Wareru Dhammathat

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Wareru Dhammathat
AuthorRoyal Legal Commission of Martaban
Original titleKing Wagaru's Manu Dhammasattham
Translator
Dhammathat
PublisherMartaban Kingdom
Publication date
c. 1290/91
c. 652 ME
Published in English
1892
Media typeprint
Pages117

The Wareru Dhammathat (

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, c. 1290/91.[note 1] 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").[1] 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.[note 2]

Influences

The Code is in part based on the 12th century

Maha Sammata," the first king of the world in Buddhist mythology.[5][note 4]

Most of the Code is Burmese customary law of the Pagan era.

Brahmans" in particular.[10] (These parts would later be viewed as problematic, and be written out in the 17th century.[11]
)

Usage

The Code remained the basic law of the Mon-speaking

Pali by Shin Buddhaghosa, a monk.[note 6] The Code was updated in Burmese as Dhammathat Kyaw.[12] It became the basic law of the empire,[2][13] which grew to be the largest empire in Southeast Asia during the reign of King Bayinnaung (r. 1550–1581).[14] 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.[6]

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.[15] The new Siamese law's core 18 chapters share "substantial similarities to King Wareru's code", and the new code adds 21 more chapters.[16] 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".[2][11][note 7]

Historiography

The dhammathat was first translated into English in 1892 by Emanuel Forchhammer as "King Wagaru's Manu Dhammasattham".[17] He used a Burmese language manuscript dated 23 September 1707.[note 8] The British colonial period scholars call the Wareru Dhammathat "the earliest law-book in Burma still extant".[18][19] But the 12th century Dhammavilasa Dhammathat has been identified as "the oldest extant Burmese law text".[2][note 9]

List of chapters

The following is the list of chapters as reported in Forchhammer's 1892 English translation.[20][17]

Chapter Name Articles
Prologue
I Contracting of Debts 1–18
II The Giving and Taking in Marriage 19–32
III On Divorce 33–46
IV On Adultery 47–62
V On Gifts 63–69
VI The Law of Inheritance 70–84
VII The Law of Purchase and Sale 85–87
VIII Deposit of Property 88–89
IX The Pledge of Property 90–92
X Division of Property 93–96
XI On Laying Wagers 97–98
XII On Hiring for Wages 99–104
XIII The Law Regarding Two-Footed and Four-Footed Animals 105–113
XIV Slaves 114–144
XV The Law of Assault 145–156
XVI On Slander and False Accusation 157–167
XVII On the Division and Boundaries of Land 168–172
XVIII On Theft 173–182
Epilogue 183–194

Notes

  1. ^ 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 c. 1272 when Huxley says Wagaru [Wareru] was 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 c. 1292.
  2. ^ (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.
  3. ^ (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."
  4. ^ (Huxley 2005: 67): "The Burmese have taken a Hindu hero and grafted him to a Buddhist myth."
  5. ^ (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."
  6. ^ 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".
  7. 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."
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ (Huxley 2005: 62): Epigraphy confirms that the Dhammavilasa was "written in 12th century Pagan."

References

  1. ^ a b Htin Aung 1967: 79
  2. ^ a b c d e Abbott 2000: 297
  3. ^ Jolly 1885: 293
  4. ^ Huxley 1990: 47
  5. ^ Forchhammer 1885: 94
  6. ^ a b Huxley 2005: 62
  7. ^ Huxley 2005: 64–66
  8. ^ a b Huxley 2005: 63
  9. ^ a b Lingat 1950: 14
  10. ^ a b Jolly 1885: 292
  11. ^ a b Lieberman 1993: 248
  12. ^ a b c Harvey 1925: 171
  13. ^ Htin Aung 1967: 127
  14. ^ Lieberman 2003: 152
  15. ^ Lingat 1950: 23, 28
  16. ^ Lingat 1950: 24–25
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-1169705968
    .
  18. ^ Hall 1960: 34
  19. ^ Harvey 1925: 111
  20. ^ Forchhammer 1892

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wareru_Dhammathat&oldid=1145612960"