RAMADHIPATI OR DHAMMACHETI,
KING OF PEGU.
The latter half of the 15th
century A. D. is a brilliant epoch in the history of Burmese literature. The
profound peace that was due to sheer exhaustion induced by foreign wars and
internal dissensions, was eminently favourable to the cultivation of high
literary culture. The frequent intercourse with Ceylon, and the liberality with
which monastic institutions were endowed by Burmese Kings in the previous
centuries, had made their capital the seat of learning and a stronghold of
Buddhism. The long subjection of Ramannadesa to Burmese rule from the 11th to
the 13th centuries had caused all political, religious, and intellectual life
to centre at the Burmese capital (at that time Pagan), as is always the case in
the East, and had accustomed Talaing monks, like Dhammavilasa, from the
maritime provinces to repair to it for the completion of their education. Until
Dhammacheti, who had received his education at Ava, came to the throne in 1469
A.D., the mental energies of the lower country appear to have been spent in
squabbles and profitless religious controversies. Hence there were no great
writers or renowned teachers in the Talaing Kingdom, at whose feet scholars
could receive their instruction.
The literature cultivated
at that period was not only that of Pali and Sanskrit, but also that of
Burmese. The exquisite, highly refined, and inimitable poetry of Silavamsa and
Ratthasara, the great poets of Burma, who flourished in the latter half of the
15th century, and whose works are mentioned at page 66 of Forchhammer's
Jardine Price Essay, does not appear to corroborate that writer's
statement made at page 28 of the same work:- 'A critical study of the Burmese
literature evolves the fact that the Burmese idiom reached the stage of a
translatory language at the close of the 15th century, and that of an
independent literary tongue not much more than a century ago". This
learned scholar was apparently misled by the statements of Native writers, who,
in their biographical notices of their literary countrymen, generally accord
the first places to the two great poets named above. But the wealth of imagery
and allusion, the pure diction and the terse, logical and masterly style of
composition, evinced by the works referred to, afford strong and unassailable
internal evidence as to the Burmese idiom having passed beyond the "stage
of a translatory language at the close of the 15th century." Besides, the
Tethnwegyaung Inscription at Pagans dated 804 B.E. (1442 A.D,.) that is to say,
eleven years before the birth of Silavamsa, affords corroborative evidence of
the high literary culture of the Burmese vernacular in that a portion of it is
written in faultless Burmese metre, which has served as the model of later
writers. The list, mentioned in it, of works belonging to the Buddhist Canon,
of commentaries and scholia, of medical, astrological, grammatical, and
poetical works translated from Sanskrit, shows also the keen literary activity
of the Burmans of that period. The divergence between the actual fact and the
statements of local writers may be reconciled by ascribing the cause to the
unreliable historical memory of the Burmese people, the direct outcome of the
ruthless and vandalic wars, to which their country was spasmodically subjected.
In common with other
Talaing monks of the period, Ramadhipati, whose monkish name was Dhammadhara,
accompanied by his fellow-pupil, Dhammanana, who was subsequently known as
Dhammapala, proceeded to Ava in his sixteenth year (1422 A.D.) and received his
instruction under Ariyadhajathera, a learned monk of Sagaing.
A few years previous to
this, consequent on the death of the great Talaing monarch, Yazadarit
(Rajadhiraja), the kingdom of Pegu had been convulsed by civil wars. The
succession of Byinnya Dhammaraja, the eldest son of the deceased king, was
disputed by his younger brothers, Byinnyayan and Byinnyakaing, who sought the
assistance of Thihathu (Sihasura, King of Ava. It was during the second
expedition of this Burmese King that Byinnyayan gave his sister, Shin Sawbu, in
marriage to him, as a pledge of his good faith. Shin Sawbu, who was a widow and
mother of three children,* accompanied her husband toAva (1425 A.D.), and there
made the acquaintance of Dhammadhara and Dhammanana, whose intelligence and
nationality induced her to become their supporter. After the death of Thihathu,
Shin Sawbu, was not satisfied with her life in the Palace. The intrigues,
political convulsions, and rapid changes of Kings, brought about through the
intrumentality of her rival, Shin Bome, appear to have bewildered her and made
her feel that her position was precarious in the extreme. She, therefore,
longed to be once more in her native land, and secured the assistance of the
two Talaing monks, Dhammadhara and Dhammanana, in the prosecution of her
object. Amidst much danger and under great difficulties, the party left Ava in
a country boat and arrived safely at Pegu in 1429 A.D., where Byinnyayan had
become king under the title of Byinnyayankaik. Twenty-six years later, in the
absence of male heirs of Yazadarit, Shin Sawbu became Sovereign of Pegu by
popular choice under the title of Byinnya T'aw.
Dhammadhara and Dhammanana
were well provided for, in token of the Queen's appreciation and gratitude for
the services rendered by them during her flight to Pegu. Subsequently, the
former, who was a native of Martaban, of obscure parentage, and who was then
known as the Leikpyingyaung-pongyi, but who had unfrocked himself at her
request, was appointed to be her Heir Apparent, while the latter was put in
prison for harbouring evil designs against his Sovereign.
In her choice of a
successor, and in excluding her own blood relations from the succession, Shin
Sawbu was guided by her knowledge of human nature, and actuated by a noble
desire to secure to the Kingdom of Ramannadesa firm and wise administration
under an able and competent ruler; and Dhammadhara was eminently qualified for
the task.
The only opposition against
which the Heir Apparent had to contend was that of Byinna Ein, Governor of
Bassein, a son- in-law of Shin Sawbu. He headed a rebellion, but was shortly
after slain in battle.
Shin Sawbu entrusted
Dhammadhara with the affairs of the Government, while she retired to Dagon
(Rangoon) to pass her remaining days in doing religious works and in peaceful
* A son and two daughters.
The son, Byinnya Taru, succeded his uncle and adoptive father, Byinnyayan-kaik,
in 1416 A.D.). The elder daughter was married to Byinnya Ein, Governor of
Bassein, and the younger to Dhammacheti.
meditation. The site of her residence is still known to this day as Shin
Sawbumyo. She died in 1469 A.D., at the age of 76, and was succeeded by
Dhammdhara, who had married her younger daughter. The Talaing clergy and
nobility conferred the title of Dhammacheti on the new king because of his wide
and varied learning and of his thorough knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures.
He subsequently assumed the titles of Ramadhipati, Sinbyuyin (Seta-gaja-pati)
and Siri-pavara-maha-dhamma-rajadhiraja. He was, however, best known among the
people of Burma as Dhammacheti. Dhammacheti held friendly intercourse wth the
rulers of Ceylon, Northern India, Siam, and Cambodia. He sent two religious
missions: one to Bodh Gaya in 1472 A.D., to report on the sacred shrines
commemorative of the life of its Founder; and the other to Ceylon, in 1475 AD.,
to establish, beyond doubt, the apostolical succession of the monks of
Ramannadesa, by deputing twenty-two theras and as many younger monks to
receive their upasampada ordination at the hands of the Mahavihara sect
founded by Mahindamahathera in the 3rd century B. C. The result of the first
mission was the construction at Pegu of religious edifices in imitation of
those of Bodh Gaya, and that of the second was the consecration of the Kalyani
sima by the monks, who had returned from Ceylon.
Dhammacheti fully justified
the choice of his mother-in-law and "though brought up from early youth in
the seclusion of a Buddhist monastery until he was more than 40 years of
age"* proved to be a wise, able, and beneficent ruler. He was a man of
great energy and capacity, and throughout his long reign of thirty years,
consolidated his power and extended the boundaries of his Kingdom eastward
without any bloodshed. More over, he tried his best to secure the welfare and
prosperity of his people and to recoup the strength and resources of the
country, which had well-nigh been exhausted during the wars with Burma and the
rebellions headed by Talaing princes. He was a good judge and legislator. A
compilation of his decisions is extant, and the Dhammacheti dhammasattham
was compiled under his direction. He died in 1492 A.D. at the age of 86.
The funeral honours of a chakravartin or universal monarch paid to him
after his death, and the building of a
* Phayre's ,History of
Burma page 85. As a matter of fact, Dhammmacheti was 56 years old when he
became Regent, and 63 when he became King. During the interval of seven years,
he ruled Ramannadesa in the name of Shin Sawbu, who had retired to Dagon
(Rangoon.)
pagoda over his bones, bear
testimony to the great esteem, love and admiration with which he was regarded
by his subjects.
The dynasty, to which
Dhammacheti may by said to belong, was that founded by Wagaru, a Talaing
adventurer from Siam, who, during the dismemberment of the Burmese Empire,
consequent on a Chinese invasion near the close of the 13th century A.D.,
seized the Government of Martaban, and defeated the Burmese forces sent against
him. This dynastry gradually increased in importance till its highest pitch of
power was reached under Yazadarit (1385 - 1423 A.D.). Previous to Wagaru's
rebellion, the maritime provinces had been under Burmese rule since the
conquest of Thaton by Anawratazaw in the 11th century A.D.
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