''Konbaung Set Maha Yazawindawgyi'' (, ; ) is the last and unofficial royal chronicle of

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

(Myanmar), covering the

Konbaung Dynasty The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Mya ...

(1752–1885). Its author, Maung Maung Tin, a Burmese official and a son of Konbaung royalty, took Konbaung period portions of the two previous official chronicles, ''

Hmannan Yazawin ''Hmannan Maha Yazawindawgyi'' (, ; commonly, ''Hmannan Yazawin''; known in English as the ''Glass Palace Chronicle'') is the first Burmese chronicle, official chronicle of Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). It was compiled by the Royal Histori ...

'' and '' Dutiya Yazawin'', added the last years (1854–1885) of the dynasty, and packaged it as the single Konbaung era chronicle.Allot et al 1989: 13–14 It was first published in 1905, and later updated in 1921 to include the death of King Thibaw in 1916 as a postscript.

Brief

The author of the chronicle, Maung Maung Tin (also known as Mandalay U Tin) was a British colonial official as well as a son of Konbaung royalty. Tin updated the chronicle to 1885, to the fall of the monarchy, relying mainly on the court records obtained from several members of the royal library and also on the papers seized by the British and kept in libraries.Hla Pe 1985: 41 As almost all of the Konbaung Dynasty's records had been destroyed when the royal library was burnt by British troops soon after King

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw (, ; 1 January 1859 – 16 December 1916), was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His reign ended when the Royal Burmese armed forces ...

's surrender in 1885,Myint-U 2006: 30 Tin had to begin the collection effort of the surviving source materials still in possession of many court members. (His collection, which continued until the Second World War, eventually grew to over 4000 palace manuscripts, including records, drawings, plays, etc. His lifelong collection stored at his Mandalay home would however be destroyed in 1942 during the

Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma (present-day Myanmar) as part of the Pacific Theater of World War II. The initial invasion in 1942 resulted in the capture of Rangoon and the retre ...

. The house was burned by the retreating Chinese forces of the Allied forces.)Maha Tharay Sithu U Chan Tha in Tin 2004: 25–27 For the compilation of ''Konbaung Set'', he used the surviving materials as well as several interviews with the surviving members of the court. The main consultants to Tin were:Maha Tharay Sithu U Chan Tha in Tin 2004: 30–31

Publications

All publications of ''Konbaung Set'' as of 2004 were in Burmese only. ''Konbaung Set'' was first published in 1905, and a second edition (with a small update of King Thibaw's death) was published in 1922. The second edition was reprinted as the third printing in 1967–1968. It was followed by the fourth printing in 2004.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Burmese chronicles Burmese chronicles Burmese Buddhist texts