The Burmese Empire
a hundred years ago
As described by Father Vincenzo Sangermano
Edited and with notes by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Set in html by UKT
and staff of TIL Computing and
Language Center, Yangon, for students and staff of TIL. Not for sale.
Burmese Cosmography
Chapter 05
Of the destruction and reproduction of the world
Section28
To conclude this treatise on Burmese cosmography we have only to describe the way in which their sacred books explain the end of one world and the commencement of another. fn033-01 They suppose the remote and moral causes of the world's destruction to be three -- lust, anger, and ignorance; from which, by the power of fate, spring three other immediate and physical causes -- fire, water, and wind. When lust prevails in the world, it will be destroyed by fire; when anger, by water; and when ignorance, by wind. They suppose also that this destruction and reproduction does not take place in a moment, but very slowly; so that for the world to be entirely destroyed an assenchiè will pass, and another before it be reproduced: and there will be the same interval of time between the total end of the old and the beginning of the new world.
Section29
Before describing the destruction of the world, it is
------------------
fn033-01 Once a world is constituted,
the law of merit and demerit is the sole
principle that regulates both physical and moral things, -- Bigandet, i. p. 23,
where the subject of this chapter is treated. Similar ideas lie at the roots of
earlier Indian philosophies, of which a list will be found in Sykes' Notes on
the State of India before the Mahomedan Invasion, pp. 20, 21, London, I84I.
'Buddhism does not attempt to solve the problem of the primary origin of all
things. ... Buddhism takes as its ultimate fact the existence of the material
world and of conscious beings living within it; and it holds that everything is
subject to the law of cause and effect, and that everything is constantly,
though imperceptibly, changing. There is no place where this law does not
operate; no heaven nor hell, therefore, in the ordinary sense. There are worlds
where devas live, whose existence is more or less material, according as their
previous lives were more or less good; but the devas die, and the worlds they
inhabit pass away. .... The whole Kosmos, earth and heavens and hells -- is always
tending to renovation or destruction.'-- Buddhism, by Dr. Rhys Davids, p. 87.
fn03301b
necessary to refer to what we have said in sec007 (Ch 03), that in each world there are sixty-four successive diminutions and augmentations of age in the generations of men; and hence the life of man will be sixty-four times reduced to the term of only ten years. At these periods there will be a general scourge and extermination. Should lust be predominant, then will men, worn away by hunger, thirst, and misery, to so many moving corpses, almost all perish. Should anger be the reigning vice, then men will turn their weapons against each other, and in furious combats labour for their mutual destruction. If, in fine, ignorance, as is generally the case, prevails over the world, then will a horrible consumption waste mankind away to mere skeletons; and thus will they die. After this almost universal mortality a heavy rain will fall, which, carrying off all the impurities of the earth, together with the unburied corpses, will discharge them into the rivers; and this will be succeeded by a shower of sandal, flower, and every kind of garments. Then shall the few men who have escaped the extermination we have just described come forth from the caverns into which they had retired, then shall they begin to do penance for the sins they have committed, and thus deserve a prolongation of their life beyond the period of ten years.
Section30
A hundred thousand years before the world's destruction, some Nat of the superior seats, descending to this southern island with a sad and lugubrious countenance, with their locks dishevelled and dressed in mourning, will proclaim in all the public streets and squares with a loud and lamentable voice that the destruction of the world is approaching. They foresee it in the same way that the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea, by a certain natural instinct, foresee the approaching storm. After this they will admonish and strive to excite mankind to the observance of the laws, and to those works which may elevate them after death to the abodes of the Rupa and Arupà. The good works on which they will principally insist are alms-deeds, the honouring parents and old men, the observance of justice, and the mutual love of each other. They are earnest in exhorting men to these works that they may be raised to the state of Rupa and Arupa; because these abodes will remain untouched when the world is destroyed by fire.
Upon hearing this terrible presage, all will be struck with fear, and will use every endeavour to practise the four good works recommended to them. The Nat inhabiting Mount Miemmò, and those of the mountains, rivers, and forests, will then be transported to the states of Zian and Rupà. The infernal beings also, having now expiated the species of sin for which they had been condemned, will again become men, and strive to practise the same good deeds in order to deserve, together with the others, the sate of Zian. For the impious alone and for the unbelievers there is no chance of relief, as they will be eternally tormented in the equilateral spaces full of the coldest water, which are placed without the world. The irrational animals likewise must perish with the world.
Section31
When the world is to be destroyed by fire, as soon as the Nat have finished their proclamantion, a heavy rain will fall from heaven, by which all the lakes and torrents will be overflowed; and men, conceiving strong hopes of an abundant crop, will sow their richest seeds. But this rain will be the last to descend upon the earth; and from this time, for the space of 100,000 years, not a single drop of water will fall from heaven., All plants and vegetables will now perish through the long drought; and men, dying with hunger, will be transported to the abodes of the Nat, or the Zian. The sun and moon having lost their Nat, who have become Zian, will cease to shine; and in their stead two other suns, not inhabited by Nat, will perpetually succeed each other; so that there can be no longer any night; and hence the heat will be such that the small rivers, lakes, and torrents will be dried up, and no vestige of plants will be seen on the surface of the earth. After some time a third sun will appear; and then the Ganges, with the other four great rivers, will dry up. After many ages a fourth sun will make its appearance, by whose heat will be drained the seven great lakes which, as the Burmese books related, lie to the north of the southern island and give rise to five great rivers, whereof the Ganges is one. After another long period a fifth sun will rise, and then all the seas will be laid dry. At the appearance of a sixth sun, all the islands of this and of every other world, to the number of 10,100,000, will open; and from the apertures smoke and flames will burst forth.
Finally, after a lengthened term of years, at the appearance of the seventh and last sun, Mount Miemmò, with all the abodes of the Nat, will be consumed by fire. And, as in a lamp when the oil and wick are consumed, the flame goes out of itself, so when the fire shall have devoured all that exists in this or any other world, it will spontaneously cease. The whole time occupied by these events, from the last rain that fell to the final ceasing of the fire, will fill up the interval of an assenchiè.
Section32
When the world is to be destroyed by water, at the beginning a small shower of rain will fall, which, increasing by degrees, will become so heavy and horrible that each drop of it will be of the size of a thousand juzenà; and thus the abodes of men and the Nat, together with some of those of the Zian and the 10,100,000 worlds, will be dissolved and destroyed. So likewise when the world is to be destroyed by wind, as soon as the Nat have finished their admonitions, the heavy rain will fall; and 100,000 years after, a wind will begin to blow, which, increasing by degrees, will at first raise the sands and small pebbles, and afterwards the heavy stones, the tops of mountains and the trees, and then shaking and breaking up all the earth, with all the abodes of the Nat and many of those of the Zian, will disperse everything in the immense vacuum of heaven, The annexed table shows the order and method of the destruction of the world , by fire, water, and wind:--
| From this scheme it appears that the world will be destroyed fifty-six times by fire, seven by water, and only once by wind. The smaller lines serve to show the different heights to which the fire will ascend. When it reaches that indicated by No. 1, it will destroy the five inferior regions of the Zian. No. 2 shows how high the water must ascend to dissolve the world, when it will also destroy the eight inferior regions of the Zian. |
 |
|
| And No. 3 shows the intensity of the wind in the same circumstances, when the nine regions of the Zian will be destroyed. After the world has thus been destroyed sixty- four times, the series will begin again. Fire was the agent in the destruction of the last world, and it ascended to the height indicated by the line No. 4 in the table. -- insert from p037 | ||
Section33
Having now shown how the world will be destroyed, we must speak of its reproduction. Fire, water, and wind are the three agents in its dissolution, but water or rain alone acts in reproducing it. An assenchiè after the end of the world, this begins to fall, at first slowly, but increasing by degrees till its drops successively reach the size of one, two, a hundred and a thousand juzenà. Yet it still continues falling without intermission, while the wind, by which it is continually beaten about and compressed, condenses it precisely in the place where the preceding world was situated. On the surface of this condensed body of water, by the action of the sun, a kind of crust or greasy scum is formed, from which those abodes of Nat and Zian that have been destroyed will be reproduced. Afterwards Mount Miemmò and the other seats of the Nat placed in its vicinity, will be formed; and as the water successively decreases, from its sediment will arise the four great islands, Mount Zacchiavala and all the 10,100,000 worlds, in the same order and symmetry as before.
UKT: Mount Zacchiavalà -- Did Sangermano make a mistake? Zacchiavala is the Universe and not a mountain.
Section34
The new world is then repeopled in the following manner. Immediately after the formation of the islands, a kind of crust appears on their surface, having the smell and taste of butter. The odour of this substance ascending up to the abodes of the Rupà fills their inhabitants, who before the destruction of the last world had become Zian, with the desire of eating it. For this purpose they assume human bodies, endowed with great agility and splendour, and so descend upon the island which we inhabit. At first they pass their lives happily and quietly with this supernatural food for their only sustenance; but avarice and the thirst for private gain springing up amongst them, give birth to quarrels and disputes. Thence it happens that in punishment of their sin, the nectareous crust that had nourished them disappears, and their bodies, losing their original splendoour, become dark and opaque. This loss is instantly succeeded by darkness and black night, for the sun and moon have not yet shone out: which fills them with the greatest consternation. But the sun now rising in the east, dispels their fear, and fills them with satisfaction by its unhoped for appearance. Yet is this universal joy and content succeeded by a new cause of perturbation and trouble, when the
sun, after its diurnal revolution is hidden by Mount Miemmò. Then do men in affliction and consternation begin to lament and exclaim 'Oh! how soon has the light which came to illuminate us disappeared.' Whilst they are thus ardently desiring a new luminary, behold, in the same quarter of the heavens, at the beginning of the night, the moon and stars shine forth. At the appearance they are greatly comforted and exultingly exclaim: 'Truly this is a welcome sight.' It is on a Sunday, in the month of Tabaun, which corresponds to our March, that the sun, moon and stars first give light.
As in preparing rice, some grains are perfectly cooked and others remain raw or half-dressed: so the Burmese Doctors say, that by the power of fate part of the earth remains flat, part is elevated into mountains, and part is depressed into valleys.
Section35
The crust of butter, which, as we have said, had disappeared on account of the sins of mankind, having penetrated into the bowels of the earth, is changed into a large stone called Silapatavi: and instead of that crust a kind of ivy-tree springs up having likewise the flavour of butter. Men feed upon this for some time, until avarice arising again among them, this plant also disappears; and in its place a kind of rice without husk, of an excellent quality, grows up from the bowels of the earth. At the same time earthen vessels appear, which they fill with the rice; and having placed them upon stones, fire spontaneously comes out from them by which the rice is instantly cooked. Different kinds of food also present themselves, according to each one's desire. In the beginning, when their nourishment is the crust and ivy which we have described, as this food is all converted into blood and flesh, men have no need of the different organs and channels, for the excretion of that part of their food, which contributes nothing to their nutriment. But now that they have begun to feed upon rice, these various organs are formed in the human body to suit the coarser quality of the new food. This nourishment also produces the first sensations of passion, which are instantly followed by the division of mankind into the two sexes, each individual being in this respect as he was before the destruction of the world, This distinction, at first, gives rise to illicit
desires, but ends in establishing the matrimonial state. A great many, however, preserving their virginity, become men of great virtue and holiness, and are called Manussa-Biammà. These do not exercise commerce, agriculture, or any other mechanical art, but solely employ themselves in the sublime ministry of making oblations and giving alms. For a length of time they preserve their celibacy; but afterwards seeing their race diminish considerably, many contract marriages in order to perpetuate it. Upon hearing this, the other Manussa-Biammà are highly scandalised; and detesting their depravation, declare hatred against those who have contracted such marriages, and separate themselves from their society. And hence the Burmese Doctors derive the custom of the modern Bramins, who pretend to be descendants of the Manussa-Biammà, of not bathing, eating, nor cohabiting with persons of a different caste. Although, according to the law of the god Godama, matrimony is lawful, yet still, as the Niban cannot be obtained without the observance of celibacy, the men learned in this law repute marriage as a less perfect state. Those Biammà who have entered into the married state begin to build houses, villages and cities; and the more they multiply, the greater and more frequent are the quarrels and ruptures among them; because, through the predomination of avarice, every one attends to his own interest and convenience. In order to remedy these disorders and put an end to quarrels, in which the most powerful always prevails, they agree by common consent to elect a king, who may administer justice and bestow rewards or punishments according to desert. Having found one among them who excels the others in stature and graceful shape, as also in the observance of the natural law, they choose him for prince of the earth, and call him Mahasamatà, as also Cattia, which signifies Lord of the earth, and Hazù, because he has the power of rewarding and punishing according to merit. From this first king forty-four others descend, the tenth of whom is named Godama.
Thus is the human species renewed, and from these different orders the four castes or races of men descend. The descendants of Mahasamatà constitute the royal race. The other castes, that of the Bramins, of the rich, and of the Suchoiè, in
which are comprised merchants, artisans, and husbandmen, are derived from those Biammà who contract matrimony.
Section36
In the supposition that all mankind are descended from the same stock, a Burmese Doctor asks why the languages of men, their customs and religion, the shape and colour of their bodies, are so various. To this question he answers, that the primitive inhabitants of the world, having greatly increased in number, were obliged to disperse themselves into various countries and regions, in which the difference of climate, water and products gave rise to different customs, languages, and religions. And as children born from the same parents are not all called by the same, but by different names, so, among the descendants of the Biammà, some were called Burmese, some Peguans, others Sciam [Shan], etc. The same Doctor also derives the difference of name from the fact that a person may be considered in different lights, as Godama takes various names, according to the different divine attributes and properties with which he is endowed. Again, our author inquires what gave rise to the various species of herbs and trees; and answers that they sprung from the seeds of the preceding world, which had been deposited by the reproducing rain. The same cannot be said of the mines of gold, silver, and precious stones; which were not to be found at the beginning of the world, and were only produced by the merits and good works of men. He then adds, that when just and upright princes reign in the southern island, or when men illustrious for holiness and virtue flourish there, then Padesà trees will grow; and the showers of gold, silver, and precious stones will fall from heaven: the sea also will deposit on its shores various kinds of treasures: and whatever is sown will wonderfully fructify. On the contrary, when the princes are unjust, and men observe not the law, not only will riches not increase, but rather diminish: the ancient gold and silver mines will disappear; and for want of moisture the sown lands will be dried up, or yield fruit of a pernicious quality.