tcs. 8.
Vol. VIII., Part 2.-(Intercourse between Burma and Siam, translation continued, by Nai Thien [Luang Phraison])-68
copies left ; Price, Tcs. 6.
Vol. VIII, Part 3.-(L'Imprimerie au Siam, by Petithuguenin; Abbe
de Choisy by Giblin; Brooke's Mission to Siam, by
Frankfurter).-62 copies left; Price, Tcs. 6.
Vol. IX., Part 1.-(List of Commoner Birds found in Siam, with
Siamese names, by Gairdner)-100 copies left; Price,
'l'cs. 6.
Vol. IX., Part 2.-('l'he Climate of Bangkok, by Highet, with plates
and meteorological L'ecords)-121 copies left ; Price
'l'cs. 6.
Vol. IX., Part 3.-(Method of Romani:1.ing Siamese, by Petithuguenin, with table and samples of transliteration;
Meteorological figures for 1912 and Abstract for 11
years 1902-1912).-126 copies left; Price, Tcs 4.
Vol. IX., Part 4.-(The Romanization of Siamese Words, by His
Majesty the King)-124 copies left ; Price, Tcs. 4.
Vol. X., Part 1.- (Proximate Source of the Siamese Alphabet, by
Bradley, with plate; Recent Advances in our knowledge of the Flora of Siam, by Kerr)-72 copies left
Price, Tcs. 5.
Vol. X., Part 2.-(The Attitudes of the Buddha, by Frankfurter,
with 37 plates)-84 copies left; Price, Tcs. 8.
Vol. X., Part 3.-(Immigration of the Mons into Siam, by Halliday)-81 copies left; Price, Tcs. 4.
Vol. X., Part 4.-(Proposed System of Transliteration; Note on
same by His Ma:jesty the King; Index to Journal)-72
copies left ; Price Tcs. ::!.
~L'he
Prcrt .If!,
p1·ice to },Jemhm·8 for each 1Ja.rt is ha.lj that
Tr.~.
/i.
()omplcfP. Sf'ts ro.~t Tr:.~.
mn.
!l~:ven
abrn:e. Vol. 1 V.,
Vol. XI., Part. 1.-(Uno:f:lieial Mi~Rion of .Toh11 Mm·g-aM, hy Fmnkfurter ; A Hyhrirl Dipt.erocarpns, 'hy Kon, with plat.e:
SrnalJ Pox, Vaceination, and the m•w Vnceinat,ion Law
in Siam, hy Highet, with plates).
Vol. XL, Part 2.-('1'ranRlation of Prince Damrong's Prefaee t.o t.luHiHtory, hy Frankfnrter; An E~trly L1·itiRh Merc·hant.
in Bangkok, by Adey Moore).
Vol. XI., Part 3.-(InterconrHe hetween Burma :tnd Siam, translation
continued, hy Lnang Phraison).
Vol. XII., Pa•·t 1.-(Note~ Critiqne:-;
Khamheng, by CceflrR).
1!111'
!'Inscription
rle
Vol. XII., P:.trt 2.-(Int.crconrse between Emma and Siam,
tion C'nnt.inuerl , hy Lnang Phrai:-;ou ).
......--'-Q--
Riima
trn.m~la­
.....
-
•
•
•