I do not think I am indebted to anyone else. I have, indeed, purposely avoided quoting from any other book and using material collected by anyone else.
The story of Ma Pa Da has appeared often before, but my version is taken entirely from the Burmese song. It is, as I have said, known to nearly every Burman.
I wanted to write only what the Burmese themselves thought; whether I have succeeded or not, the reader can judge.
I am indebted to Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons for permission to use parts of my article on 'Burmese Women'—Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1895—in the present work.
CONTENTS
- CHAPTER
- [I.] LIVING BELIEFS
- [II.] HE WHO FOUND THE LIGHT—I.
- [III.] HE WHO FOUND THE LIGHT—II.
- [IV.] THE WAY TO THE GREAT PEACE
- [V.] WAR—I.
- [VI.] WAR—II.
- [VII.] GOVERNMENT
- [VIII.] CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- [IX.] HAPPINESS
- [X.] THE MONKHOOD—I.
- [XI.] THE MONKHOOD—II.
- [XII.] PRAYER
- [XIII.] FESTIVALS
- [XIV.] WOMEN—I.
- [XV.] WOMEN—II.
- [XVI.] WOMEN—III.
- [XVII.] DIVORCE
- [XVIII.] DRINK
- [XIX.] MANNERS
- [XX.] 'NOBLESSE OBLIGE'
- [XXI.] ALL LIFE IS ONE
- [XXII.] DEATH, THE DELIVERER
- [XXIII.] THE POTTER'S WHEEL
- [XXIV.] THE FOREST OF TIME
- [XXV.] CONCLUSION