A mawgun (, ; originated from archaic , ) is a form of Burmese poem which is often used to record a significant event meant to last.
History
Early times
In the
Pagan era, donors recorded their donations in the prose form of mawgun. However, since from the
Ava era, mawguns are composed in the form of poetry rather than prose. The oldest mawgaun in the Burmese literature industry was "Pyayson mawgun" by
Shin Htwe Nyo during the reign of
Thihathura I.
Following Shin Htwe Nyo, the most prominent mawgun poets were
Shin Mahasilavamsa and
Shin Raṭṭhasāra of Ava. They both composed
many well-known mawguns. Mawguns composed during their times were said to be the high-class ones, and their times was referred as the era of mawguns.
Later
Mawgun did not develop in the
First Toungoo Empire. Only
Shin Thankho composed ''Yadanapyaungmon Sindaw Bwe Mawgun''.
Mawguns became popular again in 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 ...
. It was
Wetmasut Nawade who was a famous mawgun poet of his time,
for he wrote at least 15 mawguns.
Three of them pertain to Burmese conquests, including ''Ar-than-naing Mawgun'' and ''Rakhine Naing Mawgun'' on the
conquest
Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...
s of
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
and
Rakhine respectively,
[ as well as the missing ''Dawei Naing Mawgun'' on the takeover of ]Dawei
Dawei (, ; , ; , RTGS: ''Thawai'', ; formerly known as Tavoy) is a city in south-eastern Myanmar and is the capital of the Tanintharyi Region, formerly known as the Tenasserim Division, on the eastern bank of the Dawei River. The city is about ...
; he also wrote Tayoke Than Yauk Mawgun'' (1821), which details the arrival of a group of Chinese officials to Burma.
Format and subject
Mawgun is a kind of poem which uses four syllables in each line, like the classical Burmese verse.[
Most mawguns are the descriptions of the royal white elephants, royal palaces, royal boats, the wars, the lakes and the pagodas.
]
References
See also
* Burmese literature
{{Burmese language
Burmese literature
Poetic forms