Mon, Mon-Khmer, Pyu (Tritsu) and Mramma (Buramah) - Amalgamation, relationships and diversity

    We find that the Mon, Mon-Khmer, Pyu(Tritsu) and Mramma(Buramah) as the tribes are originated in and part of the Indus (or) Hindu Civilization the heart of it was in Punjab, North-Western India. We have already provided many texts Mahabaratas, Puranas, Epic literatures which are attested, for authenticity, integrity and accuracy though these are written by various authors and various places in the course of ancient time line. Now we are about to  explore , analyse, find corroborations , summarise and conclude that the above mentioned ancient tribes of modern Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam and Siam(Thailand). Earlier we have reported that these tribes or races and their languages, cultures and traditions are inter-twined and mingled each other’s. It was absolutely natural that when they agreed live together and when time to sort out the problems with arms, they fought. Whilst there are several battles fought among feudatory, tribes and their kings or emperors, remarkably they flourished in architecture, cultures such as music and dances, literature and produced  the remarkable coins. They chart maritime and inland trade route and  communicated and traded with the world economies of the time since at least 2500 years ago.

            For the clarity, we will utilize the following terminology.

1        Mon in Burma as Mon-Rman

2        Mon in Cambodia and Siam, as  Mon- Chamboj

3       The Cham in Vietnam, Annam as Chamba, etc.

When and wherever we find the word Talaing, we shall replace it with “Mon-Rman” because the foreign writers or authors are referring to the Mon of the Ramnna-desa which was part of modern Burma. We know and note that the word started by “T” referring to our Mon friends and relative is Taboo. The word will not be used by the present authors unless it is the term of the original texts.

There are two genealogical or lineages of the Indian kings which were responsible and involved in Burma and south-east Asia  architecture and culture and history.

1    Varman line

2    Pala line

We find that Combodia and lower Burma are ruled by the kings from Varman line. As this is of the subject-matter, we will discuss in reasonable length.  There are numerous texts and works supporting that Varman dynasties which are ruling modern Lower Burma, Cambodia and south Vietnam so-called Champa in early 1^st Million AD. 

History of ancient relationship of modern Burma and modern Cambodia

       Before proceeding with the documentary evidences of the Hindu Civilisation of Main Land South East Asia under Varman lines of the kings, there are some very interesting findings of interrelationship among these polities in general. In particular, we find that modern Lower Burma Prome as well as upper Burma, “Pugama or Pagan” and Phnom Penh of modern Cambodia are inter-related. This finding could confidently confirm that these two cities and kingdoms are part of one whole “Brahmadesa”. To verify that we have to revisit TSK’s Burmese Sketches.

       Burma is known to the Manipuris as Maran , to the Shans and Assamese as Man, and to the Palaungs as Mrang. The Takings call the Burmans Hamera, which is abbreviated to

Hame. To the European writers of the i6th, 17th and i8th centuries, the country was known as ' Buraghmah,' and to the people of Bengal it is known as ' Brahmodesh’  which is the Bengali form of the Pali designation ‘Brahmadesa ' or the country of Brahma, the creator of the Hindu Triad. Now, ‘b ' and ' m ‘ are interchangeable in the Indo-Chinese languages, and ' Brahma ' became ' Mrahma,' and the letter ‘h ' being, by assimilation, changed into ' m ' the word ' Mrahma’ assumed the form ' Mramma '.{Taw Sein Ko (1913)pp:19}[1]

            Burmese prose, the form ' Mranma ' is used, while in works written in Pali, the form ' Mramma-desa ' invariably occurs. The derivation of the word ' Mranma ' is intimately connected

with that of the word ' Prome,' the centre of the Brahma cult and of Brahmanical influence. This word should be spelt ' Prohm,' because it is another form of the Talaing name 'Brohm. Again, ' Brohm ' is another form of ' Brahm', ‘a' and ‘o ' being interchangeable. Therefore, Prome means, ' the City of Brahma.' There is thus every reason to suppose that, in the first century A.D., when the fugitives from Prome found an asylum at Pagan, they were known to the surrounding tribes as the ' people from the City of Brahma ' or simply as the ‘Brahma People.’{Taw Sein Ko (1913)pp:19-20}[1]

Also Mahesh Kumar Sharan has pointed out in his work titled ‘Studies In Sanskrit Inscriptions Of Ancient Cambodia’ as under;

    Cambodia is the Europeanised form of Sanskrit name ‘Kambuja’—the land of Rsi Kambu. In vernacular of the country the region is called Khmer. In vernacular of the country the region is called Khmer. This Khmer has been differently pronounced in different languages: in Chinese they called it Kihmich, in Javanese Kmir and in Arabic Qimara. This name Kambuja originally meant only the northern portion of Cambodia. Under the name Chenla, Cambodia was a kingdom subordinate to Funan. After the fall of Funan it was applied to the whole of Cambodia. The Chinese name Funan represents the old Khmer word Vnam or B’iu-Nam (in modern Khmer Phnom) which means a hill.[2]

   I-tsing says that in his time Funan had become Panan.  This change may perhaps correspond to the hardening of the labio-dental ‘v’ into the labial ‘b’ or ‘bh’.  P.C. Bagchi opines that the old pronunciation ‘biu-nam’ would have stood for a name like Prum or Brum which can be considered as a local adaptation of the name Brahma. The ancient kings of Funan, according to Bagchi, are called the Brahma-Kumara in the Thai annals, and thus it is probable that the name Funan originally would have represented Brahma i.e. Brahmadesa, the country of the Brahmanas. There was a time when Cambodia comprised parts of Laos, Thailand (Siam), and even Cochin-China.[2]

Thus far in the transliteration and liguistical evolution there are slight difference in spelling and pronunciation  in English of the names of two cities , namely Prome in modern Burma and Phnom in modern Cambodia. But literally in historical sense the meaning of the two cities are the same “Brahmadesa” the city of Brahman people. An then Prome is ancient “Sri Ksetra” the city and the country of Pyu or Tritsu. Therefore we can conclude that Mon-Khmer, Mon-Reman, Pyu (Tritsu) are collectively called Brahman or Burman at the later time.

       Sir Charles Eliot informed us through his work of 1921 that the Camodia or Camboja was founded and ruled by the  Varman line of kings of Indian Bramana.

       The first important king is Bhavavarman (c. 500 A.D.), a conqueror and probably a usurper, who extended his kingdom considerably towards the west. His career of conquest was continued by Mahavarman (also called Citrasena), by Isanavarman and by Jayavarman1. This last prince was on the throne in 667, but his reign is followed by a lacuna of more than a century.

Notices in the Chinese annals, confirmed by the double genealogies given for this period in later inscriptions, indicate that Camboja was divided for some time into two states, one littoral

and the other inland. Clear history begins again with the reign of Jayavarman II (802-869).             {ELIOT, SIR CHARLES(1921)}[3]

   The  above is for the Kamboja or modern Cambodia.  For modern Burma in general and lower Burma Prome or Pyu kingdom “Sri Ksetra” British Researcher “E. Moore” has informed us about Vraman Kings of Sri Ksetra, modern Prome thorough research findings as below in her work of 2004.

Royal names on stone urns, 

Although royal names are found on objects such as the terracotta votive tablets mentionedearlier, the Sriksetra urns have been the principal guide to a dynastic line. As might be expected, the names on the urns differ from chronicle accounts, which begin the Sriksetra lineage in 444BC with King Duttabaung in the 101st year after the passing away of the Buddha. This date has been questioned, with archaeological data suggesting that the city was built about the 2nd century BC. However, dates are few, and it is likely that the site was inhabited long before this. Given this rather amorphous timeframe, the dates inscribed on the urns are important markers of points in the chronology of the site. The urn dates, however, do not specify an era. One solution has been to use the ‘Burmese’ era, starting in 638 AD.

Another reading suggests that the Gupta era was employed, the result being a different sequence of names, one placed in the 4th century AD (San Win 2001, cited by Than Tun (1994). A review of this evidence is given here, as the urns give the clearest existing in situ confirmation of the sequence of rulers during at least one period of the site’s occupation. [4]

         The Pyu writing on the four initial finds was first deciphered by O.Blagden, and found to give the names of kings of the Vikrama and Varman dynasties (1917). Each urn is inscribed on the upper rim with what was thought to be a name, date and age of death. One, the urn of the relative of Suriyavikrama, also has 8 lines inscribed on the rounded bottom, although Blagden did not publish this inscription. The writing here and on the rims is in Pyu with interlinear Brahmi, stylistically dated to the 7-8th century AD (Luce 1985: 48, 126-7). The names and dates derived from this reading, and the measurements of the stone urns, are given below: [4]

                                                    The people, their tradition and culture

                        Burmese Traditional Dance {Image source: Courtesy of Google}

                        Cambodian Traditional Dance {Image source :Courtesy of Google}

References.

[1] Taw Sein Ko (1913) “Burmese Sketches”

[2] Mahesh Kumar Sharan, (2003)” Studies In Sanskrit Inscriptions Of Ancient Cambodia”

[3] ELIOT, SIR CHARLES(1921) “HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM - AN HISTORICAL SKETCH”

[4] Elizabeth Moore : “Interpreting Pyu material culture: Royal chronologies and finger-marked bricks” Myanmar Historical Research Journal, No(13) June 2004, pp.1-57