''Dhammasattha'' ("treatise on the law") is the
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
name of a genre of literature found in the
Indianized kingdoms
Greater India, or the Indian cultural sphere, is an area composed of many countries and regions in South and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself formed from the various distinct indigenous cultures ...
of Western
mainland Southeast Asia
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
(modern
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, and
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
) principally written in Pali,
Burmese
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (hor ...
,
Mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* An ...
or the
Tai languages
The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
or in a bilingual ''nissaya'' or literal Pali translation ( my, နိဿယ). "Sattha" is the Pali cognate of the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
term for instruction, learning, or treatise,
śāstra
''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...
. Burmese is often transliterated "dhammathat" and the Tai and Mon terms are typically romanized as "thammasāt" or "dhammasāt" ( th, ธรรมศาสตร์) Dhammasattha texts are historically related to Hindu
dharmaśāstra
''Dharmaśāstra'' ( sa, धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts on law and conduct, and refers to the treatises (shastras, śāstras) on dharma. Unlike Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are mainly b ...
literature, although they are very significantly influenced by the
Theravada Buddhist traditions and literature of Southeast Asia.
History
The word ''dhammathat'' is first mentioned in a Burmese inscription from 13th-century
Bagan
Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...
, although it is likely that dhammasattha texts were transmitted there earlier. Certain dhammasatthas claim to have been compiled during the first millennium. There are nine primary Burmese dhammathats, namely the Manu and Dhammavisala Dhammathats of the
Pagan Kingdom, the
Wareru
Wareru ( mnw, ဝါရေဝ်ရောဝ်, my, ဝါရီရူး, ; also known as Wagaru; 20 March 1253 – 14 January 1307) was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic a ...
Dhammathat
(1270), Pasedha (1468), Dhammathat Kyaw (1581), and Pyanchi Dhammathats (1614) of the
Taungoo Dynasty
, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty
, common_name = Taungoo dynasty
, era =
, status = Empire
, event_start = Independence from Ava
, year_start ...
, and the Myingun Dhammathat (1650) of the
Konbaung Dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
.
The first dhammathat mentioned in Burmese chronicles is the ''Duttabaung'' Dhammathat, during the time of
Sri Ksetra Kingdom
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Sri Ksetra
, common_name = Kingdom of Sri Ksetra
, era = Classical Antiquity
, status = City-state
, event_start = Founding of Kingdom
, year_start = c. 3rd to 9th century CE
, date_start =
, ...
.
In traditional Burmese law, the order of precedence was mutual arbitration, ''yazathats'', and ''dhammathat''.
Burmese dhammathats were supplemented by interpretive guidance in the form of ''ameindaw'' (edicts) or ''pyandan''.
There is an extensive tradition of dhammasattha exegesis, particularly in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. Hundreds of dhammasatth, commentaries, and related legal texts are extant in
parabaik (
palm-leaf manuscript) form.
Legal history
Dhammasatths influenced a number of Southeast Asian societies prior to the colonial era in matters concerning marriage, theft, assault, slavery, debt, kingship, property, inheritance as well as other issues. In contemporary
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, although colonial and post-colonial laws predominate, it remains acceptable practice to use dhammathat in law courts in certain areas of family and inheritance law.
See also
*
Burmese literature
*
Thammasat University
Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...
of Thailand
References
*
*Andrew Huxley. "How Buddhist is Theravāda Buddhist Law?" ''The Buddhist Forum, Volume 1: Seminar Papers 1987-1988''. New Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1990.
*Mya Sein. Mranʻ mā dha leʹ thuṃʺ tamʻʺ upade. Mandalay, 1970.
*Than Tun. Khetʻ hoṅʻʺ rājavaṅʻ. Rangoon, 1961.
*Lammerts, Dietrich Christian. 2010. Buddhism and written law dhammasattha manuscripts and texts in premodern Burma. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cornell University, May 2010.
*Lingat, Robert. Les régimes matrimoniaux du sud-est de l’Asie; essai de droit comparé indochinois. 2 vols. Paris, 1952–55.
Religious law
Legal history
History of Buddhism in Myanmar
Legal literature
Burmese Buddhist literature
Buddhist law
{{Buddhism-stub