The Mon (Mon language: မန္ or မည; Burmese: မြန္လူမ်ဳိး; IPA: [mùn lùmjóʊ]; Thai: มอญ) are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in the present day Burma and Thailand. In Myanmar, the Mon culture is credited as a major source of influence on the dominant Burmese culture.
As the eastern Mon were absorbed into the Thai/Siamese society long ago, the western Mon of Myanmar face the same pressure to assimilate. In Myanmar, the Mon are fighting for the retention of the Mon language and culture, and political autonomy. Once the predominant ethno-linguistic group in Lower Burma, the Mon language speakers number less than a million today, and those of Mon descent number anywhere between two million and eight million. The majority of Mon speak and are literate only in the Burmese language, and are often counted as the majority Bamar.
Early history
The Mon were one of the earliest distinct groups to settle in what is now Lower Burma, as early as 1500 BC or possibly earlier. The Mon are primarily associated with the historical kingdoms of Honsawati, Dvaravati and Hariphunchai. Up until the 14th century, outposts of Mon culture continued to spread very far east, including modern Thailand and Isan plateau cities such as Lampang and Khon Kaen. As late as the 14th and 15th centuries, it is believed that the Mon were the ethnic majority in this vast region, but also intermarried freely with Khmer and Tai-Kadai populations. Archaeological remains of Mon settlements have been found south of Vientiane, and may also have extended further to the north-west in the Haribhunjai era.
The Mon converted to Theravada Buddhism at a very early point in their history. Unlike other ethnic groups in the region, they seem to have adopted Theravada orthodoxy before coming into contact with Mahayana tendencies, and it is generally believed that the Mon provided the link of transmission whereby both the Thais and Cambodians converted from Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism (increasingly from the 1200s). Although the precise date cannot be fixed, it seems that the Mon have been practicing Theravada Buddhism continuously for a longer period than any other extant religious community on earth, except for Sri Lanka, as the lineage was destroyed in India.
Like the Burmese and the Thais, some modern Mons have tried to identify their ethnicity with the semi-historical kingdom of Suwarnabhumi. Today, this claim is contested by many different ethnicities in South-East Asia, and contradicted by scholars. Historical scholarship indicates that the early usage of the term (as found in the edicts of Ashoka) indicated a location in Southern India, and not in South-East Asia. However, from the time of the first translations of the Ashokan inscriptions in the 19th century, both the Burmese and the Thais have made concentrated efforts to identify place-names found in the edicts with their own territory or culture. Sometimes these claims have also relied upon the creative interpretation of place-names found in Chinese historical sources.
A Mon dynasty ruled Lower Burma after the fall of the Pagan dynasty from 1287 to 1539 with a brief revival during 1550–53. At first, Martaban was the capital of this kingdom and then Pegu. The Mon king Rajadhirat, who waged war with the northern Burman kingdom of Ava during the whole duration of his reign, unified and consolidated the Mon kingdom's domains in Lower Burma.
The most famous Mon monarchs during this period were Queen Baña Thau (Burmese: Shin Sawbu; reigned 1453–1472) followed by Dhammazedi (reigned 1472–92). Queen Baña Thau personally chose Dhammazedi to succeed her. Dhammazedi had been a monk before he became king of Pegu. Under Dhammazedi, Pegu became a centre of commerce and Theravadan Buddhism. These two devout Buddhist monarchs initiated a long period of peace in Lower Burma.
The 61st Anniversary Mon National Day in London
Many foreign traders were attracted to the capital, which became well-known to the outside world as a center of commerce. As such, it is mentioned by the Russian merchant, Nitikin, who traveled in the East about 1470. Its fifteenth century rulers were, like those of old Pagan, chiefly interested in the development of religion. Missions were sent to Ceylon and on their return stimulated an important religious revival, which affected the whole of Burma. Its center was the Kalyani thein near Pegu, so named because its original monks had been ordained on the banks of the Kalyani river in Ceylon. Kalyani ordination became the standard form for the whole country. The story of the reforms is told in the Kalyani inscriptions erected by King Dammazedi (1472-92).
Dammazedi was the greatest of the rulers of Wareru’s line. His reign was a time of peace and he himself was a mild ruler, famous for his wisdom. A collection of his rulings, the Dammazedi pyatton, is still extant. He maintained friendly intercourse with Yunnan and revived the practice of sending missions to Buddhagaya. He was a Buddhist ruler of the best type, deeply solicitous for the purification of religion. Under him, civilization flourished, and the condition of the Mon country stands out in sharp contrast with the disorder and savagery which characterized the Ava kingdom. When he died he was honoured as a saint and a pagoda was erected over his bones.
The Mon kingdom possessed two great pagodas of especial sanctity, the Shwemawdaw at Pegu and the Shwedagon at the small stockaded fishing-town of Dagon, now Yangon.[1]
The last Mon kingdom was Hongsavatoi—they re-conquered much of their lost territory until King Alaungpaya forced them back and captured the kingdom by 1757, massacring a considerable part of the population. The Mon religious leaders were forced to flee to Siam and the Mon have been harshly repressed from the 1750s to the present day.
[edit] Colonial
Burma was conquered by the British in a series of wars. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the Mon territories were completely under the control of the British. The Mon aided the British to free themselves from the rule of the Burman monarchy. Under Burman rule, the Mon people had been massacred after they lost their kingdom and many sought asylum in the Thai Kingdom. The British conquest of Burma allowed the Mon people to survive in Southern Burma.
[edit] After Burmese independence
The Mon soon became anti-colonialists and following the grant of independence to Burma in 1948 they sought self-determination, U Nu refused them this and they rose in revolt to be crushed again.
They have remained a repressed and defiant group in the country since then. They have risen in revolt against the central Burmese government on a number of occasions, initially under the Mon People's Front and from 1962 through the New Mon State Party. A partially autonomous Mon state, Monland, was created in 1974 covering Tenasserim, Pegu and Ayeyarwady River. Resistance continued until 1995 when NMSP and SLORC agreed a cease-fire and, in 1996, the Mon Unity League was founded.
In 1947, Mon National Day was created to celebrate the ancient founding of Hanthawady, the last Mon Kingdom, which had its seat in Pegu. (It follows the full moon on the 11th month of the Mon lunar calendar, except in Phrapadaeng, Thailand, where it is celebrated at Songkran.)
The largest Mon refugee communities are currently in Thailand, with smaller communities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
[edit] Language and script
See also: Mon language
The Mon language is part of the Monic group of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic family, closely related to the Nyah Kur language and more distantly related to Khmer. The writing system is Indic based. The Burmans adapted the Mon script for Burmese following their conquest of Mon territory.
[edit] Traditional culture
Mon culture and traditional heritages includes spiritual dances, musical instruments such as crocodile xylophone, harp, and flat guitar. Mon dances are usually played in a formal theater or sometimes in an informal district of any village. The dances are followed by background music using a circular set of tuned drums and claps, crocodile xylophone, gongs, flute, flat guitar, harp, etc. Mon in Burma wear clothes similar to the Bamars. Those living in Thailand have adopted Thai style scarfs and skirts.
Showing posts with label Mon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mon. Show all posts
Mon history
0 comments
The Mon are the earliest known inhabitants of lower Burma. They founded an empire, and introduced both writing and Buddhism into Burma.
In the year 573, two Mon brothers, Prince Samala and Prince Wimala, founded the Mon kingdom Hongsavatoi at the present site of modern Pegu. This kingdom flourished in peace and prosperity for several centuries until it was occupied by the Burman dynasty.
In 1757, the Burma ruler U Aungzeya invaded and devastated the Mon kingdom, killing tens of thousands of Mon, including learned Mon priests, pregnant women, and children. Over 3,000 priests were massacred by the victorious Burmans in the capital city alone. Thousands more priests were killed in the countryside.
The surviving priests fled to Thailand, and Burman priests took over the monasteries. Most of the Mon literature, written on palm leaves, was destroyed by the Burmans. Use of the Mon language was forbidden, and Burman became the medium of instruction.
Mon people were persecuted, oppressed, and enslaved, and countless people were burned in holocausts, like the Jews before the Nazis. Mon properties and possessions were looted and burned throughout Burma. Mons fled further south into Burma's Tenasserim Division and east into Thailand.
Unfortunately, the oppression of the Mon people has persisted to the present day. Follow this link for Mon history since WWII.
Recent Mon history
Burma has been racked by civil war ever since its independence, over 40 years ago. The Mon people, as well as other ethnic minorities such as the Karen and Shan, have suffered greatly during this period.
Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948, and it has been ruled by military dictators since then. The current rulers are the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), who took power in a 1988 coup, suspending the legislature and the judiciary.
One of the most notorious actions of the military regime in Burma was the Aug. 8, 1988 massacre of thousands of students engaged in peaceful protests against the government. Follow this link for photos from the 1988 massacre.
The current Burmese government has received world-wide condemnation for its human-rights violations, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese political prisoner, received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring international attention to the grave conditions in Burma. Following this link for more information on Aung San Suu Kyi.
The U.S. State Department, in its 1994 report on human rights in Burma, wrote
Despite an appearance of greater normalcy fostered by increased economic activity, in fact the Government's unacceptable record on human rights changed little in 1994. Out of sight of most visitors, Burmese citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military. There continued to be credible reports, particularly from ethnic minority-dominated areas, that soldiers committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. The use of porters by the army--with all the attendant maltreatment, illness, and even death for those compelled to serve--remained a standard practice and probably even increased. The Burmese military forced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ordinary Burmese (including women and children) to "contribute" their labor, often under harsh working conditions, to construction projects throughout the country. The forced resettlement of civilians also continued.
Burma is shared by many nationalities, and it is necessary to find a national framework that includes full partnership for all the people of the country. If not, civil war cannot be stopped, and the dream of building the union of Burma as a developed and democratic country cannot be realized. The Indigenous Mon Council of Burma fears that Burma will become another Bosnia unless the military Junta shares authority with the Burmese ethnic minorities.
In the year 573, two Mon brothers, Prince Samala and Prince Wimala, founded the Mon kingdom Hongsavatoi at the present site of modern Pegu. This kingdom flourished in peace and prosperity for several centuries until it was occupied by the Burman dynasty.
In 1757, the Burma ruler U Aungzeya invaded and devastated the Mon kingdom, killing tens of thousands of Mon, including learned Mon priests, pregnant women, and children. Over 3,000 priests were massacred by the victorious Burmans in the capital city alone. Thousands more priests were killed in the countryside.
The surviving priests fled to Thailand, and Burman priests took over the monasteries. Most of the Mon literature, written on palm leaves, was destroyed by the Burmans. Use of the Mon language was forbidden, and Burman became the medium of instruction.
Mon people were persecuted, oppressed, and enslaved, and countless people were burned in holocausts, like the Jews before the Nazis. Mon properties and possessions were looted and burned throughout Burma. Mons fled further south into Burma's Tenasserim Division and east into Thailand.
Unfortunately, the oppression of the Mon people has persisted to the present day. Follow this link for Mon history since WWII.
Recent Mon history
Burma has been racked by civil war ever since its independence, over 40 years ago. The Mon people, as well as other ethnic minorities such as the Karen and Shan, have suffered greatly during this period.
Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948, and it has been ruled by military dictators since then. The current rulers are the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), who took power in a 1988 coup, suspending the legislature and the judiciary.
One of the most notorious actions of the military regime in Burma was the Aug. 8, 1988 massacre of thousands of students engaged in peaceful protests against the government. Follow this link for photos from the 1988 massacre.
The current Burmese government has received world-wide condemnation for its human-rights violations, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese political prisoner, received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring international attention to the grave conditions in Burma. Following this link for more information on Aung San Suu Kyi.
The U.S. State Department, in its 1994 report on human rights in Burma, wrote
Despite an appearance of greater normalcy fostered by increased economic activity, in fact the Government's unacceptable record on human rights changed little in 1994. Out of sight of most visitors, Burmese citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military. There continued to be credible reports, particularly from ethnic minority-dominated areas, that soldiers committed serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. The use of porters by the army--with all the attendant maltreatment, illness, and even death for those compelled to serve--remained a standard practice and probably even increased. The Burmese military forced hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ordinary Burmese (including women and children) to "contribute" their labor, often under harsh working conditions, to construction projects throughout the country. The forced resettlement of civilians also continued.
Burma is shared by many nationalities, and it is necessary to find a national framework that includes full partnership for all the people of the country. If not, civil war cannot be stopped, and the dream of building the union of Burma as a developed and democratic country cannot be realized. The Indigenous Mon Council of Burma fears that Burma will become another Bosnia unless the military Junta shares authority with the Burmese ethnic minorities.
We are the Mons
0 comments
The Mon History
Thu 01 Apr 2004,
Among the present various inhabitants of Burma, the Mon are the oldest. They arrived into Burma probably between 2500 and 1500 BC. The Mon were close cousin of Khmers, with whom they originally came down from Mongolia. Since then, they settled in some parts of Thailand, and along Tenasserim and on the Irrawaddy delta of Burma. The first strong Mon kingdom in Burma was well-known as Suwarnabhumi, The Golden Land and it had a port capital Thaton (it is still situated in Mon State as a small town), which was not so far from the isthmian portage route; and through this window to the see they saw India, in its full glory, united and peaceful under emperor Asoka and a flourishing center of Theravada Buddhism. Asoka sent a mission of Buddhist monks to Suwarnabhumi and introduced Theravada Buddhisim, which improved new civilization to the Mon. The ancient monastic settlement of Kalasa, situated a few miles from Thaton and claimed by Mon and Burman chronicles to have been founded by Asoka?s missionaries, was mentioned in early Ceylonese records as being represented at a great religious synod held in Cylon (Siri Lanka) in the 2nd Century BC.
Before the establishment of Burmans?s well-known kingdom Pagan, the Mon both in Thailand and Burma, were politically organized as the confederacy of Ramanya and embracing the three kingdoms of Thaton, Dvaravati, and Haripunjaya. Until the 8th century, the Mon kingdom was stable and expanded well relationship with Indias for trading and commerce. The expension was sudden and revolutionary but peaceful, the Indian merchants and seamen came to Thaton as friends rather than as conquistadors or colonists. The Mon also accepted Indian culture and developed their civilization.
The second wave of peoples to come into Burman after the Mon were the Tibeto- Burmans from the north. The Mon reluctance allowed the infant Burman kingdom to survive and grow. In the process the leadership of the Tibeto-Burman tribes passed to the Burmans and in 849 AD they founded their own city Pagan. In 1044, the Burmese king Anawrahta came to the throne of Pagan. After he grew his power and influence, he challenged and conquered Theravada Mon in Thaton in 1057. It was a unity not by peaceful means but through force. The conquest of Pagan was the foundation of both Pagan?s economy and its culture. Mon craftsmen, artisans, architects, goldsmiths, and wood carvers -captured at Thaton- were taken to Pagan to teach their skills and arts to the Burmans. Mon monks and scholars taught the Burmese the Pali language and the Buddhist scriptures. The Burmans soon became scholars themselves, making Pagan the center of Theravada learning.
In 1287, Pagan fell to Mongol Kubla Khan?s armies. After the fall of Pagan, the Mon in lower Burma consolidated themselves and restored their own kingdom. The kingdom was initially established at Martaban, near Moulmein and ruled by king Wareru. Then the capital of kingdom was transferred to Pegu (Hongsawatoi) in 1365. The Mon were achieving another golden age again under wise rulers that lasted until 1533. During and half centuries of golden era, Pegu?s Hongsawatoi Dynasty produced rulers who are still loved by the people of Burma today, and who left behind many sacred monuments.
In 1531, Thabinshwehti became the Burman king of Taungoo and within a few years he conquered lower Burma from the Mon and established his capital in Pegu. After he died, his brother-in-law Bayinnaung established the second Burman empire, by occupying Shan plateau and some parts of Thailand. Later, the capital of kingdom was transferred to Ava of upper Burma and it became weak. In 1740, the Mon declared independence and reestablished their kingdom in Pegu (hongsawatoi). The Burman capital of Ava fell to the Mon in 1752 and nearly the whole Burma became under Mon rule then.
U Aunggzeya, a Burman leader who is better known as King Alaungphaya, drove the Mon out of upper Burma from Ava and regained other lost territories. By 1757 he defeated the Mon annexed the Mon kingdom of Hongsawatoi. The Mon have ever since become a people without a country. The conquering Burman leader U Aungzeya persecuted the Mon by massacring over 3,000 learned Mon monks near Rangoon; by burning down holy scriptures and monasteries; by proscribing Mon language and literature; and by genocidal mass execution whereby thousands of Mon were exterminated in several stockade-inferno holocausts. Racial discrimination was rife and hundreds of thousands of the Mon fled to Siam (Thailand) for safe haven. In modern human rights terminology, it was a drastic ?ethnic cleansing? process.
After 68 years under the rule of Burman kings, following the second Anglo-Burmese war, the entire Mon territory of lower Burma was colonized by the British in 1824. Until and except the periods they were colonized by the two alien nations, the Burman and British, the Mon had exercised full rights of self-determination for many centuries. During the periods when the Mon were master of Lower Burma, the people were happy and prosperous. Those glorious periods were expressed by western historians as golden ages under wise Mon rulers. Relations with foreign countries and foreign nationals were peaceful, cordial and harmonious. They blended their native culture with Theravada Buddhism which elevated them as teachers of their neighbours in Southeast Asia.
The British administration based on modern democracy and capitalism superseded the Burmese autocratic feudalism, which treated other ethnic nationalities who were their domination as serfs. The peaceful situation during the British reign gave an opportunity for most of the ethnic non-Burman refugees who fled the tuthless brutal oppression of the Burman kings to neighbouring countries, to return to Burma.
The British during the process of annexing Burma, persuaded the Mon to rebel against Burma, while they were attacking the Burman who were oppressing the Mon as slaves. An excerpt from the proclamation by the British commanding officer, Sir Archibald, written in the book entitled ? The Making of Burma? by Dorothy Woodman says: ?Choose from amongst yourselves a Chief, I will recongnize him.? The promise was never honoured but instead the first Commissioner Mr. A. D. Maingy was appointed to administer the Mon dominated areas of Ye, Tavoy, Mergui and Tenasserim after incorporating them into the British Empire. This behaviour of the British infuriated the Mon very much, and they pledged to oust British rule from Burma in collaboration with the Burman and other ethnic victims of imperialism.
Through the anti-colonial struggle to free Burma from the yoke of the British imperialism, the Mon worked together with their indigenous brethren up to the end of World War II. But when independence for Burma from the British was in the offing, the Mon asserted their identity and right of self-determination. Some Mon cultural and political organizations such as All Ramanya Mon Association, United Mon Association and Mon Freedom League were formed by Mon leaders and asked the Burman leaders to recognize their identity. But the demand was flatly rejected by the Burman leader U Nu, who was the Prime Minister then. He claimed that ?the Mon and the Burman were identical and so there was no reason for the Mon to crave for a separate ethnic identity?. This refusal to recognize their primary demand created the Mon national upsurge, and resulted in an escalation of their demand to reclaim their old homeland which covers the whole of lower Burma.
In signing the Aung San-Atlee agreement for independence of the whole Burma, the Burman leadership approached the frontier ethnic nationalities to join the Union of Burma at Penglong in Shan State. An agreement came out to safeguard racil equal rights of the ethnic nationalities and establish a Federal Union, but the Mon, the Karen and the Karenni were not participants of the Penglong Agreement. After the death of Gen. Aung San, the succeeding Burmese leaders twisted the agreement by writing a constitution based on a unitary system concentrating the executive administrative power in the central government in Rangoon.
The Mon?s demand for the creation of a Mon State which covers lower Burma was rejected again and the repressive action was also taken against them by the ruling Burman leaders. Some Mon leaders were assassinated and many were imprisoned. More than 100 Mon villages were also burnt down and destroyed by the Burmese Army. These repressive measures pushed the Mon to take up arms and continue their struggle for racial rights by means of armed struggle in the wake of Burma independence in 1948. Initially, under the leadership of Mon People?s Front (MPF), the Mon armed struggle had been carrying on until 1958. In July 1958, MPF agreed with the then U Nu?s parliamentary government to transform itself as legal Mon freedom struggle under the democratic system. The democratic government of U Nu was abolished the Burmese Army led by Gen. Ne Win in a coup d?etat in 1962 and since then the country was ruled by a military dictatorship. The Mon armed resistance movement was continued by the New Mon State Party (NMSP) which replaced the outgoing MPF. The Mon armed struggle under the leadership of NMSP has continuously fought against the single- party rule of Gen. Ne Win-led Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and the present military regime, State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) for nearly four decades.
The NMSP has modified its claim to five districts of lower Burma, namely, Pegu, Thaton, Moulmein, Tavoy, and Mergui Districts to be formed as Mon State. It has passed through several phases of different political changes during the Mon armed struggle of the five decades against the ultra-nationalist Burman governments. In 1974, the Burman leadership led by Gen. Ne Win created the nominal Mon State covering Thaton and Moulmein districts to appease the Mons. In 1982, NMSP became a member of the National Democratic Front (NDF) which is an umbrella organization for all non-Burman ethnic nationalities resisting Rangoon governments for self-determination.
The economic deterioration, the demonetization of currency and the discontent with human rights abuses culminated in the world-renowned demonstrations of the students, monks and civilian masses in 1988, demanding democray, free elections and an end to the single-party rule. State power changed hands three times and just when the general will could no longer be contained, thousand troops were called in and thousands of demonstrators were massacred and thousands arrested. As a result of the military junta?s violent repression, thousands of students, monks, intelligentsia, political leaders, military personnel and ordinary citizens fled to the liberated areas controlled by members of NDF. With the initiative of NDF, a wider representative organization under the name of the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) was formed including the ethnic Burman opposition groups in and out of the country.
Thailand has changed its policy towards Burma. It is adamant that the civil war in Burma should come to an end. Thailand, with its policy if ?Constructive Engagement? to Burma, does not need the Karen, Karenni and Mon areas as a buffer between her and Burma. It has hoped that peace in Burma will favour Thai commercial interests for quick profit and help stem the increasing flow of refugees from Burma. It has put constand pressure on NMSP and other ethnic non-Burma armed opposition groups along its border to enter into a cease-fire deal with SLORC and end the war. At the same time, the military regime SLORC was offering the many ethnic armed opposition groups including NMSP, asking them to enter into a cease- fire agreement with it. NMSP entered initial ceasefire talks with SLORC in late 1993. In mid-1995, it reached a ceasefire agreement with SLORC. Still the ceasefire agreement is not a political solution of Burma and the Mon do not obtain any rights from the present NMSP ceasefire with SLORC. The human rights situation in Mon region has not improved despite the NMSP-SLORC ceasefire. The political activities of NMSP have been under constant pressure and disturbance by the military regime SLORC. The deteriorating situation following the NMSP-SLORC cease-fire agreement ha led to to formation of a new political forum for the Mon people. In early 1996, the Mon Unity League (MUL) came into existence as a common Mon united front.
Thu 01 Apr 2004,
Among the present various inhabitants of Burma, the Mon are the oldest. They arrived into Burma probably between 2500 and 1500 BC. The Mon were close cousin of Khmers, with whom they originally came down from Mongolia. Since then, they settled in some parts of Thailand, and along Tenasserim and on the Irrawaddy delta of Burma. The first strong Mon kingdom in Burma was well-known as Suwarnabhumi, The Golden Land and it had a port capital Thaton (it is still situated in Mon State as a small town), which was not so far from the isthmian portage route; and through this window to the see they saw India, in its full glory, united and peaceful under emperor Asoka and a flourishing center of Theravada Buddhism. Asoka sent a mission of Buddhist monks to Suwarnabhumi and introduced Theravada Buddhisim, which improved new civilization to the Mon. The ancient monastic settlement of Kalasa, situated a few miles from Thaton and claimed by Mon and Burman chronicles to have been founded by Asoka?s missionaries, was mentioned in early Ceylonese records as being represented at a great religious synod held in Cylon (Siri Lanka) in the 2nd Century BC.
Before the establishment of Burmans?s well-known kingdom Pagan, the Mon both in Thailand and Burma, were politically organized as the confederacy of Ramanya and embracing the three kingdoms of Thaton, Dvaravati, and Haripunjaya. Until the 8th century, the Mon kingdom was stable and expanded well relationship with Indias for trading and commerce. The expension was sudden and revolutionary but peaceful, the Indian merchants and seamen came to Thaton as friends rather than as conquistadors or colonists. The Mon also accepted Indian culture and developed their civilization.
The second wave of peoples to come into Burman after the Mon were the Tibeto- Burmans from the north. The Mon reluctance allowed the infant Burman kingdom to survive and grow. In the process the leadership of the Tibeto-Burman tribes passed to the Burmans and in 849 AD they founded their own city Pagan. In 1044, the Burmese king Anawrahta came to the throne of Pagan. After he grew his power and influence, he challenged and conquered Theravada Mon in Thaton in 1057. It was a unity not by peaceful means but through force. The conquest of Pagan was the foundation of both Pagan?s economy and its culture. Mon craftsmen, artisans, architects, goldsmiths, and wood carvers -captured at Thaton- were taken to Pagan to teach their skills and arts to the Burmans. Mon monks and scholars taught the Burmese the Pali language and the Buddhist scriptures. The Burmans soon became scholars themselves, making Pagan the center of Theravada learning.
In 1287, Pagan fell to Mongol Kubla Khan?s armies. After the fall of Pagan, the Mon in lower Burma consolidated themselves and restored their own kingdom. The kingdom was initially established at Martaban, near Moulmein and ruled by king Wareru. Then the capital of kingdom was transferred to Pegu (Hongsawatoi) in 1365. The Mon were achieving another golden age again under wise rulers that lasted until 1533. During and half centuries of golden era, Pegu?s Hongsawatoi Dynasty produced rulers who are still loved by the people of Burma today, and who left behind many sacred monuments.
In 1531, Thabinshwehti became the Burman king of Taungoo and within a few years he conquered lower Burma from the Mon and established his capital in Pegu. After he died, his brother-in-law Bayinnaung established the second Burman empire, by occupying Shan plateau and some parts of Thailand. Later, the capital of kingdom was transferred to Ava of upper Burma and it became weak. In 1740, the Mon declared independence and reestablished their kingdom in Pegu (hongsawatoi). The Burman capital of Ava fell to the Mon in 1752 and nearly the whole Burma became under Mon rule then.
U Aunggzeya, a Burman leader who is better known as King Alaungphaya, drove the Mon out of upper Burma from Ava and regained other lost territories. By 1757 he defeated the Mon annexed the Mon kingdom of Hongsawatoi. The Mon have ever since become a people without a country. The conquering Burman leader U Aungzeya persecuted the Mon by massacring over 3,000 learned Mon monks near Rangoon; by burning down holy scriptures and monasteries; by proscribing Mon language and literature; and by genocidal mass execution whereby thousands of Mon were exterminated in several stockade-inferno holocausts. Racial discrimination was rife and hundreds of thousands of the Mon fled to Siam (Thailand) for safe haven. In modern human rights terminology, it was a drastic ?ethnic cleansing? process.
After 68 years under the rule of Burman kings, following the second Anglo-Burmese war, the entire Mon territory of lower Burma was colonized by the British in 1824. Until and except the periods they were colonized by the two alien nations, the Burman and British, the Mon had exercised full rights of self-determination for many centuries. During the periods when the Mon were master of Lower Burma, the people were happy and prosperous. Those glorious periods were expressed by western historians as golden ages under wise Mon rulers. Relations with foreign countries and foreign nationals were peaceful, cordial and harmonious. They blended their native culture with Theravada Buddhism which elevated them as teachers of their neighbours in Southeast Asia.
The British administration based on modern democracy and capitalism superseded the Burmese autocratic feudalism, which treated other ethnic nationalities who were their domination as serfs. The peaceful situation during the British reign gave an opportunity for most of the ethnic non-Burman refugees who fled the tuthless brutal oppression of the Burman kings to neighbouring countries, to return to Burma.
The British during the process of annexing Burma, persuaded the Mon to rebel against Burma, while they were attacking the Burman who were oppressing the Mon as slaves. An excerpt from the proclamation by the British commanding officer, Sir Archibald, written in the book entitled ? The Making of Burma? by Dorothy Woodman says: ?Choose from amongst yourselves a Chief, I will recongnize him.? The promise was never honoured but instead the first Commissioner Mr. A. D. Maingy was appointed to administer the Mon dominated areas of Ye, Tavoy, Mergui and Tenasserim after incorporating them into the British Empire. This behaviour of the British infuriated the Mon very much, and they pledged to oust British rule from Burma in collaboration with the Burman and other ethnic victims of imperialism.
Through the anti-colonial struggle to free Burma from the yoke of the British imperialism, the Mon worked together with their indigenous brethren up to the end of World War II. But when independence for Burma from the British was in the offing, the Mon asserted their identity and right of self-determination. Some Mon cultural and political organizations such as All Ramanya Mon Association, United Mon Association and Mon Freedom League were formed by Mon leaders and asked the Burman leaders to recognize their identity. But the demand was flatly rejected by the Burman leader U Nu, who was the Prime Minister then. He claimed that ?the Mon and the Burman were identical and so there was no reason for the Mon to crave for a separate ethnic identity?. This refusal to recognize their primary demand created the Mon national upsurge, and resulted in an escalation of their demand to reclaim their old homeland which covers the whole of lower Burma.
In signing the Aung San-Atlee agreement for independence of the whole Burma, the Burman leadership approached the frontier ethnic nationalities to join the Union of Burma at Penglong in Shan State. An agreement came out to safeguard racil equal rights of the ethnic nationalities and establish a Federal Union, but the Mon, the Karen and the Karenni were not participants of the Penglong Agreement. After the death of Gen. Aung San, the succeeding Burmese leaders twisted the agreement by writing a constitution based on a unitary system concentrating the executive administrative power in the central government in Rangoon.
The Mon?s demand for the creation of a Mon State which covers lower Burma was rejected again and the repressive action was also taken against them by the ruling Burman leaders. Some Mon leaders were assassinated and many were imprisoned. More than 100 Mon villages were also burnt down and destroyed by the Burmese Army. These repressive measures pushed the Mon to take up arms and continue their struggle for racial rights by means of armed struggle in the wake of Burma independence in 1948. Initially, under the leadership of Mon People?s Front (MPF), the Mon armed struggle had been carrying on until 1958. In July 1958, MPF agreed with the then U Nu?s parliamentary government to transform itself as legal Mon freedom struggle under the democratic system. The democratic government of U Nu was abolished the Burmese Army led by Gen. Ne Win in a coup d?etat in 1962 and since then the country was ruled by a military dictatorship. The Mon armed resistance movement was continued by the New Mon State Party (NMSP) which replaced the outgoing MPF. The Mon armed struggle under the leadership of NMSP has continuously fought against the single- party rule of Gen. Ne Win-led Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and the present military regime, State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) for nearly four decades.
The NMSP has modified its claim to five districts of lower Burma, namely, Pegu, Thaton, Moulmein, Tavoy, and Mergui Districts to be formed as Mon State. It has passed through several phases of different political changes during the Mon armed struggle of the five decades against the ultra-nationalist Burman governments. In 1974, the Burman leadership led by Gen. Ne Win created the nominal Mon State covering Thaton and Moulmein districts to appease the Mons. In 1982, NMSP became a member of the National Democratic Front (NDF) which is an umbrella organization for all non-Burman ethnic nationalities resisting Rangoon governments for self-determination.
The economic deterioration, the demonetization of currency and the discontent with human rights abuses culminated in the world-renowned demonstrations of the students, monks and civilian masses in 1988, demanding democray, free elections and an end to the single-party rule. State power changed hands three times and just when the general will could no longer be contained, thousand troops were called in and thousands of demonstrators were massacred and thousands arrested. As a result of the military junta?s violent repression, thousands of students, monks, intelligentsia, political leaders, military personnel and ordinary citizens fled to the liberated areas controlled by members of NDF. With the initiative of NDF, a wider representative organization under the name of the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) was formed including the ethnic Burman opposition groups in and out of the country.
Thailand has changed its policy towards Burma. It is adamant that the civil war in Burma should come to an end. Thailand, with its policy if ?Constructive Engagement? to Burma, does not need the Karen, Karenni and Mon areas as a buffer between her and Burma. It has hoped that peace in Burma will favour Thai commercial interests for quick profit and help stem the increasing flow of refugees from Burma. It has put constand pressure on NMSP and other ethnic non-Burma armed opposition groups along its border to enter into a cease-fire deal with SLORC and end the war. At the same time, the military regime SLORC was offering the many ethnic armed opposition groups including NMSP, asking them to enter into a cease- fire agreement with it. NMSP entered initial ceasefire talks with SLORC in late 1993. In mid-1995, it reached a ceasefire agreement with SLORC. Still the ceasefire agreement is not a political solution of Burma and the Mon do not obtain any rights from the present NMSP ceasefire with SLORC. The human rights situation in Mon region has not improved despite the NMSP-SLORC ceasefire. The political activities of NMSP have been under constant pressure and disturbance by the military regime SLORC. The deteriorating situation following the NMSP-SLORC cease-fire agreement ha led to to formation of a new political forum for the Mon people. In early 1996, the Mon Unity League (MUL) came into existence as a common Mon united front.
Mon National Athem
0 comments
| Mon National Athem... |
ရးနိဂုီ - - ရာဇဝင္ စရာဲ - - ဇုဇဗာလပ႙ု၊
ပတန္လဝ္ကုႝ ဆီပဠက္ၿပဲဂွ္ - - အာဲကဿာဲပ႙ု၊
ပႜဲစိုတ္ သုီစ႐ိုတ္ ဒးမင္မြဲ ဗၜးၐးေရာင္ - -
သြက္အိုတ္သုီ ရာင္ဆာဲ ပႜဲ ရးမည
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
