Myanmar Literature

8- St. Agnes
Myanmar
Myanmar was formerly known as Burma. The
Myazedi inscription is the earliest extant
specimen of Burmese literature. It narrates
the dedication of the Golden Buddha by a
prince and the gift of slave-villages to the
image, ending with a prayer for the donor and
his friends. Over a thousand such dedicatory
inscriptions were set up in the next 700
years, containing eloquent poems and prayers
of poetic merit.
Myanmar Literature
 From the fifteenth century up to the
nineteenth century, palm-leaf (scratched
with a stylus) and folded-paper literature
became common. Such works were filled
with Buddhist piety and courtly refinement
of language. The authors were monks,
educated courters and court poetesses.
Prose works during this period were few,
mostly Buddhist scriptures and chronicles
of kings.
Palm-leaf and Folded Paper Literature
Poetry
 Poetry was varied: there were historical
ballads, panegyric odes, the pyo (Buddhist
story in verse), and the ya-du (poems of
love or nature). The writes also used the
“mixed style” or prose and poetry together.
 Yagan- a serio-comic epic.
 Myil-Ta-za- letter of an abbot to the king.
Modern fiction began with the novel, like Tet-
Pongyn, a classical novel.
With the founding of the University of
Rangoon in 1920 came an increase in output
of Burmese literature. Foreign literature ,
especially English works, were translated.
With independence in 1948, Burmese
gradually replaced English as the medium of
instruction, and literature become more
nationalistic.