Myazedi inscription

Myazedi inscription (Burmese: မြစေတီ ကျောက်စာ [mja̰ zèdì tɕaʊʔ sà]; also Yazakumar Inscription or the Gubyaukgyi Inscription), inscribed in 1113, is the oldest surviving stone inscription of the Burmese. "Myazedi" means "emerald stupa" ("zedi" being akin to the Pali "cetiya" and Thai "chedi"), and the name of the inscription comes from a pagoda located nearby. The inscriptions were made in four languages: Burmese, Pyu, Mon, and Pali,[1]:158 which all tell the story of Prince Yazakumar and King Kyansittha. The primary importance of the Myazedi inscription is that the inscriptions allowed for the deciphering of the written Pyu language.

Myazedi inscription
Myazedi Inscription in Mon language at the Gubyaukgyi Temple, Bagan
MaterialStone
WritingBurmese, Pyu, Mon, Pali
CreatedAD 1113
Present locationBagan, Myanmar

There are two main inscriptions in Burma today. One exists on the platform of the Myazedi Pagoda, in the village of Myinkaba (south of Bagan), in Mandalay Division. The other was discovered by German Pali scholar Dr. Emil Forchammar in 1886-1887, and is currently in display at the Bagan Archaeological Museum. The Myazedi inscription is recognised as Memory of the World Register by UNESCO.

Translation and Analysis

The inscription has 39 lines in Burmese language, 41 lines in Pali, 33 lines in Mon Language and 26 lines in Pyu language. It can be generally divided into three categories, donation, wish and curse. The nearest translation is as follows:

Sīri [May everything happen successfully], Namobuddhāya [I say my prayers to Lord Buddha]. It had been over 1628 Sāsanā years. In this Arimaddamapura Empire [Bagan empire], there was a king named Śrī Tribhuvanāditya Dhammarāja [Kyansittha]. His beloved wife was Trilokavaṭansakā devi [ Thanbula ]. Her son was named Yazakumar. The king gave three servant villages to his beloved wife. After the wife died, the king gave her possessions and the three villages to her son, Yazakumar. As the king was becoming ill after reigning for 28 years, Yazakumar, acknowledging the love for the king, made a golden Buddha statue and gave to the king. Then he said: "This golden statue is dedicated to my king. As he gave the three servant villages, I, in return, give this golden statue. After the donation, the king has died. Sādu,Sādu. "In front of the monks, Mahahtae, Mogaliputtatithahtae, Tan, Tiɲgha tanavarapaṇṭai, he poured water. After that he built a place to put his golden statue. He then gave away the pagoda. He reigned over three villages, Tinmunalun (သင်မုနလွန်), Yapal (ရပါယ်) and Hanvho (ဟန်ဗိုဝ်). After pouring water over his pagoda, he said "For those deeds, may I obtain the Sabbañuta Ñan(သဗ္ဗညုတဥာဏ်). If my son, my grandson, my relative or others abuse the servants I donated for my pagoda, they shall not be able to see Maitreya Buddha.

Analysis

The typical Bagan handwriting was either rectangular or circular in shape, but in this inscription, the handwriting reassembles Tamarind seeds. Being the beginning of Myanmar Literature, some words were not written systematically, that is, the consonants and vowels were separated (e.g,"သာသနာအနှစ် တစ်ထောင်ခြောက်ရာ" was written as "သာသနာ အနှစ်တ" on a line, and "စ်ထောင်ခြောက်ရာ" written on the next line).

There were only words for the first person,"I" and "my",in Bagan period.In the inscription,instead of "he",Yazakumar referred to himself as "The son of the beloved wife"(ထိုပယ်မယားသား)and "it" was referred as "This"(ဤ/ထို).Some words had archaic meanings(e.g,ပယ်,which has modern meaning of "abandon",meant "Lovely ,or beloved"and နှပ်, meaning "relax" or "mix thoroughly",meant "donate").[2]

Yazakumar referred to his father as Śrī Tribhuvanāditya Dhammarāja,meaning "The king who can enlighten all three worlds like the sun",his mother as Trilokavaṭansakā devi (The queen who could lead all three worlds) and the Pagan Empire as Arimaddanāpura Empire (Meaning: The place where they can successfully outnumber enemies) respectively.

The purpose of the donation category is to let people appreciate their deeds. The wishing category is part of the tradition of Buddhism. The main intention of writing curse to preserve the donations and to prevent donated structures from being damaged.[3]

From this inscription, the reign periods of Kyansittha, Anawrahta, Saw Lu,and Alaungsithu can be calculated, old Pyu Language can be learnt, and Yazakumar's respect and love for his father can be observed.[4]

In Pali

In Pali language, the inscription reads:

  1. Grī. Buddhādikam vatthuvaram namitvā pāññam katam yam jinasā
  2. sanasmim anārikam Rājakumāra nāmadheyyena vakkhā
  3. mi sunātha metam. Nibbanā lokanāthassa aṭhavī
  4. sādike gate sahasse pana vassānam chasate vā pare ta
  5. -thā. Arimaddananāmasmim pure āsi mahabbalo rājā
  6. Tibhuvanādicco udicca diccavamsajo. Tassā te
  7. kā piyā devi sā Tilokavaṭamsikā hi
  8. tesi kusalā sabbekiccesu pana rājino. Ta
  9. ssā seko suto Rājakumaro nāma nāmat-
  10. -o amacco rājakiccesu byavato satimā
  11. vidu. Adā gāmattayam tassā deviyā soma
  12. hipati pasanno sabbadā dāsa pribhogena buññjitum.
  13. Aniccatā vasam tassā gatāya pana deviyā rā-
  14. -jā Rājakumārassa adā gāmattayam puna. Aṭhavīsa
  15. -ti vassāni rajjam dhammena kātriya māranantika rogassa-
  16. vassam patte narādipe. Saranto dhammarājassa mahantam gu-
  17. ṇa saññcayam kāretvā satthuno bimbam sabbasovaṇṇa-
  18. yam subham. Gahetvā tam mahatena sakkārena sumānaso
  19. upasaṅkamma rājanam āha cintitamattano. Bhavamkatvā
  20. nidam satthubimbam sovaṇṇyam subham akāsim vo va-
  21. -ram puññam sāmi tumhe nūmodatha. Gāmattayam pivo
  22. sāmi pubbe dinnantu me again imasseva munidassa demi ta
  23. ññcā nūmodatha. Evam vutte mahipālo roge
  24. nāturamānaso sadhu, sadhūti vatvāna tuṭhahattho
  25. pamodito. Dayā payo mahātheyo theyo muggali
  26. puttako sumedhatta sumedhoti laddhanāmo ca paṇṭito
  27. brahmapālo tathā brhamadevo sampanna silavā so no
  28. bahussuto samghasena vho varapaṇṭito. Etesam pa-
  29. na bikkhūnam sammukhā so sumānaso jalam pātesi katavana sa-
  30. kkhintu vasudhātalam. Tato so tan mahāmacco bibam so va-
  31. -ṇṇayam subham patiṭhāpiya kāresi guham kaññcanathūpikam.
  32. Katvāna maṅgalam Buddhapatimāya guhāyaca akāsevam paṇī
  33. dhānam nibbinno bhavasaṅkate. Karonetana mayā etam yam pu-
  34. -ññam tam samācitam hotu sabbaññuta ññaṇa pative dhā-
  35. -yā paccayo. Yattakā ta maya dāsā gamattayaniva-
  36. -sino dinnā guhāya sovaṇṇapatimāya mahesi
  37. no. Putto me va paputto va añño va panañña
  38. tako yo koci pāpa samkappo naro assaddha
  39. mānāso. Kareyyupadduvam tesam dāsānam si naramamo
  40. Metteya dipadindassa dassanam nāthigacchatū
  41. ti.[5]

References
  1. Coedès, 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.
  2. Blagden, C. (1914) The Myazedi Inscriptions. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 1063-1069. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25189254
  3. Burmese Literature. Myanmar: Ministry of Education of the government of Myanmar. 2018. p. 1.
  4. Burmese Encyclopedia,Volume 9
  5. Ministry of Burmese Culture- Myanmar Inscriptions, Volume 1, p.6-7
  • "Myazedi". Myanmar Travel information 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-07-01. Retrieved 2006-08-13.
  • Khin Maung Nyunt (December 2000). "Myazedi and Rosetta Stone Inscriptions". Perspective. Archived from the original on 2005-02-08. Retrieved 2006-08-13.
  • "Myazedi Pagoda". Myanmar's NET. Retrieved 2006-08-13.
  • Nishida Tatsuo 西田龍雄 (1955) "Myazedki 碑文における中古ビルマ語の研究　Myazedi hibu ni okeru chūko biruma go no kenkyū. Studies in the later ancient Burmese Language through Myazedi Inscriptions."　古代學 Kodaigaku Palaeologia 4.1:17-31 and 5.1: 22-40.
  • Yabu Shirō 藪 司郎 (2006). 古ビルマ語資料におけるミャゼディ碑文<1112年>の古ビルマ語 / Kobirumago shiryō ni okeru myazedi hibun senhyakujūninen no kobirumago ōbī / Old Burmese (OB) of Myazedi inscription in OB materials. Osaka: Osaka University of Foreign Studies.

Myazedi Inscription at AncientBagan.com

Myazedi Inscription A at Zenodo

Myazedi Inscription B at Zenodo

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