Geiger on the Singhalese raid of Lower Burma (1164-5)

In the wake of what was essentially a trade dispute, King Parakkamabahu I, who had unified the island of Lanka (Ceylon) early in his reign, decided to gather together a fleet of ships and launch raids against Lower Burma.

The landing of Singhalese forces from Sri Lanka on the soil of Lower Burma and the events that transpired after that run as follows what Geiger called the Culavamsa chronicle (actually just a continuation of the Mahavamsa). As the Lankan troops disembarked from their boats at Bassein, known then as Cosmi (or Kusumi below), in Lower Burma, Ramanna troops met them in combat. The Lanka troops quickly overwhelmed the feeble resistance and took to a strategy of scorched earth:

"Warriors of great fighting strength who sailed on five vessels landed on the territory of Ramanna in the port called Kusumi. These doughty soldiers with the Nagaragiri Kitti at the head, equipped with armour and weapons slew from their landing place the troops belonging to the Ramanna country, many thousands of them in terrible combat and while they, like to rutting elephants, hewed down around many coco palms and other trees and set fire to the villages, they laid waste a great part of the kingdom." (Geiger, 1953, 69)

Another division disembarked at another place named Papphalama (probably Martaban but have to check hard to find Frasch (1998) first):

"But the ship on which the Damiladhikarin Adicca commanded, landed in the territory (or Ramanna) at the port of Papphalama, and while at once the people with the Damiladhikarin at the head, fought a gruesome, fearful, foe-destroying battle and captured alive many people living in the country, they plunged the Ramanna kingdom into sore confusion. Thereupon the Sihalas with terrible courage, fearful with their swords, burst into the town of Ukkama [north of Yangon] and slew the Monarch of the Ramanas. when they had subdued the Ramanas and brought their country into their power, the great heroes mounted a splendid white elephant. They rode around the town free from all fear turning the right side towards it and thereupon made known by the beat of drum the supremacy of the Sovereign of Lanka." (Geiger, 1953, 69)

Buddhist monks were then sent to negotiate a peace:

"Then overwhelmed by fear the people in the Ramanna land, seeing no other protection, gathered together and held counsel. With the instructions: "Year by year must we from now onwards send elephants to any amount as tribute from our property – in order that the Monarch of Lanka lay on us intolerable (burdens), ye must influence him [1] and thereby at all times full of pity, have mercy on us all" – they sent in haste their messengers with letters in their hand to the bhikku community dwelling in the island of Lanka. Through the friendly words of the community living in the three communities, the Ruler of Lanka was moved to kindness, and while the Ramanas sent him yearly numbers of elephants, they made anew with the Lanka Ruler who kept his treaties faithfully, a pact of friendship" (Geiger, 1953, 70).

References:

Frasch, Tilman (1998a) "The Mount Thetso Inscription Re-examined," Myanmar Historical Research Journal 2: 109-126.

Geiger, Wilhelm and Christian Mabel Duff (trs.) (1953) Culavamsa : Being the more recent part of the Mahavamsa, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Ceylon Govt. Information Dept.

Comments: These Culavamsa passages must be one of the few independent outside sources for military history during the classical Pagan period of Burma’s history. Since my research is on warfare during the early modern period (1350-1600), these passages are of interest to me.

Geiger on Sri Lanka's diplomatic relations with Rāmañña in Lower Burma during the Pagan period

Wilhelm Geiger's Culture of Ceylon in medieval times (1960) provides a nice succinct overview of relations between Sri Lanka and the Mon kingdom of Rāmañña during the Pagan era (citations are to Geiger, 1953):

"Rāmanñña was the name of the province of Pegu in Southern Burma. Its inhabitants were, like those of Ceylon, Buddhists of the Theravadan school. Between the two countries there had never been dissension up to the 12th century, and their monarchs were wont to send each other many costly gifts and in this way to maintain a friendly intercourse (76.10 sq). Vijayabahu I (1059-1114 A.C.) sent envoys with various presents to the king of Rāmañña and received in return valuable gifts from him (58.8 sq). When in Ceylon the number of Bhikkus had decreased so much that it became impossible to fill the chapter in order to perform the Vinaya ceremonies, the same king fetched from Ramanna Bhikkus who were thoroughly versed in the Buddhist precepts and able to restore the Order which had declined in Lanka (60.4 sq.)…

The friendship between the two countries was severely disturbed in the twelfth century. The war made by Parakkamabahu on the Rāmañña king was, according to the chronicle, successful for the Singhalese. The former friendly relations were restored by King Vijayabahu II, 1186-87. The King himself composed a letter in the Maghada language - i.e. Pali, the lingua franca among the Buddhists - which he sent to the ruler of Rāmañña and concluded a treaty with him as Vijayabahu I had done before (80.6-7). (Geiger and Bechert, 1960, 134-135).

Trade disputes are said to have been a motivating cause behind the Singhalese raid on Lower Burma:

"In the medieaval period various stuffs, sandal-wood, camphor and the like were imported from Rāmañña, Southern Burma (58.9 sq.). From the same country elephants were brought to Ceylon though plenty of them roamed wild in the forests. The fact that in the twelfth century the king of Rāmanñña tried to monopolize the elephant-trade and enormously raised the prices, was one of the reasons by which Parakkamabahu's war with Rāmañña was provoked (76.17-34). (Geiger and Bechert, 1960, 108)

References

Geiger, Wilhelm and Christian Mabel Duff (trs.) (1953) Culavamsa : Being the more recent part of the Mahavamsa, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Ceylon Govt. Information Dept.

Geiger, Wilhelm (1960) Culture of Ceylon in medieval times, ed. Heinz Bechert, Wiesbanden: Otto Harrassowitz

Tilman Frasch on the Singhalese raid on Lower Burma around 1164-5

Frasch, Tilman (2002) “Coastal peripheries during the Pagan period,” In The Maritime of Burma: Exploring Political, Cultural and Commercial Interaction in the Indian Ocean World, 1200-1800, Edited by Jos Gommans and Jacques Leider, Leiden: Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, pp. 59-78.

Luckily I have this paper by Tilman Frasch that seems to clear up a lot of the confusion in Aung-Thwin's rambling 1976 paper:

...the Singhalese raid on Lower Burma around 1164-5 which King Parakkama Bahu I of Polonnaruva had sent to extract revenge for insults he had suffered at the hands of the Burmese. According to the contemporary Sinhalese chronicle Culavamsa [9], the Sinhalese forces captured the two port towns of Kusumiya (Bassein) and Muttuma (Martaban) as well as a third place called Ukkama which may be identified as Okkam, a place some twenty miles north of Rangoon [10]"

[9] Geiger 1925/1929, ch. 76.10-75. This part of the chronicle, dealing with the life of Parakkama Bahu, was written during the later part of the king's reign or shortly afterwards, and is generally regarded as highly reliable, see Geiger 1930, 205-228. The conquest of the port town of Kusumiya (Bassein) is mentioned in the Devanagala Rock inscription that records the reward King Parakkama gave to his victorious general Kit Sri Nuvaragal: Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, 312-325.

[10] I have dealt with the Sinhalese expedition and its implications exhaustively in Frasch 1998a. For earlier views, see Luce 1965a, and Aung-Thwin 1976.

References:

1. Aung-Thwin (1976) "The Problem of Ceylonese-Burmese Relations in the 12th Century and the question of an Inter-regnum at Pagan," Journal of the Siam Society, 64(1): 53-74.
2. Epigraphia Zeylanica
3. Geiger (1925/1929) The Culavamsa. Being the More Recent Part of the Mahavamsa, London: Pali Text Society.
4. Geiger (1930) "The Trustworthiness of the Mahavamsa," Indian Historical Quarterly, 6 (2): 205-228.
5. Luce (1965b) "Some Old References to the South of Burma and Ceylon," In Felicitation Volumes of Southeast Asian Studies, presented to his Highness Dhaninivat...on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, Vol. 2, Bangkok: Siam Society.

Comments: This is a nice concise overview of what happened that can be filled in later with details from the Culavamsa and inscriptions. Aung-Thwin's 1998 Myths book republishes the 1976 paper. Wikipedia is missing this sort of information.