IMNA – Mon scholars are contesting an assertion by the Burmese state-run newspaper “The Mirror” on October 12 that when the Pyu tribes were founding their city-states they lived in Danyawaddy and Thuwunnabumi (Tha-thon), claiming that it undermines the three main national causes.
Danyawaddy is an ancient heritage site of the ethnic Arakanese while Thuwunnabuni (Tha-thon) was the seat of the Mon kingdom, and scholars allege that The Mirror’s statement discredits the second cause of the three main national causes, non-disintegration of national solidarity.
He noted that the last Pyu stone inscription and first-ever Burmese stone inscription are found together on the Mya Zaydi Inscription Pillar of Prince Rajakumara.
In response to the controversial claim, a Research Committee on Mon History was formed in Mudon Township on October 22. The team is comprised of Mon monks, Mon political parties, and Mon civil society organizations and intends to reveal and preserve Mon history, according to committee member Dr. Min Kyi Win.
“I am contributing to [the Research Committee] as a representative of the Mon Literature and Culture Association. I will explore ways to get the opportunity to read the monograph of the Thuwunnabumi Mon Kingdom representing Mon scholars in the Monograph Reading Ceremony of Dr. Chit San Win,” said Dr. Min Kyi Win.
As a result of assistance from the Tun Foundation Bank, the Monograph Reading Ceremony of “Pyu Tribe and Pyu Kingdom” will be organized in Rangoon from November 16 to 18, 2012. A Burmese monograph that includes more than forty research papers describing every aspect of the Pyu tribe, more than 700 photographs, and four English research papers, according to the Mirror.
It has also been announced that on November 3 and 4, the Golden Thuwunnabumi Monograph Reading Ceremony, the first local monograph reading ceremony organized by Moulmein University, will be held in the State Hall of Moulmein, Mon State.
