Abstract
(This epistle, as in the case of the three which follow, was composed by Kyeegan Shingyi during the period of his residence in Rangoon as a young apprentice learning to be a judge or an official. Although the epistles originally were properly dated, the scribes who later copied them thought it unnccessary to include the dates. This epistle is of special interest as it gives the actual year in which it was first written. It also mentions a great drought which was catastrophic to a region where the average annual rainfall is above 80 inches. In Lower Burma, rain falls heavily in the months of May, June, July, August, and it tapers off in September and October. Rice is grown during the rainy season, and root crops and green vegetables in the cool months of November, December and January.)
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References
One Kyat in 1784 was equivalent to two shillings, and in Upper Burma it was then enough to feed a person for one month.
Burmese year 1146 i.e. 1784 A.D.
The reference is to a folk-belief that tigers in a forest are the servants of its god.
He is a new container, because he is a recent addition to the family of the father-in-law; he is a personal slave because he is tied to the family by the bond of marriage.
An axiom of wrestling.
Referring to the saying, “If you do not love a woman, you cannot possess her.”
Tha-Khut tree (botanical name: Spathodea Rheedii) flowers in the month of May, when the rainy season begins with thunder and lightning.
Amarapura, newly built by King Bodawpaya.
Maha-Ummagga Jataka, E. В. Gowell, op. cit., No. 546, Vol. VI.
Maha Sutasoma Jataka, E. В. Cowell, op. cit., No. 537, Vol. VI. 8 Cullakalinga Jataka, E. B. Cowell, op. cit., No. 301, Vol. III.
Khandahala Jataka, E. В. Cowell, op. cit., No. 542, Vol. VI.
All the pagodas are recognized places of pilgrimage in Lower Burma. Kyaik Htiyo is near the town of Thaton, Shwe Mawdaw at Pegu, Kyaik Khami at the town of the same name, Shwedagon at Rangoon, and the others are round about Moul-mein.
A variant reading: “Because my father is living here (with me, in Rangoon).”
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© 1968 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Aung, M.H. (1968). Four Letters from Rangoon. In: Epistles Written on the Eve of the Anglo-Burmese War. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7171-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7171-9_2
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