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A Re-Investigation of the Gwe of Eighteenth Century Burma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Nigel J. Brailey
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Extract

An insuperable difficulty presents itself in tracing with any degree of correctness the origins of a barbarous race of people who possess no written character, and whose history is clothed in the obscurity of legendary traditions handed down to successive generations by oral Agency alone, in which much of the fabulous becomes mixed with certain transactions of a nature to state indefinitely the ‘era’ of their occurrence, but affording no positive source from whence to derive anything approaching a correct ‘data’. It is then thus with the race of the ‘Kaya’, so called by themselves in their own language, that of ‘Karen Nee’ or ‘Red Karens’ being given to them by the Burmese and surrounding people, from the predominating color of their costume — the short drawers and turban being generally of that color, which distinguishes them from other tribes of ‘Karens’ whose attire consists of a white tunic and are on that account termed ‘Karen Pyee’ or ‘White Karens’.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , September 1970 , pp. 33 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1970

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References

1 ‘Notices on Karen Nee, the Country of the Kaya or Red Karens’, by Deputy Commissioner E. O'Riley F.G.S., in India Political and Foreign Consultations (IPF), No. 102 (29th May 1857) in vol. 26, range 202. Also printed in Journal of the Indian Archipelago (JIA), New Series IV (1859), pp. 1–25Google Scholar.

2 Reprinted in London, 1967. See note, p. 354.

3 Journal of the Burma Research Society (JBRS) XV (1925), pp. 115–128, 129–133Google Scholar.

4 Chiengrung in Thai.

5 JBRS, XV, p. 132.

6 In addition to the above sources, principally: Thien Subindu, ‘Burmese Invasions of Siam, Translated from the Hmannan Yazawin Dawgyi’, and ‘Intercourse between Burma and Siam, as Recorded in Hmannan Yazawin Dawgyi’. Journal of the Siam Society Selected Articles (JSSSA). Bangkok. 1959. Vols. V–VIGoogle Scholar. Halliday, R., ‘Slapat Rajawan Datow Smin Ron — A History of Kings, wilh Text, Translation and Notes’. JBRS, XIII (1923), pp. 5–67Google Scholar. Wohan, Sunthon, Khun. ‘Phongsawadan Mon Phama’. Pt. I in Prachum Phongsawadan, vol. 2 (Bangkok, 1963), pp. 1–133Google Scholar. Chinorot, Boromanuchit. Krom Phra. Phra-rachaphongsawadan Krung Si Ayuthaya. 2 vols. (Bangkok, 1961)Google Scholar. Rajanubhab, Damrong, Prince, Pra-rachaphongsawadan chabap Phra-racha haileka. Vols. III–IV. (Bangkok, 1952)Google Scholar. — Thai Rop Phama. (Bangkok, 1962). Notion, C., Chronique de Xieng Mai. (Paris, 1932)Google Scholar. Dalrymple, A., Oriental Repertory. 2 vols. (London, 1793, 1808)Google Scholar.

7 ‘Quoi’ was presumably the French spelling of the term.

8 G.E. Harvey, History of Burma, pp. 201, 207.

9 ‘Smim Hlaw’ or ‘Dhaw’ — Skt. Dharmaraja — was a title all Mon kings would claim. Damrong (Thai Rop Phama, p. 302) gives Sa-la as his original name; the Hmannan Yazawin as Tha Hla. He was later called Thamein Taw Sin-gya Shin by the Burmese (Sin-gya Shin perhaps after an elephant he stole from the Lawa!), Saming Tho by the Siamese, and Simento by the English.

10 Pegu acted as capital of an independent Mon kingdom from 1369–1539, and subsequently of all Burma until 1635.

11 Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, pp. 61–63.

12 Ibid., pp. 71–72.

13 Halliday. JBRS XIII, p. 63.

14 Dalrymple. Oriental Repertory I, p. 101. II. pp. 195–196, and Hall, D.G.E., Early English Intercourse with Burma, 1587–1743 (reprinted London, 1968) pp. 233–234Google Scholar. In the 1750's, after Smim Hlaw's flight, the. sources refer to the ‘Peguers’ exclusively. See Hall, ibid., appendix. According to a French source of 1742 (A. Martineau ed., Correspondence du Conseil Superieur de Pondichery et de la Compagnie. Pondichery and Paris, n.d., p. 396), “The King they have chosen, named Simmente. is of unknown caste; he has little favour for the European nations”.

15 History of Burma, p. 212.

16 SirPhayre, A.P., History of Burma (reprinted London, 1967), p. 143Google Scholar, and Damrong, That Rop Phama, p. 302. Indeed, the use of Thai Yai, ‘Greater Thai’, rather than Thai Ngio, the more specific term for the Burmese Shans, suggests uncertainty in the Prince's mind on this point.

17 Thien Subindu, JSSSA V, p. 190. Curiously, the Phongsawadan Mon Phama, p. 68 refers to this rebellion as purely Mon, and makes no mention of a Gwe colony in Upper Burma. Indeed, it also claims (pp. 77–79) that most of the Madaya Mons were removed back to Pegu in 1747.

18 Boromanuchit, Phra-rachaphongsawadan …, II, p. 240.

19 Ibid., pp. 239–243, and Damrong, Thai Rop Phama, pp. 305–306. The term Yomarat normally signifies one of the six Senabodi, or Ministers of State. This individual apparently died on the return journey. Burmese sources; e.g. Harvey, History of Burma, p. 214 agree with Boromanuchit in attributing these missions to 1744 and 1746 respectively, but the Phongsawadan Mon Phama, compiled in 1859 from extensive documentation, is the only account which reconciles all the events, and is thus relied upon here.

20 Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, pp. 66–67.

21 Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, p. 73, and Notton, Chronique de Xiengmai, p. 182.

22 Halliday, JBRS XIII, p. 63.

23 Thien Subindu, JSSSA V, p. 188 and Harvey, History of Burma, p. 215.

24 Sunthon Wohan, op. cit., pp. 74–75 and Damrong, Thai Rop Phama, pp. 306–307.

25 Hall, Early English Intercourse …, p. 305. On the other hand, according to Thien Subindu's translation of Hmannan Yazawin (JSSSA V, p. 189), Binnya Dala came originally from Chiengmai, and was sent to Pegu by King Mahadammayaza-dipati as an elephant-force commander.

26 Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, pp. 75–76. This specific reference, together with that in note 9, p. 34 above, seems to dispose of Harvey's Lawa theory.

27 Ibid., pp. 84–86. Boromanuchit, Phra-rachaphongsawadan …, p. 248 suggests that Smim Htaw was put ashore on the western coast of the Gulf of Siam. See also Thien Subindu, JSSSA V, pp. 188–189 which suggests a return route from Yunnan via the Western Lao town of Nan.

28 Sunthon Wohan, op. cit., pp. 101–102.

29 According to the Hmannan Yazawin (JSSSA VI, pp. 1–2), Smim Htaw merely sent an embassy to Alaungpaya, and not until 1757.

30 Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, pp. 107–110. Yet, Smim Htaw does not appear to have been at Shwebo in late 1755, when Alaungpaya presented his most valuable captives to Capt. Baker of the English East India Company. See Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory I, p. 152.

31 History of Siam (reprinted Bangkok, 1959), p. 236.

32 Chronique de Xieng Mai, pp. 182–185. Notton's ‘Chao’ or ‘P'raya Kuei’ is clearly Smim Htaw, and the forms P'raya T'ala:kan, T'alap'an, T'ala:pan, Ban Sang, and Ban San T'akan would appear to be merely alternative spellings for Talaban and Ban Sang (Pasang?), his base.

33 Burmese for a Pretender.

34 This part of the story suspiciously resembles that of Smim Htaw.

35 Thien Subindu, JSSSA VI, p. 5.

36 Ibid., pp. 16–17.

37 Phyre, History of Burma, p. 186. Chao Chan's father, Ong Kham, had died in 1759, a year in which, according to Prachakitkorachak, , Phongsawadan Yonok (Bangkok, 1955), p. 456Google Scholar, there had been a major influx of Mons into Chiengmai.

38 Notton, Chronique de Xieng Mai, pp. 184–185. Talaban was executed a year later, apparently for conspiracy.

39 Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory I, p. 165.

40 Perhaps the Prince of Shwedaung captured at Chiengmai in 1763. See Thien Subindu, JSSSA VI, p. 18.

41 Harvey, History of Burma, pp. 221, 228, 238.

42 Harvey, History of Burma, pp. 253–257 and Phayre, History of Burma, pp. 190–203.

43 Yang Khao in Siamese, as opposed to the Yang Deng, or ‘Red Karens’. However, the Karen Pyee or Byu are sometimes classified simply as a small but distinct sect or the Bwe. See Marshall, H.I., The Karen People of Burma (Columbus, 1922). p. 4Google Scholar.

44 In Siamese, they are called Tongsu, a term which does not appear in the Thai chronicles until the 19th century. Their language contains many Shan and Burmese words so that their ethnic classification was initially highly problematical, Indeed, their wearing of Shan dress (Scott, Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan Stales [GUBSS] I, i, pp. 554–555) caused them often to be taken for Shans.

45 Rev. Mason, F., Burmah, its People and Natural Productions (Rangoon, 1860), pp. 9–10Google Scholar.

46 Literally, ‘Demon Mount’.

47 McMahon, A. R., The Karens of the Golden Chersonese (London, 1876), p. 387Google Scholar.

48 Scott, GUBSS I, i, p. 524.

49 Harvey, History of Burma, p. 123. He makes no reference to plains-dwelling Karens until the eighteenth century.

50 Ibid., p. 34.

51 Parliamentary Accounts and Papers, C, vol. 50 (1867). The Journals of Capt. W.C. McLeod and Dr. D. Richardson, p. 115. Cf. note 67, below.

52 J.G. Scott, GUBSS 11. pp. 440–453. The chronicle is unusual, being one of the few to contain a detailed account of events between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, under Burmese suzerainty.

53 See p. 34.

54 Perhaps since the death of King Naresuan of Siam, in 1605.

55 Major CM. Enriquez, , The Races of Burma (Calcutta, 1924), p. 67Google Scholar. However, according to Scott (GUBSS I, i, 555), the Taungthu had their own written character, “but those who are able to read it are even fewer than specimens of the literature”.

56 Scott, GUBSS I, i. p. 555.

57 Ibid., II. i, p. 160.

58 It is consistently spelt Lon-tung in the original, presumably a copyist's error for Son-tung.

59 Two small towns in the northern part of Kaya State.

60 Scott, GUBSS II, ii, p. 63.

61 Notton, Chronique de Xieng Mai, pp. 206, 214.

62 Presumably Gonna-ein. See p. 37 above.

63 Luce, JBRS XV, p. 118.

64 Scott, GUBSS II, i. pp. 406–407, 410–411.

65 According to McMahon, The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, pp. 104, 106, some Tavoy Sgaw Karens share the Kaya traditions, but apparently of a vaguer nature, and may thus be explicable by some subsequent minor migration.

66 Mason, Burmah …, pp. 71–72.

67 ‘Notices on Karen -Nee’, IPF, No. 102 (29th May 1857) in vol. 26, range 202, and JIA, N.S. IV (1859). The ‘Kullahs’ are probably the Mons. In the JIA printed version, ‘Nat Htoi Kiu’ reads as ‘Nathtsik’. presumably the Nattik Pass south of the Myitnge river, although it is S.E. of Ava and Amarapura. A similar geographical mistake would seem to be that of placing ‘Po Maung Yuay’, evidently Yawnghwe, east rather than west of the Salween. ‘Nyaung Belai’ is Naungpale, while ‘Taluraari’ is apparently identical with ‘Tahoom’, and ‘Kyay lateh’ with ‘Kayla-tset’.

68 Mason, , ‘Old Dwellings, Works of Art, Laws, &c. of the Karens’. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (MSB), XXXVII (1868), II, pp. 164–165Google Scholar. Indeed, in his Burmah, its People and Natural Productions, he reports being told that the number of generations was forty! (see P. 75).

69 Mason. JASB XXXVIII (1868), II, pp. 164–163.

70 Mason, Burmah …, p. 72.

71 McMahon, The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, p. 105.

72 Ibid., p. 88.

73 Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory I, p. 100.

74 The Pwo are sometimes termed ‘Mon Karens’, and the Sgaw ‘Burman Karens’.

75 Even the Peguan armies appear to have had a preponderance of Burmans. The army despatched to crush Alaungpaya in 1752 consisted of 15,000 Burmans and only 5,000 Mons. (See Sunthon Wohan, Phongsawadan Mon Phama, p. 103). Yet Dalrymple surely exaggerates when he postulates only one Mon to every hundred Burmans in the kingdom. (Oriented Repertory, I, 99).

76 Thien Subindu, JSSSA V, p. 189.

77 Yet, it is interesting to note that in 1740. the famous Mon religious author and historian, the Monk of Aswo’, fled to that place from Pegu with a number of other Mons, and did not return. See Halliday, R., The Talaings (Rangoon. 1917), pp. 133–134Google Scholar.

78 Thai Rop Phama, pp. 304–305.

79 Boromanuchit, Phra-rachaphongsawadam …, p. 245.

80 Damrong, Phra-rachaphongsawadan chabap Phra-racha-halleka, III, pp. 360, 408.

81 Damrong, Thai Rop Phama, p. 305.

82 An event probably of 1754. See Harvey. History of Burma, p. 223.

83 Harvey. JBRS XV. p. 132.

84 Baker's Embassy of 1755 in Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory, I, p. 170.

85 Ibid., pp. 172–173.

86 Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory, I, p. 169.

87 Scott, GUBSS II, ii, p. 528.

88 Ibid., p. 442.

89 Ibid., and Harvey, History of Burma, pp. 264–265.

90 Senior noble and heir-presumptive; in this case, Surasih, own brother to King Rama I.

91 Notton, Chronique de Xieng Mai, pp. 204–205.