MAHA YAZA WIN, also written Naha Radza Weng, a royal chronicle of Burma, which gives dates from p.c. 1000. There is no doubt that Tagoung and Prome and Pagan were each in their turn for many centuries the seat of an empire, but there is no certainty until the middle of the 16th century. According to this chronicle, however, the first ruler was Maha Thammada, the object being to connect the royal line with prince Siddhartha, the Buddha of the present cycle of religion. To give this theory the greater veri similitude, the chronicle represents the whole Burmese race as descended from a tribe of the Indian Solar race, who, with Abhi Raja, their king, were driven from their home in Kapilavastu, and, marching eastward, finally settled in the valley of the Irawadi, where they built Tagoung for their capital. This ancient capital is said to have been founded by Anawrata Saw. He was a very devout Buddhist, and marched with a large army into China to obtain a tooth of the Buddha. In this he was not successful, but he came back with a golden replica obtained from the Hwang-ti. This was about the time of the Danish kings in England. Five hundred years later, Buyiu Noung, a monarch a monster of cruelty, succeeded to the throne. The country was then divided into four separate and independent kingdoms,—Pegu, Arakan, Burma, and Ava. When he died he had exalted Burma at the expense of the neighbouring kings, and, besides subduing Zimme, had ravaged Siam up to the gates of the capital. Fredericke says about him, ' The king (Branginoco he calls him) bath not any army or power by sea, but in the land, for people, dominions, gold and silver, he far exceeds the power of the Great Turk in treasure and strength.' Buyin Noung employed Portuguese soldiers of fortune_ in his various expeditions, and prominent among them were Philip de Brito and Nicote and Gonsalves. The former, originally a cabin-boy, established him self for thirteen years as an independent monarch at Syriam, below Rangoon, and the ruins of the fort he built mny yet be seen. Gonsalves was a common soldier, who became a pirate on a largo scale, and, after a brilliant eight years of murder and plundering, lapsed into the common soldier • affain Philip do Brito and Nicote was impaled e, on a spike. Many of the Portuguese captured during these expeditions were sent as prisoners into the interior, and their descendants form a distinctly recognisable class to the present day at
.Mandalay, though they dress as natives of the country, and have Burmese names.
During the period between Buyin Noung and .11oung-payah, the founder of the present dynasty, at one time the Burmans were masters, at another the Peg,uans, while the kings of Arakan or of Tounghoo made raids on the lowlands. About the middle of the 18th century, the Talaings of Pegu rose against the Burmese, and not only drove them out of Pegu, but, under their king, the prince of Dala, a village opposite Rangoon, overran the Burmese dominions, and finally sacked and burnt Ava, the capital of the country. But Oung Zaya, a hunter, finally overthrew the 'Liking near Promo, and proclaimed himself king, with the title of Aloung-payah. He was the founder of the town of Rangoon, and in the eight years of his reign not only possessed himself of Pegu, but annexed Arakau, Tavoy, and Tenas scrim, and was on the march against Siam when he was seized with the illness which ended in his death. Ills son Sin-byoo-shin, however, inherited his military genius ; and, besides conquering Siam, came off victorious in four severe struggles with the Chinese, who invaded the country with largo armies. Under him and the next few kings the power of the country was consolidated, the Shim states and Manipur were overrun, and finally the Burmese came into collision with the British. Under Bodaw-payab, the last of the sons of Aloung-payah, the empire reached its largest extent, and had become one of the most formidable powers in Asia. It had nearly 1000 miles of sea-coast, and extended from the borders of Chittagong to the centre of Siam. The Bur mese soldiery were feared all over Indo-China as the most ruthless and invincible of foes. But the braggart spirit which led Bodaw-payah to pro claim himself an embryo Buddha, and lord it over British envoys, prompted his successor to demand from the Indian Government the surrender of Chittagong, Dacca, and Murshidabacl. Actual aggressive movements on Chittagong led to a declaration of war in 1824, and in 1826 Sir Archibald Campbell dictated peace close to the walls of Ava.