398 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
rest of the people, nor indeed in almost any man¬ 
ner associate with them, and few persons will 
even condescend to sit down and eat with them. 
This is a fair sample of the united effects of des¬ 
potism and superstition among the Burmans. 
The perpetrator of these acts was not only 
an eminently pious prince, but he was a learned 
theologian, and from a very early period of his 
reign aimed at the character of a religious re¬ 
former. He was in the habit of summoning the 
Rahans or Pun-gyis* into his presence, and ca¬ 
techising and instructing them in their duties. 
The result of this was a declaration on his part 
that he found them extremely ignorant. For 
the last three or four years of his life, his pas¬ 
sion for reform proceeded to very great lengths 
indeed, and he issued an edict, in which he pro¬ 
fessed his determination to bring the worship of 
Gautama back to its ancient purity and simpli¬ 
city. In this he stated that the Rahans were 
not only ignorant of their religious duties, but 
that they lived luxuriously in comfortable con¬ 
vents, that they had fine gardens and good fur¬ 
niture, all which was contrary to the ancient 
purity of the Buddhist worship ; and he blamed 
one of his predecessors, a prince of Pugan, for 
* The two names by which the Burman priests are com¬ 
monly known. 
