Finally, hearing an old prophecy that no king
with a Burmese hairknot should rule the Talaing land, he bobbed
his hair like a Talaing and wore the diadem of a Talaing king.
with a Burmese hairknot should rule the Talaing land, he bobbed
his hair like a Talaing and wore the diadem of a Talaing king.
Cambridge History of India - v4 - Mugul Period
478 (#518) ############################################
478
BURMA (1531–1782)
-
outworks of the city, he opened the sluice gates of his great reservoirs
and flooded them out. He retained Ramu and Chittagong in spite
of raids there by the Tippera tribes while he was engaged by
Tabinshwehti, and coins bearing his name and styling him sultan
were struck at Chittagong. He built at Mrohaung the Shwedaung
pagoda, the Shitthaung, Dukkanthein, and Lemyethna temples, and
the Andaw to enshrine a Ceylon tooth.
Unlike the other races of Burma, the Arakanese maintained sea-
going craft, and Chittagong bred a race of capable seamen. “ For
centuries they were the terror of the Ganges delta and at times they
hampered even Portuguese shipping. Finally they united with Portu-
guese freebooters and thus brought about the greatest period in
Arakanese history, c. 1550–1666. The Portuguese, subject to little
control from Goa, had settled in numbers at Chittagong, making it
a thriving port, since the middle of the sixteenth century. It was
always held by a brother or faithful clansman of the king, with an
Arakanese garrison; every year the king sent a hundred boats full
of troops, powder and ball, and then the garrison and boats sent in
the previous year returned home to Arakan,
Minrazagyi (Salim Shah) 1593-1612), the founder of the Parabaw
pagoda at Mrohaung, employed De Brito in the expedition against
Pegu (p. 494). It comprised land levies which went over the passes,
as well as a flotilla from Chittagong and the Ganges delta. On the
return journey the wise minister Mahapinnyakyaw, lord of Chitta-
gong, died and was buried by the Hmawdin pagoda at Negrais; he
had served the king from youth up, and his compilation of legal
precedents, Mahapinnyakyaw pyatton, which placed the interpreta-
tion of Manu dhammathat lawbooks on a definitely Buddhist basis,
was thereafter among the most valuable works of its kind throughout
Burma.
Minhkamaung (Husain Shah) (1612-22), as crown prince, had
been captured for a time by De Brito when trying to reduce him to
obedience at Syriam (p. 494). His queen built the Ratanabon pagoda
at Mrohaung. His great achievement was to overthrow the Portu-
guese pirates who had made Sandwip island their stronghold. This
island was a trade centre, it commanded the mouth of the Ganges
delta, and its neighbourhood provided timber in abundance for
shipbuilding. In 1608 the Arakanese had offered to let the Dutch
trade and build fortifications in return for help in driving out the
Portuguese, but their commitments elsewhere were too heavy to
allow them to accept the offer. 2 Minhkamaung, aided by some
Dutch ships, beat off repeated Portuguese attacks and finally in 1617
occupied Sandwip.
1 See vol. 1, p. 551.
2 India Office Hague Transcripts, 1607-16, letter 62; De Jonge, De Opkomst
van het Nederlandsche Gezag in Oost-Indie, di, 77.
1
## p. 479 (#519) ############################################
MAGH SEA RAIDERS
479
After that the Portuguese ceased to be his enemies and became his
tools. They centred at Chittagong and intermarried with the people
there. They served the Arakanese in holding Sandwip island, Noa-
khali and Backergunge districts, and the Sunderbans delta south of
Calcutta, and raiding up to Dacca and even Murshidabad, while
Tippera sent propitiatory tribute. After they had sacked Dacca, his
capital, in 1625, the Mughul governor felt so unsafe that for a time
he lived farther inland. For generations an iron chain was stretched
across the Hooghly river between Calcutta and Sibpur to prevent
their entrance. In a single month, February 1727, they carried off
1800 captives from the southern parts of Bengal; the king chose the
artisans, about one-fourth, to be his slaves, and the rest were sold
at prices varying from 20 to 70 rupees a head and set to work on
the land as slaves; ? sometimes the sales were to Dutch, English and
1
French merchants in the Indian ports. They would pierce the hands
of their captives, pass a strip of cane through the hole, and fling
them under the deck strung together like hens; a baby which cried
would be decapitated under its mother's eyes, and its body flung
overboard. A favourite formation was to sweep the sea in line, so
as to cover a large area, but a hundred Bengal ships would flee at
the sight of four Magh ships, and if they found they were being
overtaken, the crews would fling themselves overboard and drown
sooner than meet the Arakanese hand to hand. 2
Sometimes the Maghs would sail back to the coast where they had
captured their prisoners and wait till the villagers brought out sui-
ficient presents to redeem their kinsmen from the ship. This they
called collecting revenue, and the Portuguese among them kept
regular account books. Their activity decreased when the English
began to police the coast, but even in 1795 they were plundering
the king of Burma's boats off Arakan, laden with his customs dues
of 10 per cent, in kind. They had forts at Jagdia and 'Alamgirnagar
in the mouth of the Meghna river, and a little colony of 1500, speak-
ing Arakanese and wearing Burmese dress, still survives on four or
five islands in the extreme south-east of Backergunge.
Thirithudamma (1622_38) deferred his coronation twelve years
because the wise assured him it would be followed by his death a
year later. Finally he learnt to avert fate by sacrificing 4 the hearts
of thousands of human beings, white cows and white pigeons, and
was crowned in 1635, together with twelve vassal chiefs, amid the
utmost splendour, his guards including Burmans, Talaings, Hindu-
stanis, and even some Japanese Catholics. It was he who raided Pegu
1 Twenty-four Parganas Gazetteer, p. 39.
2 Jadunath Sarkar, “Feringhi Pirates of Chatgaon", in Journal Asiatic Society
of Bengal, 1907, p. 422; and his History of Aurangzib, vol. III.
8 Symes, Embassy to Ava, p. 117.
4 Manrique, Itinerario de las Missiones del India Oriental, ch. XXXI, Hakluyt
ed. I, 357-8.
## p. 480 (#520) ############################################
480
BURMA (1531–1782)
and brought back Anaukpetlun's bell (p. 495), which he set up at a
pagoda near Mrohaung. His queen had a royal kinsman as paramour,
so he died suddenly, and his little son and heir soon followed him.
The queen thereupon placed her paramour on the throne as
Narapatigyi (1638-45), and enforced the Massacre of the Kinsmen. 2
Narapatigyi built at Mrohaung the Mingalamanaung pagoda and,
to house some scriptures from Ceylon, the Pitakataik.
Sandathudamma (1652-84), the builder of the Zinamanaung,
Thekyamanaung, Ratanamanaung, Shwekyathein and Lokamu pa-
godas at Mrohaung, is revered as one of the best kings. In the last
year of his reign some forty Arakanese monks went to Ceylon at the
request of a mission sent by the aid of the Dutch. 3 The Dutch feared
a revival of Portuguese influence in Ceylon and wished to strike at
Catholicism by reviving Buddhist ordination, which was becoming
extinct. They sent to Arakan, as they had a branch at Mrohaung
from about 1626 to 1683; it was closed from time to time because
the trade was not of great volume, and in 1670 the whole staff was
massacred. But while it lasted they obtained more businesslike terms
than in Burma, for under the articles * of 1653 they could claim their
own interpreter at royal audiences and take away their children by
women of the country (cf. p. 502).
Indeed, as might be expected of a maritime people, the Arakanese
were in several respects less backward than the Burmese. Thus they
permitted the export of rice (p. 501) under the control of an officer
who regulated it so as to prevent a shortage. And about 1660 money
began to be struck in Arakan; the Burmese struck some medallions
for enshrinement in the Mingun pagoda in 1790,5 having learnt the
idea from Arakan; the Arakanese had used medallions since the tenth
century for commemorative purposes, usually at a king's accession.
Shuja', brother to Aurangzib, being defeated in his struggle for
the throne, had to flee in 1660. The people of Bengal regarded the
Maghs as unclean savages, but Shuja' was in such straits that he
asked the king of Arakan to shelter him and lend some of his famous
ships to take him on the way to Mecca, where he wished to end his
days. The king consented. Shuja' was brought to Mrohaung in
Portuguese galeasses and greeted with courtesy. But with him were
his family, including a beautiful eldest daughter, and half a dozen
camel-loads of gold and jewels
wealth such as had never before
been seen in Arakan. Shuja' kept away from the king, repelled by
1 A Hindu officer of irregular horse in the 1824-26 war took it to 'Aligarh,
U. P. , see Wroughton, “Inscription of the large Arakan bell", in Journal Asiatic
Society Bengal, 1838, p. 287.
2 Dinnyawai Yazawinthit, p. 219. See also vol. II, p. 556.
3 Similarly in 1753 the Dutch obtained monks from Siam, Tennent, Christia-
nity in Ceylon, p. 224; cf. Nga Me, History of Arakan (M. S. ).
4 Valentyn, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, vol. v, part 1, pp. 140-6.
5 Harvey, History of Burma, p. 275.
8 See chap. VIII, p. 226.
## p. 481 (#521) ############################################
MUGHULS TAKE CHITTAGONG
481
his table manners. Eight months passed, and on one pretext or
another the promised ships were never forthcoming. Finally the
king demanded Shuja''s daughter in marriage. A blue-blooded
Mughul of the imperial house, Shuja' refused. The king told him
to go within three days. Unable to move, and refused supplies in
the bazar, he resolved to take his chance of overthrowing the king.
He had two hundred faithful men, and many of the local Muslims
supported him; thrones in Indo-China have been overthrown with
fewer men, and good judges on the spot thought he had a reasonable
chance. But there were too many in the plot, and the king heard
of it in time. Shuja' was thus reduced to firing the city and cutting
his way out in the confusion. Most of his party was taken, and though
he himself succeeded in reaching the jungle he was ultimately traced
and executed. For days it was a sight to see his treasure being melted
down and conveyed to the palace strong-room. His daughters were
taken into the harem, the marriage of the eldest to the king being
celebrated in song and verse that are still greatly admired in Arakan.
A year later the king, scenting a plot, starved them all to death,
though the eldest was in an advanced stage of pregnancy by himself;
and their brothers' heads were hacked off with dahs. 1
Aurangzib himself would have executed Shuja', but he did not
like others doing it, and also it was necessary to curb the piracy of
the Maghs. Shayista Khan, the Mughul viceroy of Bengal, built a
fleet, and in 1665 drove them out of their strong stockades on Sandwip
island. The news spread consternation, and the king in fear began to
distrust the feringhis who, suspecting that he would exterminate their
families, accepted the offers of Shayista Khan and deserted to him
with their families in forty-two galleys laden with munitions. In 1666
Shayista Khan's force of 6500 men and 288 boats took Chittagong in
a thirty-six hours' siege. They sold 2000 Arakanese into slavery, and
captured 1026 cannon, mostly jingals throwing a one-pound ball. Many
ships were sunk in action, 135 were captured, and two state elephants
were burnt in the sack. Such of the Arakanese garrison as escaped
tried to march home, but they were attacked by their former slaves,
the kidnapped Muslims of Bengal, who had been settled on the land.
The fall of Chittagong caused indescribable rejoicing in Bengal
and ended Arakan's century of greatness. The trackless Ganges delta
afforded scope not only to the Arakanese but also to nests of pirates
recruited from the scum of every race, and so they continued their
sea raids. But never again did they hold Chittagong or even Ramu,
1 Schouten, Voyage aux Indes, 1, 228-37; Bernier, Travels, pp. 109-15; Manucci,
Storia do Mogor, I, 369-76; Bowrey, Geographical Account of the Countries round.
the Bay of Bengal, pp. 139-42; Hamilton, New Account of East Indies, II, 27-9;
Harvey, "Fate of Shah Shuja”, in Journal Burma Research Society, 1922.
2 Jadunath Sarkar, “Conquest of Chatgaon", in Journal Asiatic Society of
Bengal, 1907, p. 405; and his History of Aurangzib, NI, 220-45; Bernier, Travels,
pp. 174-82; Chittagong Gazetteer, p. 31.
31
## p. 482 (#522) ############################################
482
BURMA (1531–1782)
and they lost their sword arm by the desertion of the feringhis.
Sandathudamma's long reign saw the power of his race pass its
zenith, and his death is followed by a century of chaos. There were
twenty-five kings in the next hundred and nineteen years. The
profits of piracy had gone but the piratical instinct remained, render-
ing government impossible.
Shuja''s followers in 1661 were retained as Archers of the Guard
who drew four rupees a month, equivalent to many times that amount
of present currency. They murdered and set up kings at will and their
numbers were recruited by fresh arrivals from upper India. In 1692
they burnt the palace and for twenty years roamed over the country,
carrying fire and sword wherever they went. Finally they were sup-
pressed by a lord who set up as king Sandawiziya (1710-31); he
deported them to Ramree; there, and at Thinganet and Tharagon
near Akyab, their descendants still exist, under the name Kaman
(Persian kaman=a bow), speaking Arakanese but retaining their
Islamic faith and Afghan features.
Sandawiziya was murdered and the country relapsed. King after
king was murdered and village fought against village. Earthquakes
are for centuries mentioned in the chronicles of the various states of
Burma, but those of 1761-62 were particularly awesome in Arakan
and the people felt that they were doomed. Sometimes the lords
would induce a hardy spirit to take the throne, and as often others
would combine to make his task impossible.
The last king, Thamada (1782–85), bearing as if in irony the name
of the first king on earth, had less authority than ever, for he was
of the despised race of Ramree. A band of lords went to Ava asking
for intervention; perhaps they were patriots desiring to see their
land at rest; perhaps they merely desired the sweets of office. Their
request was granted with a vengeance, for Bodawpaya was now king
in Burma. Many a village came out with bands of music to greet
his armies as deliverers. But the methods of the Burmese were such
that soon the very men who had invited them into the country were
leading insurgents against them. "
THE TOUNGOO DYNASTY (1531-1752)
The Shan migration, lasting two centuries, had now ended, leaving
Burma split into chieftainships. Tabinshwehti 2 set himself to revive
the overlordship. Toungoo was thronged with refugees, so that he
had no lack of men; he was in control of Kyaukse, the richest area
in upper Burma and the key to Ava; and, to crown all, his opponents
were Shans, a race which could not unite.
First he advanced against lower Burma. It was the richest part
of the country and also it contained Portuguese adventurers who were
willing to be hired. Sometimes he had as many as seven hundred. To
1 See vol v, p. 558.
See vol. II, p. 558.
## p. 483 (#523) ############################################
1
BURMAN TALAING UNION
483
obtain their services was to win the day, for they had firearms, hitherto
unknown in Burma, and no race in Indo-China could stand up to them.
By 1541 he had annexed the Pegu state. He was able to enter
Pegu city without a siege because the Talaings, after suffering several
defeats, lost heart, and their king Takayutpi," instead of putting heart
into them, took to distrusting his officers and executing them; instead
of leading his men to the end, Takayutpi deserted the city and lived
in a stockade at Ingabu, Maubin district; a year later he died while
hunting elephants and the fishermen there still worship a nat spirit
called Po Yutpi. Martaban, a thriving port, rich with the accumu-
lated stocks of merchants of many races, gave more trouble; it fought
to the end, aided by seven Portuguese ships; these were small craft,
manned largely by Eurasians and slaves, and Tabinshwehti drove
them off with fire-rafts, while other rafts, with scaffolding higher
than the ramparts, were run alongside the fortifications facing the
river; the sack raged for three days. ?
Tabinshwehti exercised his royal privilege of putting spires on the
great Talaing pagodas; to the Shwedagon he offered his queen and
redeemed her with 10 viss (1 viss = 3. 65 lb. ) of gold. In 1542 he
took Prome, although the Raja of Arakan and the chiefs of upper
Burma, headed by the Ava sawbwa, attacked him while he was
besieging the town. In 1544 he annexed upper Burma as far as
Minbu and Myingyan; he had already been crowned at Pegu as king
of lower Burma, and now while halting at Pagan he was crowned
as king of upper Burma. On returning home in 1546 he was crowned
as king of both, using Talaing as well as Burmese rites. Only half
his task was done, but the rest was sure, and men again beheld the
glory of the ancient ritual; after three centuries of sawbwas (Shan
chiefs) there was once more a king in Burma.
In the cold weather of 1546–47 he attacked Arakan. Many of his
war-canoes were wrecked on the west coast. All his land forces
arrived but Mrohaung was a strong town, and the only chance of
taking it was when the walls were in disrepair. But Arakan was
under an energetic raja (p. 477) who saw that his defences were in
repair, and after a short time under the walls Tabinshwehti accepted
the intercession of the monks and returned home.
He returned the more quickly because Siam, hearing that he and
all his valiant men were away in Arakan, had raided Tavoy; and
in 1547-48 the Burmese advanced against Siam. " The hosts crossed
1 See vol. II, p. 558.
2 Pin
Voyages and Adventures.
8 Halliday, “Slapat Rajawan Datow Smin Ron", in Journal Burma Research
Society, 1923.
* When, in 1767, the Burmese sacked Ayuthia (p. 515), they destroyed the
palace archives, so that Siamese chronology before the eighteenth century is va-
gue. Until recently the Siamese dates for the Burmese invasions of the six-
teenth century were a decade or two earlier than the Burmese dates, which
I follow. Recent research by Siamese gentlemen has, however, confirmed the
Burmese dates, which are also borne out by contemporary Burmese inscriptions
## p. 484 (#524) ############################################
484
BURMA (1531-1782)
from Martaban to Moulmein on a bridge of boats over which they
could ride their ponies at a gallop. His Majesty's elephant was ferried
across on a raft, but the other elephants were sent upstream where the
fords were shallow. Jingals were mounted on many of these elephants.
The cannon were kept close to the king, and he moved in great state,
surrounded by the choicest elephants, richly attired lords, and 400
Portuguese guards whose helmets and muskets were inlaid with gold,
for they provided a bodyguard as well as artillery. Hundreds of work-
men went ahead every day to pitch the wooden camp palace, richly
painted and gilded, and at each halt there was a pwe festival.
The Burmese advanced up the Ataran river, through Three
Pagodas Pass and down the Meklawng river to Kanburi. Thence
they struck at Ayuthia. The Siamese possessed cannon, made of the
copper which was annually imported from China. The weakest part
of the wall was defended by fifty Portuguese; Tabinshwehti tried
to bribe them, but they treated the officer with derision and one of
the Siamese commanders, flinging open the gate, dared Tabinshwehti
to bring the money. After a month the Burmese withdrew and tried
to plunder Kampengpet, a wealthy town; but here again were
Portuguese, who used flaming projectiles so that the guns had to be
kept under shelters of damp hide. Tabinshwehti, saying the Siamese
were devils who, when their own weapons failed, used new ones
never known since the beginning of the world, retreated, and it
would doubtless have gone hard with him had he not captured the
Siamese king's son and brothers in some open fighting. At once
Siamese envoys came with red and green woollen cloths, longyis
(men's shirts), and aromatic woods, offering friendship in return for
the captive princes. Tabinshwehti released not only them but also
his other prisoners, and was thereupon left unmolested in his retreat
through Raheng.
Tabinshwehti dreamed of a united Burma. When conquering the
Talaing kingdom he made no attempt to administer his new subjects
by Burmese governors. Any Talaing lord who made timely sub-
mission could count on being left in his fief. Consequently from the
first he had a large Talaing following; fully half his levies and best
officers were Talaings. He left the beautiful buildings of the Talaing
kings standing when he captured Pegu. Talaings had their full say
in his councils, he took care to be crowned with the ritual of a
Talaing king, and he gave way to the importunities of his Talaing
princesses, letting them dress in their own fashion instead of the
Burmese court dress.
Finally, hearing an old prophecy that no king
with a Burmese hairknot should rule the Talaing land, he bobbed
his hair like a Talaing and wore the diadem of a Talaing king.
and European travellers. See the discussion in Harvey, History of Burma,
p. 343; and Wood, History of Siam, pp. 23-25.
1 Faria y Sousa (Stevens), The Portuguese Asia, 1, 135.
? Hmannan, , 240.
## p. 485 (#525) ############################################
TABINSHWEHTI'S DEATH
486
On returning from Siam Tabinshwehti took to hunting with a
young Portuguese captain, who had a gun and seldom missed his
mark. Tabinshwehti thought a gun a miraculous thing, and in admi-
ration gave him a royal handmaid to wife. The feringhi taught his
bride to cook feringhi dishes for the king to eat, and gave him juice
of the grape to drink, also spirits sweetened with honey. The king
drank and his heart was glad, but he lost his wits, respecting not
other men's wives, listening to evil tales and executing innocent men.
Bayinnaung, his foster-brother and principal commander, remonstra-
ted with him but he answered: "I have made friends with drink.
Brother, do thou manage the affairs of state. Bring me no petitions.
Leave me to my jollity. ” Sometimes he attended levees, sometimes
he could not. The Burmese, Shan and Talaing lords at court com-
bined to ask Bayinnaung to take the throne, but he was faithful,
and would not.
The king went to stay at Pantanaw, Maubin district, in the care
of Talaing chamberlains, and Bayinnaung went to deal with a
rebellion headed by a monk, a descendant of the fallen Talaing
dynasty, who, flinging off the robe, assumed the title Smim Htaw, and
occupied Dagon (Rangoon) and Dalla. The Talaing chamberlains
enticed Tabinshwehti into a jungle saying a white elephant had been
traced, and there they cut off his head; 2 they then raised the Talaings,
seized Pegu, and set the leading chamberlain on the throne.
Bayinnaung (1551-81). The fiefs of central Burma all shut their
gates and never lifted a finger to help Bayinnaung; his own brothers
and kinsmen tried to set up as independent kings in such important
charges as Prome and Toungoo itself. There he was, a king without
a kingdom, grappling with one Talaing rebel in the west while
another sat on his throne in the east, his Burmese people looked on
with folded hands, and his own brothers seceded. At once he sent
overseas for his Portuguese guards, who had rejoined their own people
in Malaya; they came in haste, and in his unfeigned relief he greeted?
their leader with the words : "Ah, brother Diogo, brother Diogo, we
two, we happy two, I on my elephant and thou on thy horse, we
could conquer the world together! ” With them, and the few faithful
levies that stood by him, he was safe, although little better than a
fugitive in the jungles. But many joined him, including even Talaings,
for men recognise character when they see it. As the months went by,
he regained Toungoo and Prome, and finally he advanced on Pegu.
Smim Htaw had overthrown the usurping chamberlain and occu-
pied the Pegu palace. When Bayinnaung's host came near the walls,
the Talaings went out to meet it. The two chiefs fought hand to hand
and finally Bayinnaung, freeing his elephant, drew back and charged,
1 Hmannan, , 268-70.
2 He is worshipped as the Tabinshwehti Nat spirit, Temple, Thirty-Seven
Nats, p. 64.
3 Couto, Da Asia, vol. IV, part I, p. 136.
## p. 486 (#526) ############################################
486
BURMA (1531_1782)
breaking the tusk of his foeman's elephant and driving him off the
field followed by all his men. He then sacked Pegu, killing men,
women, children and even animals.
Talaing opposition collapsed. Smim Htaw could get few more
followers, but he made a gallant fight, hunted as he was throughout
the Delta. Many a jungle there has its tradition of his hiding. Some-
times he would catch the Burmese boats stranded at low tide in a
creek, and wipe them out, sometimes he would surprise an outpost.
But as the months passed, the end drew near. His family fell into
the hands of his pursuers. He fled alone in a canoe along the coast
to Martaban. Once they fell on him during the evening meal, but
he slipped away leaving his clothes in their hands. He hid in the hills
round Sittaung, poor and unknown, till he took a village girl to wife
and told her his secret; she guilelessly told her father, who reported
to the village officer. Bayinnaung had him paraded through the
jeering streets, and saying he had done evil put him to an evil death.
Thus ended the lineage of Wareru. '
Having thus regained the position from which he should have
started, Bayinnaung set out on his career of conquest. The size of
his armies varied with the area of his kingdom for the time being.
At its maximum, when it included upper Burma, the Shan States,
and Siam, it supplied with a mass levy approaching possibly one
hundred thousand. His efforts were on a bigger scale than had
hitherto been known to Burma. Long records of faithful service, and
the ties of ancient friendship, were pleaded in vain by officers who
failed; the least they had to fear was deprivation of all titles and
property, and exile to some fever-stricken spot. As for the rank and
file, the severity they suffered was provoked by the fact that many
of the levies were like herds of driven cattle, and the only way of
keeping them together and bringing them to action was to use
methods of frightfulness.
By 1555 he had annexed Ava, and by 1559 the whole of upper
Burma, the present Shan States, Manipur, Chiengmai and Vieng-
chang (Linzin). From this time dates Burmese suzerainty over the
Shans; the Pagan monarchy had controlled little more than the foot.
hills, and even now Burmese suzerainty was seldom more than
nominal until the time of Alaungpaya (1752-60).
It is characteristic that while Bayinnaung was proceeding down
1 See vol. m, p. 551.
2 Elizabethan travellers who say they actually saw half a million men march
out of Pegu are only repeating bazar talk. The Burmese chronicles give a list
of Bayinnaung's levies totalling over a million men, but in the Anglo-Burmese
wars of the nineteenth century our troops found Burmese commanders habitu-
ally overestimating numbers by at least one decimal. Even in the early nine-
teenth century the population of Burma can hardly have exceeded four millions.
Harvey, History of Burma, p. 333, and Burney, "Population of Burman Empire",
in Journal Statistical Society, 1842.
## p. 487 (#527) ############################################
FUNERAL SACRIFICE SUPPRESSED
487
the Salween against Chiengmai, his garrison in Mone was murdered
and the bridge he had built across the Salween was destroyed by
Mone, Yawnghwe and Lawksawk. Revolts were continuous. In
1562, 1572, 1574–76 he was campaigning against Mohnyin and Mog-
aung, and even to the north, wearing out his men in pursuits over
snow-clad hills; finally the chiefs submitted, tired of starving in the
wilderness. The Mogaung chief was exhibited for a week in fetters
at the gates of Pegu; as for some scores of his principal followers,
Bayinnaung, saying he was very merciful, refrained from executing
them and sent them to be sold as slaves in the Ganges delta.
As was invariably the case, the Burmese no sooner occupied an
arra than they required levies, and the Burmese Shans were at once
employed against the Siamese Shans. The chiefs presented daughters
to the rival harem, sent their sons to be brought up in the palace,
and paid periodic tribute; Momeik, the most valuable of all, paid
rubies; Chiengmai paid elephants, horses, lacquer and silks. Every-
where he deported numbers of the people in order to populate his
homeland. From Chiengmai he took artisans, especially her famous
lacquer workers; it is probably these who introduced into Burma
the finer sort of lacquer ware called yun, the name of the Yun or
Lao Shan tribes round Chiengmai. ?
In the 1556 campaign he went by river as far as Katha district,
accompanied by his harem and worshipping at the principal pagodas
on the way. On the return journey in 1557 he set up at the Shwezigon
pagoda, Pagan, the great bronze bell bearing in Pali, Burmese and
Talaing an inscription every line of which breathes imperial pride
in his conquests and in the steps he took to promote religion among
the Shans, building monasteries, and suppressing funeral sacrifice.
It had been customary to bury with a major sawbwa (Shan chief)
as many as ten elephants, a hundred horses, and a hundred each of
men and women slaves, the numbers being less for minor sawbwas.
He also suppressed the sacrifice of white animals (buffaloes, kine,
goats, pigs, fowls) to the Mahagiri spirit on Popa Hill;3 hitherto
these animals had been killed for a feast, and their skulls were hung
in strings all round the shrine; the worshippers drank intoxicants at
the feast, and once a year the king and court shared in it as an act
of state worship. Bayinnaung introduced prohibition and punished
drunkenness with death. He enforced the divine command against
taking life even to the extent of abolishing the Baqr 'Id among Muslim
settlers.
The king of Ayuthia, styled Lord of the White Elephants, had
recently possessed no fewer than seven; it was the glory of these
1 See vol. II, p. 555.
2 Morris, “Lacquerware industry of Burma", in Journal Burma Research
Society, 1919; Kyaw Dun, "Lacquerware called Yun", in ibid. 1920.
3 Hmannan, I, 312; Wawhayalinatta, p. 69.
## p. 488 (#528) ############################################
188
BURMA (1531-1782)
elephants which attracted white merchants from the ends of the
carth and brought Siam unprecedented prosperity; there could be
no other cause, for in the days of his predecessors, who had far fewer,
there was less trade and European merchants had not come. He
still had four, and Bayinnaung's soul was stirred to its depths at not
having so many himself. He was considering not only his own glory
but also the interests of his people; he believed it to be essential to
their prosperity that he should acquire these elephants. Therefore
he invaded Siam. As he had a much larger area from which to get
levies, his task was easier than Tabinshwehti's.
In 1563–64 the huge host captured Kampengpet and Sukhotai and
then swarmed down on Ayuthia, losing considerably from the Siamese
and their feringhi gunners, but capturing stockades, war canoes and
three foreign ships. The city quickly yielded in quite unnecessary
terror of Bayinnaung's Portuguese artillery, which though noisy
was too light to do real damage to the walls. The terms were the
surrender of four white elephants, the captivity of the king and some
princes as hostages, the presentation of a daughter, the cession of
Tenasserim shipping tolls, and annual tribute of thirty war elephants.
Bayinnaung left the Siamese king's son to rule as vassal with a
Burmese garrison of 3000 men, and went home with the captive
king and court, and with thousands of the population roped together
in gangs with wooden collars; among them were actors and actresses,
and it is probably these who introduced into Burma the songs and
dances called Ayuthia. The loot included thirty crude images of
men and elephants in bronze.
The captive princes of Ayuthia, Ava and Chiengmai were kept
at Pegu and given reasonable treatment, even being allowed to live
in double-roofed houses painted white, the prerogative of royalty. ?
But Siam was not settled with the fall of Ayuthia. Till the end of
the reign the armies were constantly campaigning all over the
country from the northern Laos downwards. Year after year Bayin-
naung led a weary chase through trackless hills where his men were
reduced to eating grass and died in thousands of starvation and
disease. Year after year there was cruel fighting against the Siamese
stockades, against their war-canoes and flaming rafts. He usually
succeeded in occupying towns, setting his puppet with a Burmese
garrison on their little thrones, and dragging away the population
when it had not hidden in the jungle, to work as slaves in Burma
if they survived the long march. But he could do little more than
this, he could give no settled government to the surviving victims,
and some of the chiefs he never caught. He generously allowed the
captive king of Siam, who had become a monk, to return home on
1 For the significance of the White Elephant, see Harvey, History of Burma,
2 For Burmese sumptuary laws, see Shway
Yoe, The Burman, his Life and Notions.
p. 274.
## p. 489 (#529) ############################################
THE CEYLON TOOTH
489
pilgrimage; no sooner had he arrived than he flung off the robe and
so another siege of Ayuthia became necessary. It lasted ten months
(1568-69). The Burmese losses were so heavy that the men used to
take shelter under the piles of their comrades' corpses. The troops
sickened of the carnage and officers were executed right and left
for failure. The town could not be taken by storm and, although
short of food, held its own until Bayinnaung employed treachery.
He promised large rewards, and one of his prisoners, a Siamese lord,
entered the town saying he had escaped from the Burmese. The
Siamese gave him high command, and one night he opened the gates.
In 1560 the Portuguese captured the Buddha Tooth of Ceylon 1 and
took it to Goa. Bayinnaung sent envoys on a Portuguese ship to
Goa, offering, in return for the Tooth, eight lakhs of rupees and,
whenever needed, shiploads of rice to provision the fortress of
Malacca. Other Buddhist and Hindu kings made offers. The Portu-
guese wished to accept but were overridden by their archbishop who,
in the presence of a large assembly including the Burmese envoys,
ground the Tooth to powder, burnt the powder, and cast the ashes
into the river. But soon men said that the Tooth was miraculously
restored to its temple at Kandy.
Learning from his astrologers that he was destined to wed a prin-
cess of Ceylon, Bayinnaung sent envoys to find her. They went to
Colombo and told of their master's glory. The chief there had no
daughter, but his chamberlain had one whom the chief cherished
as his own. He had no authority over the Temple of the Tooth at
Kandy, where another chief ruled, but he showed the envoys a
shrine which he said contained the Tooth. The envoys took the
daughter and the Tooth. Bayinnaung sent gorgeous presents in
return. The Tooth reached Bassein in 1576. Bayinnaung went to
meet it in a great procession of magnificent canoes crowded with
lords and ladies clad in court dress. He bathed ceremonially, scented
himself, and bowed before the shrine. Princes waded into the river
and bore it ashore at Pegu, walking over the state vestments which
the lords took off and spread before them. It was encased in a
golden casket studded with the gems of Dammazedi and the kings
of old, and of Momeik and of Ayuthia, the vassal kings, and finally
it was deposited at the Mahazedi pagoda, Pegu. This was the day
of days in Bayinnaung's life; his wide conquests, even the white
elephants from Siam, faded into insignificance; he said: "Heaven is
good to me. Anawrahta could obtain only a replica Tooth from
Ceylon, Alaungsithu went to China in vain, but Ī, because of my
piety and wisdom, I have been granted this ! ”2
1 See vol. II, p. 548.
2 Linschoten, Voyage to the East Indies, I, p. 293; Faria y Sousa (Stevens),
The Portuguese Asia, II, 207-9, 251-2; Hmannan, m, 8, 33-35; Gerson da Cunha,
“Memoir on the History of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon", in Journal Bombay
branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1875.
## p. 490 (#530) ############################################
490
BURMA (1531-1782)
2
3
Bayinnaung's great Talaing officer, the wungyi (minister) Binnya
Dala, compiled the Razadarit Ayedawpon chronicle. Bayinnaung
introduced a measure of legal uniformity by summoning distinguished
monks and officials from all over his dominions to prescribe an
cfficial collection of law books; they prescribed the Wareru dham-
mnathat ? and compiled the Dhammathatkyaw and Kosaungchok. The
decisions given in his court were collected in the Hanthawaddy
Hsinbyumyashin pyatton. He also tried to standardise weights and
measures, such as the cubit, tical, and basket, throughout the realm.
Styling himself the king of kings, he governed only Pegu and the
Talaing country directly, leaving the rest of the realm to vassal
kings with palaces at Toungoo, Prome, Ava and Chiengmai. He
regarded Chiengmai as the most important, having fifty-seven pro-
vinces; these, like the thirty-two provinces of Pegu,' were big villages.
Chiengmai was a Shan state, and when he spoke of having twenty-
four crowned heads at his command, he was referring to sawbwas.
Each of the twenty gates of his new city at Pegu was named after
the vassal who built it, such as the Prome gate, the Chiengmai gate,
the Toungoo gate, the gates of Salin, Dalla, Mohnyin, Tavoy, Hsenwi,
Linzin, Tenasserim, Ayuthia, Martaban, Pagan—it was the men of
Pagan who had to plant the toddy palms all along the walls and at
the street corners. As a model Buddhist king he distributed copies
of the scriptures, fed monks, and built pagodas in Chiengmai, Koshan-
pye and other conquered states. Some of these pagodas are still
to be seen, and in later ages the Burmese would point to them as
proof of their claim to rule those countries still. He supervised mass
ordinations at the Kalyani thein. " Following a royal custom he would
break up his crown and use its jewels to adorn the spire of a pagoda;
he did this for the Shwedagon, the Shwemawdaw, and the Kyaiktiyo
in Thaton district. Again, as at the Shwemawdaw, he would build
as many surrounding monasteries as they were years in his life
at the time, fifty-two; or he would bear the cost of ordaining a
similar number of monks. After the 1564 earthquake, which coin-
cided with his queen's death, he repaired the Shwedagon, and added
a new spire. His chief foundation was the Mahazedi at Pegu, at
which he enshrined a begging bowl of supernatural origin sent him
in 1567 by some Ceylon kinglet, the Tooth (p. 489) and golden images
of himself, the royal family, and such of the great officers of state
as were in his inner circle.
Bayinnaung made no distinction of race in appointment to office.
His best commander was a Talaing, Binnya Dala. As his predecessors
had doubtless done for ages, he entered into artificial blood-brother-
hood (thwethauk) with over a score of his principal officers, and the
1 See vol. m, p. 553.
2 See vol. m, pp. 551-2.
8 Forchammer, Jardine Prize Essay on Burmese Law,
4 See vol. I, p. 553.
o Ibid. p. 556.
## p. 491 (#531) ############################################
MAJESTY OF BAYINNAUNG
491
list includes Talaings. They penetrated his entourage to such an
extent that the word used by European travellers for a court grandee
is semini, an Italianisation of smim, the Talaing for lord. Such being
his methods, he might have reconciled both races and founded a
national dynasty. He failed to do so because he alienated human
nature by his wars. The brunt fell on Talaings; hence while at first
they followed him because they believed he could give them settled
government, at last the only ones who followed him were hardy
spirits desirous of foreign loot.
Unlike most Burmese kings, who lived in the backwoods (pp. 496,
513), Bayinnaung lived in a seaport and came into contact with the
outer world. The extent to which overseas traders frequented the
Delta indicates that his trade regulations were reasonable. Merchants
sailing from India first sighted Negrais and saw there, as we see now,
the superb Hmawdin pagoda flashing on the headland, a landmark
for a whole day's sail. They went upstream to Bassein and then,
turning east, passed through the Myaungmya creeks to Pegu. Those
creeks were, at least on the main route, crowded with villages almost
touching each other, a teeming hive of happy people. Customs
officers, though strict, were not obstructive, and there was free export
of such commodities as jewels and rice, a thing subsequently forbid-
den by the benighted kings of Ava (p. 501). Bassein is scarcely men-
tioned, the chief ports being on the eastern side, Syriam, Dalla,
Martaban, and above all Pegu, where the merchants were allowed,
by special privilege, to have brick warehouses, the populace being
restricted to houses of bamboo or timber. Ralph Fitch and the
merchants of Venice never tire of describing Pegu city, the long moat
full of crocodiles, the walls, the watch-towers, the gorgeous palace, the
processions with elephants and palanquins and grandees in shining
robes, the shrines filled with images of massy gold and gems, the
unending hosts of armed men, and the vision of the great king himself
receiving petitions as he sat throned on high amid his lords.
Yet despite its splendour, the kingship was not loved. Bayinnaung
and the princes risked their lives freely at the head of the hosts con-
spicuously on elephants, and Bayinnaung shared many a hardship
with his men. But what was sport to him was death to the common
people. The disorganisation caused by his wars was such that Pegu
sometimes starved. Even the fertile Delta cannot grow rice without
men to plant it, and they were not there to plant it, having all been
dragged away on foreign service. Of those that went, few returned,
for if battle casualties were great, the wastage from hunger and
dysentery was even greater. Even if they were not sent to fight,
they were herded together and led away in one of the everlasting
deportations which the kingship found necessary to re-populate
ravaged areas.
1 Hakluytus Posthumus, x, 150.
## p.
478
BURMA (1531–1782)
-
outworks of the city, he opened the sluice gates of his great reservoirs
and flooded them out. He retained Ramu and Chittagong in spite
of raids there by the Tippera tribes while he was engaged by
Tabinshwehti, and coins bearing his name and styling him sultan
were struck at Chittagong. He built at Mrohaung the Shwedaung
pagoda, the Shitthaung, Dukkanthein, and Lemyethna temples, and
the Andaw to enshrine a Ceylon tooth.
Unlike the other races of Burma, the Arakanese maintained sea-
going craft, and Chittagong bred a race of capable seamen. “ For
centuries they were the terror of the Ganges delta and at times they
hampered even Portuguese shipping. Finally they united with Portu-
guese freebooters and thus brought about the greatest period in
Arakanese history, c. 1550–1666. The Portuguese, subject to little
control from Goa, had settled in numbers at Chittagong, making it
a thriving port, since the middle of the sixteenth century. It was
always held by a brother or faithful clansman of the king, with an
Arakanese garrison; every year the king sent a hundred boats full
of troops, powder and ball, and then the garrison and boats sent in
the previous year returned home to Arakan,
Minrazagyi (Salim Shah) 1593-1612), the founder of the Parabaw
pagoda at Mrohaung, employed De Brito in the expedition against
Pegu (p. 494). It comprised land levies which went over the passes,
as well as a flotilla from Chittagong and the Ganges delta. On the
return journey the wise minister Mahapinnyakyaw, lord of Chitta-
gong, died and was buried by the Hmawdin pagoda at Negrais; he
had served the king from youth up, and his compilation of legal
precedents, Mahapinnyakyaw pyatton, which placed the interpreta-
tion of Manu dhammathat lawbooks on a definitely Buddhist basis,
was thereafter among the most valuable works of its kind throughout
Burma.
Minhkamaung (Husain Shah) (1612-22), as crown prince, had
been captured for a time by De Brito when trying to reduce him to
obedience at Syriam (p. 494). His queen built the Ratanabon pagoda
at Mrohaung. His great achievement was to overthrow the Portu-
guese pirates who had made Sandwip island their stronghold. This
island was a trade centre, it commanded the mouth of the Ganges
delta, and its neighbourhood provided timber in abundance for
shipbuilding. In 1608 the Arakanese had offered to let the Dutch
trade and build fortifications in return for help in driving out the
Portuguese, but their commitments elsewhere were too heavy to
allow them to accept the offer. 2 Minhkamaung, aided by some
Dutch ships, beat off repeated Portuguese attacks and finally in 1617
occupied Sandwip.
1 See vol. 1, p. 551.
2 India Office Hague Transcripts, 1607-16, letter 62; De Jonge, De Opkomst
van het Nederlandsche Gezag in Oost-Indie, di, 77.
1
## p. 479 (#519) ############################################
MAGH SEA RAIDERS
479
After that the Portuguese ceased to be his enemies and became his
tools. They centred at Chittagong and intermarried with the people
there. They served the Arakanese in holding Sandwip island, Noa-
khali and Backergunge districts, and the Sunderbans delta south of
Calcutta, and raiding up to Dacca and even Murshidabad, while
Tippera sent propitiatory tribute. After they had sacked Dacca, his
capital, in 1625, the Mughul governor felt so unsafe that for a time
he lived farther inland. For generations an iron chain was stretched
across the Hooghly river between Calcutta and Sibpur to prevent
their entrance. In a single month, February 1727, they carried off
1800 captives from the southern parts of Bengal; the king chose the
artisans, about one-fourth, to be his slaves, and the rest were sold
at prices varying from 20 to 70 rupees a head and set to work on
the land as slaves; ? sometimes the sales were to Dutch, English and
1
French merchants in the Indian ports. They would pierce the hands
of their captives, pass a strip of cane through the hole, and fling
them under the deck strung together like hens; a baby which cried
would be decapitated under its mother's eyes, and its body flung
overboard. A favourite formation was to sweep the sea in line, so
as to cover a large area, but a hundred Bengal ships would flee at
the sight of four Magh ships, and if they found they were being
overtaken, the crews would fling themselves overboard and drown
sooner than meet the Arakanese hand to hand. 2
Sometimes the Maghs would sail back to the coast where they had
captured their prisoners and wait till the villagers brought out sui-
ficient presents to redeem their kinsmen from the ship. This they
called collecting revenue, and the Portuguese among them kept
regular account books. Their activity decreased when the English
began to police the coast, but even in 1795 they were plundering
the king of Burma's boats off Arakan, laden with his customs dues
of 10 per cent, in kind. They had forts at Jagdia and 'Alamgirnagar
in the mouth of the Meghna river, and a little colony of 1500, speak-
ing Arakanese and wearing Burmese dress, still survives on four or
five islands in the extreme south-east of Backergunge.
Thirithudamma (1622_38) deferred his coronation twelve years
because the wise assured him it would be followed by his death a
year later. Finally he learnt to avert fate by sacrificing 4 the hearts
of thousands of human beings, white cows and white pigeons, and
was crowned in 1635, together with twelve vassal chiefs, amid the
utmost splendour, his guards including Burmans, Talaings, Hindu-
stanis, and even some Japanese Catholics. It was he who raided Pegu
1 Twenty-four Parganas Gazetteer, p. 39.
2 Jadunath Sarkar, “Feringhi Pirates of Chatgaon", in Journal Asiatic Society
of Bengal, 1907, p. 422; and his History of Aurangzib, vol. III.
8 Symes, Embassy to Ava, p. 117.
4 Manrique, Itinerario de las Missiones del India Oriental, ch. XXXI, Hakluyt
ed. I, 357-8.
## p. 480 (#520) ############################################
480
BURMA (1531–1782)
and brought back Anaukpetlun's bell (p. 495), which he set up at a
pagoda near Mrohaung. His queen had a royal kinsman as paramour,
so he died suddenly, and his little son and heir soon followed him.
The queen thereupon placed her paramour on the throne as
Narapatigyi (1638-45), and enforced the Massacre of the Kinsmen. 2
Narapatigyi built at Mrohaung the Mingalamanaung pagoda and,
to house some scriptures from Ceylon, the Pitakataik.
Sandathudamma (1652-84), the builder of the Zinamanaung,
Thekyamanaung, Ratanamanaung, Shwekyathein and Lokamu pa-
godas at Mrohaung, is revered as one of the best kings. In the last
year of his reign some forty Arakanese monks went to Ceylon at the
request of a mission sent by the aid of the Dutch. 3 The Dutch feared
a revival of Portuguese influence in Ceylon and wished to strike at
Catholicism by reviving Buddhist ordination, which was becoming
extinct. They sent to Arakan, as they had a branch at Mrohaung
from about 1626 to 1683; it was closed from time to time because
the trade was not of great volume, and in 1670 the whole staff was
massacred. But while it lasted they obtained more businesslike terms
than in Burma, for under the articles * of 1653 they could claim their
own interpreter at royal audiences and take away their children by
women of the country (cf. p. 502).
Indeed, as might be expected of a maritime people, the Arakanese
were in several respects less backward than the Burmese. Thus they
permitted the export of rice (p. 501) under the control of an officer
who regulated it so as to prevent a shortage. And about 1660 money
began to be struck in Arakan; the Burmese struck some medallions
for enshrinement in the Mingun pagoda in 1790,5 having learnt the
idea from Arakan; the Arakanese had used medallions since the tenth
century for commemorative purposes, usually at a king's accession.
Shuja', brother to Aurangzib, being defeated in his struggle for
the throne, had to flee in 1660. The people of Bengal regarded the
Maghs as unclean savages, but Shuja' was in such straits that he
asked the king of Arakan to shelter him and lend some of his famous
ships to take him on the way to Mecca, where he wished to end his
days. The king consented. Shuja' was brought to Mrohaung in
Portuguese galeasses and greeted with courtesy. But with him were
his family, including a beautiful eldest daughter, and half a dozen
camel-loads of gold and jewels
wealth such as had never before
been seen in Arakan. Shuja' kept away from the king, repelled by
1 A Hindu officer of irregular horse in the 1824-26 war took it to 'Aligarh,
U. P. , see Wroughton, “Inscription of the large Arakan bell", in Journal Asiatic
Society Bengal, 1838, p. 287.
2 Dinnyawai Yazawinthit, p. 219. See also vol. II, p. 556.
3 Similarly in 1753 the Dutch obtained monks from Siam, Tennent, Christia-
nity in Ceylon, p. 224; cf. Nga Me, History of Arakan (M. S. ).
4 Valentyn, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, vol. v, part 1, pp. 140-6.
5 Harvey, History of Burma, p. 275.
8 See chap. VIII, p. 226.
## p. 481 (#521) ############################################
MUGHULS TAKE CHITTAGONG
481
his table manners. Eight months passed, and on one pretext or
another the promised ships were never forthcoming. Finally the
king demanded Shuja''s daughter in marriage. A blue-blooded
Mughul of the imperial house, Shuja' refused. The king told him
to go within three days. Unable to move, and refused supplies in
the bazar, he resolved to take his chance of overthrowing the king.
He had two hundred faithful men, and many of the local Muslims
supported him; thrones in Indo-China have been overthrown with
fewer men, and good judges on the spot thought he had a reasonable
chance. But there were too many in the plot, and the king heard
of it in time. Shuja' was thus reduced to firing the city and cutting
his way out in the confusion. Most of his party was taken, and though
he himself succeeded in reaching the jungle he was ultimately traced
and executed. For days it was a sight to see his treasure being melted
down and conveyed to the palace strong-room. His daughters were
taken into the harem, the marriage of the eldest to the king being
celebrated in song and verse that are still greatly admired in Arakan.
A year later the king, scenting a plot, starved them all to death,
though the eldest was in an advanced stage of pregnancy by himself;
and their brothers' heads were hacked off with dahs. 1
Aurangzib himself would have executed Shuja', but he did not
like others doing it, and also it was necessary to curb the piracy of
the Maghs. Shayista Khan, the Mughul viceroy of Bengal, built a
fleet, and in 1665 drove them out of their strong stockades on Sandwip
island. The news spread consternation, and the king in fear began to
distrust the feringhis who, suspecting that he would exterminate their
families, accepted the offers of Shayista Khan and deserted to him
with their families in forty-two galleys laden with munitions. In 1666
Shayista Khan's force of 6500 men and 288 boats took Chittagong in
a thirty-six hours' siege. They sold 2000 Arakanese into slavery, and
captured 1026 cannon, mostly jingals throwing a one-pound ball. Many
ships were sunk in action, 135 were captured, and two state elephants
were burnt in the sack. Such of the Arakanese garrison as escaped
tried to march home, but they were attacked by their former slaves,
the kidnapped Muslims of Bengal, who had been settled on the land.
The fall of Chittagong caused indescribable rejoicing in Bengal
and ended Arakan's century of greatness. The trackless Ganges delta
afforded scope not only to the Arakanese but also to nests of pirates
recruited from the scum of every race, and so they continued their
sea raids. But never again did they hold Chittagong or even Ramu,
1 Schouten, Voyage aux Indes, 1, 228-37; Bernier, Travels, pp. 109-15; Manucci,
Storia do Mogor, I, 369-76; Bowrey, Geographical Account of the Countries round.
the Bay of Bengal, pp. 139-42; Hamilton, New Account of East Indies, II, 27-9;
Harvey, "Fate of Shah Shuja”, in Journal Burma Research Society, 1922.
2 Jadunath Sarkar, “Conquest of Chatgaon", in Journal Asiatic Society of
Bengal, 1907, p. 405; and his History of Aurangzib, NI, 220-45; Bernier, Travels,
pp. 174-82; Chittagong Gazetteer, p. 31.
31
## p. 482 (#522) ############################################
482
BURMA (1531–1782)
and they lost their sword arm by the desertion of the feringhis.
Sandathudamma's long reign saw the power of his race pass its
zenith, and his death is followed by a century of chaos. There were
twenty-five kings in the next hundred and nineteen years. The
profits of piracy had gone but the piratical instinct remained, render-
ing government impossible.
Shuja''s followers in 1661 were retained as Archers of the Guard
who drew four rupees a month, equivalent to many times that amount
of present currency. They murdered and set up kings at will and their
numbers were recruited by fresh arrivals from upper India. In 1692
they burnt the palace and for twenty years roamed over the country,
carrying fire and sword wherever they went. Finally they were sup-
pressed by a lord who set up as king Sandawiziya (1710-31); he
deported them to Ramree; there, and at Thinganet and Tharagon
near Akyab, their descendants still exist, under the name Kaman
(Persian kaman=a bow), speaking Arakanese but retaining their
Islamic faith and Afghan features.
Sandawiziya was murdered and the country relapsed. King after
king was murdered and village fought against village. Earthquakes
are for centuries mentioned in the chronicles of the various states of
Burma, but those of 1761-62 were particularly awesome in Arakan
and the people felt that they were doomed. Sometimes the lords
would induce a hardy spirit to take the throne, and as often others
would combine to make his task impossible.
The last king, Thamada (1782–85), bearing as if in irony the name
of the first king on earth, had less authority than ever, for he was
of the despised race of Ramree. A band of lords went to Ava asking
for intervention; perhaps they were patriots desiring to see their
land at rest; perhaps they merely desired the sweets of office. Their
request was granted with a vengeance, for Bodawpaya was now king
in Burma. Many a village came out with bands of music to greet
his armies as deliverers. But the methods of the Burmese were such
that soon the very men who had invited them into the country were
leading insurgents against them. "
THE TOUNGOO DYNASTY (1531-1752)
The Shan migration, lasting two centuries, had now ended, leaving
Burma split into chieftainships. Tabinshwehti 2 set himself to revive
the overlordship. Toungoo was thronged with refugees, so that he
had no lack of men; he was in control of Kyaukse, the richest area
in upper Burma and the key to Ava; and, to crown all, his opponents
were Shans, a race which could not unite.
First he advanced against lower Burma. It was the richest part
of the country and also it contained Portuguese adventurers who were
willing to be hired. Sometimes he had as many as seven hundred. To
1 See vol v, p. 558.
See vol. II, p. 558.
## p. 483 (#523) ############################################
1
BURMAN TALAING UNION
483
obtain their services was to win the day, for they had firearms, hitherto
unknown in Burma, and no race in Indo-China could stand up to them.
By 1541 he had annexed the Pegu state. He was able to enter
Pegu city without a siege because the Talaings, after suffering several
defeats, lost heart, and their king Takayutpi," instead of putting heart
into them, took to distrusting his officers and executing them; instead
of leading his men to the end, Takayutpi deserted the city and lived
in a stockade at Ingabu, Maubin district; a year later he died while
hunting elephants and the fishermen there still worship a nat spirit
called Po Yutpi. Martaban, a thriving port, rich with the accumu-
lated stocks of merchants of many races, gave more trouble; it fought
to the end, aided by seven Portuguese ships; these were small craft,
manned largely by Eurasians and slaves, and Tabinshwehti drove
them off with fire-rafts, while other rafts, with scaffolding higher
than the ramparts, were run alongside the fortifications facing the
river; the sack raged for three days. ?
Tabinshwehti exercised his royal privilege of putting spires on the
great Talaing pagodas; to the Shwedagon he offered his queen and
redeemed her with 10 viss (1 viss = 3. 65 lb. ) of gold. In 1542 he
took Prome, although the Raja of Arakan and the chiefs of upper
Burma, headed by the Ava sawbwa, attacked him while he was
besieging the town. In 1544 he annexed upper Burma as far as
Minbu and Myingyan; he had already been crowned at Pegu as king
of lower Burma, and now while halting at Pagan he was crowned
as king of upper Burma. On returning home in 1546 he was crowned
as king of both, using Talaing as well as Burmese rites. Only half
his task was done, but the rest was sure, and men again beheld the
glory of the ancient ritual; after three centuries of sawbwas (Shan
chiefs) there was once more a king in Burma.
In the cold weather of 1546–47 he attacked Arakan. Many of his
war-canoes were wrecked on the west coast. All his land forces
arrived but Mrohaung was a strong town, and the only chance of
taking it was when the walls were in disrepair. But Arakan was
under an energetic raja (p. 477) who saw that his defences were in
repair, and after a short time under the walls Tabinshwehti accepted
the intercession of the monks and returned home.
He returned the more quickly because Siam, hearing that he and
all his valiant men were away in Arakan, had raided Tavoy; and
in 1547-48 the Burmese advanced against Siam. " The hosts crossed
1 See vol. II, p. 558.
2 Pin
Voyages and Adventures.
8 Halliday, “Slapat Rajawan Datow Smin Ron", in Journal Burma Research
Society, 1923.
* When, in 1767, the Burmese sacked Ayuthia (p. 515), they destroyed the
palace archives, so that Siamese chronology before the eighteenth century is va-
gue. Until recently the Siamese dates for the Burmese invasions of the six-
teenth century were a decade or two earlier than the Burmese dates, which
I follow. Recent research by Siamese gentlemen has, however, confirmed the
Burmese dates, which are also borne out by contemporary Burmese inscriptions
## p. 484 (#524) ############################################
484
BURMA (1531-1782)
from Martaban to Moulmein on a bridge of boats over which they
could ride their ponies at a gallop. His Majesty's elephant was ferried
across on a raft, but the other elephants were sent upstream where the
fords were shallow. Jingals were mounted on many of these elephants.
The cannon were kept close to the king, and he moved in great state,
surrounded by the choicest elephants, richly attired lords, and 400
Portuguese guards whose helmets and muskets were inlaid with gold,
for they provided a bodyguard as well as artillery. Hundreds of work-
men went ahead every day to pitch the wooden camp palace, richly
painted and gilded, and at each halt there was a pwe festival.
The Burmese advanced up the Ataran river, through Three
Pagodas Pass and down the Meklawng river to Kanburi. Thence
they struck at Ayuthia. The Siamese possessed cannon, made of the
copper which was annually imported from China. The weakest part
of the wall was defended by fifty Portuguese; Tabinshwehti tried
to bribe them, but they treated the officer with derision and one of
the Siamese commanders, flinging open the gate, dared Tabinshwehti
to bring the money. After a month the Burmese withdrew and tried
to plunder Kampengpet, a wealthy town; but here again were
Portuguese, who used flaming projectiles so that the guns had to be
kept under shelters of damp hide. Tabinshwehti, saying the Siamese
were devils who, when their own weapons failed, used new ones
never known since the beginning of the world, retreated, and it
would doubtless have gone hard with him had he not captured the
Siamese king's son and brothers in some open fighting. At once
Siamese envoys came with red and green woollen cloths, longyis
(men's shirts), and aromatic woods, offering friendship in return for
the captive princes. Tabinshwehti released not only them but also
his other prisoners, and was thereupon left unmolested in his retreat
through Raheng.
Tabinshwehti dreamed of a united Burma. When conquering the
Talaing kingdom he made no attempt to administer his new subjects
by Burmese governors. Any Talaing lord who made timely sub-
mission could count on being left in his fief. Consequently from the
first he had a large Talaing following; fully half his levies and best
officers were Talaings. He left the beautiful buildings of the Talaing
kings standing when he captured Pegu. Talaings had their full say
in his councils, he took care to be crowned with the ritual of a
Talaing king, and he gave way to the importunities of his Talaing
princesses, letting them dress in their own fashion instead of the
Burmese court dress.
Finally, hearing an old prophecy that no king
with a Burmese hairknot should rule the Talaing land, he bobbed
his hair like a Talaing and wore the diadem of a Talaing king.
and European travellers. See the discussion in Harvey, History of Burma,
p. 343; and Wood, History of Siam, pp. 23-25.
1 Faria y Sousa (Stevens), The Portuguese Asia, 1, 135.
? Hmannan, , 240.
## p. 485 (#525) ############################################
TABINSHWEHTI'S DEATH
486
On returning from Siam Tabinshwehti took to hunting with a
young Portuguese captain, who had a gun and seldom missed his
mark. Tabinshwehti thought a gun a miraculous thing, and in admi-
ration gave him a royal handmaid to wife. The feringhi taught his
bride to cook feringhi dishes for the king to eat, and gave him juice
of the grape to drink, also spirits sweetened with honey. The king
drank and his heart was glad, but he lost his wits, respecting not
other men's wives, listening to evil tales and executing innocent men.
Bayinnaung, his foster-brother and principal commander, remonstra-
ted with him but he answered: "I have made friends with drink.
Brother, do thou manage the affairs of state. Bring me no petitions.
Leave me to my jollity. ” Sometimes he attended levees, sometimes
he could not. The Burmese, Shan and Talaing lords at court com-
bined to ask Bayinnaung to take the throne, but he was faithful,
and would not.
The king went to stay at Pantanaw, Maubin district, in the care
of Talaing chamberlains, and Bayinnaung went to deal with a
rebellion headed by a monk, a descendant of the fallen Talaing
dynasty, who, flinging off the robe, assumed the title Smim Htaw, and
occupied Dagon (Rangoon) and Dalla. The Talaing chamberlains
enticed Tabinshwehti into a jungle saying a white elephant had been
traced, and there they cut off his head; 2 they then raised the Talaings,
seized Pegu, and set the leading chamberlain on the throne.
Bayinnaung (1551-81). The fiefs of central Burma all shut their
gates and never lifted a finger to help Bayinnaung; his own brothers
and kinsmen tried to set up as independent kings in such important
charges as Prome and Toungoo itself. There he was, a king without
a kingdom, grappling with one Talaing rebel in the west while
another sat on his throne in the east, his Burmese people looked on
with folded hands, and his own brothers seceded. At once he sent
overseas for his Portuguese guards, who had rejoined their own people
in Malaya; they came in haste, and in his unfeigned relief he greeted?
their leader with the words : "Ah, brother Diogo, brother Diogo, we
two, we happy two, I on my elephant and thou on thy horse, we
could conquer the world together! ” With them, and the few faithful
levies that stood by him, he was safe, although little better than a
fugitive in the jungles. But many joined him, including even Talaings,
for men recognise character when they see it. As the months went by,
he regained Toungoo and Prome, and finally he advanced on Pegu.
Smim Htaw had overthrown the usurping chamberlain and occu-
pied the Pegu palace. When Bayinnaung's host came near the walls,
the Talaings went out to meet it. The two chiefs fought hand to hand
and finally Bayinnaung, freeing his elephant, drew back and charged,
1 Hmannan, , 268-70.
2 He is worshipped as the Tabinshwehti Nat spirit, Temple, Thirty-Seven
Nats, p. 64.
3 Couto, Da Asia, vol. IV, part I, p. 136.
## p. 486 (#526) ############################################
486
BURMA (1531_1782)
breaking the tusk of his foeman's elephant and driving him off the
field followed by all his men. He then sacked Pegu, killing men,
women, children and even animals.
Talaing opposition collapsed. Smim Htaw could get few more
followers, but he made a gallant fight, hunted as he was throughout
the Delta. Many a jungle there has its tradition of his hiding. Some-
times he would catch the Burmese boats stranded at low tide in a
creek, and wipe them out, sometimes he would surprise an outpost.
But as the months passed, the end drew near. His family fell into
the hands of his pursuers. He fled alone in a canoe along the coast
to Martaban. Once they fell on him during the evening meal, but
he slipped away leaving his clothes in their hands. He hid in the hills
round Sittaung, poor and unknown, till he took a village girl to wife
and told her his secret; she guilelessly told her father, who reported
to the village officer. Bayinnaung had him paraded through the
jeering streets, and saying he had done evil put him to an evil death.
Thus ended the lineage of Wareru. '
Having thus regained the position from which he should have
started, Bayinnaung set out on his career of conquest. The size of
his armies varied with the area of his kingdom for the time being.
At its maximum, when it included upper Burma, the Shan States,
and Siam, it supplied with a mass levy approaching possibly one
hundred thousand. His efforts were on a bigger scale than had
hitherto been known to Burma. Long records of faithful service, and
the ties of ancient friendship, were pleaded in vain by officers who
failed; the least they had to fear was deprivation of all titles and
property, and exile to some fever-stricken spot. As for the rank and
file, the severity they suffered was provoked by the fact that many
of the levies were like herds of driven cattle, and the only way of
keeping them together and bringing them to action was to use
methods of frightfulness.
By 1555 he had annexed Ava, and by 1559 the whole of upper
Burma, the present Shan States, Manipur, Chiengmai and Vieng-
chang (Linzin). From this time dates Burmese suzerainty over the
Shans; the Pagan monarchy had controlled little more than the foot.
hills, and even now Burmese suzerainty was seldom more than
nominal until the time of Alaungpaya (1752-60).
It is characteristic that while Bayinnaung was proceeding down
1 See vol. m, p. 551.
2 Elizabethan travellers who say they actually saw half a million men march
out of Pegu are only repeating bazar talk. The Burmese chronicles give a list
of Bayinnaung's levies totalling over a million men, but in the Anglo-Burmese
wars of the nineteenth century our troops found Burmese commanders habitu-
ally overestimating numbers by at least one decimal. Even in the early nine-
teenth century the population of Burma can hardly have exceeded four millions.
Harvey, History of Burma, p. 333, and Burney, "Population of Burman Empire",
in Journal Statistical Society, 1842.
## p. 487 (#527) ############################################
FUNERAL SACRIFICE SUPPRESSED
487
the Salween against Chiengmai, his garrison in Mone was murdered
and the bridge he had built across the Salween was destroyed by
Mone, Yawnghwe and Lawksawk. Revolts were continuous. In
1562, 1572, 1574–76 he was campaigning against Mohnyin and Mog-
aung, and even to the north, wearing out his men in pursuits over
snow-clad hills; finally the chiefs submitted, tired of starving in the
wilderness. The Mogaung chief was exhibited for a week in fetters
at the gates of Pegu; as for some scores of his principal followers,
Bayinnaung, saying he was very merciful, refrained from executing
them and sent them to be sold as slaves in the Ganges delta.
As was invariably the case, the Burmese no sooner occupied an
arra than they required levies, and the Burmese Shans were at once
employed against the Siamese Shans. The chiefs presented daughters
to the rival harem, sent their sons to be brought up in the palace,
and paid periodic tribute; Momeik, the most valuable of all, paid
rubies; Chiengmai paid elephants, horses, lacquer and silks. Every-
where he deported numbers of the people in order to populate his
homeland. From Chiengmai he took artisans, especially her famous
lacquer workers; it is probably these who introduced into Burma
the finer sort of lacquer ware called yun, the name of the Yun or
Lao Shan tribes round Chiengmai. ?
In the 1556 campaign he went by river as far as Katha district,
accompanied by his harem and worshipping at the principal pagodas
on the way. On the return journey in 1557 he set up at the Shwezigon
pagoda, Pagan, the great bronze bell bearing in Pali, Burmese and
Talaing an inscription every line of which breathes imperial pride
in his conquests and in the steps he took to promote religion among
the Shans, building monasteries, and suppressing funeral sacrifice.
It had been customary to bury with a major sawbwa (Shan chief)
as many as ten elephants, a hundred horses, and a hundred each of
men and women slaves, the numbers being less for minor sawbwas.
He also suppressed the sacrifice of white animals (buffaloes, kine,
goats, pigs, fowls) to the Mahagiri spirit on Popa Hill;3 hitherto
these animals had been killed for a feast, and their skulls were hung
in strings all round the shrine; the worshippers drank intoxicants at
the feast, and once a year the king and court shared in it as an act
of state worship. Bayinnaung introduced prohibition and punished
drunkenness with death. He enforced the divine command against
taking life even to the extent of abolishing the Baqr 'Id among Muslim
settlers.
The king of Ayuthia, styled Lord of the White Elephants, had
recently possessed no fewer than seven; it was the glory of these
1 See vol. II, p. 555.
2 Morris, “Lacquerware industry of Burma", in Journal Burma Research
Society, 1919; Kyaw Dun, "Lacquerware called Yun", in ibid. 1920.
3 Hmannan, I, 312; Wawhayalinatta, p. 69.
## p. 488 (#528) ############################################
188
BURMA (1531-1782)
elephants which attracted white merchants from the ends of the
carth and brought Siam unprecedented prosperity; there could be
no other cause, for in the days of his predecessors, who had far fewer,
there was less trade and European merchants had not come. He
still had four, and Bayinnaung's soul was stirred to its depths at not
having so many himself. He was considering not only his own glory
but also the interests of his people; he believed it to be essential to
their prosperity that he should acquire these elephants. Therefore
he invaded Siam. As he had a much larger area from which to get
levies, his task was easier than Tabinshwehti's.
In 1563–64 the huge host captured Kampengpet and Sukhotai and
then swarmed down on Ayuthia, losing considerably from the Siamese
and their feringhi gunners, but capturing stockades, war canoes and
three foreign ships. The city quickly yielded in quite unnecessary
terror of Bayinnaung's Portuguese artillery, which though noisy
was too light to do real damage to the walls. The terms were the
surrender of four white elephants, the captivity of the king and some
princes as hostages, the presentation of a daughter, the cession of
Tenasserim shipping tolls, and annual tribute of thirty war elephants.
Bayinnaung left the Siamese king's son to rule as vassal with a
Burmese garrison of 3000 men, and went home with the captive
king and court, and with thousands of the population roped together
in gangs with wooden collars; among them were actors and actresses,
and it is probably these who introduced into Burma the songs and
dances called Ayuthia. The loot included thirty crude images of
men and elephants in bronze.
The captive princes of Ayuthia, Ava and Chiengmai were kept
at Pegu and given reasonable treatment, even being allowed to live
in double-roofed houses painted white, the prerogative of royalty. ?
But Siam was not settled with the fall of Ayuthia. Till the end of
the reign the armies were constantly campaigning all over the
country from the northern Laos downwards. Year after year Bayin-
naung led a weary chase through trackless hills where his men were
reduced to eating grass and died in thousands of starvation and
disease. Year after year there was cruel fighting against the Siamese
stockades, against their war-canoes and flaming rafts. He usually
succeeded in occupying towns, setting his puppet with a Burmese
garrison on their little thrones, and dragging away the population
when it had not hidden in the jungle, to work as slaves in Burma
if they survived the long march. But he could do little more than
this, he could give no settled government to the surviving victims,
and some of the chiefs he never caught. He generously allowed the
captive king of Siam, who had become a monk, to return home on
1 For the significance of the White Elephant, see Harvey, History of Burma,
2 For Burmese sumptuary laws, see Shway
Yoe, The Burman, his Life and Notions.
p. 274.
## p. 489 (#529) ############################################
THE CEYLON TOOTH
489
pilgrimage; no sooner had he arrived than he flung off the robe and
so another siege of Ayuthia became necessary. It lasted ten months
(1568-69). The Burmese losses were so heavy that the men used to
take shelter under the piles of their comrades' corpses. The troops
sickened of the carnage and officers were executed right and left
for failure. The town could not be taken by storm and, although
short of food, held its own until Bayinnaung employed treachery.
He promised large rewards, and one of his prisoners, a Siamese lord,
entered the town saying he had escaped from the Burmese. The
Siamese gave him high command, and one night he opened the gates.
In 1560 the Portuguese captured the Buddha Tooth of Ceylon 1 and
took it to Goa. Bayinnaung sent envoys on a Portuguese ship to
Goa, offering, in return for the Tooth, eight lakhs of rupees and,
whenever needed, shiploads of rice to provision the fortress of
Malacca. Other Buddhist and Hindu kings made offers. The Portu-
guese wished to accept but were overridden by their archbishop who,
in the presence of a large assembly including the Burmese envoys,
ground the Tooth to powder, burnt the powder, and cast the ashes
into the river. But soon men said that the Tooth was miraculously
restored to its temple at Kandy.
Learning from his astrologers that he was destined to wed a prin-
cess of Ceylon, Bayinnaung sent envoys to find her. They went to
Colombo and told of their master's glory. The chief there had no
daughter, but his chamberlain had one whom the chief cherished
as his own. He had no authority over the Temple of the Tooth at
Kandy, where another chief ruled, but he showed the envoys a
shrine which he said contained the Tooth. The envoys took the
daughter and the Tooth. Bayinnaung sent gorgeous presents in
return. The Tooth reached Bassein in 1576. Bayinnaung went to
meet it in a great procession of magnificent canoes crowded with
lords and ladies clad in court dress. He bathed ceremonially, scented
himself, and bowed before the shrine. Princes waded into the river
and bore it ashore at Pegu, walking over the state vestments which
the lords took off and spread before them. It was encased in a
golden casket studded with the gems of Dammazedi and the kings
of old, and of Momeik and of Ayuthia, the vassal kings, and finally
it was deposited at the Mahazedi pagoda, Pegu. This was the day
of days in Bayinnaung's life; his wide conquests, even the white
elephants from Siam, faded into insignificance; he said: "Heaven is
good to me. Anawrahta could obtain only a replica Tooth from
Ceylon, Alaungsithu went to China in vain, but Ī, because of my
piety and wisdom, I have been granted this ! ”2
1 See vol. II, p. 548.
2 Linschoten, Voyage to the East Indies, I, p. 293; Faria y Sousa (Stevens),
The Portuguese Asia, II, 207-9, 251-2; Hmannan, m, 8, 33-35; Gerson da Cunha,
“Memoir on the History of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon", in Journal Bombay
branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1875.
## p. 490 (#530) ############################################
490
BURMA (1531-1782)
2
3
Bayinnaung's great Talaing officer, the wungyi (minister) Binnya
Dala, compiled the Razadarit Ayedawpon chronicle. Bayinnaung
introduced a measure of legal uniformity by summoning distinguished
monks and officials from all over his dominions to prescribe an
cfficial collection of law books; they prescribed the Wareru dham-
mnathat ? and compiled the Dhammathatkyaw and Kosaungchok. The
decisions given in his court were collected in the Hanthawaddy
Hsinbyumyashin pyatton. He also tried to standardise weights and
measures, such as the cubit, tical, and basket, throughout the realm.
Styling himself the king of kings, he governed only Pegu and the
Talaing country directly, leaving the rest of the realm to vassal
kings with palaces at Toungoo, Prome, Ava and Chiengmai. He
regarded Chiengmai as the most important, having fifty-seven pro-
vinces; these, like the thirty-two provinces of Pegu,' were big villages.
Chiengmai was a Shan state, and when he spoke of having twenty-
four crowned heads at his command, he was referring to sawbwas.
Each of the twenty gates of his new city at Pegu was named after
the vassal who built it, such as the Prome gate, the Chiengmai gate,
the Toungoo gate, the gates of Salin, Dalla, Mohnyin, Tavoy, Hsenwi,
Linzin, Tenasserim, Ayuthia, Martaban, Pagan—it was the men of
Pagan who had to plant the toddy palms all along the walls and at
the street corners. As a model Buddhist king he distributed copies
of the scriptures, fed monks, and built pagodas in Chiengmai, Koshan-
pye and other conquered states. Some of these pagodas are still
to be seen, and in later ages the Burmese would point to them as
proof of their claim to rule those countries still. He supervised mass
ordinations at the Kalyani thein. " Following a royal custom he would
break up his crown and use its jewels to adorn the spire of a pagoda;
he did this for the Shwedagon, the Shwemawdaw, and the Kyaiktiyo
in Thaton district. Again, as at the Shwemawdaw, he would build
as many surrounding monasteries as they were years in his life
at the time, fifty-two; or he would bear the cost of ordaining a
similar number of monks. After the 1564 earthquake, which coin-
cided with his queen's death, he repaired the Shwedagon, and added
a new spire. His chief foundation was the Mahazedi at Pegu, at
which he enshrined a begging bowl of supernatural origin sent him
in 1567 by some Ceylon kinglet, the Tooth (p. 489) and golden images
of himself, the royal family, and such of the great officers of state
as were in his inner circle.
Bayinnaung made no distinction of race in appointment to office.
His best commander was a Talaing, Binnya Dala. As his predecessors
had doubtless done for ages, he entered into artificial blood-brother-
hood (thwethauk) with over a score of his principal officers, and the
1 See vol. m, p. 553.
2 See vol. m, pp. 551-2.
8 Forchammer, Jardine Prize Essay on Burmese Law,
4 See vol. I, p. 553.
o Ibid. p. 556.
## p. 491 (#531) ############################################
MAJESTY OF BAYINNAUNG
491
list includes Talaings. They penetrated his entourage to such an
extent that the word used by European travellers for a court grandee
is semini, an Italianisation of smim, the Talaing for lord. Such being
his methods, he might have reconciled both races and founded a
national dynasty. He failed to do so because he alienated human
nature by his wars. The brunt fell on Talaings; hence while at first
they followed him because they believed he could give them settled
government, at last the only ones who followed him were hardy
spirits desirous of foreign loot.
Unlike most Burmese kings, who lived in the backwoods (pp. 496,
513), Bayinnaung lived in a seaport and came into contact with the
outer world. The extent to which overseas traders frequented the
Delta indicates that his trade regulations were reasonable. Merchants
sailing from India first sighted Negrais and saw there, as we see now,
the superb Hmawdin pagoda flashing on the headland, a landmark
for a whole day's sail. They went upstream to Bassein and then,
turning east, passed through the Myaungmya creeks to Pegu. Those
creeks were, at least on the main route, crowded with villages almost
touching each other, a teeming hive of happy people. Customs
officers, though strict, were not obstructive, and there was free export
of such commodities as jewels and rice, a thing subsequently forbid-
den by the benighted kings of Ava (p. 501). Bassein is scarcely men-
tioned, the chief ports being on the eastern side, Syriam, Dalla,
Martaban, and above all Pegu, where the merchants were allowed,
by special privilege, to have brick warehouses, the populace being
restricted to houses of bamboo or timber. Ralph Fitch and the
merchants of Venice never tire of describing Pegu city, the long moat
full of crocodiles, the walls, the watch-towers, the gorgeous palace, the
processions with elephants and palanquins and grandees in shining
robes, the shrines filled with images of massy gold and gems, the
unending hosts of armed men, and the vision of the great king himself
receiving petitions as he sat throned on high amid his lords.
Yet despite its splendour, the kingship was not loved. Bayinnaung
and the princes risked their lives freely at the head of the hosts con-
spicuously on elephants, and Bayinnaung shared many a hardship
with his men. But what was sport to him was death to the common
people. The disorganisation caused by his wars was such that Pegu
sometimes starved. Even the fertile Delta cannot grow rice without
men to plant it, and they were not there to plant it, having all been
dragged away on foreign service. Of those that went, few returned,
for if battle casualties were great, the wastage from hunger and
dysentery was even greater. Even if they were not sent to fight,
they were herded together and led away in one of the everlasting
deportations which the kingship found necessary to re-populate
ravaged areas.
1 Hakluytus Posthumus, x, 150.
## p.
