 Cover of 2006 three volume reprint | |
| Author | U Kala |
|---|---|
| Original title | မဟာ ရာဇဝင်တော်ကြီး |
| Language | Burmese |
| Series | Burmese chronicles |
| Genre | Chronicle, History |
Publication date | 1724[1] |
| Publication place | Toungoo Burma |
| Media type | Parabaik |
| Pages | 21 volumes (Full version) 10 volumes (Medium version) 1 volume (Abridged version) |
| Followed by | Yazawin Thit |
The Maha Yazawin, fully the Maha Yazawindawgyi (Burmese: မဟာ ရာဇဝင်တော်ကြီး, pronounced [məhà jàzəwɪ̀ɰ̃dɔ̀dʑí]) and formerly romanized as the Maha-Radza Weng,[2] is the first national chronicle of Burma/Myanmar. Completed in 1724 by U Kala, a historian at the Toungoo court, it was the first chronicle to synthesize all the ancient, regional, foreign and biographic histories related to Burmese history. Prior to the chronicle, the only known Burmese histories were biographies and comparatively brief local chronicles. The chronicle has formed the basis for all subsequent histories of the country, including the earliest English language histories of Burma written in the late 19th century.[3][4]
The chronicle starts with the beginning of the current world cycle according to Buddhist tradition and the Buddhist version of ancient Indian history, and proceeds "with ever increasing detail to narrate the political story of the Irrawaddy basin from quasi-legendary dynasties to events witnessed by the author himself in 1711."[4] Since it was written in the late Toungoo period, the chronicle provides its most specific information on dates and descriptions of various events Toungoo kings partook.[5] The chronicle's portrayal of the 16th century Toungoo Burma, which was also witnessed by many Europeans, has been found by scholars to be largely factual.[6]
However, its narrative of the earlier periods is less detailed, showing that the author did not have the full versions of earlier chronicles. Moreover, he did not check any inscriptions, which would have yielded more specific dates and double-checked the events.[7] Nonetheless, the pre-1712 portions of later national Burmese chronicles — including Yazawin Thit, Maha Yazawin Kyaw, and Hmannan Yazawin — are essentially verbatim reproductions of this chronicle,[4] though the later chronicles did correct many of Maha Yazawin's Pagan Dynasty and pre-Pagan dates based on epigraphic evidence.[8]