Jain Religion in Burma
Dr. Jineshwar Das Jain, Jaipur
Myanmar (Burma)
Burma was a gift of two rivers Chindwin and Irrawaddy In the earliest times, around 1000 BC Burma was called as Brahmadesha. Its major and important areas were: Shri Khyetra Kulashtana, Maurya.
Ramannadesha, Tamla Champapura, Santabhya, Utkalpa, Jyotinagara. Dharmavati, Kshyenavati and Vaishali.
Presently Ayerawaddy division is a very big province of Myanmar. See Fig. 30. According to Tilloyapannati Ayerawat Khyetra is supoposed to be one of the seven parts of Jumbudvipa. Shri Khyetra.
The kingdom of Shri Khyetra was situated in upper Burma and its main city was Hastinapur. According to one inscription of 416 AD which was discovered by a German traveller Fuberer in 1894, Hastinapur was founded immediately after Mahabharata in 923 BC [7] After a lapse of time the capital of Shri Khyertra shifted to two new places consequitively namely, Bhumavati and then to Bhukam after which a new kingdom named Pagan (Bagan) came into existence. A prince named Dasharatha from Ganga valley became the king of Bhumavati in 108 AD.
The ruling dynasty of Hastinapur had a great love for their people and called them Priya (dear). The Chinese chronicle called them Piso or Pyu. The whole region fom Sri Khyetra upto Pagan was named Brahmadesha. Pyu) mscriptions were all in Sanskrit. Pyu cremated their dead. Tang dynasty, according to Chinese chronicle, refer Hamza as the principle city of Pyu, Hamza museum is very famous for housing many Jaina statues. See Figs. 36, 37, Pyu king had 18 states under his control, Another king Abhiraja of Shakya clan founded the kingdom of Sunkisa. [7].
The shakyas ruled for 31 generations, when they were attacked by Khyatriyas of Ganga valley and their new capital was identified as Prome.
Pallandu The original name Pallandu was changed to Barakura and then to Rakhana (Rakhama) which Europeans called it Arkan. Its capital Dharmavati was founded in 146 AD by a king Chundrasurya and remained in existence till 780 AD. [7] The name of this kingdom was replaced by Vaishali A huge temple hell found in ruins inscribed the name of Ananta Chandra, its donor.
Maurya Brihadratha was the last ruler of Mauryan dynasty. He was killed by his rebel, the commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra The Mauryan family fled to modern district of upper Chindwin and the place of their settlement was called Maurya.
Ramannsdesh which was part of Suvarnabhumi as it was confirmed by an inscription of King Dharmavati of 1476 AD. Finally, the naroc Ramannadesha was changed to Hansavati, now represented by Modem Pegu Vaishali (Wethali)
Almost 10 kms north of Mrauk U are the remains of Wethali. Wethali kingdom was founded in AD 327 by the king Mahathing Chandra. Archeologists believe that the kingdom lasted until 8th century. AD Mandalaya
Mandalaya is the second largest city in Myanmar, lies in the heartland of Myanmar and is about 690 km north of Yangoon: Today Mandalaya neighbours the mountain regions of the Shan and kachin people, See Fig. 31 which is the old palace of Mandalaya. Myanmar was the gateway to the north, and ultimately to China. About 60% of the monks reside in the Mandalaya area.
The area around Mandalaya has a number of attractions, namely, ancient city of Amarapura, Sagaing, Inwa Mingun Mahamuni Paya.
Mahamuni paya (Pagoda) also known as Payagyi (big paya) The Mahamuni Paya, 40 kms north of Mrauk U and 10 kms east of the farm town of Kyauktaw sits at the north- eastern corner of old Dhanyawady city site. This was the original site for Mandalaya statue, a huge and very old bronze image. The Mahamuni statue, (Fig 32) which is supposed to be transported to this place from Mrauk U(Arkan) in 1754 The centerpiece of the shrine is the highly venerated Mahamuni image. In my view this statue must be of Lord Mahavira Ancient cities of Burma.
The four ancient cities: Amarapura, Inwa/Ava, Saguing, and Mingun enjoyed as the capitals of Mandalaya at different times
Amarapura: It is 11 kms from Mandalaya city. Amarapura means the city of immortals. It was a place from where many Jaina munis achieved salvation (Nirvana). I remained capital from 1783 to 1823 and from 1841 to 1857 Inwa.
From 1364 Inwa was the capital of Burmese kingdom for nearly 400 years until the shift made to Amarapura in 1841. The classical Pali name of the city was Ratnapura (City of gems).
Sagaing: Sagaing became the capital of an independent Shan kingdom around 1315, after the fall of Bagan Before 1364, Sagaing was the capital of central Bamar kingdom. But, after Sagaing fell to Shan, the capital was Shifted to Inwa.
On a mountain hill in Sagaing, many tens of stupas (Shikharas) are sinated (See Fig. 35) According to Tilloy pannatti, there are 5 Ayerawat regions which contain tens of stupas mostly covered with golden foils.
\Moniwa: There is a magnificent Mt. Meru type of structure. From the outside the central stupa resembles the Borobudur of Indonesia, surrounded by around 845 small stupas. The images of deities found here were reported to be 582,357 [34]
HPO-WIN DAUNG CAVES: The hills have probably been occupied since the dawn of human habitation in Myanmar. The caves contain statues whose number is said to be over 400,000. At both the places ie. in Moniwa and here the festival season happens to be between Dussera and Diwali season.
Muni Kalakacharya in Suvarnabhumi: The places from South Burma upto Malaya and Sumatra was called Suvarnabhumi. See Map. 1 (33) which includes Bankam or Bay of Banka.
The peninsula of Banka was a general earth route between Malaya and Java. An Indian Muni named Kalakacahrya along with his disciples travelled to these places and worked to spread Jainism.
Muni Kalakacharya was not an ordinary Saint, he was also a prophetic and great scholar of Astrology. The Indian astrological advancement owe entirely to him. From the stories run about him, he was a son of King and queen Vayar Singh & Sur sundari of Dharavas.
He had gone to mid-east countries and brought Ramal Knowledge from there However, a scholar named Bhogasar Gani has mentioned about this knowledge in a Ramal Granatha written in Sanskrit language. He travelled rom Burma upto South China. Dr RC
Majumdar has mentioned in a book from Anam Champa that a brahaman Named Khaoodel, from western India went there.
Dr Umakant Shah has also mentioned, that Kalakacharya went upto regions of Gulf of Banka, near Sumatra.
Bagan region: Bagan sits on the eastern bank of a deep bend of Irrawaddy river Bagan (Sri Kshyetra) is one of the most religious sites of archaeological importance in Myanmar. Across 40 sq.km of country stretching from Irrawaddy river stand thousands of stupas and temples in every direction. In 1287, the city was devastated by Kublai Khan and was never rebuilt.
The name Bagan derived from Pyugan, a name first written down by Annamese (Vietnamese) in the mid 11 th century as Pukan, Bagan’s prime began with the Bamar King Anawaratha or Aniruddha (1044-1077) ascent to the throne in 1044 AD as the founder of Burma. In 1975 Bagan was shaken by a powerful earthquake at 6.5 Richter scale.
Classifying the ancient monuments of Bagan, the official count of the archaeological sites was 4446 (See Fig. 33) by the end of 13th century. In an earthquake of 6.5 Richter scale in 1975 around 2000 such sites were destroyed. (See Fig. 34). No thorough archeological study of Bagan could be carried out, since the Burmese Government could allow only the restoration work and not any excavation. Perhaps the Government fears of any earlier connection with Jainism may be revealed or related traditions. Bagan Museum is flooded with Jaina statues. See Figs, 38 to 43.
Mi Popa around Bagan was described as Mt. Olympus of Myanmar and was considered most powerful Nat. Before King Anawaratha time thousands of animals were sacrificed to the Not deities during festivals. But this practice was stopped by the king Anawaratha. This and other rituals are enough proofs that the king followed Jaina religion. There: were two prominent nations in Burma, Monts and Pyu (see Map 1 [33] The Mons were culturally advanced but were divided into rival centers of power (7), one based on Pegu and the other on Thaton.
The Pyus: The first historically significant ethnic people in Burma were Pyus who probably migrated from South-west China They were known in China under the Tang Dynasty.
In the Tang anuals (Covering AD 609-918) Burma was described as containing 18 states and 9 walled towns, which belonged to Pyu. Sri Khyetra was the capital city of Pyu, which was center of Pyu culture [12] The Pyus followed Jainism (whereas Sardesai mentions as Hinduism) and believed in principle of non-violence (peace loving) to a fault. They spurned the use of silk because the process of its manufacturing involved the killing of silk worms.
Outside the royal palace at Prome a 100 fi huge statue of a white aleplant served as a fountain of justice. It was worshipped by the devout. Even the king himself bowed down before the elephant, in case of public misfortune happened Prome was called a holy city.
The city. besides the main gate, had 32 small gates, 32 moats, four comered towers etc.
Among the contributions of the pyus was the Vikram Era (named after the Pyu Vikram Dynasty) beginning in 638 AD which spread in Thailand, and Cambodia Characteristic of Pyu architecture is employing of shikharas on the temples.
Shikharas consisted of a structure with an inner hollow chamber supporting a round conic super structure. The shikharas over the temples are a symbolic expression in architecture of the soul’s upward urge from the earth to the divine.
The Mons: The Mons settled in Siam and in lower Burma (See Map and called themselves Rmen. From its mediaeval form Rmen comes Ramanna and the Ramannadeshu given by Arab geographers to the country of Mons. The Mons lived in Kyaukse plam in centrel Burma. Mons came to know about the Indian culture. through the Indian traders.
In the 3rd century BC. Ashoka sent the missionaries to Burma for propagating Buddhist faith Emperor Ashoka was the grand son of Chandra Gupta Maurya and Samprati was grand son of Ashoka Before adopting Buddhism.
Ashoka was a follower of Jain religion. Its authentic proof is that in his iscriptions there is no clear cut mention of him being the follower of Buddhism.
Mr.J.S.R. Furlong [36] mentions “So slight difference between Jainism and Buddhism that he did not think it necessary to make public profession of Buddhism till about (247 Be) so that nearly, if not all, his rock inscriptions are really those of a Jam soverign The Man kings ruled from their three capitals in lower Burma, namely Thaton, Martaban, and Pegu Anawaratha was a first Burmese king.
He signed himself with a Sanskrit named ‘Aniruddha’ (the resistless). He came across a wandering monk Shin Arhan (Venerable Arhat) an elderly monk of high. standing. The king’s works of public utility included construction of dams, reservoirs, canals etc within a period of about 33 years. King Anawaratha built Ananda temple and started the construction of Shwezigon in 1054 but lateron it was completed by his successor Kyanzitths. Anawaratha’s end came unexpectedly.
He was gorged to death by a wild buffalo while hunting it from the back of an elephant. He died at the age of 75. Following Anawaratha’s death in 1077 Shin Arhan continued to be the chief spiritual counsel to Anawaratha and his successor, Kyanzittha.
The Man script carried Burma’s trade with the Jainas, Pyu & Mons could be identified as the modern Swetambaras and Digambara communities.
The changes in the idol making and in paintings had already been started in the Pyu which was according to swetamber concepts, ie. the deity statues were adorned with ornaments and even the standing postures were decorated with kingly dresses. Later on, the same very idols were adopted by Buddhists and were called as Buddha statues.
Courtesy: Jaina Archaeology outside of India
