Sitting in his living room where he normally meets visitors, Rev. Kawdonyan, the Abbot ofKamarchem Mon Monastery in Yangon had said, “We have never sold out our monthlypublication; even my fellow monks are not interested”.
The Abbot made his comment during the meeting of Amartdein Journal team at his Monasteryjust around the corner from the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.Founded by activists and politicians during the period of Burmese military dictatorship,Amartdein has published a Mon language monthly journal for 16 years. But during this timepublications were heavily controlled by the ruling government.
Since 2010, the situation has changed allowing some space following the democracy transitionafter semi-civilian government took office. Ethnic Mon writers have found some advantages toexpress their views to the general public. However, the Amartdein’s readership is thin with onlyabout 2000 subscribers of mostly Buddhist monks and villagers from rural villages.
Glory days
Over the past forty years while Rev. Kawdonyan was a young monk, Mon nationalists haveclaimed that an estimated 7 million of their people lived in lower Burma and central Thailand. Inthose golden days of 1980s many Thai Mon people from Bangkok and central Thailand visitedthe border town to celebrate Mon National Day together with New Mon State Party (NMSP)guerrillas. The NMSP has had a strong influence over the general public; their CentralHeadquarters is located at the Three Pagodas Pass border which hosts the Mon National Daycelebration. Many people join in the celebration together with their national soldiers or freedomfighters.
During those days, the Mon people from inside Burma would trek through the jungle paths fromvarious 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 ofHongsawatoi (Pago). The old Mon kingdom flourished in prosperity for several centuries inlower Burma where the Mon settled down at Sittaung valley and established Suvanabhum(Thaton) and expanded to Hongsawatoi. From there they introduced Theravada Buddhism fromIndia by sea.
Regrettably, those auspicious days have gone when Thaton was annexed by the Burmese KingAnawratha in 1057. The last Mon kingdom, Hongsawatoi, was annexed by King Alaungphayain 1757.
During the fall of Hongsawatoi, many innocent men, women, children and Buddhist monks weremassacred 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 palmleaf manuscripts were tantamount to destroying the Mon language and literature, according toNai Sac Lun who is the Mon history researcher and Director of Mon Language PreservationOrganization (MLP).
Soon after Mons fled to Thailand or moved to remote areas further south in lower Burma andbecame “a people without a country”, and since then Mon literature has faced many challenges.Salvation of literatureAmong the refugees who escaped King Alaungphaya was Ven. Aswo a Mon Buddhist priestfrom Waw town located near Pago. Ven. Aswo was the most famous Mon writer of his time andrecorded the ruthless atrocities inflicted upon the Mon people.
During that trouble time, Buddhist monks and the Mon populace were able to gather up thesurviving Mon palm-leaf manuscripts and bring them safely into Thailand. “The old Mon palm-leaf manuscripts have been kept at 200 Buddhist monasteries of the Mon descendants inThailand and are being protected,” says Nai Sac Lun from his home library based in FortWayne, Indiana, USA.
Colonization was a major challenge for Mon literature. The British waged two Anglo-Burmesewars and occupied lower Burma; the Mons and Burmese were in the same boat under colonialrule. Colonial domination extended political and culture influences while suppressing the cultureand literature of the native peoples. Improvement of transportation brought many immigrantsfrom upper Burma and India to settle in lower Burma (old Monland) for agriculture. A clearexample is, the Mons in 1856 at Henzada District was half of the total population and thenumbers 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 teachingbasic reading and writing in addition to teaching mathematics. However, monastic educationwas competing against the formal education of the English and Burmese languages during theperiod of British colonization and the postwar periods of the 20th century. The centralizededucation system imposed by the West occupied the native languages of the ethnic nationalitiesand soon after their languages began to fade.
The worst time came with the 1962 installation of a military dictatorship by General Ne Win whobrought Burma into one of the world’s leased developed country (LDC). All forms of political,social and cultural activities became strictly controlled and repressed. The teaching of the Monlanguage was prohibited by the regime for several years.
The Mon language at present is on the way to extinction; UNESCO classified it as "vulnerable".Mon linguistic scholar Mathias Jenny stated that Mon is spoken today by a total of 830,000people 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” hasgiven an alarming signal for all.
A well-respected Mon community leader and a medical doctor Dr. Mehm Soe Myint haspreviously warned that the Mon language faces extinction as a viable spoken language due topolitical, social and economic factors. In his article “The Mon Language: An EndangeredSpecies”; with over 6,000 spoken languages in the world today, it is estimated that over half ofthese will become extinct.
Playing a lost game
During British colonial times, the Mons allied with the Burmans and other ethnic peoples andrallied for independence. Nai Auk, a Mon national and a successful businessman at that timecompeted 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 anational leader and became the founder of GCBA (General Council of Burma Associations).
Following the rise of nationalism, Mon intellectuals formed All Ramonya Mon National League(1937) to inspire Mon nationalism and to preserve their culture and literature. Mon Pho Cho, NaiChit 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 waroccurred for several decades.
While conflict dragged on, Mon Buddhist monks played a major role in the Mon Nationalmovement. Besides teaching Mon literature and language they endeavored to finding a solutionto conflict and the political crisis. Under religious activities, the Buddhist monasteries becamesafe havens for teaching the Mon language. Hita-Kawaesi, All Mon Young Monks Union andOverseas Mon Young Monks Union were active in politics for 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 inBurma.
The inspiring part of the Mon language is due to the New Mon State Party (NMSP) which soughtself-determination through armed struggle. Under the Central Education Department, the NMSPestablished Mon national schools in their strong hold areas and several Mon children arelearning and speaking Mon language in the rural villages today because of their initiative.There are many activities to support and grow Mon literature. Dr. Mehm Soe Myint, has urgedthe Mon nationals to take some action, such as:
Community Motivation,
Motivation of Mon parents,
Mon Language Teaching,Incentives to Learn Mon,
Review of Mon language and Writing,
Organization Aspects and FundingSome nationalists like Dr. Mehm Soe Myint want to take the example of the Hebrew languagethat has risen again after thousand years.“We expect our fellow monks to preserve the language while we study Buddhism.
There areabout 7000 monks in our Ramanya Nikaya Buddhist monasteries. We will also continue topublish our language journal,” says the Abbot of Kamerchem.
Byt Cham Toik
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) organizedby Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) at Summit Parkview Hotel, in Yangon, March 25,2015.
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