Sawlumin inscription

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Sawlumin inscription
Author King Sawlu
Country Pagan Kingdom
Language Burmese, Pyu, Mon, Pali , Sanskrit
Series Burmese chronicles
Genre Chronicle, History
Publication date
 1053/54[1] or 1079/80[2][3]

The Sawlumin inscription (Burmese: စောလူးမင်း ကျောက်စာ [sɔ́lúmɪ́ɴ tɕaʊʔ sà]), is purportedly one of the oldest surviving stone inscriptions of the Burmese.[1][4]

Three of these five pieces of inscription were discovered in Myittha Township, Mandalay Region on 17 November 2013 and one piece was found on 27 November 2013. One piece is still missing. The found four pieces were rejoined and currently stands in Petaw monastery. The slab size is 1.75 metres (5.7 ft) in height, and 1.06 metres (3.5 ft) in breadth.[4][5]

The stone tablets were inscribed in multiple languages including Burmese, Pyu, Mon, Pali and the fifth script, Tai-Yuan,[4] Gon (Khun or Kengtung) Shan[1] or Sanskrit. However, some scholars point out that there are only four languages excluding Burmese.[3][5] It describes King Sawlu’s donation of Budddha images, religious bondsmen, cows, farmlands, and rice, and also includes curses and wishes.[4][6]

Significance

The inscription, which contains 415 ME (25 March 1053 to 25 March 1054 CE) presumably as its inscription date, could upend the current understanding of the early Pagan period if its provenance and the actual time of inscription can be proven.

  • If 1053/54 proves to be the inscription date, it would be:
  1. One of the earliest extant inscriptions of the Burmese script. Its inscription date would be 60 years earlier than the Myazedi inscription (c. 1112/1113), one of the oldest known stone inscriptions in Burma (Myanmar).[4][7] (The earliest known inscription of Burmese—the copper-gilt umbrella inscription of the Mahabodhi Temple in India—is dated to 1035 CE. According to a recast stone inscription from the late 18th century, the Burmese script was already in use by 984 CE.[8])
  2. The earliest instance of the Burma Mon script. The earliest evidence of the predecessor script to the modern Mon script is dated to 1093 CE.[8] (The Mon script of Dvaravati or Haripunjaya (both in present-day Thailand) is presumably earlier than the 11th century but so far there is no evidence to prove any linkage between the two Mon scripts.[8])
  • If 1053/54 proves to be the inscription date, and if it was inscribed during Sawlu's reign as king, it would mean that:
  1. King Sawlu was already reigning in 1053/1054 as opposed to the currently accepted reign date of 1078–1084.
  2. The Myazedi inscription and most of the Burmese chronicles are incorrect about the chronology of early Pagan kings. Only the Maha Yazawin chronicle, which says Sawlu reigned between 1035 and 1061, would be correct with respect to Sawlu's reign. Currently, mainstream scholarship accepts Zatadawbon Yazawin's dates, which agree with Myazedi's dates, as the most authoritative chronicle for the early Pagan period chronology.[note 1]
  • If the fifth script, currently speculated as the Tai-Yuan,[4] Gon (Khun or Kengtung) Shan[1] or an early Nāgarī script,[9] is confirmed to be an early form of Tai-Shan script,
  1. it would be the oldest, Tai/Shan script, predating the Thai script, believed to be derived from Khmer in 1293, by over 240 years. Moreover, it would mean the Tai-Yuan or the Gon/Khun script existed 240 years prior to the founding of the Lan Na kingdom in 1292. Most of the Shan scripts came into existence in the late 16th century only.
  2. the Tai/Shan speakers were sufficiently prominent in the early Pagan period that their script was used in a royal inscription. This contradicts the current understanding that Shan speakers moved in en masse to Kachin and Shan hills only in the mid-to-late 13th century.[10]
  3. Burmese and northern Thai chronicles' claim that Anawrahta's realm encompassed Kengtung and Chiang Mai regions could be reconsidered. (Both Chiang Mai and Chaing Saen chronicles say their rulers paid tribute to Anawrahta, the father of Sawlu.[11] But the claims of the chronicles, which were written centuries after Anawrahta's time, are not accepted by mainstream scholarship.)

Current status

As of April 2014, about 60 percent of the tablets had been deciphered. They[who?] have deciphered all of the Mon and Pali text and about 10 percent of Pyu. A copy of text in the Nagari writing system used in northern India and Nepal has been sent to the Archaeological Survey of India for deciphering.[9] The Indian department replies that the inscription is not preserved in better condition. Some letters are peeled off and some are worn out. Only few letters in lines 6 and 7 are well preserved. The Indian department reveals that the inscription is engraved in early Nagari characters, retaining some of the features of Siddhamatrika or Kutila scripts.[5]

What has been translated so far describes the donation of a monastery, Maha Anuruda Deva Rama, by King Sawlu and his wife Manicanda.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ (Maha Yazawin 2006: 346–349): Among the four major chronicles, only Zatadawbon Yazawin's dates line up with Anawrahta's inscriptionally verified accession date of 1044 CE. (Aung-Thwin 2005: 121–123): In general, Zata is considered "the most accurate of all Burmese chronicles, particularly with regard to the best-known Pagan and Ava kings, many of whose dates have been corroborated by epigraphy."

Bibliography

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Nai Beethaw Monzel "Myittha Slab Inscription of King Sawlu"

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Aung-Thwin 2005: 167–178, 197–200
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lieberman 2003: 114–115
  11. ↑ Oriental 1900: 375–376
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