~ VOL 1, No. 2.
2G0-Go1 emegorcorsii
WINTER 1960-61.
LA
A PUBLICATION OF
THE RANGOON UNIVERSITY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
ca EXO
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‘A PUBLICATION OF
THE RANGOON UNIVERSITY TEACHE!
CIATION
Sa
CONTENTS
1, The Psychology of the Burmese Language
2. Some Notes on the Burmese Language I
3._U.T. A. Answers to Education Enquiry Committee Questionnaire 1957 9
4, The Polar Regions 19
5. The Rationale for Student Personnel Services in Burmese Universities 27
6, Keio Conference of Asian Educators 18-25 October, 1960 Conference Statement 30
7. Ten Commandments for Translators (sound advice in little space) 31
8. Agriculture in Burma A. D. 1000—1300 3
9. Some Aspects of Burma’s Economic Developement 37
VOL 1., No. 2. WINTER 1960-61 *
Printed & Made at the Rangoon University Press,
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Agriculture in Burma—
AD. 1000-1300
THAN TUN
nan Tun i :
for.than Tun is @ Lecturer in Burmese History at the University of Rangoon and Editor of the
Journal of the Burma Research Society.)
THE FIRST HOME OF THE BURMA\
FriTocated in the: Kyaukse. district ands
Known in Old Burmese as chay ta rwa
16224) or the Eleven Villages. They
in anarea of 19 to 47 inches of annual
rainfall and therefore for agricultural. pur-
poses, they have to depend entirely. on
water supplied .by canals from the Samon,
Panlaung, Zaweyi and Myitnge rivers,
Traditionally the origin of the Kyaukse
irrigation system is attributed to Anirudda
but it is much older. Perhaps the Mon
started it and the Burmans developed it,
The main canals (all derived from the
Panlaung and Zawgyi)- the Mronkri-
(modern Zidaw), -Mrorichum, Sa-
thway, Carimd and perhaps the Tamut-
existed already in the Pagan dynasty;
also Kyaukse, Klok Chai, the important
‘dam of Klok’,..The area is small, a
mere 560 square miles; but it was
intensively cultivated and claborately
organised.
(JBRS, XXX, i, 287)
From Kyaukse, the Burmans crossed the
Irrawaddy and their second home is the
Minbu district which was known to them
as 6 kharuin (PI. 3111).
Conditions here were similar. There
was another small oasis, watered by
three streams, the Salin, the Mon and
the Man chaung. An older canal-
system, due, it seems, to Sgaw Karens
and Palaungs, was taken over and
developed by the Burmans.
ne (IBRS, XXX, i, 287).
From these two hames, the Burman colon-
sts set out and occupied central Burma
known to them as fuik = the structures or
Tn all these areas, the main
enclosures. ,_ the
occupation was cultivation by irrigation and
the main crop was capa - paddy. The cli-
and so an
nate was as dry, then as NOW,
‘rlificial supply of water was always needed.
I cannot imagine how that could be possible
without the Kazin ($280). This word does
Read at the Kanthasanelai Group meeting held on §
33
not occur in the old Burmese inscriptions.
As the political power of the Burmans
expanded, the acreage under cultivation
must also have increased and more and
more fields were turned into religiouslands.
This has been a very important feature of
the Pagan agriculture, The Pagan govern-
‘ment was allin favour of agricultural expan-
sion but it could not possibly desire | the
enormous growth of religious lands,
Because it got-no taxes from them. I can
quote a very:good example regarding this.
|Sakarac 622 khu Kratuik nhac Thapuiw,
thway I-chan 12 ryak Sukrd niy kun
mran thak| fa niy tdau mit so / Syas
mliy Chan Kwat | Sara Uint Krai mliy
kuiw | rwd sukr? tuiw, anuii athak
akhwan tone hu | phun miat kri owe
uiw achway tuiw kra le raka |) phun
‘mlat kricewd | Samantabhadra mahdthera
le | Sitkhamin sa kuiw nd taw thyok ciy
raka | mintdau mie’ | Syasit mliy si
Krai mliy kuiw ka || akhwan maton ciy
tua Mahdsman kuiw min tdau mu e* |
Mahdsman le thway tdau tuin Ihyan_ cd
Khyup € | amipurha Cau le kliy stkri
phlac rakaé manrkri lhwat taw mu so |
Chan Kwat | Sara Uin | mliy ka | Syasu
mliy hut can low hu | Char Kwat stikri
+ Macantaraj | Sara Uin sttkri Dham-
‘masinkhd tuiw nhuik miy ciyso te | Sy
mliy hut can hu chuiw piy raka thuiw
suiw Syast mliy hut car pri sa mu tai
mankri min taw mil so tuith acan can
Thyan Iwat rac paciy sate hu | amipurha
Jaw le phun miat kri kuiw min tau
‘mit piy tum e* | phun mlat_kri . Saman-
tabhadré: mahathera ka tid luni la mit
ruy mankri thwat t@au mii so] amipurha
Jaw le thwat t@aa mi so | rwa stikri
Macantaraj | Dhammasinkhd tuiw lak
thak thwat tadu mi so | Chat Kwat |
Sara Vin | Syasit mliy si krait mliykuiw |
oti rwa sukri kanikun cakhi amattya
tuiw phyak chi ruy akhwan ton ca rac
mu ka/ mliy kri k@> athak kuiw ka ok
Awaciy thyar kya’. ciy sate | (PI. 1961-13)
in the Chair,
Feb, 1959 with U Tha Mya
Scanned with CamScanner1261, (the king)
sht on the high
ers sent word
Lord that the
xes under com-
} Spas ands
sii lands,
antabhadra
e to the govern:
a_very serious problem
of the dynasty. King
an attempt in A.D. 1235 to
all religous land (PI. 90). He
ta serious opposition and therefore he
ad to abandon his ideas for some years.
n he made another attempt in A. D.
1245 (PI. 231b) and it was also a failure.
His policy was taken up by his successor.
Uecand who seized 1500 pay of land at Part
UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ REVIEW
e_Kramtit Nim forest
‘A.D. 1255. But theking di
ete Aad be cw ne Poe
pliy thought itexpedient to revise this policy.
He declared the new policy as follows.
ipa so mliy kd nd mliy suiw
aan aid em
tuiw mliy kd ratand suri pa so. mliy
suiw wan saka mathiy’ plac skhiri tuiw
mliy khrd nan amray amrari twin chok
‘pa liy (PI. 2961316).
st the land of the three Gems
Ghter our land: not even one width of
‘hair, There could be no sin if
our land enters the land of the
. You put up perman-
Tite tees to demarcate the land. of
(of the monastery).
government failed to redress a
ic factor which was opearting.
|. This also prompts one
yw much of the cultivable
tax-free during the course
e fields were worked
‘products. Therefore all
Kli belonging to th
‘under the heads of,
and san has been
land and they
Pap se asks, abi
where there was sub-
palm seemed to be the
e grown inthe uyar’. One
urma had as many as 3000
‘it (Pl. 11142), It seems that
abgares were largely used in the
762), There gardens were fairly
dall over Burma. In the inscriptions
eit locality is usually given. Sometimes the
“number of areca palms grown in them is
also given. But their exact acreage is
seldom mentioned. The garden at Kra Uiw
in Pannan Kharuin was a 50 pay garden.
The total number of pay that T could get
is only 143 pay which seems very little in
comparision with the frequency of the
mame uyan occurs in the inscriptions.
Kui means vegetable plots subject to
seasonal flooding. Three kinds of beans are
mentioned in terracotta plaques of even pre-
Animnddha times. They were pay keri
(Dolichos lablab var. lignosus), pay. Iwan
(Vigna catjang) and’ kula pay Cicer’ ariett-
num). Other vegetables grown were kleh
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Pala aiUNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ REVIEW
(or Klait) phitrum — the white gourd melon
(Benincasa curifera), sikhwa (ot sikhwo) mii —
the cucumber (Cucumis sativus), —sikhwa
hmity =the sweet melon (Cucmis melon),
‘mun fari=the black mustard (Brassica nigra),
Kharani ~ theegg plant (Solanum melongena),
sittly - the Kidney Yam or Karen potato
(Disocorea fas ciculata) and kaswan - ? the
gralic, We find no mention of tobacco
in the inscriptions. One kui of 3600
pay was once dedicated (Pl, 39317) and
total number of $600 pay were, I find,
dedication to the Religion in the’ Pagan
period. :
Ryd produced millet and sesamum, OF
the millet’ there were such different
varieties as lu (? Panicum miliaceum), chap,
the Burmese Panicled Millet, plon - the
sorghum millet and Muyaw ~ the Barley.
Nham — the Sesamum was also grown
for cooking and lighting-oil. It seems
that cotton became known only in the
early 14th century. But there was lak pari-
the Bombax Silkcotton tree in the Pagan
times, Ryd was usually measured in khran
as ryd 1 khran (PI. 185) or in kan as ryd tac
kan (Pl. 128b14) but unfortunately we do
-not know how wide a khrari or a kanis. As
one inscription says that there were ryd 1
Khran nhan 5 kan, we are inclined to think
that kan is a smaller measure of the two.
Such measure known as namuin (Pl. 242) or
tamuit (Pl. 3899) were also used.
There is also another _odd expression rd
chui nhac tan ware (PI, 553-4) which probably
means a bad ryd where two baskets of seeds
were yearly sown, Aninscription dated A.D.
S35 duentfone that the rddedicated includ:
there was altogether 2000
that the jungle would
d into cultivable land
v 2036)—
d to sugges
to a little hilly place
= plains near the river.
ton akhlok ee
‘hill cultivation, supp:
fis usually associated
“3
survey. Perhaps there were more land
called ry of semi waste-land.type.
There were two kinds of rice lands,
viz, muryat lay and san lay. San lay is
clearly the monson rice land and there-
fore muryan lay would probably be the
spring rice land. Kokkri - “‘big rice”
in san
was perhaps exclusively grown
lay whereas muryar grew kok Ivar
(Pl. 22423). The “*big rice’
“a life-period of 140-150 days, which ripen
at the middle or end. of October” and the
“little rice” has “a life-period of 174-200,
days that ripen early in December.” Of
san andmuryare, Professor Luce says:
Both names are equally common;
along all the rivers and in the
Kharuins they are constantly men-
tioned side by side, muryart sometimes
exceeding san considerably in area
BRS, XXX, i, 289).
The biggest muryar field dedication was
made in A. D. 1299 when 3793 pay pro~
ducing 12000 baskets of paddy yearly were
given over to a monastery at Sacmatt
by Queen Cau who expressed herself as
the chief of more than a thousand wives
of Sri Tribhavanddittydpavaradhammaraja.
ie. Conc. The yield, is roughly 4 baskets
per pay and I think it is very poor. But
in those days even the best land called
Tai mvan produced 10 baskets per pay
(PI. 2033) and the price of paddy in A. D.
1236 was one tical of silver for four baskets
of paddy (PI, 9711). There were, I find,
6014 pay of muryan dedicated to the
religious establishments in the Pagan
period. Of the San fields, there were 11,027
pay in total. Some inscriptions do ‘not
Gifferentiate the nature of the field but
simply state the total of mnryart and san and
there were 7044 pay in that category.
Thus a total of rice lands dedicated is .
24,085 pay. Very roughly we have the
following figures of cultivable land in the
Pagan period.
tle ric
Garden land 143 pay.
Vegetable land 5600 pay.
Dry cultivation land 5853 pay.
Rice land
8:
saree
‘Now weshall have to determine the area
of pay. It is the same with bnan of old Mon.
There is no means offinding out how big a
‘pay was except what is written in the litera
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|e of much later times. The Manu Dham-
/says that a pay is 20 td square where
“is 7 cubits long (D.Richerdson: The
Menoo, 1896. p. 156). Another
at it is a 25 1d square (Selections
is of the Hluttaw, 1914, Note
Kyecthe Laydat Sayadaw
two kinds of pay, viz.
King’s land measure, and
"= the poorman’s ’ land
he first is twice the latter
923, pp. 398-9). Char:
wn as pakati pay — the
Bodawpaya left an
3B. I, 1-2; G. Scott:
robably in A. D.
oundation of Amara-
josquares of masonry
ures ata place about
of the Arakan pagoda,
masonry square as
a: Pay ~ the standard
de 25 1d away to the
great enclosure on the
“the Margalabhumkyoau
“The Pakati Pay is cight
n the east of (it). A smooth
stone pillar rounded at the
s is erected 5 1dawayfrom that
Pay. (The Man Pay) is 35 ta
mi muik, and 4 lak sac on each
“side thus the four sides (together) is
141 td and 3 ton long. As for the
‘measure of Jaksac, ton and 1d.
7 (widths) of Yase: paddy which has
)
UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ REVIEW
a it is
black husk and white grain
| laksac, 24 laksac is'1 ton (cubit),
and 7 ton is 1 @. br
i cordance with all kyam: gan.
Tisai ad
tre also engraved on the now erected
agin stone. pillar so as to serve as
standards.
George Scott observes that the fon
ong ra the stone measures is 19.05
{aches long. Taking it as basis, the Pakati
Pay would be 1.75 acres. It is very likely
that the Pakati Pay of Bodawpaya would
be the same with the paysof the Pagan
times.
For agricultural implements, there were
than "the harrow, poktu ~ the hoe,
puchin ~ the axe, khdk - the fork. There
{no mention of the word thay - the
plough. haf - the cart, drawn by oxen
Was also. @ very important means of
transporting agricultural produce; etc.
Cattle raising formed another important
branch of agriculture.
‘There were household cattle (7m thon
nwa, Pl. 337622) _and agricultural
cattle (nwa tani Pl. 201, 396622),
mileh cattle (nuw that nwa ma)_and
cattle for harrowing (thwan nwd, Pl.
134a4) and yoke-cattle with carts
(Pl. 2977)... They were also killed
and eaten especially after a sale or
contract. (JBRS, XXX, i, 331).
Cow-herds (nwathin Pl. 13813.20) and grazing
grounds (nwa khiak Pl. 29714,16, 19,20) are
sometimes mentioned in the inscriptions.
It-seems that cattle breeding on a modest
scale was fairly wide-spread in the plains of
Central Burma. There are somereferences
foducksand fowls. but itseems that there
were no specialisation like i
re poultry farming
In conclusion, I would like to point out
that the cultivable land dedicated to the
Religion was roughly 36 thousand pay
which would be approximately 53. thou-
sand acres. If a king like Klacwa thought
‘of confiscating this religious land it must
have been quite a considerable percentage
of the cultivated land in those days, One
wonders whether they would be more
than half’ of the total agricultural land in
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fin.