Poetry
Manawhari pyo
Not translated into English
Nawadegyi · 1579
Synopsis
The poem follows a tale from a collection of apocryphal jataka. Manohari, princess of a people of winged beings who live on a distant mountain, comes down into the world of men; a hunter catches her with a noose and gives her to Prince Thudanu, heir to a kingdom, who marries her. While the prince is at war, the foreign woman is accused of bringing bad luck and they want to sacrifice her: she takes flight again towards her own country, leaving the prince the means to find her.
Context
Dated 1579, the poem belongs to its author's poetry in praise of the royal family. It adapts a story from the Paññāsa Jātaka, a Pali collection composed at Chiang Mai around 1450-1470, that of Prince Sudhana and the kinnari Manohara, known throughout Southeast Asia. In Burma, the tale also fed the theatre, and embroidered hangings of the nineteenth century still depict its scenes. The pyo, a genre until then held by monks, passes with this text into the hands of a lay poet.
Who it is for
A long narrative poem in classical Burmese, drawn from a Buddhist tale; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Recorded by literary history as the first pyo written by a layman, it remains the work to which its author's name is attached.