Rāmaññadesa (, ;

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

: ) is a Burmese and

word which means "country of the Ramans". This was because the

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

were previously called Ramans. The term was coined by King Dhammazedi in 1479.

History

Its primary meaning is "pleasant and lovely". Ramaññadesa and Suvannabhumi are names referring to the Mon heartland in the remote past which covered

Myanmar 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 has ...

and

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 spa ...

. The name Ramaññadesa and Suvannabhumi may be the Indianized and they were used in the old Indian literature. These two names also occurred in the two oldest chronicles of

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

known as '' Dipavamsa'' and '' Mahavamsa'' composed in the 4th century and 6th century respectively. Its sinicized name is Ling-yang which had been mentioned in the Chinese accounts between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. The two Wu envoys took notes about a place named Ling-yang in AD 220. After subdued by Burmese refugees in 1057 AD and Thai refugees in 1287 AD, Ramaññadesa, centered at

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

as its capital, and being referred as the Mon Kingdom of Peguans (Hanthawadi) by the 14th and 15th centuries notes of Sri Lankan and Europeans, decreased by lower Burma only which is annexed by the Burmese king

Alaungpaya Alaungpaya (, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder and first emperor of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. By the time of his death from illness during his Burmese–Siamese War (1759–60), campaign in Siam, this ...

in 1757 AD.

Critics

Historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

of Burma Michael Aung-Thwin, of the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, a scholar of Asian Studies has challenged the historicity of Ramaññadesa in his book, "''Mists of Ramanna: the Legend that was Lower Burma",'' published in 2005''.'' In Aung-Thwin's view, this Monland is a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

. However, subsequent work by Burma scholar Donald M Stadtner, of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, has systematically analysed Aung-Thwin's evidence and found it does not stand up to archaeological & epigraphic evidence. In his research article “The Mon of Lower Burma”, published by Journal of the Siam Society, 2008, Vol. 96 - Stadtner describes the rich range of cultural artifacts found in Lower Burma in the first millennium, indicating that Lower Burma was equal to Upper Burma, inhabited by the

Pyu people , conventional_long_name = Pyu city-states , common_name = , era = Classical antiquity , status = City , event_start = Earliest Pyu presence in Upper Myanmar (Burma) , year_start = , date_start = , event_end = Rise of the Paga ...

. His article then connects this cultural activity to the Mon.

References

{{reflist Hanthawaddy dynasty Mon history my:ပျူခေတ် vi:Ramannadesa