Mahārājavaṃsa

Single-text palm-leaf manuscript being the first bundle of what might have been a two-bundle set. Plain teak covers with vermilion band that do not originally belong to that manuscript. Red lac. leaves. A fragment of inscribed, decorated, woven cotton ribbon, 250 cm (likely, also unrelated to that manuscript originally). In its full extent, Mahārājavaṃsa is a 21-volume work (organized into two or three palm-leaf manuscript bundles) belonging to Burmese genre of “great chronicles” that was compiled at the royal court of Ava to serve as an official chronicle of the Nyaungyan dynasty (1597-1752). It commenses with the appearance of the universe in the beginning of the world-cycle and the sequence of eleven Mahasamata kings and continues to trace the lineage of the kings of Majjhimadesa, Thayekhitaya, Pagan, Pinya, Sagaing, Ava, Taungngu/Hanthawady, and again Ava (up to King Sane-min). Extent: One incomplete bundle of 149 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. ka - ḍha) organized into seven fascicles. Two plain teak covers with vermilion band. A fragment of inscribed, decorated, woven cotton ribbon, 250 cm. Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 Keywords: Buddhism, History. This manuscript contains the following 7 texts: EAP1150/1/102/1: Mahārājavaṃsa 1 Description: Volume one of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the kings of Majjhimadesa to the lifetime of the Buddha. Extent: One fascicle of 20 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. ka [3] - khai [24]). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 EAP1150/1/102/2: Mahārājavaṃsa 2 Description: Volume two of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the kings of Majjhimadesa from the lifetime of the Buddha to the third century BCE. Extent: One fascicle of 26 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. kho [24] - ghau [51]), has two folios gaṃ (mistake in foliation). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 EAP1150/1/102/3: Mahārājavaṃsa 3 Description: Volume three of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the events from the thrid century BCE to the eleveth century CE. Extent: One fascicle of 25 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. ghaṃ [51] - caṃ/cāḥ [75]). Caṃ/cāḥ is a single folio (mistake in foliation). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied (?) 1867, probably from an exemplar dated 1852 (see what seems a mistaken copy date on f. caṃ/cāḥ) EAP1150/1/102/4: Mahārājavaṃsa 4 Description: Volume four of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the events from the eleventh to the twelth centuries. Extent: One fascicle of 28 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. cha [76] - jhī [102]). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 EAP1150/1/102/5: Mahārājavaṃsa 5 Description: Volume five of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the events from the twelth to the late thirteenth centuries. Extent: One fascicle of 26 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. jhu [103] - ṭū [128]). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 EAP1150/1/102/6: Mahārājavaṃsa 6 Description: Volume six of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the events of the fourteenth century. Contains also a note (f. ḍhau) on the sequence of fifteen royal cities that are to function as the mainstays of the Buddhist teaching during the five thousand years of its existence. Extent: One fascicle of 24 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. ṭe [128] - ḍū [152]). Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Scribe(s): Scribal colophon (f. ḍū) mentions that the recopying was made to replace the older manuscript. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied 1867 EAP1150/1/102/7: Mahārājavaṃsa 7 Description: Volume seven of Mahārājavaṃsa covering the events of the late fourteenth to the early fifteenth centuries. Extent: One incomplete fascicle of 6 inscribed palm-leaf folios (ff. ḍe/ḍai [152] - ḍha [158]). Folio ḍe/ḍai is a single folio (mistake in foliation). Condition of original material: Incomplete fascicle, folios from ḍha ff are missing. Author(s)/Creator(s): Attributed to Ūḥ Kulāḥ. Additional date information: Composed in c. 1714-1720, copied c. 1867.