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Freedom and Bondage in Traditional Burma and Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Extract

I make the following observations from the vantage point of a philologist and anthropologist. I presuppose Michael Aung-Thwin's paper, “Hierarchy and Order in Pre-Colonial Burma”, as background, and I do not propose to recapitulate his treatment of the facts.

Type
Symposium on Societal Organization in Mainland Southeast Asia Prior to the Eighteenth Century
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1984

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References

1 Michael Aung-Thwin, “Athi, Kyuntaw, Hpaya Kyun: Varieties of Commendation and Dependence in PreColonial Burma” (paper presented to a Symposium on Slavery and Bondage at the Australian National University). Michael Aung-Thwin, “The Origins of the Classical Burmese State” (manuscript), chapter 4. note 31.

2 Rabibhadana, Akin, The Organization of Thai Society in the Early Bangkok Period, 1762-1873 (Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, Data Paper 74, 1969), especially chapter 4Google Scholar.

3 Abhakorn, M. R. Rujaya, “Changes in the Administrative System of the Northern Thai States, 1814-1908”, to appear in Proceedings of the Seminar on Change in Northern Thailand and the Shan States, ed. Renard, R. et al. (Chiang Mai: Payap College, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

4 Ganjanapan, Anan, “Kankhetyueng lae Kanplianplaeng nai Sangkhom Lanna Thai (ph.s. 2398-2523)”, Warasan Sangkhomsat 3(1978–1979).Google ScholarGanjanapan, Anan, “The Differentiation of the Peasantry and the Complex “sakdina” Relationship under Forced Commercialization, 1900-1921, to appear in Proceedings of the Seminar on Change in Northern Thailand and the Shan States, ed. Renard, R. et al. (Chiang Mai: Payap College, forthcoming)Google Scholar.

5 Lieberman, Victor, “The Political Significance of Religious Wealth in Burmese History-Some Further Thoughts”, Journal of Asian Studies 39 (1980): 755, n. 16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Condominas, Georges, “Essai sur I'évolution des systèmes politiques thaïs”, Ethos 41, 1:767Google Scholar.

7 Rev. Judson, Adoniram, Burmese-English Dictionary, second printing of the 1953 Centenary Edition (Rangoon: Baptist Board of Publications, 1966), p. 353Google Scholar.

8 Aung-Thwin, Michael Arthur, “The Nature of State and Society in Pagan” (unpublished Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1976)Google Scholar.

9 Mendelson, E. Michael, Sangha and State in Burma (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975).Google ScholarFerguson, John P., “The Symbolic Dimensions of the Burmese Sangha” (unpublished Ph. D. diss., Cornell University, 1975)Google Scholar.

10 Tun, Than, Royal Order of King Badon, cyclostyled (Mandalay: Mandalay Arts and Sciences University, n.d. [1981]), 5, para. 16Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., 8, para. 23.

12 Bunnag, Jane, Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman (London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973), p. 28CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Gombrich, Richard, Precept and Practice (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 306ffGoogle Scholar.

14 On hpoun/Buddhist merit, goun/natural qualities and personal-cum-status characteristics, and awzal authority-command, see Spiro, Melford E., Buddhism and Society (New York: Harper and Row, 1970)Google Scholar and especially Nash, Manning, The Golden Road to Modernity (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965)Google Scholar.

15 Tambiah, S.J., World Conqueror, World Renouncer (London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Lieberman, Victor, “The Transfer of the Burmese Capital from Pegu to Ava”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 50 (1980): 7879Google Scholar.

17 On the messianic cult of royal pretenders (min laung), see Mendelson, E. Michael, “A Messianic Buddhist Association in Upper Burma”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 24 (1961): 560–80, andCrossRefGoogle Scholar, Spiro, Buddhism and Society, pp. 173ffGoogle Scholar.

18 Lehman, F.K., “On the Vocabulary and Semantics of ‘Field’ in the Theravãda Buddhist Society”, Contributions to Asian Studies XVI (1981): 101–11Google Scholar.

19 Tambiah, World Conqueror, World Renouncer.

20 Spiro, M.E., Burmese Supernaturalism (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967).Google Scholar I am grateful to the following agencies for research grants that made possible research in Burma between June 1980 and July 1981: National Science Foundation (BNS 80-17894), National Endowment for the Humanities (RO-1490-80), and Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program (00687400).