86 On the History of the Burma Race. [No. 2, 



of Tampawati was built, from the time of king Thaik-taing, the 

 strength of religion gradually declined ; for the books of the Bi-da- 

 gat being not yet, the king Tsau Rahan and the whole country 

 believed the false doctrines of the great Ari teachers. The king 

 Tsau Rahan indeed should have come to great destruction for killing 

 a king, while he was yet a hill man cultivating a plantation ; but on 

 accouut of the great merit acquired by the good works he had done 

 in former existences, he obtained the rank of a king. Thus, in the 

 divine law of the Phra, it is written, ' They who have acquired the 

 destiny which adheres to merit, succeed though they strive not ; they 

 who have not acquired merit, fail though they strive much.' There 

 are numerous examples of the truth of this. As for the king Tsau 

 Rahan, when the predestined successor, king Kyiing Phyu arrived, 

 Tsau Rahan stood at the entrance of the palace and cried ' Who will 

 be king while T am here ?' But at that moment the merit of 

 his former good works was exhausted ; the stone image at the gate 

 of the palace pushed him so that he fell headlong and died." 



He Avas succeeded by Kwon-tshau-kyiing-phyri. As this king 

 was the father of A-nan-ra-hta, the great hero of the modern Burmese 

 people, his descent and early history are carefully narrated. It has 

 already been mentioned, that king Tannet was dethroned by a youth 

 named, Nga Khwe. Kwon-tshau-kyoung-phyii was said to be a son 

 of king Tannet, born after the death of his father. An usurper gener- 

 ally retained in his harem, the queens of his predecessor ; so to pre- 

 vent the suspicion of Kyoung-phyu being a son of Nga Khwe, it is 

 stated that the chief queen of Tannet being pregnant, refused to 

 remain in the palace after her husband's death, but fled secretly and 

 hid herself at a place called Kyung-phyu. In the Maha-radza-weng 

 the story is thus related : " When Nga Khwe killed king Tannet, 

 and took possession of the palace, the queen, who was pregnant, fear- 

 ing that she would be seized by Nga Khwe. escaped from the palace 

 and lived at a place called Kyung-phyu. This place was also called 

 the dragon's road, or golden road which leads to the abode of dragons. 

 There king Kyung-phyu was born. When he was a child, he one 

 day went to play with the children of the place, and the children 

 reviled him by calling him a fatherless boy, on this he complained to 

 his mother. His mother replied, ' My dear son, your father was not 



