1841.] Account of Arakan. 685 



The JRa-khoing-thas^ (whose national name, as before mentioned, is 

 Myam-ma, whence the corruption Bur-ma,) are so called as inhabitants 

 of the country Ra-khoing, and this name is said to be derived from the 

 Pali word Rak-kha-pu-ra, signifying " abode of demons," which 

 name may have been given to the country by the Budhist Missionaries 

 from India. The classic name for the country, and that used in all 

 state papers, is Dha-gnya-wa-ti. 



The book which the learned refer to, as containing the whole account 

 of their nation, is called Ra-dza-wang^ or " History of Kings," 

 of which many copies exist, differing from each other in details of the 

 early history, yet preserving alike the main features ; there we are 

 told that in Oo-taya, the northern division of the world, reigned 

 the king Ma-ha-tha-gya, whose younger son, in consequence of a 

 quarrel, was forced to fly his country. He came to the kingdom of 

 A-ihe-toing-dza-na, (supposed to lie north from the city of Ava,) 

 where he married the king's daughter, and had by her ten sons and one 

 daughter. These children departed to seek a home elsewhere ; they 

 came to the site of the present town, Than-dwe, {Sandoway as we 

 usually write it,) which acquired its name from their binding it with an 

 iron chain, so that the country no longer moved as was its wont ; the 

 germ of this account may possibly be the tradition of an earthquake 

 or volcano in some remote period. The ten brothers and their sister now 

 acquired the country. In various ways, eight of the brothers were 

 killed, the remaining two brothers and their sister, who is named 

 Ang-dza-na-de-wi, pursued their way northwards for Arakan, They 

 were accompanied by a Byam-ha, which in Burman Budhist writings 

 usually means I believe a celestial being, but here it is interpreted 

 to mean a human Brahman or Pun-na ; — whence he sprung does not 

 appear. On the road the two remaining brothers were killed, one by a 

 Bhi-lu, or human flesh- devouring monster, the other accidentally by a 

 hunter's arrow, discharged at a deer. The Pun-na and the lady pro- 

 ceeded alone; on their arrival in Arakan, they find the male line of the 

 royal family is extinct. So confused is the account, that Arakan, 

 which before was represented as one vast forest inhabited only by 

 Bhi-lus, is here said to have a large population, and a queen over 

 it. The Pun-na forthwith marries the daughter of the last king, and 

 their progeny fill the throne for several generations. The sister 



