Provincial Geographies of India/Volume 4/Chapter 13

by Herbert Thirkell White

CHAPTER XIII

(I) THE PEOPLE

According to the preliminary figures of the census of 1921, the population of the province is 13,204,760, about a million more than in 1911. The increase is common to all districts except Prome, Magwe, and the Chin Hills.

Burmese. Inclusive of Arakanese and some minor classes, Burmese in 1911^[1] numbered nearly 8,000,000, or about 66 per cent. of the total population. They predominate in the whole province except the Shan States, the Kachin and Chin Hills, and Karenni. Of their character, manners and customs so much has been written^[2] that a detailed description would be superfluous. But a sketch must be given.

Among Burmans, there is no caste and there are few class distinctions. There are no privileged orders, except perhaps officials, no landed aristocracy, no hereditary superiors. Social distinctions, based on wealth and dignity, do not exist. The comparative thinness of population and the fertility of the soil in large areas prevent any serious pressure on subsistence. If there are no great fortunes, there is no grinding poverty.

Physically, short in stature but sturdy and muscular, with a strong superficial resemblance to the Gurkha, the Burman in daily life is high-spirited, reckless, of a gay and boisterous humour. Delighting in fine clothes, in pwès (theatrical and other shows), pony races, boat races, and pagoda festivals, he is at heart a gambler and bets on anything. It is told that a Buddhist ecclesiastic came to settle a serious religious dispute but declined to give a decision when he found that the whole town was wagering on the event^[3]. When necessary, Burmans work hard enough, but they have no desire to work for the sake of working or to amass riches. Their standard of living is reasonably high. Their manners are really distinguished. The natural Burman is of a singularly humane disposition. "Kindness to

Fig. 49. Burmese boxing.

strangers is equally the precept and the practice of Burmans^[4]." Good treatment of animals is another pleasing trait. One result is seen in the excellent sleekness of Burmese oxen. Children are indulged and in return respect their parents.

Women are not secluded but may be seen in their houses, in the fields, in the streets, by the village well. Girls marry at a reasonable age and to please themselves. Polygamy is allowed and practised, but is by no means universal. Divorce is easy and open to each sex on the same terms. Most of the petty trade is carried on by women in bazaars and markets. "Women take part in all agricultural operations; they sow, transplant, reap, carry sheaves, thresh, winnow, and in exceptional cases even plough and cut weeds^[5]." As they may not enter monastic schools, all women do not receive elementary education. But more are literate than among most other eastern races. Now that

Fig. 50. Monks.

representative institutions are to be established, it is understood that women will have the vote from the outset. They are as well qualified as men to enjoy this privilege. Burmese women commit practically no serious crimes. Their moral standard is high.

In religion, Burmans are strict Buddhists, though many traces of animism survive. Every village has its pagoda, its monastery (kyaung), its rest house (zayat) for travellers and pilgrims. The monastic Order is elaborately organized. At its head is the Thathanabaing^[6]; under him in succession gaing-ók, gaing-dauk, and heads of monasteries. Monks, of whom there are perhaps a quarter of a million, are supported by voluntary offerings of the faithful, and are bound by vows of poverty and chastity, which are not irrevocable but may be renounced at any time. They exercise no sacerdotal functions; there is no such person as a Buddhist priest. They spend their lives in meditation, in the study and exposition of the scriptures, and in teaching young boys. Buddhist nuns are equally respectable but less numerous and conspicuous. They dwell apart in isolation, not in convents. While ordinary Burmans are buried, monks of special sanctity are cremated with much ceremony.

Every small Burman boy passes some time in a monastery even if he has no intention of becoming a monk. There he is taught to read and write and do simple sums; he also receives religious and moral instruction. The initiation of a boy as a neophyte is celebrated with such splendour as his family can afford, in a manner practised without material change for many centuries.

In theory Buddhism seems a gloomy religion. Every year nearly three months from July to October are set aside as Wa or Lent, when monks and laymen are expected to practise special abstinence and austerity. Every eighth day throughout the year is a day of rest and meditation when monasteries and pagoda platforms are crowded and sermons are preached by fervent monks. A Buddhist is not an idolater. He worships neither the pagoda nor the image of Buddha. These merely help to fix his mind on the Buddha, the Law, and the Assembly. Telling the beads of his rosary, he recites the formula, change, pain, illusion. But he does not pray to any sentient or personal Deity. The ethics of Buddhism are as high and pure as those of any philosophy or creed.

Apart from Buddhism and in strictness discountenanced by it is the prevalent practice of nat worship. Nats are of two kinds, (1) the inhabitants of the six inferior heavens, the "dewahs" of Hindu mythology; (2) spirits of nature, the house, the air, the water, the forest^[7]. It is nats of the second class who must be propitiated by offerings and observances.

Burmans are as much addicted to crime as most people. They are sudden and quick in quarrel and the use of knives is deplorably common. Murders and crimes of violence, dacoity, robbery, and cattle theft are prevalent; and dacoits and robbers often treat their victims with revolting barbarity. The standard of veracity and of commercial morality is not so high as could be wished. Nor are the public services yet free from the taint of corruption, a heritage of Burmese rule. In the past, Burmans have been flighty and unstable, impatient of discipline and restraint.

Fig. 51. Jungle boy.

Hence they have not been good soldiers or even good policemen. During the Great War, renewed attempts were made to foster a military spirit. Regiments of Burmans were raised and for the first time Burmans were enlisted in the military police. The Burmese regiments served with credit. But it is too soon to estimate the success of the experiment.

Owing to the custom of sending every boy for a time to a monastery, elementary education is more widely spread in Burma than in any country where it is not compulsory. It is rare to find a man who cannot read and write. Higher education is backward, though of late substantial advance has been made.

The great majority of Burmans live in villages. A Burmese village normally

Fig. 52. Tattooing.

consists of a single irregular street of houses, thatched buildings of wood, matting, or bamboo, raised from the ground on posts. Except where the houses are widely scattered, every village is surrounded by a fence, generally of split bamboo, sometimes of cactus. At each end of the street is a gate closed at night and supposed to be guarded by a watchman.

The dress of a man consists of a large piece of silk or cotton worn as a skirt. The more voluminous garment is a paso, the less ample a lôngyi. He wears also a jacket and wound round his head a kerchief called a gaungbaung. The women wear skirts called tamein and white jackets. They wear no head covering but a flower in the hair is often a pleasing adornment. Burmese males are tattooed on their thighs and frequently on other parts of the body. Often tattoo marks are traced as charms against lethal weapons. Professional thieves frequently have a cat tattoed on each thigh. One cat they pat on entering the house they are about to burgle, the other on emerging with their booty. Burmese women are not tattooed. All Burmans smoke and most chew betel.

For more than a thousand years, the Burmese maintained unaltered the characteristics of their race. Writing of their customs in the 9th century of our era, a Chinese annalist describes them as devout Buddhists, disliking to take animal life; with many monasteries into which all boys go at the age of seven years. The white elephant is pictured with some exaggeration. The dress of men and women is similar to that of the present day. "The women twist their hair high upon the crown of the head, and ornament it with strings of pearls; they wear a natural tinted female petticoat, and throw pieces of delicate silk over themselves; when walking they hold a fan^[8]." Ralph Fitch's descriptions of Burmese life in the 16th century might have been written yesterday.

Among the mass of the people, the national type persists. But contact with the west has begun the process of disintegration. Among the educated and semi-educated classes, probably there has been more change in the last ten years than in the preceding ten centuries. Till quite lately, Burmans took no interest in politics and inclined to prefer personal rule. There were periodical petty risings headed by some real or pretended member of the Royal House. But there was no constitutional agitation or desire for representative government. Above all things, the Burman abhorred the suggestion of Indian influence. Of late, national aspirations have become loudly vocal, and clamour for reforms insistent. Burmans have condescended to be inspired by Indian agitators. Leagues and Associations for political propaganda have been formed and the Press has thrown off all restraint. These phenomena must be recorded. It would be premature and unbecoming to comment.

Karens. The next largest section of the population includes Karens and kindred tribes, numbering rather more than 1,100,000. Their home is Karenni, still occupied by Bghai Karens and wild Padaung and Brè or Laku. The Padaung are remarkable for the practice adopted by the women of wearing from five to five and twenty coils of brass round their necks. Other Karens, Sgau and Pwo, have spread over the plain country of Tenasserim and the Irrawaddy Delta. Formerly a backward, savage race, these

Fig. 53. Padaung house.

classes have come under the civilizing influence of Christian missions and are now loyal, law-abiding, and progressive. They are excellent farmers and, more readily subject to discipline than Burmans, have for many years been trained as military police and, to a less extent, as regular soldiers. "There is an evident tendency for Karen women to be more largely employed in fields than Burmans^[9]."

Taungthu. Taungthu, a Karen race, numbering 183,000, originally came from Thatôn in Lower Burma, and are still found in that district. But most of them are now in the Myelat, the western borderland of the Southern Shan States, and in the Shan State of Hsa-tung (Thatôn).

Shans. Shans come next with a population of nearly a million. Closely akin to the Siamese, they now mainly occupy the Shan plateau, though traces of their old dominion still exist in Upper Burma, and there are Shan settlements in the plain country. Shans are typically traders rather than agriculturists. Their civilization is somewhat backward but they are making gradual progress. In flapping straw hats and baggy trousers, they pose as picturesque swashbucklers but are not nearly so fierce as they look. They are even more ferociously tattooed than Burmans. An interesting custom in the Shan country, which prevails also further east but not among Burmans, is the holding of a bazaar or market every fifth day. Bazaar day is not unlike market day in an English provincial town, but more brilliant. From far and near in picturesque crowds buyers and sellers flock to the meeting place. One of the most famous of these bazaars is held at Kēngtūng, far to the east across the Salween, where thousands congregate, strange folk from the hills, La and Wa, and people of other uncouth tribes, mingling with the predominant Shan. At Namkham on the border of Bhamo, at Mogôk, and at Maymyo, also, notable bazaars are held.

Intha. A curious tribe in the Shan country is the Intha, lake dwellers, who live in houses built over the Inle lake in Yawnghwe. They are said originally to have come from Tavoy in Lower Burma, brought as captives of war. The custom by which they are best known is that of paddling a boat in a curious way. The paddlers stand in the boat and propel it by their legs twisted round long paddles. A good crew paddling in the usual way will generally outpace an equal number of leg paddlers.

Danu and Kadu. Danu and Kadu, tribes of Shan origin, still linger in Upper Burma, but are dying out.

Chins, to the number of 300,000, hold the broken and difficult country bordering on Assam, Manipur and Bengal. A barbarous, drunken, turbulent people, divided into many tribes and clans, their main occupation in former days was raiding villages in the plains. Among the most important tribes are Taśhǒn, Yahow, Baungshe, Kanhow and Sôkte. Chins have given more trouble than any other of the border races. Sir George White, who won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan, declared them to be the hardest enemy to see and fight that he had ever met. Their subjugation, rendered necessary by their predatory habits, was a laborious work. Even in the last few years troops had to suppress a serious rising. During the war, Chins were recruited for the army, and many went to France as members of a Labour Corps. The southern clans, Chinbôn and Chinbôk, on the Pakôkku border, have a curious custom of tattooing the faces of their women with closely set blue lines. This quaint and disfiguring art was not practised by the martial clans in the north. Apparently the feebler southern tribes were subject to raids by the Burmese and women were tattooed to render them less attractive and less liable to be carried away. The custom seems to be dying out. Tame Chins in settled districts, principally Sandoway and Thayetmyo, are quiet friendly people, careful farmers, whose neat and tidy villages compare favourably with the unkempt hamlets of Burmans^[10].

Kachins. Far north are Kachins, a race of mountaineers, hardy, brave, and intelligent, whose pressure on the plains was checked only by our occupation. Numbering no more than about 170,000, they inhabit the hill tracts of Bhamo, Myitkyina, Putao, and Katha, and a substantial area in the Northern Shan States. Their stockaded villages are built on the crests of hills, the long, low, thatched houses accommodating several families. Divided into two sections, Chinpaw and Kha-ku, the five main tribes are Marip, Lahtawng, Lepai, Nkhum, and Maran. Cognate tribes are Sassan, Maru, Lashi, and Yawyin. In former times, villages and village groups were either kumsa, under headmen known as duwa, or kumlao, wherein no local head was recognized and all tribesmen were free and equal. This distinction has been abolished. All villages are now kumsa^[11].

Under nominal Burmese rule, Kachins combined the practice of rude agriculture with the levy of blackmail on caravans passing between Burma and China and the exaction of tribute from protected villages at the foot of the

Fig. 54. Nungs of the Tarôn Valley.

hills. Now they have to live by their own industry. Order is kept by military police posts which dominate the country and at the same time afford employment to hillmen, compensating the stoppage of lawless customs. For some years, these wild tribes offered stubborn resistance. But after the success of military operations, tact and sympathy and honourable dealing prevailed and the new order was loyally accepted. For more than twenty years Kachins have served as military police and have done exceedingly well. In the War, they provided recruits for the Indian army, and it is hoped that before long at least one complete Kachin battalion may be raised.

Of a curious and until recently unknown tribe are the Nung or Khanung, neighbours of the Marus and resembling them in appearance but speaking a different language and more scantily clad. They are found only in the Putao district, inhabiting the mountains on both sides of the 'Nmaikha northward from about lat. 27°, and the mountains about the headwaters of the Malikha, north, east and west of the Hkamti Lōng valley. They have the same general characteristics as the other wild tribes of the north-eastern frontier, that is to say, they are dirty, dirtier even than the Marus, treacherous, and worship nats. But they differ from other tribes in being extremely shy and timid. They live in solitary huts and do not congregate in villages. Formerly they were oppressed by the Shans of Hkamti Lōng who captured them and kept them as slaves^[12].

Talaings. Talaings, whose rise and fall have been recorded, have now dwindled to 320,000. They are not easily distinguishable from Burmans in appearance, dress, and manners. Many prominent persons among the official and educated classes are of Talaing origin. The Talaing language is still spoken; most commonly in parts of the Amherst district. Multitudes of interesting Talaing inscriptions are extant.

Palaungs. Palaungs, timid, peaceable folk, to the number of 144,000, are found principally in the Northern Shan States and in the Katha district.

Many strange tribes dwell in the hills and are seen at the Shan bazaars. Except in an ethnographic survey, it would be fruitless to catalogue their names; and space is wanting for a description of their peculiar manners and customs. But one remarkable tribe may be mentioned, the Wa, who occupy a tract on the north-eastern frontier, stretching for about a hundred miles along the Salween and some fifty miles in breadth. The Wa country is "a series of mountain ranges running north and south and shelving rapidly down to narrow valleys from two to five thousand feet deep. The villages are all on the slopes." Every village is surrounded by a rampart of earth, six to eight feet high and as many thick; round this is cut a deep

Fig. 55. Yang-sek women from the Shan Hills.

ditch. The only entrance is through a long tunnel. Inside the rampart, from 100 to 300 houses raised on piles, are built without order or design. Outside the village is a line of human skulls mounted on posts; for the best known characteristic of the Wa is the practice of head-hunting. Heads are collected as a protection against evil spirits, the idea being that the ghost of the owner of the head will haunt the place and keep off intruders. The Wa never raid outside their own country. To this may be attributed the immunity of their tract from hostile visitation and its continued freedom from administrative control. The Wa go very lightly clad. They are industrious and, except for their head-hunting proclivity, well behaved. Tame Wa, settled

Fig. 56. Tame Wa family.

in the Shan States on the Salween, have perforce abandoned this barbarous practice^[13].

The tolerant Burman welcomes strangers. Those from the west, with good-natured contempt he calls kala (barbarians). Of many settlers, Indians from all parts of the Peninsula are most numerous, principally from Madras, Bengal, and Chittagong, but the Pathan and the Sikh also wander as far afield. Mahomedans number 417,290; more than half in Rangoon and the Akyab district. Of all Mahomedans, 59,729 are zerbadi, that is, of mixed Burmese and Indian origin. Ten years ago there were 386,679 Hindus, of whom over 100,000 were in Rangoon. Indians absorb much of the trade of the towns; and Chetti moneylenders are encroaching on the land. Many Indian labourers come annually for field work, returning after the harvest has been gathered.

Chinese. Chinese number 122,834, the population of this race having doubled in ten years. Probably it has increased substantially in the last decade. These settlers come from the coast ports and from Yünnan which borders on Upper Burma. Chinese are good citizens and mingle freely with the Burmese.

Europeans. The European population is scanty, amounting only to 12,790, inclusive of the garrison. To these should be added 11,107 Anglo-Indians.

(II) LANGUAGES

The languages of the Province are classified under the Tibeto-Chinese; Austro-Asiatic; and Malaya-Polynesian families. To the first belong the Tibeto-Burman sub-family, comprising Burmese, spoken by 8,317,842 with local variants such as Arakanese and Tavoyan; Chin (296,312); Kachin (170,144); and other dialects of which the Lolo group (165,548), spoken by some tribes on the north-eastern frontier is numerically the most important; and the Siamese-Chinese sub-family including Karen and Shan, each spoken by about a million people. The Austro-Asiatic family is represented by Môn-Hkmer languages, of which the most noticeable are Talaing (179,443) and Palaung (144,139). Of the Malaya-Polynesian family the only dialect of interest is that spoken by Salôn or Mawken^[14]; and even of this the classification is doubtful. Malay is spoken by a few thousand immigrants frequenting the coast of Mergui.

The Burmese language is monosyllabic and has three accents, light, medium, and heavy. It has no inflections and the grammar is generally simple. Of Karen and Shan there are many dialects. The Shan language also is monosyllabic and has five or six tones by which the same word acquires as many totally different meanings.

The principal alphabets of Burma, that is Pyu, Talaing, Burmese, and Shan are, directly or indirectly, derived from the old Telugu-Canarese alphabets of South India. The first two, Pyu and Talaing, were derived directly, the former from the Kadamba alphabet of Vanavāsī in North Canara, to the west of South India; the latter from the alphabet of the Pallavas of Kāñicipura in the east of South India....The Burmese and Shan alphabets, though ultimately going back to old Telugu-Canarese have not been derived directly, but indirectly, and both from the Môn or Talaing alphabet^[15].

Of the many dialects spoken by hill tribes it would be unprofitable to give a detailed list.

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1. Details of the 1921 census not being yet available, except where otherwise stated the figures in this chapter are those of the census of 1911.
2. The Burman, by Shwe Yoe (Sir George Scott), is still the classical authority.
3. The Burman.
4. Symes, 240.
5. Myaungmya Settlement Report.
6. His jurisdiction at present extends only over Upper Burma.
7. The Burman.
8. Burma. E. H. Parker, 13.
9. Myaungyma Settlement Report.
10. A full account of the Chins is given in the Chin Gazetteer.
11. For an account of Kachin manners and customs, see the Myitkyina District Gazetteer, W. A. Hertz.
12. W. A. Hertz.
13. All that is known of the savage Wa has been recorded by Sir George Scott, from whose description the bald summary in the text has been abstracted. In the grip of the Wild Wa, by G. E. Mitton (Lady Scott), contains a popular but quite accurate account of these curious people.
14. See p. 45.
15. Archaeological Survey Report (1921). C. Duroiselle.