Razadarit Ayedawbon

Razadarit Ayedawbon
AuthorRoyal Historians of Hanthawaddy Kingdom
Original titleရာဇာဓိရာဇ် အရေးတော်ပုံ
TranslatorBinnya Dala
LanguageBurmese
SeriesMon chronicles
GenreChronicle, History
Publication date
1560s
Publication placeKingdom of Burma

Razadarit Ayedawbon (Burmese: ရာဇာဓိရာဇ် အရေးတော်ပုံ) is a Burmese chronicle covering the history of Ramanya from 1287 to 1421. The chronicle consists of accounts of court intrigues, rebellions, diplomatic missions, wars etc. About half of the chronicle is devoted to the reign of King Razadarit (r. 1384–1421), detailing the great king's struggles in the Forty Years' War against King Minkhaung I and Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa of Ava.[1]

It is the Burmese translation of the first half of the Hanthawaddy Chronicle from Mon by Binnya Dala, an ethnic Mon minister and general of Toungoo Dynasty. It is likely the earliest extant text regarding the history of the Mon people in Lower Burma,[2] probably the only surviving portion of the original Mon language chronicle, which was destroyed in 1565 when a rebellion burned down Pegu (Bago).[3]

Four oldest palm-leaf manuscript copies, conjecturally dated to the mid 18th century, of the original Binnya Dala translation have survived. In all, nine slightly different versions of the chronicle existed according to a 1968 analysis by Nai Pan Hla.[2] Pan Hla re-translated one of the versions back to Mon in 1958. He also wrote a new (tenth) version in 1968, synthesizing the Burmese versions of Razadarit, the version of Pak Lat Chronicles, and the accounts in Hmannan as well as modern research.[4]

References

  1. ^ Thaw Kaung 2010: 29–30
  2. ^ a b Aung-Thwin 2005: 133–135
  3. ^ Harvey 1925: xviii
  4. ^ Pan Hla 1968: 3–4

Bibliography

  • Aung-Thwin, Michael A. (2005). The Mists of Rāmañña: The Legend that was Lower Burma (illustrated ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 9780824828868.
  • Harvey, G.E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
  • Pan Hla, Nai (2005) [1968]. Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing ed.). Yangon: Armanthit Sarpay.
  • Thaw Kaung, U (2010). Aspects of Myanmar History and Culture. Yangon: Gangaw Myaing.