Manuha (; ;
Old Mon ), or Makuta, was the last king of
Thaton Kingdom. Manuha ruled Thaton from 1030s until 1057 when he was defeated by King
Anawrahta of
Pagan Kingdom.
According to the
Mon tradition, Manuha was the 59th in the line of kings who supposedly founded Thaton during the time of the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
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was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
in the 6th century
BCE.
Traditional Burmese and Mon reconstructions also hold that Anawrahta, a recent convert to
Theravada Buddhism, asked for the
Theravada Buddhist canon from Manuha. The Mon king reputedly rejected Anawrahta's request, saying that the uncultured Burmans of the north were not worthy of the religion. This refusal was used by Anawrahta as pretense to invade and conquer the Mon kingdom.
[Htin Aung 1967: 32–33] Despite this account, it is more likely Anawrahta conquered Thaton in order to check the westward advance of
Khmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...
in the
Tenasserim coast. Still according to traditional belief, Manuha and his family along with some 30,000 monks and artisans, were brought back to
Pagan (Bagan). Between 1050 and about 1085, Mon craftsmen and artisans helped to build some two thousand monuments at Pagan, the remains of which today rival the splendors of
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...
.
[South 2003: 67]
However, recent research—still a minority view—argues that Mon influence on the interior after Anawrahta's conquest is a greatly exaggerated post-Pagan legend, and that Lower Burma in fact lacked a substantial independent polity prior to Pagan's expansion.
[Lieberman 2003: 91] Historian
Michael Aung-Thwin (Aung-Thwin 2005) argues that the existence of Thaton is not supported by contemporary evidence.
[Aung-Thwin 2005]
Manuha asked and was allowed to build the
Manuha Temple in Pagan in 1059. Inside the temple three giant Buddha statues—two sitting, and one reclining—seem too large for their enclosures, and their cramped, uncomfortable positions are said to represent the stress and lack of comfort the 'captive king' had to endure.
References
Bibliography
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{{Burmese monarchs
Burmese monarchs
Thaton dynasty
Burmese Mon people