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30 On the history of the Burmah Race. [No. 1, 



of Tagoung led to the establishment of a monarchy at Tha-re-hhet-te-ya 

 near the modern Prome. There, according to the history, a descendant 

 of the ancient kings of Tagoung, after a series of wonderful events 

 succeeded to the throne of the king of the Pyoo tribe, which people 

 was up to that time dominant in the country round Prome. What- 

 ever this event as told may really mean, we may consider it as certain 

 that the tribes dwelling in the country round Tagoung, where Budhism 

 and some degree of civilization had been established under a powerful 

 dynasty, were overwhelmed by a horde of invaders from the north-east 

 and that many of them found a refuge among their kinsmen the 

 Pyoos. 



The present kings of Burma, as has already been stated, claim descent 

 from the ancient Budhist sovereigns of Kap-pi-la-ivot. It may not 

 be out of place here to mention some of the Indian and Sakyan customs 

 preserved by the Burmese royal family. Among these are the marriages 

 of half-brothers with half-sisters, a practice which does not exist in 

 any other family in the kingdom ; the ceremonial called a-leit-theik 

 or pouring out of water on the accession of a new sovereign ; preserving 

 unmarried the king's eldest daughter ; the figures of a peacock and of 

 a hare, symbolical of the sun and moon, and typifying descent from 

 the solar and lunar races, being painted on the king's throne. For the 

 same reason the figure of a peacock is borne on the royal standard. 

 One of the royal titles is " sun-descended monarch," and a title of 

 honour frequently bestowed even on foreigners is that of " Member 

 of the race of the sun ;" while the badge of nobility is the caste-thread 

 of the Brahman and Rajpoot tribes represented by golden chains worn 

 slung from the left shoulder, across the breast and back, to the right 

 hip. These and some other customs are tenaciously adhered to by 

 the royal family of Burmah, who consider themselves as ethnologically 

 and religiously the descendants of the Budhist kings of Kap-pi-la-wot. 



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