4th-century Mon kingdom in Lower Burma
Kingdom of Thaton
????????
??????????
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Status
| Kingdom
|
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Capital
| Thaton
|
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Common languages
| Mon
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Religion
| Theravada Buddhism
|
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Government
| Monarchy
|
---|
History
|
|
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? Founding of dynasty
| BC400
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? End of kingdom
| AD1057
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The
Thaton Kingdom
,
Suwarnabhumi
, or
Thuwunnabumi
(
Burmese
:
????????
[θ?t?o???
k???]
or
??????????
[θ?w?na?
b??m?]
) was a
Mon
kingdom, believed to have existed in
Lower Burma
from at least the 4th century BC to the middle of the 11th century AD. One of many
Mon kingdoms
that existed in modern-day
Lower Burma
and
Thailand
, the kingdom was essentially a city-state centered on the city of
Thaton
.
[1]
: 63, 77
It traded directly with
South India
and
Sri Lanka
, and became a primary center of
Theravada Buddhism
in
South-East Asia
. Thaton, like other Mon kingdoms, faced the gradual encroachment of the
Khmer Empire
. But it was the
Pagan Kingdom
from the north that conquered the fabled kingdom in 1057.
Name of the kingdom
[
edit
]
Mon tradition maintains that the kingdom was called
Suvannabhumi
(
Burmese
:
??????????
), a name also claimed by Lower
Thailand
, and that it was founded during the time of the
Buddha
in the 6th century
BCE
. Thaton is the
Burmese
name of
Sadhuim
in
Mon
, which in turn is from
Sudhammapura
in
Pali
, after Sudharma, the
assembly hall
of the gods.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
According to the Mon tradition, the Kingdom of Thaton was founded during the time of the Buddha, and was ruled by a dynasty of 59 kings. The tradition also maintains that a group of political refugees founded the city of
Pegu
(Bago) in 573.
[3]
But the historical kingdom probably came into existence some time in the 9th century, following the entry Mon people into Lower Burma from modern northern Thailand. GE Harvey's History of Burma, citing the
Shwemawdaw Thamaing
, gives the year of founding of Pegu as 825; even that date remains unattested.
[4]
Indeed, the earliest mention of Pegu is 1266, in Old Burmese.
[5]
Traditional Burmese and Mon reconstructions hold that Thaton was overrun by the Pagan Kingdom from
Upper Burma
in 1057.
[1]
: 149
King
Anawrahta
, having been converted to Theravada Buddhism by a Mon monk,
Shin Arahan
, reportedly asked for the
Theravada Buddhist canon
from King
Manuha
of Thaton. The Mon king's refusal was used by Anawrahta as a pretense to invade and conquer the Mon kingdom, whose literary and religious traditions helped to mold early Pagan civilization.
[6]
According to the chronicles, King
Manuha
of Thaton surrendered after a 3-month siege of the city by Pagan's forces on 17 May 1057 (11th waxing of Nayon, 419
ME
).
[7]
Between 1050 and about 1085, Mon craftsmen and artisans reportedly helped to build some two thousand monuments at Pagan, the remains of which today rival the splendors of
Angkor Wat
.
[8]
The
Mon script
is the source of the
Burmese alphabet
, the earliest evidence of which is dated to 1058, a year after the Thaton conquest.
[9]
There are several archaeological sites attributed to the Tahton Kingdom. Suvarnabhumi City in
Bilin Township
is one such site with limited excavation work. The site, called Winka Old City by other archeologists, contains 40 high-grounds of which only 4 have been excavated.
[10]
The Winka site, along with nearby walled sites like Kyaikkatha and Kelasa, have been dated as early as the sixth century.
[11]
While the archaeology of early Lower Burmese sites requires more work, other urban centres in Myanmar like the
Sri Ksetra Kingdom
in modern day
Pyay
were Buddhist as early as the 5th century.
[12]
However, some modern research has argued that Mon influence on the interior after Anawrahta's conquest is a greatly exaggerated post-Pagan legend, and that Lower Burma in fact lacked a substantial independent polity prior to Pagan's expansion.
[13]
Possibly in this period, the delta sedimentation?which now extends the coastline by three miles a century?remained insufficient, and the sea still reached too far inland, to support a population even as large as the modest population of the late precolonial era. Whatever the condition of the coast, all scholars accept that during the 11th century, Pagan established its authority in Lower Burma and this conquest facilitated growing cultural exchange, if not with local Mons, then with India and with Theravada stronghold Sri Lanka. From a geopolitical standpoint, Anawrahta's conquest of Thaton checked the Khmer advance in the
Tenasserim
coast.
[13]
List of Thaton kings
[
edit
]
According to the Mon chronicles, the Kingdom of Thaton had a line of 59 kings that begun from the time of the Buddha.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Coedes, George
(1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.).
The Indianized States of Southeast Asia
. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press.
ISBN
978-0-8248-0368-1
.
- ^
Shorto, p. 590
- ^
Phayre, pp. 24?32
- ^
Harvey, p. 368
- ^
Aung-Thwin, p. 29
- ^
Htin Aung, pp. 32?33
- ^
Kyaw Thet, p. 45
- ^
South, p. 67
- ^
Harvey, p. 307
- ^
"Suvarnabhumi City Excavation to be Continued After Rainy Season"
.
Mon News
. 5 August 2014.
- ^
Moore, Elizabeth; San Win (Spring 2007).
"The Gold Coast: Suvannabhumi? Lower Myanmar Walled Sites of the First Millennium A.D."
Asian Perspectives
.
46
(1). University of Hawai'i Press: 202-232.
doi
:
10.1353/asi.2007.0007
.
JSTOR
42928710
.
S2CID
49343386
.
- ^
"Facts and Fiction: The Myth of Suvannabhumi Through the Thai and Burmese Looking Glass"
. Academia. July 1, 2018
. Retrieved
November 30,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Lieberman, p. 91
References
[
edit
]
- Aung-Thwin, Michael (2005).
The Mists of R?manna: the Legend that was Lower Burma
. University of Hawaii Press.
ISBN
978-0-8248-2886-8
.
- Hall, D.G.E. (1960).
Burma
(3rd ed.). Hutchinson University Library.
ISBN
978-1-4067-3503-1
.
- Harvey, G. E. (1925).
History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824
. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
- Htin Aung, Maung (1967).
A History of Burma
. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.
- Kyaw Thet (1962).
History of Burma
(in Burmese). Yangon: Yangon University Press.
- Lieberman, Victor B. (2003).
Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800?1830, volume 1, Integration on the Mainland
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-80496-7
.
- Phayre, Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1883).
History of Burma
(1967 ed.). London: Susil Gupta.
- Shorto, H.L. (2002). "The 32 Myos in the medieval Mon Kingdom". In Vladimir I. Braginsky (ed.).
Classical civilisations of South East Asia: an anthology of articles
. Routledge.
ISBN
9780700714100
.
- South, Ashley (2003).
Mon nationalism and civil war in Burma: the golden sheldrake
. Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-7007-1609-8
.