Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 47

MARCH, 1916]
OUTLINES OF INDO-CHINESE HISTORY
43
general scourge in the Bay of Bengal. Of these, a great ruffian named Sebastian Gonzales was a successful specimen as the temporary ruler of Chittagong (1612-1619) in Bengal. Mahâdhammarâja's dynasty hung on till 1740, when it was in its turn ousted by Binyà Dalå of Pegu (1746-1757), a Shan, who burned Ava in 1752 and placel Burma once more under the rule of Pegu for the Talaings.
Then arone a great Burmese Warrior of the official class at Shwebo, with the title of Alaungphayâ, turned by Europeans into Alompra (1712-1700), who founded the dynasty
(1753-1885) which the English found ruling on their appearance on the scene as conquerors. . In 1753 he took Aya from the Talaings; in 1753 he seized Prome and founder the now great port of Rangoon by the shrine of the Shwedagon Pagodla, a famous place of pilgrimage throughout the Far East. In 1757 he was in Pegu. when the Talaing government was efinitely overthrown.
All these proceedings brought Alompra into contact with the French at Syriam and the more important British settlements in Burma, which had been established in Negrais Island in 1709, and also at Bassein and Syriam. Finally, Alompra clied in 1760 during an expedition to Siam, which took him to the gates of Ayuthia, at the age of forty-eight, and only eight years after his first appearance on the public stage. He founded a notable dynasty, and caused the Ta laings, in a fashion not uncommon in the Far East, largely to disappear as a separate race. His successors reigned variously at Sagaing, Ava, Amarapura (Amayapûya) and Mandalay, with that frequent change of capital characteristic of the Far East, and so disconcerting to the stranger. Wherever they went they built lavishly, and in some respects with a truly beautiful architectural sense in their own style.
Of this dynasty, Sinbyâshin (1763-1776) again attacked Ayuthia, and haul much trouble with the Chinese (1765-1769). Later on, Bódawphayà (1781-1819), a powerful king. overran Arakan and was a thorn in the side of the British Indian government in the difficult days of the early nineteenth century. Later on still, under Bagyidaw (1819-1837), there was a violent collision with the British, brought about by the conceit and arrogance habitual to Burmese rulers through all time, resulting in the First Burmese War (1824-1826) and the loss of the Arakan and Tenasserim provinces. Bâgyidaw felt the disgrace keenly, and subsequently became insane.
Not long afterwards a successor, Pagan Min (1846-1852), was in trouble with English traders at Rangoon, and there occurred the Second Burmese War (1852), which added the Pegu province to the British Empire. He was succeeded by a really capable ruler, Mindôn Min (1853-1878), who governed his country well and in peace with his neighbours for twenty-five years, when he was succeeded by a thoroughly incompetent hen-pecked son, Thibaw (1878-1885), whose wilful but unwise Queen, Suphayâlât, brought about the Third Burmese War, and the final annexation of all Burma to the British Empire in 1886. Since then the history of the country has been one of steady material improvement under British rule.
IV-THE SIAMESE HISTORICALLY, Siam is the halitation of the Shans in the basins and deltas of the Menam and Mekong rivers, and includes Cambodia and Cochin-China. It is the central country of Indo-China, with Burma on the west and Annam on the east. The Shans, tho Siamese and the Laos to the eastwards all call themselves Thai, though the modern Siamese are partly fused with the ancient Khmers of Cambodia, whose own tradition is that they are Mons from Pegu. Siam is an English form of an old name, Sayam, for the