A description of the Burmese Empire / compiled chiefly from native documents by the Revnd. Father Sangermano and tr. from his ms. by William Tandy ; with a preface and note by John Jardine.

  • Sangermano, Vincenzo, Padre, 1758-1819.
Date:
1833. Reprinted at the Government Press, Rangoon, 1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A description of the Burmese Empire / compiled chiefly from native documents by the Revnd. Father Sangermano and tr. from his ms. by William Tandy ; with a preface and note by John Jardine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/248 (page 2)
    was about to sail for Burma, and that during his stay in Italy he was graciously treated by Joachim Murat, King of Naples. The Koman Sub-Committee of the Oriental Translation Fund undertook to publish and translate the manuscript. The orthography was kept except in a few well-known names: hence the proper names are to be read as in Italian. In this reprint no alterations have been made. The Oriental Translation Fund was instituted in 1828 under the patronage of King William IV. In the binding of Colonel Spearman's copy I find a prospectus showing that Sir Gore Ouseley, the Vice-President of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, was its Chairman, and John Shakespear and Dr. Rosen its Secretaries. This copy was printed for the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare, Governor of Bombay, a subscriber. The motto of the Fund was Ex oriente lux. Fifty years have passed and no second edition has been issued. During this half century much has been added to our know- ledge of the subjects described by Sangermano. The Burmese legend of Buddha has been translated and edited by Bishop Bigandet. The history of Burma* has lately been written by Sir Arthur Phayre ; and before this edition issues from the press the learning of Dr. Forchhammer will have thrown light on the Burmese Dhammathat or Code of Law in his edition of King Wagaru's code and his essay on Buddhist law. But all this increase of knowledge does not detract from the real value of Sangermano s work or lessen its charm. Even when he describes the abstract notions ol the Buddhist religion, or the dry rules of law, we feel his contact with the people : we learn how the religion influenced their life and how the despotic and capricious adminis- tration of the law produced results which the Dhammathat would never suggest. Sangermano's thoroughness is notable. He gets his account of Buddhism from a treatise drawn up by the king's uncle in 1763 : he translated much of the Buddhist canon with the help of a former pongyi learned in Pali. He went direct to the Buimese annals for his history; and his version of the Burmese