Burmese Literature
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Burmese Literature
The literature of Myanmar () spans over a millennium. The Burmese language, unlike other Southeast Asian languages (e.g. Thai, Khmer), adopted words primarily from Pāli rather than from Sanskrit. In addition, Burmese literature tends to reflect local folklore and culture. Burmese literature has historically been a very important aspect of Burmese life steeped in the Pali Canon of Buddhism. Traditionally, Burmese children were educated by monks in monasteries in towns and villages. During British colonial rule, instruction was formalised and unified, and often bilingual, in both English and Burmese known as Anglo-Vernacular. Burmese literature played a key role in disseminating nationalism among the Burmese during the colonial era, with writers such as Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, an outspoken critic of British colonialism in Burma. Beginning soon after self-rule, government censorship in Burma has been heavy, stifling literary expression. Classical literature The earliest for ...
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Yadu (poetry)
The yadu (, ; also spelt ya-du and yatu) is a Burmese form of poetry which consists of up to three stanzas of five lines. The first four lines of a stanza have four syllables each, but the fifth line can have 5, 7, 9, or 11 syllables. A yadu should contain a reference to a season. The form uses climbing rhyme. The rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ... is required on the fourth, third, and second syllables of both the first three lines and the last three lines. The end of the last two lines also rhyme. e.g.: :---A :--A- :-A-B :--BC :-B--C References *Vernick, Harris "Cole"· ''The Baker's Dozen: The Cole Foundation Collection: Volume 1''. AuthorHouse, 2007. . p250Guide to Verse Forms Poetic forms Burmese literature {{Myanmar-lit-stub ...
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Toungoo
Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ), also spelled Toungoo and formerly Toung-ngú, is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industry is in forestry products, with teak and other hardwoods extracted from the mountains. The city is known for its areca palms and betel nut chewing. The city is famous in History of Myanmar, Burmese history for the Toungoo dynasty which ruled the country for over 200 years between the 16th and 18th centuries. Taungoo was the capital of Burma in 1510–1539 and 1551–1552. Kaytumadi new city (new city of Taungoo) is the central command of the southern command division region of Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw''). Hanthawaddy United F.C., Hanthawaddy United Football Club is based in Taungoo. Names The classical Pali name of Taungoo is Ketumadi (ကေတုမဒီ;), which translates to "possessed of the roya ...
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Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spans . Thailand Template:Borders of Thailand, is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar, to the northeast and east by Laos, to the southeast by Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the southwest by the Andaman Sea; it also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the state capital and List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, largest city. Tai peoples, Thai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th to 11th centuries. Greater India, Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon kingdoms, Mon, Khmer Empire, and Monarchies of Malaysia, Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states s ...
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Shin Mahasilavamsa
Shin Mahāsīlavaṃsa (, variously transcribed Shin Maha Silavamsa, Shin Maha Thilawuntha or Rhaṅʻ Mahāsīlavaṃsa) was a Theravadan Buddhist monk and a classical Burmese poet who lived in 15th century Ava Kingdom (now modern-day Myanmar). He is famous for his '' pyo'' poetry and he is considered one of the greatest poets of pre-colonial Burma, in particular his masterpieces, ''Paramidawkhan Pyo'' () and ''Sodaungkhan Pyo'' (), which are considered ideal models of the medieval literary style. While the primary focus of Mahāsīlavaṃsa's compositions was dhamma (Buddhist teachings), he also composed the earliest extant Burmese chronicle, ''Yazawingyaw''. His contemporary literati rival was Shin Raṭṭhasāra. Personal life Mahāsīlavaṃsa was born Maung Nyo in Myolulin village (north of Taungdwingyi on a Friday in 1453, to U Kyi and Daw Dwe. He studied Buddhist scriptures and literature at the Yadana Beikman Monastery under the tutelage of the Natmilin Sayadaw ...
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Courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together. Background Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court. Not all courtiers were noble, as they included clergy, soldiers, clerks, secretaries, agents and middlemen with business at court. All those who held a court appointment could be called courtiers but not all courtiers held positions at court. Those personal favourites without business around the monarch, sometimes called the camarilla, were also considered courtiers. As social divisions became more rigid, a divide, barely present in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, opened between menial servants and other classes at c ...
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Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and [b], pronounced with the lips; and [d], pronounced with the front of the tongue; and [g], pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced throughout the vocal tract; , [v], , and [z] pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and and , which have air flowing through the nose (nasal consonant, nasals). Most consonants are Pulmonic consonant, pulmonic, using air pressure from the lungs to generate a sound. Very few natural languages are non-pulmonic, making use of Ejective consonant, ejectives, Implosive consonant, implosives, and Click consonant, clicks. Contrasting with consonants are vowels. Since the number of speech sounds in the world's languages is much greater than the number of letters in any one alphabet, Linguis ...
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Monosyllabic Language
A monosyllabic language is a language in which words predominantly consist of a single syllable. An example of a monosyllabic language would be Old Chinese or Vietnamese, Burmese or Sumerian. Monosyllabism is the name for the property of single-syllable word form. The natural complement of monosyllabism is polysyllabism. Whether a language is monosyllabic or not sometimes depends on the definition of "word", which is far from being a settled matter among linguists. For example, Modern Chinese (Mandarin) is "monosyllabic" if each written Chinese character is considered a word; which is justified by observing that most characters have proper meaning(s) (even if very generic and ambiguous). However, most entries in a Chinese dictionary are compounds of two or more characters; if those entries are taken as the "words", then Mandarin is not truly monosyllabic, only its morphemes are.. Single-vowel form A monosyllable may be complex and include seven or more consonants and a vo ...
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Burmese Language
Burmese (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Myanmar, where it is the official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Bamar people, Bamar, the country's largest ethnic group. Burmese dialects are also spoken by the indigenous tribes in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, India's Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura states and the Burmese diaspora. The Constitution of Myanmar officially refers to it as the Myanmar language in English, though most English speakers continue to refer to the language as ''Burmese'', after ''Burma''—a name with co-official status until 1989 (see Names of Myanmar). Burmese is the most widely-spoken language in the country, where it serves as the lingua franca. In 2019, Burmese was spoken by 42.9 million people globally, including by 32.9 million speakers as a first language, and an additional 10 million speakers as a second language. A 2023 World Bank survey found that 80% of the country's population speaks Burmese ...
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Kagyin
A kagyin (; ) is a form of Burmese martial song performed during a shield dance (; ). Its purpose is to inspire both the singer and their audience with national spirit and patriotism. A kagyin is sung while performing systematic defensive footwork, a sword in the right hand and a kaA ka () is an ancient Burmese shield. in the left. Kagyins were first performed in 1312 during the reign of Thihathu. The form further developed in the Pinya Kingdom under Kyawswa I. Format A kagyin does not use four syllables in each line, unlike the classical Burmese verse from which it is derived. As a yadu is sometimes written between the verses of luta poetry, a thanbauk can be written into a kagyin. Subject Most kagyin describe the beauty of the three seasons, seasonal flowers, and the development of the state, as in egyin and angyin. Notable composers and works The Myinsaing Shwepyi Kagyin of Kyawswa I is most well-known today. It is assigned to 11th graders studying Burmese literature a ...
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