Preface to the Second Edition
In the Preface to the Second Edition, John Jardine writes the following, dated Rangoon, April 5, 1884.
In nearly every history of Burma, or account of the Burmese people, the reader finds allusions to Sangermano and often extracts from his book. But he is puzzled to make out who Sangermano was and when and where he lived, and is sometimes left in danger of supposing wrongly that Sangermano's remarks apply to the present times. If, attracted by the interesting matter that every author finds in him, the reader goes to the libraries to get Sangermano's book, he learns that there is no copy. If he goes to a private person reputed to have a copy, he returns disappointed, the copy having perhaps been lent long ago to some one else who never returned it. For several years this was my experience.
A few months ago I discovered that Colonel Spearman, of the British Burma Commission, had a copy, and he obliged me by the loan of it. This is the volume from which the present edition is reprinted by order of the Chief Commissioner, after obtaining the consent to this republication of the Right Rev. P. Bigandet, Bishop of Ramatha and Vicar Apostolic. It was deemed right to refer to him as being the present head of the Roman Catholic mission in Burma.
Cardinal Wiseman's preface to the edition of 1833 informs us that Father Sangermano arrived in Burma in 1783, and returned to Italy in 1808. Becoming President of the order of Barnabites at Arpinum, his native city, he employed himself in preparing his work for publication, but was prevented by his death in 1819. Bishop Bigandet informs me that this happened at Leghorn as he was about to sail for Burma, and that during his stay in Italy he was graciously treated by Joachim Murat,
king of Naples. The Roman Sub-Committee of the Oriental Translation Fund undertook to publish and translated the manuscript. The orthography was kept except in a few well-known names: hence the proper names are to be read as in Italian. In this reprint no alterations have been made.
UKT: Orthography -- The author of this preface, John Jardine wrote: "The orthography was kept except in a few well-known names: hence the proper names are to be read as in Italian. In this reprint no alterations have been made." Since, most of the Myanmar readers of this digitized version, and I, know next to nothing of Italian, I am finding it very difficult to find the Myanmar equivalents of the supposedly Burmese words used by Sangermano. I have given the Myanmar script for the Burmese words which I could identify and the English equivalents in Romabama.
The Oriental Translation Fund was instituted in 1828 under the patronage of King William IV. In the binding of Colonel Spearman's copy I find a prospectus showing that Sir Gore Ouseley, the Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society, was its Chairman, and John Shakespear and Dr. Rosen its Secretaries. 'This copy was printed for the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare, Governor of Bombay, a subscriber.' The motto of the Fund was 'Ex oriente lux.' Fifty years have passed and no second edition has been issued.
During this half century much has been added to our knowledge of the subjects
described by Sangermano. The Burmese legend of Buddha has been translated and
edited by Bishop Bigandet. The history of Burma has lately been written by Sir
Arthur Phayre; and before this edition issues from the press the learning of Dr.
Forchhammer will have thrown light on the Burmese Dhammathat or Code of Law in
his edition of King Wagaru's code and his essay on Buddhist law. But all this
increase of knowledge does not detract from the real value of Sangermano's work
or lessen its charm. Even when he describes the abstract notions of the Buddhist
religion, or the dry rules of law, we feel his contact with the people: we learn
how the religion influenced their life, and how the despotic and capricious
administration of the law produced results which the Dhammathat would never
suggest. Sangermano's thoroughness is notable. He gets his account of Buddhism
from a treatise drawn up by the king's uncle in 1763: he translated much of the
Buddhist canon with the help of a former pôngyi
{Boan:kri:} learned in Pali. He went direct
to the Burmese annals for his history; and his version of the Burmese Code,
called the Golden Rule, shows that he used some such Dhammathat as the Manu Sara
Shwe Myin, and took much trouble to understand it. Between 1768 and 1780 several
new versions of Dhammathats had been compiled by learned Burmans such as Kyaw
Deng; and it is probable that a scholar eager to get at their
real meaning would have found some of these lawyers or other learned men competent to teach him. Sangermano proceeded to make an abstract of one of these codes; he seems not to have aimed at precise translation; but after comparing his abstract with the Wagaru and the part of the Wonnana Dhammathat found in our Notes on Buddhist Law, I would be well inclined to treat this abstract as valuable in suggesting meanings of doubtful passages. There is now little oral tradition to explain the Dhammathats, at least in British Burma: but in Sangermano's time there must have been plenty: he was familiar with the king's officials, he had Pali scholars at his elbow, and he noticed the way the Burmese judges applied the law. In these several respects he had advantages which European scholars miss nowadays. Sangermano appends a few notes showing instances where the law was administered contrary to the code, and his earlier chapters on manners must be read in connection with it. I greatly doubt whether Dr. Richardson, who in 1847 translated the Manu Kyay Dhammathat (dated A.D. 1760), had seen this abstract. It is the only popular account of Burmese law that has ever been written; it appears to be a useful manual of that law as understood in Rangoon a hundred years ago; it fairly reflects the spirit of the Dhammathats, and in these respects seemed to me likely to be of such use to the officers freshly appointed to the British Burma Commission that I advised that it should be reprinted. On the other hand, I must remark that until it has been thoroughly compared, section by section, with the Dhammathats, it cannot be treated as equal to those originals or as a safe guide to settlement of doubtful questions. It is curious that nearly all later writers on the Burmese avoid mention or statement of the law; so that information on the simplest questions hardly exists except in judicial decisions.
At the end of the book are two notes, compiled by the Roman sub-committee, to show the progress of Roman Catholic missions in Burma. I add a third, compiled from an Italian book lent me by Bishop Bigandet, Griffini's Vita ki Monsignor Percoto, published at Udine in 1781.
The reader will time after time remark how some generalization of Sangermano's seems as true now as in his day. Burmese
medicine, e.g., has not advanced; 'they have themselves no regular surgeons.' But the trade in rice, the great wealth of Burma and principal export of the port of Rangoon at present, is not mentioned at all in the account of trade.
JOHN JARDINE.
Rangoon, 5th April 1884.