Poetry
နတ်သျှင်နောင်ရတု
Not translated into English
Natshinnaung · 1603
Synopsis
The prince's yadu first tell of his love for Princess Yaza Datu Kalaya, widow of the crown prince and nineteen years his senior: he courts her poem after poem for three years, then goes on writing when the marriage seems impossible. Nature and war mingle with love, with the foot soldiers and elephants of the campaigns he follows, and pieces of meditation in which waiting turns into reflection.
Context
These poems belong to the yadu, a classical genre of Burmese poetry. Their dedicatee, a daughter of Bayinnaung born in 1559, had been a widow since 1593 of the crown prince Mingyi Swa; King Nanda refused the marriage because of the difference in age, and it was celebrated only on 21 March 1603, the day the poet became crown prince of Toungoo. It is held that the whole work was written in its author's youth, between the court and the camps.
Who it is for
Short poems in classical Burmese, whose language requires notes; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by historians as the finest poems of Burmese literature, they make their author the greatest poet of the yadu.