Sitting in his living room, where he normally meets visitors, Rev. Kawdonyan, the Abbot of Kamarchem Mon Monastery in Yangon had said, “We have never sold out our monthly publication; even my fellow monks are not interested”.The Abbot made his comment during the meeting of the Amartdein Journal team at his Monastery just around the corner from the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon. Founded by activists and politicians during the period of the Burmese military dictatorship, Amartdein has published a Mon language monthly journal for 21 years. But during this time, publications were heavily controlled by the ruling government. Since 2010, the situation has changed, allowing some space following the democracy transition after a semi-civilian government took office.
Ethnic Mon writers have found some advantages in expressing their views to the general public. However, the Amartdein’s readership is thin, with only about 2000 subscribers, mostly Buddhist monks and villagers from rural villages. Glory days Over the past forty years, while Rev. Kawdonyan was a young monk, Mon nationalists have claimed that an estimated 7 million of their people lived in lower Burma and central Thailand. In those golden days of the 1980s, many Thai Mon people from Bangkok and central Thailand visited the border town to celebrate Mon National Day together with the New Mon State Party (NMSP) guerrillas. The NMSP has had a strong influence over the general public; its Central Headquarters is located at the Three Pagodas Pass border, which hosts the Mon National Day celebration. Many people join in the celebration together with their national soldiers or freedom fighters.
During those days, the Mon people from inside Burma would trek through the jungle paths from various locations, near and far. Men, women, youth, and children, including monks, walked byfoot or bullock carts in high spirits because of this historical event, which marks the founding of Hongsawatoi (Pago). The old Mon kingdom flourished in prosperity for several centuries in lower Burma, where the Mon settled down in the Sittaung valley and established Suvanabhum (Thaton) and expanded to Hongsawatoi. From there, they introduced Theravada Buddhism from India by sea.
Regrettably, those auspicious days have gone when the Burmese King annexed Thaton Anawratha in 1057. The last Mon kingdom, Hongsawatoi, was annexed by King Alaungphaya in 1757.During the fall of Hongsawatoi, many innocent men, women, children, and Buddhist monks were massacred, and nearly all Mon palm-leaf manuscripts from the Mon kingdom were destroyed. This mass execution of over 3000 learned Mon monks, as well as the destruction of Mon palm Leaf manuscripts were tantamount to destroying the Mon language and literature, according to Nai Sac Lun, who is the Mon history researcher and Director of Mon Language Preservation Organization (MLP).
Soon after Mons fled to Thailand or moved to remote areas further south in lower Burma and became “a people without a country”, and since then Mon literature has faced many challenges. Salvation of literature Among the refugees who escaped King Alaungphaya was Ven. Aswo, a Mon Buddhist priest from Waw town located near Pago. Ven. Aswo was the most famous Mon writer of his time and recorded the ruthless atrocities inflicted upon the Mon people.During that troubled time, Buddhist monks and the Mon populace were able to gather up the surviving Mon palm-leaf manuscripts and bringing them safely into Thailand. “The old Mon palm-leaf manuscripts have been kept at 200 Buddhist monasteries of the Mon descendants in Thailand and are being protected,” says Nai Sac Lun from his home library based in FortWayne, Indiana, USA.
Colonization was a major challenge for the Mon literature. The British waged two Anglo-Burmese wars and occupied lower Burma; the Mons and Burmese were in the same boat under colonial rule. Colonial domination extended political and cultural influences while suppressing the culture and literature of the native peoples. Improvement of transportation brought many immigrants from upper Burma and India to settle in lower Burma (old Monland) for agriculture. A clear example is the Mons in 1856, in the Henzada District, where half of the total population and the numbers had decreased rapidly. By 1911, out of a total of 532,357, only 1,224 were Mons. Among them, only 399 people could speak their language. (“Burma Gazetteer of HenzadaDistrict, 1915, pp 29-30).
Traditionally, Buddhist monks maintained the Mon language in the monasteries by teaching basic reading and writing in addition to teaching mathematics. However, monastic education was competing against the formal education of the English and Burmese languages during the period of British colonization and the postwar periods of the 20th century. The centralized education system imposed by the West occupied the native languages of the ethnic nationalities, and soon after, their languages began to fade. The worst time came with the 1962 installation of a military dictatorship by General Ne Win, who brought Burma into one of the world’s least developed countries (LDC). All forms of political, social, and cultural activities became strictly controlled and repressed. The regime prohibited the teaching of the Mon language for several years.
The Mon language is currently on the path to extinction; UNESCO has classified it as "vulnerable". Mon linguistic scholar Mathias Jenny stated that Mon is spoken today by a total of 830,000 people in southern Myanmar (Mon and Karen States, Taninthayi Region) and central Thailand. Jenny’s presentation “2000 years of history - the Mon language in Thailand and Myanmar” has given an alarming signal for all. A well-respected Mon community leader and a medical doctor, Dr. Mehm Soe Myint, has previously warned that the Mon language faces extinction as a viable spoken language due to political, social, and economic factors. In his article “The Mon Language: An Endangered Species”; with over 6,000 spoken languages in the world today, it is estimated that over half of These will become extinct. Playing a lost game
During British colonial times, the Mons allied with the Burmans and other ethnic peoples and rallied for independence. Nai Auk, a Mon national and a successful businessman at that time, competed against the British in the Irrawaddy inland waterways. Another Mon gentleman, Thamada Chit Hlaing, also known as Wonthanu U Chit Hlaing, was popular all over Burma as a national leader and became the founder of GCBA (General Council of Burma Associations).Following the rise of nationalism, Mon intellectuals formed the All Ramonya Mon National League(1937) to inspire Mon nationalism and to preserve their culture and literature. Mon Pho Cho, Nai Chit Thaung and Ven. Kuthala (Kyaik-Soi Mon monastery, Rangoon) were influential leaders.Mon patriots later asked for their respective rights when Burma gained independence in 1948but were denied; shortly thereafter, many leaders and Mons became dissatisfied, and civil war occurred for several decades.
While conflict dragged on, Mon Buddhist monks played a major role in the Mon National movement. Besides teaching Mon literature and language, they endeavored to find a solution to the conflict and the political crisis. Under religious activities, the Buddhist monasteries became safe havens for teaching the Mon language. Hita-Kawaesi, All Mon Young Monks Union, and Overseas Mon Young Monks Union was active in politics, supporting the ethnic movement. Currently, young monks, in cooperation with the local youth, Mon Culture and Literature Associations, organize summer classes and provide basic literacy training during the holiday seasons in Burma.The inspiring part of the Mon language is due to the New Mon State Party (NMSP), which sought self-determination through armed struggle. Under the Central Education Department, the NMSP established Mon national schools in their strongholds, and several Mon children arelearning and speaking the Mon language in the rural villages today because of their initiative.There are many activities to support and grow Mon's literature. Dr. Mehm Soe Myint has urged the Mon nationals to take some action, such as:
Motivation of Mon parents, Mon Language Teaching, Incentives to Learn Mon, Review of the Mon language and Writing Organization Aspects and Funding Some nationalists, like Dr. Mehm Soe Myint, want to take the example of the Hebrew language that has risen again after a thousand years.“We expect our fellow monks to preserve the language while we study Buddhism. There are about 7000 monks in our Ramanya Nikaya Buddhist monasteries. We will also continue to publish our language journal,” says the Abbot of Kamerchem.
Cited
“The Mon People, History and Language”
By Nai Sac Lun, Flower Garden Journal 1st Issue, MLPO-USA
“The Mon Language: An Endangered Species”,
By Dr. Mehm Soe Myint
“Continuum of the Richness of Languages and Dialects in Myanmar”
By Mathias Jenny, CHRO, Summit Parkview Hotel, Yangon, March 25, 2015, organized
by Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) at Summit Parkview Hotel, in Yangon, March 25, 2015
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