~ VOL 1, No. 2. 2G0-Go1 emegorcorsii WINTER 1960-61. LA A PUBLICATION OF THE RANGOON UNIVERSITY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION ca EXO Scanned with CamScannerTHE UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ REVIEW ‘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, Scanned with CamScanneree 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 CamScanner1261, (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 Scanned with CamScanner Pala aiUNIVERSITY 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 Scanned with CamScanner |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 Scanned with CamScanner fin.