Formation 11 May 1829 | Type Historical research | |
Headquarters Inwa Palace (1829–1832)
Mandalay Palace (1867–1869) Location Inwa (1829–1832)
Mandalay (1867–1869) Head Monywe Zetawun Sayadaw (1829–1832) Patron King Bagyidaw (1829–1832)
King Mindon (1867–1869) | ||
The Royal Historical Commission (Burmese: တော်ဝင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ သမိုင်း ကော်မရှင်, [tɔ̀wìɴ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴ θəmáɪɴ kɔ̀məʃìɴ]) of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) produced the standard court chronicles of Konbaung era, Hmannan Yazawin (1832) and Dutiya Yazawin (1869).
Contents
Commission (1829–1832)
In May 1829, three years after the disastrous First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826), King Bagyidaw created the first Royal Historical Commission to write an official chronicle of Konbaung Dynasty. The standard official chronicle at the time was Maha Yazawin (The Great Chronicle), the standard chronicle of Toungoo Dynasty that covers from time immemorial to October 1711. It was the second attempt by Konbaung kings to update Maha Yazawin. The first attempt, Yazawin Thit (The New Chronicle), commissioned by Bagyidaw's predecessor and grandfather Bodawpaya, had not been accepted because the new chronicle contained severe criticisms of earlier chronicles. Although it was Bodawpaya himself who had ordered the author of Yazawin Thit, Twinthin Taikwun, to verify the accuracy of Maha Yazawin by consulting a variety of sources including hundreds of inscriptions, the king did not accept the new chronicle when it was presented to him.
The members of the commission consisted of learned monks, court historians and court Brahmins: The commission first convened for the first time on 11 May 1829 (1st waxing of Nayon 1191 ME). Three years and four months later, the commission had brought up the history to 1821, producing Hmannan Yazawin.
Commission (1867–1869)
The second commission was formed in 1867. It was about 15 years after an even more disastrous Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852), and about a year after a serious rebellion that killed Crown Prince Kanaung Mintha. A shaken King Mindon commissioned another committee of scholars to update Hmannan. The commission consisted of five members—senior court officials, a librarian, and a scribe. Whereas the first commission had stopped short of the First Anglo-Burmese War, the second commission had no choice but to tackle the two disastrous wars that had their dismembered kingdom on the brink. The commission updated the chronicle up to 1854, right after the second war. The Second Chronicle's account of the two wars, according to historian Htin Aung, was "written with the objectivity of a true historian, and the great national defeats were described faithfully in detail." The second chronicle in ten volumes was completed in 1869.