This article examines the legitimation of kingship in the traditional
kingdom of Burma by analysis of its founding myth, recorded in written
form in the chronicles. Part III of the Glass Palace Chronicle, "Hmannan-
Maha-Yazawin", includes many myths of various motifs as well as
versions of the same motif, and its story unfolds from the creation of the
world to the making of the human world, passing through two tales of
visiting on another world by the founders of the Thayehkettaya dynasty,
which imply the change over from nature to culture by their representation
of the incest motif. The Chronicle also repeats the theme of the
hero, the founder of a new dynasty as well as a usurper: an ideology
which contradicts the idea of succession through legitimate lineage.
This ideology of succession based on royal blood is paralleled by another
based on karma, the wheel of fortune in Buddhist thinking. In the
myths these ideologies are reconciled by woman, a mediator, albeit an
ambivalent one. The woman in the myth is also related to the representation
of indigenous people and their power.
ビルマの建国神話について
KH_020_4_001.pdf
(2.26MB)
