been presented to U Sa by some influential person at the royal court. Furthermore, it is known that U Sa was a patron and supporter of the Dutiya Medi Hsayadaw—author of the Burmese prose version of the life of the Buddha (Mala lingara wuthtu)—and indeed built and endowed a monastery for him at Ava. It is possible that U Sa, inspired by the learned monk’s great work, might have commissioned the manuscript paintings. To take speculation even further, U Sa might have subsequently presented these precious parabaiks to Burney, perhaps for safekeeping during the turmoil accompanying King Bagyidaw’s overthrow, a period when U Sa himself was for a short time imprisoned. Another, even less likely source might be the Mekkhara Prince, an uncle of King Bagyidaw, who had learned English and translated into Burmese articles from Rees’ Cyclopaedia. An even more intriguing, but very remote, possibility is that Burney himself might have commissioned the manuscripts. Burney’s possession of the manuscripts at least provides a cutoff date for their production, that is, before 1837, the date when Burney withdrew the British Residency from Ava to Rangoon in the aftermath of a royal coup d’état that brought King Tharrawaddy to the throne. Study of the style and details of the Burney life-of-the-Buddha manuscripts and comparison
with other examples of this genre and with dated wall paintings suggest that the Burney parabaiks were created between the late 1790s and the 1830s, most probably in the early 1800s. This ranks the Burney manuscripts among the earliest surviving illustrated manuscripts from Burma. Burney’s two manuscripts are fine and rare examples of Burmese art. Although differing in page dimensions and extent (Or. 14297 measures 49 x 19 cm, or 19 5⁄16 x 71⁄2 in., and has 104 folds with illustrations on 52 openings; Or. 14298 measures 47.3 x 19 cm, or 18 5⁄8 x 71⁄2 in., and has 49 folds with illustrations on 25 openings), they were painted by the same hand or hands and were planned as an entity, the one being a continuation of the other. The Burney parabaiks are remarkable not only for their skilled and compact rendition of the long life of the Buddha but also for their unusual and beautifully painted covers. Each cover—now, as might be expected, somewhat worn and rubbed—bears a different figure, whose identity may also hold a clue to the commissioner or donor of the manuscripts. The covers of Or. 14297 are decorated with paintings of white-robed deities who probably represent the gods Sakka and Brahma, whereas the covers of Or. 14298—shown in this book on p. 4 and opposite—each have a figure in colored robes, possibly representing two of the four guardian gods of the world
14