JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



Part L— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c. 

 No. II.— 1868. 



On the History of the Burma Race. — By Colonel Sir Arthur Phayre, 



K. C. S. I., C. B., Bengal Staff Corps. 



[Received 25th July, 1868.] 



In the thirty-second volume of the Journal of the Asiatic Society, 

 for the year 1864, the present writer, following the Maha-radza- 

 weng, traced the history of the Burma race from the earliest time, 

 down to the arrival of the two sons of the king of Tagiing at the 

 site of the present town of Prome. The national chronicles from that 

 time proceed with the history of the monarchy established at Tha- 

 re-khet-ta-ra to the east of Prome. It is proposed in the present 

 paper to condense into a brief narrative the principal events of that 

 monarchy, and of the succeeding dynasties of Burman kings, which 

 reigned at Pagan on the Irrawaddy river, about one hundred and 

 eighty miles above Prome. 



The elder of the sons of the king of Tagung, named Mahatham- 

 bawa, was married to his cousin Bhedarf, daughter of the hermit, 

 who lived in a cave or cell, near a small stream which runs -into the 

 Irrawaddy river below the town of Prome. The king of the Pyii 

 tribe, named Tap-bii-la, who with his people dwelt in the land around 

 Prome, had been exposed to attacks by tribes coming from Southern 

 Arakan. He had either been killed or taken prisoner. His queen 

 still ruled. But the Kan-ran tribe from Arakan attacked her also. 

 10 



