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380
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(DECEMBER, 1892.
The Taungu language, as evidenced by the oomparative vocabulary shown below, has closer affinity to Burmese than to Shan or Talaing :
Taung80.
Burmese
Meaning
One.
Ta-påll ... Ni-pâ Sôn-pa Lit-på Ngat-på Sú-pâ ... Niv-pâ Sôt-pâ Kut-på ... Tachi: 12 ... Mi: 13
Ta, tit ... Hna, hnit bôn: 14 ... Le: ... Ngâ : ... Chauk ... Khuhnit... Shit ... K : Taselt ... Ne Là Кудь Phà Mi La ...
Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nino. Ten. Sun.
Là
Châ Phâ Me: L6
Moon. Star. Father. Mother. Man.
...
...
...
.
...
...
On the 28th, I started for Thaton and reached it on the same day. Daton, as the name spelt Thatôn, Thahtun, and Thatone, is pronounced, has been identified by Burmese and Talaing writers as the Suvannabhumi of the Buddhist books, and the Aurea Regio of Ptolemy and others. It is bounded on the east by the Dinganek Range, which is about 12 miles long, and trends from north to south. On the west is an immense rice plain, which is about 15 miles in breadth, and beyond that is the sea. In the rainy season the plain is covered by water and navigation over it by boat is possible.
According to a Talaing tradition, Thaton was founded by Sharaja, a contemporary of Gautama Buddha. In choosing the site of the new city he consulted his foster-father, the Rishi of Zingyaik, and was advised to select & spot where gold was found, and to which & large population would be attracted in a short time. The spot where the Jubilee Memorial Fountain, erected in 1888, is now playing, is still pointed out as the site of the palace of Siharajâ and Mannhâ, the first and last kings of Thaton. Close by is the gold-bearing stream of the Shw@gyaung San, which is perennial and issues from the Dinganek (Singanika) Hill. Gold is still worked by isolated individuals at the beginning and close of the rainy season, but the quantities obtained are not commensurate with the amount of labour involved.
There are five Talaing inscriptions at Thatồn : four in the enclosure of the Shwêzâyån Pagoda, and the remaining one ander a banyan tree at Nyaungwaing. Their paliography indicates that their age is about 400 years.
Three brick buildings near the Shwêzîyan Pagoda are known as the libraries, whence Andratazo, King of Pagan, is said to have removed the “five elephant-loads of Buddhist scriptures" in 1057 A. D.
11 Pa denotes an individual unit. Ita cognate form, pronounced with the heavy tone, is employed ma numeral co-efficient in Burmese.
13 Ch in Tannga in interchangeable with in Burmese.
13 This word means fire in Burmese; but the primitive conception of the sun as the source of heal' may, bare possibly existed.
14 The sign & denotes that the syllable to which it is affixed should be pronounced with the heavy tone. 15 d as ai in pair.'
16 Ky =ch in Burmese as often as not.
