Group of Phrā Takā Sū; his family (inhabiting the North of Chiang Mai city wall)
Subject matter:
Buddhist Chronicle
Copyist:
Anonymous
Copying date in native date:
13th (waxing) 9th (lunar) Cūḷasakarāja 1278
Copying date in Gregorian:
1916 August 11
Script:
Shan; Burmese
Writing support:
Mulberry paper – Leporello format
Watermark?:
No
Countermark?:
No
Manuscript cover?:
Yes
Binding?:
No
Manuscript cover dimension:
18.5 x 43 cm
Manuscript paper dimension:
18.5 x 43 cm
Text block dimension:
14.5 x 35.5 cm
Number of pages:
266 pages
Rubrication?:
No
Illumination?:
No
Illustration?:
Yes
Manuscript condition:
Good
Description of manuscript content:
This manuscript contains the Chronicle of Mandalay. The narrative starts with the Buddha and Phra Ānanda coming to the Irrawaddy River and meeting a female ogre. Phra Ānanda asked the Buddha about her former Karma. The Buddha replied that she had been born as a king but ate his kid, therefore she was reborn as the ogre to protect the river in present life. In her next life, she will be reborn as a son of a Chinese father and a Burmese mother living at Kānchitpū village. He will be ordained as a novice and stay in his monkhood as a monk until he turns 60. At that time, God Indra will invite him to be disrobed to rule the city because of a happening war. He will then leave monkhood, peacefully rule the city, and support Buddhism.
Colophon:
ႁဝ်းေမ်းြတႃးေၵႃ် ထိုင်ပႆဝႆတၼ်းယဝ်ႉ။ ၺႃးေၵႃ်ၺႃးယံး လိုၼ်ၵံၵတ်းသႃယႃ၊ ယံးပိုၼ်ေလ်ၵၼ်ၼုင်တင်း သိုဝ်လံ လိုမ် ၼႃၼႃ။ ဢၶႃထႃၼႆႉ ပိၼ်ဢၼ်ပျီးၸွတ် ႁွတ် တီ လုံးပဝ်ေပႃႉ သိုၵ်တႃ ပျီးၸွႃ ၶျႃးဝင်း။ ၶိၺ်းေတႃ်ြတႃးၼႃ ႁဝ်းၵူၶုၼ်ၼင်း ၽွမ်ႉၵၼ်ၵၼ်ေတႃဝႆ ၵံး႞ၵွၼ်ယဝ်ႉ လိၼ်႟လိၼ်ေၼႃ်း။
I finished copying this manuscript on the second lunar month or winter in which people prefer wearing shiny black outfits. The completely copied manuscript is compared to a ship docking. May you all rejoice with me.
Remark: This date corresponds to 1278 Sravana 13
Other notes:
The front cover, the back cover, and the spine are painted Sa paper.
(The inner flyleaf)
I put my hands together as a flower cone to pay homage to the supreme Buddha, the Dhamma or the Teachings leading us to Nibbāna, the Sangha who have inherited Buddhism, and my teachers. Now, I am going to copy the Chronicle of Mandalay. May I gain the merit [derived from copying this manuscript], behave in the right same way as Bodhisatta, and become a Buddha in the last life to bring all living creatures away from the Cycle of Rebirths.
This manuscript was copied from the original version written in Cūḷasakarāja 1258, on the eighth day of waxing moon of the second lunar month, and sponsored by a family of noblemen (inhabiting Bān Nā Tai).
Remark: This date corresponds to Monda, 11 January 1897 (1258 Pausha 8).