James Gray - Ancient Proverbs and Maxims from Burmese Sources

Trbners Oriental Series

ANCIENT PROVERBS AND MAXIMS FROM BURMESE SOURCES

Trbners Oriental Series

SOUTHEAST ASIA

In 7 Volumes

ANCIENT PROVERBS AND MAXIMS FROM BURMESE SOURCES

OR, THE NTI LITERATURE OF BURMA

JAMES GRAY

First published in 1886 by
Trbner & Co Ltd

Reprinted 2000, 2001 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2007

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

1886 James Gray

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Ancient Proverbs and Maxims from Burmese Sources
ISBN 0-415-24549-4
Southeast Asia: 7 Volumes
ISBN 0-415-24295-9
Trbners Oriental Series
ISBN 0-415-23188-4

ANCIENT PROVERBS AND MAXIMS

From Burmese Sources;

OR,

THE NTI LITERATURE OF BURMA

BY

JAMES GRAY,

AUTHOR OF
ELEMENTS OF PALI GRAMMAR, TRANSLATION OF THE DHAMMAPADA, ETC.

LONDON:
TRBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1886.
[All rights reserved.]

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

T HE Sanskrit-Pli word Nti is equivalent to conduct in its abstract, and guide in its concrete signification. As applied to books, it is a general term for a treatise which includes maxims, pithy sayings, and didactic stories, intended as a guide to such matters of everyday life as form the character of an individual and influence him in his relations to his fellow-men. Treatises of this kind have been popular in all ages, and have served as a most effective medium of instruction. In India a very comprehensive literature sprang up, known as the Ntistras, embracing what is called Beast-fable lore, represented by the Paatantra, and its epitome the Hitopadea of Vishuarman, and the numerous ethico-didactic anthologies which, based chiefly on the Mahbhrata and other ancient poems, gained popularity by the collected apophthegms of Bhartihari and Cakya. Anthological study at length became so inviting, that in the rgadharapaddhati, a compilation of the fourteenth century A.D ., we find about 6000 stanzas, gathered from more than 250 sources.

The Buddhist Jtaka, containing 550 stories, is a rich storehouse of fables, and, though in character similar to the Paatantra, is not classed as a Nti, nor does the Dhammapada, and other treatises of the same kind, full of maxims of morality and religious reflections, come under the designation. The term Nti, in so far as it describes anthological collections, is, in Burma, found connected with the following worksthe Lokanti, the Dhammanti, the Rjanti, and the Suttavahananti. Of these, the first three are original recensions in the Mgadhese dialect, adapted from Sanskrit works; while the last is a comparatively recent collection of useful maxims from the Buddhist canon itself. The former form a group in themselves, and owe their importance to being of Sanskritic origin. The remarks which follow are in special reference to them alone.

The earliest reference in Burmese literature to the Lokanti and Rjanti is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, to be found in the Arakan Rzwin, or Chronicles of Arakan, in connection with Prince Kha Maungs visit to Pegu early in the seventeenth century. Mention of the Dhammanti is rarely met with, as it seems never to have become a handbook for study like the other two. The exact dates of these collections in Burma are not recorded anywhere, nor is their authorship a matter of certainty. That they were compiled between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries is not unlikely, judging from the progress of literature under the patronage of Burmese kings. King Anoratha, in the first half of the eleventh century, organised an expedition to Thaton, and obtained thence a copy of the Buddhist Scriptures. Their interpretation was then only possible through the Mun language. The Mun alphabet was consequently adopted by the Burmese, and the learned among the latter made the literature written in it an important study. Wars between the Muns and Burmese led eventually to a good deal of intercommunication between the two races. Hindu colonists, besides, had settled on the lower valleys of the Irawadi and Sittang rivers, and a religious struggle between Brahmans and Buddhists resulted in evoking the erudition of the learned Punnas. Their services were soon utilised by the Burmese kings in furtherance of the cause of literature, and it was through their invaluable assistance that the study of Sanskrit became a sine qu non in the royal monasteries. Being familiar with Mgadhese (then the literary language of the country), and also acquainted with the local vernacular, they were of great help to the Buddhist Rahans in the interpretation of the Pitagat. And it is reasonable to suppose that when that great task was completed attention was paid to secular literature, the outcome of which was the compilation of the three Ntis. Similar, or perhaps the very same treatises, were in use in the royal courts of India, and their introduction into the court of Ava was natural enough. The translation of Sanskrit works of a more erudite character was a work of later date.