Wareru Dhammathat

The ''Wareru Dhammathat'' (, ; also known as Wagaru Dhammathat or Code of Wareru) is one of the oldest extant '' dhammathats'' (legal treatises) of Myanmar (Burma). It was compiled in the 1290s in Mon at the behest of King Wareru of Martaban. Modeled after the Hindu legal treatise ''Manusmriti'', the Code expounds mostly Pagan era Burmese customary law; it contains less than 5% of the content of the ''Manusmriti''.

The Code was the basic law of the Mon-speaking kingdom until the mid-16th century when it was adopted by the conquering First Toungoo Empire. Translated into Burmese, Pali and Siamese, it became the basic law of the empire. The Code was adapted into the later ''dhammathats'' of the successor states of the empire. In Siam, the Code coexisted alongside other Siamese legal codes, and became the core portion of the Siamese Legal Code of 1805. In Burma, the Code was revised "to support Burmese customary law with explicitly Buddhist scriptural justifications" by 1640.

History

Compilation

The '' dhammathat'' was compiled at the behest of King Wareru (Wagaru) of Martaban, 1290/91.The chronicle '' Mon Yazawin'' (Mon Yazawin 1922: 39) says the law book was compiled after Wareru had completed three years of reign and two years before he received a white elephant from the king of Sukhothai; the narrative points to late 1290 or early 1291. (Huxley 1990: 45) dates the ''dhammathat'' to 1272 when Huxley says Wagaru areruwas king. Huxley's date is most likely a typographical error since all the chronicles and historians say Wareru became the strongman of Martaban only in the 1280s; Huxley may have meant 1292. Wareru, who had proclaimed king of what used to be the Martaban province of the Pagan Empire only since 1287, set out to compile a customary law book in Mon, the main language of his nascent kingdom. He appointed a royal commission, which returned with the legal treatise that came to be known as ''Wareru Dhammathat'' and ''Wagaru Dhammathat'' ("Code of Wareru/Wagaru").Htin Aung 1967: 79 The compilation was part of a wider regional pattern in which the former lands of the empire as well as its neighboring states produced legal texts modeled after Pagan's, between 1275 and 1317.(Huxley 2005: 62): Between 1275 and 1317, five Tai kingdoms—three of which were part of the Pagan Empire; the other two in present-day Thailand—produced or used law texts modeled after Pagan's texts.

Influences

The Code is in part based on the 12th century Pagan period law treatise '' Dhammavisala Dhammathat''. It is mainly Burmese customary law, tempered with Buddhist justifications, and organized in the mold of the ancient Hindu ''Manusmriti'' treatise.Abbott 2000: 297 Like the ''Manusmriti'', it is organized in 18 chapters, and justifies the law as given by Manu, "a sort of Moses-cum-Noah figure who was the first law-giver".Jolly 1885: 293 But the similarities are superficial. The Code's 18 chapters are not identical to those of the ''Manusmriti'';Huxley 1990: 47(Huxley 1990: 47): "The impression is of Burmese authors who have heard of the Indian tradition of 18 heads, rather than of authors who are writing with a copy of the 'Indian work' open on their desk." and its Manu is not the first man of Hindu tradition but a '' yathei,'' "who saw the law-book written in large letters on the boundary wall of the world, and recited it to King Maha Sammata," the first king of the world in Buddhist mythology.Forchhammer 1885: 94(Huxley 2005: 67): "The Burmese have taken a Hindu hero and grafted him to a Buddhist myth."

Most of the Code is Burmese customary law of the Pagan era.Huxley 2005: 62 The Pagan customary law itself grew out of the first millennium Irrawaddy valley Pyu and Mon civilizations.Huxley 2005: 64–66 According to Huxley's analysis of the four early Burmese ''dhammathats'' including the ''Wareru'', the parts borrowed directly from the ''Manusmriti'' quantitatively amounted to "between 4% and 5%".Huxley 2005: 63 Per Huxley, the non-Hindu parts eligible for borrowing amount only to about 10% in any case since "90% of the ''Manusmriti'' concerns matters of caste, pollution, ritual, penance that are meaningless in a society unconcerned with caste and uninterested in pollution". The borrowed parts hail from the section called ''vyavahāra''Lingat 1950: 14 while the discarded parts include Hindu rites and sacraments, purifications and penances as well as marriage, animal sacrifice and "ideas of a sacerdotal nature".Jolly 1885: 292(Jayatilleke 1967: 545): The ''dhammathat'' "mentions neither Brahma, nor the Vedas, nor the sacrificial fire, nor any point denoting influence of the Brahmins and of civil and religious institutions peculiar to Brahmanical India." Furthermore, "marriage is not a sacrament but a contract which can be dissolved by mutual agreement or even by the will of either party, and remarriage of women is allowed"; and "both husband and wife have coparcenary rights to the common property." Nonetheless the Code is not completely free of Hindu influences; for example, it reiterates "to a certain extent" about the "privileges of the higher castes, of Brahmans" in particular. (These parts would later be viewed as problematic, and be written out in the 17th century.)

Usage

The Code remained the basic law of the Mon-speaking Hanthawaddy Kingdom until the kingdom's fall in 1538/39. It was then adopted by the ascendant First Toungoo Empire. It was translated into Burmese and Pali by Shin Buddhaghosa, a monk.The exact date of translation is not known. (Huxley 1990: 46) assigns Buddhaghosa's translation to the mid-16th century. (Jolly 1885: 292) simply says Buddhaghosa "flourished in the sixteenth century". The Code was updated in Burmese as '' Dhammathat Kyaw''.Harvey 1925: 171 It became the basic law of the empire,Htin Aung 1967: 127 which grew to be the largest empire in Southeast Asia during the reign of King Bayinnaung (r. 1550–1581).Lieberman 2003: 152 The Code's adoption in the Tai states in the empire may not have been a stretch. The states had already been using Pagan-derived legal texts since the 14th century.Huxley 2005: 62

Even after the empire's fall in 1599, the Code lived on—albeit in adapted forms—in the main successor states. In Siam, it coexisted with other legal codes until King Rama I compiled a new legal code in 1805.Lingat 1950: 23, 28 The new Siamese law's core 18 chapters share "substantial similarities to King Wareru's code", and the new code adds 21 more chapters.Lingat 1950: 24–25 In Burma, the Code morphed into a more Buddhist-centric version by 1640. The new treatise often supports Burmese customary law "with explicitly Buddhist scriptural justifications".Lieberman 1993: 248(Lieberman 1993: 248): The revision was part of the trend in which "a variety of legal, historical, and genealogical treatises that derived from Hindu or non-Buddhist traditions were rewritten at the Restored Toungoo and early Konbaung courts so as to provide the monarchy with a more explicitly Buddhist character".
(Lingat 1950: 20): "Buddhist Law is not the Law of the Dhammathats pure and simple but it is the body of customs observed by the Burmese Buddhists."

Historiography

The ''dhammathat'' was first translated into English in 1892 by Emanuel Forchhammer as "King Wagaru's Manu Dhammasattham". He used a Burmese language manuscript dated 23 September 1707.The epilogue of the manuscript (Forchhammer 1892: Part I:71; Part II:39) notes that the copying of the manuscript was completed on ''Tuesday'', the 6th waxing of Thadingyut 1069 ME, which actually translates to ''Saturday'', 20 September 1707. The date was most probably Tuesday, the 9th waxing of Thadingyut 1069 ME, which gives Tuesday, 23 September 1707. The Burmese numerals ၆ (6) and ၉ (9) can be mis-copied. The British colonial period scholars call the ''Wareru Dhammathat'' "the earliest law-book in Burma still extant".Hall 1960: 34Harvey 1925: 111 But the 12th century ''Dhammavilasa Dhammathat'' has been identified as "the oldest extant Burmese law text".(Huxley 2005: 62): Epigraphy confirms that the ''Dhammavilasa'' was "written in 12th century Pagan."

List of chapters

The following is the list of chapters as reported in Forchhammer's 1892 English translation.Forchhammer 1892

Notes

References

Bibliography

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{{Burmese chronicles

Burmese chronicles
Law of Myanmar
Legal codes
Burmese Buddhist texts
Buddhist law